Jonathan Rose, one of the largest developers of affordable and green housing in NYC, describes “The Well-Tempered City” as one that does three important things: 1) protects its citizens, 2) balances humans and nature and 3) provides an opportunity landscape that is equal to all who live there. I’ve been impressed with how Long Beach is trying to embrace these tenets. As we look to the future and create the economic development blueprint, we must be mindful of the importance of investing in the future creators, innovators, workforce and tax payers that will be able to keep the city thriving and competitive. To that end, I strongly advocate for the following focus areas to be included in the blueprint: 1. supporting the development of affordable and green housing 2. building an infrastructure of free wi-fi throughout the city 3. ensuring access to physical and mental health care for all residents, especially family planning and reproductive health services
4. committing to city-wide resource alignment and evaluation measures that support the development of healthy, educated and thriving children (prenatally - career)

It will be critical to hear from the health care industry in the New Year. There are many unknowns with the changing federal administration which would have important implications across the country, in CA, LA County and in our city. Besides understanding how health care will be affected in its current form, it is also critical to understand where public health/prevention and healthcare are going in general. Two future advancements are in areas called precision public health/public health 3.0 and the world of personalized medicine (genomics). Long Beach has the opportunity to support the development of both of these new initiatives. Here's a blogpost from the CDC on how these two advancements fit together: https://blogs.cdc.gov/genomics/2015/03/02/precision-public/ Here's more on each initiative, separately: **Precision public health/public health 3.0 https://www.healthypeople.gov/sites/default/files/Public-Health-3.0-White-Paper.pdf

**Personalized medicine/genomics https://rockhealth.com/reports/the-genomics-inflection-point-implications-for-healthcare/?utm_source=Rock+Weekly&utm_campaign=3ea6bb66bd-Rock_Weekly_12-20-16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e44ef774d4-3ea6bb66bd-90860053&mc_cid=3ea6bb66bd&mc_eid=640d07f6cc

Investing in our future workforce will be a key part of the Economic Development Blueprint. Here is an example of a home-visiting program from Durham, NC that gives several reasons why starting early is so important. http://www.familyconnects.org/evidencebase

"For each $1 in program costs, the Durham Connects program yielded $3.02 in savings in emergency health care costs. Based on the findings, researchers estimate that for cities of a similar size averaging about 3,187 births a year, an annual investment of $2.2 million in nurse home visiting would result in a community health care cost savings of about $7 million in the first two years of a child’s life."

Investing in our future workforce will be a key part of the Economic Development Blueprint. Here is an example of a home-visiting program from Durham, NC that gives several reasons why starting early is so important. http://www.familyconnects.org/evidencebase

"For each $1 in program costs, the Durham Connects program yielded $3.02 in savings in emergency health care costs. Based on the findings, researchers estimate that for cities of a similar size averaging about 3,187 births a year, an annual investment of $2.2 million in nurse home visiting would result in a community health care cost savings of about $7 million in the first two years of a child’s life."

I would highly recommend reviewing Portland, Oregon's Development Commission Strategic Plan for 2015-2020. Especially their vision and values (pasted below) http://www.pdc.us/Libraries/Document_Library/PDC_Strategic_Plan_pdf.sflb.ashx

Vision: Portland is one of the most globally competitive, equitable, and healthy cities in the world.
Values: Love Portland. Portland is a great place with great communities that inspire everything we do. Make a Difference. We get things done and strive to have a marked impact on the lives of all people in Portland. Do Excellent Work. We bring a high level of knowledge, professionalism, and passion, and always aspire to improve. Build Partnerships. We are most effective when we work together and hand-in-hand with our public, private, and community partners. Advance Equity. We recognize historic inequities and work tirelessly for a more equitable Portland and PDC. Honor the Public Trust. We seek nancial sustainability and, as stewards of public resources, act for the good of the city with integrity and ethics. Innovate. We are all entrepreneurs. Creativity, agility, and ingenuity elevate our work.

Two resources for embedding equity into economic development blueprint: 1. Blogpost with context and examples: http://fourtheconomy.com/embedding-equity-into-economic-development/ 2. Policy Link's Equity Atlas with assessments for Long Beach: http://nationalequityatlas.org/data-summaries/Long_Beach_City

Did Jessica Schumer get paid to be the only citizen engaged in this bunk form of "citizen engagement"?

Maybe I am just a little mad because the City of Long Beach's mayor has worked to create low crime rates (by ignoring human trafficking). This is no joke: the mayor of Long Beach is not concerned about citizen participation. The Cambodian community here in Long Beach was used by Robert Garcia to become elected-- and he turned his back on them too.

Our mayor, when he was a council member, helped support a very bad man in our community who is a rapist and a coyote. He helped this monster who gets pleasure out of breaking our laws obtain a liquor license even though the place of business was not in Garcia's city council zone.