00:20
okay we're live folks all right good
00:23
evening everyone
00:24
uh welcome to a working meeting
00:28
of the city council um so
00:32
just in case you're not familiar with
00:33
the drill on these uh this is just
00:36
you're gonna listen to the council and
00:38
some of the staff talking about some
00:40
issues in the city
00:41
and uh and things like that it's just
00:43
like a
00:44
kind of a working meeting there's uh
00:47
no public input no uh
00:50
good and welfare type things uh
00:52
nothing's voted on
00:54
it's just uh us discussing some issues
00:57
across the city
00:58
so uh why don't we get going i guess uh
01:02
why don't we start
01:04
with uh swimming at the wreck
01:08
because i see mr brand is on
01:12
on good evening everybody uh it's been a
01:14
while i hope everybody's well
01:16
um as john mentioned uh i was asked to
01:20
participate tonight provide some some
01:22
swimming updates
01:24
uh but before moving into i guess the
01:27
future of
01:28
rex swimming programs uh perhaps it
01:31
might be better for me to answer
01:33
one of my favorite questions that
01:36
councilwoman liz treston likes to ask is
01:39
how did we get to here so um just a
01:42
brief history and i'll speak about about
01:45
two programs
01:46
specifically uh one being swim lessons
01:49
and the other being
01:50
the competitive swim team um
01:54
late last spring or early summer uh i
01:57
met with our swimming pool supervisor to
01:59
discuss
02:00
uh the upcoming year's programs um
02:03
she was running the long beach aquatics
02:05
at the time and expressed to me that
02:07
both she and several of the other
02:09
coaches
02:10
uh that were prominent members of the
02:12
aquatic club
02:14
were looking to take a step back uh
02:16
given the tradition
02:18
and the history no yes hear me this is
02:21
let's
02:21
can you just tell us who who that was
02:24
yeah kelly ulrich
02:26
okay thank you yep um
02:29
given the tradition the history of
02:32
swimming in this building
02:33
and and with the within the community um
02:37
we made the decision that that the time
02:39
was right to solicit proposals
02:42
uh from outside organizations to partner
02:46
with us
02:47
uh to help us carry on the swimming
02:49
tradition here at the wreck
02:51
we received interest from three groups
02:53
willing to partner with
02:55
long beach aquatics uh and we sat down
02:57
and had
02:59
terrific dialogue with with all three
03:02
uh of of the interested parties
03:05
um that great tradition that we did
03:08
carry on here did have a price however
03:11
and for many years now it's become
03:13
a drain on the taxpayer uh many of the
03:16
same coaches that were involved with the
03:18
swim team also served as instructors
03:21
for our long beach recreation swim
03:22
lesson programs
03:24
another taxpayer subsidized program that
03:26
was also
03:27
uh beginning to show a loss of revenue
03:32
based on the proposals we received
03:35
we came up with a plan to accept help
03:37
from two private enterprises
03:40
with impeccable reputations to do two
03:43
things
03:43
number one provide similar programs to
03:46
our
03:47
swimming community at reasonable rates
03:50
and more importantly to provide the
03:53
financial relief
03:54
for the taxpaying members of our city
03:57
so that they weren't subsidizing a
03:59
travel swim program
04:02
as most of you know these partnerships
04:05
uh
04:05
were announced in this company months
04:07
ago
04:08
and we are now at the beginning stages
04:12
of setting sale with with both of these
04:14
programs
04:15
uh here at the wreck the first one i'll
04:17
speak about is liak
04:19
the acronym for the long island aquatic
04:22
club
04:22
they've come on board to serve as our
04:25
travel swimming
04:26
private swim team competitive swim
04:28
program partners
04:30
they swim here seven days a week or
04:32
we'll begin swimming here seven days a
04:33
week
04:34
with all different levels of competition
04:37
liax resume speaks for itself
04:39
from beginner to olympian they can boast
04:42
it all
04:43
we're thrilled to have their level of
04:45
expertise added
04:47
to benefit the many talented swimmers
04:49
long beach continually produces
04:52
more importantly they've provided a
04:53
program that doesn't cost
04:55
much more than what the swimmers here in
04:57
the long beach aquatic club
04:59
uh or long beach aquatics were
05:00
accustomed to paying in
05:02
in the past and more importantly than
05:04
that
05:05
uh it's at no cost to anybody but those
05:08
uh participants that are using the
05:11
product
05:12
in terms of swimming lessons uh again
05:16
another wonderful time-honored uh
05:18
program
05:19
that's predominantly a learn to swim
05:21
type instruction
05:22
that the wreck has run for decades but
05:25
also another program that has become
05:27
kind of a financial drain given the
05:29
restrictions uh for pool capacity
05:32
uh instruction ratios and one that was
05:34
going to be
05:35
one that we couldn't continue with as
05:37
presently constituted
05:39
uh both because of the lack of resources
05:42
and
05:43
like i say the further strains
05:44
financially that covert was
05:46
was forecasting uh scrutin swim was one
05:50
of the
05:50
original groups that approached us
05:54
about helping or partnering with our
05:57
swim team
05:58
while interviewing them and going
05:59
through their resume we mutually agreed
06:01
that their skill set
06:03
was better suited for our swim programs
06:05
as opposed to competitive swim
06:08
their reputation their track record
06:11
speaks for itself they have a tremendous
06:13
relationship
06:14
within the community and a very
06:17
favorable uh
06:18
business relationship uh with the city
06:20
of long beach
06:22
they are very talented swim instructors
06:24
with vast resources to run
06:26
uh a multitude of programs that we
06:28
simply didn't have the resources to run
06:31
um it's my belief that their order they
06:34
will offer a better product
06:36
i think they offer a uh a more
06:39
contemporary slate of course offerings
06:41
and
06:42
um you know let's face it they have a
06:45
much more innovative marketing strategy
06:47
that i think is going to be beneficial
06:50
to them privately
06:52
both short and long term and to the city
06:55
of long beach
06:56
uh in terms of fees yeah it's going to
07:00
cost
07:00
more um it's private instruction that
07:02
you're getting
07:03
and and you get what you pay for um but
07:06
at the end of the day
07:08
you're the one that's paying for it not
07:10
the taxpayer
07:11
their program and and the way that the
07:13
program is structured um
07:16
the pull time is streamlined um you're
07:20
getting more touches as we like to say
07:22
and and certainly getting a uh a more
07:25
fine-tuned
07:26
uh smaller ratio swim instruction or
07:30
swim lesson
07:31
than what we offered traditionally our
07:34
wreck programs were
07:37
generally a a 10 week program
07:40
you got in the in the water once a week
07:43
you were in a lane at a public session
07:46
and you were being taught to swim as one
07:48
of 10 kids to one instructor
07:51
the student business model is certainly
07:55
a much smaller pool of of kids in the
07:58
water
07:59
with an instructor um beyond that
08:02
they're not doing during doing it during
08:04
a public session
08:05
you know they've agreed to rent out or
08:08
occupy the use of the entire facility
08:10
provide it with many more instructors
08:14
lower the class size and offer a much
08:17
more competitive
08:18
uh swim lesson environment than we were
08:21
able to
08:23
people will make you know the
08:25
accusations of
08:26
enormous increases increases in fees and
08:29
i think that needs to be clarified a
08:31
little bit
08:33
beyond no longer being a tax payer
08:35
subsidized program
08:36
uh those signing up for student swim you
08:39
know no longer have to purchase a pool
08:40
membership
08:42
so you you can take that off the price
08:44
of what they're charging for their swim
08:46
lesson fees right off the top
08:48
uh compounding their fees beyond using
08:51
the whole facility
08:52
uh are the covert restrictions and the
08:54
number of kids that you can occupy in a
08:56
lane
08:57
uh like everybody else in the service
09:00
industry with respect to covert
09:02
uh you have to hire twice the amount of
09:05
personnel
09:06
and you're able to service half the
09:08
amount of of customers
09:09
uh the swim industry is no different uh
09:12
the hockey industry is no different
09:14
the soccer industry is no dif you know
09:15
anybody that's in
09:17
this uh this athletic environment is all
09:20
going through the same pains that we are
09:22
um there's uh students to instruct the
09:24
ratio like i said is comp
09:26
is considerably less than what we've
09:28
offered um
09:29
that's their product that's their
09:31
business model um
09:33
again the prices are being driven up
09:36
uh for a lot of which has nothing to do
09:39
with them
09:40
and and i would would also venture to
09:44
let people know that
09:46
you know had we decided to to continue
09:49
our swim lesson programs the way we
09:52
traditionally offered them
09:54
uh i'd be willing to bet that the number
09:56
of instructors we would have had to come
09:58
up with
09:59
uh and hire would probably be almost
10:02
double
10:03
what we did in the past uh and the fees
10:07
for both your membership fee and the
10:08
lesson fee would have to reflect that
10:11
uh pool time and instructors drive the
10:13
cost up
10:14
you know people have asked me you know
10:17
or made comparisons to what our fees
10:19
were
10:20
last year at this time and you know
10:22
quite frankly it's not
10:24
it's not fair you're not you're not
10:25
comparing apples to apples
10:27
um our fee last year was there was no
10:31
covert
10:31
i explained the parameters of how the
10:33
instruction was done
10:35
um if we were to make a comparison
10:38
for what we would be charging to run the
10:40
program now
10:41
and what student is charging to run the
10:43
program now i think
10:44
the gap between the two would be much
10:47
much less
10:48
than what some of the people are making
10:50
it out to be
10:52
um the current contract calls for both
10:54
scrutiny and liax to pay us the use of
10:56
facility
10:57
uh they're responsible for all the
10:59
administrative fees the swim instructors
11:01
the swim coaches
11:02
and the lifeguards you know at the end
11:04
of the day
11:05
you know the black hole loss of revenue
11:07
that was inherited would now be turned
11:09
into a profit
11:10
you know on top of that the city is
11:12
offering a superior product that will
11:14
have more to offer when covered
11:15
restrictions are lifted
11:17
two last things one the
11:21
student swim group
11:24
just completed a two week trial period
11:28
uh most of that was geared toward people
11:30
who had paid for
11:31
swim lessons last spring and did not
11:35
want a refund they just wanted a first
11:37
crack at
11:38
uh programming and scheduling uh they
11:40
did that free of charge
11:42
and you know what the the return on on
11:45
that investment
11:46
turned out to be great i've got a number
11:49
of uh
11:50
messages from people who have said to me
11:52
that their child's learned more in the
11:54
last two weeks
11:55
than they learned in an entire swim
11:57
session uh
11:58
last year so we're taking the good
12:01
the good uh press with the bad press but
12:04
at the end of the day
12:05
uh i think the city is making a really
12:08
smart decision
12:09
in in bringing them aboard like anything
12:12
else
12:12
it'll be evaluated at the end of its
12:15
term and we can move on from there
12:17
they're getting ready to open up their
12:19
doors
12:21
full boat here again the two-week trial
12:24
run
12:25
is over we haven't exchanged uh
12:28
money yet um finding touches on
12:31
on schedules based on those trial runs
12:34
just to make sure
12:35
that we can successfully move forward
12:39
with this agreement
12:40
uh has been completed and we plan to do
12:42
so
12:43
um the last thing i did want to offer
12:46
uh to people who have questions about
12:50
um swim lessons and
12:53
and swim lessons the way they once were
12:56
uh we have left open the possibility of
12:59
scooting offering
13:00
a residence only uh ten to a lane
13:04
program um that
13:07
we negotiated a lane price into
13:10
into their contract where they could do
13:13
a a much more competitive competitively
13:17
priced
13:18
swim lesson similar to what we offered
13:20
in the past
13:21
obviously that's not something that
13:23
covert will allow right now
13:25
but when culvert restrictions are lifted
13:28
um
13:28
two things uh that's one program that
13:30
will explore
13:31
uh getting put in place and their price
13:34
structure will go up
13:36
as uh they can begin to put more people
13:39
in the pool than they can right now
13:42
that's all i got for swimming
13:46
uh joe just so i understand
13:50
correctly uh the swimming
13:53
