10:45am | The Long Beach City Council last night agreed to move forward with plans to ban smoking in the city’s small parks, and to tax marijuana sales at local collectives.

The smoking ban will affect small parks about five acres in size or smaller. The Council voted 8-1 with Val Lerch dissenting, and the Parks and Recreation Commission will draw up legislation and bring it back to the Council for approval in a few weeks.

The Council also voted 8-1 to move forward with crafting a tax on marijuana, this time with Gerrie Schipske dissenting.  The next step is a public hearing on August 3 to determine whether the issue will be placed on the ballot. If so, it will call for a 5-percent tax on medical marijuana and a 15-percent tax on recreational marijuana sales made in Long Beach.

Long Beach is facing an $18.5 million deficit in this coming budget and has made no qualms about the fact that City staff is trying to boost revenue.

The Council must vote to declare a Fiscal Emergency before they can place an item on the ballot that requires just 50% of the vote. There’s no reason to think that there will be a problem with that, however, because the City Council did exactly that last year as well. Even if all goes as planned for the Council, voters will have the final say in November.

How will you vote?

Click here to read our policy on covering the Long Beach City Council.