Read the October 20 meeting.

Mayor, are you there? Yes, I'm right here. Okay, great. Thank you. We are ready for you, Mayor. Are we ready to do roll call vote, see who's present? Yes. Go ahead, please. Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Mendoza? Councilmember Peñalosa? Present.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Here.

Councilmember Solorio?

Present.

Mayor Pro Temp-Viegas?

Here.

Mayor Pulido?

And I am here as well. So what I'm going to do then, if appropriate, I'm going to proceed with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you can, please stand and place your hand over your heart. And let's ready begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Do we have our police chaplain, Vincent Berringer, there?

He is not on attendance yet.

Let's continue then. Let's continue. I don't have in front of me the proclamation, but Madam Clerk, if you could read it. I know we're talking about National Nurse Practitioner Week. And in particular, I know we have nurses all around us. They're doing such an amazing job, especially right now with a pandemic. And I think taking a moment to recognize them is appropriate. Can you read some of the proclamation, please, Madam City Clerk?

Yes, Mayor. Nurse practitioners serve as trusted frontline health care providers for patients across the nation. In addition to diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions, nurse practitioners focus on health promotion, disease prevention, and health education and counseling, guiding patients to make smarter health and lifestyle choices. The confidence patients have in nurse practitioner delivered health care is evidenced by the more than 1 billion annual patient visits made to nurse practitioners across the country.

Nurse practitioners are highly skilled practitioners with advanced education and clinical training, building upon their initial registered nurse preparation. There are more than 270,000 licensed nurse practitioners in the United States, providing primary, acute, and specialty care to patients of all ages and walks of life. Better utilization of nurse practitioners through modernized state laws and improved system policies creates better health through a more accessible, efficient, cost-effective, and higher quality health care system. As frontline workers, nurse practitioners have and continue to play a role

battling the COVID-19 global pandemic. Nurse practitioners have become a true force for good, revered in the communities they serve. The City of Santa Ana recognizes November 8th through November 14, 2020 as National Nurse Practitioner Week and commend them for their service nurse practitioners have provided to the community.

Thank you for that very much, Madam Clerk. If I may now, I believe we have our next presentation.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, that's me.

And that is, who is that again? That is.

That's me, Mayor Pro Tem Villegas.

Go ahead, Mayor Pro Tem, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Today I'm going to present a proclamation to the Women's Transitional Living Center. And this proclamation has to do with Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This is something that's very serious in our community because we have so many calls. And this is something that just doesn't affect the individual, but it actually affects the entire family. It's very hard to send kids to school when they come from a home where this kind of situation exists. And I'm very happy that the members of this council have voted for us to establish a family justice center here in Santa Ana.

And as a matter of fact, I remember reading an Instagram where our police department shared a post of our family justice center. And in there, there was a comment from an individual here in Santa Ana, and she actually named a few of our officers how they helped her and that she is no longer a victim. So I'm very proud to say that our center is reaching quite a few people. I hate to say that our numbers are high in the area of referrals and actual help here in the center, but that's what it's for.

Our center not just helps the victims of domestic violence, but also child abuse and elder abuse and sexual assault victims. And I'm very proud to help establish that center here in the city. And this proclamation, again, goes to the Women's Transitional Living Center, and it's for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. pro tem i believe now uh councilman phil becerra you have the next presentation please

is councilor becerra there

is

Phil BacerraItem —

san yana college's newspaper the old dawn covers news about the college the city of san yana and the state of California, making it a news source that many look to for the latest updates. Due to the pandemic, though, the El Don has shifted to providing news primarily through a digital platform. During this time, they have received more than 100,000 hits, proving the loyalty and support of the readers of the El Don. Today, not only are we here to recognize this staff's great work, but to also celebrate their first place win at the 62nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards that were presented by the Los Angeles Press Club.

Phil BacerraItem —

The Eldon earned national, state, and local titles and was named the best collegiate and student media organization in the entire country. This is just one of the many awards that the 34-person staff has received. I want to applaud the staff of the Eldon for their creativity and their tenacity. It is an honor to recognize so many individuals with promising and bright futures that are from right here in the city of Santa Ana. The Eldon staff is led by advisor Charles Bud Little. Mr. Little has supported and developed the staff over the years, but he will be leaving the staff and he will be missed.

