Recommendation to approve the scope of work for the ‘Outdoor Office’ in Harvey Milk Park and Equality Plaza.  (District 1)
Kick. Madam Clerk, item number nine. Report from City Manager Recommendation to approve the scope of work for the outdoor office in Harvey Milk Park and Equality Plaza, District one. Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. And Arturo, is there a staff report to please. Yes. Good evening, Mayor Garcia. Members of the city council, Arturo Sanchez with the city manager's office. The item we have before you is per the council request, to return with a revised scope of work that is inclusive of the elements that were important to the Harvey Milk Park Committee. Staff has had several discussions with the committee and we developed, I believe, a scope of work that is reflective of maintaining a strong identity related to Harvey Milk, the legacy that he brings, as well as the memory wall in the wall recognizing civic leaders related to the LGBTQ community in Long Beach. Great. And I just have a couple questions. Arturo, thank you very much for your work in this and working with the committee as well as my office to really create a better understanding of what the grant will comprise of. Can you go over how many meetings you've had with the committee so far? Yes, ma'am. Through the chair to Councilmember Gonzalez, we have had three meetings, I believe, and several discussions via email with the leadership of the committee. Okay. Great. And just an overview, if you could. I understand there will be an outdoor office space. Like what other key elements can you describe in this scope of work so people can really understand what this will become very soon? Yes, ma'am. In the attachment page one, under the opportunity to summarize the project towards the tail end of that description, if I could read a few sections from there it will say it is of paramount importance that Harvey Milk Promenade Park and Equality Plaza continue to serve as a memorial for Harvey Milk and other leaders in the LGBTQ community. As more users are drawn to the outdoor office, more people can be exposed to the life and legacy of Harvey Milk. In this way, the message of the park is amplified beyond the existing memorial. It is the city's intention to consider reorienting the park, enhancing LGBTQ elements and or add a commemorative element of Harvey Milk so as to incorporate the message and meaning of the park into the added amenities in ways that are respectful, creative and inspiring amenities and or elements such as increasing redesigning the space for plaques of local LGBTQ, creating and designing a creative dynamic and visual representation of LGBTQ heroes at the Park and Equality Plaza. Representation of the LGBT and Mr. Q their pride colors by creating and or designing a representation of pride colors that is artistically and visually impactful that transcends day and night. Creating and designing some imagery of Harvey Milk at the Park and Equality Plaza and potentially incorporating the history of Harvey Milk and history of local LGBT. Next, another Q Movement. Finally, the programing of the park must intentionally and specifically include programing for LGBT communities and its allies. One of the important things to point out here is that, of course, it's a $300,000 grant and there will be decisions that will need to be made about how these elements are included. And the committee is committed to working with us. In fact, they've already designated three members to work closely with us on with the rest of the community stakeholders that will be pulling together now to really start the serious work on this project. Great. Again, I really want to thank you very much for your work on this because I know it's so very important for the downtown community, the LGBTQ community. We have Vanessa, Deb and Raul that are here from the Harvey Milk Park Committee. I also see Craig Cogen as well, who had been involved with so many things in downtown, of course, of being the CEO and thank you to city staff as well. I think this is going to be a impeccable project for including more local LGBTQ honorees, but also enlivening the life of Harvey Milk. And so I see that coming together beautifully. And thank you all very much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you. Are we at the second of that motion was with was Vice Mayor Richardson. I just wanted to chime in and just say that I've been following this this project for a while now. In fact, I was you know, we're trying our best to emulate the outdoor office concept at Highland Park. But I just wanted to say that tremendous work has been done here. And and I know that is sometimes difficult to pull together different interests and and make something happen. So this is really, really a good testament to your leadership. Council Member GONZALEZ So thank you. Thank you. Next up is Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I, too, want to express my support for this project. I think it's really great. The most impressive part of this process for me was staffs working with the community to get it right. So whatever the process was at the outset, I only read about it in the paper, but it wasn't ideal. And the fact that everybody kind of came to the table and made the process right and made it something that the councilwoman is so happy with is really a great thing to witness. And obviously something that all of us with different projects in our in our districts can relate to. Just making sure that that process is good so that the the project, if it's successful, is successful not just because of the end product, but because of the process, too. So this is great. I wish I wish I had an outdoor office to work in every day. I think it's going to be a great asset to have. I did try to suggest it to some of the stuffy lawyers I work with and they laughed and said, Dream on. So I look forward to watching other people working in their outlets or outdoor offices as I drive to work. