Councilmember Andrews' Language Policy Unanimously Passed by City Council

Details: By Staff Reports; | Thursday, 03 November 2011 22:22

5:25am | Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews, in conjunction with Ninth District Councilman Steven Neal, put forth a City Council Agenda Item Tuesday to create a policy to provide equal language access to all City of Long Beach residents. The item passed unanimously.

Over 50 community members addressed the Long Beach Mayor and City Councilmembers about the language barriers that they currently face. Many members of the community expressed a desire to be involved in Long Beach City government and City services; however their limited proficiency of the English language acts as a barrier.

“Access to City Government and services are key for the continued growth of our City and the language barrier is stunting our growth. It is very important that all the residents that make up Long Beach are equally invited, involved, and educated about our City’s practices, especially vital services such as public safety, health, and general welfare”, said Councilman Dee Andrews.

The item suggests that a policy be created so that all City Departments, Board meetings, Commission meetings, City Council meetings and City organized/hosted community meetings be accessible to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons through the use of interpreters. Additionally, the item stipulates that vital City documents be translated into the primary languages spoken by Long Beach residents, and the City’s website be available in languages other than English.

"Everyone deserves the right to have equal access to his/her government. Each person has something of value to offer, and it would be a shame to miss great opportunities because of language barriers”, said Councilman Steven Neal.

"Language access is the #1 barrier to the success of immigrant integration for the residents of Long Beach. The policy will lead to the improvement of economic development, civic engagement and better quality of life”, said Sara Pol-Lim, Executive Director United Cambodian Community

The item requested that the City Manager work with the City Attorney and community partners with expertise in this area, including the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, Housing Long Beach, Centro C.H.A. and United Cambodian Community, to draft a city-wide Language Access Policy with consistent city-wide standards, and report back to the City Council within 90 days.

For information, call the Office of Councilman Dee Andrews at (562) 570-6816.

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Archived Comments (20)

Really

It was maybe the funniest thing ever at a city council meeting. A lady who immigrated from Mexico to Long Beach over ten years came to the podium and spoke in Spainish for three minutes without attempting to utter one word in English. A white women interpeted every word for her. Numerous memebers of the council replied to her in Spainish. What is wrong with this picture? Why is LB spending money accommodating this lady who has zero desire to assimilate? This is the reason I left LB and moved next door to Seal Beach. Long Beach becomes more ghetto each day.

Marilyn

I'm sorry, but why do you continue to treat the symptom instead of attacking the problem? You say, oh let's put on the bandaid, instead of oh let's help them develop a real fix for the problem--namely learning English.

Language barrier would NOT be the number one barrier to success if the people would learn to speak English. It seems like this new policy only exacerbates the issue by removing any need to assimilate and learn the language. I wonder if we imagine such a policy would ever be raised for the affluent areas in south Orange County. I doubt it.

Eagle Eye

This leftist city/state is incredible. One would think that in order to become a legal citizen, you might uh, I don't know, LEARN HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH???

But no, we have so much money to give away, that we can even afford to setup givewayas that will even cater to foreigners in their own languages!!!

Fox Wood

Here's a tip for you.

If you want to come to the USA to live and work, learn ENGLISH!

Kaybee

This is a wonderful idea and expresses the great opportunity that is America. However, I wonder how much this program will cost? Our city and our country has budgetary issues and it seems irresponsible to add more expenses to the budget. And while it is a wonderful idea, it is not a right that citizens have. No other country would provide this type of service. I believe that Long Beach has a huge amount of ESL opportunities available, and these are already costing the taxpayers. Maybe we should encourage people to learn to speak, read and write English if they are going to live here. I lived in a foreign country and this was my responsibility to learn the language, and I did not have all of these translations and so forth provided for me. I would never have even thought to ask for these things, they were not my right.

Terrie

Everyone needs to learn English. I cannot believe the tax payers are are being forced to provide interpreters for people who come here and won't learn the language. It's an outrage. The LB City Council is out of control.

Dave in Alamitos Beach

Hmm, does this really mean all languages or just Spanish? More than half my family mostly speaks Vietnamese. Is the city going to accomodate them by translating everything into Vietnamese? I doubt it. And if they do, where are they going to get the money to do that? I really don't think this is financially feasible, nor do I really think it's a worthwhile goal.

Nick Fiesta

This is pandering at its finest. The city does not owe these residents a taxpayer-funded language policy. ENGLISH: Learn it, Know it, Live it. Otherwise, deal with it.

Barrier

I tend to agree with the other comments. If we were living in another country, it would be our responsibility to learn their customs and languages. Why are our city leaders supporting ignorance of learning english. There are many organizations out there that will help people learn english. Why must we as taxpayers bend over and pay for people that are too lazy to learn english. I think it is a great idea but when the city has so much of a budget crunch, why are we paying extra dollars for this when they could be used to fix/repair sidewalks, streets, etc???? What's next, street signs in every language? If they want an interpreter, they should pay for it. Not once in our history has anyone come up with this policy.

