City of Bellflower Strategic Planning
Workshop
Common Areas
“Bellflower will be…”
1. A Safe and Secure City
2. An Open and Connected City that Tells Its Story
3. A City that Wisely Invests in Its Future and Builds on its Strengths
4. A City that Demands High Performance and Excellence and Sets a Model for Other Communities
Goals for Consideration/Discussion
Goal #1: Enhance Public Safety
Bellflower will be a Safe and Secure City
● Strengthen partnership between the City and the County Sheriff ○ See the implementation of Prop 36 and impact of a new LA DA ○ Devise a crime response plan that speaks to the unique demands of each area in the City
● Improve community education and transparency in relation to public safety efforts ● Encourage resident awareness and reporting to help them be partners in addressing crime, disaster preparation and blight issues
● Determine the location, design, programming and execution of a new public safety building
● Finalize and implement public safety assessment recommendations. Devise a prioritization of funding and recommendations to implement this plan ● Build a reputation through communication and action that Bellflower is tougher on crime than peer cities.
● Develop a list of community resources for addressing addiction and related challenges and better engage with partnership to offer a spectrum of solution for crime elements. ● Set a direction to tap into Measure A funds to support programming that addresses homelessness challenges in the city
● Aggressively work to address homeless population areas in the City, including spaces outside city jurisdiction to reduce the homeless population in the city ● Solidify emergency preparedness training among staff, ensure a degree of self-reliance after a disaster and communicate plan to the public
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Goal #2: Increase Public Outreach, Education and
Connection
Bellflower will be an Open and Connected City that Tells Its Story
● Explore communication methods that reach multi-generations with focus on most effective methods
● Explore tools for connecting residents to each other and to the City ● Establish communication channels to engage with smaller businesses ● Develop a strategy to leverage video, digital and paper communications to balance reaching across the community.
● Bring a unified, consistent and strategically chosen voice and visual presence to communications across City channels and platforms
● Conduct communications assessment on platforms and processes. ● Improve collaboration and relationship with school district. ____________________________________________________
Goal #3: Continue Investing in a High-Performing and
Efficient Team at City Hall
Bellflower will be a City that Wisely Invests in Its Future and Builds on its Strengths
● Improve communication and collaboration between departments ● Invest in technology resources for staff
● Modernize systems to support resident feedback, online permitting, graffiti and bulky item removal requests, execution on fiber optic to city hall, financial management system, payroll
○ Finalize the online permitting process
● Invest in training and career development for employees. ● Conduct a full classification and compensation study.
● Build organizational capacity through staff hiring and strategic contract for services that yield productivity enhancements.
● Modernize city policies that are ineffective or inefficient as currently written. ● Implement procedures for fielding and following up on resident requests in a timely manner.
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Goal #4: Improve Quality of Life & Visual Appeal in the City Bellflower will be a City that Demands High Performance and Excellence and Sets a Model for Other Communities
● Implement the Parks Master Plan
● Improve QUALITY of maintenance of public areas
● Raise standards of private property maintenance requirements ○ Commercial, multi-family and single family residential ○ Identify strategies that leverage carrots and sticks in encouraging smart choices ● Develop QUALITY focused maintenance and upkeep plans for infrastructure, including parks, buildings, fountains, etc.
● Activate public spaces to connect residents.
● Allocate resources for traffic safety improvement studies. ● Explore ways to attract young families as residents.
● Explore strategies to address developed and undeveloped vacant properties. ● Expand cultural events in non-traditional locations to activate public space. ● Solidify vision and plan for the future of Downtown (more residential units, parking, complimentary business types).
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Goal #5 – Strengthen Economic Development
● Continue strategic and creative property “acquisitions.” ● Address challenges stemming from absentee property owners and vacant properties. ● Execute on City-controlled property to make impacts in the community. ○ Finalize planning for recently acquired properties in Downtown. ● Analyze allocation of resources.
● Explore an economic development plan that aligns areas in Bellflower with focused economic development themes, industries and related land use strategy. ● Review General Plan, recent plan evolution and options for a full revision with a focus on corridors
● Revisit cannabis policy, licensing and industry activity in Bellflower ● Evaluate alternative revenue sources and land use measures