Phil BacerraItem —

So it is my privilege and my honor to recognize the Eldon staff and their advisor on behalf of the City Council and the City of Santa Ana and to congratulate you on your awards and accomplishments.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Hi, my name is Leslie Guzman. I am the former editor-in-chief of the L. Don News from 2019 to 2020 school year at Santa Ana College. On behalf of the L. Don, I would like to thank the city of Santa Ana for this honor, for this award, because it really shows how much we can accomplish as the L. Don as students. because it took a lot of sacrifice. It took a lot of hard work for my team to earn this award. And we would like to thank the city of Santa Ana for this.

And personally, I would like to thank my professors, Charles Bud Little and Miss Sarah Bennett. So I really appreciate their guidance, their hard work, all the teachings that they have taught us, everything, all the tools that they gave us for, you know, to make this happen. And I would like to thank my teammates who are here with me, behind me. I would like to thank my co-editor, who's the current co-editor of the Eldon News, Julian Reynoso, and photographer. I would like to thank Dorian Zavala,

also co-editor and sports editor. I would like to thank Laura Diaz, who is our Spanish translator and illustrator, Carrie Graham, our news editor, and Oliver Rivero, who is one of our staff photographers.

Phil BacerraItem —

Fantastic. Well, again, I wanted to congratulate all of you. Thank you for all that you do for the city and for the community. I know we all appreciate it. So thank you again. Congratulations. Thank you.

thank you thank you thank you uh counselor becerra for uh leading that um go ahead any other comments

Phil BacerraItem —

just one last comment i wanted to thank staff for helping put that together uh we had a couple folks here in the chambers that were uh essential to make that happen so i just wanted to acknowledge that and thank everybody and uh i know the kids appreciated it for all their hard work and to be recognized in that way and especially during covid where it's you know not the same as what we have traditionally done here so I just wanted to thank everybody.

Thank you for that. Now Councillor Mendoza you have a presentation.

Yes Mayor Polito I do have a presentation for two of our citizens of Santa Ana for their bravery and I am pulling up and actually maybe I can ask our our City Clerk Daisy Gomez to read the speaking point but I do want to personally thank Luis Gonzalez and Guillermo Velazquez two of our West Floral Park residents who risked their

life when the car racing accident occurred that took the life of a very prominent journalist here in a resident of Santa Ana and Eugene Halbrecht and these two gentlemen without thinking of their own personal safety rushed out and pulled Eugene from the vehicle that was in flames and in doing so they injured themselves it was minor injuries but they did risk themselves their life and

so I wanted to present this very special certificate of recognition for their outstanding contributions to our community as heroes they are heroes to me they are here at Santa Ana and the City of Santa Ana greatly appreciates

their contributions. Okay. So Daisy will read the other pieces. Okay. On July 29, 2020, an illegal street racing incident resulted in a fury crash when the vehicle of longtime Orange County Register Editor Eugene Jean Harbrecht was struck. After witnessing the intense crash Luis Gonzalez and Guillermo Valesquez jumped into action with the vehicle in flames the two concerned citizens pulled Mr. Harbrecht from the vehicle and immediately proceeded it to put out the fire to ensure no further injury was caused by bystanders while unfortunately

Mr. Harbrecht did not survive the crash the selfless acts of these two men should not go unrecognized. Thank you Luis and Guillermo for putting yourselves in harm's way to help someone in need. Today we the City Council present the two certificates of recognition to Luis Gonzalez and Guillermo Velasquez for their contributions to the community. And that is all I have.

Thank you for that. Now we have another presentation, I believe by council member Vince Sarmiento, please council member Sarmiento.

