PUBLIC COMMENT: Obtain speaker card from the City Clerk Opportunity to address the City Council (on nonagenda items) is available to the first 10 individuals, combined across inperson and remote participation, who submit a request to speak beginning 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes to provide comments.
Name
Skyler Dorsett
Comment 09/09/2026 04:23 PM : (No Vote)
There were items forced into the Budget at the last minute that should not have been approved without giving the people of the City an opportunity to consider and weigh in prior to adoption.
Predatory parking tickets, particularly street sweeping, are in essence a form of Poor Tax as they disproportionately and unjustly impact denselypopulated, predominantly neighborhoods inhabited by lowerincome households.
Sneaking in the ordinance to consolidate Public Comment was truly shameful. 100% of the feedback that I have seen from the Public (that you all work for not the mayor) has been opposed to this action, which is truly and simply an attack on our Free Speech.
I fully support the establishment and adoption of a Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy (CHRISP), but don't understand why this is part of the budget process. It's words on paper... just write the policy and let the public approve it.
While on this subject, according to the text, the policy will include "addressing entities shown to be complicit in: (i) genocide, apartheid, occupation, displacement, or other human rights violations; (ii) labor rights violations; (iii) state violence; (iv) environmental harm; (v) inadequate supply chain due diligence; and/or (vi) inadequate corporate governance standards", and "expand the prohibited investment criteria to include companies that own, operate, finance, or materially support border surveillance or immigration detention facilities, including companies that materially facilitate border surveillance or immigration detention through government contracts."
Again, I support all of this, but would like to point out that this includes companies that the Mayor has celebrated coming to Long Beach, like Anduril, an autonomous weapons manufacturer, and Maglut, Inc., who have very little information on their website but appear to have ties to Israel and Pax Silica via the Astana Mining Congress. If we won't invest in them, we also shouldn't welcome them to our community. Also, perhaps the CHRISP should include a caveat that City Officials, elected or otherwise (read Tom Modica), are also prohibited from making personal investments in these industries while in office or employed by the City of Long Beach.
Likewise, they should be prohibited from receiving gifts, donations, or anything else that may constitute a conflict of interest from these types of companies.
It disappoints me to no end that I can predict how the votes will go before they happen... either in a unanimous vote or a 72 majority, both of which usually have the same end result of the Good People of Long Beach getting screwed.
One last thing... I feel that the retaliatory actions taken against Anthony Holmes were unjust and he should be reinstated to his position and protected from further persecution. It is clear that something is seriously wrong in the Waste Management department. These individuals are clearly overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Do better by all of them.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Obtain speaker card from the City Clerk Opportunity to address the City Council (on nonagenda items) is available to the first 10 individuals, combined across inperson and remote participation, who submit a request to speak beginning 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes to provide comments.
Name
Skyler Dorsett
Comment 09/09/2026 04:23 PM : (No Vote)
There were items forced into the Budget at the last minute that should not have been approved without giving the people of the City an opportunity to consider and weigh in prior to adoption.
Predatory parking tickets, particularly street sweeping, are in essence a form of Poor Tax as they disproportionately and unjustly impact denselypopulated, predominantly neighborhoods inhabited by lowerincome households.
Sneaking in the ordinance to consolidate Public Comment was truly shameful. 100% of the feedback that I have seen from the Public (that you all work for not the mayor) has been opposed to this action, which is truly and simply an attack on our Free Speech.
I fully support the establishment and adoption of a Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy (CHRISP), but don't understand why this is part of the budget process. It's words on paper... just write the policy and let the public approve it.
While on this subject, according to the text, the policy will include "addressing entities shown to be complicit in: (i) genocide, apartheid, occupation, displacement, or other human rights violations; (ii) labor rights violations; (iii) state violence; (iv) environmental harm; (v) inadequate supply chain due diligence; and/or (vi) inadequate corporate governance standards", and "expand the prohibited investment criteria to include companies that own, operate, finance, or materially support border surveillance or immigration detention facilities, including companies that materially facilitate border surveillance or immigration detention through government contracts."
Again, I support all of this, but would like to point out that this includes companies that the Mayor has celebrated coming to Long Beach, like Anduril, an autonomous weapons manufacturer, and Maglut, Inc., who have very little information on their website but appear to have ties to Israel and Pax Silica via the Astana Mining Congress. If we won't invest in them, we also shouldn't welcome them to our community. Also, perhaps the CHRISP should include a caveat that City Officials, elected or otherwise (read Tom Modica), are also prohibited from making personal investments in these industries while in office or employed by the City of Long Beach.
Likewise, they should be prohibited from receiving gifts, donations, or anything else that may constitute a conflict of interest from these types of companies.
It disappoints me to no end that I can predict how the votes will go before they happen... either in a unanimous vote or a 72 majority, both of which usually have the same end result of the Good People of Long Beach getting screwed.
One last thing... I feel that the retaliatory actions taken against Anthony Holmes were unjust and he should be reinstated to his position and protected from further persecution. It is clear that something is seriously wrong in the Waste Management department. These individuals are clearly overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Do better by all of them.