Recommendation to direct City Manager and City Attorney to provide a report to the City Council on the role of the Council as a legislative body in the implementation and interpretation of the State of California’s health orders in response to COVID-19.
Yes. Much better. Thank you. Vice Mayor. Thank you for telling me that. Okay, fine. Item 16, please. Communication from Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Mango. Recommendation to direct City Manager and City Attorney to provide a report on the role of the Council as a legislative body in the implementation and interpretation of the State of California's health orders in response to COVID 19. Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce, would you like to comment? Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Yes, I want to thank the colleagues of mine who signed on to this item. This is an item that I've actually been thinking about for quite a bit of time now. We have been told since day one of this pandemic in mid-March that the city council really has no standing. To weigh in on the issues regarding the openings and the closures of our small businesses, the conduct prohibitions of our residents in terms of social distancing and mask wearing at that, and that those issues are within the exclusive sovereign purview of the health department. Now we've been told that, and I think as a council we have heeded that guidance and we have all been extremely respectful of that directive. However, all around us, we have seen cities and other legislative bodies take action on issues related to the health orders, whether it be mask wearing requirements, whether it be the opening and closure of certain business sectors. Or whether it be the opening and closure of certain recreational opportunities. Now, while I understand the importance and the need for us to make sure that the pandemic is at the forefront of our thoughts and our policy making, and the public safety and and public health of our residents is at the forefront of our decision making. I brought this item because I want further clarification on why it is that the Long Beach City Council cannot weigh in on issues which seem to be issues that other city councils and legislative bodies are weighing in on. And so I'm asking for a report back from the city attorney with a legal clarification of why it is that the city council cannot be at the table when we're talking about openings, closures, mask requirements and other such things that we are seeing other legislative bodies throughout the region weigh in on. And so that's the background of this item. And really it's more of an educational item than anything else. I think all of us on the city council want to defer to our city manager, want to defer to our city attorney and our health department to lead us. But we are in a situation where we have businesses that are literally having to shut their doors forever, incurring major debt in order to be able to pay their bills. And we are not in any position to help them. We are powerless, according to the city manager and the city attorney, to help them in any way. And if that is truly the case, then I'd like to understand why other legislative bodies are able to take some actions that we cannot. So that's kind of where this comes from. And I look forward to our report back and hearing from my colleagues and any public comment there might be on this item. Thank you, Councilwoman Rice. First of all, we do counsel phone. So I want you to queue up. It's so good to hear from someone. Let's come here. Councilman Mongo. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you. I appreciate Councilman Pryce joining on this item. And I know that this is something that I brought up repeatedly at our COVID briefings and I brought up twice that council. I don't believe that it is our responsibility to only follow the leadership of the city manager. We are to lead. And quite frankly, I don't believe that the citizens of Long Beach feel as though certain individuals who have no accountability to the residents should be making these types of decisions. I also feel as though the scope of what needs to be brought back needs to include the amount of resources that we as a council have authorized for enforcement of policies. We may not agree with that have no bearing on the health of our community or our, and actually may have even more detrimental help to the health of our. Three. And therefore, I would love to know more about what discretion we have in terms of what resources, local resources are being used to enforce policies that I believe are unfairly applied across the region. Thank you. To. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yeah, I think I'm on this item because I agree that we need to have something in writing. I know that we've gotten lots of memos and lots of discussion. I know as a council member, the second district, we have tons of small businesses. I know it's been extremely tough on them, but I also know that, you know that our death rate is a death rate and that we are trying to balance the health and well-being of every single resident before anything else. And I think that from what I've heard from places like L.A. and people that have visited Long Beach from L.A. during this time is that language has actually done more and done it quicker than some of these other areas. So, you know, I've heard from them. I've also read a couple of letters from our Board of Health. I forget the proper name of it, but I know that they've issued a letter to us as council members asking us to strengthen the mask law. And so I you know, I just wanted to speak and say that I signed on to this item so that we can get something in writing. I do know that our city charter is different from other cities. I know that this is not an easy task or job that anybody wants. None of our city staff wants to tell a business that they can't open. It impacts all of our bottom line. So with that, I look forward to seeing that report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. So anyone else like to speak on this item is. Thank you, vice mayor. This is Councilwoman Sunday has I too wanted to say that thank you to Councilmember Price for bringing this item forward. I think it's very, very