team that was there long beach aquatics
13:55
that was a private team
13:57
yeah well i mean it went under the
13:59
banner of public private uh
14:02
this was a program started
14:05
i want to say 40 years ago maybe
14:10
and it began as a resident only
14:13
swim program that swam locally uh
14:16
you know look produced and has its value
14:19
in producing
14:20
uh future lifeguard patrol members and
14:23
obviously you know contributes immensely
14:26
to
14:26
the rich swimming tradition here here in
14:28
our city um
14:30
but again it was a program that the kids
14:33
paid a membership fee for
14:35
um and and beyond that all of their
14:39
coaches
14:39
were paid for on the city's payroll
14:43
and i can assure you that we racked up
14:46
some some serious uh uh
14:51
salary uh get paying to these full-time
14:54
not full-time but
14:56
uh very busy
14:59
swim coaches so the city was paying the
15:03
salaries of
15:04
swim coaches for a private swim team
15:08
yeah basically you know we collected
15:11
some money towards that
15:12
you know and at the end of the day um i
15:15
think
15:16
what you'll see in terms of revenue with
15:18
the changes that we made
15:20
you won't see as much revenue collected
15:23
however you're going to see a lot of
15:26
money
15:27
saved in what's going out because you're
15:29
talking about
15:30
a substantial amount of revenue that
15:32
that was paid to the coaches
15:34
oh okay so that was my next question do
15:36
we anticipate
15:37
uh savings on staff costs with doing
15:41
uh doing this 100 okay
15:47
joe this is liz has there been
15:51
because i've not seen a fee schedule or
15:54
a contract and i'm sure that is
15:58
well i'm not sure so that's why i'm
15:59
asking everything has gone to legal for
16:02
yes everything's been finalized like i
16:04
said they just finished up that two-week
16:06
trial period
16:07
last week we just finished all of our
16:10
final schedules
16:11
uh and fees along with that so everybody
16:14
has a clear understanding
16:15
that information is too legal and we'll
16:18
be ready to go
16:20
do you know if li liak has been working
16:23
out of there are other places with covid
16:26
and how they're doing yeah look
16:28
everybody is
16:29
is guided by the nasa county board of
16:32
health restrictions
16:33
they're operating out of they have
16:37
their own private facility that they
16:39
built next door to
16:40
um the nassar county aquatic center they
16:44
swim out of that facility as well
16:46
uh all the same rules that apply for
16:48
them up there
16:49
apply to them down here
16:52
and aren't there fees associated with
16:55
being
16:56
a national association yes i miss
16:59
you know like the baseball when you send
17:01
your kids a travel camp and
17:04
you so you mentioned that the
17:08
the student surf would have it once the
17:11
coved
17:12
mandates are lifted that the opportunity
17:15
for quote unquote regular wreck swimming
17:20
may be an option but do you know if
17:22
they're going to be offering any
17:24
scholarships for um
17:27
this liac or screen serve
17:30
in their in their contracts or their
17:33
programming
17:34
part of our conversation revolved around
17:37
and and
17:37
you know i i forgive me but i equate
17:40
everything back to hockey
17:41
um and and conversation everything back
17:44
to volleyball
17:45
that that we we had conversation uh
17:49
to the effect and it's not put in
17:51
writing um
17:52
but i i will say to you that you know at
17:55
face value
17:56
we had conversations about um
17:59
money shouldn't be uh the only thing
18:02
that prevents a kid
18:03
who really really wants to swim who
18:05
really really wants to play hockey
18:07
um obviously it would have to be
18:09
absorbed um
18:12
between both parties but um they would
18:14
be taking on
18:15
an individual basis um hardship again
18:19
has to be
18:20
uh has to be uh proven um
18:23
you know that's a whole nother realm but
18:26
uh we did all kind of make the agreement
18:28
and i think if you looked at the mission
18:29
statements
18:30
for what schoon brings to our community
18:33
and a lot of the programs i mean
18:35
they specifically have a program that
18:37
they run
18:38
uh under the title of the martin luther
18:40
king jr center
18:42
uh for for kids that from the north park
18:45
community that
18:46
may not have the the availability to
18:48
swim that they do a swim program with
18:50
them
18:51
we would work with them obviously to
18:54
reduce pool costs for them so they can
18:55
provide a program like that
18:57
liax same thing if they've got a
18:59
terrific swimmer and he comes and says
19:01
well
19:01
listen i can't afford to swim well then
19:04
you know what i think
19:05
you know in all of our best interests
19:08
it's something that
19:09
we investigate uh and look to make
19:12
happen we shouldn't let money be the
19:13
deciding factor
19:14
for for a kid not being able to
19:16
participate
19:18
i i agree 100
19:21
on that i just want to make sure that
19:22
every dot is dotted and t's are crossed
19:26
and
19:27
that's what that's where we're at right
19:29
now everyone so
19:32
i guess the big question really is that
19:34
uh student
19:36
posted something on their facebook page
19:38
saying that they are
19:39
now at the rec center um
19:42
and the contract has not been finalized
19:46
and so joe was explaining about the
19:49
two-week process
19:50
and so i i need everybody to know that
19:53
we
19:54
have not finalized the contract we did
19:56
talk to you all about
19:58
the two people that were coming out and
20:00
asking us to use the pool
20:03
um and we are in the process i do know i
20:06
saw the email go
20:07
this afternoon um to simone to look
20:11
at the contract and in doing so we also
20:13
make sure that
20:14
it is within the procurement laws that
20:17
and we look at all of the uh revenue
20:20
that's coming in
20:21
so i didn't want anybody to think that
20:25
you know that all of a sudden scooting
20:27
um
20:28
was going to be at the rec center on an
20:31
ongoing basis
20:32
because it was just a trial period right
20:35
um
20:36
and so the the contract will be
20:38
forthcoming
20:39
yes we um do have to put together the
20:42
actual contract
20:43
um i as joe explained
20:46
he i guess was evaluating different
20:49
options
20:50
in order to best fit what our needs are
20:52
and working with three different
20:54
agencies
20:55
um so you know normally with procurement
20:58
of something like this professional
21:00
services
21:02
um it would be you can get
21:05
multiple proposals in writing and
21:07
consider them because it is a
21:08
professional type service
21:09
service um you know to grasp
21:13
whether or not it exceeds twenty
21:14
thousand dollars in income to
21:16
us um would be the basis for whether or
21:19
not we'd have to put it out for a far
21:21
formal rfp so i think at this stage
21:25
from what i understand from joe and what
21:27
he sent over today
21:28
we have you know the proposal from
21:30
student as to what they
21:32
foresee um you know it's it's based on
21:34
hourlies
21:35
and i think we need to work out the
21:37
details of
21:38
what the total amount is going to be you
21:40
know how
21:42
long we're gonna be doing this for uh
21:44
how it goes it's also good to
21:46
to work out things and see if they suit
21:48
the needs of the community
21:50
um and then you know move it forward
21:52
from there
21:53
uh so that's that's my understanding of
21:55
where we are as of this afternoon
21:59
so before the uh contract when it's
22:03
finalized and before it
22:05
comes to us for uh before us at a
22:08
council meeting i assume for approval
22:11
uh can we just crunch some numbers i
22:14
i'd like to know what we anticipate
22:18
you know how revenue what we anticipate
22:21
how it revenue will change and how our
22:24
expenses will change
22:25
so we have a a picture of uh
22:29
how this will impact the taxpayers
22:33
definitely definitely analysis
22:36
what's that i'm sorry okay like a cost
22:38
benefit analysis
22:40
of something definitely yeah that's one
22:41
of the things that ina does now when we
22:43
look at contracts and for stories
22:45
we are trying to make sure what you're
22:47
going to hear tonight
22:49
on some other things is that
22:52
are the taxpayers subsidizing certain
22:54
services within the city
22:56
in the city and that you have the option
22:59
to say yes
23:00
after we crunch the numbers because we
23:02
have to go back and crunch the numbers
23:04
yes we are willing to subsidize
23:06
or no we're not we're just bringing it
23:08
forth so that you can see
23:15
um i have a couple questions
23:20
joe yes sir how are you mike
23:25
okay good joe and yourself no complaints
23:30
um you said you just finished a trial
23:32
run
23:33
for a two-week period
23:37
could you describe for me for us
23:40
what that trial period was and
23:45
um i'm just confused between liac
23:49
and student are they one in the same or
23:51
these are two separate entities that are
23:53
going to be
23:54
overseeing this i'll answer your second
23:58
question first mike they're two separate
24:00
entities
24:01
uh long island uh aquatic club
24:05
is partnering with us to run our
24:08
competitive swim program the swim team
24:11
it's a travel swim program uh
24:15
scoot and surf or scoot and swim i'm
24:17
sorry
24:18
is a separate entity that is taking over
24:21
the swim lessons uh with us at the wreck
24:26
okay and and the two-week trial run uh
24:29
it was
24:29
uh primarily for we had a number of
24:32
people who were signed up for
24:34
swim lessons last spring uh who
24:37
obviously didn't get the opportunity to
24:39
swim
24:40
uh because they uh the facility was
24:44
closed due to covert
24:46
these people paid for their lessons uh
24:48
never received them
24:50
when we reached out to uh our our
24:53
customers
24:54
to find out if they were interested in a
24:57
refund
24:58
or having the um option
25:01
of like a first come first serve for
25:04
swim lessons when we did reopen we
25:07
wanted them to have
25:08
uh uh like a priority scheduling if you
25:12
will
25:12
so what we did was being that it wasn't
25:15
going to be the traditional wreck
25:17
swim lesson program that we had in the
25:20
past
25:21
we wanted them to have the ability to
25:24
say
25:25
okay i like what student is offering
25:28
i'll go ahead apply my credit towards
25:32
the the student swim program
25:35
and move forward with with my swim
25:38
lessons
25:40
we also had people who called with
25:42
questions they came down to take part
25:45
and basically what the students did was
25:47
introduce them to
25:49
the new way of doing things with swim
25:51
lessons um
25:53
how they were going to operate their
25:55
their programs where
25:57
that particular participant fit in with
25:59
with their
26:00
their uh their structure or their uh
26:04
swimming model uh and like i said for
26:06
the most part anybody that i spoke to
26:08
that did partake in those
26:10
uh they were very happy with the product
26:12
they received
26:14
um and then thanks joe and open
26:17
how does this impact
26:20
what we call open swim area
26:24
if me or you or anybody on this
26:27
call would want to just go down and take
26:29
a swim
26:31
i mean forget the uh the covet
26:33
restrictions now but
26:35
in a normal world environment yeah right
26:38
now
26:39
up until they get in the pool or uh
26:42
at 4 30 in the afternoon we still have
26:45
the same exact
26:46
procedures in place uh anybody that's a
26:49
member that would like to swim
26:51
there's six laps you call you make your
26:53
appointments
26:54
um you know we've recently uh made the
26:58
locker rooms
26:59
available obviously it's starting to get
27:01
a little bit cold out
27:02
they're not available for showering and
27:05
and complete locker room amenities
27:07
but they are available so people don't
27:09
have to change out in the parking lot
27:11
uh on the bay front there because it's
27:13
getting a little bit cold when you come
27:14
out of the pool
27:15
uh to do that so nothing's changed in
27:18
terms of
27:19
our public swimming um obviously some
27:22
pool times allocated for
27:24
for swim lessons and swim team now but
27:27
for the most part
27:28
members have the the availability to
27:30
take part in our
27:32
um you know our lat lane uh public
27:35
sessions as they did
27:37
okay because it's going to be hard to
27:40
structure
27:41
a an agreement
27:46
within a covet environment right now as
27:49
opposed to a non-coveted environment is
27:51
this
27:51
a long-term arrangement or is this a
27:54
trial or is this
27:55
something that we're speaking tonight
27:58
that you're hopeful to get started
28:01
right now i i what we would call it is
28:03
it and
28:05
i sent it to samoa today is like a
28:07
pre-contract agreement that we have
28:10
and within that pre-contract agreement
28:12
um
28:13
there are two schedules one is
28:17
obviously operating as is with covert
28:20
restrictions
28:22
