1:15pm | The Long Beach City Council spent three hours and 35 minutes during their weekly meeting to cover just under 30 items. Here is a round-up of most of these items. All council members were in attendance, with the exception of council member Gerrie Schipske who was absent.
Hearings
The City Council took up one hearing item this week–the city’s first historic preservation element for the General Plan of the City. According to Deputy City Manager Reggie Harrison, this item has been in the works for several years. This 172-page historic preservation element, approved unanimously by the Council, will “create a pro-active, focused plan for use by residents, local preservation advocates, City staff, the Cultural Heritage Commission, Redevelopment Agency, Planning Commission, and City Council,” according to the document’s executive summary. A historic preservation element is required to be included within any city’s general plan that wishes to apply for federal and state historic preservation grants.
During the discussion, councilmember Suja Lowenthal called for the city to fill the vacant position of Historic Preservation Officer and re-institution of the Mills Act, which provides substantial property tax relief for those owners of historic properties that rehabilitate and maintain their property for a period of 10 years.
Consent Calendar
The Council also took up 18 items under the consent calendar, all of which were approved unanimously with no discussion and by a single vote. In addition to normal procedural items, these also included: preservation of funding for The Guidance Center, which is utilized for child mental health support by local law enforcement agencies; a contract for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at the Long Beach Police Department Crime Lab; authorization to purchase a maximum of $310,000 in extra workers’ compensation insurance for the city; and, four contracts worth a total of $1.31 million for various insurance policies covering city assets.
Also in the consent calendar were two $75,000 extension contracts with two law firms representing the city in a damages lawsuit filed against the city and others by Thomas Lee Goldstein. So far the city has spent or authorized just over $560,000 with these two firms to handle the case. Goldstein, who had served 24 years for a 1979 Long Beach murder, was released in 2004 after five different federal judges determined that his constitutional rights had been violated during the original trial and ordered him freed.
The only eyewitness to the shooting that identified Goldstein later recanted his testimony and a jailhouse informant who claimed Goldstein confessed to him in a Long Beach holding cell had his unrelated charges reduced by prosecutors in exchange for testifying against Goldstein–a deal that the informant denied on the stand and which prosecutors never told the defense about.
Goldstein’s suit against Long Beach has been in U.S. District Court for more than five years.
Regular Agenda
The Council took up a dozen items during the regular agenda portion of the meeting, including the unanimously approval of an item calling for the city’s to tender official support to federal authorities in Washington, D.C., for a plan to repair the runways at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. The repair of the runways would allow military jets now forced to land at Long Beach Airport to land at the JFTB.
As covered by the lbpost.com yesterday, the council also approved a maximum of $4,145,700 to cover half of the cost of a four-year Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study on the breakwater. The Army Corps will cover the remaining costs.
Councilmembers also approved contracts totaling $801,000 for the continued operations of the Workforce Investment Act Youth Academy Projects. These youth programs facilitate assistance with education completion, provide access to career and technical education and training, participation in internships, and other work-based experiences.
The Council also approved a request calling for the Board of Harbor Commissioners to approve a full transfer of $12,423,706 in port profits to the city’s Tidelands Fund. This transfer would be part of an accelerated Tidelands transfer schedule approved by the Council last week that will see the city reap a one-time $12.4 million increase in the Tidelands Fund from the port.
Also approved unanimously was a motion accepting $100,000 from the Los Angeles County Prop A Excess Funds Program. These funds will be used on the Drake/Chavez Greenbelt Project.
The Ramona Park Improvement Project received $152,000 in funding thanks to a unanimously approved agenda item.
Due to a last-minute absence by councilmember Schipske, an item sponsored by her calling for an inventory report on possible historic items stored at the Public Service Yard was pulled.
Ordinances
In the one ordinance item taken up Tuesday, the Council gave first approval to the formation of a new Preferential Parking District near Heartwell Park. A city traffic study found that residential parking in the area is highly impacted by visitors to the park. The new district includes the south side of Parkcrest Street between Marber Avenue and Albury Avenue; both sides of Marber Avenue between Parkcrest Street and Hanbury Street; both sides of San Anseline Avenue between Parkcrest Street and approximately four hundred feet (400′) south of Parkcrest Street; and, both sides of Albury Avenue between Parkcrest Street and Hanbury Street. The item must now come before the Council for a final vote.
New Business
In new business items, the Council adopted a resolution officially declaring the results of the General Municipal Election held Tuesday, June 8.
The Council also approved a five-year fixed annual licensing agreement with Hart InterCivic for continued use of the Ballot Now system used in city elections. The change to a fixed contract is estimated by city staff to save the city more than $60,000 in license and support fees over the next five years.
And, there, fearless readers, you have the June 22 City Council meeting in a nutshell.