Recommendation to discuss the possible transfer of the operation and control of “Pier H” (including the Queen Mary) from the City Council to the Harbor Commission; request Harbor Commission to review and consider acceptance of the transfer of Pier H as outlined in the memo from the City Attorney, dated March 10, 2021; and request City Manager to work with Harbor Department staff on providing necessary information and documentation for review and to report back to the City Council in 60 days.
Great. Thank you very much. Item 18, please. Item 18 Communication from Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Zendaya's and Councilwoman Price recommendation to discuss the possible transfer of the Operation and Control Pier eight from the City Council to the Harbor Commission. Great. Thank you. Let me turn this over to Councilman Allen. Thank you, Mayor. I am proud to introduce this agenda item and explore the possibilities of transferring power to the Harbor Commission. I want to make sure that the discussion is public and transparent. And tonight's discussion is a first step to beginning these transparent conversations. Public engagement is going to be key. And this process. Staff will come back with a report with detailed recommendations as well as next steps. I would like to thank my colleagues, Councilwoman Pryce and Councilwoman Cindy Haas, for signing onto this item. And also just a special thank you to Councilwoman Price for all of her efforts over the years on this on this topic. I believe that our harbor department is well equipped and experienced to handle leases and development on the pier on the piers. I also transfer locally appointed harbor commissioners to represent our community's best interests. Our city attorney has carefully looked over the legality of this discussion, and he says that there are no legal impediments to the discussion. I have also talked to up to the hotels and the event venues on here H and a question they have is how specifically the city and the harbor will manage their permits and developments, inspections and just other items related to the hotel and the event uses uses. So I would please request and kindly ask that staff include this in the report and work with the hotels and the event venues. I look forward to hearing back with more information on the analysis in 60 days. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank Councilman Allen for bringing this forward. It's been a true pleasure to get to work on the issues surrounding specifically the Queen Mary and the site with her since she joined the council. And I want to commend her on how proactive as she has been on this topic. And again, it's been it's been a true pleasure for me to work alongside her as we think about the future of of the ship and, of course, the land around the ship. And the one thing I wanted to ask is I just wanted to ask counsel our staff, as we move this project over to the harbor department, I just want to make sure that the stakeholders that are in that area are consulted regarding future developments and just make sure that they have a seat at the table in terms of what future development of Pier H can look like, what type of uses, because I just want to make sure that we're being as creative as possible. I think we all understand that that is a very, very valuable city asset and we want to see it realized to its fullest potential. Not just the ship, but the land is really what I'm talking about. And I hope that Councilwoman Allen is okay with that. I just want to make sure that the stakeholders have a seat at the table in terms of potential development opportunities and partnerships. And that's all I wanted to share. Thank you. Let me go to I believe we have one member of the public. They want to speak. Yes, we have Michelle Grubbs. Hi. Good evening. Good evening, Mayor. City Council members. My name's Michelle Grubb, and I'm the vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. Operation of the Queen Mary for the last 29 years have passed through multiple organizations, resulting in disappointment, bankruptcies and failure. Now, almost 30 years later, the city wants to transfer it back to the port with an estimated repair cost of $289 million. The audit report, released last week by the city auditor regarding the lack of documentation of 23 million in repairs is another example of the disappointing history and only heightens our concern based on specific goals from . Garcia and Governor Newsom. The Port of Long Beach is transitioning to zero emission. The port's Clean Air Action Plan estimates it will cost $14 billion to transition equipment and infrastructure to zero emissions over the next decade. The tenants and customers of the port are struggling to find a way to transition to zero emissions and remain a competitive gateway. In addition, the port's priority is to develop an $800 million Pier B rail yard, which is critical to achieve their environmental goals and attract discretionary cargo. Both of these major investments will take the focus of the management team to ensure the port is a successful economic engine. Moving forward, the port has a world class management team and international trade, not in overseeing hotel and tourist attractions. These are fundamentally different skill sets, the city attorney memo states. Since 1992. Two things have changed that support the transfer pier back to the harbor. First, primary port use has been developed as a cruise facility. And second, the Port Master Plan has an increased focus on visitor serving and recreational uses. These two items are not new. In fact, in the 1998 Port Master Plan, Section six, it says the goal for the Queensway Bay Planning District meet demand for appropriate visitor service facilities and recreational activities and develop a cruise facility. It's time for an honest discussion of whether this ship is a viable attraction to MSA request. The city undergo a structural and environmental survey before a discussion about transferring it to the port of Long Beach. The costs and liabilities involving the Queen Mary need an independent and transparent process and need to address how the port will also be able to meet their zero emission and Pier B financial goals. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Think you were going to go have to go back to the counsel. I'm going to make a couple of comments now that the motion has been made. And then let me I'll turn it back over to those that are chewed up before I commented. Councilman's in the house when it was on item. I want to comment first and then I'll go after. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say thank you to Councilmember Allen and Councilmember Price for bringing this this item also forward. And I think it's it's very timing. I and I think that we it's a great thing that we're actually exploring the possibility of transferring it to the Harbor Commission. Like like we said, they are very, very capable of being able to handle this. So I'm excited to see what that possibility looks like in the near future. So thank you. Thank you. But I just wanted to just to add of course, I want to thank first just Councilwoman Allen. You kind of just came right in and I know are very interested in taking on this challenge, and we appreciate that. I just wanted to uplift both you and something, Councilman Price. And Councilman Price. I also just want to thank you. I think you've been very active in this work, and so it's been great to see both you and Councilwoman Allen engaged and really trying to come up with some positive solutions moving forward. So I just want to thank you, Councilman Pryce, also for your extensive work, particularly around all the title of work that we're doing. I just wanted to uplift something. I think it's important just to note, obviously, I think we know that prior to the early 1990s, all the Pier H was under that kind of leadership of the Harbor Department of City One, which of course the harbor department is still part of the city of Miami Beach. But of course it is a separately run, a special department by operated by its own commission. The appearance, of course, is more than just the Queen Mary. We are talking, of course, about the park. We're talking, of course, about the Carnival Cruise Line terminal, the enormous amount of land that exists. Absolutely, of course. And the all the land around the block development opportunity land around around the Queen Mary. But also there's incredible hotel and tourism properties that are all on the same site. And so pure H, as a reminder, is broad. It's a it is a pier. And I think one thing that I'm in the conversations with Councilman Price and Councilman Allen have you know, we've discussed is that the folks who manage Piers are the best in our city is our harbor department. And they they they don't know this work. They do this work. And so I think this is a really an important just first step in getting information back from staff on how this would what this would look like, what a transfer could entail, and then getting the council engaged in that process, of course, and I know that throughout this process, I know that the Council and I are committed to ensuring that the city auditor remains an active partner in this process. She, she and we have discussed and she has discussed this possible port transfer as well with Councilmember Allen and others. And I know that she is supportive of exploring this as an option as well. I mean, as is the port and I've been I've had some conversations with our our chief executive there, and he's looking forward to doing the research and then working with the city to put some more information in front of the council and in front of the Harbor Commission, which I think is the most important thing, to just want to thank everyone for their from gathering committee to kind of gathering this information. And with that, let me turn it over to Vice Mayor Richardson. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to take a minute and offer my support, I think. You know, we're a city that's blessed and fortunate to have a harbor department. And although none of the nine members of the city council, the mayor, where we're here for the discussions about acquiring the Queen Mary here to Long Beach, I think it doesn't preclude us from exploring what I think makes a lot of common sense. Aligning the Queen Mary, a ship with a department whose main business is ships and the tide lands in the harbor and all that. So. So I think that certainly makes a lot of sense. And I wanted to offer my support. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Councilmember Oranga. Thank you, Barry. And I want to thank the council members who stand up to this is very important for the Queen Mary in terms of its future. And I think it's a brighter future when it's with poor language. I also want to make a note that the it's within it's going to be before it is actually and always has been within the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission, of which I serve. And I'd be more than happy to actually support any project that's there that I know that going to be coming forward in development when it comes to the Queen Mary and any other items that come before that your age. So looking forward to continuing the development of the Queen Mary and. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Austin. Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to just congratulate my colleague, council member Alan, for hitting the ground running and taking really the bull by the horns and taking on a tough issue, a challenging issue, an issue that has been a challenge for the city council for many, many years. I'll just say it is very refreshing to have a clear eyed council member who is engaged, particularly on this issue of the Queen Mary. So salute you for that. And I really support innovative thought when it comes to problem solving and dealing with our challenges. And I think I see this as a as an innovative concept. I'm looking forward, obviously, to getting all of the details back and and encouraging our staff to do the great work that they do around this and understanding what the details are. But but I certainly support this moving forward to to studying this. And hopefully we get to a place, a better place with that asset here in our city. And I'll just mention that I don't see too much separation between the Harbor Commission and the city of Long Beach. I'm looking out my office at the Harbor Commission. They're very much connected with the City of London. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Thank you. Many know from discussions in closed session over the years that district residents, while far from the port, do have a passion for the Queen Mary and the history that comes with it. I mean, many of their ancestors that came over on the Queen Mary and we're excited to see a new opportunity and are very supportive of this item. Thank you. And with that we will go ahead and do a Rokakis. Councilwoman sandy has. I. Councilwoman Allen. I. Councilwoman Pryce. I. Councilman Sabina a bona. Fide. Councilwoman. Mongo. I. Councilwoman Sara. I. Councilmember Oranga. I. Councilman Austin. Hi. Vice Mayor Richardson. All right. Bush and Kerry's. Thank you. Now we're moving on. We're going to do all the final transfer items in one item and then we'll read them all and do comment. Those are items 14, 15, 16 and 21, unless there's any objection. Those are all the points transfer items. We'll do those all as one item. This is here. Any objection from the council? I do not. Madam Clerk, please read 14, 15, 16, 17 and 21.