the other would be without covert
28:24
restrictions and the fee schedule
28:26
that they would then pay us for that um
28:29
and
28:30
just like anybody that's using the ice
28:32
arena anybody that's using the swimming
28:34
pool
28:34
anybody that's basically part of
28:37
anything right now
28:38
everything is subject to change because
28:40
of covert we don't know
28:42
what type of of instruction that we're
28:45
going to be given
28:46
uh today tomorrow next week next month
28:49
it's almost month to month
28:50
the the the contract that we're
28:53
discussing
28:54
with liax the contract that we're
28:56
discussing with scootin
28:58
would be to take us from uh october
29:01
20 uh 2012 uh 20 to
29:05
july of 21. so it would be you know one
29:09
full cycle of swim
29:11
uh swim season joe i'm just gonna just
29:13
gonna interject so
29:15
and just for for mike and the council
29:16
and everybody in the public so i
29:18
wouldn't call it a pre-contract
29:20
um what i interpreted it to be uh and i
29:23
haven't been part of the discussions
29:25
my office hasn't so i would interpret it
29:27
to be
29:28
a proposal uh from student and or
29:32
we will need to see liax as well um for
29:35
what they would like to see and what we
29:36
would like
29:37
to implement if it works well um
29:40
we're going to have to work out some of
29:42
the details as you said because of it
29:43
not coved
29:45
we can work an agreement around that uh
29:47
we'll just have to provide
29:49
for you know certain covid language
29:52
which we're dealing with now with just
29:55
contracts and different things
29:57
and if there's another executive order
29:59
so i mean we can
30:00
work it in but these are things that are
30:03
going to have to be worked out in a
30:05
little bit more detail
30:06
i also i know that the proposed term is
30:09
for
30:10
that period of time however we're going
30:12
to have to crunch the numbers to
30:13
determine whether or not it falls within
30:15
the thresholds of not putting it out for
30:17
a full rfp
30:18
and you know if we we have to do a
30:20
certain portion and then do that later
30:23
we can do that um so i would think
30:26
you know the better better word would be
30:28
a proposal
30:29
um in order to engage the discussions to
30:33
come up with something formal and a
30:34
license of some sort
30:36
to use the facility for the purposes of
30:38
providing these services
30:40
um and saving the city money hopefully a
30:43
good deal of money
30:45
um and liability because somebody else
30:47
will be
30:48
actually taking on the liability if we
30:51
provide for it in the contract
30:53
right that was simone thank you for
30:55
answering that i was leading it to the
30:56
next part of
30:59
liability testing entrance
31:02
control uh what happens if somebody
31:06
comes in
31:07
and somebody else yeah thank you for
31:11
but i'm done with my questions i just
31:13
wanted to
31:14
uh to ask about that and
31:18
simone thank you for um explaining a
31:20
little bit further on
31:21
that part of it no problem you see that
31:24
mike lawyers know how to
31:26
answer questions before the rest you
31:27
know what i mean
31:30
well
31:34
all right i was just thinking about oh
31:36
you know it's
31:37
it's something that we're all new to
31:40
this
31:41
and therefore we have to think in a what
31:43
if scenario here
31:46
couldn't agree more thank you joe thanks
31:48
mike
31:50
all right anyone else have anything on
31:52
this
31:53
questions or anything all right so we'll
31:56
be
31:57
uh i guess at some point here we'll get
32:00
some information when the
32:02
when the contracts are being worked on
32:04
uh so we'll just
32:06
uh just keep us in the loop i'll get you
32:08
those other numbers too john
32:10
yeah thank you i appreciate that joe no
32:12
problem all right uh
32:16
before you go i i joe i just heard you
32:18
say you'll get john the other numbers
32:19
you need to send the numbers to ena
32:21
simone and myself
32:22
i know that yeah so we will get john the
32:26
numbers once we have the contract
32:29
and so what i just want to say is that
32:30
in the past what has happened
32:32
is that contracts things have happened
32:34
before contracts have happened
32:36
we are getting out of that uh policy or
32:40
procedure
32:40
so that we can make sure that the city
32:44
is not subsidizing programs at all
32:47
and we need to make sure where the
32:49
liability lies so
32:51
we just kind of got crossed in this um
32:54
with the whole swim um but joe has
32:57
guaranteed that that will never happen
32:59
again
33:00
um and that things will go through the
33:02
proper process
33:05
that we keep reminding every department
33:07
head
33:08
of the process scout's on it donna
33:11
all right all right thanks
33:15
uh simone what's the latest on mlk
33:19
what's going on there
33:23
can you hear me as i'm yep right okay
33:25
good
33:26
um not much of an update other than
33:31
um they have still reiterated that they
33:34
will only be communicating with us
33:35
through council
33:36
uh their council did um
33:39
send me an email a little while ago
33:43
uh indicating that uh they will not be
33:46
in a position to reopen
33:48
or you know put together a complete
33:50
reopening plan with proper protocols
33:52
till at least mid-november
33:54
uh to start providing programs again at
33:57
the
33:57
you know at the mlk center inc
34:00
or and i'm like sorry mlk center
34:04
uh so and that you know they are
34:07
you know he at least is open to you know
34:09
moving forward with some discussions
34:11
but uh right now they just will not be
34:12
in a position
34:14
to reopen or provide any services until
34:16
at least mid-november
34:18
uh based on the fact that they do have
34:19
to they have acknowledged that their
34:22
you know programming schedule and
34:23
protocols are deficient and that they do
34:25
need to work through them in order to
34:26
get to the point where they will be
34:28
ready to open
34:32
okay um just uh
34:35
um why why are we why are we talking to
34:39
a lawyer
34:40
instead of their executive director
34:45
they have exercised their right to legal
34:48
counsel
34:49
so since i mean they have invoked legal
34:52
counsel and
34:52
this was in august at some point
34:56
after our first conversations with them
34:58
after we first reached out
35:00
july and then we had met with them in
35:01
august and after our first
35:03
you know meeting with them by zoom we
35:06
had agreed to
35:07
you know continue discussions and then
35:08
we were we got a letter from them
35:10
that indicated that they weren't moving
35:12
forward unless they had an attorney and
35:15
we have been waiting for them to retain
35:17
an attorney uh they
35:19
have finally seems retained an attorney
35:21
uh and
35:22
we're now dealing with their legal
35:24
counsel
35:26
okay but weren't these some of the same
35:27
individuals who were saying it was the
35:29
city's fault
35:30
yes absolutely and now we're finding out
35:33
it's
35:33
not the city yep
35:37
in fact okay
35:41
politics uh
35:45
anybody uh anybody got any questions on
35:48
this since it just seems like
35:51
not much is going on with it right now
35:53
it's in limbo
35:55
well john what's changed since the last
35:57
time you talked about it
35:59
well she just told us not much oh
36:03
except that their attorney finally
36:05
responded is that
36:07
the same attorney that was always been
36:08
involved with the center
36:11
um yes it's fred burlington he's been
36:13
uncopied on all the emails i just
36:15
i don't know that he was had a formal
36:18
retainer agreement until now
36:20
so
36:24
okay so basically he's your contact he's
36:26
your counterpart
36:27
to yes without this
36:30
um all right so is it a legal matter
36:34
simone or is it just
36:35
i know uh a structural man uh
36:38
um i don't know how they are perceiving
36:40
it i mean you know we were always open
36:42
to discussions even if it wasn't you
36:44
know i mean i was part of the
36:45
discussions
36:46
for the lease aspect of it um and just
36:48
to
36:49
to provide assistance because you know
36:51
my office has worked on all of our site
36:53
safety plans
36:54
um and that was really the goal uh but
36:57
it didn't have to be i mean you know
36:59
john has been involved in all the
37:00
conversations as well and
37:02
i know has reached out to their
37:04
executive director and also tried to
37:06
work
37:07
one aside with them and you know we've
37:09
continued to get the
37:10
like i said reiteration from their
37:12
chairman uh
37:14
that the board will not speak to us
37:17
without going through their attorney so
37:20
so basically there's nothing more
37:22
that we collectively can do at this
37:24
point
37:25
no other than just you know i mean like
37:27
i said their attorneys admitted that
37:29
the information that they provided is
37:31
deficient they need time to work on it
37:33
uh you know and that they're open to
37:35
discussions but
37:36
that obviously it's going to take them
37:38
some time which again is one of the
37:40
reasons why we
37:41
we started this process in july to try
37:43
to work them you know help them along
37:45
the way
37:45
because as i said i mean my office knows
37:49
what it takes to put together the site
37:50
safety plans because we've been doing it
37:52
for the city for every other
37:53
purpose that we have so you know we were
37:56
offering the assistance and
38:00
hey they want to go through their own
38:01
lawyer that's that's fine um you know
38:04
i'll reiterate what simone was saying we
38:06
were our second scheduled meeting with
38:08
the full board was supposed to take
38:10
place
38:12
you're coming i'm super fuzzy you're
38:14
breaking up
38:15
again i've been having this problem all
38:17
day is it better without
38:19
video no no
38:22
no not making a difference it's probably
38:25
the uh
38:26
not certain wi-fi all right i will uh
38:29
i'll log off and come back on that
38:31
helped earlier on today
38:33
all right uh so look and it sounds like
38:36
in the interim that this is really an
38:38
issue of
38:39
uh mlk inc needs to get their house in
38:42
order
38:42
uh this is not a city issue this is an
38:45
mlk
38:46
inc issue and they gotta they got to get
38:48
their act together
38:49
so they can they can get program going
38:52
again so
38:52
um yes i mean other than the fact that
38:55
the residents aren't being served
38:56
because
38:57
they haven't gotten their act together
38:58
but yeah all right so they'll do
39:00
i assume they will do whatever they
39:04
need to do and they'll approach us when
39:07
they're ready
39:08
um but you have to remember now we
39:10
talked about the city doing programs in
39:12
there correct
39:13
um and so now the city is just going to
39:15
continue to move forward to get
39:17
programs in um that can service the
39:20
that can service the community um i
39:22
believe that the school district reached
39:24
out to mr mcnally
39:26
to talk about the pods um so that we can
39:29
make sure that the
39:31
we get some educational programs in
39:33
there again that is why we started in
39:35
july because the idea was that when
39:37
school started back that we would have
39:39
educational programs
39:40
right the facility for the community at
39:43
hand
39:44
um i i just heard today and i met with
39:47
one of the
39:48
the advisors old advisors on the board
39:51
senior advisors that what's being said
39:54
in the community also
39:56
is that we as a city will not be holding
39:59
any
40:00
senior programs um at the mlk
40:04
um we right now are working on every
40:06
program and joe brand
40:07
can attest tube we've been talking about
40:10
senior programs
40:11
um we've been talking about everything
40:14
but we also have to have
40:15
like everyone else a site safety plan
40:18
and so i don't want the community to
40:20
think that the city
40:22
is not trying to move forward and
40:24
getting programs there
40:25
to benefit those residents so we will
40:28
continue and i have said over and over
40:30
again that we
40:32
the city's intention was not to put out
40:34
mlk
40:35
inc it was to work with mlk inc but
40:38
there's room enough for
40:39
everyone to provide services for the
40:42
community
40:42
and the city is providing services not
40:45
just in that building but every building
40:47
that we have
40:48
that's the goal right the ultimate goal
40:50
is is providing the needed services to
40:53
the community
40:54
who provides that is
40:57
sort of secondary it's if the community
41:00
has a need
41:02
you know we need to try to find a way to
41:04
deliver
41:05
those services you know especially with
41:07
some of the hybrid learning the kids are
41:09
going through
41:10
educational programs are probably you
41:13
know
41:13
uh something that that would be
41:17
needed i would imagine so
41:20
um so yeah we need to uh
41:24
we need to keep the ball rolling and see
41:26
about getting some
41:27
some stuff going so
41:30
um all right uh anything else on this or
