Long Beach Briefs: POLB Trade Softens, Deputy City Manager Departs and Therapy Offered to Individuals Experiencing Homelessness

Port of Long Beach Trade Softens in April

LONG BEACH — Cargo container traffic slowed at the Port of Long Beach in April. POLB cites this is due to consumers continuing to limit purchases and shippers shuffling trade from the West Coast to seaports on the East and Gulf coasts.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 656,049 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month, down 20.1% from April 2022, which was the Port’s busiest April on record. Imports declined 21.8% to 313,444 TEUs, while exports increased a narrow 0.6% to 122,663 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the Port decreased 26.2% to 219,943 TEUs.

“The unprecedented consumer demand we saw at the height of COVID-19 has diminished and cargo flows are now closer to pre-pandemic levels,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero. “We expect slow growth in the second half of 2023, as retailers continue to clear surplus inventory from their warehouses.”

The Port has moved 2,377,375 TEUs during the first four months of 2023, down 27.5% from the same period in 2022.

City Announces Departure of Deputy City Manager Katy Nomura

LONG BEACH — City manager Tom Modica recently announced the forthcoming departure of Deputy City Manager Katy Nomura, who joined the City of Long Beach in June 2022. Her last day with the city will be June 2. During the last year, Nomura worked as part of the city’s executive management team to support various city policies and programs. Tyler Bonanno-Curley, Manager of Government Affairs, will serve as the acting deputy city manager while the city conducts a national recruitment to permanently fill the position.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/deputy-city-manager 

LB Now Offering Mental Health Therapy to People Experiencing Homelessness

LONG BEACH — The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services homeless services bureau is now offering evening mental health therapy programming for people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. This comes in addition to existing mental health services offered during business hours and includes scheduled 45-minute phone therapy sessions, available weekday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m.

People experiencing homelessness, sheltered or unsheltered, can schedule a 45-minute phone therapy session with licensed and associate mental health clinicians by completing a form online at www.bit.ly/MentalHealthEveningsLB, at the Multi-Service Center or directly through their case manager.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/mental-health-programming