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UPDATE: No Mention Of This Issue By Mayor, Council Or City Staff At Sept. 20 Council Meeting: Nearly Ten Months Months After Council OK'd It Without Seeing It, There's No New Lease Yet With New Queen Mary Lessee; Public Hasn't Seen Full Lease Terms ("Still Being Negotiated")...Yet Today (Sept. 20) Council Will Hear Mayor-Chosen Group's Ideas On What To Do With Leased-Away Land That City May Or May Not Control


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(Sept. 21, 2016, 9:30 a.m.) -- As seen LIVE on LBREPORT.com, neither Mayor Garcia, nor City Councilmembers, nor city staff, nor advisory Task Force committee members, mentioned the the lack of a signed new lease with new Queen Mary operator (see story below) as the Council voted 8-0 (Mungo absent) to "receive and file" (take no action on) recommendations/"guiding principles" of Mayor-chosen Queen Mary Land Development Task Force. The Mayor and Councilmembers praised the work and non-binding recommendations by the advisory Task Force.

In an extemporaneous comment, Councilman Uranga made a side-reference to LB's former Cyclone Racer roller-coaster, noting it had drawn large crowds to the former Pike area, while adding he wasn't suggesting it for the Queen Mary area. Councilman Uranga's mention of the former iconic attraction prompted brief, positive recollections from two members of the public (who'd come to speak on the unrelated Queen Mary matter.) As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, a private entrepreneur has proposed to rebuild Cyclone Racer at private investor expense that he says could produce a new revenue stream for the City; the entrepreneur's preferred location is some distance away from the Queen Mary on a pier along seaward side of LB's faux lighthouse. [LBREPORT.com coverage, click here.]


(Sept. 20, 2016, 7:10 a.m.) -- Nearly ten months after the Long Beach City Council first authorized city management to enter into a new lease turning over the Queen Mary and its adjacent developable property to a new lessee for 66 years -- without Councilmembers or the public seeing the full terms of the new lease -- LBREPORT.com has learned that the new lease with the new lessee still isn't in place.

Deputy City Attorney Rich Anthony tells LBREPORT.com that the new lease is still being negotiated and hasn't been signed. This leaves LBREPORT.com unclear as to what abilities the City will or won't have under the new lease to decide what is or isn't done with the public land that City Councilmembers authorized leasing-away without learning, or letting the public learn, what the lessee plans to do with the land...and we don't know at this point exactly what rights or abilities the City may or may not have to decide what is or isn't done with that land under the new lease.

Meanwhile, later today (Sept. 20) the City Council will first make a public presentation (dispensing thank-you's) to a Mayor-chosen "Queen Mary Land Development Task Force" whose recommendations ("Guiding Principles") the Council may or may not have the ability to implement under the new lease they authorized. The Task Force recommended "Guiding Principles" are agendized as a "receive and file" item (on which the Council would take no further immediate action.) To view the agendized item, click here.)


As LBREPORT.com reported in September, 2016, Assistant City Attorney Mike Mais told LBREPORT.com that basically Urban Commons purchased the lease interest from previous lessee (Garrison) and Urban Commons is the current operator under the lease assigned to them by Garrison. "The purchase was made with the understanding that an amended and restated lease would be negotiated. That negotiation process is on-going, but no agreement has been reached as of yet," Mr. Mais indicated. In the interim, Urban Commons continues to operate under the terms of the existing ("old") lease.

Unlike some other cities, the City of Long Beach doesn't routinely show decision-making Council members (or taxpayers who will be bound) the exact terms of leases and contracts which management seeks Council voted authority to enter. Instead, city staff provides the Council and the public with an agendizing memo that city staff says summarizes the proposed lease/contract major terms. The City of LB routinely withholds from public disclosure the full text of leases and contracts until after they're signed...and taxpayers are bound. [LBREPORT.com has previously urged a change in LB's current practice, which we consider unbusinesslike and non-transparent...and a Council majority could make the change "on any Tuesday."]

Since neither the Council nor the public have seen the full terms of the new Queen Mary lease, it currently remains unclear to LBREPORT.com exactly what abilities the City will retain, or give up, under the new lease regarding development of the QM adjacent land. In June 2015, Mayor Robert Garcia and now-exited Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal agendized an item, and received Council approval, to create an advisory "Task Force," chosen by the Mayor, to offer recommendations on what they think should be done with the Queen Mary area's developable land.