Yes, thank you. And this is actually a proclamation recognizing childhood lead poisoning prevention week. And there are a lot of whereas clauses in this proclamation. So I'll just go ahead and get to the highlights. Whereas childhood lead poisoning is a silent but very harmful environmental disease that can cause serious long-term harm, including developmental delays, learning disabilities, cognitive and behavior disorders, and in the most severe cases, coma, seizures, and death. toddlers and young children under the age of six years of age and low-income families and those

living in pre-1978 housing are at higher risk of lead poisoning. In Orange County the cases of lead poisoning in children continue to occur. Almost 400 children ages zero to five were identified in 2018 with increased blood lead levels. Most children have lead poisoning. Most children that have lead poisoning do not look or act sick. The best way to identify children with lead poisoning is through targeted screening of high-risk children with a blood lead test. So basically

what we're talking about here is trying to call attention to childhood lead poisoning prevention. And this week is where we try to focus in on this. And I know there have been studies done in our in our cities specifically in the past, because we're one of these older cities that unfortunately has some compatibility issues with respect to some of our light industrial and heavy industrial businesses that are very close to some of our neighborhood schools and parks. And we've seen some elevated risks and elevated consequences of these two incompatible uses being close to one another.

And we've seen kids that have some learning disabilities, kids that have some other consequences to their health and family members as a result of lead poisoning, because it's not just lead that's found in pre-1978 paint. That used to be the most common way that you could identify it. But there are other particulates that are let out into our environment and these particulates get into our airways. and unfortunately it does tend to endanger children more so than adults. So to the extent that we all are going to have an opportunity to address this issue specifically

as we approach the update to the general plan, this will be one of those environmental justice issues I think that all of us can make a big difference in the lives of not only those children that are alive today but those children that are going to be born into an environment that hopefully we'll be able to create, which is safer, healthier with the appropriate buffers and distances between uses that are incompatible. And it's now also the law as a result of Senate Bill 1000. But basically what we can do is nobody is saying that businesses like this shouldn't be able to operate.

But in most cities that are newer than ours, that you're able to plan based upon land use tools where you create significant amount of separations between light industrial areas, heavy manufacturing, and those sensitive receptors, which are homes, children, and schools. So, you know, we will be able to stay true to the spirit of this proclamation that we're presenting tonight.

And, you know, I urge all of us to take this seriously and to make sure that we encourage parents and caregivers of children under the age of six years old to ask their child's medical provider about the risk for lead poisoning. And if a blood test is needed, encourage housing renovators and contractors to follow lead safe work practices. So thank you for everybody's indulgence. I hope that we take this seriously.

Childhood lead poisoning leads to some very traumatic consequences to families and to children who have to deal with this for the rest of their lives. And we here, unfortunately, are even a more vulnerable region for that type of harm. So with that, Mr. Mayor, that is the proclamation. I am very, very happy to present it for the council's consideration.

Thank you very much for that. Councilman Sarmiento is very well presented. And I thank you. And now let's go on to the next item. Madam City Attorney, is there anything to report out of closed session, please?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Mayor, we do not have any reportable action.

Okay. So let me go to the city clerk and ask you, are there any people that wish to address this on any items?

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. We do. And before I unmute the listed attendees who want to speak, I have emails that were received today we had for 75 a public hearing item we had 11 in support and they were Santa Ana residents business owners or property owners five residencies were not disclosed 22 in opposition that were Santa Ana residents business owners or property owners 55 a rescinding the

resolution regarding the property at 301 and 325 North Tustin we just received one comment and then 85c the resolution denouncing the attacks we received two Santa Ana resident in support to non Santa Ana resident and seven that residencies that were not disclosed and they were all in support and now for the callers the last three numbers 763 if you would please dial star six to unmute your call then you

may proceed to speak you have three minutes thank you hi good evening council my name is Jose Trinidad Castaneda from the climate action campaign and my public comment is regarding the community choice energy item that you may be considering in the future I just want to urge that you bring this to the council docket as soon as possible the city of Irvine is looking at agendizing a final vote to adopt the creation of a new joint powers authority in November which means you have literally two weeks to get this to

you before your diet and really discuss the potential for helping Santa Ana families and businesses with lower energy bills, greater cost savings, cleaner energy for a brighter future for Santa Ana's youth especially. So again my name is Jose. Please consider agendizing Community Choice Energy as soon as possible to better able to better negotiate terms for Senate Anna families and businesses before Irvine finalizes their vote. Thank you. Thank you. Caller

with the last three numbers 955 please dial star six or select the unmute microphone button on your device. You have three minutes please announce your

name and begin to speak. Good evening Mr. Mayor and members of the council my name is Tom Morrissey I'm a Planning Commissioner for Ward 6. I'm here to speak about item 75A the proposal by Caribou Industries at 3rd and Broadway. I think Caribou Industries provided a a development that has many benefits to the community, a great hotel, affordable housing, an active street environment, and really importantly, it replaced an outdated structure there

at the important city intersection.

