The item, agendized by Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez, joined by Councilmembers Roberto Uranga, Dee Andrews and Vice Mayor Rex Richardson (agendizing memo here sought a report from city management on matters including "outlining clear rules for city-wide park entertainment, so that it either includes each region of the city OR provides the funding in lieu of, for areas that did not receive the benefit of the city-wide park entertainment; [and] overall suggestions for more equitable programming city-wide from our Parks department."

[Scroll down for further.]

Councilwoman Gonzalez delivered a polished, data-rich Power Point presentation (evidencing considerable preparation and research for which she credited her staff) that enumerated multiple examples of inequity in allocating resources for park programs. She said residents of her 1st Council district [in which she's currently seeking re-election with Council incumbents in districts 3, 5, 7 and 9] face high unemployment, poverty, obesity but said the city doesn't provide park programs that support their needs.

Gonzalez advocated (among other things) applying current City Hall-adopted plans (e.g. the City's "livable westside" plan, transportation plan, "my brother's keeper" [programs for boys/men of color that advocates say will deter violence]. She urged multi year permits for annual events, waiving park fees for groups that present park programs and seeks update to city's open space element and parks plan.

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The agenda item came after 1st district residents (in the Willmore City neighborhood) tried without success to receive LB Municipal Band concerts under their former 1st Council district representative (Robert Garcia) and received only one Municipal Band concert in 2016 under their current Councilmember Gonzalez. A recent story in the Gazettes reported on that issue, and included comments by Councilwoman Gonzalez and Vice Mayor Richardson that voiced polite but pointed displeasure with the status quo, with Richardson attributing current equity issues in part to currently having only ELB Council members on the Mayor-chosen Budget Oversight Committee (districts 3, 5 and 8.)

In introducing the Council item, Councilwoman Gonzalez said it wasn't simply about scheduling LB's Municipal Band and struck a conciliatory tone. "Let's work together to fill in the gaps," adding that her agenda item wasn't meant as an attack but an invitation to examine allocating city resources through a wider lens and take care of everybody. "We can all work together," she said.

Co-agendizers Uranga, Richardson and Andrews amplified her points and cited actions that they've taken while on the Council to promote equity. Councilman Austin said he faces issues of equity every day in his district and when he first came to the Council, he had to deal with budgets that didn't have resources to do what he said can be done now.

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ELB Councilmembers didn't dispute or challenge Councilwoman Gonzalez's data or the substance of the agenda item. Third district Councilwoman Suzie Price noted that the actual text of the agenda item wasn't as divisive as some comments she'd seen on social networks and published in some news outlets. Price commended Gonzalez for delivering a detailed, thoughtful and well-prepared presentation.

4th dist. Councilman Daryl Supernaw said his district is already among the most diverse, and said that he (like Austin) also faces issues of equity every day, noting that data cited by Gonzalez showed life expectancy at the east end of his district is considerably different than at the west end. Councilman Supernaw urged focusing on improving the current situation without taking programs away from one district to giving them to another.

5th dist. Councilwoman Stacy Mungo said the City shouldn't pursue park programming that "doesn't work" and urged looking to park programming that nonprofits and private business can provide.

Vice Mayor Rex Richardson thanked his colleagues for the tone of the Council discussion, said equity is a difficult conversation to have, and said the agenda item regarding parks is part of a broader discussion of equity in other contexts and parks is a good place to start.

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Sixty-five minutes after the Council began discussing the agenda item among themselves, Vice Mayor Richardson (Mayor Garcia was absent) invited public testimony. On seeing twenty people waiting to speak, he cut public speaker time to two minutes each.

After one woman mentioned lack of public safety in parks (said her child had mentioned seeing a dead body in park), Vice Mayor Richardson responded that one way to make parks safe is programming.

Los Cerritos neighborhood John Deats cited his years of volunteer work raising money to support the Municipal Band, and publicly offered to contribute $1,000 personally to match any Councilmembers (up to nine) who contributed $1,000 personally to support Muni Band [no Councilmembers met his challenge.]

After 40 minutes of public comment, the Council voted 9-0 to approves the Gonzalez/Uranga/Andrews/Richardson item.

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Councilmembers have previously raised issues of equity in other contexts. In July 5, 2016, the City Council approved an item by (primary agendizer then-Councilman/now Vice Mayor) Rex Richardson to explore the integrating the city's existing equity and "violence prevention" efforts in a single office. In February 2017, city management told the City Council (in this memo to Mayor/Councilmembers, not agendized for public discussion) that LB's Dept. of Health and Human Services has created an "office of equity." City management's memo described the office as the city's "second cohort in participating in the Governing Alliance for Race and Equity, which includes representation from 12 city departments, and will focus on city policies and processes that can support equity in Long Beach."

[Ed. comment: LBREPORT.com has for many years provided data showing LB is a "tale of two cities" in terms of violent crimes/public safety, which disproportionately impact residents in some parts of LB. In our editorials, LBREPORT.com has consistently taken the position that restoring LB's previously budgeted police levels beyond levels recommended by Mayor Garcia and adopted by LB's current Council incumbents would significantly benefit these areas.]