Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department to report back in 30 days on the feasibility of a pilot ADA beach access mat at the Granada Beach ramp and opportunities to install in other beach and park locations.
And then after 24, we're going right into item 30. Item 24 Communication from Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Allen. Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department to report back in 30 days on the feasibility of a pilot Ada Beach Access Mat at Granada Beach Ramp. Councilman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to the community members who have worked with my staff on this topic, in particular Kim Long Indica McClain. This item is one that I'm super excited about to for us to have here in Long Beach, despite significant efforts by the city to ensure that all Long Beach residents feel welcome and have access to our city facilities and resources. One area is not yet accessible to everyone. Our wonderful beaches are not accessible to residents with mobility limitations. Our sandy beaches present a difficult access hurdle for residents using wheelchairs, walkers or other mobility related support. With the goal. Of allowing all residents to have access to our coastline, the city should evaluate the feasibility of developing a pilot Ada Beach Access mat at Granada Beach launch ramp or other location that the city staff might recommend to better understand the opportunities, impacts, maintenance and products available. With the goal. Of developing an ADA Beach and Park access program throughout the city. The recommendation for Granada Beach comes from the make up of Granada Beach and that it's already a launch and has a lot of a paved area already which would allow for wheelchairs and walkers and other devices that can't traverse the sand to have a further distance to go on the concrete before the map would be rolled out to go to the water. So I want to ask my council colleagues for their support of this item is long overdue. Frankly, I'm ashamed that we didn't bring this item earlier. To me, it's a no brainer that we should have thought about earlier, and I'm so grateful that we are now in the place where we can bring it. Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Thank you, Mayor. But a big and special thank you to Councilmember Price for Agenda using this item. We live in such a diverse and beautiful city that continues to grow and continues to be a leader in so many areas, such as ensuring accessibility in city facilities and resources to on. Yet for years, we as a city shamefully have discarded the fact that people with mobility, limitations and other disabilities have not been able to enjoy the main feature of our city, which is the beach. So I am extremely supportive of this pilot program that will begin to change that and will ensure that everyone, not just some one or some of our residents, but everyone will be able to live, work and play in their own city. I had the personal experience of having access to the beach all the way in Malibu because of wheelchair accessible meant that was there. And I just want to thank the advocates, my fellow disability advocates, for reaching out and making this need known to us, the council on and really stressing how important it is for us to be able to include everyone and for everyone to be able to enjoy our beaches here in Long Beach. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Ciro. Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank Councilmember Price for bringing this item forward and Councilmember Sun has an Allen for signing on. I really want to thank our advocates, Kim, as well as DICKERSON, many other who have been advocating for accessibility in our city. And I agree that it's just long overdue and so glad that we're able to that this items brought forward for us to do feasibility studies to ensure that we increase the ability in our city. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Ellen. Yes. I also want to thank Councilwoman Price for bringing this item forward. I think having access is so important and I've wanted to see expanded access. I'm ADA access to our beaches for a long time especially that goes all the way to the water, not just to like where the lifeguard towers are. I have spoken to city staff and with members of our Citizens Advisory Commission on Disabilities about the need for this. And I announced that I would be supporting such expanded access back in June, starting with the Pride Tower. So I just look forward to greater access at the Granada Beach and to our beaches and just thank you so much, Council on Price and Van de Hoss and also Sylvie for bringing this forward. Thank you. And then just before we start public comment, I just want to also certainly thank everyone that's bringing this forward, but especially I want to thank all the advocates I know that I see just Kim and Decker and so many others that you've been advocating, whether it's been through the commission or just as advocates, not just for this project, but also for so many other projects as it relates to accessibility and making sure that we are accessible for everyone, whether it's playgrounds, whether it's beach access, whether it's fixing infrastructure. So I just want to personally thank you all again for all that work would not be happening without all of you. And then let's go out and call public comment. Think McCain Newby, a florist. Gretchen Swanson and Kim Bong. Please line up. I want to make sure before I speak. I think you mispronounced my name. So you were trying to call Deacon McClain, right? Yes. Sorry about. That. Thank you. I feel like my name has been mentioned quite a bit, so I don't know if I need to come up here. Okay. Good evening. My name is Deacon McClain. I'm a former Citizens Advisory Commission of Disabilities chairperson. I've served for eight years on Cape Cod, and I'm very, very happy to see the council finally taking action on making beaches more accessible. This was an issue that had been discussed and recommendations were written about it. Years ago, but I want to make emphasis. This discussion started in 2017 and it was discussed in at least three or four meetings of key court. And one of those meetings, our Honorable Mayor Garcia was there. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and City Council for supporting beach accessibility and the installation of a moby Mac at the District three Big Beat. Last week you passed the cities for our Global Initiative. So not so let's not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Let this be a beginning for a more accessible and inclusive Brown Beach that includes not only beaches at the waterfront, but also our parks in public spaces. All needs are. This is a necessity. I see the mobile map as the first of many steps, not the only step. It is no longer enough to just be do the minimum, to just be ADA compliant. We need to expand the conversation in action to make our city more inclusive and accessible. We need accessible items like these in. By saying this, James Baldwin said it best. Not everything that is placed can be changed, but nothing could be changed it till it is replaced. And today, council an honorable mayor. Today is the day we are facing you today with this issue. We invite you to face the issue with us and always remember, as it is said in our disability community. Nothing about us without us. Thank you. You'll be a force. I think Kim's going to go next. It's okay. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Kendra and I live in the second district. I also am a member of the Citizens Advisory Commission on Disabilities for the City. A couple of months ago, I saw a post on the new beach playground. I was the person who brought the need for more accessible equipment at the playground and an access mat on the beach to enable people with disabilities and to be able to get to the water safely and comfortably. My own experience illustrates this problem. I am an adult with cerebral palsy and I use a walker for mobility. I have lived on the beach in Long Beach for 11 years, and during that time I have never been able to get to the water on my own because I cannot use my walker in the sand. There are numerous beaches in Los Angeles County that provide access maps. This spring, the county unveiled its latest mat at Venice Beach. In Orange County, Huntington Beach, recently began providing an access map for beachgoers. The cost of the measure would depend on the distance, but judging from the company websites, it probably costs only a few thousand dollars . Mats can be rolled up and stored when the beach is not open and is remanufactured using durable materials that would provide many years of use. According to the U.S. Census, 7% of the population under age 65 has a disability and 11% of the population is age 65 or older. Since many of these residents have mobility issues, providing a beach access mat would be an investment that would benefit potentially thousands of residents and visitors to the city as well. In addition to benefiting people with disabilities, the parents with young children would benefit as well. Average, Matt can provide additional safety for a parent holding their young children. As the sand is difficult to walk in. It also would enable them to use strollers and other build equipment more easily. I feel that an access map can be a benefit to everyone that wants to enjoy the beach. I hope you will support and struggling to access beach mats in Long Beach for people with disabilities. Dan Tehan live in Belmont and they may not be able to get to that beach using public transportation, which many of them rely upon. I would like to also request an access beach map in the Alamitos Beach area. Thank you. Thank you, Kim. Anyway. Let me take off my security blanket. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Nubian Flores and I'm a proud District nine resident and I'm chairperson of the Citizens Advisory Commission on Disabilities. I'm here to ask I'm here to speak in support of agenda item number 24, as the item reads, now that in 30 days you will receive a report back on the feasibility of implementing accessible beach pathways to the water for our residents that require mobility support like wheelchairs and walkers. I would implore, I would implore you to please also lay out actionable and swift steps to have mobility maps at our beaches as soon as possible. These are long overdue and already in use in our neighboring cities. I would also ask that you install these beach mats in at least three of our beaches, at least one in each of the waterfronts that cover districts one, two and three. We cannot just take into consideration we cannot just take into consideration improved accessibility at the beach. We must also consider public transportation and our most accessible walkways to these waterfronts. Take into consideration the travel, time and accessibility for a resident of North Long Beach to Belmont Shores. Let's not just keep being about the minimum. Let's offer options, give residents choices. We know via our Cape Cod Commission that we have approximately 47,000 residents that identify. As having as a. Disability. From children to seniors. Last week you adopted the Cities for All Global Initiative, a pledge that and directive to make public spaces accessible and inclusive. The pandemic has showed us the importance of outdoor spaces like our parks and our beaches. As we continue to make our way back to community. Let's take action and make spaces like our beaches as accessible as possible and do it with urgency. Thank you for taking this first step and thank you, Councilmember Price, for leading this initiative. Thank you to the council members who have taken the time to meet with US Commissioners and listen to the recommendations from our commission. We're in this together. Let's get this done for our residents of Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you to the commission again for all the great work. There is a motion in a second on the items. Swanson. Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. How many more public comments do we have. That can please public comment? Well, that concludes public comment. Did you call another name? Yeah. Sheila. She's not here. Okay. All right, so let's go ahead and take a vote, please. Councilwoman Mongo. Vice Mayor Richardson. Motion carries.