41:36
all right uh how about uh
41:41
yeah how about bike lanes uh what's
41:43
going on with the bike lanes good
41:48
evening
41:49
this is patty bourne well
41:52
you know the city has committed to a
41:55
complete streets policy
41:58
for all our streets to take care of
41:59
pedestrians bicyclists and the cars
42:02
and this is a project that is complete
42:04
streets and shows terrific collaboration
42:08
first of all we're excited that edwards
42:10
boulevard
42:11
is starting soon with bike lanes that's
42:13
another example of including bike lanes
42:15
in a project
42:17
and on this project that we're talking
42:19
about tonight
42:21
it's doing bike lanes on broadway the
42:24
entire length of broadway
42:26
we are using hud community development
42:29
block grant funds
42:31
to provide for these street improvements
42:34
to
42:34
re um insert
42:37
and provide the bike lanes uh
42:40
this is being done with the police
42:42
department and the highway department
42:46
and they are working with their staffs
42:49
to do this
42:50
and will be reimbursed by the community
42:53
development block grant
42:54
funds for both the labor and the
42:57
supplies
42:59
we expect it to be done this month in
43:00
october before the weather gets cold
43:03
and it was a great project working with
43:05
the police and dpw
43:07
and because this is so important we're
43:10
looking to put
43:11
funds into our next year's budget budget
43:13
so we can do
43:14
additional streets with bike lanes and
43:17
crosswalks
43:20
uh patty just uh a question since since
43:24
the boardwalk is
43:25
a pretty sizable bike lane um
43:30
just that curiosity why broadway versus
43:34
you know versus walnut or one of the
43:38
streets that parallel but closer to park
43:40
so
43:41
people were going to the businesses up
43:42
on park
43:44
um they would have something closer up
43:47
there since we already got the boardwalk
43:49
as a bike lane
43:51
right that's a good point uh
43:53
traditionally broadway has been a major
43:55
bike lane because of the width of the
43:57
street
43:57
so it's safe for bicyclists and uh for
44:00
car
44:01
drivers uh and the and from
44:04
riding it with my bike myself i know
44:06
that the paint has really
44:08
deteriorated and it's hard for people to
44:11
find the bike lane
44:12
the other streets such as walnut can be
44:14
done in the future but
44:16
they are narrower and with parking it
44:18
doesn't provide as much
44:20
safe biking lanes as does broadway
44:23
so i would say that okay
44:27
hey all right
44:31
um hi patty it's liz so the bike lane
44:35
that they're
44:36
going to be doing will be on the north
44:40
side or the south side of
44:41
of broadway both oh
44:45
okay because because you on the south
44:47
side you're going
44:49
east and on the north side you're going
44:51
west
44:52
thank you because you because you ride
44:53
your bike with traffic
44:56
patty i had a quick question do you have
44:57
like a rough idea what this
44:59
what the cost is um i know it's
45:03
you're looking for um funds that are
45:05
provided but just so we know going
45:06
forward if other projects are taken on
45:10
sure well um the labor is being provided
45:13
by city labor
45:14
and we're going to get reimbursed from
45:16
the cdbg
45:17
funds and the estimate and and then of
45:20
course the paint
45:21
and the stencils and the estimate is
45:24
maybe around 20 25 000 could be less it
45:27
depends on
45:29
if they run into any problems with uh
45:32
delays or um with cleaning the street or
45:36
preparing the area if it's not in proper
45:39
condition to be painted
45:41
so we estimate we have a budget of about
45:43
50
45:44
000 for this and other projects so we
45:46
expect it to take maybe half of it
45:48
but it's our first project like this
45:50
that we're doing collectively
45:52
so we'll be able to give you a better
45:53
idea once we do this first project and
45:55
of course
45:55
broadway is long yeah i know that's
45:58
relative thank you
45:59
thank you going from new york
46:02
all the way to the end of broadway where
46:05
you make that turn
46:06
yes maple that's maple um patty
46:10
yes mike i have a couple questions for
46:13
you patty um
46:15
is the is this the community develop
46:18
block grant
46:19
in the 43rd year 44th year
46:24
uh i don't have the sheet with me uh
46:27
because i'm at home but
46:28
i do think it's the 43rd year money it's
46:30
older money
46:31
and that's a good point we need to use
46:33
it up too because uh you're supposed to
46:35
use your
46:36
block grant funds within a year or two
46:38
so yes it's some money that's been
46:39
sitting there for a while
46:40
and we want to use it up and it's a
46:42
great project because what i'm looking
46:44
at is
46:44
something that was around the end of
46:46
february when i guess we were going
46:48
through a lot and i don't know if things
46:49
have changed
46:50
but um i'm looking at a number that's
46:52
around 55
46:54
000 in administration
46:57
uh yeah the 55 000 is
47:00
money that the city gets for staff city
47:04
staff
47:04
to run and administer the program so
47:07
we're reimbursed for our time and
47:10
we do apply for that every year as the
47:12
money is available
47:13
and that reimburses the city for staff
47:15
time so this is a separate project
47:18
it's under the category mic of public
47:21
facilities and improvements
47:23
because this is an improvement and it's
47:25
fifty thousand dollars
47:26
a separate category separate line item
47:29
in the budget because we have pfi slash
47:33
a couple of different categories yes
47:36
and i just uh
47:39
maybe tomorrow or the next day it's
47:42
we can clarify a little bit at least for
47:44
my understanding
47:46
and the second part is sure of course
47:49
do you have an idea
47:53
of who will who will do the project
47:58
as far as the striping on the north and
48:00
north and south side
48:02
which side you'll start first the north
48:04
or the south
48:06
and also in from long beach road
48:09
to maybe neptune or roosevelt there's
48:13
going to be resurfacing
48:14
of broadway heading east
48:19
um starting in october i believe and
48:23
that's something that i know i had
48:24
mentioned to uh
48:26
at least this public works or maybe
48:29
donna i don't remember
48:30
that we should consider coordinating
48:34
this for the bike for this striping
48:37
of that lane just to wait till after
48:40
that part
48:41
of this repaving is done
48:45
yes that's a good point and the reason
48:49
that we wanted to do the project
48:53
especially the police department in
48:55
october is because weather because
48:57
it's harder to paint as the weather gets
48:59
cooler and they do it at night when
49:01
there's not as much traffic
49:03
um i will check into that we can get
49:05
back to you about the coordination
49:07
of the repaving and uh the striping
49:10
we'll get back to you on that
49:11
yeah i just wanted to bring it up to
49:12
your to to your attention because
49:15
i was made aware of it
49:18
and now we're talking about the bike
49:21
lanes on broadway
49:22
so i just wanted you to be also aware of
49:26
what may impact or which it's like right
49:29
um
49:30
scheduling all right mike the the over
49:33
the um the overlay schedule has been put
49:36
out of all the paving that's going to be
49:38
done
49:38
and so um the staff knows
49:42
and for the community it will be on the
49:44
website if it hasn't been home what
49:45
streets they will be working on and what
49:48
um and it'll be from the 19th through
49:50
the 23rd so
49:52
the staff that's doing the bike lanes
49:54
they will make sure that they're not
49:55
going to paint
49:56
prior to overlay um
49:59
so that we could be cost effective right
50:02
that's all i
50:03
saw i was really right no i understood
50:06
your question no
50:07
yes yeah thanks donna
50:12
um that's all i had uh patty thank you
50:14
um oh and
50:15
and mike the you asked about staff it's
50:17
uh police department staff
50:19
and highway staff they're working
50:20
together on this project
50:23
to do the painting that would be traffic
50:25
i guess through traffic people
50:27
i'm guessing yes the traffic division of
50:29
the police department
50:31
and the highway staff great i'm
50:34
looking forward to it i think it's gonna
50:36
be great
50:37
and safe and safe yeah
50:42
okay uh why don't we move on then
50:46
uh about another
50:50
uh let's uh how about park let's talk
50:53
about the parking lots
50:57
so uh good evening
51:01
uh there we go can everyone hear me
51:05
yes awesome um rich berrios assistant
51:09
corporation council
51:10
here to talk to you about something that
51:12
frustrates everyone in long beach which
51:13
is parking
51:14
um for our small barrier island i'll
51:17
give you a little anecdote
51:19
while prosecuting a case in city court
51:22
one of the judges
51:23
paraphrased one of his predecessors and
51:26
said a judge in the 1940s in long beach
51:28
called parking tenuous at best
51:32
that hasn't changed decades later so
51:35
what do we do we have parking lots
51:37
um the city has a number of municipal
51:40
parking fields we have approximately
51:42
11 of them three of which we actually
51:45
lease from private property owners
51:48
um about 300 parking spots roughly
51:55
and all these municipal fields as you
51:56
know are geared towards
51:59
residential parking permits for the
52:01
entire year
52:02
a resident who purchases the parking
52:04
permit has access to any municipal field
52:07
for a whopping 50
52:11
it's a great deal if you're buying it
52:14
but again the parking is not guaranteed
52:16
because there's only about 300 spots
52:18
so uh what i was tasked with doing
52:22
initially was going through the parking
52:25
lots which we lease
52:26
one being shore road and monroe
52:29
boulevard another being
52:30
east broadway and wilson and most
52:32
recently
52:34
we leased a lot from temple zion which
52:36
in addition to being a municipal lot
52:39
also kinds of function kind of functions
52:40
as a staging area for a lot of
52:43
big city events like irish day or any
52:45
other parades that happen down in the
52:47
west end
52:48
so police presence usually sets up shop
52:50
there or
52:52
csa employees might have a staging area
52:54
there as well
52:56
we've been in discussions with each of
52:58
those
52:59
parking lot owners as far as the future
53:02
of leasing parking lots as far as
53:06
what it costs us it's not it's not
53:08
necessarily a profit
53:10
generating endeavor um
53:15
for these particular lots i think these
53:16
three lots total
53:18
we spend over a hundred and twenty five
53:21
thousand dollars a year
53:22
on them um if you know any could do some
53:26
more math for you on it as far as the
53:28
financials we talked about a little bit
53:29
earlier today
53:30
and she can give you some more detail on
53:32
it but essentially
53:34
uh similar to kind of what joe brand
53:35
said earlier we're
53:37
to some extent we're subsidizing parking
53:40
for residents and it's not necessarily
53:41
the worst thing in the world but we are
53:43
subsidizing it um because parking is so
53:45
bad here
53:47
um we've been putting our heads together
53:50
to see if there's other ways of
53:52
kind of making it more cost neutral from
53:55
you know increasing prices on parking
53:57
passes for residents
53:59
uh evaluating the legality of premium
54:01
pricing for parking passes for the lots
54:03
that we do lease
54:06
you know taking away the liability
54:08
altogether by you know just canceling
54:09
the leases which is kind of extreme
54:11
because
54:12
there'll be even less parking
54:16
about how many spots are in these three
54:19
private lots we release
54:20
ballpark uh ballpark i think the
54:24
the total is just under a hundred and
54:27
twenty
54:28
maybe a little bit over 120
54:31
in those three lots right
54:34
i believe that's 114. so
54:37
there is 114 spaces
54:40
so we're taking in
54:44
roughly uh
54:49
i'm just doing that but what is that
54:51
about seventy thousand dollars
54:54
um hang on uh
55:00
yeah probably around sixty thousand
55:04
probably around sixty thousand uh no no
55:07
no
55:07
no no no no no no wait wait math is
55:09
wrong with the 50 bucks we're taking in
55:10
fifty seven hundred dollars
55:13
yeah that's what i was gonna say the way
55:15
when you're 14 spaces at fifty dollars
55:17
each just
55:18
fifty seven oh
55:21
so we're taking in fifty seven hundred
55:23
dollars and paying a hundred and twenty
55:25
five thousand
55:26
that's one way of looking at it i'll let
55:30
reach uh finish his presentation and
55:33
then
55:34
um i will um i will chime in
55:38
okay with my math right it's certainly
55:40
and not and it's not a diminishment you
55:42
know your math is amazing um
55:44
thank you uh yours is amazing too
55:48
i'll try as best to make this a
55:50
presentation as i can i mean essentially
55:52
again we subsidize this stuff
55:54
um remember that we have about eight
55:56
