City council puts off big box ban

City Big-Box Ban Put On Hold; Labor Peace Issue Dead

Balking at the $490,000 cost of a special election, the City Council put off putting a ban “big-box superstores” on the Feb. 5 ballot for a month, hoping Log Beach City College would help cut election costs with an election of its own.

However, voters will not be making any decisions about unionizing downtown hotels. The council essentially voted to rescind that item.

That was the result of several votes at Tuesday night’s council meeting. After a motion to put the big-box issue on the ballot failed, the council voted unanimously to return to the issue on Nov. 6.

It also voted unanimously to seek to rescind the “labor peace” agreement it had previously approved.

Both the big-box and labor peace issues were situations where the City Council approved an ordinance earlier this year, only to have successful petition drives in opposition that forced the council to either rescind the item or put it on the ballot.

Legally, the items must go on the Feb. 5 ballot or be rescinded. Voting on one issue (on the county ballot) would cost the city $490,000, the council was told.

That financial issue was the primary focus for opponents.

“We have police overtime not budgeted for. We have firemen not being paid what they are needed. We have fire stations that need structural work,” said Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich. “We should not be spending half a million on a ballot measure.”

Supporters countered that the money for a vote already is a line item in the City Clerk’s budget, although money still needs to be found to fill that line.

Backers also said that the ordinance was needed to keep Wal-Mart from hurting small businesses in the city.

The big box ordinance is aimed at banning the new breed of superstores (100,000 square feet or more with a large grocery area), something Wal-Mart and Target are doing nationwide (there are no plans for one in Long Beach).

“This is an ordinance that helps protect middle class workers who happen to be working in grocery stores,” said First District Councilwoman Bonnie Lownen-thal.

There also was a heated discussion about which side was the special interest.

“Wal-Mart has spent millions to negatively influence cities throughout California on similar issues,” said Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Urnanga. “This is a model ordinance.”

Ninth District Councilman Val Lerch countered that the unions started this by lobbying City Council members to pass this ordinance in the first place.

“If you look at the donations coming into campaigns in this city, it is clear (the unions) are pulling strings to get what they want,” said Matt Kinley, chairman of the board for the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Uranga, whose husband Roberto is a trustee at the Long Beach Community College District, said LBCC may put a bond issue on the Feb. 5 ballot. If that were to happen, the city might be able to piggyback onto that effort, cutting costs.

Several council members who opposed the $490,000 expenditure said if the cost were less they would consider putting the issue on the ballot. That is why the vote was delayed until Nov. 6.

The “Labor Peace Agreement,” said all hotels on city-owned property would need to negotiate a no-strike deal with its employees, something that almost certainly would have to be done through a union. Officials at the city’s non-union hotels (the Hyatt Regency downtown and the Airport Marriott) have opposed that measure, saying it is essentially forces them to have unions.

The Unite Here union, which strongly backed this measure when the council first approved it, did not have a presence at the meeting this week.