Long Beach
The seventh-largest city in California and home to one of the world's busiest seaports, Long Beach pairs a working waterfront with a dense downtown, miles of coastline, and a charter government that runs its own utilities, airport, and health department.
- Population 466,742
- Size band large
- Area 51.4 sq mi
- Government Council–Manager (charter)
- Council by-district
- Incorporated 1897
- Meetings YouTube channel ↗
Coverage: 40 meetings · 612 substantive items · 2025-12-02 → 2026-07-14 · agenda source: PrimeGov
Long Beach's council is in the middle of a large-scale infrastructure investment cycle. The June 9 meeting authorized over $50M in public works contracts—$30M for a three-year traffic striping and signal program, $20.5M for the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway and Complete Streets project, plus multiple engineering consulting contracts. The June 16 agenda adds a $50M increase to the highway construction services contract and $4.78M for storm drain maintenance and trash excluder installation. A $2.5M EV charging equipment contract and a $1.5M job order contracting software procurement round out a capital posture that dwarfs the service and social spending in the same meetings.
A concentrated zoning overhaul is proceeding across both meetings in rapid sequence. The council took first readings on June 9 and second readings on June 16 for five interrelated ordinances: rezoning Lime Avenue from residential to mixed-use, updating the Enhanced Density Bonus and inclusionary housing program, creating new Mixed-Use and Commercial Main Street zoning districts, and rezoning the Greater Bixby Knolls corridor. These are paired with a $200,000 community land trust grant, a $6.75M real-property purchase for tenant improvements, and a Local Coastal Program amendment aligning the density bonus changes with state coastal rules—a broad housing policy push compressed into two council cycles.
Homelessness funding is entering year two: $5M from the Measure A Local Solutions Fund and $3.9M for Measure A comprehensive homeless solutions both appear on the June 16 agenda, alongside a federal grant action plan for housing and homeless services. Community health equity presentations on Cambodian and Black residents are continued items across both meetings. Risk management carries major recurring costs: $13.9M for municipal liability and specialized insurance and $7.2M for property and cyber liability insurance were both brought forward in June, and workers' compensation settlements appear on every agenda examined, indicating sustained exposure from prior claims.
(Synthesized from the 120 most recent items.)
What to watch AI-generated
Key items (8)
- [46] Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 36566 (Specifications No. R-7196) with All American Asphalt, of Corona, CA, for providing as-needed major and secondary highway construction services, to increase the annual contract amount by $50,000,000, for a revised total annual contract amount not to exceed $100,000,000. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · Single largest item: $50M increase to the highway construction services contract, anchoring the city's sustained capital road investment.
- [43] Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. R-7287 and award contracts to Elecnor Belco Electric, Inc., of Chino, CA, and Select Electric, Inc., of Anaheim, CA, for providing as-needed traffic striping and signal system construction services, in a total aggregate amount not to exceed $30,000,000, for a period of three years, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contracts, including any necessary subsequent amendments. (Citywide) — Long Beach, 2026-06-09 · $30M three-year traffic striping and signal system program—the second-largest contract and part of a coordinated streets infrastructure push.
- [41] Recommendation to find the project exempt from CEQA under State CEQA Guidelines Categorical Exemption, Section 15301 (Class 1. Existing Facilities), and NEPA Guidelines Categorial Exclusion No. 202005003. Accept the filed Notice of Exemption No. CE-19-257 and Categorical Exclusion No. 202005003 prepared in accordance with CEQA; and Adopt Plans and Specifications No. R-7249 and award a contract to PALP, Inc. dba Excel Paving Company of Long Beach, CA, for the construction of the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway and Complete Streets Improvements Project, in the amount of $20,553,820, authorize a 10-percent contingency in the amount of $2,055,382, for a total contract amount not to exceed $22,609,202; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary subsequent amendments. (Districts 1, 2, 5, 6, 8) — Long Beach, 2026-06-09 · $20.5M Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway and Complete Streets contract illustrates the active mode and safety investment alongside motor-vehicle work.
- [52] Recommendation to declare ordinance adopting Zoning Code Amendment (ZCA26-001), adopting the proposed findings related thereto, to amend Chapters 21.15, 21.21 and 21.68 of the Long Beach Municipal Code (Zoning Regulations) to update the existing Enhanced Density Bonus to align with the provisions of the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance; add special bonuses for projects providing community benefits; and implement other procedural and implementation streamlining changes, read and adopted as read. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · Second reading of the Enhanced Density Bonus and inclusionary housing ordinance—the capstone of a multi-meeting zoning overhaul.
