Photo by Brian Addison.
Long Beach City Council, following multiple meetings focusing on the various departments of the City, has unanimously approved a $401M budget for FY2015.
Passing the budget earlier than its required deadline of September 15, Mayor Robert Garcia called the budget both prudent and responsible.
Of particular note is the addition of $100K for the Language Access Program (LAP) to the $150K initially proposed. Though the program was approved by Council last August, it had ultimately failed to be fully implemented. Though the additional funds will not bring the LAP up to its full $500K+ needed to meet all the compliances required by the Council’s direction for the program, the extra $100K will be used to translate City documents, City web pages, and automated voicemails.
“What the City had agreed to do was to basically implement a series of programs and protocols to expand access—but it never happened,” said Laura Merryfield, Parent Education Organizer for Building Healthy Communities Long Beach. “It’s about having City employees who speak multiple languages on hand, it’s about having vital documents in multiple languages, it’s about not using children as interpreters. It’s about simple, basic necessities. This is a win but we still have work to do.”
Additionally, $3.8M in funds has been shifted from one-time sources (e.g. sidewalk repairs) to discretionary district funds, where councilmembers will be able to decide which specific infrastructural projects they want to fund.
Not everyone, however, was thrilled with the budget.
While Garcia noted that there were “many credible programs and projects” which failed to be fully funded or expanded in the way that groups had hoped for, many who were behind the proposed increase in funding for the Park Ranger Program ultimately disagreed with the Council’s decision.
In 2008, the ranger program underwent massive cuts, prompting the creation of a residential Park Watch program that many felt was ineffective. The FY2015 budget allocated about $379K for 3.5 rangers who will mainly spend time patrolling El Dorado Regional Park, with a patrolling of Bixby Park on weekends for up to 45 minutes; all of the other 158 parks, including Lincoln Park, will remain unpatrolled.
“I’m very disappointed that the Park Ranger Program wasn’t in any way expanded for either Lincoln Park or Bixby Park last night,” said Eric Gray of the Friends of Bixby Park. “These are two parks that have many issues from drug selling to a high amount and seemingly growing homeless population. Something could have been allocated for a few additional park rangers to be spread across the city—the program did not have to be brought to 2008 Levels. This is both a public safety and quality of life issue for residents living around these two parks that is not being adequately addressed. “
Despite the criticism, Garcia remained ultimately optimistic about—and proud of—the budget’s passing.
“I want to congratulate the full City Council on passing a responsible, balanced budget that looks toward the future,” Garcia said. “It’s up to us to move forward and work with the city and all of the stakeholders to ensure we meet the needs as we can afford them.”