Hotel Worker Safety Precautions Item Added To Tonight’s City Council Agenda
Four city councilmembers (Price, Mungo, Andrews, Austin) have added an item to tonight’s Long Beach City Council meeting (agenda item #26) requesting the city attorney draft an ordinance addressing public safety concerns at local hotels. The items include a series of measures ensuring worker safety, such as panic buttons for workers cleaning guest rooms, leaving guest room doors open while the room is being cleaned, the right of a worker to be reassigned to a different area if he/she feels threatened by a guest, etc. The proposal also calls for the police department to “establish regular outreach to hotel and lodging workers making them aware of their rights . . . ” The request by the councilmembers is in response to an initiative-driven ballot measure which imposes certain requirements on non-union hotels/motels with 50 or more rooms, including the doubling of housekeepers’ pay if they clean more than 4,000 square feet in one day, and obtaining written consent from employees to work more than 10 hours in a day.
City Council Considering Community Hospital Property Management Agreements
The Long Beach City Council is considering the approval of as-needed agreements for the maintenance and security of the Community Hospital site during its meeting tonight. The property was returned to the city by MemorialCare on July 3. The city will maintain the property until AHMC Healthcare takes over hospital operations for Molina, Wu, Network LLC, the hospital’s new owner, early next year. The total cost to the city to maintain and manage the property has yet to be determined, according to the agenda item.
Port Of Long Beach Seeking Applications For Community Grants
The Port of Long Beach is accepting applications through the month of September for its Community Sponsorship Program. This initiative awards funding to nonprofits for community events that inform residents about the port. Applicants are judged based on how they plan to educate on the port as a creator of jobs and generator of economic activity. Grants are expected to be awarded in mid-November. Click here to apply.
State Legislature Pushes More Use Of Renewable Natural Gas
Two bills sponsored by the Coalition of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) have recently been approved by the California State Legislature and will go to Gov. Jerry Brown for signature. Senate Bill 1440 would allow the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to adopt renewable natural gas procurement programs, while Assembly Bill 3187 requires the CPUC to open a proceeding to consider how to promote in-state production and distribution of renewable natural gas by July 1, 2019. “A renewable natural gas procurement program would create market certainty that industry developers need to access investment capital and build new projects in California,” RNG Coalition CEO Johannes Escudero said. “Nearly 30 states have RPS [Renewables Portfolio Standard] programs in place requiring electric utilities to procure and use increasing proportions of renewable energy.”
Long Beach Grand Prix To Be 4th Race Of Indy Season
The Verizon IndyCar Series announced today that the Long Beach Grand Prix is scheduled for April 14, making it the fourth race of the 2019 season. The first three races are scheduled for St. Petersburg, Austin, and Birmingham, on March 10 and 24 and April 7, respectively. The season includes races on seven permanent road courses, five temporary street courses and five ovals. Next year is IndyCar’s first full season with NBC Sports Group.