LBREPORT.com Seeks/Obtains 540+ Pages Of Internal City Records Re Angels Contacts; Despite City's Continued Withholding And Redactions, Our Initial Review Shows...
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(May 14, 2019, 10:25 a.m.) -- As reported last night (May 13) on LBREPORT.com's front page and Facebook page, LBREPORT.com's initial review of 540+ pages of documents sought and obtained by us and others under Public Records Act related to proposal to Angels show:
City of LB involvement began by at least June 2017 if not earlier by Mayor Garcia (who has no independent policy setting authority) through his Chief of Staff with involvement that followed by high level city staff (who don't decide city policy.)
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City previously indicated that LB's involvement began in Oct. 2018 [after the April-June 2018 Mayor/Council majority re-election cycle] but documents show Mayor/staff contacts over a year earlier by mid-2017. City's contacts continued and escalated through 2018 into 2019.
City management used its existing authority to spend five figure sums without publicly voted Council approval to hire consultants to evaluate aspects of a potentially sweeping proposal to the Angels and/or other involved parties.
City informed the Angels that the City is willing to seek state legislative approval to enable publicly owned Tidelands for housing related to the transaction (actions requiring City Council approval.)
City communicated to the Angels that the City could seek State Lands Commission approval for a facilitating Tidelands Trust "land swap" (similar to that used by the City to facilitate a portion of the "Queensway Bay"/Pike at Rainbow Harbor commercial development, also requiring City Council approval.)
City used a management-hired consultant that opined that a MLB stadium could cost over $1 billion dollars and could be financed using a variety of taxpayer-impacting methods including some not requiring voter approval.
City Council conducted at least one and possibly two Angels-related Council "closed sessions" citing an exception to public meetings under the Brown (open meetings) Act to discuss real estate "price and terms." [In LBREPORT.com's view and that of independent authorities on the Brown Act, "closed sessions" for real estate negotiations are limited to "price and terms" and don't allow closed-door discussion of broader aspects of city actions.]
City has controled public information with limited disclosures. City continues to withhold potentially significant additional documents and material redacted from released documents.
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At 6:52 p.m. May 13, the City notified LBREPORT.com of its release of documents that we and eight other media outlets had requested, as well as the City's intention to withhold documents claiming they can be withheld under five portions of the Public Records Act. These included the newsroom-notorious "catch-all" CA Gov't Code section 6255 section, a "catch-all" provision claiming the public interest in withholding the record exceeds the public interest in releasing it.
City spokesman Kevin Lee's cover email stated: "In particular, exempted records include documents related to property and lease negotiations, attorney-client privileged documents, draft discussion documents, or information and correspondence with the City's advisors and staff regarding negotiations."
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The City-released documents include:
7 pages of "formal correspondence with the Angels regarding draft terms and conditions of a proposed project, as authorized by the City Council in closed session on March 19, 2019. Specific draft documents concerning draft terms and conditions are being withheld as this is an active negotiation. Recommended terms and conditions of a proposed project would be brought to the City Council in open session for public debate and direction at the appropriate time."
20 pages of "Calendar Entries" containing available and responsive records of calendar entries regarding the project.
26 pages of "Correspondence" about the project with various individuals
10 pages of "consultant emails" revealing the City "engaged the services of HR&A Advisors, a highly respected economic consulting firm with experience in the area of stadium development and large multi-use developments. The firm was previously engaged with the City to conduct economic research related to a future waterfront development plan, and subsequently was tasked with providing the City with research and information to assist the City with the preliminary project discussions. Responsive emails and documents are provided in this section. Documents related to specific negotiations advice or related information are being withheld as this is an active negotiation. The cost expended thus far is $60,400."
85 pages of "Press Inquiries"
12 pages of "Unsolicited Vendor Emails"
330 pages of "Background Documents Provided to the Angels" "As part of the initial review of this project, the City provided the Angels
with 330 pages of information related to the Elephant Lot. This information is being provided, with the exception of information related to the City’s potential purchase of real estate. As part of the initial review of this project, the City provided the Angels with 330 pages of information related to the Elephant Lot. This information is being provided, with the exception of information related to the City’s potential purchase of real estate."
55 pages "Gensler Document" "On June 12, 2017, the City engaged the services of an architecture firm (Gensler) to explore a variety of potential development opportunities along the Long Beach Waterfront, with a specific focus on the Elephant Lot as a potential future opportunity site. This was a high-level visioning document intended to generate ideas of possible developments on that site, and
did not focus on any one specific project, or make specific project recommendations. The effort began on June 12, 2017 and concluded on March 3, 2018 and the cost was $17,000."
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Details on the above items and other aspects of this story to follow on LBREPORT.com.
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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.