other
55:57
municipal lots and 50 doesn't get you
56:00
a particular parking spot in any of
56:02
these three lots
56:05
but it does give you access to every
56:07
other lot but it is something that we
56:09
definitely kind of
56:10
have hemorrhaged money on throughout the
56:13
years
56:14
again partially because parking is so
56:16
tough here that we've had to figure
56:17
something out as everyone knows shore
56:19
road
56:20
is a corridor of apartment buildings um
56:23
when it comes to what's happening in the
56:26
private sector here
56:28
i've heard and kind of researched that
56:31
some private parking spots are upwards
56:33
of 300
56:33
a month just for one spot in some of the
56:36
buildings
56:37
um another question that might be
56:40
pertinent is can private lot owners
56:42
conduct their own
56:43
can these guys run their own for-profit
56:45
business the answer is
56:47
yes but our code as it's currently
56:49
written
56:50
kind of caps and what they can make and
56:52
it's not necessarily profitable when you
56:54
throw in employees and
56:55
the mercantile permits and the cost of
56:57
doing business on top of them having to
56:59
pay taxes
57:01
uh on that property so
57:04
so is there anything that would
57:09
should we choose to go look at this uh
57:12
preclude us
57:12
on those three lots from
57:16
basically making them reserve spots
57:19
for individuals somebody reserves a
57:21
numbered spot and then
57:22
charging more of a a
57:26
market rate so we're not
57:29
spending a a hundred and twenty thousand
57:31
dollars
57:32
on leasing parking lots
57:36
well it's an it's an interesting
57:37
question and i've done research on it
57:39
and i think we've hit a couple of legal
57:41
roadblocks i'm making kind of an
57:43
exclusive lot or exclusive spots for
57:45
people because
57:46
you know it's a municipal lot
57:49
and if you flip it to the park you know
57:51
it's the lot owner again they're capped
57:53
at what they can actually charge
57:55
so things we've been considering is you
57:57
know maybe
57:59
i have to look into the legality of it
58:00
but premium pricing on parking passes
58:02
for the three
58:03
particular lease lots so meaning if you
58:06
pay a higher rate for
58:08
your residential permit you still have
58:10
access to all the other lots but you pay
58:11
a little bit more if you want to park at
58:13
the shore road
58:14
or the you know the loss that we lease
58:16
not necessarily sure about the legality
58:18
of it yet because we just started
58:19
we've been brainstorming this for a
58:20
while um
58:23
another option is to go in other
58:25
directions uh we were discussing
58:27
commercial
58:28
testing in a commercial parking zone and
58:31
getting permits out of that like permit
58:32
fees for that
58:34
um there's another bigger
58:37
idea i'm sorry this is liz do we already
58:40
have
58:42
a restriction on commercial parking well
58:45
right now we do there is no commercial
58:47
parking technically prohibited in the
58:48
city but what we were looking at was um
58:51
potentially uh designating commercial
58:54
parking zone
58:55
and implementing some sort of permit
58:57
legislation
58:58
for the area um
58:59
[Music]
59:02
market commercial truck right no no but
59:05
we're thinking about specifically
59:06
designated areas like over by the
59:08
industrial area that might
59:09
help oh okay yeah
59:12
that's that's an interesting idea
59:15
because it's such a it's such a big
59:17
problem because parking is a problem for
59:19
everyone that it's
59:20
i don't think one solution is going to
59:22
be a fix i mean in the past we've talked
59:23
about
59:24
parking meters we've talked about um
59:27
the more extreme solution would be like
59:30
uh with some
59:31
some municipalities upstate do which are
59:34
they designate residential parking zones
59:36
only
59:36
just for residents and then you have to
59:38
provide a certain percentage of parking
59:40
to non-residents
59:42
but you got to take that to the state
59:43
ledge and the ledge actually has to
59:46
change the vtl for us um that's a bit a
59:49
bit more extreme but
59:51
uh it's a it's a this one's a very
59:54
dynamic one to say the least
59:56
rich i have a question it's my delorean
59:58
um
60:00
what would prevent us
60:04
from working with the owner
60:07
to install machines
60:12
machines in those hydraulic lifts no
60:15
meters
60:16
like you know make it a metered only
60:19
spot
60:20
as opposed to let me tell you why i'm
60:24
bringing this up there are some areas
60:27
that work out agreements with
60:31
the long island railroad that they own
60:33
the spots near
60:35
um the train station we probably do the
60:38
same thing
60:40
for fifty dollars for this is for an
60:43
annual
60:44
pass fifty dollars that's right that's
60:46
for
60:47
a resident so you me or anyone else who
60:49
lives in the city
60:50
if we pay 50 bucks uh we get a pass for
60:53
the calendar year we slap a decal on the
60:55
back
60:56
of our bumper which probably never comes
60:57
off they'll tell you
60:59
um and you can park in any municipal
61:03
field that's designated by the city so
61:05
you got uh
61:06
you've got the three that i just
61:07
mentioned you have one on georgia and
61:09
beach you have
61:10
one i think over by virginia vermont
61:13
connecticut
61:14
there's a center mall area on the 700
61:17
block of west park
61:20
there's one across the street on the 200
61:22
block of shore road
61:24
so any of those lots you can park uh
61:26
some other lots in the west and i
61:28
believe have
61:28
timed um qualifications to them to where
61:32
you're you know you're two hour parking
61:33
only but after a certain time you can
61:35
stay there
61:36
so but it's 50 it's 50 for for that
61:39
access the problem is is
61:42
you know we usually sell more passes
61:44
than spots we have so
61:46
it's it's whoever gets out of work
61:48
earlier you know we
61:49
we have the same yeah that's we have the
61:51
same thing is and
61:52
if people are aware of it that you may
61:54
not get a spot at least they're informed
61:57
um my hope
62:00
is that we consult with um like level g
62:04
associates
62:06
put forth a parking management plan
62:09
but they looked at it globally city-wide
62:14
the the commercial business district
62:18
and other areas and they came up with a
62:22
a model which
62:25
i think collectively i think between
62:28
all of us and forgive me if i step out
62:31
of line
62:32
we don't know as much about parking as
62:35
the people that do this
62:37
day in and day out so i i would look for
62:41
some advice from them
62:44
about how to best
62:48
do this on whether it's metered
62:51
a little bit of both i know in other
62:54
areas
62:55
there are you know daytime permits
62:58
nighttime permits resident non-resident
63:00
business um different levels
63:04
so and i'm i admit i'm not familiar with
63:07
the pricing structure right now with the
63:09
parking
63:11
but it's something that has existed i
63:12
think um
63:14
way before i even was born here in long
63:17
beach
63:17
with the park yeah like i said that
63:20
judge in the 40s said that
63:21
parking was uh was pretty crappy back
63:23
then so and if you think about
63:25
how much growth we've had since then
63:29
i think parking is a premium i
63:32
i think people i mean i've talked to a
63:36
lot of people about this
63:38
you know they have
63:41
multiple families they have two family
63:44
dwellings
63:44
and they may have at one time two or
63:48
three drivers
63:49
now they have four or five or six
63:51
drivers
63:52
because of economics
63:56
and they have two two or three cars
63:59
in their driveway that they could fit
64:01
and they shuffle
64:03
but then what do you do with the excess
64:06
yeah you know and i i always feel
64:09
residents first you know they're paying
64:12
they pay our bills and
64:13
your bills they should be given some
64:16
kind of um
64:17
discount and let other people who come
64:20
here
64:21
to either walk the boardwalk visit
64:24
and take advantage of it you know
64:29
i'm sorry so when you hey
64:33
because john because bendo has the
64:36
parking at the garage
64:38
on the long island railroad now that's a
64:40
separate garage
64:42
fee that's 200 that's 250 dollars a year
64:46
yes that's a different pass that's a
64:47
that's a park a commuter parking permit
64:49
and
64:49
yeah for the enumerated spots over by
64:52
the railroad there's no guarantee right
64:54
john
64:55
you're gonna get a spot when you go
64:56
there to the train you have a designed
64:58
spot
64:59
uh no no there's no designated spots
65:02
it's
65:02
first come first serve um right
65:06
and uh i mean dave's on i i i think they
65:09
sell a few more passes than they're over
65:11
spots
65:12
yeah we do oversell so
65:15
if that's too what did you say richard
65:17
about the long run would they subsidize
65:20
something no no i didn't well i would
65:22
say liz
65:23
i was saying that in certain areas not
65:26
i'm not talking about the city
65:28
that the railroad may own the spot
65:31
near the train station so up against it
65:33
and they work with the local
65:35
municipality
65:36
to manage it and then there's some kind
65:38
of revenue sharing but that's all in the
65:40
case
65:41
yeah right that's more like a i guess a
65:43
public private partnership or into
65:44
municipal kind of agreement
65:46
right so mike one of the things that's
65:49
going to happen next
65:50
is that john mcnally is going to talk
65:52
about parking meters
65:54
because what we have found is that we
65:56
still have money and we still are
65:57
working with
65:58
a consultant to talk about parking
66:00
meters so where you were saying
66:02
we can speak with someone john is
66:05
actually the next topic
66:06
is parking meters that was one of the
66:10
um things that we were trying to look at
66:13
yes so he may be able to answer
66:15
additional questions
66:17
but the key is on this what we were
66:19
talking about the parking lots again we
66:21
were trying to let everybody know
66:23
what the city pays for the parking lots
66:26
and what you take in right and i think
66:28
you know will kind of eliminate us
66:30
yes and these fees probably haven't been
66:33
sorry scott and the fees probably have
66:35
been changed in a long time right defeat
66:37
to your knowledge
66:38
anyway uh the last time the thieves were
66:40
changed
66:41
i believe was 2014
66:44
it became books yeah it used to be 10
66:47
bucks
66:48
and they raised it from 10 bucks to 50
66:50
bucks
66:54
i know so um i'm sorry
66:58
that's not up just very briefly just up
67:00
tailing off of what mike brought up
67:02
rich a few years ago we were looking
67:04
into uh
67:05
a hydraulic system similar to what they
67:07
have in manhattan
67:09
um since we're looking at everything now
67:10
maybe we could revisit that i think
67:12
it was with an eye towards the
67:14
industrial area especially during the
67:16
summer to have some type of
67:18
hydraulic system where people could
67:19
valet park and then use the shuttle
67:21
system to go to the beach
67:23
so while we're looking at everything
67:24
maybe we can revisit that as well yeah i
67:26
do remember hearing something about that
67:27
i think
67:28
prior administration or public works had
67:30
looked into it and
67:32
one of the concerns i mean and john uh
67:34
mr vendo you can
67:35
comment we're really close to the ocean
67:37
and i don't know about oxidation and
67:39
those hydraulic systems
67:40
it seems a little scary to me uh but i'm
67:43
not again i don't know they have
67:45
they have different types now and you
67:46
know i'm not an expert in this by
67:48
any means but maybe if we're looking at
67:50
you know in total
67:52
revisit it definitely a good idea it's a
67:54
multi-structured parking level structure
67:56
would be awesome i think
67:57
listen if carvana could make a car
68:00
buy a car tower hydraulic tower we can
68:04
get a car
68:05
from five stories up but the other
68:08
option is we start paving
68:10
beaches and we'll start with liz's and
68:12
uh
68:13
and turn it into a parking lot you know
68:16
john they did have that
68:18
and to scott's point that hydraulic that
68:21
was mentioned in
68:22
in a comprehensive planned draft that i
68:25
saw at what point with parking so
68:28
um beach communities ocean boardwalk
68:31
i'm sure parking i'm sure rich to your
68:34
point
68:35
somewhere along the line an engineer or
68:37
maybe a
68:39
hydraulic spray may have been developed
68:42
to help
68:46
if we ever if it ever comes to that
68:49
that was something that be worked out
68:51
with a vendor because
68:52
you know yeah we we have different
68:54
circumstances here but that's
68:57
i think that's a ways off yet okay uh
69:00
that so uh you know the simple fact is
69:04
uh uh with the exception of maybe hawaii
69:08
they're not making more land anymore
69:10
so we gotta we gotta work with what we
69:13
got
69:14
um we have to protect what we have as
69:16
well well that
