Long Beach City College Trustee Doug Otto, who has served as Chair of the Mayor’s Transition Team, spoke at a press conference today, unveiling the team’s research and recommendations. Photos by Brian Addison.
The fruits of the labor of Mayor Robert Garcia’s Mayoral Transition Team, which was introduced just two days after Garcia won the mayorship on June 3, were unveiled at a press conference Thursday at noon, where a document outlining the group’s research and recommendations was presented.
Chaired by Long Beach City College Trustee Doug Otto, the team was filled with community leaders ranging from bicycling advocates to urban designers, educators to business folk. Their volunteered time was to be spent creating a rubric that would guide not only Garcia’s policy, but the future direction of the city as a whole.
“This is a document of ideas,” Garcia said. “It provides a foundation for the next four years, as we work to maintain a balanced budget, strengthen our economy, enhance education and training of students and young people, build a sustainable City with a high quality of life, and ultimately create the ‘government of the future’ through technology and innovation. All of the ideas in this document were discussed and debated by the Transition Team, which offered an invaluable source of knowledge and vision that can now be presented as a guide for the City and measure of our success.”
It is of note (and something the Transition Report points out) that Garcia is a no-vote mayor, meaning that—unlike Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, and mayors in many other large cities—he has no vote on issues presented to the council. Long Beach’s governance is based upon a council-manager model, where the mayor acts mainly as a conduit for consensus-building. Though in terms of direct power, this leaved the mayoral seat lacking compared to other large cities, it creates other “tasks [that] dovetail remarkably well with the talents and experience of Mayor Garcia,” the report notes.
Given this, the Transition Team suggested no alteration to the structure of the City government, but rather attempted to focus on how well-suited current politicians are for the current model. With Council focused on policy, Management focused on performance, and the Mayor focused on—for lack of a better term—public image and rhetoric, the Transition Team honed in on five areas that need the greatest attention: governance, economic development, education, neighborhoods, and livability/sustainability.
“The Transition Team knows where we want Long Beach to be,” the report states. “We want it to be a city with a thriving economy, plenty of jobs, a vibrant culture, safe streets, great schools, clean air, water and beaches and welcoming neighborhoods. We want it to be not only diverse but also inclusive, embracing the future while honoring the past.”
In approaching governance, the report focused on nine major points:
- “Make performance matter” (i.e. City Management must develop more efficient performance metrics to make sure everyone is doing their job right and well);
- “Live within our means” (i.e. fiscal matters matter); prioritize expenditures;
- “Deploy effective technology” (i.e. it’s 2014, “off-hours” should never exist within a municipality and civic engagement should be encouraged through digital accessibility);
- “Continue to address the pension issue” (i.e. a very nice way of saying we’re still far behind the level of fiscal prudence we need to be at in regard to CalPers);
- “Teamwork at City Hall” (i.e. playing to Garcia’s idea that, indeed, we should all just get along and avoid past grudges that ultimately hindered consensus building);
- “Restructure departments” (refer back to the point about technology);
- “Enhance civic engagement” (i.e. use our assets, such as the Commission structure, to bring in community leaders on a more direct level)
- “Make decision-making transparent, orderly and thoughtful” (i.e. the public needs to be, and should be, more involved in City government).
Suggestions for economic development revolved entirely around prosperity, with a heavy focus on restructuring relationship with business, both big and small, and the process that goes into creating new business. Additionally, the team formally reiterated what residents have been stating for years: there needs to be a “re-energizing” of the businesses we already have—such as the Queen Mary and the eyesore that is the always-in-need-of-redevelopment Pike area in Downtown.
In regard to education, the team wanted to continue the collaborative efforts of the powerhouse that is the LBUSD-LBCC-CSULB triad, including its College Promise Program. Other proposals included doubling the amount of internships for LBUSD students, expanding preschool access, and improving library hours.
On our neighborhoods, suggestions revolved around four focal points: coordination with City services (e.g. tree trimming or sanitation services and how they impact neighborhoods); supporting and creating new Business Improvement Districts; investing in both market-rate and affordable housing; and improving infrastructure.
Livability and sustainability—a key component of Garcia’s entire campaign—was as meaty and in-depth as the report’s governance section, outlining nine major ways (almost entirely exuding a new urbanist philosophy) to increase a livable urban environment:
- “Reinforce the concept that sustainability is everyone’s job” (i.e. the City can’t relegate green behaviors to one department; the whole must contribute to make sure we aren’t wasting resources or poisoning our environment);
- “Make Sustainability Commission more proactive”;
- “City Hall needs to focus and coordinate efforts to maximize their livability impact” (i.e. streamline communication within departments and reach out to the nonprofit and private sector to make life in the city better);
- “Safeguard the environment and mitigate impacts of large projects at the Port” (i.e. be critical of the Port’s approach to prosperity because economic prosperity doesn’t always equate to environmental prosperity);
- “Increase access to park space and recreation programs” (i.e. many areas of Long Beach, particularly the West Side, are “park poor” and parks/recreation are directly linked to the health and well-being of a populace);
- “Encourage cycling and walking”;
- “Maximize impact of Long Beach Transit” (i.e. move toward a transportation model that combines biking, walking, and mass transit);
- “Make livability/sustainability a regional effort” (i.e. work with the City of Los Angeles and surrounding cities to make LA County one of the best places to live);
- “Promote density and transit-oriented development” (i.e. decrease dependency on automobiles and increase projects like the Senior Arts Colony)
In the end, the points seem common sense, but the hope lies in the fact that this charts a course for the City.
“Together we begin to implement the recommendations in this document,” Garcia said. “The hard work continues.”
Read the full report below.
Long Beach Mayoral Transition Team Report and Recommendations