I voted for this project, but since that time, I have a concern.

I think we need to really seriously safeguard our historic city center. We have a city center that's designated as National Historic District.

And the concern I have is that when this district was formed, there were no active, the city ordinance had required and offered the council the opportunity to take up the issue of design guidelines. and apparently that wasn't done. So we have an historic district without clear guidelines regarding scale. I can't underscore enough as a design professional how important scale is to our environment, the physical impact it can have. and I often use the example of Disney and the downtown Disney

and how the creators there have deliberately scaled a really great Main Street international destination. The architecture in large part is successful through its scaling.

So I really think because of this project's location in the heart of our historic district

that really has a unique culture, which is still evolving, that we need to take prudent action on this and have it reviewed by a historic resources consultant and brought before the historic resources commission for review. and I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. Caller with the last three

numbers 271 please dial star six to speak or select the unmute button on your device. State your name for the record. You have three minutes.

Caller with the last three numbers 271, please dial star six and you may proceed to speak.

Call her with the last three numbers 271, dial star six to speak or tap on the unmute button or the microphone icon on your device and then you may proceed to speak.

Call her with the last three numbers, 308, please dial star six to speak, or tap on the unmute button, or the microphone icon on your device, and you may proceed to speak.

Good evening. My name is Erin Naderi of Palmieri, Hennessy, and LIFR, and I am speaking on behalf of the Coalition Against Santa Ana Irresponsible Development. We submitted an objection letter and supporting documents and photos for inclusion in the record on the public hearing item for 75A, which is the third and Broadway development. As discussed in that letter, there has not been an adequate analysis of the impact of this massive development. The development is proposed just steps away from the historic Spurgeon Building and other historic buildings in the downtown area.

and the city is proposing to give a pass to this massive development on a number of significant items including height it's proposed to be 16 stories massing and floor area ratio among other things city has not adequately analyzed or considered the significant impact that the construction and development of this massive project will have on the historic building such as the Spurgeon building and the city's reliance on a decade-old program level EIR that did not specifically analyze the impacts of this massive project is improper the addendum did not analyze

the specific impacts of this massive project and as discussed in our letter in more detail there will be significant impacts to historic and cultural resources land use geology soils traffic parking aesthetics and greenhouse gases we further object to the city council taking action on this project based on the political reform act common law principles and the city of santa and the code of ethics and conduct prohibiting bias and conflicts of interest. Political reform act prohibits and restricts public officials from acting based upon bias and conflicts of interest

according to the documents before the city council. There are claims that the proposed project benefits the city and the entire downtown area in particular. Any council member who knows or has reason to know that they have a financial interest in the area purportedly benefited by this project must abstain from participating in making or using his or her official position to influence the making of a public decision as expressed in the documents before the city council relating to this project it is believed that council members do or are likely to have financial interests in

the making of this decision we do not believe that this project is ready for prime time and request that the city council should deny the requested action today thank you

Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 273, please dial star six to speak or tap on your unmute button. Please state your name for the record and you may proceed to speak.

caller with the last three numbers 273 thank you you may proceed as good evening

thank you good evening mr mayor members of the city council my name is ernesto medrano and i'm the orange county representative for the los angeles and orange county building and Construction Trades Council. We represent 140,000 hardworking men and women from our 49 affiliated trade organizations. I'm calling to urge the city council to approve the staff recommendation, which includes a density bonus agreement of the disposition development agreement on the third and Broadway project at item 75A. The project will create hundreds of high wage, high skill construction jobs. And these jobs have a significant multiplier effect

on the jobs in the area. At a time of economic recession through the pandemic, The timing to get shovels in the ground is imperative. The revenue we'll bring to the city will help maintain the critical services that the municipal team provides. The Building Trades Council are in talks with Mr. Mike Harrow, the developer, to achieve a project labor agreement that can provide the project with a skilled and trained workforce, strong safety enhancers for the construction workers. The project will provide a pathway to middle-class opportunities, not just for Santana, but the entire region.