LB Resident

A few things...
Thank you, Long Beach for moving in the right direction. Having a language access policy will create a more democratic process, increase transparency and accountability, and increase public safety.
It is my understanding that the city is in violation of some federal laws because it does not have some sort of policy that addresses Limited English Proficiency (LEP), so again thank you for moving this forward.
@Really. I don't know which lady you are referring to but I was also at the meeting and I would not say that there were numerous members of council that replied in Spanish. The only people I heard speak in Spanish were Robert and James. Also, I don't know how speaking another language (e.g., Spanish) makes Long Beach "more ghetto."
Learning another language, especially one as complex as English is extremely difficult especially for adults. I am sure that some of you who are critiquing the policy took a foreign language in high school for 1-2 years daily and probably wouldn't consider yourselves fluent by any means. My point is that I do not believe the problem is that people do not want to learn English, but rather that it is difficult and it takes time.
To address another item in the comments - There aren't very many ESL classes in Long Beach and the ones that are can be costly. I have looked into it.
In regards to cost... I believe the city and community partners will be prudent. A needs assessment will be done to determine what items and what languages the items selected need to be translated. This will also be done over a period of time.
On spending taxpayer dollars... Taxpayers speak all different kinds of languages not just English. This point in my opinion is moot.
Lastly, the United States does not have an official language. What we do have is the First Ammendment that protects freedom of speech.

Oh please

Oh please, LB Resident, give me a break. A city's fortunes are tied to the ability of its residents to hold good jobs, keep up their houses and enhance the community. Generally that equates to speaking English. What do you suppose is the average income from someone who can't speak or read English? I'd say it tops out at about $15K, maybe $20K a year.

Do you seriously think Long Beach is going to be a thriving community with a significant population that is well below the poverty guidelines, doesn't make enough to pay taxes (other than sales tax), is probably working under the table and further burdens the city by an inability to speak English. Why don't we just merge with Santa Ana right now since that seems to be the unspoken wish of our city council.

Student

I don't understand why some people like to think that people who don't speak English are most likely undocumented and work under the table. Racist much?

@ Oh Please

@Oh please, good jobs are tied to good wages. We need people to do all kinds of jobs in our society. We need the people that work in traditionally low wage sectors-farmworkers, childcare workers, hotelworkers and other service jobs for society to function. What we need to do is improve the wages in the sectors. To improve the quality of life in Long Beach for all of its residents is pass a living wage policy.

Common Sense

Why is it racist to say that people who can't speak English and therefore can't fill out a job application in English or take part in an interview conducted in English probably end up in jobs that are paid "under the table?"

Are we to assume the people who stand in front of Home Depot waiting to be hired to put in fencing or install sprinklers and sod are asking for a 1099 form when they finish the day's work?

Do we assume at the end of the year they then fill out a tax return that lists all of their day jobs along with their social security numbers? That seems somewhat unlikely to me, but perhaps you are right and they are already busy organizing their files in anticipation of next year's tax filing.

Student

@Common Sense. Your comments are more articulate than any of the comments in this section. How you have framed your message is much better than these other comments even though I find myself disagreeing with you in some respects. You know what they say about assuming. I think that people who don't speak English and live in Long Beach want to learn English, it is just very difficult. I am a volunteer ESL teacher in Long Beach and this seems to be the case for each student. I can't comment on the Day Laborers at Home Depot because I haven't had the opportunity to engage with them. I can, however say that I have several friends who are undocumented and that they and their families pay taxes every year (state and federal). The adult males have also registered for selected services as is required by law. But these points digress from the topic of this conversation. I think this language access policy will benefit our community and I do not think it will deter anyone from learning English.

OMG Really?

@Student: Really you cannot understand why someone would assume that somebody that does not speak English is undocumented and works under the table? Use some common sense here please. If they do not speak English, I can guarantee they are not working in the mainstream as they will not be hired at any company if they cannot communicate with their co-workers or the public for that matter, also I am willing to place a very large bet, they are undocumented, or lets call them what they are ILLEGAL. One more thing PLEASE stop with the Race Card, it really is getting old. This whole thing with illegal immigrants is out of control, and the money being spent to accomodate them, ridiculous. To Long Beach Resident, yes English may be a difficult language to learn, but you know what, the LEGAL immigrants learn it just fine, and what federal laws are you referring to just out of curiosity?

LB Resident

Again, I believe these comments are unfounded. Many citizens and non-citizens struggle with learning English and I believe this policy will assist individuals who are struggling to learn English. I also want to say (because I believe someone honed on the Spanish speaking population) this policy has yet to be written out. It will most likely focus on the top languages spoken in Long Beach which I believe are English, Spanish, Khmer, Vietnamese and Tagalog; although I would have to check again since new data has come out within the last year.
To address another question posed in the comment section, the federal legislation I was referring to was an execute order issued in 2000, #13166.
And to address yet another comment, having children translate for their parents is not acceptable. Children do not have the necessary skills to translate complex ideas/circumstances and should not be put in these situations.
Again, I want to state that I believe this developing a policy such as this will be a good thing. It will increase public safety for all LB residents, and governmental transparency and accountability.

Student

I wouldn't play the "race card" if I didn't find these comments to be somewhat racist. Promoting a a monolingual society, assuming that people who don't speak English are undocumented, saying that this policy will make Long Beach "more ghetto" sounds racist to me.

fine line

Well, it's all in the perception I suppose. Racist, pragmatic, honest, observationally accurate, mean-spirited. All those words apply to the issue, it seems. Can a statement be racist and accurate? I guess it can.

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