| (November 29, 2020, 6:35 a.m.) -- With no public discussion scheduled by Long Beach's City Council -- in contrast to public discussion held by Los Angeles' County's Board of Supervisors and Pasadena's City Council -- non-e;ected City of Long Beach management plans to implement currently unspecified changes to the City's current Health Order in the coming days.
LB has a legally independent Health Dept. and the forthcomning LB's amendment(s) could parallel those announced Nov. 27 by LA County Public Health Officer (below and with LBREPORT.com coverage here) or differ from them. In a statement issued Saturday night (Nov. 28), city management stated: As COVID-19 transmission rates continue to rise dramatically locally, regionally and across the state, the City of Long Beach is closely reviewing data coming in this holiday weekend related to the pandemic. The City is reporting an additional 191 cases from Tuesday. Long Beach-area hospitalizations have increased to 116, a 364% percent increase from November 1. Long Beach residents in the hospital have increased to 56, a 75% increase since November 1. As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, Long Beach Councilmembers haven't met since November 17 when they voted 8-0 (Price absent) to cancel their Dec. 1 meeting. Councilmembers aren't currently scheduled to meet again until Dec. 8 (while collecting their full pay in the interim.) Councilmembers can always meet on 24 hours notice for a "special meeting" on a single subject (such as management's COVID restrictions) if five Councilmembers agree to do so. As of dawn Nov. 29, the City of LB remains the sole jurisdiction with its own Health Dept. whose City Council hasn't met publicly to discuss recent management implemented changes to COVID restrictions [Scroll down for further.] |
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LA County's Dept. of Public Health has indicated it plans to implement the following order on Nov. 30. LB's independent Health Dept. could do likewise or change LB's Health Order in other ways. [LA County Dept. of Public Health Nov. 27 text]...In the new Order that goes into effect on Monday (Nov. 30), residents are advised to stay home as much as possible and always wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when they are outside their household and around others.
LB's city management's Health Officer, Dr. Anissa Davis MD, triggered public and restaurant industry pushback when she implemented (effective Nov. 25) an amendment to the City's COVID Health Order banning outdoor restaurant dining (indoor dining is already banned) for three weeks. Councilwoman Suzie Price responded by asking city management to schedule a "Study Session" -- a no-action item -- for Dec. 8. (City management's "study session's" terms aren't yet publicly visible since the Dec. 8 Council agenda isn't publicly visible yet.)
On November 13, the City Attorney's office issued a memo to the Mayor/Council that said the Counicl has limited authority in dealing with city management's Health Officer's orders during a state and locally declared public health emergency. However City Attorney's memo failed to disclose that a Superior Court in northern CA held a number of Governor Newsom's COVID orders unlawful and issued an order enjoining them. (To view the Nov. 13 Court order, click here<./a>.) The order is currently stayed (halted) on appeal by the Governor's office through the state Attorney General's office,).
The City Attorney's office also failed to note that if a Council majority were sufficiently dissatisfied with the actions of city management's Health Officer, it has the option of agendizing an item to so inform the City Manager Among other things, the Council could inform the City Manager that his subordinate's Health Officer's actions don't have the support of a Council majority, effectively an ultimatum to the City Manager remove her or to stand by her and risk five Council votes to remove him (subject to a Mayoral veto that six Councilmembers can override.) (In October 2002, a Council majority voted in a closed session to remove then-City Manager Henry Taboada.) No LB Councilmembers have indicated that they favor anything like this over any actions to date by Dr. Davis, including her recent three week ban on outdoor restaurant dining. In a November 22 release, LB Health Officer Davis said that "as Long Beach has substantially similar data patterns to Los Angeles County with numbers currently at alarming levels, the City will be aligning with the County to prohibit in-person dining at restaurants, breweries, wineries and bars beginning Wednesday Nov. 25 for the next three weeks, at minimum, to slow the spread of transmission [of COVID-19] in Long Beach." At a November 23 webcast briefing, Mayor Robert Garcia (who doesn't set city policy) voiced no publicly stated dissent to the Nov. 23 order by City Mgm't's Health Officer that prohibits on-site dining, including outdoor dining, at restaurants, brewpubs, breweries, bars, pubs, craft distilleries and wineries. The new order prohibits any service of food or beverages, including alcoholic beverages, where a customer remains on site to consume the food or beveragesa. It allows restaurants (which include brewpubs, breweries, bars, pubs, craft distilleries and wineries) to operate for drive-thru, curbside, doorside or other outdoor pickup and delivery under certain conditions. Mayor Garcia acknowledged in the webcast briefing that the restaurant outdoor dining ban will hurt some of his friends and cause workers seriou personal and economic damage but said an important aspect of his job is to ensure available hospital beds/vebntilators and discourage gathers that can spread the virus. (LBREPORT.com coverage here. On Nov. 24, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted 2-3 to defeat a motion by Supervisors Barger and Hahn that sought to continue outdoor restaurant dining. During Supervisors' discussion prior to the vote, Supervisor Hilda Solis volunteered that LB Mayor Garcia had sent her a text message urging her to "do the right thing" (but didn't say what that was or provide other details.) To hear what Supervisor Solis said and didn't say (audio), click here. Supervisor Solis went on to join the Board of Supervisors majority in voting down the Barger-Hahn motion and, like other Supervisors, signaled support (at least non-opposition) to new targeted restrictions recommended by LA County Health Officer Barbara Ferrer Ph.D. that would allow multiple activities at specified low levels.
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