Good morning and welcome to Monday Morning Coffee! It’s time to find out what this week will bring — grab your coffee and let’s get to it. Sign up at lbpost.com/newsletters to get this weekly briefing in your inbox.

City meetings

The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday will talk about renaming the Junior Lifeguard headquarters in honor of Pat Flynn and Dick Miller, who established the program back in 1971. But the meat of the Oct. 1 meeting will be about something much more complicated: zoning.

Council members will take up the issue of major zoning changes in North Long Beach and Central Long Beach that have been under development for years.

The meeting starts at 5 p.m. in the Civic Chambers at 411 W. Ocean Blvd.

The city’s Economic Development Commission, Homeless Services Advisory Committee and Equity and Human Relations Commission are all scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon.

At 3 p.m. in the Civic Chambers, the Economic Development Commission will discuss items including the city’s digital equity and inclusion efforts and its calendar of upcoming focus areas.

At 3:30 p.m. in the Billie Jean King Main Library, the Homeless Services Advisory Committee will continue discussing the city’s response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that lets municipalities penalize people for sleeping outside even if there’s no other shelter available.

And at 6 p.m. in the Civic Chambers, the Equity and Human Relations Commission will hear a presentation on advancing racial equity.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is also meeting this week. Their agenda for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday includes updates on the plans to close Men’s Central Jail and efforts to build more mental health care facilities.

Business events and information

  • The city announced that it will resume efforts to collect unpaid gas bills after a reprieve during the pandemic. Residential customers who are more than $800 in arrears could have their gas shut off, according to a recent memo from the city manager. In March the city restarted efforts to collect on late gas and water bills for businesses, and a year ago resumed collection on water bills for residential customers.
  • Chris Garner, general manager for the Long Beach Utilities Department, announced his retirement this month after a 40-year career in various city departments. Garner’s last day will be Oct. 4, and the city said in a statement it has finalized the recruitment for Garner’s replacement and will make an announcement this week. 

ICYMI — California and national news

  • Street vending is now officially a legitimate business, but birthing regulations for a new industry isn’t exactly a smooth process. (LBP)
  • The new hot tenant? Servers. Data centers are moving into buildings that used to house office workers. (LAT)
  • East Coast and Gulf Coast port workers are probably going to strike soon — sending even more cargo to Long Beach and Los Angeles, which are already seeing huge volumes. (NPR)