Long Beach Council Cuts Public Comment to Save $150K — But the Money Comes From the Same Pot That Pays for Khmer Interpreters
The Long Beach City Council voted 7-2 on September 2 to squeeze nearly all public comment at its meetings into a single 90-minute block at the start of the agenda — a change city leaders say will save about $150,000 a year. But buried in the city’s own justification for the cut is a detail that matters directly to Long Beach’s Cambodian community: the money being saved comes out of the same budget line that funds Khmer interpretation at City Hall.