It will create demand to recruit young men and women into our joint labor management apprenticeship programs. The project will also support veterans through our Helmets to Hard Hats program. The quality of the union jobs created will have great health care and good defined retirement benefit plans. The Thornton Broadway project will have access to the Orange County streetcar route so that guests, residents, and community can get out of their cars and help the environment and alleviate traffic. The project is in nearby cultural attractions like the Artist Village, Civic Center,

and the recently revived downtown Santa Ana with its nearby galleries, restaurants, craft breweries, and street art. We, with all of the trades and various employers, sent in numerous letters and addressed the planning commission a few weeks ago. In the spirit of being respectful of your time and being efficient, I'm here to speak on their behalf tonight. Again, we urge the city council to approve this project. Thank you for your hard work and service of the great city of Santa Ana.

Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 361, please dial star six to speak or tap on your unmute button or microphone on your device.

Nice.

Please state your name for the record and you may proceed to speak. Thank you.

Yes, this is John Hanna, and I represent the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters. And we are in support of the staff's recommendations, and we are in support of this project. I want to commend the last speaker, Ernesto Medrano, for his work with the applicant as well as with the city to ensure that there is a skilled and trained workforce on this project. I do want to add a couple more points. And I spoke at the planning commission meeting. First of all, this project will bring significant revenue into the city at a time when it's desperately needed.

I listened to a lot of council meetings. There's a lot of people who are got their hands out, deservedly so in most cases, about needing help. Well, here's help. The private sector stepping forward to ensure that there is a revenue stream for taking care of things like historical buildings, taking care of ensuring that there's mental health provisions for the city, and there's an adequate safety force for the city.

These all cost money and this project will provide it. The comments that I heard earlier about this project,

the council likely to have or do have conflicts, that's an unfair character attack. If you've got evidence, you need to bring it up. but I don't think they do. And this project has clearly adequately been analyzed for its impact, had thorough reviews, and it's certainly going to be providing great work for many Santa Ana residents that otherwise would happen to be traveling long distances. So I would urge the council to support the staff recommendations.

And I want to thank Mr. Hera and Caribou for their leadership in not only providing a skilled and trained workforce, but ensuring that Santa Ana is not going to Anaheim take all the glitter and all the revenue that helps fund programs. that Santa Ana is going to be providing a project that will get people out of their cars, will relieve some of the congestion downtown, and turn this area into the urban center that it really needs to be to make Santa Ana a first-class city. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 689.

9. Please dial star 6. And you may proceed to speak. Hi, this is Evan Grant on behalf of Care Grant Law on item 55A. I just want to foreshadow the events that will occur if the city council decides that they don't want to settle this lawsuit. And let me start by this. the 2018 approvals the general plan amendment and the zone change are in play if the case isn't settled if that issue is not in front of judge wilson it will be soon and he'll make a call on

whether or not the 2019 approvals voided the 2018 approvals and he's already indicated that the documents on their face appear to indicate that he'll also decide at the next hearing um whether we're going to take the deposition of joe wallace i don't know what you guys refer to her as but you know, Polito's best friend, volunteer assistant, business partner, all those things. And after her, it's going to be Mayor Polito and the Bushalas. And we will get to the bottom of this once and for all, even if it is in the year that Mr. that Mayor Polito is no longer going to be serving.

But what I would say to you is, if you think it's going to get any cheaper by delaying or waiting, you're wrong. I'm confident that Judge Wilson's going to give Ms. Grant every penny that she seeks in attorney's fees in this case, since she's won on every single point. And so if the city doesn't want to reimburse and make whole the petitioners, that's fine. We'll seek every penny, we'll continue to incur fees, and we will ask for a multiplier because of all of the nonsense and shenanigans. Currently, Chase Russell is responsible for reimbursing the city for all

that for some unknown reason, you guys previously approved a settlement where you're going to reverse and indemnify him because he was a spoiled child and couldn't stand to have the city say no to him. Now's the time, strike while the iron's hot and get a deal done and minimize the burden on the taxpayers. Thank you.

