Good morning, Long Beach. It’s Monday, Jan. 12. Here’s what you need to know to start your day. Get this in your inbox every week by signing up at LBPost.com/newsletters.
City meetings
Don’t expect a long meeting at the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday, as it is time for the 2026 State of the City Address by Mayor Rex Richardson. The annual speech is meant to tie off the elected body’s past accomplishments and highlight the goals of this year. Richardson has also been known to reveal a handful of new developments; last year he unveiled the city’s new minor league baseball team and shared details on the city’s new coastal amphitheater, set to host shows this fall.
With a theme dubbed “A Future Built by All of Us,” the mayor is expected to touch on advancements his office has seen in housing costs, homelessness, crime and real estate development. In a release Friday, the mayor’s office teased some updates on events expected in Long Beach during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The speech will be streamed live on the city’s YouTube page. It starts at 5:30 p.m.
To accommodate the speech, Tuesday’s City Council meeting will be early, starting at 3 p.m. Members are expected to grant permits, street closures and contracts ahead of this year’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, which takes place annually in April. There is also a request to extend by one year a contract for legal services in Long Beach’s ongoing lawsuit against SPCALA, which the city is still trying to evict from its animal shelter in an ugly court battle.
Another major annual address will take place Thursday for the city seaport, delivered by newly picked Port CEO Noel Hacegaba. Expect an update on cargo trends, supply chain expectations and a forecast for 2026. We’ll be there to cover it live, so check back for the full recap. And stay tuned for an in-depth profile we’re planning on Hacegaba.
Here’s what else you should know about this week:
- A three-member subcommittee on city policy will hear recommendations Monday on how to handle Long Beach’s homelessness programs. Details are scant on the meeting; there are no public documents attached to the agenda items. A discussion will follow on the cost-effective homeless service models.
- Similar case for the Long Beach Continuum of Care meeting on Tuesday. The 15-member assembly will decide whether to approve a policy on scoring and ranking for the CoC’s program portfolio, and later hold a discussion on the city’s homeless bureau’s “funding landscape.” Additional detail is not provided in any of the agenda items.
- One month after their approval of a mask ban for law enforcement on county land, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will discuss Tuesday the creation of “ICE-Free Zones” countywide. If approved, county counsel would return within 30 days with a plan that prevents outside law enforcement, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from staging, processing or operating on county land without a permit. Supervisors are also expected to transfer $40 million in grant funding to the L.A. County Parks Foundation for the repair of parkland damaged during last year’s wildfires.
- The Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors will meet on Wednesday to discuss projects and priorities ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Business events and information
- The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly “Good Afternoon” luncheon on Tuesday at Parkers’ Lighthouse (435 Shoreline Dr.). The event will start with a 30-minute period to network before a guest speaker begins at noon. Tickets start at $30 for members; $40 for non-members. For more information, click here.
- The Long Beach Young Professionals will have the next iteration of their distinguished speaker series on Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Terrence Theater (300 E. Ocean Blvd. #300). Dr. Laurie Santos, director of Yale’s Comparative Cognition Laboratory and Canine Cognition Lab, will deliver guest remarks. Tickets start at $30. For more information, visit here.
- California’s Employment Development Department has released its newest findings on the state and county’s job markets. To review the data, visit here.
- To those people with disabilities who live, work, attend school or frequent Long Beach: Give the city your feedback. Long Beach is launching a survey Jan. 15 through May 1 to gauge the community’s feelings on the state of the city’s accessibility, from its sidewalks to its careers. To answer the survey starting Thursday, visit here.
ICYMI — California and national news
- Agencies ‘cracked down’ on 2nd Street. Police say they found zero violations (Long Beach Post)
- War Secretary Pete Hegseth visits Long Beach-based Rocket Lab as part of his ‘Arsenal of Freedom Tour’ (Long Beach Post)
- Elon Musk’s Grok bot restricts sexual image generation after global outcry (Los Angeles Times)
- Newsom proposes governor controls the California Department of Education (EdSource)
- Planet Books, a cavernous haven for used books and collectables, must move or face closure (LAist)