69:18
that too but the the problem is you know
69:20
we got
69:22
more cars coming in um
69:24
[Music]
69:26
uh especially now with
69:29
uh the owners of the foundation block
69:32
not
69:33
uh letting that be used for parking
69:36
anymore
69:37
uh that's gonna that took away a
69:40
huge huge amount of parking
69:44
that now people's gonna drive people
69:46
into the streets
69:48
um looking for alternatives so
69:52
um yeah it's uh
69:56
not getting better that's for sure so
69:58
let's pivot to
69:59
uh mcnally and his parking meters
70:02
what about ina don't don't miss messina
70:07
she has she has she has the best math
70:09
please listen to
70:11
i wouldn't say it's the best math but
70:14
it's some math
70:15
uh so good evening um just to
70:18
um i guess uh reach
70:23
pretty comprehensively um
70:26
address this and i will repeat a lot of
70:30
his points but
70:31
i will try to be quick um
70:34
so the city has a total of 283 parking
70:38
spaces
70:39
uh that are spread between saturn
70:41
several city owned and
70:43
three privately owned municipal parking
70:46
lots
70:47
city pays about 113 000
70:51
to one of the lot owners
70:54
for two of those slots and 36 000
70:58
to another between those three
71:01
privately owned parking lots there is
71:04
114 spaces
71:07
um we have
71:11
lots and that is um about
71:15
169 spots
71:18
and uh that that that's how you get to
71:22
283
71:24
um so we pay 149
71:27
about 150 000 uh based on
71:31
old contracts to the private lot owners
71:34
plus i estimated it's a very rough
71:37
estimate
71:38
about 25 000 it cost us in maintenance
71:42
of the city owned lots right
71:44
so it's about 175 000 that it cost the
71:48
city
71:48
to provide this municipal parking to
71:52
the city of residence
71:55
city sells parking permits uh the
71:58
parking permit gives you a ride to park
72:00
but not a guaranteed spot
72:02
we charge 50 per permit and we roughly
72:06
sell about 1200 uh yes 1200
72:10
uh permits a year um they
72:13
will uh correct me if i'm wrong
72:17
um so are we not going to look at 2020 i
72:21
guess
72:22
because it's a coveted year and we
72:25
didn't sell as many as we did in prior
72:28
years but historically
72:30
we sold about 1200 um
72:34
permits so we generated about sixty
72:37
thousand dollars
72:39
and we spent about 175 so that makes for
72:43
a pretty easy math
72:44
even i can do that uh we're subsidizing
72:48
this whole municipal parking
72:51
project to the tune of about 115 000
72:55
a year um
72:58
the break-even point for us at the same
73:02
volume
73:03
of the permits sold
73:07
would be about 145 dollars a permit
73:11
and i also i guess it's not math related
73:16
but um i think that
73:20
since we're talking about the meters
73:22
obviously we need to look at the whole
73:24
thing
73:24
holistically and look at everything we
73:27
have
73:28
to do with the parking and uh that
73:31
that's it that's
73:32
my story if you have any questions i'll
73:34
be
73:35
more than happy to answer
73:38
you know what was 145 for that's a
73:41
break-even point like if we
73:43
sold about 100 i'm sorry about 1
73:47
200 permits at 145 dollars a permit
73:51
uh we would generate enough to
73:55
cover our quest at current year levels
74:00
if we did that that includes the three
74:05
private lots that we paid the lease yes
74:09
okay
74:13
um ina 1200 permits
74:16
that's a permit sold that's an
74:20
annual permit for the entire let's say
74:22
calendar year
74:26
yes so
74:33
at a hundred dollars you're talking a
74:34
hundred and twenty thousand
74:37
sixty so about a hundred and forty five
74:40
two hundred fifty is your break even
74:41
and that would be across the board
74:45
for the 283 spaces or lots yeah
74:49
yeah because we we're not the the
74:51
permits are not
74:52
earmarked to specific clock no
74:56
the the we have if you do
74:59
145 times the number of spaces that
75:03
would be 174
75:05
000 because she says it costing us 175
75:08
000. all right yeah
75:12
so so what what we're hearing is
75:15
we currently charge about four dollars
75:18
and 25 cents a month
75:20
for a parking pass when we really need
75:23
to charge about 12
75:25
a month for a parking pass to break even
75:28
absolutely okay
75:35
and john or um
75:39
oh yeah i don't know if david's on here
75:40
or somebody could answer this
75:42
is the
75:46
should there be a seasonal non-seasonal
75:48
rate structure meaning if you buy a
75:50
parking pass
75:51
in january for the year it's one rate
75:55
if you buy it in june do you still pay
75:58
that same calendar year full rate
76:01
and three
76:04
if we price this right
76:08
what let's say you made it 300 for the
76:11
year i'm just saying
76:12
hypothetically 300. what kind of
76:15
pushback do you think that you will get
76:20
you serious now my understanding is
76:23
you got pushed back when you raised it
76:25
to fifty dollars
76:27
donna i was talking to somebody when
76:30
they
76:30
complained about going from ten to fifty
76:33
and i this was years ago
76:35
and at the time i knew people and i'm
76:38
not a wealthy person they were paying
76:40
200
76:41
this was years ago i and
76:45
there was such a demand for it now
76:48
parking in long beach
76:51
not just answering your question about
76:53
the pushback
76:56
because if you charge what did you say
76:58
300
76:59
times 1200 that would be three hundred
77:02
and sixty thousand
77:07
and maybe that would give us a hundred
77:09
extra hundred and eighty five thousand
77:11
dollars a year
77:12
or maybe we could buy a lot bonded and
77:15
have the price pay off the bond
77:19
another possibility guys just off of
77:21
what ini was saying
77:22
um i know the push back you're talking
77:24
about i know it's not completely
77:26
analogous because rockville center has
77:27
way more parking than we do but they
77:29
charge about 238 bucks
77:31
away yeah liz liz
77:34
you have no idea some
77:38
apparently i do not you have do yourself
77:41
a favor seriously
77:43
call around rockford center limbruck
77:45
malvern
77:46
and just ask or look up on the website
77:48
what is your
77:49
annual parking permit
77:52
for a resident and then ask them i go
77:54
when i visit and i
77:56
put money in the parking meter thing and
77:58
then ask them do you have a non-resident
78:00
rate
78:00
and they'll tell you and then you say
78:02
well what is your
78:04
um what about your commercial business
78:07
rate
78:08
if you're a business owner that there
78:09
you get a discounted rate so
78:12
um yeah you'd be surprised trust me
78:16
i trust you mike no i you trust but
78:18
verify
78:19
seriously you'll be shocked i'll put it
78:22
on my list of things to do
78:24
all right sorry but
78:28
well donna how much do you pay for
78:30
parking in your building
78:32
over 300 a month yeah okay
78:36
right thank you donna
78:41
the only benefit donna has is she could
78:42
pull in and it's it's close where
78:45
here you know you're
78:49
well done it's also got a guaranteed
78:51
spot it's a little
78:52
it's not an apples to apples comparison
78:55
right but
78:55
if i could pay 50 a month i'd walk
78:58
yeah i mean 50 a year i'd walk but
79:01
remember we're selling
79:03
1200 parking passes for
79:06
283 spots so uh
79:09
you know what you have to know though is
79:12
that the people that
79:13
some of the people in this building do
79:15
not park in the building
79:17
they park on this tree they park
79:19
absolutely
79:21
so they have to really look for space in
79:24
the summer
79:25
um on the street
79:29
but yeah it cost me over 100 a month
79:32
all right can we go to parking meters
79:38
uh yeah why not sure it seems really
79:41
obviously related and we we teased into
79:43
it anyway is my audio better
79:46
yes okay i switched to a different wi-fi
79:49
um just to not necessarily put a bow but
79:53
a little extra consideration so it was
79:55
definitely when it went to
79:56
from three dollars to ten dollars there
79:59
were pitchforks
80:00
when it went from ten dollars to fifty
80:02
dollars there was pitchforks
80:04
and torches um and there is a
80:06
consideration of
80:08
you know the point of diminishing
80:09
returns uh
80:11
as the price of the the residential
80:14
parking permit goes up
80:16
uh the amount of people buying it will
80:18
go down so
80:19
somewhere you're gonna get this um
80:23
but we obviously do not have the
80:24
analysis at this stage of the game
80:27
um that says where that diminishing
80:29
point of return would be before you go
80:32
on to that
80:33
rich can you just uh maybe find out
80:38
if we wanted to do something more along
80:41
the lines of what we do with the long
80:43
island railroad
80:45
where we we do over sell but just by a
80:48
little bit
80:49
so people are more guaranteed a spot
80:52
you know so the potential to charge more
80:56
but only sell you know enough passes
80:58
where people are pretty much assured
81:00
they'll find a spot if they
81:01
may not be the lot maybe right across
81:04
the street from their house
81:05
but you know it more
81:08
matches up with the number of spots we
81:10
have
81:12
it's like having a pre-release sale you
81:13
mean and just well as many spots as we
81:16
have
81:16
at the right price or well i i mean it's
81:19
a double-edged sword because if if
81:21
they're parking in the lot down on shore
81:23
road
81:24
that's because they live down there now
81:27
on the plus side
81:28
having a citywide one means they want to
81:30
get in their car and drive over to the
81:31
west end
81:32
for a burger um
81:35
they can also park at the lots in the
81:38
west end
81:40
um but that being said
81:43
uh you know for selling
81:48
look i i mean you know i've been buying
81:49
the parking passes so
81:51
you know 1200 with 283 spots i mean
81:54
it was the odds of me getting a spot at
81:57
the lot on my corner were
82:00
not great um
82:03
so you know
82:07
you were kind of paying the 50 bucks
82:09
because it was like
82:10
all right you know it's a crap shoot if
82:12
i'm going to get a spot
82:13
but 50 bucks isn't that much i i guess
82:16
what i'm
82:17
where my mind is going is if we charge
82:21
potentially charge more but sold far
82:23
fewer passes
82:24
so people had more likelihood of when
82:28
they pull into a lot there'll be a spot
82:29
there
82:31
versus you know we're selling
82:34
uh you know four times the number of
82:37
passes then there are spots
82:42
okay so um i understand what you're
82:45
saying we have to crunch the numbers
82:46
that's what i'm saying yeah we're not
82:48
going to stop that here
82:49
ina can crunch the numbers and we can
82:51
look at it but the key here
82:53
is how much does the city want to
82:55
subsidize
82:57
the lots that's the that's the question
83:00
and so we can run all kinds of scenarios
83:03
and i'll sit down with ina
83:05
as well and we can run all all the
83:07
scenarios so that you all can decide
83:10
yes we will continue to subsidize no
83:13
we have to raise the prices we want to
83:15
break even
83:16
oh actually what it what it is that you
83:19
want to do so
83:20
let us run the numbers okay um and even
83:23
running the numbers with fewer not using
83:26
1200
83:27
we have 283 spots and we say we're going
83:30
to
83:31
sell 320
83:34
um spots then we can see what the
83:38
break-even point is
83:39
to charge for those 300 300 or more
83:42
spots
83:43
so people would be guaranteed a spot so
83:46
it's 540 dollars
83:50
a year yikes you get taured and feathers
83:54
for that one
83:55
but um donald is everybody
84:00
you'll be surprised if you look out the
84:02
cost
84:03
in other areas right i i will do that
84:05
mike you know i'm not
84:06
okay your own comfort level and i but
84:09
i'll leave it at that
84:12
all right so why don't we move on then
84:15
to the parking meters
84:16
sure so um councilman delorey
84:20
brought up level g parking associates
84:22
earlier on as as part of this
84:24
conversation
84:25
and the city has
84:28
retained that firm um
84:31
two to three times over the past decade
84:33
plus in 2008
84:36
they were asked to try and come up with
84:38
some sort of parking schematic for
84:40
the west end uh obviously there's a
84:44
if if tds at best is used for citywide
84:49
um you know discussion of parking
84:51
there's something beyond that for the
84:52
west end
84:53
um so a schematic was was was drawn up
84:57
um and essentially pitched to the
84:59
residents and the businesses that there
85:00
would be
85:02
uh some metered parking along the west
85:04
end along beach street
85:05
and it also involved residential passes
85:08
and there would be a limited number of
85:09
residential passes utilized for each
85:11
household so if it was a
85:12
single family household you'd get two
85:14
passes ostensibly if it was you know
85:17
so for each each each household was
85:18
going to be limited to two passes
85:21
um and i guess at that stage of the game
85:24
this was the scenario of pitchforks
85:27
torches
85:27
feathering and all of that other
85:29