Thank you, caller. with the last three numbers, 243, please dial star six to speak or tap on your unmute button or the microphone icon on your device.

Hello, my name is Luis Andres Perez. I'm a representative for UA Local 582 Plumbers and Steamfitters. I'm here to raise a public comment on agenda item 75A in support of the staff's recommendation. I think overall as a project, I think this is really moving in the right direction. It's a dilapidated parking structure. And by redesigning and rezoning it with the density bonus, allowing to have a mixed-use development 15-story tower, and then an additional 10-story hotel with parking structure still attached to it, I think it's phenomenal. Opening up Sycamore Street, using it as a multi-use system,

especially during when, hopefully after COVID is done, we'll be able to use downtown San Ana in a more flexible way. I think this is in no way, shape or form a negative development.

Well, hopefully council, you guys are supportive 75A. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 903, please dial star six to speak or tap on the unmute button or the microphone icon on your device.

Hi, yes, my name is Elena. I'm one of the people that live in Fontana. I'm actually talking about item 75E. I'm actually impurated for the person who is going to be acquiring this plot of land as an architect student who is doing her archives and whatnot. This, to me, speaks from volumes that's in like more gentrification as in the more land use for uh profit um this leaves more hence and more vulnerable it also gives um oh i should i don't i just think that for for the city

council to do on about this and for other people to be commenting on like how it can be more popular for the city hooray for you but honestly think about the people who are going to be more affected with people who absolutely live in Montana and not the tourist parks. Thank you. I yield my time.

Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 047, please dial star six to speak or tap on your unmute button or microphone icon on your device. You may proceed to speak.

Yes, good evening, Mayor and Council members. This is Diane Fradkin, 28-year resident of Santa Ana. I wanted to speak about item 75A, and I spoke out at the Planning Commission hearing, and I don't know what exactly has happened since then, but my concern was with the architecture of the building and the height. I believe that it just didn't seem to provide the historic nature that the downtown embraces. And I believe Planning Commissioner Tom Morrison spoke out about this as well.

And I'd like for you to review that. Just take a look. And you just want to make sure that we're providing good standards for redevelopment in downtown. on this meeting.

Hello? Hi, Mayor. If you could please mute your device when you're speaking.

You may proceed.

In any event, I would just like the council to consider

what we want to set as a precedent here for future redevelopment. It appears to be a little bit too tall for the area. I think it'll do a lot of good, but I think we still need to consider our historic values, how we want to proceed in the future with high density residential due to COVID and the parameters that we're going to be living with in the near future. We need parks. We need outdoor space for high density projects. And in this area, there's not something that's really that close by. So again, you know, I'm not opposed to redevelopment.

I think it's an important part of growing our city. But I think that we also need to be cautious about moving forward with things that are maybe too dense or not in the parameters of our historic value for our city. Thank you.

Thank you.

Caller with the last three numbers 455. please dial star six to speak or select the microphone button or unmute. You may proceed to speak.

Hello, this is Tim Rush. I'm a resident of Wilshire Square. I've been in Santa Ana for over 33 years and I'm calling to voice my support of this project. I do serve as vice chair of the historic resources commission and on the board of the San and historical preservation society, but I'm not speaking on their behalf. I'm speaking as a private citizen, but nonetheless, I'm quite familiar with the downtown. I have led walking tours of our historic downtown for over 20 years.

and this project this is certainly not a historic parking garage it was built in 1981 there have been serious discussions and study after study done

about you know how much more parking is needed downtown town for as long as I've lived in town. And this structure is absolutely, it was needed 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. It's desperately needed today, especially when you consider that you're wiping out all of the parking on, or most of it on the South side of fourth street. What in the world are people to do? so a new parking garage is needed this will provide additional residents that will help feed

the downtown businesses our retail sector which drives sales tax revenue which is sorely needed not only not just this time but all times in Santa Ana and so all of this fall to roll about whether or not the project should go forward. My goodness, we beat it to death. It's been studied to death. So it's paralysis by analysis. So pull the trigger, get it done. That's my encouragement to each of you council members,

do the right thing and relieve some of the parking congestion. and provide additional residents that will help feed our downtown businesses, which are sorely needed after they're getting hammered in the ground between the COVID economy, our increase in sales tax percentage, and the overall shutdown of our downtown because of the building of the trolley. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Zoom ID Eva, please select the microphone or unmute button on your device. You may proceed to speak.

