Good morning and welcome to Monday Morning Coffee! Grab your cup and let’s get to your weekly briefing of what’s on the agenda for local government and business leaders. Get this in your inbox every Monday by signing up at lbpost.com/newsletters.

City meetings

City officials in Long Beach, Lynwood and Compton are calling for a clampdown on prostitution that runs through each of their communities. 

On Tuesday, a proposal from Councilmembers Joni Ricks-Oddie and Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, along with Mayor Rex Richardson, would give city officials 60 days to assemble a plan for a multi-departmental, cross-jurisdictional plan to crack down on prostitution and human trafficking along Long Beach Boulevard in North Long Beach. 

The boulevard, which extends from Downtown Long Beach to the city of South Gate, intersects the 710 Freeway before running through the cities of Lynwood and Compton.  

Along the road in parts of each city, hotbeds of prostitution and other crimes dot the sidewalks, parking lots and motels. 

It is especially chronic in the stretch between North Long Beach through Compton up to Lynwood, which officials say is regionally “the second most frequented area for such activity following ‘The Stroll’ on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles.” 

The result, according to the City Council report, has been a bane on nearby schools, parks and homes, especially for preschools like Bright Futures Academy and campuses including Colin Powell Academy and Starr King Elementary, where children see open solicitation, brandished weapons and harassment in front of their buildings. 

In their report, the council members recommend a plan where law enforcement establish “high-risk areas,” hire community service officers for schools and expand public nuisance laws to “address nuisance properties that are magnets for illegal activity,” among other suggestions. 

Recognizing the data that increasingly shows sex workers are victims of human trafficking and abuse, the council members recommend a “survivor-centered” approach of hiring nonprofits and legal aides to help people safely escape the industry. 

The plan would also focus on the corridor’s motel owners, especially those who knowingly sell rooms to sex workers and don’t report it. 

Looking at existing laws in cities like Lancaster and Claremont, the potential changes may require motel owners to demand all guests present multiple forms of identification, use parking permits when parked on-site and provide banking information even with cash payments. 

Owners may also need to store guests’ personal and vehicle information, install security cameras and establish minimum and maximum stay periods.

Malefactor owners who allow their motels to be a magnet for crime may face heavier fines, closure or rezoning to a use “more compatible with community needs,” the report stated. 

Agencies in Long Beach, Compton and Lynwood would work in conjunction, so as to avoid the “jurisdictional overlaps” — where increased patrols of one area push the problem into another — that have stymied past cleanup efforts.  

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Long Beach City Council will look to approve amendments to its airport noise ordinance, a pilot program for rental e-scooters along the beach bike path and expansion of the city library system’s Libby digital database service.

Business events and information

  • The Long Beach Public Library is looking for feedback on its overhaul of the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library Garden. Residents interested can attend a community meeting on Monday, April 28, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the namesake library (5870 Atlantic Ave.). At the meeting, people will have the chance to share their thoughts on what the garden should look like and take part in a hands-on “Design Your Own Garden” activity to demonstrate their vision. This comes as city planners hope to begin work on the garden in June, with a planned completion in September. For more information, click here.
  • The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce on Thursday is hosting its 2025 City National Bank Entrepreneur of the Year at the Hyatt Regency hotel (200 S. Pine Ave.). Starting at 11 a.m., attendees can enjoy a luncheon and awards ceremony honoring the area’s top fiscal and nonprofit minds, including Mike Brascia, CEO of Brascia Builders; Care Closet CEO Duke Givens; Crystal Rogers of Lucy’s Boudoir lingerie boutique; and Kym Estrada & Arvin Torres of San & Wolves Bakeshop. Seating is limited and starts at $100 for members; $150 for non-members. For more information on table prices or to register, click here.

ICYMI — California and national news

  • Porto’s Bakery moving forward in Downtown Disney, replacing Earl of Sandwich (LA Times)
  • Cheap eats part 2: More tasty places to get breakfast in Long Beach for under $10 (Long Beach Post)
  • Private data from more than 300,000 people may have been stolen in cyberbreach, city of Long Beach says (Long Beach Post)