Recommendation to request the allocation of $250,000 for capital improvements to the International City Theater entrance from the Tidelands Operating Fund.
13 is a report from the office councilmembers, along with Town Councilmember Gary DeLong with the recommendation to request the allocation of $250,000 for capital improvements to the international seat. For the. International City Theater. Entrance. I remember to Councilmember Londo. It's item 13. It's 13, I think, correctly. No, no problem. So I wanted to go ahead and make the motion to adopt this item. Second. And make a couple of comments. The International City Theater is the official theater of Long Beach and has garnered national attention for its contribution to the arts and community based programs. The theater entrance is located on the second floor. I think many of you've probably been there along the eastern side of the Performing Arts Center and can be a bit inconspicuous to the passer by and even those attending the performance. So it could use some improvements to its entrance and make it more inviting and safer for pedestrians. The suggested improvements are very much in keeping with the wonderful Investment City Council has made to Long Beach Arena and Convention Center lobbies and public areas. I know the Madam Clerk is handing out some drawings. Thank you for that from members of the public without a copy of our item. Improvements include a repaved floor planters marquee donor wall and glass wall along the stairwell and entrance to improve visibility from the plaza and parking areas. Tidelands funds would cover the cost of engineering and permits, among other things. I City has set aside funding to cover the remaining costs of this project. And I know we have a couple of few members in attendance here from A.C.T., and I wish to thank the board for their partnership and stewardship of this theater, for the enjoyment of Long Beach residents and contributions to our small business economy and members. I urge you, I vote on this. Thank you, Councilmember. A long time. I imagine the city's name will be. On that donor board. No doubt. Huh? With that, Councilmember Johnson. Well, thank you, Councilmember O'Donnell. Or is it Congressmember? I think Councilmember, I have a question. I just want all the folks from International City Theater a thank you for all you do. Is a fantastic cultural institution and certainly it sounds like a great project. I guess my concern is just simply about process. And I guess I'd ask our city manager, is this a budget improvement? You know, where where's the money coming from? What are we not doing if we're doing this? Walk me through the process of how we're getting this money and is this appropriate given our current budget process? Councilmember This funding comes out of Tidelands and in fact we have this facility as part of the convention center. It's in fact a city owned facility. So as you know, we have been making major. Investments in the convention center in general, and we believe there is sufficient funding for the convention center to cover this additional cost. Okay. I guess, like I said, this seems like a great project and certainly the theater is very worthy of it. My experience is, one, a process that I think in general we should in the budget process, talk about all the products for the upcoming year and have that discussion as opposed to an ad hoc allocation. So with that, I think I'll go and support the item because it is a great project and it does need to be done. But I just like See Magic come back with more of a holistic discussion of our budgeting as opposed to ad hoc expenditures of funds. Thank you. Councilmember Johnson Councilmember DeLong. I expected that. Councilmember Johnson There actually was some initial funding that came through a budgetary process. The scope, as Councilwoman Lowenthal talked about, has enlarged to accommodate some excellent additional features. And that's why it wasn't part of the budget process and that the timing is now to move forward. Thank you. Councilmember Austin. Thank you. And I thought this looks like a great project in itself. The the question is regarding the Tidelands Fund for staff. What is the current? I mean, because I think we do a lot out of the Tidelands funds for for improvements along our shore. But what is the current fund balance on the Talents Fund? The current fund balance that is unallocated for projects is about 26 million. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. To a motion on the time to was a second it's. Moved and seconded any public comment. On item number 13. Saying maybe we do have some public comment? Yes, we do, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Mort Stuhlbarg. I live at 1700 Bluff Place. 90802. I am currently the chair of the International City Theater Project that you're discussing and a past president of International City Theater. I wanted to comment about timing. We have now prepared the drawings that you see there, which are the basic ones. The designs are finished. We have a cost, a basic cost on the project. And these new items that we're going to be asking for funding for, including the new flooring in front of the theater and a new glass wall that will allow people below at the at looking up from the parking facility or looking up to that area that you couldn't see before will be well lighted and the glass wall will allow people to see it from the entrance to to the arena. So it's going to not only improve this the theater, but we hope to improve the number of people in the city who know it were there. And that's always been a big problem here. In addition to that, as far as timing is concerned, we would like to move forward with all haste because we are going to be ripping up that concrete and we want to have it ready in time for the beginning of our new season in February next year. So it's got to go out to bid and there will be construction to do. And so we need that as quickly as we can get it. Other than that, if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them for you. No more questions. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Any further counsel counsel comment? No. There's one more public comment. Mr. Goodhew. Yes. I support the concept in chief and certainly the theater operation, but I have a concern relative to what waste. And it's brought into sharp perspective by a much smaller project, the 1930 style restroom down across in the Bay Shore Library. Mr. Goodhue This is about the ACT Theater. This is not about Marine Stadium. I don't. Topic. Excuse me. I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the time and the money. All right. And we want to make sure and I'm using this as an example of a project that could have been done in six and certainly three months is now taking seven months. And that's a very simple I'm using that as an example. That's a very simple project. And I invite you know, that's down at Bayshore and Bayshore and Second Street. All right. Go down and take a look at that and ask yourself what is taking nearly 6 to 7 months to do that? And if they're going to be doing that, this project will take 2 to 3 years. So I think we need to micro-manage how that's being done. Again, go down to the that new restaurant. The city has done a nice job in maintaining the original the core. And inside. But it's fundamentally very, very simple. But it's taken nearly. I think they started back in November. And now this. We're knocking on the door of May. This means this project, if that follows the same course, won't be done for another two years. You need to get inside of that. Thank you. Thank you. No further council comment. No public members cast your vote on item number 13. O'DONNELL Yes. Motion carry some vote. Yes. Thank you. Next item on item 14 is a report from the city manager with the recommendation to authorize the remediation and purchase of a portion of the former Public Service York and authorize the allocation of limited space relocation and limited restoration of the former railroad station building to Will Springs Park and increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund.