Recommendation to receive and approve appointments to the Transactions and Use Tax Citizens' Advisory Committee.
I'm taking two items. First, which is item 12 and 24, and then we'll move on to the regular agenda, item 12. Madam Clerk. Communication for me or Garcia recommendation to receive and approve appointments to the transactions and use tax Citizen's Advisory Committee. Thank you. In front of you, you have five appointments to our measure a citizen's oversight committee. I particularly want to thank Councilmember Darrell Supernova. I want to thank Councilwoman Stacy Mongeau, who led efforts. I know that Councilwoman Pryce and others also are very supportive of this, but particularly to Darrell and and to Stacy. Thank you for for leading efforts in getting us moving this forward. I also want to thank the five members. I think we have an All-Star group of people, many of whom were on vacation. But I do see Judy Ross, who's who who was here in the audience or maybe one or two others in the audience, or they're on their way. But I want to go ahead and mention a little bit about them. We have a Jane Netherton who, as we know, has been a banker in Long Beach for over 25 years and formerly the CEO of International Citibank and who's been involved on the Long Beach State Foundation in a variety of organizations. And she brings incredible decades of experience in finance. We have Judi Ross, who is here, who's a former executive director of the Long Beach nonprofit Partnership. She also has worked for the United Way and a variety of other organizations, and she's been involved in every possible community group you could think of across the city of Long Beach . And she is here, and we're very thankful for her service. We also have Steven Neal, who currently serves as a civic engagement advocate at Molina Health Care. Steve is a North Long Beach resident and formerly a council member on this body, and he's been involved in the Pacific Gateway Investment Board in a variety of programs across the city. We have Mary Stevens. Mary is the vice president of finance and administration at Cal State Long Beach, where she manages the entire finance and real estate portfolio. She's also been the vice president of business and finance at Cal State. Stanislaus is involved, is on the board of Adobe and again, very active and is a downtown Long Beach resident. And finally, we have Joel Yuhas, and Joel is the CEO and chief executive at St Mary Medical Center here in Long Beach. He was the CEO before. They're managing a variety of issues, including budgets and finance. And he serves on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Hospital Association of California. And they live in East Long Beach and are from Long Beach as well. Him and his partner. And so I want to congratulate all five members. I see. Judy, if someone else is here that I didn't see. Let me know. Oh, and I see Steve over there. Thank you. Thank you, Steve, for being here. And with that, I'd like a motion any second, please. I just need. I just need a second. It was Vice Mayor Richardson. Just wanted to chime in and say how proud I am that we are making up this commitment to our residents by putting forth a tremendous committee. When I saw this list of names, I couldn't be more proud. You've got folks representing nonprofit sector, business sector, former government leaders. And I do want to take a moment just to acknowledge my friend Steve Neal, who is in the audience, who's being appointed tonight. And this is tremendous, as you know. This is you know, I know that he's going to do a good job. Let's just say I know the guy. And and so those are my those are my comments. But I think this is a tremendous committee. So so, Mayor Garcia, good job on making these appointments. Thank you. Thank you. And Councilman Mongo. I'm just so excited that this came to fruition. I know it just started as a dialog and behind the scenes of what we could do to ensure that taxpayers know that we're going to be held accountable. And this oversight committee is an exemplary group of individuals that I'm proud to know and support, and I look forward to hearing from them throughout the next several years. Thank you. Thank you. Any public comment on this? Please come forward. Oh. Good afternoon. Warmed Lisowski Long Beach resident. I was reading the Grozny Gazette the other day and Henry Salts Graves's article. He wrote that such appointments are seldom challenged. Well, I suppose that he must mean today, because I'm here to challenge these appointments. As a Long Beach resident and taxpayer, I specifically object to each and every one of these appointees. Why? Because while each of these five people seem like fine, upstanding citizens, they are not the people being affected by measure sales tax. Let's look at their job titles and roles. Council Member. Community Lobbyist. Chairperson of the Board. CEO of a National Bank. University Vice President, Mr. Mayor. And Council Members. CEOs and presidents are not affected by measure sales tax increase. The poor and working people are most affected. And Mr. Mayor, you have neglected to put a single member who is a poverty advocate, a poor children's advocate, not one representative of the citizens and the residents most affected by the sales tax increase. I find this arrogance indicative of your overall attitude towards the sales tax increase and the business as usual attitude of this mayor in this council. The measure. A sales tax is the most regressive type of tax. Let me cite the Internal Revenue Service website. Understanding taxes for students quote. How does a regressive tax impact lower income groups? Question A regressive tax takes a larger share of income from low income groups than from high income groups. A regressive tax may at first appear to be a fair way of taxing citizens because everyone, regardless of income level, pays the same dollar amount. By taking a closer look. It's easy to see that such a tax causes lower income people to pay a larger share of their income than wealthier people pay. So, Mr. Mayor, even according to the IRS, the measure, a sales tax that you so proudly trumpeted is a penalty on the poorest Long Beach residents and children. So when those kids are hungry, you can thank yourself for making it just a little bit harder for their parents to put food on the table. That's why I object to all these appointments. Thank you, sir. And again, I want to thank the five. Larry, if you're going to be coming down, please. Anybody else, please? Okay, Mr. Goodyear. Good. Very good. Quick as the address. Unfortunately, the previous speaker just doesn't seem to get it. The people you spoke of. Don't contribute money. To Mr. Garcia. That's the only way you can catch their attention. All right. If you don't give them money, it's paid for by. All right. He could care less about the people that you referred to. All right. We need to understand that. Thank you. Any of their public comment? Seeing none again, Judy. Steve, thank you. And I know both of you personally are here. Long time advocates for the poor and those in poverty. So I want to thank you both for your work in that area. There's a motion and a second. Members, please cast your votes. Motion carries.