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Long Beach City Council: Campaign Contributions & More by Keith Higginbotham | City Beat | 08.25.10 |
+  2:00pm | The Long Beach City Council spent two hours during their weekly meeting on Tuesday to cover just under 30 items. Councilmember and Vice-Mayor Suja Lowenthal presided over the meeting and all council members were in attendance. Here is a round-up of most of the items before the Council. Consent Calendar The City Council took up 15 items under the consent calendar, which were all approved unanimously. All but three of the consent items were approved with a single vote and no discussion. Other than normal procedural items and the three items held for discussion, the consent agenda items included: a settlement of a $40,000 injury lawsuit against the city; a resolution supporting Proposition 22 which seeks to keep more local gas taxes in areas the taxes are generated; a Department of Development Service refund of just over $50,000 in permit fees and surcharges to a partnership that pulled out of a PCH development project; and, alcohol license transfers for Holdens Liquor store at 4th Street and Redondo Avenue, the Gaucho Grill at 2nd Street and Pine Avenue, and for an AM/PM convenience store at the intersection of Willow and Pacific avenues. The three consent agenda items held for discussion were motions to approve sidewalk dining at three downtown businesses: Crema and the 4th Street Deli, both in the 400 block of Pine Avenue; and, the Congregation Ale House located at The Promenade and Broadway Avenue. Councilmember Robert Garcia spoke briefly about the three items, saying that each would add to the dining experience in downtown. All three motions passed unanimously. Regular Agenda The Council took up 11 items under the Regular Agenda portion of Tuesday's meeting. Among the items voted on were: The Council approved a recommendation to have the City Attorney draft a resolution declaring October to be Filipino-American History Month in Long Beach. The Council approved a motion to change the city Municipal Code regarding which contributions and expenditures candidates running for city office must report. Currently, candidates must report any contribution or expenditure over $50. The motion, which was approved unanimously, changes the Municipal Code reporting level to $100--meaning that any contribution or expenditure under $100 will not have to be reported. A separate item, also approved unanimously, changes the Municipal Code to increase the amount an officeholder can transfer from their campaign funds to their officeholder accounts from $5,000 to $10,000. The Council also received and filed an audit from City Auditor Laura Doud of the Queen Mary capital improvement project. Doud told the Council that the Queen Mary operator, Save The Queen, has spent $4 million on the capital improvement project. Although Save The Queen's obligations at this point were to have been $4.3 million, Doud told the Council that the group has pledged a commitment to follow through on the remaining work. A motion was approved to secure a Letter of Credit agreement for the 2004 revenue bonds issued to cover costs related to the Long Beach Towne Center. The new Letter of Credit, through Wells Fargo, will offer better terms for the city and avoid potentially higher costs under the previous letter. The Council approved the issuance of up to $75 million in Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes, or TRANs. As stated in the agenda item, "A TRAN enables public agencies that receive revenues sporadically throughout the year (e.g., property taxes, property tax in-lieu of vehicle license fees and property tax in-lieu of sales tax) to have the cash on hand needed for expenditures while awaiting the receipt of these revenues." The city utilizes TRANs each year and these notes must be paid back within 15 months of issuance. A license to sell alcoholic beverages was approved for the Fresh and Easy market at Atlantic Avenue and 33rd Street. The Council approved a $70,000 increase to the contract with the construction firm working on the Vista Street Bike Boulevard. The increase is to provide for additional street work due to "unforeseen poor soil conditions" and concrete removal. Ordinances The Council took up two ordinance items Tuesday. The first motion was for a first read and lay over of an ordinance change related to overweight vehicles and cargo. The motion amends the city code by adding a line, under a section dealing with reasons why the Public Works Director might deny an overweight traffic permit, which reads: Potential negative safety or environmental impacts in the opinion of the City Traffic Engineer, Fire Marshall, or the Chief of Police. The second item changed the city code to allow for quicker processing of requested amendments to an existing Public Walkways Occupancy Permit under certain situations, mainly in the case of citizens requesting changes to the hours individual permits allow sidewalk usage due to noise or congestion issues. And that, dear readers, was the City Council meeting for Tuesday. Click here to read our policy on covering the Long Beach City Council.
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10 Comments so far.
