Good morning, Long Beach. It’s Monday, Jan. 5. Here’s what you need to know to start your day. Get this in your inbox each week by signing up at LBPost.com/newsletters.
City meetings
It’s a busy start to the year, with a packed Tuesday at the Long Beach City Council meeting.
Construction has yet to begin on the city-owned amphitheater planned next to the Queen Mary, but the costs are already ballooning from the originally promised $14 million to $21.3 million. Officials on Tuesday will ask the council for another $7.3 million, tying the jump to rising material and labor costs, tariffs and changes to the plan — including upgraded furnishings and equipment deemed necessary to be a competitive “higher-quality venue.”
The city already had to pay $4 million for unexpected “emergency maintenance” at the site, according to the report. Now, needing to cover the rising costs — including $2.2 million more in construction and $4.3 in suggested upgrades — the city wants to borrow money from its Tidelands Fund, to be paid back by the venue’s future profits over the span of eight years.
Delays to the project, which already had its opening pushed back from spring 2026 to summer 2026, have also begun eating into the city’s projected revenue schedule. Officials think they can turn a profit by the fifth year of operation and pocket a total of $7.4 million over the temporary amphitheater’s lifespan (10 years), after paying all its startup costs.
The loan from Tidelands to get the project off the ground means that cash won’t be available for other major capital improvement projects until the amphitheater begins to pay off. But, the city says, this is “not expected to impact any currently funded Tidelands projects.”
“If cash invested in the Amphitheater must be redirected to fund large, City Council–approved capital projects before the borrowed funds are fully repaid from net venue operating profit, the City may need to consider issuing debt to restore the cash balance necessary to initiate thecapital projects,” officials wrote.
Other City Council items are worth mentioning:
- Plans are being put forward to refurbish and reinstall the World Famous VIP Records sign at a lot on the southwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, dubbed “The VIP Records Park.” The city will pay up to $235,000 for refurbishment and $170,000 to the longtime records store to display the sign, as well as enter into any sublicensing agreements the two parties reach, through the five-year agreement.
- The Long Beach Yacht Club wants to extend its lease at 6201 Appian Way by 41 years, from 2050 to 2091. With the agreement, it will pay for major renovations to the clubhouse and pool, adding 20,000 square feet to the facility. The club will also pay for the construction of a small community room, credited to the city for use up to 600 hours a year at no cost. Rent will rise to $200,000, though only $20,000 is guaranteed, while the rest can be offset if the club adequately offers community programming.
- The Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation wants to extend the lease for its Ocean Boulevard address through September 2035, a reflection of the museum’s growth but also because the museum wants to qualify for more grants.
- Another lease to follow: First Response Healthcare will rent a 1,300-square-foot clinic inside the Ronald Arias Health Equity Center in Houghton Park for at least three years. The clinic will run five days a week for $2,000 a month in rent. It will replace the clinic’s former tenants, who handled city STI and HIV prevention programs.
- Designs are set for council approval for the construction of a seven-story, 157-unit building with 9,000 square feet of commercial space and a two-level parking garage at 507 Pacific Ave. in downtown Long Beach. The item previously came before the Planning Commission in 2019.
- The city wants to install up to 50 digital information kiosks around the city for the next decade, saying it could bring in ad revenue — estimated at $1.4 million annually — while helping people navigate Long Beach. Half would be installed in downtown Long Beach, while the rest would be spread across the city.
ICYMI — California and national news
- At CSULB, a retired judge pieces together the language once spoken by her ancestors (Long Beach Post)
- The biggest startups raised a record amount in 2025, dominated by AI (Los Angeles Times)
- The story ends for a nearly century-old community paper in the Pacific Palisades (LAist)
- 10 new California laws you should know about in 2026 (LAist)
- City Council aims to rein in rowdy revelers in Belmont Shore (Long Beach Post)