Good morning, Long Beach. It’s Monday, Aug. 4. 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

Do you feel a certain way about the city’s budget? Come to City Hall and share your thoughts on Tuesday, as the Long Beach City Council holds this year’s first official public hearing on all things fiscal. 

To review some of our coverage on the 2026 budget, including the mayor’s proposal for immigrant aid and our last newsletter’s “items to follow,” visit the links provided. 

For a full schedule of this year’s budget meetings and hearings, visit here. 

Council members on Tuesday will also hold a final reading of an ordinance for increased wages for workers at the Long Beach Airport and convention center, and then revisit their first reading of another ordinance meant to establish staffing minimums at self-checkout stations in grocery and drug stores. 

Prior to the 3 p.m. council meeting, the Budget Oversight Committee, consisting of Councilmembers Joni Ricks-Oddie, Roberto Uranga and Cindy Allen, will hear a series of presentations related to this year’s budget. The trio will also make time to review some preliminary data on the effects of Measure JB, a voter-approved amendment to the city’s charter from last November that consolidates the city’s Civil Service Department into Human Resources.

Officials are certain this will allay a tedious hiring process for inbound city workers by having the departments work in unison to bring in new talent. As of June 2025, the vacancy rate for city departments dropped to 17.7%, down from 22% in February 2024. Turnover and retirement rates have stabilized, and the city hopes to soon have the data that shows it is hiring an average worker in under 90 days, the standard that municipalities across California work to stay below. 

The Long Beach Planning Commission on Thursday will look to approve the construction of a 12,400-square-foot, two-story First Citizens Bank with a walk-up ATM machine and 44 parking spaces, built on a merger of three parcels into a 36,750-square-foot lot.  

Earlier that day, city utility commissioners will hear an update on capital improvements being made to the Long Beach sewer system ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Currently, there are four ongoing projects within the vicinity of an expected venue or chokepoints for tourism, with the final renovations timed to finish by October 2027. 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will look to approve an exchange of real property and grant easements to Long Beach for land needed for the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, a $1.567 billion project meant to increase by tenfold the ship-to-train transfer of cargo at the Port of Long Beach and deliver more goods faster to warehouses nationwide. 

Business events and information

  • The first of two public meetings on a proposed three-acre, 70-megawatt battery storage facility at the Port of Long Beach will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Attendees are asked to meet in the first-floor multipurpose room of the Port’s administrative building (415 W. Ocean Blvd.) For those who cannot attend, a virtual meeting will be held on Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. via the link provided here. Follow this link for more information about the project.
  • Parenting is hard enough without having to do so on a tight budget. For those still new to the role, the city is offering free workshops that will cover everything from speech development to managing behavior. Classes are designed for new parents with children up to 8 years old and start their newest round Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library (1401 E. Anaheim St.) Those interested can attend as many as they’d like, and no registration is needed. For more information, visit here.
  • Everything is cooler on a boat, including networking. The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce is hosting a membership mixer in conjunction with Harbor Breeze Cruises on Thursday, Aug. 7. For two hours, and at the price of $20 or $40 (depending on membership), attendees can bask in the marooned company of business peers, finger foods, raffles and a view of the coast. For more details, visit this link.

ICYMI — California and national news

  • Nonprofit to launch fundraising campaign for restoration projects on the Queen Mary (Long Beach Post)
  • Intel used to be the most valuable U.S. chipmaker. How it fell far behind Nvidia (Los Angeles Times)
  • January wildfire damage could total $51.7 billion within LA city limits (Los Angeles Times)
  • The biggest K-pop celebration in the country is back in LA (LAist)
  • Lawsuit takes aim at key strategy to create affordable housing in California (CalMatters)