On November 17 2015, an item surfaced on the City Council agenda that didn't mention "Queen Mary" but substantively sought Council approval for a new 66 year lease for a new lessee to the Queen Mary and surrounding land. The item as agendized was: "Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute any and all documents necessary for an Amended and Restated Lease and Operations Agreement No. 22697 and concurrent assignment to Urban Commons, LLC, as Successor Lessee to Garrison Investment Group, LLC. (District 2)."

To view city staff's Nov. 17, 2015 agendizing memo summarizing the proposed lease terms, click here.

The item caught the attention of retired Deputy City Attorney Jim McCabe, who came to the Council meeting and testified that in his view, the item as agendized "is pretty glaringly in violation of the Brown [open meetings] Act in not identifying the Queen Mary as its subject matter [and] if it's found to not be sufficient, what you do tonight will be null and void."

City Attorney Charles Parkin didn't agree, and the Council proceeded to take voted action to authorize the new 66 year-lease.

In describing the new lessee's plans, the City's then-Director of Economic and Property Development, recently-retired Mike Conway, told the Council, "There has been some considerable discussion as to potential uses on the site, and as demand analyses indicated it will likely be entertainment oriented...We expect that given the constraints of the site and the Tidelands restrictions, that entertainment uses are likely going to be predominant on that land but the actual elements we would like to get more feedback from the community and the task force on that." No representative of Urban Commons spoke.

Based on the agendizing memo and city staff's statements, the Council voted 9-0 to authorize city management to enter into the new lease without seeing its full terms.

The Brown Act issue (not making clear that the agenda item involved the Queen Mary) so annoyed Mr. McCabe that he retained private counsel to press the matter. The City Attorney's office (without acknowledging any defect) ultimately directed the City Council to re-vote the lease, which the Council did on January 5, 2016 (as a consent calendar item, 8-0 (Austin absent), again without seeing the lease, and without additional details on the new lessee's plans.

Also in January 2016, the Mayor-chosen twelve member "Task Force" began holding public meetings on its recommendations for development of the Queen Mary adjacent property.

On April 21, 2016, Urban Commons issued a press release stating that "City officials announced today [April 21] that the master lease for the retired cruise ship and ever-popular tourist attraction has been formally transferred to Los Angeles-based real estate investment and development firm Urban Commons. Assuming a 66-year master lease of the ship, Urban Commons will create a bustling retail, dining and entertainment district surrounding the Queen Mary for locals and tourists alike, while infusing contemporary influences onboard the ship to return the Queen to her glory days."

[Urban Commons April 21, 2016 release text] Urban Commons will implement a phased approach to their all-encompassing renovation over the next several years, with upgrades within the ship beginning immediately. Modern details with a nod to the past will be infused throughout the interior of the ship from guestrooms to restaurant spaces, ultimately channeling a new aura of regal elegance while maintaining the ship's cherished historic elements. The Queen Mary is slated to debut her enhancements to the public in mid-2017, and will remain fully open to visitors and hotel guests during the renovation process. Within the second phase, a must-visit mix of retail, dining and entertainment options will take shape on the 45 acres of currently underutilized oceanfront land adjacent to the ship...

...Urban Commons will work in tandem with the City of Long Beach, the Queen Mary Land Development Task Force and the wider community on the review and approval process for the build out of the 45 acres surrounding the ship. Further details about the plans for the Queen Mary and adjacent land will be shared as they become available...

On July 27, 2016 the Mayor's advisory "Task Force" approved "guiding principles" and multiple recommendations that include a possible aerial tram or water taxi, a 3,000-5,000 person performance venue, a historic carousel and other items.

City staff has indicated it will now put the Task Force recommendations/suggestions in finalized written form and deliver them to the Mayor, who will schedule a date for their presentation to the City Council. The Mayor will then tell the Task Force members when to come to the Council to hear their recommendations presented.

Without seeing the new lease in full, it remains unclear to LBREPORT.com what abilities the City will have to implement recommendations by the advisory Task Force, by the Mayor, by Councilmembers or others; we presume the City's new lessee will have certain rights to do certain things on its leasehold to the Queen Mary and its surrounding developable land for the next 66 years.

Developing.

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