important that we have a presentation on exactly what it is that, you know, us as as a group can can do and cannot do. I think that, you know, there's certain orders that are in place. And I do believe that those orders are in place to protect our residents and the health of our residents and actually the life of each individual that is living here in the city of Long Beach. I also know that there are so many businesses that are closing down and not being able to afford to pay their bills or to stay open, or who cannot who cannot open because they cannot rely on only the 25% capacity that that is allowed. But I think that, you know, I think that having a presentation and having something in front of us to give us guidelines of what what is happening and who is, you know, who has the authority to implement or dictate certain rules, I think is important. So I look forward to hearing report back from the city, the city staff. And thank you again for for this item and for those that signed on. Thank you also. Thank you. I want to mention that is there anyone else like I speak on this of. Is he in there? No one else wants to speak on it. Do I have a second for this afternoon? Price. I believe we might have some public comment. Excuse me. I was going to go check in that. I was going to get a second and go to any further comment. On the targets that they have queued up. Okay. Do I have a second on this? Yes. CD five as a second go. Okay, fine. Okay. Good. Is it now? Is there any public comment on this site? Yes. Our first speaker is Clarissa Bauer. Good evening. My name is Clarissa Bower. I'm a resident living in the third district and I am the owner of Nine around Long Beach, a small 1600 square foot kickboxing studio on Naples Island in the third district. We have been in business for almost three years and have been voted the best gym in Long Beach two years in a row. We are an active supporter of the Long Beach community and sponsor Special Olympics, Southern California and other charitable causes in the local community every year. Due to the COVID 19 restrictions placed on gyms, our revenue has decreased by 60% since the same time last year in 2019. I've lost half of my team of trainers in order to cut expenses. I'm losing my manager at the end of this month because he's going to work in Orange County where he can get more hours. Our PBP loans, loan funds were extended in June. That was four months ago. The idle advance wasn't even enough to cover one month's rent here on Naples Island, and the multiple shutdowns of the gyms this year has helped me tens of thousands of dollars in membership refunds. We have tried virtual zoom workout and outdoor workouts, but neither of these options provide the workout experience and equipment our members originally signed a membership agreement for. As a result, we have lost 40% of our membership since March, with daylight hours dwindling and weather turning cooler as fall approaches. We continue to receive more and more member cancelations every day. The nine round franchise is the largest kickboxing franchise in the world, with more than 700 locations globally. The franchise has established COVID 19 operational adjustments to our business model to provide a safe and clean workout environment for everyone. As the sole owner for the sole sole owner for the nine round Naples Island location, I am prepared to implement these safety guidelines and any protocols put forth by the city of Long Beach in order to reopen my small business. It is well known through research that exercise strengthens the immune system and supports mental health. These benefits are essential to help protect the people of Long Beach from the health risks of the COVID 19 virus and to counter the mental stress often experienced due to isolation and confinement conditions with which we are currently faced with no planned reopening of Long Beach Fitness Studios. In the near term, the sustainability of our business is in serious doubt and the city of Long Beach risks losing the positive contribution that many small fitness studios are making towards the health and wellness of our community. For these reasons, I assert that the benefits fitness studios provide to help protect against the potential harm of COVID 19 far outweigh the risk that gyms will contribute disproportionately to COVID 19 infections compared to other businesses that have been allowed to reopen today. As a small business owner, a health and fitness advocate and an active supporter of our Long Beach community, I ask the city council to approve this recommendation. Thank you. Thank you. Your next speaker is Dave Shukla. So how about the Dodgers? Shukla, third district. I appreciate the councilwoman who brought this forward. It is important to have specificity. I think something that might be able to add in specificity is a lot of the work to be done. Examining the impact. Also who's spreading the virus. Which politics are directly responsible. For community spread. I mean, a lot of people have put a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice in addiction, you know, making sure they inadvertently don't, you know, kill someone they love. All that effort. I mean, in other countries, you know, it's kind of amazing that, you know, like Vietnam, uh, completely outperformed us on dealing with the virus. New Zealand, Singapore. I mean, name of police. Name a place. Why is it that this business run autocratic, increasingly authoritarian society just happened to decide right before Mayday? Oh, let's just support people back to work before, you know. They have a chance to decide. They don't even really need this economic system in the first place. We don't need a permanent world economy, and we don't need all the climate forcing activities that we know are responsible for the uptick in respiratory virus. Through through an transmission, through the land use and through choices that we make or we force other people to think that's the way to be American. I mean, who do you think the ultimate. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is David Rosette. Yes. Good evening, Mayor and City Council of Long Beach. My name is David Rosette and I am the owner of Naples Fitness Private Training Studio, located in just District three on Second Street. We currently have two leased storefronts that we are unable to open and operate. We have been in business for 14 years and we have always been an appointment based business. We focus on clinical style, personal training, mobility and therapy. We work very closely with orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, chiropractors to successfully continue rehabilitation programs for patients that are pre and post OP. This closure has negatively affected many of our members and clients who rely on us to help them feel better physically, mentally and emotionally. With regard to PPE, we have spent thousands of dollars on our PPE supplies, remodeling, plexiglass partitions, signage, air purification systems, sanitizer for the equipment, as well as touchless dispensers throughout the studio. We were open successfully for three weeks in June, and then we were then shut down again by the mandate. I personally visited physical therapy and chiropractic clinics in Long Beach to see how they are operating. They are not even doing half of the things that I just mentioned above which we were doing prior to the second shutdown . They have more people and less square footage, and some are not even using antibacterial soap in their bathrooms, distancing protocol and or allowing ample time for the disinfectants to set on surfaces to be effective. But they are deemed essential and we are not. Therefore, they are safe and we are not. There needs to be a clear plan that sets studios like mine apart from big box gyms that would allow 1500 to 2000 members in each and every day. Our normal operation would allow for 30 to 40 people maximum per day to be in the studio and to be in there safely. We are not a large membership based gym. We are a private one and one facility that can easily open up at 25% capacity with 2 to 3 clients and trainer's maximum at a time, allowing for 25 feet of space minimum between clients and allowing trainers to keep a safe distance. All people inside of my facility would be distance and mask on machines and touch surfaces disinfected after use from every client, and appointments would be staggered by 15 minutes to ensure ample time to clean and maintain six people or less within the studio. With our appointment based scenario, which we've always operated by, we can control the flow of clients as well as the narrative within the studio. There has been so much harm to the industry, to individuals and to businesses alike. Due to these shutdowns, we've acquired personally tens of thousands of dollars in debt, in leasehold payments that cannot be paid back at this time. And believe me, our landlords want their money now. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lisa Campbell. Honorable Mayor and City Council. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you, Councilwoman Price, for bringing this agenda item to light. Collectively, I invite you all to pause, take a nice, deep breath with me. Inhale. And that's how. My business has been closed since March 17th and yes, we are still closed. That marked seven months. We are Lisa and Casey Campbell. And for 25 years, 25 years. We have proudly served our community as small business owners, as residents, and now as a landlord. We are Executive Fitness, a private fitness studio located in the third district in Naples. We offer one on one private personal training by appointment only. Even prior to COVID, we always have. We always will. I echo David's sentiments. We are not a big box gym. During the very brief three weeks we were allowed to reopen, our clients returned with sheer jubilation. It was amazing. And no one got sick. We followed the mandate. We invested thousands of dollars in providing a safe, clean environment for everybody. We followed states, L.A. County and Long Beach City mandates. In fact, we had a surprise inspection by the Health Department on a Saturday, and they checked us off as a safe facility, only to have the state shut us down three days later. It was devastating again. The loss of business revenue, personal income, payroll and jobs due to the shutdown in our industry are irreparable. One mile away from my brick and mortar studio, fitness facilities are open one mile away. We have lost many clients to Orange County due to this. Orange County is reaping the benefits financially. Due to this demand. The rapid decline in mental health and wellness of the clients we serve is devastating. Site's cleanliness. A healthy body is the best defense against COVID. Yes. Yet the state has stopped this essential business. And I feel, as do my colleagues in our industry, we are essential. We do not have outdoor space to provide services adjacent to our facility and asking our physically challenged client one, which is who my husband as a physically challenged athlete and business owner and seniors to train in the park is completely unsafe, discriminatory and a huge liability risk. City Council member. As I know you can make a difference. We're shot down like amusement parks. And trust me, nobody says I'm a sign of the small world, but I guarantee it's a great ride. Our Health Department has the ability to provide mandates for our industry to reopen. If our city can do things differently than the state and even L.A. County, the results would be dramatically different. So please send on over those health orders. Thank you. Our next speaker is Michael Neufeld. Thank you. This is Mike Neufeld. