For Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach’s success hinges on six ideas. At an event this afternoon celebrating the mayor’s first 100 days in office, Garcia spoke to a large crowd at banquet inside the Long Beach Convention Center and assured them that the city is utilizing those ideas well.
The luncheon, which was sponsored by the Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce, also served as a fundraiser with proceeds going to benefit both the Junior Chamber of Commerce and Cal State Long Beach’s Associated Students Inc. A portion of the funds diverted to the CSULB will go toward funding scholarships at Garcia’s alma mater.
After reciting a quote by John F. Kennedy, Garcia said that Long Beach’s success relies on a responsible budget, education, economic development, sustainability, technology and civic engagement.
“Bob Foster steered the city in the right direction,” Garcia said. “I’m proud to follow that same fiscally responsible manner that he always claimed. We are not swimming in cash. We have to keep our belts tight, and there will be bumps in the road ahead, but we are in a good place. It is my commitment as mayor to keep us there.”
A strong economy, Garcia said, is largely backed by education. He cited Long Beach’s educational institutions, as well as the Long Beach College Promise (LBCP), which aims to provide more opportunities for Long Beach students to attend Cal State Long Beach or Long Beach City College. The program was also recently expanded to include universal pre-school enrollment.
The LBCP, he said, is the focus of his first term as mayor, and one of his priorities is to open up more internship opportunities for students. Currently, there are more than 80,000 students in Long Beach, but only 1,500 internship positions, Garcia said.
“We can, and we will, do better,” he said. “It’s an incredibly important part of our economic plan. We will begin to double and triple and grow our internships for a strong economy.”
But the economy is everyone’s job, Garcia said, citing the Port of Long Beach as an economic engine. He said Long Beach aims to have the greenest seaport in the world, and he plans to reconvene a new economic development commission.
Long Beach will also work on protecting the environment and resources, including investing in solar panel systems. He also plans to implement a climate change action plan next year, because he said the drought will impact the future.
“Our economic growth will falter if we do not protect our environment and we do not protect our resources,” Garcia said. “The lead way to the future is to think green.”
As part of creating a more sustainable city, Garcia said the city will reach out to the federal government and ask for a federal promise zone application, which allows the city to bring in new resources to create a more sustainable city. The process is competitive and only open to a strict number of cities per year, but Garcia said the best application will be put forward for the city.
The city is also seeking support from Bloomberg Philanthropies to invest in finance technology projects. Technology, Garcia said, is what makes Long Beach a city of the future.
He said Long Beach will expand its website with a 24-hour online city hall and upgrade the Go Long Beach mobile app.
The city is also working to create a new commission on technology and innovation, which Garcia said he hopes will be seated by the end of the year.
These technology projects, he said, are partially aimed to help enhance civic engagement within the city.
He said appointing 61 commissioners to 15 commissions will help get everybody in Long Beach involved. He said he also hopes the city will have a new system of commissions in place at the beginning of next year to enhance the city.
“This is an exciting time for Long Beach,” he said. “All the areas we talked about are incredibly important. These last 100 days have been, for me, incredible. There’s a sense of optimism in the air, and not just here in Long Beach. People are feeling good about the future. I know that working together with our fantastic city council, citywide leaders and good management in place, we can do great things as a city.”