Long Beach is in a much different place than it was at the beginning of this decade.

Once mired in the middle of a historic nationwide recession, the city has since seen investments in nearly all corners of the city. From the skyline’s facelift in Downtown to the 2nd+PCH project in the southeast, billions have been invested over the past decade.

Former Mayor Bob Foster began the decade in far more dire circumstances. He was forced to make draconian cuts to the city’s budget, slashing over 700 positions across the city in an effort to tighten the fiscal belt as the city, and the nation, recovered from the housing market collapse that drove the country into a major recession.

Foster was shrewd but pragmatic in his leadership, making cuts where necessary but also looking to alternative funding sources to push the city forward.

Under his leadership, the city built a new courthouse by embracing the public-private partnership model, a mechanism that would be used later in the decade to finance a new Civic Center and, city officials hope, to reopen Community Hospital. Foster’s embrace of the funding model was cited as a reason for affixing his name to the new City Hall council chambers.

As Foster left office, he warned the future council that hard times were still ahead as an oncoming storm of unfunded retirement pensions would have to be addressed. But he left the new mayor and council with a dramatically improved fiscal outlook—and its first surplus in years.

The current City Council with Mayor Robert Garcia took shape in 2014 when then then-Councilman Garcia won a close election to become mayor. First-time council members won elections in the city’s 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th districts and were followed by newcomers in the 2nd and 4th districts.

Permanent sales tax heads toward 2020 ballot as leaders move to declare fiscal emergency

Together this council and the mayor have made indelible impressions on the city’s future. They successfully campaigned for Measure A, a temporary sales tax measure that was posed as a means to fix the city’s streets and infuse the fire and police department with resources.

The 1% increase approved by voters made the city one of the highest taxed in the state, but generated tens of millions of dollars annually that the city has spent on road repairs, improving community centers and bolstering the ranks of the city’s first responders.

It has also offset some of the burden of the city’s pension issue that Foster warned of on his way out of office. But sinking a temporary source of revenue into permanent ongoing costs like salaries and pensions could leave the city more tough choices in 2027, when the tax sunsets.

That’s why the same council led by Garcia is now asking voters to reaffirm their financial stake in the city’s infrastructure by extending Measure A indefinitely.

 

The most visible change that played out over the decade in Long Beach is the seemingly endless construction that has emanated from the Downtown core seeing large luxury apartment buildings spring up from what used to be empty lots.

Luxury apartment buildings with posh amenities have sprung up Downtown at an increasing pace over the past few years as the City Council approved the sale of former redevelopment agency lots, often discounted, to developers who added to the city’s overall housing numbers but did little to put a dent in the city’s affordable housing stock.

What the City’s inclusionary ordinance—essential for easing affordability in housing—could look like

Community groups have been critical of the Downtown boom, saying residents have been displaced by rising rents.

Housing affordability and the homelessness epidemic will likely continue to be dominant issues in the region as state and local leaders struggle to meet housing production needs into the next decade. California and Long Beach continue to be increasingly expensive places to live, however, renters may have received a lifeline in the form of a statewide rent control law that will run through the next 10 years.

The city is also considering whether to place a $385 million bond measure on the 2020 ballot that would  fund affordable housing and homelessness initiatives.

The likelihood that the very same council that presided over the second half of this decade could continue to influence the city for much of the next one was written into law by voters in 2018.

The controversial Measure BBB eliminated a “write-in loophole” but also codified a third term for incumbents should they seek one. If they do, much of the existing City Council could be in place until 2026 and beyond.