10:15am | In an effort to increase revenue by attracting corporate sponsorships, the City of Long Beach will examine programs used by cities such as San Diego, Costa Mesa and San Francisco that could provide a boost to Long Beach’s plagued general fund budget.
The City Council voted unanimously (9-0) to move forward with having City Manager Pat West and his staff conduct a study and present a report on their findings sometime in the future.
Gerrie Schipske, 5th District Councilmember and co-author of the item, pointed to the success of corporate sponsorships in San Diego that have resulted in deals with large companies to serve as the city’s “official” product. For instance, a deal with Pepsi to become the official drink of the city netted around $1.5 million and a similar agreement with Verizon to become the official wireless partner of the city produced about $1.25 million.
“Obviously as we go through each of our budget sessions and talk about many of the programs and activities that we’d like to continue in the City of Long Beach,” Schipske said, “it’s going to require that we find sources of revenue, and corporate sponsorship obviously has to be a very specific avenue that we take a look at.”
Schipske also pointed to a $30,000 deal in Costa Mesa to add sponsorships to a local skate park, and a program in Huntington Beach to place logos on lifeguard towers.
But concerns were raised, because councilmembers are wary of entering into excessive or obtrusive deals that would degrade the city in the name of corporate sponsorships, and also because a similar effort was made in 2008 but did not have support from the City Council.
“We paid $120,000 for a year, plus commissions, to hire the consultants [in 2008],” said Rae Gabelich, 8th District Councilmember. Back then, City Management presented the Council with a proposal that included Charter and Office Depot as interested sponsors, among others, but there was not enough Council support to move the deal forward.
“What additional information are you hoping to gather that we didn’t get in 2008?”
Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell, another co-author of the item, said that he has spent time in both San Diego and San Francisco this summer and noticed a number of visible corporate sponsorships. “What we’re asking for is more detail,” he said.
“My concern is I don’t want to go labeling everything in the city,” said Gabelich. “I’d rather have us adopt what kind of sponsorship package are we looking for, what are our limitations on signage, and how far are we willing to go compared to other cities before we actually go out looking for the individual or the company that’s going to represent us.”
Several other councilmembers said they shared Gabelich’s concern but agreed that the issue should be examined, perhaps because the dire situation of the city’s long-term financial future is more apparent now than it was the first time this issue came up in 2008.
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