TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file report on the XIV Latin American Congress of Ports 2005.
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach, with the adoption of its first Strategic Plan in 1986, recognized the need to broaden its economic base to provide the jobs and tax base necessary to manage the city's tremendous growth in population and diversity. Nearly two decades later, the City's 2010 Strategic Plan established Business Growth and Workforce Development goals to:
B1.7 - Develop, build, and lease versatile and efficient port facilities that make the maximum use of Port of Long Beach; with the objective being to, B 1.10 - Use Long Beach's leadership in international trade to create highpaying jobs for Long Beach residents.
The 2010 Plan acknowledges that what while we have achieved much of what we had set out to accomplish in the 1986 Plan, "It is critical that we understand the forces now reshaping our city so we can recognize both our opportunities and challenges." The economic and social environment that existed 20 years ago have changed dramatically, in the arena of international trade, with Long Beach now recognized as a major component in the regional and global goods movement infrastructure - particularly within the Americas.
In acknowledging that economic growth should be measured not just in the number of new jobs, but also in the quality of those jobs, the 2010 Plan also stated, "Our challenges are to overcome the potentially negative impacts of growth, to enhance the environment, and to add value to our neighborhoods and life experiences." This is a challenge not only for Long Beach; it is in fact the greatest threat to the ecological and economic viability of our global environment.
The 2010 Strategic Plan recognizes those challenges and sets forth "sustainability" as the overall guiding principle to achieve our vision. I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2005 Latin American Congress of Ports where topics-which I believe to be relevant t...
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