Councilmembers Mum, Mayor Absent, No Public Speakers As Council Adopts Resolution Backing "Meatless Mondays"

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(June 2, 2015) -- As seen LIVE on LBREPORT.com, Councilmembers said nothing, and there were no comments by members of the public, as the City Council voted 7-2 (Supernaw and Mungo dissenting) to approve a resolution putting the City of Long Beach on record as supporting "Meatless Mondays." The "yes" votes were Councilmembers Gonzalez, Lowenthal, Price, Andrews, Uranga, Austin and Richardson.

To view the resolution text, click here.

[Scroll down for further.]

The action parallels a May 19 Council vote on an item agendized by Councilmembers Austin, Price and Gonzalez, that directed the City Attorney to prepare the resolution. Mayor Garcia was absent on June 2 [June 3 UPDATE: in DC to assist CVB with its DC sales mission, per Chief of Staff Mark Taylor] and made no comments on the issue during the May 19 Council item.

The measure, which is advisory and not mandatory, had drawn strongly negative reactions from residents on social networks, emails and an instant poll, primarily on grounds that the Council should be attending to more important matters and/or shouldn't be telling people what to eat.

In their May 19 session, Councilmembers made no nearly acknowledgment publicly of the criticism. To hear the Council's May 19 discussion of the item, click here (unedited, 26.5 minutes).

City Hall stalled Public Records Act release (failed to provide documents within time periods required) of constituents' comments to Councilmembers on the matter. [LBREPORT.com expects constituent correspondence will show opposition paralleling social network and public email comments.]

LBREPORT.com editorially criticized the measure on grounds that the Council's voting record on substantive health and safety matters [cited refusal to update a 1992 EIR on open coal/petroleum coke trains, approving a budget that over five years has erased roughly 20% of LBPD's citywide deployable police force and eliminated its field anti-gang unit and left three fire stations without fire engines] has been poor. LBREPORT.com has advocated that the Council take up at least one of the three issues at every Council meeting [addressing the three issues at least once a month.]