stuff so the city ended up backing away
85:31
from it and not
85:32
moving forward because the residents
85:35
were clearly against the idea of having
85:37
a restriction on the amount of
85:39
residential parking passes
85:41
uh what if their friends came down how
85:43
would they be able to do it family came
85:44
back into town
85:45
how are we going to accommodate them
85:47
there were some
85:49
answers put forward to that but none
85:52
that were necessarily satisfactory
85:56
um and at least none that
85:59
pacified residents enough to make the
86:02
elected officials at the time or the
86:03
administration at the time comfortable
86:05
with moving forward
86:06
so the city re-engaged in 2018
86:10
with level g associates to look at
86:14
essentially the central business
86:15
districts you're looking at
86:17
an area that goes from lafayette to
86:20
monroe
86:22
it bleeds down into the first
86:25
sort of boulevard block along each of
86:27
those areas
86:29
but it analyzed what a
86:32
parking meter system would look like
86:35
there
86:36
um and he even ran the numbers we have
86:39
not
86:39
uh we have not done an independent
86:42
analysis of what the numbers are for
86:43
this stage of the game so i'm sort of
86:45
throwing them out there as ballparks and
86:46
hypotheticals
86:48
but it was essentially if we were going
86:49
to be purchasing all of the equipment
86:52
uh we would have to do a 10-year bond
86:54
that
86:55
would be in the amount of just over a
86:58
million dollars so
87:00
you know 1 million and 30 30 000
87:03
um that said the numbers that were
87:05
crunched as part of this analysis
87:07
would have um
87:10
once you figure out what the expenses
87:13
were versus the income
87:14
the city would have been in year one
87:17
positive to the tune of about nine
87:19
hundred thousand dollars and that
87:20
increases incrementally
87:22
um over the ten-year period so this was
87:26
a net positive at least on paper again
87:28
we've not
87:29
independently verified this i did touch
87:31
base with with level g
87:32
relatively recently and re-establish
87:34
that connection so we could get a little
87:36
bit of the background in history as to
87:38
what he was tasked with or what they
87:40
were tasked with uh what they were not
87:42
tasked with
87:43
um i i think where the council
87:47
was starting to come to the
87:49
understanding or realization or
87:51
uh directional going though is
87:55
there is obviously a parking shortage
87:58
city-wide to my knowledge the city has
88:01
not
88:02
ever really looked at a holistic
88:06
city-wide parking schematic
88:09
we do not currently nor do we in the
88:12
foreseeable future if everything
88:14
remains status quo have the financial
88:16
wherewithal i mean we could look at it
88:18
in a capital budget next year or we
88:20
could look to carve out in the next
88:21
fiscal year but it's it's
88:24
a financially it's an expensive endeavor
88:29
to look at a city-wide you know level g
88:32
is a sort of they're not
88:33
boutique firm i don't want to insult
88:35
anybody they're very good
88:36
but they it's beyond their capacity to
88:39
look at a real city-wide parking
88:40
schematic from a holistic standpoint
88:43
as councilman bendo pointed out we lost
88:45
the foundation block last year
88:47
because we were in a covered year where
88:49
throughout the majority of the summer
88:50
there was non-residents were not allowed
88:52
into the city or at least onto the beach
88:54
they're allowed into the city but not
88:55
onto the beach
88:56
we did not experience the same crunch
88:59
that we typically do with
89:01
out-of-towners coming in on weekends so
89:04
we did not feel the parking pain
89:08
from the absence of the foundation block
89:10
as we would have over typical years
89:13
so what we're seeking here is
89:15
essentially direction from the council
89:17
of
89:18
where would you like this to go there is
89:21
this can be done in
89:22
in phases of we can sort of dust off
89:26
with level g the initial central
89:30
business district parking meeting
89:32
schematic
89:33
uh we can prove out the numbers of our
89:35
own and come back to the council and say
89:37
here's what he thinks makes sense you
89:38
know this does or does not make sense
89:41
uh here's the potential revenue that
89:43
would come of it
89:44
and x percentage of that revenue or all
89:46
of that revenue again up to the council
89:48
or the administration
89:50
could be dedicated towards
89:53
other parking solutions or car
89:56
mitigation programs
89:57
um getting people on mass transit more
90:01
um or studying the larger picture i
90:04
think is you know sort of the the
90:06
opening salvo on this
90:07
is if we're going to be potentially
90:09
getting that positive to
90:10
a couple hundred thousand dollars the
90:12
first year that this would be
90:13
implemented
90:15
would that you know where would that
90:16
money be best spent to
90:18
address the more systemic holistic
90:20
long-term issue
90:21
so what we're really looking for is some
90:23
guidance on the part of the council of
90:27
with the lens of parking you know paying
90:31
for parking has
90:33
been a political third rail in this town
90:36
um
90:36
you know from scandals way back in the
90:38
day to um
90:40
just having to pay for parking has sort
90:42
of become
90:43
foreign in our community or at large
90:45
where does the council want to go with
90:47
this um
90:48
you know what's what's the direction for
90:50
where you would like staff to take this
90:51
and continue to investigate further
90:54
now one of the things john did you
90:56
mention that the
90:57
and i'm sorry because i was um writing
90:59
something down
91:00
about the parking that the equipment can
91:03
also be
91:04
leased so there was there was two
91:07
options it wasn't necessarily put on
91:09
paper but when i discussed it with
91:11
level g um more recently so what was put
91:14
on paper
91:15
and it's it's still labeled draft um so
91:18
i don't think this ever went public and
91:19
i don't know
91:20
ultimately where it just got left off
91:23
this was january of 2019 when this was
91:25
originally presented to the
91:27
administration at that time so i don't
91:28
know if the council ever had an
91:30
opportunity to weigh in on it
91:31
if they did they said no thank you um
91:34
you know borrowing for you know a
91:37
million dollars i guess they're looking
91:38
at
91:39
yeah it's borrowing for 120
91:42
you know a million sorry million two
91:44
five one and a quarter million
91:46
um that's a big amount of money but for
91:48
the stuff that the city has borrowed
91:50
against in the past
91:52
that doesn't give a return on investment
91:54
especially not in the first year this
91:55
seems like a wiser investment
91:57
but the other option is we could
91:59
potentially do a five-year lease with
92:01
one of the vendors
92:02
um it would put our initial payments
92:04
towards the um
92:07
amortization on the same level that it
92:09
would be for those first five years
92:12
uh as if we were doing the bonding um
92:15
so it's really it's a i won't get into
92:17
the specific numbers on it but it would
92:18
be
92:19
on par with for those first five years
92:20
what we'd be doing for paying off the
92:22
bond
92:23
but in year six the vendor would
92:26
sell to the city for a dollar
92:29
the meters they would then be able to
92:33
wash their hands of the liability of
92:34
them and the maintenance of them and so
92:35
there would be other costs probably
92:37
associated with that
92:39
but it's another option to go where you
92:40
wouldn't have the same
92:42
you wouldn't be indebted via a bonds
92:45
there would still be upfront costs but
92:47
uh it wouldn't be having to necessarily
92:49
lay money out on the table up front
92:51
um in order to begin to enjoy the
92:52
benefits and the parking control
92:54
measures
92:56
okay before i what one of the things i
92:58
want to clear up is that
92:59
we are not promoting bonding the frb and
93:03
everyone has
93:04
said to us you need to stop borrowing
93:06
money and so
93:08
ena even if for capital projects so ena
93:11
has said that she would start crunching
93:13
the numbers she would get with
93:15
them and see if maybe we can how we can
93:17
finance
93:18
so at no means are we coming to you
93:20
saying
93:21
that we think you should bond this
93:24
because i can hear
93:25
roy roy if you're out there
93:28
that is not what he meant to say
93:32
so that we're going to bond more money
93:35
even if it is for capital
93:37
and so we're looking at different ways
93:39
that um
93:40
and and to work with the agency to see
93:42
different ways that we could pay for it
93:44
and that
93:44
it it has that cost benefit to us and
93:47
that the city will be bringing in money
93:50
to offset whatever however we finance it
93:55
well i mean donna i would say to roy um
93:58
if he's out there
93:59
this is if you ever gonna borrow for
94:01
something that makes sense and you
94:03
control the pipe pricing down the road
94:05
that will improve the quality of life
94:07
and things like that and i would even go
94:10
big
94:10
i would go not only the commercial
94:12
business district i would go from new
94:14
york avenue all the way to
94:16
to maple that's probably a thousand
94:18
spots
94:19
alone if you put one or two meters per
94:21
block
94:23
you could give the residents this is my
94:25
idea anyway you give residents
94:27
a um a pass super discount that they
94:30
could park there and not have to
94:32
deal with the meter and i will say one
94:35
i'm sorry mike i don't mean to interrupt
94:36
but that
94:37
that was part of what was contemplated
94:39
in this is
94:40
it would be it would go through um
94:43
license plates essentially so when you
94:44
go up to the meter
94:45
you know it's a muni meter kind of thing
94:47
it's shared amongst the parking fielder
94:48
there's multiple in the parking field
94:50
you type in the license plate and if
94:52
your car is registered in long beach
94:54
you're good um and there is no payment
94:56
for for non-resident plates i think it
94:58
was a dollar an hour is is what the
95:00
underlying cost would have been
95:01
and there are some some meters that i
95:03
understand um
95:05
that you could actually control
95:08
from a location if you need be
95:11
saying all right for this for this hour
95:14
this block or two or three well we're
95:17
taking the meters out of service for two
95:19
hours you think about a
95:20
big big event maybe uh
95:24
a uh i hate to say a funeral near
95:27
uh um a play uh
95:30
a temple or the uh church
95:33
or you have a major event such as
95:36
uh hypothetically the uh the polar bear
95:40
plunge where you know you're going to
95:43
and you could
95:44
relax it for a period of time
95:47
but mike i'm sorry what i'm
95:51
what i'm saying is we have gone to the
95:52
financial review board and asked them
95:54
to pay for the meters and they said no
95:57
they have
95:58
they have continued to say you need not
96:00
borrow
96:01
so i don't want to put out there that
96:04
we're looking at
96:05
borrowing money one when we ask them to
96:08
fund
96:09
the meters um and we're waiting for a
96:12
response
96:13
back from them because we have put in to
96:15
the financial review board
96:17
several items we have asked them to to
96:20
fund
96:20
to help us fund for the city so they may
96:22
not give us a million dollars
96:24
but they may give us two or three
96:26
hundred thousand so that's why i'm
96:28
saying
96:29
we have to crunch the numbers we have to
96:32
come up with the best way to
96:34
finance whether it's the full amount or
96:36
the amount
96:38
that um is the amount minus whatever
96:42
they are giving
96:43
i don't want if somebody's listening to
96:45
say
96:46
they're decided they're going to fund
96:48
the whole project
96:49
when we're asking for money to help us
96:51
fund this project but the frb
96:53
recommends that we do it number two is
96:55
they didn't commit to giving any money
96:57
anyway so
96:58
if there's no commitment that they're
96:59
going to finance any of this
97:03
the fr big they have not had a committee
97:06
meeting
97:06
it's on the table but they don't done as
97:09
far as i know the committee meetings
97:10
won't be
97:11
for
97:14
months this is not going to happen for
97:17
months
97:18
i'm just saying and the council can do
97:20
whatever it wants to do
97:22
i'm saying do not throw out that we're
97:24
going to continue to
97:25
bond for projects let
97:28
us run the numbers first to see what is
97:31
the best way for the
97:33
city to pay for a project that's all i'm
97:36
saying
97:38
yeah and i was only bringing it up in
97:39
those terms because that's what was
97:40
originally pitched and contemplated in
97:42
january of 2019 as part of this document
97:45
right and they had a ten year and they
97:46
had a rates that are higher
97:48
then than they were now um no i just
97:52
think it'd say
97:55
um but thank you for bringing it up john
97:58
um
97:59