- [53] Recommendation to adopt ordinance amending Title 22.11, 22.12, 22.15, 22.30, 22.40, and 22.41 of the Long Beach Municipal Code (ZCA24-005) to establish two new zoning districts, Mixed-Use Main Street (MU-M) and Commercial Main Street (C-M) that will implement the Neighborhood Serving Corridor Low (NSC-L) and Community Commercial (CC) PlaceTypes of the Long Beach General Plan Land Use Element and minor amendments to all existing zoning districts contained within Title 22, read and adopted as read. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · Second reading creating new Mixed-Use and Commercial Main Street zoning districts, a structural land-use change affecting commercial corridors citywide.
- [41] Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 37602 with the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, to accept and expend second year funding in the amount of $5,023,735, for an updated contract amount not to exceed $9,889,433, for the Measure A: Local Solutions Fund from November 18, 2025 through June 30, 2031 at the discretion of the City Manager; and Increase appropriations in the Health Fund Group in the Health and Human Services Department by $5,023,735, offset by grant revenues. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · $5M Measure A Local Solutions Fund second-year acceptance marks the transition of homelessness services from launch to sustained programmatic funding.
- [47] Recommendation to adopt Plans and Specifications No. R-7254 and award a contract to New Dynasty Construction Co., of Tustin, CA, for construction of the Long Beach Police Department Crime Laboratory TI Project, in the amount of $13,520,817, authorize a 10 percent contingency in the amount of $1,352,082, for a total contract amount not to exceed $14,872,899, at the discretion of the City Manager; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary subsequent amendments; and Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $12,500,000, offset by future bond proceeds, to fully support Project delivery, including design, construction, and associated administration and design support costs. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · $13.5M Police Department Crime Laboratory construction contract—largest public-safety capital item in the window reviewed.
- [39] Recommendation to receive and file a presentation regarding the City of Long Beach Cambodian Community Health Needs Assessment. — Long Beach, 2026-06-16 · Cambodian community health needs assessment presentation illustrates the health equity thread running across both meetings as a continued Council priority.
Scorecard vs 6 cohort peers
Each topic is shown as this city's share of council attention (% of its substantive items) next to the median share of its peer cohort — so size doesn't distort the comparison. Dollars are shown per resident (a causal denominator) and suppressed where too few peers have extracted amounts.
| Topic | Attention share | Peer median | vs peers | $ / resident | Peer median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget & Finance | 38% | 25% | ▲ +13pp | $1006.84 | $261.64 |
| Governance & Administration | 19% | 19% | ≈ | $10.92 | n/a |
| Permitting & Land Use | 11% | 9% | ▲ +2pp | $22.98 | n/a |
| Public Safety | 10% | 6% | ▲ +4pp | $395.35 | $5.23 |
| Streets & Infrastructure | 8% | 14% | ▼ -6pp | $919.06 | $218.33 |
| Economic Development | 6% | 6% | ≈ | $49.24 | $1.91 |
| Climate & Environment | 4% | 6% | ▼ -2pp | $131.53 | $138.16 |
| Homelessness | 2% | 1% | ▲ +1pp | $123.54 | $11.62 |
| Other | 2% | 1% | ≈ | $1.70 | n/a |
| Housing | 2% | 7% | ▼ -6pp | $26.31 | $53.54 |
pp = percentage points of attention share. Peers: Glendale, Pomona, Claremont, Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, Culver City.
📅 Browse all meetings & agendas (35) — filter by date, topic, or keyword
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Peer cohort comparable cities
Cities most comparable to Long Beach by population, size, governance, and sub-region — the basis for fair comparison. Budget attributes are not loaded yet; cohort uses size, governance, and sub-region. With a small sample this is a soft grouping — the framework scales as cities are added.
Decisions worth knowing
Biggest dollars
Contested votes
Vote records are partial — captured only where a city publishes minutes or an official council journal (chiefly Long Beach and Los Angeles); this is not a cross-city contestedness comparison.
Learning from peer cities
Matches found from similar agenda wording across cities — useful starting points to investigate, not proof that one city copied another.
Where Long Beach and peers overlap
Matters Long Beach worked on that peer cities also took up.
Ideas from peer cities (not found here yet)
Matters peer cities acted on that we haven't found a comparable item for in Long Beach.
Data gaps & notes (6)
- 2026-07-14 City Council Meeting - Cancelled: No agenda document published for this meeting.
- 2026-07-07 City Council Meeting - Cancelled: No agenda document published for this meeting.
- 2026-06-23 City Council Meeting - Cancelled: No agenda document published for this meeting.
- 2026-06-02 City Council Meeting - Cancelled: No agenda document published for this meeting.
- 2025-12-23 City Council - Cancelled: No agenda document published for this meeting.
- 651 items ingested; brief generated from the first 160 by recency for length.