Recommendation to request City Manager to create a $5 million Restaurant, Brewery & Bar Resiliency Fund from the next federal COVID-19 stimulus fund package. This fund could be increased depending on demand and final federal stimulus bill.
Mayor, did you want to go to item 32 as the next item? Item item 30, we'll do item 3248. I think it's 65 and 68 or all equipment related. And hopefully we can try to get through these. And we had a lot of comment. I'll try to get to these pretty quick. Let's start with item 32. Communication from Mayor Garcia, Councilman Price, Councilman Super or not. Councilman Mongo Recommendation to request city manager to create a 5 million restaurant brewery and Bar Resiliency Fund from the next federal COVID 19 stimulus fund package. Great. I'm going to be just just very brief. I think obviously our restaurants, bars and the industry are in great need of additional financial support and obviously not just in Long Beach, but statewide. So there is a big movement in trying to get that support in place. I think especially in this moment where you've seen that big county take action. Here we are. I'm very confident in the conversations I'm having with the Biden administration that there is going to be a strong relief package on its way. There may even be an interim package here in the next couple of weeks, but there will be a significant package come January. And so we're really focused on on that. Looking forward to partnering with our restaurants, have been talking to the Restaurant Association and others, and we will try to get as big of a package put together as possible. And if we're able to do more than 5 million, that would be great as well. So we're going to work hard as best we can. With that, I will pass it on to Councilman Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm happy to sign on in support of this this item. As chair of the Federal Lands Committee, you have my and the council in the city has my full support. The committee will certainly make this a part of our agenda and work to provide as much of economic support for all of those industries, including restaurants, breweries , bars, bars. The employees have been impacted by these unfortunate. Pandemic. So as my full support, I encourage the City Council to support unanimously. Thank you, Councilman. Councilmember Mongo. And they're countering often with that emotion also. Can we get a okay. And a second, councilman. Second? Yep. Thank you. I'm really glad that we did this. I know that when Mayor and I discussed this item, I also brought up the item that he's already put forward for next week. So if you only read this to restaurants, it's just one piece of a big puzzle. There's lots of industries that need help, and we will work tirelessly to make sure that we are in a better position when the next CARES Act funding or whatever it will be named at that time. The next relief package comes forward that we really know and understand the needs of each industry. I recognize that this will not be a quick turnaround. We are really talking about strategies that are going to take 36, 48 or even 60 months to really implement and make sure that we get people back to where they were. So, I mean, the reality is we'll never be exactly where we were, but we want to put people back on their feet and and restore where we are, prosperity as a city. And this will get us there because we are built on small businesses and the workers that work for them. So thank you. Thank you. Customer your income. I'd like them to take an emotion, but I'm fully supportive thinking. Few Council members in Dallas. Councilmembers in the House. Thank you, Mayor. I was talking on mute. Thank you very much, Mayor Burslem. Very happy to have been signed on to this item. I, I really am excited to see this coming forward from. From you, Mayor. I think that this is very, very much needed right about now. So I am I just wanted to say thank you. Let me. Just once again. Yes. So I just want to say thank you again, Mayor, for this item. I think that it's very important that we be very clear in the situation. Long Beach residents and businesses are needlessly suffering due to COVID and without the action of our federal government. We as a city only have so much ability to provide assistance as we try to prevent the spread from this deadly virus. I'm I'm hopeful that the Senate will take immediate action to provide this relief before the end of the year, or else that the incoming administration will act swiftly to allocate these funds to the cities across the country, because we are in dire, dire need of them at the moment. So it gives me hope to hear that maybe there might be something in between now and then to come as a relief aid for our businesses here in Long Beach. So again, thank you, Maria, for leading this effort. And I'm so glad for the work that is being done and for the relationships that you have fostered to ensure that Long Beach has a voice in the state and in the federal and settled leadership. So thank you again for advocating for us and for our businesses here in Long Beach. The good councilwoman, Councilmember Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just just quickly, obviously, I support this, and we are certainly looking forward to whatever relief is is coming down. And we've had good conversation about that. I want to I want to make sure that. You know, like we said earlier, we should be intentional about, you know, our plans and how we measure expectations connected with strategy. And so the Economic Development Committee has been working on and so has staff has been working on some strategies around around restaurant retention. We're hear about that a little bit later, and we're really proud of the progress that we've already done. But I think it's important that whatever resources come down, whether it's 5 million, whether it's 2 million, whether it's $20 million that we we spend it in a way with the greatest impact based on strategy and key performance indicators and data. And staff is already putting together strategy for that. So I want to make sure that that is the best prioritized and connected. So, you know, to Mr. Mayor, you know, as you wrap up, maybe you can speak to that or or maybe even Mr. Modica. You know, I would want to hear what your plan would be. Should, you know, as well as he used to say, manna come from far from heaven. Should man come down, you know, are we going to connect it to the strategies that we're putting in place? And so I think that is the question. Thank you. Thank you. All in all, I'm happy to answer to that, Councilman. Just I think that's right. I think there's there's a restaurant retention plan. I know that the current plans put forward also and we've been discussing and we'll be comfortable will be coming up. And so this is just a tool for on the funding side that absolutely look forward to the council wrapping together as part of a larger, larger strategy. Councilwoman Price. Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you, too, for this item and for allowing me to sign on to this item. And I really do hope that our federal government, under the new administration and I'm very hopeful that they'll be able to come up with a bipartisan plan. And I'm I'm really hoping that to the extent that our federal legislative committee advocacy team can focus on on this is that sometimes these grant dollars come with significant restrictions. And it's very difficult to understand as a business owner how they can be spent and what the limitations are. I really am concerned about the workers, many of whom are out of jobs and no longer receiving unemployment at a level that can sustain the current expenses that they have. So I'm really hoping that there could be really special attention paid when the relief package is is crafted to allow business owners to have clarity on how those those dollars can be spent and what portion of those should be going directly to employees. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and I look forward to the item, and I thank you for bringing it. Thank you. You can go to public comment, please, Madam Quirk, if there is any. Our first speakers, Alex sharing. Thank you, Mayor. Members of the city council, obviously on behalf of the Long Beach Restaurant Association, were supportive of the item. We want to work with city staff and others to make sure that we've got the infrastructure in place ahead of time. As was alluded to, I think, in Councilwoman Price's comments, so that when the tranche of funding is received, hopefully in the second wave of the CARES Act money that we're prepared to deploy, and then we've got those criteria set up so that we can expedite getting that money to the people that it's intended to go to. So very much supportive and appreciate this. I want to thank on behalf of the area in particular Councilwoman Price, Councilwoman Mongo and Councilmember Supernormal for engaging early with the group. I know that we've done a lot of outreach in the last couple of weeks and it's been fluid and I want to thank them in particular. I also want to thank the other city council members who either have been to one of our events or will be upcoming, including Councilman Richardson. I also want to thank City Staff Tom Modica for making himself available last week for an engaged dialog with the Elvira and the board members. And again, look forward to serving as a resource to help set up the criteria for this funding when it comes. So thank you. We're supportive of the item also because I was not able to speak under general public comment. Just want to indulge me for 2 seconds. I want to thank Councilman Andrews for his service and working with him. I think your next speaker is Christine Barth. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Christine Bos and I serve as the government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking today on behalf of our 678 members, representative and representatives and community stakeholders. The funding package is vital to our restaurants and bars, and we appreciate that the fund has been brought forward to council. However, despite our support for this fund, we ask that you please consider consider additional options to help our most vulnerable industries now. Immediate action is needed to save our restaurants and protect the. Financial well-being of our workers. We ask that you also consider financial assistance for personal care services who have been shut down for the. Duration of the regional stay at home order. Like restaurants and bars. The personal care service industry has made significant investments to adapt to the state, county and local health orders despite decreased earnings and limited staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dave Shukla. Dave Chappelle on file. Two quick things. One of the largest recipients of SBA loans to date have had very little to do with keeping the local economy afloat. Workers employed. More people at home. Second troublingly at the federal level. There is a concerted push to put. Liability waivers. Immunity. Pretend we didn't keep spreading the virus when we knew otherwise. And we're making up for it. Whatever the language is, the idea that the people who are responsible for a set of completely failed public policies for over six months now want to skirt responsibility for those actions when they claim to be working in the service of the people of this country who are dying at a rate of, you know, thousands of people a day. That is a bit concerning. And hopefully that can be addressed through the federal legislative committee, not to include any kind of immunity for employers that willingly to start over by EPA regulations, for instance, on COVID. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. And I'll just close by saying to the one speaker we had. Yes, personal care services is coming next week is another front for that. And as well as we know, there's a lot of work ahead of us for recovery. And so thank you to everyone that was involved. I was going to take a roll call vote. District one. At District two and District three. I. District four. I. District five i. District six. District seven. District eight. District nine. High motion carries. Thank you. Item number 48, please. Communication from Council on Mongo Council. Let's do 68 since it's restaurant related and then we'll go back to the dashboard and the health order issue and COVID. So the 68. Then, then 48 and 65.