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm the owner of the Gaslamp Restaurant over in the third district, and I'm also a founding member of the Long Beach Restaurant Association, comprised of restaurants throughout the city. And I just have to say, it just continues to break my heart, hearing all these stories from from all of these fellow business owners here on this particular item. And I think the focus of this item, as I understand it, is really to create an all hands on deck sense of urgency to resolving the issues that really pertain to the city of Long Beach and our response to the COVID 19 pandemic. It's critical, I think, that our city council members have access to all of the information that is available out there and also have a strong voice in the policy making and decision making as pertains to, in our particular case, the small businesses and the community as a whole. That seems like, you know, obvious to me. All of the council members. And I know whenever the opportunity in the pleasure of meeting most of them, they have their feet on the ground, they have the ear to the ground. They speak to the small business owners regularly. They know what we're going through. And to learn how powerless they really are in terms of helping the city make decisions and getting us open, getting the gyms open, getting the restaurants back on track here, getting us inside is very disheartening, and I think it's a great opportunity to fix that. And it's an all hands on deck crisis we are facing right now. Everybody's as someone informed earlier, everybody's cheap money has run out. Not all businesses have the opportunity to be partially open and the ones that are partially open like mine are all in the red, have incurred enormous losses. There are 48 people in the hospital. As of the latest weekly stat on COVID, the numbers never exceeded, from what I understand, 110 to 120 and Long Beach at a 460,000 people. We have to get open and we have to save our city and we have to save our economy. So please empower the city council members to help us do that. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Tiffany Davey. Good evening, Honorable. Vice Mayor. City Council. I'm glad that this item is coming before council. It's my belief that we are in. A national emergency. I definitely empathize with all of the business owners who have spoken before. But I know pursuant to California Government Code Section 8625, the governor may proclaim a state of emergency in the area affected by a natural and intentional disaster when he's requested to do so. I'm also aware that the City of Los Angeles published the resilient Los Angeles in March 2018, a booklet with 96 action for combatting pending disasters of various scale, including pandemics. Also, the role of a City Council officer and public safety emergency coordinator is also a document that governs City Council to operate within a continuity of government continued operations, district, field operations, office operations, recovery planning, the notification system. It's also my understanding that Section 85, 58, Section C, Chapter seven, Division one, Title two, Government Code also kind of outlines this. I know that in the case of disaster communication, there is a national incident management system. And we, I believe since the eighties have the state emergency management system. There are going to be uncomfortable moments during crisis. And I my heart is with everyone during this time. But I do again, I look forward to this report coming back. I also look at 2013 covering government code for the emergency operations board as well, and the MDA established the city ordinance in 2000. That really led to a comprehensive role for a city council office. So I look forward to the next discussion. Thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. Any comments on this, Mrs. Price? I, Mr. Vice Mayor? I mean, the only thing that I would add is hopefully the report can include some sort of guidance for the council, because we're seeing a lot of disparity in the types of businesses that we're allowing to open. We started the conversation last week and hopefully the city manager and city attorney got a flavor of what some of our concerns are. If it's the conduct that we're prohibiting because we're concerned about the threat of the pandemic being spread between individuals, and that conduct should be evaluated across all sectors. The sectors that are allowed to open should not be determined based on the power of their lobbying or advocacy efforts, but rather the kinds of conduct that's engaged in and the threat of spread of the virus. In that conduct, if the conduct is dangerous, then precautions should be taken to limit the spread in that conduct, but not where that conduct can take place, because it's the conduct that we're trying to limit because of a public health crisis. So if the city attorney and city manager can please weigh that into the report that comes back, we very much appreciate it. It's getting increasingly more difficult to explain to our businesses why certain conduct is allowed in one setting and not in another. It seems incredibly unfair. And so we want to make sure that as a council we have the words, the verbiage, the justification, the legal parameters that allow us to either weigh in or not weigh in. So thank you very much. And yes, we'll certainly include that. I do agree. I think this will be very helpful. There's a lot of things that may not make sense to somebody who's just, you know, trying to understand what it is that is allowed and not allowed. There's things that the city regulates, but a lot of it is based on state law and what we're allowed to even consider or not under our health orders. So we welcome that opportunity to help provide some clarity on that and try to explain some of the thinking that is coming down from the state health officials. May just add, Mr. Vice Mayor, to that point, I'd love the report to include what options we have as a council to advocate with the state, because now we're going to be allowing tattoo parlors. Which is great. I think that's great. I want to allow them to open. They've reached out to us, but it's very, very difficult to justify to people how a conduct that might involve piercing of skin, for example, is more dangerous than other conduct that's prohibited. So if we can advocate and get some understanding from the state on how those determinations are made and perhaps advocate for different industries, I'd like to know what tools we have as a council. So thank you. Thank you very much, Counselor Price. Okay. Is there any kind of. Could we please call for the vote, please? District one. I. District two. District two. District three. I. District four. I. District five. I. District six. By. District seven. I. District nine. All right. I'm urging you. Thank you. There's any does anybody have any closing remarks? We can't person has any closing remarks. Okay. Fine, I do. Tonight I would like to welcome. Delicious. 1909. Ice is spicy. Ice spicy and nice into the sixth district.