Pat I may be mistaken but without the two regulars like Harvey & the other guy whose name escapes me, they could have been out of there much sooner. Other than a couple of councilpersons, no real discussion ever goes on at these meetings and sometimes with the speed of the Seconds to each motion, one cannot possibly believe most of this stuff is not decided behind closed doors. Thank you Rae & Gerrie--for your concerns about transparency. I absolutely agree, but to whom may we take our concerns to? observer pat, the reason most items arent discussed isnt that anything went on behind closed doors. It's that staff prepare their bosses - the councilmembers - ahead of meetings, and if the item isnt controversial, which most arent, there's just nothing to talk about. stickler Keith, there are some errors here. First: Garcia pulled items related to creama, 4th st deli, and sushi zen maru on pine, not congregation ale house, which is in the second district. The congregation item was number 13 on the consent and was not pulled for discussion. Also,Lowethal's items both related to office holder accounts. Neither had anything to do with campaigns, except that office holder accounts are left over money from campaigns. But the expenses in question in this item are officeholder expenses, not campaign expenses. Pat Thank you observer, but I hardly believe that the public should not get some background and discussion on each item from each member and that discussion should occur on the floor. If staff does all the work, why can't we just elect staff or at a minimum have them on the floor to respond to the public's queries. I am concerned when Rae (who always does her homework) says, gee I was unaware about the remifications of the vote last week on the Development Dept's ability under this ordinance, when most of us, and I am a regular watcher...have no idea as to who has what positions on the issue and why and what the exact ramifications of such an ordinance will be. Should each councilperson be forced to state their position BEFORE they vote. Very few do---but there are a couple. That is transparency I have always believed we were entitled to, at least when I learned Poli Sci.in high school. observer2 There is no 2nd St. and Pine Ave. address. BobS If you can find evidence that the Council meets to discuss these or any other items outside a public meeting, call the police. It's a violation of something called the Brown Act. Cities are generally very strict about it. If you really want to know about the background of Council actions, ask for an agenda of the next meeting (it's got to be posted in advance), and then ask the City Manager's office for the staff reports supporting the agenda items. That won't give you all the nuances, but it's far better than seeing the Council vote on things that, as you say, have already been pretty well decided. ABResident How does one go about getting an ordinance put on the agenda. Trash bins in alleys really need to be locked up. I'm tired of dumpster divers and a-h-o-l-e-s (you know who you are) tossing garbage from the 3rd floor. observer pat, it sounds like you are asking the councilmember not to do THEIR homework, but to do YOURS. There is nothing in the law or in our political tradition that says elected officials must state their position before a vote, or enter into discussion legislation beyond what they feel needed to either gather information (which can be done outside of meetings) or argue for a position (which must be done in public meetings). Dear god - if theyw ere required to do that, the already long Council meetings would regularly last seven or eight hours, and I cant think of a bigger impediment to public participation than having votes after midnight on a tuesday! If you want to more about an item, research it yourself, call the council office, ask during a council meeting, etc. Finally, I didnt say staff do all the work, I said staff prepare their bosses. It's a partime council (though I think we desperately need a fulltime one) so it would be silly for councilmembers to use their limited time to do research any college level intern could do - gathering facts and documents, etc. This then allows councilmembers to understand issues BEFORE coming to the council meeting. That's not a conspiracy - it means they are doing their job. How ludicrous it would be if they all came to council knowing nothing about the items on agenda! That would be completely annoying, irresonsible, and a huge waste of time. BTW, all legislative bodies on the planet function this way, and always have! No good legislator comes to session to learn about legislation - that is done off the floor, so only what is necessary to do with the whole body is done with the whole body - deliberation, debate, votes. I dont think we should change this practice just because you are a little paranoid. observer ABres: Only councilmembers, the mayor, and city departments can put items on the agenda. If you beleive an ordinance change is needed, call your councilmember Ibencruzin For Council to place items on the agenda requires about two weeks. Discussion was terminated along time ago when the consent calendar stopped allowing the public to pull items. That sped things up by at least 50%. Closed session items well, that is supposed to be where they discuss things but take absolutely no action. The Brown Act comes into play when when items do not get disclosed in the public forum. Some violations cannot be proved such as serial Brown Act violations one council member calls another and then another. Then another council member calls a couple more. Since it only takes five votes to pass items they can compare notes as long as one council member does not call more that enough to make a quorum. Wheel and spoke violations are one council member calls 4 or five more on the same topic then they call with that answer. All of this is to be held in the open. Any action taken in a closed session must be reported in open council. Rarely does that occur. By the way, for those of you who have been watching the rubber stamp brigade lately (excluding Gerrie and Rae) Harvey and Larry Goodhew generally speak on topics that effect the city generally. Other speakers that come in from time to time...Dan Pressburg, Bry Myown, Gabrielle Weeks, Jack Smith and Annie Greenfield Wisner all peak to specific topics that affect their areas and are specific in nature. My final comment is staff does do the work and provides direction from day to day. It is up to the council member to decipher what is really happening and that is what makes Geerie and Rae so effective.
City Beat
Keith Higginbotham takes you inside City Hall and reports weekly on the decisions being made.
Keith Higginbotham is a freelance journalist and writer who most recently served as the West Coast editor for the trade magazine American Shipper, covering the shipping and logistics industries. Prior to this, he served as the Advertising and Multimedia Manager for the Port of Long Beach. He began his journalism career more than a decade ago as the Trade and Transportation beat reporter at the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
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