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On Tuesday, July 22, the City Council heard the following items of interest:
Item #52: Request City Manager report back within 120 days with opportunities to improve the City of Long Beach’s coordinated response to individuals displaying threatening or unsafe behavior (Authored by Councilmember Duggan). This item was approved unanimously with the friendly amendment to also include information about reporting human trafficking. Listen to Councilmember Duggan's comments here.
Item #50: Direct City Manager, in collaboration with Economic Development, Parks, Recreation and Marine, and other relevant city departments, to work with California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), the Long Beach Baseball Club, Inc. (LBBC) and other key stakeholders to explore opportunities to develop a collaborative partnership agreement for the use of Blair Field as a home venue for a new professional baseball team for the City of Long Beach, and report back to City Council. This item was authored by the Mayor and co-signed by Councilmember Duggan. This item was approved unanimously.
Item #51: Request City Manager to evaluate the feasibility and outline the process for implementing a pilot Child Watch Program during City Council meetings. A report back is requested in 90 days. This item was approved unanimously. Councilmember Duggan requested that the report back include information on any potential structural costs associated with implementation.
Item #65: Declare an ordinance amending Title 5 of the Long Beach Municipal Code to establish staffing requirements for self-service checkout stations at grocery and drug stores to advance public safety and prevent retail theft. This proposal now: mandates a 1:3 staffing ratio (one employee for every three self-checkout stations); requires grocery store layouts that enable “adequate observation” of all self-checkout areas; and creates a private right of action allowing any member of the public to sue the grocery store for alleged non-compliance.
Councilmember Duggan expressed concern that this ordinance allows any customer to sue for violations, but the ordinance doesn’t give a clear understanding of how businesses can be compliant. For example, it says self-checkouts need to be located in a way that allows for “adequate observation” by employees and local law enforcement, but it doesn’t say how grocery stores meet this requirement. This leaves grocery stores guessing on how to be compliant while needing to spend money to defend their store layout if someone believes it doesn’t meet the adequate observation requirement. Listen to Councilmember Duggan's comments here.
Also, on Tuesday, July 22, the Government Operations Committee, Chaired by Councilmember Duggan, heard the following items of interest:
Item #2: Approve and refer back to City Council for consideration and approval, the naming of the Junior Lifeguard Facility at the Claremont Small Boat Launch Ramp the “Pat Flynn and Dick Miller Junior Lifeguard Facility”. This item was approved unanimously.
Item #3: Recommendation to request Committee feedback and identify some or all of the recommendations for improving the efficiency of Council meetings for further research, staff input, and continued exploration. This item was approved unanimously. Committee members supported exploring all recommendations, with a focus on: allowing more non-agenda speakers at the start of meetings using the same time limits as regular agenda items (3 minutes, reduced to 90 seconds if over 10 speakers); upholding the 5-minute limit for presentations and ceremonies at the start of meetings; and approving small-dollar Council sponsorships administratively, instead of requiring full Council approval, while maintaining transparency. Listen to the discussion here.
All City Council, Committee, and Commission agendas can be found here.
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