Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund (GF) in the Legislative Department (LD) by $25,000, offset by the Ninth Council District FY 17 one-time infrastructure funds to be used for events and outreach efforts to support community improvement and beautification projects in the Ninth District through Cycle 2 of the Creative Corridor Challenge.
Yes. Motion carries. Okay, we'll be doing item seven, then hearing item two and then hearing one. Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund and the Legislative Department by 25,000. Offset by ninth Council District f y 17 one time infrastructure funds to be used for events and outreach efforts to support community improvement and beautification projects. Q Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and have a brief presentation. Last week, last year, we partnered with the Arts Council for Long Beach residents, local artists, business owners and property owners to launch the Creative Corridor Challenge. The Creative Corridor Challenge is a community effort to beautify blighted areas throughout District nine corridor through art. We identify the sites most littered with graffiti and most service by graffiti abatement program. And over the course of a nine month period, murals are placed on markets, apartment buildings, other local businesses and properties. Leaving this labeling this project project a success is an understatement and resulted in improvements of spaces along most of our corridors and received positive attention across the region. One of the best the best success stories is the mural at the Golden State, Humane Society and U.S. Storage, which covers about 300 feet. And in the year 2015, the area was tagged with a total of 101 tags and graffiti. And since the mural was installed in February 2016, the sites only been tagged two times. The the six other sites have gone have remained untagged since this project began. Another important component was community engagement. All of the artists that participated were local, and for some of them this was their first opportunity to place large scale artwork in a public space. Hundreds of residents and youth were, you know, were on hand bringing these muralist murals to fruition. So I got new retainers and I'm stumbling a little bit. Many of our volunteers were neighborhood association members, students from Jordan High School and Hamilton Middle School. The project also resulted in a spinoff mural project, an adjacent project that was not funded through us, an adjacent project at the Golden State Humane Society. Through being exposed to the first cycle, some business owners have taken interest in further improving their site and participate in participating in the Facade Improvement Program as a result of this. So it's no secret that District nine residents are eager for the second cycle of the Creative Corridor Challenge. I'm happy tonight to set aside District nine one time funds to to implement Cycle two, and I'll make my motion in a moment. But I want to go ahead and show a quick recap video that highlights the amazing art and community engagement process. And so I want to go ahead and signal to tech services. Any revitalization strategy is going to be successful. It has to have a few elements, which is integrate art. It needs to integrate the local community. It needs to serve a purpose. Working on my mural here for the Creative Corridor Challenge, the title of it is Dreams. Hopefully it'll inspire a few dreams. Public art is such an important type of art because it's in the public sphere and free for everyone to enjoy from his opinions and really helps turn a blank space into a plan. So our mural is the panoramic landscape of Long Beach and the people running, skipping, jumping Long Beach. Actually, someone just today said that he. Lived here his entire life and had seen this. Wall change so many times. But this was the first like proactive change that happened to him. I'm in a place we all like it. Neighbors walking up and down. Looking people with their kids. Telling them about the mural. People who want to be artists telling me that they also love to paint and draw. And it's just been so great. Like every time I do a piece of public art and it gets this kind of reaction, it just makes me so happy. As a child, I was inspired by art, and I think it's really important to continue that domino effect with children. So that's why I decided to paint happy children with bright colors. I think it'll just brighten up the neighborhood and in return, hopefully inspire other children to, you know, just have a great day or want. To do art. And I know from firsthand experience just how important it is and how it creates a cultural capital for the city. Having these pieces of public artwork but also involving community in it, that's a big, important fact that. Made it impossible, which is obviously not that magic too massive to fit the topic. Imagine the reaction to finding out that it's only a grant. I want phenomenal love. I crave more. So when you look at. Somebody, the first thing you see is their eyes and I like to think of it as looking into someone's soul through your eyes. So I wanted to represent that here. What grass makes it possible? That track within the blue band action on the track that we gang like who? That Black Wolf. I never heard of him before. Any kind. Of you. We should thank the use of that we can tag on our walls because what they're. Doing is telling us the areas that need our focus and our attention to art is a way for us to reclaim our. Community and reclaim these void of these local artists. The local needs. When the youth. Jordan High. And the youth