The City has 52 ideas to “Grow Long Beach” through sustainable methods as oil production is phased out.
Long Beach City staff released a 30-page report of ideas for helping the City’s economy survive and thrive in the face of shrinking oil revenues and a push for a more environmentally friendly economy.
“We used to be flooded with oil money,” Mayor Rex Richardson said at Tuesday’s Long Beach City Council meeting, which analyzed the City’s economic makeup through a variety of discussions regarding affordable housing production, renter protections and the 2028 Olympics.
Now, Long Beach’s estimates are showing a possible $80 million budget deficit “made worse by the oil transition,” Richardson said.
Since 1932, Long Beach has used oil revenues to fund services such as lifeguard positions, youth services, police and fire positions and more. California has decided to phase out the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and hopes to phase out all oil production by 2045. Long Beach has doubled down on this initiative and stated its goal to end oil production by 2035.
Oil operations have bolstered the City’s economy by $450 million, according to the City’s website, though revenue has decreased in recent years as millions are spent on oil well abandonment.
“[Oil is] a volatile commodity we’ve moved away from in recent years, and that transition, due to a shifting legislative environment, makes it very uncertain for us to continue funding services based on that revenue for years to come,” Richardson said.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City staff presented a year-long study on remedying this issue: 30 pages of initiatives Long Beach can take to help the economy recover in a more sustainable fashion.
These initiatives focus on aerospace and aviation; transportation and logistics; the creative economy of music, arts, tourism and athletics; healthcare and education; a climate-forward economy; and the Grow Long Beach Together plan which bolsters small businesses.
Highlights from the City’s Grow Long Beach plans include:
Aerospace and Aviation
- Activation of the former 16 acres of Gulfstream Manufacturing local at Long Beach Airport (LGB) with JetZero
- Activation of vacant 17 acres at LGB through the development of new leases
- Identification of additional leased space that can be offered to grow the space industry
- Identity and attract an additional space company headquarters in Long Beach
- Explore an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) around LGB to fuel investment in major job operators
- Continue exploration of Long Beach as a destination for future advanced air mobility, such as drone taxi service
- Activate Goodman property building with a major employer
- Activate Pacific Pointe West at Douglas Park
Transportation
- Spend $2.2 billion on Long Beach Port infrastructure over the next 10 years to fuel green cargo movement and logistics business
- Pier B On-dock rail investment to create a $1.567 billion state-of-the-art facility
- Maximize electrification in the Long Beach Port, leading to higher User Utility Taxes
- Conduct a review of User Utility Tax to make sure tax revenue is properly accounted for
- $225 million investment in zero-emissions projects
- Development of Pier Wind and exploration of Sales and Use Tax point of sale in Long Beach
- Hydrogen Hub Alternative Fuel Source for Shipping Engines
Tourism / Creative Economy
- Set a goal to add 1,000 new hotel rooms in Long Beach by the 2028 Olympics
- Explore partnerships with Carnival to bring in cruise ships to operate as hotels during major events like the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics
- Opening Fairmont Breakers Hotel with 185 rooms
- Construction of Hard Rock Hotel
- Bring new sporting events into the city to highlight the city’s capacity for hosting large sports events in preparation for the Olympics
- Cultivate Long Beach as the most haunted place to be on Halloween, bringing in large regional crowds
- Completion of a Temporary Amphitheatre at the Queen Mary, of up to 10,000 seats
- Long-Term Queen Mary Development Plan, including a permanent amphitheater
- Investment in the Long Beach Arena to bring additional music and events
- Pursue a Special Advertising District in the downtown area
- Partnership with Carnival to grow passenger counts and explore the ability to accommodate additional vessels
- Explore additional assets in the Queen Mary area in a potential joint-venture with Carnival and the Port
- Continue revenue growth at Queen Mary
- Maximization of Leases along the Waterfront
- Elephant Lot activation
- Shoreline Village parking structure, remodel and upgrade
- Becoming a live music and entertainment destination through unique and engaging music partnerships
Healthcare and Education Partnerships
- Implementation of the $1 billion Memorial Care Master Plan, modernizing the campus, retrofitting for earthquake preparedness, fueling construction jobs and permanent healthcare jobs over the next several years
- Fueling workforce development for the healthcare sector
- Creation of North Long Beach Education and Housing Hub, activating multiple dormant properties and spurring investment
- Pursuit of a downtown university/college presence, providing activation in Downtown
- Create pathways for City employment for local universities through Charter Reform
- Partnerships to build student housing and activate major centers and corridors through vibrant college housing
- Maximizing the visibility and energy of LB State Athletics in the community to create athletic partnerships headed into the 2028 Olympics
Climate-Focused
- Examining oil properties no longer needed for oil operations and transition to private leases
- Creation of an Organics Material Processing Facility
- Review of clean energy ideas, such as solar and wind projects, carbon sequestration, and other energy projects at the Oil Islands that could create a revenue source, lower City energy costs and facilitate a positive transition of the THUMS assets
- Review existing regulations to facilitate the construction of solar and other renewable energy generation and storage facilities, green building materials, and the overall business of climate transition construction services
- Completion of the AES Circulation Pumps to ensure Alamitos Bay continues to welcome aquatics athletics and activation
Grow Long Beach Together
- Perform additional Business License Audits to ensure up-to-date record-keeping and reporting that leads to growth in Business License Tax
- Host All Ready Here Site Selectors Conference in Long Beach to showcase the City’s potential
- Comprehensive review of on-street parking approach in order to increase parking meter revenue, promote good parking utilization and turnover on commercial corridors, and provide seed money for future parking structure construction
- Evaluation of Potential Economic Empowerment Zones (EEZs) through Tax-Increment Financing (TIF)
- Adopt zoning changes to implement the City’s Land Use Element, modernizing zoning and creating new opportunities for business development
- Promote home-improvement month, home additions and remodels, pool installations, ADU construction, and other home investments
- Activation of large properties to generate Property and/or Sales Tax
Of these items, 19 are identified as short-term, 18 as medium-term and 13 as long-term. Director of Financial Management Kevin Riper said that some can take as long as 10 years to implement and emphasized that the initiatives are not expected to replace the tens of millions lost from oil revenue.
Long Beach City Council will next review the revenue challenges in each sector and any steps the City can take to combat these challenges in the next few months.
“Are we going to be a city that says, ‘We used to be great when we had all that oil money,’ or are we going to be a city that points back to that moment when we said, ‘We need to recreate our profile economically and it needs to be based on sustainability and be cleaner,’” Richardson said.
View the full report here.
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