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Pierce. Yes. I just wanted to say what a great job Councilmember Gonzalez, Councilwoman Gonzalez has done. And congratulations to the committee that's worked on this. One of the first times I spoke at council as a resident was supporting the creation of Harvey Milk Park based on everything that he's taught our community about courage. And so it's great to have this celebrate Harvey Milk, but also have it as an opportunity to invite others into that space that might not know who he is. And so I just want to congratulate everybody for really working together and hopefully it's a model for how we can work on future projects. So thank you, everyone. Thank you. With that, we have any public comment. Please come forward. Larry, would you click as the address? I would request that this city take judicial notice. Of the staff report when this. Subject to change a little too. It came up the last council meeting of the meeting before when they pointed it out that Long Beach is the only the only the only city in this country. To have a plaza named after Harvey Milk. Or the mayor of the of San Francisco. Related to that. The only reason we have this here is because of the despicable conduct of a photo addicted political pipsqueak that thought he could make political hay out of the unfortunate and tragic, tragic deaths of two individuals. By naming the park after a person who had no connection to this city whatsoever and in so doing, gave the middle finger. The Long Beach residents that were within that community. That does not speak well for the character of this city. And it does what I'm saying does not eviscerate some of the comments some people have made here tonight. But the genesis of this. Is what needs to be. Worked out eradicated. It may have to be completely taken down and shipped back. And it's particularly devastating to the city's image when it comes with what's happening when combined with what's unfolded in the last three, six months. Pimping out. Teenagers. In an attempt to get a selfie with the first lady. And also in solving her. By suggesting her character was such that she would like to come down, she would allow herself to be come down and be seen as elbowing her way into a situation where more people or local residents were more qualified. To have a library named after a period. That's an insult to the first lady of the United States, all orchestrated in the final analysis by a political pipsqueak who will be by the end of the year, in prison. I suggest you again take judicial notice of the fact and ask yourself why no other city in the country has it. It does not speak well for the character of any individual on this council. That does not. Thank you very much. For coming back and redo it. Excellent. A related message to the six neighborhood organizations who all unanimously voted to endorse naming their local park after Harvey Milk. Next speaker, please. Thank you. When I. Now. Did some study on the Harvey Milk legend. I noted that he had fought for all minorities, not just the LGBT. Not just the. The. Same sex community and. Somewhere in there I thought, Oh, the homeless fit in there. So while we are closing out Linkin Park. And I've thought about this for a while. The homeless have nowhere to go. They don't have a park. So that's how Harvey Milk fought for all minorities, all people who were outcast. He fought for the outcast. Is it feasible as we're closing out Lincoln Park for the redevelopment? To now say to the homeless community, here is a place where you, too, can gather. Outdoor office. What does that mean? Maybe there would be some people sitting out door in that office on staff who could. Help facilitate the homeless who are part of the same sex community. Harvey Milk didn't just fight for the same sex community. He fought for those who were of the outcast IV service, those who were of the same sex transferring into another outward gender community. And when you're homeless and you're trying to go from a man to a woman or a woman to a man, it's much harder. But if that if if the park that Mr. Miller fought for embraces all of the outcasts, which includes the homeless. And then we have the, the, the same sex community and the transferring into another outward appearance community embrace the homeless. You're bringing all of the outcasts together. Now we have to ask ourself. If the same sex community is looking down on the homeless, what really is going on here? If the only park we have is for the same sex or the transfering out of my God given gender into another outward appearance community. Then. Then we're having a park, but we're we're leaving another whole community out of the accommodation of the park that is named after the legend who fought for all of the outcasts. I need you to think about it. Where are the homeless community community going to go? When you get up Linkin Park. Abe Lincoln would probably want to know. Thank you, Mr. Sir. Next speaker, please. Really? Mayor Council City staff. First of all, congratulations to Councilmember Supernova De Andrews and Al Austin on the reelection and congratulations, Jeanine Pierce. It's especially nice to see you up there. Thank you very much for your continued support on this project. I was here about three weeks ago when the grant needed to be approved and the committee is has been committed to this project since the initial days in 2012 with then Councilmember Robert Garcia. And we continue to work with Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez and city staff. So we appreciate the support and we will continue to work with the city and on behalf of the committee. Again, thank you very much for your continued support. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Vanessa Romain. I sit on the Harvey Milk Committee and I'm also part of the new ad hoc. Committee that be working. Much closer with Mr. Sanchez in making sure that things go the way that the committee has seen and supported and and youth city council members have supported. Harvey Milk Park is our part. And I say our. Our. Community. Doesn't matter what your language should look like. We've got people staying over there now and we haven't even done anything that are homeless at that park. We haven't had the. Police chase them away. We are in support of the outside office. What it's going. To develop into. Be it's not just a park, just sit around. It's park for work. So, Miss Price, you're welcome to come visit our outdoor office at any time that you like, because it will be there. And it will be there as long as the community understands that. Harvey Milk made a difference. We on the committee in a part. Of this city are truly. Going to continue to make a difference in this community. So thank you for supporting the concept. Thank you to Mr. Sanchez for sticking by us putting. He said he was three meetings. I could swear there was 12 meetings, but, you know, he can't count. So we don't need to worry about that. But the reality is we have met with him continuously. We've stopped, had coffee to kind of touch basis and understand one another and where we're coming from. So I don't think that there's any other staff member that you could have assigned to this duty. To do what he has done to bring the LGBTQ community together, along with the city's. Ambition to make Harvey Milk Park a little different. So thank you again for your support. Thank you very much. Thank you all. See no other public comment. We're going to go ahead and take a vote. Motion carries. Thank you. Now we're going to go to due to the public comment for tonight. And again, I apologize for tonight's moving around of a lot of stuff which I know is unusual. Let me list everyone that's up for public comment in this order.