mcnally donna at what point do you think
98:02
we could revisit this
98:06
you mean revisit how much it's going to
98:08
cost
98:09
well when to run the numbers are we
98:11
running the numbers
98:13
we haven't dropped it this is just the
98:15
first leg we're moving forward
98:17
okay what did we need to do i thought
98:20
this was at this i decided do you want
98:22
to move forward now or not
98:24
no we have to no we are telling you
98:27
where we are with the process you are
98:29
asked to say we want to put in meters
98:32
what we did what john did was he
98:34
resurrected
98:35
the uh plan that was out there he's been
98:38
talking to the consultant
98:39
we're looking to move forward with it
98:42
and that
98:43
we then have to cost out if we do this
98:45
this is what it'll cost if we do
98:47
this this is what it will cost this is
98:49
how we can fund this
98:51
this is something that um
98:54
i know that john said we're asking for
98:56
direction but the direction really is
98:58
we're moving forward to cost things out
99:02
so you can say yay
99:03
we want to do this or no we do not
99:06
okay yeah i mean and to get you thinking
99:10
long term um how big of a bite out of
99:13
the apple do you want to take in terms
99:14
of parking management schematics
99:16
citywide
99:17
so planting the seed i go big john thank
99:20
you
99:25
anything else mr bendel yeah mr mcnally
99:29
has uh
99:29
boardwalk hours and that's it we're done
99:34
um so this should be short and sweet uh
99:38
boardwalk hours are back to normal
99:45
questions haven't they been for a while
99:49
um they they the boardwalk has
99:54
the city manager's executive order was
99:56
still had to
99:57
run its course um but
100:01
we'll let people that have been up on
100:02
the boardwalk for the past few weeks or
100:04
so
100:05
provide a self-assessment on that
100:06
situation
100:10
all right so we're back to normal yeah
100:13
we had on the uh we had on their
100:15
restaurant seating
100:16
but scott was not able to be on this
100:19
evening and i know he and simone are
100:22
talking about some things so we'll come
100:23
back to that
100:24
the outdoor seating yeah i mean if you
100:27
wanted
100:28
me to generally just give a short update
100:31
based on my conversation with scott
100:32
that's fine
100:33
otherwise you could wait for scott next
100:35
time but i mean
100:37
in general i know he has received some
100:39
requests um the governor's i
100:41
should wait because this need just
100:44
because i have five more
100:46
um techy questions regarding
100:50
safety and stuff like that that he can
100:52
answer
100:54
okay
100:57
okay wait i just wasn't we were talking
101:00
about restaurant seating in terms of
101:03
indoor outdoor outdoor
101:07
outdoor seating in the winter so so
101:10
briefly the
101:11
typically our outdoor permits expire uh
101:14
i think it's
101:16
december 4th and we've had some
101:18
restaurants
101:19
reach out to us seeing if that if we
101:21
would potentially expand that
101:23
or extend that so that's the discussion
101:25
we'll have on
101:26
tuesday okay so just for clarity
101:31
to have outdoor seating in january
101:33
february wouldn't they have to put up
101:34
some kind of tent or enclosure that they
101:36
would heat
101:39
yeah i mean i don't think it was
101:40
anticipated so that far out
101:44
i'm just a little confused why about a
101:47
conversation about outdoor seat
101:49
no no no i think it sounded like john
101:51
said december 4th
101:52
he said september 4th they expire
101:56
this expired september 4th oh oh okay
101:58
okay they've asked for basically up
102:00
until
102:01
thank you probably yeah that's fine i
102:03
heard december 4th
102:05
that's what i heard that's that's why it
102:07
didn't make sense yeah but now it's
102:09
september 4th damn it mcnally get better
102:12
wi-fi
102:18
um okay uh
102:21
we got anything else we need to cover
102:25
um just a quick general question john
102:26
bendo um
102:28
this is for is there any chamber
102:30
information updates
102:32
or anything like that oh no thank you
102:35
for that
102:35
uh so in conjunction with the chamber
102:39
john nobody could hear you you're all
102:41
breaking up again
102:43
hello nope mike can you repeat the
102:46
question because i didn't hear it
102:49
mike wants to know mike you can talk to
102:51
yourself liz did you hear me
102:53
okay i heard you go right ahead liz
102:55
please
102:56
so mike was asking if we had any update
102:58
from the chamber
103:00
and if john's you can correct me if i'm
103:03
wrong
103:03
pretty good um we
103:06
the city the art council
103:10
has been meeting every week
103:14
regarding collaborating with
103:18
our city chamber and our city businesses
103:20
to make sure that
103:22
they can thrive during colbit as much as
103:25
possible
103:26
and in so doing the weekend of 10
103:30
23 to i don't have it that weekend that
103:32
friday
103:33
um businesses will be offering
103:37
different uh bargains throughout the
103:40
restaurants and the
103:43
not only the brick and mortar places
103:47
but we have a lot of businesses that
103:50
are within
103:53
with services attorneys accountants your
103:56
doctors your lawyers
103:58
that will also be offering some kind of
104:03
promotional deal within themselves and
104:07
i find it the most happiest part
104:10
is there will be a decorating of your
104:13
house
104:14
or if you live in an apartment or a
104:16
condo you can decorate your
104:18
balcony and that is
104:22
you have to register on their website
104:25
that's
104:26
um you want to put in the chat
104:29
it's long beach chamber
104:35
i don't want to confuse it because
104:37
sometimes you you do a google search you
104:39
wind up out in california
104:42
so i don't have it
104:46
on me quick oh i do
104:50
the long beachchamber.com
104:54
backslash b as in boy t's and tom
104:58
b is in boy so that's the long beach
105:01
chamber dot com
105:03
backslash btb and register
105:07
your home for your balcony
105:10
if you're an artist there's a
105:13
form for you if you're
105:17
artist if you're a business and you want
105:19
to do a window
105:20
kelly sullivan is again involved with
105:22
the window decoration
105:24
so it's time for us to do what we do
105:28
best lonely so get out there and
105:30
register
105:31
did i do so you cover everything valley
105:34
thank you liz john can uh can you answer
105:38
that i thought so well a can you hear me
105:41
normally
105:41
yes yes um b i missed half of it because
105:45
in switching wi-fi i got kicked off
105:46
again but
105:47
in a real nutshell um not this coming
105:50
weekend but the following weekend the
105:52
23rd the 24th to the 25th
105:54
it's basically a citywide celebration um
105:57
we this is for residents we want you
105:59
know a little bit of community pride
106:01
uh we want to invite everybody to
106:04
continue to frequent our local
106:05
businesses and restaurants
106:07
um the the real sort of pizza resistance
106:10
or
106:10
or center piece of all this is we're
106:13
having a community-wide
106:15
um halloween house decorating contest or
106:17
balcony contest because we have so many
106:20
uh so many residents that live in
106:22
apartment buildings or condos so
106:25
the real pitch is for everyone to go to
106:26
the chamber website which is the long
106:28
beachchamber.com
106:30
you'll see you know we'll see beyond the
106:32
beach all over it
106:33
uh sign up to do it we would love to
106:36
have you know dozens and dozens if not
106:38
more
106:39
long beach residents really trying to
106:41
out do each other in terms of
106:43
uh halloween decorations we think it's a
106:46
good way to bring the community together
106:49
and have a little fun because obviously
106:51
this summer was not
106:52
one that we've been able to have fun in
106:53
the same traditional ways that long
106:55
beach you know is always able to do so
106:57
the ancillary part of this is we really
106:59
want to be able to
107:01
our businesses did not have the summer
107:02
that they typically had
107:04
nor did they have the fall that they
107:05
typically had we weren't able to have
107:07
you know irish day again this year who
107:09
knows what the winter season is going to
107:10
look like so
107:12
to the degree that we can use some of
107:14
the competitions that we're having from
107:16
hey come down to long beach take a drive
107:19
we're going to have a map of all of the
107:20
houses that have been decorated and
107:22
entered the contest
107:23
and while you're down here checking out
107:25
the houses stop at a local restaurant
107:27
our restaurants um and storefronts are
107:30
going to be having deals themselves
107:32
they're going to be having
107:33
window decorating contests so it's
107:36
you know it's an effort to really you
107:39
know
107:40
have some community pride for long beach
107:42
but then also support our local
107:43
businesses a little bit and try and give
107:45
them
107:45
the boost that they've not been able to
107:47
get um
107:48
throughout you know this pandemic uh to
107:51
to help them get through
107:52
you know what is even traditionally
107:54
under the best of times a pretty long
107:55
and rough stretch
107:57
uh of the winter months here in the city
107:58
so we hope everybody will
108:01
will jump on board you know most
108:02
people's homes are are decorated and
108:04
i've seen a bunch that are decorated to
108:06
the
108:06
to the hilt um so we hope those people
108:09
hear that the contest is going on and
108:10
all they have to do is
108:12
you know log on and say enter my house
108:14
that's already done to the hilt anyway
108:16
and you'll be able to get some pretty
108:17
cool prizes and titles and uh
108:20
and bragging rights uh for the year
108:22
ahead because we obviously hope to make
108:23
this an annual thing
108:25
so how would someone that wants to go
108:27
see the
108:28
the various uh balconies and houses
108:32
and stuff they get decorated it's going
108:34
to be a downloadable map
108:36
so i mean it's really going to be a
108:37
google map so it'll be you know google
108:39
map that's been
108:40
you know created that it's got some fun
108:42
little icons on it
108:44
uh that will you just click a hyperlink
108:47
you go there it opens up in a google map
108:48
or anywhere on your browser
108:50
uh and it'll have pins where all the
108:52
locations are and on the opposite side
108:54
of it will tell you the actual physical
108:55
addresses of the locations
108:57
okay great so people will be able to
108:59
find this stuff yep and that'll be
109:00
inclusive of both the the residencies
109:03
that are decorating and
109:04
the businesses that are decorating their
109:06
storefronts as well okay
109:09
how's the signups been going
109:13
[Music]
109:15
so far so good um you know it's our we
109:18
got a little bit i wouldn't say it's a
109:20
late start but
109:21
uh as a couple of the council members
109:23
who have been on these calls know
109:24
we have been for basically since the
109:27
pandemic started trying to come up with
109:29
something that
109:31
would work uh as a collaboration in the
109:33
pandemic
109:34
you know with the restrictions and
109:35
guidelines that are in place and
109:37
obviously you can't have
109:38
gatherings or a there there um
109:42
so one of the very talented chamber
109:44
members came up with this notion
109:46
probably about four weeks ago um and
109:49
operationalizing it and putting
109:51
everything together and working
109:52
collaboratively
109:53
we were able to pull off the
109:54
announcement late last week
109:56
um so you know it's doing pretty well so
109:58
far but we hope to really see a ramp up
110:00
in the next few days and into next week
110:03
okay well that'll be good
110:08
um john i really am
110:12
yeah now it should be fun you know none
110:14
of us weren't anticipating this being
110:15
huge but this is how traditions start
110:18
um you know and we think it's a we think
110:20
it's a feel-good thing
110:21
uh in these times that's also safe you
110:24
know which is difficult to come by in
110:25
this day and age so
110:27
um we think it's a we think it's a good
110:29
start and it should be some fun for
110:31
everybody that
110:32
participates
110:36
all right uh this seems like it's uh
110:39
because we're coming up on
110:40
two hours almost so it seems like this
110:42
probably a good
110:43
point to to stop
110:47
so uh unless don either you got anything
110:50
else
110:50
or they no that was it
110:53
we've solved all the world's problems
110:57
for today but today there'll be a whole
110:59
new crop tomorrow
111:01
yes um so much
111:05
all right well thanks folks for joining
111:07
uh liz you can't tell people to do the
111:09
census because it ended today's last day
111:12
you could actually if you haven't done
111:13
it you
111:15
you have up to a couple more hours
111:19
because we're on the east coast okay
111:23
all right good night good night