Coastal Commission Sends Belmont Pool Back to the Drawing Board

City Manager called to task by California Coastal Commissioners for only looking at racial equity and inclusion "after the fact".

City Manager Tom Modica on a Zoom Conference with California Coastal Commission Thursday Feb 11, 2021

NEWS Today, the California Coastal Commission held a public hearing on whether to approve the construction of the City's proposed new Belmont Beach Aquatic Center. After seven years in the works, the item was before the 10 member Commission because it was being appealed by local Long Beach environmentalists.

“ I'm dismayed the City did not come with a more robust plan."

- Commissioner Effie Turnbull-Sanders

While 10 of 11 commissioners voted to approve the construction of the pool the vote is not at all what the city hoped. Essentially, the Coastal Commission told the City to come back later once they figure out how to include residents of all backgrounds into the planning, programming and access to the pool. In fact, the City's plan only passed because it was amended to add more teeth as well as checks and balances.

To be clear, the amendment requires the City to come back to the Coastal Commission for yet another vote before any shovels can go into the sand.

The project is approved but the city has no building permit because its proposal had too many holes.

What the City Hoped

The City's game plan was simple. Convince the Coastal Commission to approve the project and fix the equity and public access stuff later.

The city proposed that if the Coastal Commission voted to approve the project then they would work along side the Commission's Executive Director to hammer out the details on equitable public access.

Working only under the Executive Director's oversight would have subjected the city to less scrutiny and a lower standard of review. Unlike Coastal Commissioners the Executive Director does not have the power to enforce special conditions they would oversee.

After listening to public comment most Commissioners weren't buying that proposal. They wanted more assurances. However, the city had little more than a twenty-five page report it had recently composed based only on equity data it had gathered without any input from disadvantage community members.

What Went Wrong

Initially the City was doing great. The City Manager explained how he planned to buy a 30 passenger bus to pick up disadvantage kids from about 10 neighborhood parks and let them use the pool for a dollar.

Mayor Garcia came onto the zoom call as well. Before 7th District Councilman Roberto Uranga joined the Coastal Commission, Mayor Garcia sat in the seat for a short stint. The Mayor focused the majority of his comments on how committed to equity Long Beach is. "The staff have made this project better" Garcia said. He added that the City's plan "speaks to equity more than when it was first presented."

Many of the Commissioners couldn't have agreed less.

Several Commissioners referenced how surprised they were to learn about Long Beach's inequities. Commissioner Dr. Carol Hart was bewildered that Long Beach's Park and Recreation Department had "no formal inclusion policy". Even when the City Manager responded to Commissioner Hart he passed over her inclusion question. Later, both the City Manager and Commissioner Uranga both heralded the City's Reconciliation Framework and that Long Beach was one of the first City's to publicly declare racism a "public health crisis".

But that wasn't enough to win commissioners over. The fact that the city required such a framework or declaration may have been their proposal's undoing.

Using a baking metaphor, it was Commissioner Turnbull-Sanders who leveled the most resounding charges against what she called the City's naked attempt to sprinkle equity on top instead of "baking equity in". She commented that she was "dismayed the city did not come with a robust equity plan." The only black woman on the commission and an attorney, Turnball-Sanders said that the city's equity plan wasn't even "cursory".

She wasn't alone in her rebuke.

Most Commissioners began their statements echoing Commissioner Turnbull-Sanders. Her voice likely carried weight on the topic of a beachfront pool because aside from being a person of color she also competed as a swimmer in the 1988 Olympic Trials. As such, she took great issue with the fact that the City had created a structure ideal for competitive swimming while not having created or funded a pipeline for elite swimming for black and brown residents.

While the City Manager didn't shy away from the fact that the pool had a competitive swimming intent from the start, City staff had no plan to assure that this dominant feature of the pool would be equitable and inclusive.

More than once, our City Manager explained to the Coastal Commission that he hadn't done any more outreach than look at city data because he wanted the Commission to approve the project first and then work on the equity components. Commissioner Turnbull-Sanders responded, "Equity is not after the fact."

It was because of Commissioner Turnbull-Sanders' compelling comments that the motion was amended. The amendment requires that our city staff convince the Coastal Commission that its equity plan meets their higher standard of review. The city had hoped only to have to convince Coastal Commission directors who have lesser authority.

Thus, what the Long Beach Post reports as the City's win of a "key approval from Coastal Commission" ignores the fact that Commissioners amended the motion before passing it because they had little confidence in Long Beach's genuine commitment to equity. One Commissioner remarked that city staff "doesn't hold community at the center."

City staff's lack of preparedness is odd since four years ago the City Manager was asked why he did not seek public input from residents in West, North or Central Long Beach during a City Council meeting. Four years later and after overseeing the City's historic Framework for Reconciliation the City Manager was being asked the same question by the Coastal Commission.

What Did Uranga Say

Councilman Roberto Uranga enjoys the pleasure of serving as a member of both Long Beach City Council and the California Coastal Commission. Because he serves a district facing inequities in housing, health care and more all eyes were on him for some insight regarding how the Belmont pool project is fair.

With tamales in his zoom backdrop during parts of the Coastal Commission hearing, Councilman Uranga was positive and upbeat. However, he was far less critical of the equity fault lines in the City’s Belmont pool project than his colleagues were.

Warmly, Uranga recounted how his wife, a former councilwoman and Long Beach native, told him how the Belmont pool was inaccessible to her decades ago. According to Uranga she told him it was too far and too expensive.

Unpersuaded, Councilman Uranga explained to his Coastal Commission colleagues that the Belmont pool project was a perfect opportunity for a sort of social experiment. “The project has a lot of potential to integrate” the third District Uranga explained. He imagined how wonderful it would be for disadvantaged kids from North, West and Central Long Beach to have an “opportunity to come into areas that people say are completely white.”

Moreover, Uranga believes that building a pool closer to disadvantaged communities would “not provide equity” but it would “continue institutional racism.”

Uranga also was put in the uncomfortable position of having to explain how the city could equitably administer a pool if it had failed to equitably deliver park space to the same disadvantaged communities for decades. He said that he and city council members were “working on a plan”.

Almost apologetically Uranga remarked, “the city is trying to put together a racial equity and reconciliation plan and trying to move in a positive direction.”

After Commissioner Uranga spoke his Coastal Commission colleagues, one after the other, took opposition to his stammering call for integrating the third district through aquatic recreation.

What's The Next Step

City Staff will now have to go back to the drawing board. But before they draw anything up the Coastal Commission is requiring them to sit down with a more diverse range of community stakeholders. On the table is public access and possibly even the location of the pool.

Even once City staff comes up with a plan with input from a diverse makeup of residents, Commissioners have made it clear that they will themselves review whether the plan is truly equitable and again put it to a vote.