(June 26, 2009) -- In the public interest, LBReport.com provides below archival, extended audio coverage of salient portions of what took place on August 1, 1995 when Long Beach City Councilmembers voted to put public money at risk if Aquarium visitors and revenue didn't materialize as predicted.
Photo credit: Diana Lejins
The first Aquarium-related agenda item (#23) was a "receive and file" item that included presentations by Kajima, a financial feasibility report then being finalized by Coopers & Lybrand (retained by Kajima), an independent consultant retained by city management to review Coopers & Lybrand's report, a VP from Goldman Sachs, an Aquarium boardmember and then-City Manager Hankla. Our coverage of this item begins with presentation of the financial feasibility report.
The second item (#24) was a Council action item approving use of public money to back the Aquarium bonds. It included presentations by then-Deputy (now Ass't) City Attorney Heather Mahood and then-City Manager Hankla.
To provide a listenable presentation, we've posted the salient portions of these agenda items, omitting less pertinent portions, meaning some speakers and statements are not included, indicating edits/omissions with a "whoosh" sound (our version of an audio ellipsis).
As a result of the 1995 Council action, public money used to pay the Aquarium debt has drained millions of dollars from LB Tidelands fund that could have been used to clean and improve LB's beaches and shoreline areas. During the same period, annual transfers of Port profits sent millions of dollars into the Tidelands fund.