from our community and our neighbors. See a quarter transformed with art and beauty, we're going to have more violence in their lives. They didn't know that they took part in that and. They played a role in the collective. Revitalization. The Renaissance is happening in their own neighborhood. This is a. Power at its best and a place to be all the place that is home freed. And we know what we can show feeling in your hands. And your hands. Thank you. Thank you. And I want to just take a moment to thank the artists who participated in the first year's program. So that's Daniel Miller, Daisy Rosas, Guillermo Abalos, Jose Loza, Katy Phillips, Marcel Selle Blanco, Maria marie Young. In tracing the great day in our in our Partners of Arts Council and Squeeze Squeeze Arts Collaborative. And with that, I make the motion as written with one amendment. I'm going to increase it by $10,000 to make sure that we have enough funding for the community outreach and the communications and, you know, all those other activities that go along with this. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a public comment on this, Mr. Geary? Here, please come forward. Larry, could you Clark, as we ask, this is certainly an outstanding program, and I would hope that we see this throughout the city. And to protect these programs that if they're approved, sanctioned by the city. I would have no problem with having a special unit at the Long Beach Police Department trained as Sniper Jones Strange, trained as snipers. And since most tagging is done at night, they can be posted wherever they want on rooftops or whatever, and take the perps out. Period. Thank you. Okay. Next speaker, please. Thank you. Very inappropriate, by the way. That's hard to follow. My name is BURNETT Amazon with the Hamilton Neighborhood Association. I drive by many of. These murals every day. And I got to say, when I drive by a graffiti, I hang my head, get the Long Beach app out, report it and just really upset. But when I drive by these new murals and this art and it makes me happy, it makes the whole neighborhood happy. The whole neighborhood gets together and and, you know, it just it just changes the whole atmosphere of the neighborhood. To have art in place of graffiti. And I just I wanted to come by and show our support for this program. We're very excited to have a second round. Thank you. Next week for. Police. Hi, I'm Jerry Fink with the Hamilton Neighborhood Association. Also, the biggest thing, the biggest positive thing I saw come out of the creative corridor challenges is the involvement from the neighbors, from the whole community getting together and and some people for the first time. And it's just great for a community to get together and create art and make make our neighborhood look better. Thank you. Give a speaker, please. And these will be our last two speakers here in line. Thank you. My name is Ramon. I saw this video. It's an outstanding video. I go through this part of the town a lot. I love seeing the change that's taking place. I just want to give Rex Richardson a thumbs up. This is great. You know, you're doing a great job over there. I think I also saw some some programs that you had that were actually taking advantage of some of the the tree planting stuff that was there. And so I like to compliment the mayor on on some of that stuff as well as well as you. So fantastic. Great job. Thumbs up. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. City Council members and Mayor Garcia. My name is Cynthia Loewen. I am the education and community programs manager at the Arts Council for Long Beach. I am currently project leader for the Cambodia Town Rail Project and it's an initiative to install eight public art murals along the Anaheim corridor along a one mile stretch. And last year, when the creative corridor happened, I was fortunate to be on the mural tour that vice mayor conducted. And I thought it was amazing to see community members visiting all seven murals and experiencing different conversations with the artists. And I'm here today to voice the Arts Council's full support of Vice Mayor's Item for infrastructure funds to support community improvement and beautification through cycle two of the Creative Corridor Challenge. And we know that public art, such as murals, is an important facet to a thriving and vibrant neighborhood. And through the process of facilitating the Cambodian Town Mural Project, I've found that several organizations coming together can really make something beautiful happen. And that's what the Creative Corridor Challenge did last year. And so we hope that this current mural project will meet the expectations that the Creative Corridor Challenge has set. And we invite you to come to our celebration tour in August, Sunday, August 13th. And you can learn more about that project at Art Selby Dawgs Camp. Thank you so much and go Beach. Thank you very much. And our last speaker, please. Ray Gavlak, eighth District Vice Mayor Richardson. I just have to publicly tell you what a fantastic job you are doing. I know that we have been trying to bridge the gap between north and south of Delano for 15 years. And you are making so much happen in uptown. I just I'm very proud of you and I want to publicly support you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, there's a motion and a second. Members, please go ahead and cast your votes. Motion carries. Excellent. Thank you very much. We're we're going to go ahead move on to the hearings. But let's start the meetings here. We're going to do 2/1 and then hearing one. Hearing item two is the pool. Let me go and have the clock read the hearing item.