Recommendation to respectfully request City Manager to work with the Gateway Cities Council of Governments (GCCOG) to form an Artesia Boulevard Corridor Committee and develop an Artesia Boulevard Corridor Master Plan.
It's item 35 with it's a recommendation from the office of Councilmember Rex Richardson, Councilmember Roberto Ranga and Councilman Al Austin with a recommendation to request city manager to work with the Gateway City's Council of Governments to form an Artesia Boulevard Corridor Committee and develop an Artesia Boulevard Corridor Master Plan. Councilor Richardson, Thank you. So the hours late, I want to acknowledge Executive Director Dick Powers for for being here tonight. The Artesia corridor is an incredibly important corridor. It's an alternative to the alternative to the 91, the 91 corridor. And when you look at Alameda all the way to Orange County, you've got the cities of Compton, unincorporated Rancho Dominguez. You've got about three miles of Long Beach. You've got a you've got Bellflower, Lakewood and Cerritos. And so we have a unique opportunity here to join those cities in doing those agencies and begin a discussion about the long term vision of this corridor. We've had a discussion with with the COG, and they are fully prepared to step up and quarterback this process for us with Long Beach solidly in leadership. So I'd like to ask Mr. Powers just to give us some remarks. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. Council members, before Mr. Power speaks. I've just got to throw a shout out. Dick and I have worked together for a very long time in Paramount. Dick is one of my mentors. He's been the executive director for 20 years since it's been founded. He's been a city manager at Garden Grove in Norwalk and the Paramount redevelopment director for a long time in Paramount. So Dick, welcome to Long Beach. And Dick is also in line to be president. That's right. I would say the most important parts of it. He lives in Long Beach. Every resident of the second District. Yes. Thank you, Pat, for the kind words. Kevin Richardson and I met and he was ironically advancing an immediate solution to our first project. Which one was going to go first? So that's our teachable moment. For the longest time, you know, the Congress done the highway corridor planning and funding. We were tasked originally through federal legislation to do subregional planning, and that includes all the highways which we've focused on for the last decade or more 1791, six two, five, four or five. The COG is also the funding conduit for those regional projects. The Artesia. Boulevard Corridor will be the first one, along with the Florence quarter and to the north where we would take much of the what we learned of this over 17 and 1965 corridors having a policy committee of elected officials a where each city. There everybody at the table. And the public works officials all performing attack. One of the big. One of the things we. Have learned in our 20 years with this large base of. 28 cities. Plus three case supervisors districts, if we have 100% consensus and a plan, we've always gotten the money and there is always be a first that that's. MTA give us allocate. Us. $8. Billion of measure over time. So that's the pattern which we would use in the Artesia quarter. All of the usual. Engineering. Issues of the quarter would be looked at capacity, lane improvements, esthetics, landscaping, lighting. But we're also adding a new component, Complete Streets, which would include including pedestrian and bicycle planning in that mix. There's a concept called first mile, last mile where street designs now would look at how does the how does the homeowner get from home to the bus stop, say, about last mile? So the. Street would then take. That into consideration. It may be just as simple as having a bike rack at the bus stop so that the person that lives within a radius can walk to not get the car out of the garage at all, to go walk from home to the bus stop. So all those things will be taken into account in our cheeseboard for the first time in the Cox Regional Planning Process. That's pretty much all I have to say. If there's any other questions, we're ready to go. Thank you. I just don't think I made the motion so, so moved. Because when the motion in a second comes from Boston. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Powers, for being here. And during this meeting, as long as you have. He is a true man of wisdom, and we appreciate his great leadership on the Gateway Cities card. I'm on the caucus as a city representative, as is Councilmember O'Donnell, and I believe Councilmember Urunga will be joining in his place very, very soon. I look forward to supporting Councilmember Richardson's vision along with the other cities along Artesia Boulevard, because it is certainly a vital arterial for for for many of the cities in this region. And so I look forward to working with you on that. Likewise. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good to see you again, Dick. Okay. There's been a motion on the floor. Please cast your vote. To make her the motion in the second. Yes. Okay, Rick. Cindy, thank you. Thank you. Motion carries eight votes. Yes. Thank you. Now, do the second public comment period. If there's any, please come forward.