Councilman Daryl Supernaw attended the Oct. 4 and Oct 14 events, visible from start to finish. Councilwoman Stacy Mungo attended the Oct. 4 event, was visible for all or nearly all of the meeting inside and outside the event room speaking to residents, and spoke at the start of the Oct. 14 meeting but then appeared to exit before the public began speaking. Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce was visible for at least part of the Oct. 14 public testimony
The absence of 2/3 of LB's Councilmembers -- who'll actually make decisions on the matter -- from previous events means they didn't hear what the public said, and how they said it, at overflow events in Wrigley-WLB (est. 300+), ELB (Whaley Park, est. from 400+-700) and SE LB (est. nearly 600) and also simultaneously avoided interacting directly with the public on the issue. Moreover, city staff has acknowledged that it didn't record video or audio of the events, leaving Councilmembers to get after-the-fact descriptions provided by city staff (or from Council office staffers if they attended.) [To our knowledge, LBREPORT.com and LB's grassroots Council of Neighborhood Organizations [CONO] are the only sources of extended on-demand video and/or audio of the events.]
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Mayor Garcia's absence is separately noteworthy, because during the August 17 Planning Commission meeting, Development Services Director Amy Bodek publicly stated that October 3 was already scheduled as a City Council date for action on density-increase maps, and said this (and reiterated it) BEFORE the Commission voted. The scheduling of City Council items is overseen by Mayor Garcia's office (as non-voting head of the Council's "Legislative Department"), presumably meaning that either Mayor Garcia and/or some person(s) in his office expected that the maps (with or without some changes) would arrive for Council action even before the public testified at the Planning Commission.
What actually happened was nearly thirty people blasted the proposed maps and several charged a lack of sufficient public outreach. Four of the Mayor-chosen/Council approved Commissioners voted to recommend that staff conduct seek additional public input, and when Ms. Bodek indicated the maps would nevertheless go to the Council on Oct. 3, public anger led Mayor Garcia to similarly advise additional public input...but didn't say what form it would take.
A few weeks later, when CONO learned that it the public input would be in the form of "information-station-only" workshops and not a Town Hall format, CONO organized a room revolt, turned the Sept. 30 Wrigley event into a de facto Town Hall and warned it would do so at subsequent events, leading staff agreed to agree to a Town Hall format for subsequent events.
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What is taking place now wasn't supposed to happen. City staff agendized Planning Commission recommendations on its Land Use Element, density increase maps [caveat: that it subsequently changed] and a programmatic EIR for February 2017, with Council action, with or without some tweaks, likely to follow shortly thereafter. Instead, Wrigley residents objected to increased density in their area, urged greater density eastward; the Planning Commission held at April 2017 study session on the matter, which heard further testimony to increase density eastward. Efforts by 5th dist. resident Corliss Lee to bring this to attention of her Councilwoman, Stacy Mungo, met with denials and disparagement by Councilwoman Mungo at a late April community meeting (LBRPEORT.com coverage here.) Ms. Lee has since created the Eastside Voice, a grassroots group spanning the 4th and 5th Council districts, whose immediate priority is now dealing with proposed density increases.
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On June 13, city staff held a City Council study session displaying its Feb. 2017 proposed maps. but forty-eight hours later, staff released a detailed memo -- co-authored by Ms. Bodek, Linda Tatum and Christopher Koontz -- for a lengthier June 15 Planning Commission study session that revealed revised maps that proposed significantly increased density in portions of ELB (particularly in the 4th and 5th Council districts.) LBREPORT.com reported the changes on June 16, which sparked public concern on NextDoor.com and came to the attention of Robert Fox, a veteran community advocate who'd experienced the neighborhood destructive impacts of City Hall-enabled "crackerbox apartment" density in the 1980s. Mr. Fox was in the process of revitalizing the then-moribund Council of Neighborhood Organizations (CONO) when he learned of the Land Use Element proposed changes...and used CONO to issue a call to action, amplified by Neighborhoods First led by Joe Sopo and retired 8th dist. Councilwoman Rae Gabelich as well as residents on NextDoor.com.
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Mayor Garcia and Councilwoman Mungo have since issued statements indicating that they don't support the density increases as proposed in staff's June memo/Aug Planning Comm'n revised maps. Mayor Garcia has said he supports density downtown and other areas "where appropriate" but opposes it in what he's called suburban type parts of LB. At the Oct. 4 Whaley Park meeting, Councilwoman Mungo displayed a sign stating: "I will NOT support increased density in the 5th District. I will NOT support the Planning Commission's proposed maps. Let's work together to protect the character of our residential neighborhoods." As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, Council incumbent Mungo now faces at least one re-election challenger to date: former (Mayor Foster chosen) LB Harbor Commissioner Rich Dines (an April campaign contributor to Mayor Garcia's 2018 re-election campaign.) Mr. Dines was visible, and spoke publicly against increased ELB density, at the Oct. 4 Whaley Park workshop.
Councilwoman Price has indicated that she supports increased density in downtown areas but will propose some changes for some staff proposed density increases in Belmont Shore (with an open mind/no decision yet on others.)
The ultimate decisions on these issues will be made by a Council majority (five votes out of nine), subject to a Mayoral veto that six Councilmembers can override. Five Council incumbents -- Gonzalez, Price, Mungo, Uranga and Richardson, plus citywide Mayor Garcia -- face re-election in April 2018 (and June 2018 if runoffs are required.) Incumbents and candidates can (and some are) raising funds for their campaigns now. Other papers (including nominating voter signatures and ballot statements necessary for ballot candidates) face a filing window from Dec. 18, 2017 through Jan. 12, 2018.
Developing. .
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