Recommendation to approve naming the Small Business Development Center located at 309 Pine Ave., the Shaun Lumachi Innovation Center.
Next up is Ishinomaki Center, then language access, then recreational pot. So, Madam Clerk, can you please read item 25? Item 25 is a communication from Councilwoman Gonzalez. Recommendation to request that the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee consider renaming the Small Business Development Center, located at 309 Pine Avenue, the Sean Lamouchi Innovation Center. Slow Maki. But that's okay. Sorry. It's okay. Councilman Gonzalez. Yes, I first want to. But does LaMarche for being here. Desiree, Jeremy Harris from the Chamber and Dave Summers for being here as well. I had a idea about a few years back that, you know, unfortunately, our Small Business Development Center right on Pine Avenue, third and pine was very underutilized. And the whole mission regionally was to ensure that we had business and entrepreneurs that were able to access it for resources, training, workshops, what have you. And it's done, but at a very light level. And so it's in my district and a lot of people said, you know, we got to do something else. And so in thinking about Shawn and everything he stood for, and I'll I'll read his bio in a moment. This absolutely sounded like the right thing to do is name this after someone who embodied, helping and supporting businesses and entrepreneur, an entrepreneurial spirit himself and someone that really was a testament to that. So Shawn was actually raised in the Bay Area, but began his career in 2002 as the vice president of government affairs for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. He then started his own consulting business Chamber Advocacy, cofounded the Long Beach Post and was an active member of the Long Beach community, serving as a member of nearly a dozen nonprofit boards. Shawn had an innovative mind and continued his commendable work until his last day while he was on a business trip in Florida. Unfortunately, he passed away. Shawn's life was revolved around one quote What's next? And we believe that renaming the current Small Business Development Center after Shawn is what would be next in honoring his life. We received many letters of support from both the Long Beach Symphony Opera and Children Today, which were just two of the boards that Shawn served on. The others include the chair of the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network. He was also a board member of Community Hospital, a board member of Long Beach City College Foundation. I think he just was a board member of everything in the city. It seems like Arts Council member, board member for the Playhouse, US Vets, Early Childhood Education Business Advisory Committee in Leadership, Long Beach and an Alumni for Young Leaders Organization. So many things that he did. And I again want to thank Desiree for being here. I know she is absolutely amazing for sticking with us through the night. But when he was around and I knew him, of course, through then council member and Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, he was someone that it was absolutely a joy to work with and someone that, again, really embodied everything that this innovation center will be. And we'll actually see the logistics and operations of what that center will look like in about another month through June. Keisler. So I would like to thank John Keisler and Sergio for helping us put this into fruition. And we'll start to see a center that is seven days a week. Entrepreneurship. Think young STEM classes. Think low cost opportunities for seniors and youth and families. And that's exactly what downtown needs. So thank you very much. Thank you. Councilman Pierce made a second to the motion. Yes. I just wanted to congratulate Councilmember Gonzalez and the family for being able to celebrate somebody that I didn't get to know very well. But the stories run deep. And I remember, unfortunately, the day that that he passed away in the feeling in the community. And I think that his legacy is going to follow through with the center and just welcome and congratulations. Links. Thank you, councilman mongo. I think that this is a very fitting opportunity to name something that's really in line with a person's vision and mission and to really memorialize them in our city. And I think that this is an amazing opportunity. And I know that when we name things after people, we often get people prone against. But I think that the tone of the evening and how many people are here in support and how many emails we've received in support really demonstrates the legacy that Shaun had so excited to support this. Thank you very much, Richardson. Thank you. And just wanted to chime in and say the work lean on the we talked about this and you worked hard and really thought about this and and you know and I know he was a good friend, too, to Robert. And a lot of us knew him and learned from him. I remember my first time meeting him was in student government and he was, I think, the keynote speaker like to do two different years in a row at our CSA conference. And when I got to work for the city of Long Beach as Steve Mills chief of staff, he was actually a part of our planning committee when we started our first job summit and we did that for three years. So he helped to sort of shape it in his role as chair of the Pacific Gateway, yet another board. He was who he was on as chair of the Pacific Gateway Board. So, you know, in learning from him and sort of working with him, and he definitely left an impact and made a made an impact on a whole generation of leaders here in our here in the city. And I think that means a lot. And so I stand in full support of naming the center aftershow on the marquee and what he represents. Thanks. Thank you. I'm going to go to a thread, any public comment, and then I'll close and say some words after the public. Public comment. Okay. Seeing seeing on the let me let me go ahead. Before we vote, I would just say that I think Councilman Gonzales did a great job of kind of telling you a little bit about about Sean and his story. And there's a few things I just would would lift up out of that. Obviously, when Councilman Gonzalez began telling folks, including myself, that she was planning on naming this innovation center that we're creating after after Sean, I immediately was like, Well, that's perfect because he was everything that the center and that everything was center, everything that you want the center to be, everything that the community wants the center to be was really representative of what Sean was about. I want to highlight just a couple of things. The first is a lot of people don't realize Sean's vision in creating the Long Beach Post, the Long Beach Post to to this day tell stories that no other publication is telling is often has a a viewpoint that some might call progressive, others others will call diverse. But I think it covers a lot of of stories that aren't being covered. And I appreciate his vision in creating that organization and leading it. I also there are very few people in the community that did more for the Long Beach Unified School District leading the foundation and raising hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars for for kids and preschoolers and in books. And the list goes on and on. And Sean and he did that for many, many years. And he is a huge part of the Long Beach Unified School District family. And if you asked Chris Steinhauser, you know, Sean was like I know like a son to Chris because everything he did for for Long Beach Unified. But I think what makes the most sense is, in my opinion, there was just nobody more innovative than Sean the Marquee. And when you think about what the center is going to do, which is to train folks and to serve as an incubator and to get people to start a business, to help them along as as they move their business. That's exactly what Chantal Markey did in his business. And so I think this is just a really, really fitting opportunity to just to name the have someone that exemplifies that. And from what I understand, I know that this the plans that Councilman Gonzalez has and staffer for this innovation center are going to be pretty , pretty special. It's going to look pretty amazing. And so I think I think it's great. And I want to recognize Desiree LaMarche, who's here, who is a member of our community, a longtime third district resident, actually, I believe, and a very also active person in the city and has been even before and after Sean's unfortunate passing. So thank you. And with that, members, please go ahead and cast your votes. Mayor, would you like to take a picture with us in front of the. Absolutely. Did public comment? I did public comment. So we'll do it when we take the vote and then we'll take a photo. Okay. So, members, please cast your vote. Motion carries. Great. Excellent. Well, we go ahead and take a photo. Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you. And Jeremy won't tell you this, but some give you one of your first jobs. It's why you're here. Okay. Thank you for that. Moving on, we're going to take the next item, which we're going to do, because there's a lot of folks here.