TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Technology & Innovation Department, and all other appropriate departments to work together, research, and report back within 180 days on the potential costs, benefits, partnerships, and challenges of a City of Long Beach-issued identification card.
DISCUSSION
On August 22, 2017 our City Council gave direction to the City Manager to create a Citywide Communications Strategic Plan that would seek new innovative strategies to create greater access and awareness of services, programs, and initiatives within the City that better inform and engage residents and stakeholders.
Since this time, there have been components underway that seek better City intemal and extemal communications alignment and interconnectivity. As we enter this new era, we also must seek innovative ways in which people can be provided easy access in the same way that other municipal and educational-based services have been successful (e.g., the Metro TAP Card and services offered through LBCC and CSULB Student IDs). Through new card 10 and smart application technology, there is an opportunity to provide expanded access through a one-stop portal that would allow for greater interconnectivity and access to our Long Beach residents for 5 major areas:
• Identification
• Pre-qualification for Services and Programs
• Banking and Payment Functions
• Public Transportation and Parking
• Arts & Cultural Institutions
Under federal law, cities may issue their own identification cards as they see fit, and many do so. New Haven, Connecticut issued the first municipal identification (10) cards in 2007 and many others have done so since, including San Francisco, Washington D.C., Oakland, Richmond (CA), and Chicago, among many others. New York has the largest program, with hundreds of thousands of residents enrolled.
City-issued identification cards would serve as an alternative form of government-issued identification, making it easier...
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