Zoom ID Eva, you may proceed to speak.

Zoom ID Eva, you have unmuted your device. You can proceed to speak. Thank you.

Okay. Members of the public who are watching the meeting, currently we are having technical difficulties at YouTube, so we are not live streaming currently at YouTube. So we ask that you go on to cable channel 3, Spectrum, or channel 99, AT&T, U-verse.

It looks like now YouTube is back. You should be able to see the live stream at YouTube now.

And Zoom ID Eva.

If you would please select your unmute.

Thank you. It looks like you've unmuted. You may proceed to speak.

Okay, Eva is having technical difficulties on her end, so she will go ahead and submit a comment through Zoom, and then I could read it out for her. Caller with the last three numbers.

I'm sorry. So Zoom ID Danielle Wilson, if you can please select your unmute. Yes, you may proceed to speak.

Hello.

Hi, we can hear you.

Hi, are we on item 75A? I'm hoping to speak during the public hearing.

Okay, so we'll go ahead and put you on mute at this time, and then when the mayor opens up public hearing items, then you may proceed to speak at that time.

Very good, thank you.

Thank you.

The next Zoom ID is SUMRGR1318.

Please select your microphone or unmute option and you may proceed to speak.

Zoom ID SUMRGRL318. Please select your microphone or unmute button on your device, and you may proceed to speak.

Zoom ID SUMRGR. Thank you. You're muted. If you would please proceed to speak. State your name for the record. You have three minutes.

Zoom ID, excuse me, Zoom ID, S-U-M-R-G-R-L-318. You have been unmuted. You may proceed to speak.

Thank you.

SUMRGRL318, you have unmuted your device. You may proceed to speak.

Okay.

Hi, Carl and Celeste Benninger. you may go ahead and proceed to speak. You have three minutes.

Carl and Celeste Benninger, if you could please select the unmute button on your device, and you may proceed to speak.

Okay, can you hear me right now?

Yes, we can.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come in to make a comment. I just want to join the meeting right now. So I have nothing to add right now. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. And that's all the calls we have, Mayor.

Mayor. All right. Thank you.

Let me pay attention then to the consent calendar.

Council members, any items you want to do a poll?

Phil BacerraItem —

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Becerra, I'd like to poll item 19D, the general plan update, please.

and mayor i just want to mayor if i may announce um quickly just 55a has been continued to the next

city council meeting at the request of staff at the request of staff thank you all right thank you um any other items on the consent calendar yes mr mayor this is council member peña loza

David PenalozaItem —

I'd like to pull item 19C, 25D, and 25G.

Okay, can I have a motion on the balance of the consent calendar?

Make a motion to approve the balance.

Second. Council Member Becerra. Roll call vote on the balance, please.

Council Member Becerra?

Yes.

Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempe Vegas?

Yes.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes. Let's go on to the first item that was pulled.

19C by Councilmember Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem —

thank you mr. mayor madam clerk um i'm pulling a 19c uh this item because i'd like the city manager to publicly state for the record what is happening here and what the timeline for this is this is something really exciting that's happening in our city uh hopefully soon but um 19c is basically it was receiving file of a dog park uh dog park update so uh madam city manager can you just kind of give a brief summary of what's going on here i'm certainly council members so this item

i know it's a long time dream of yours to bring a dog park to the city of santa anna and as discussed back in december 3rd on december 3rd 2019 and again on march 3rd 2020 the staff has been looking at a feasible location for a dog park and we did identify an area in centennial park that we thought would be ideal for a dog park staff has been working behind the scenes to determine if the property would be allowed to be used for a dog park um as you know there's a large swath of land that were owned at one time by the national park service and did have some deed restrictions on it

but it is fabulous news we found out that the the 3.54 acre site that we think would make a good dog park actually reverts back to the city on march 7 2021 which would mean we would not have to go through any additional hoops to allow that to be used for a dog park we still have a lot of heavy lifting to do as we seek funding for the dog park but if

David PenalozaItem —

we're getting one step closer awesome that is great to hear thank you madam city manager and I know the director of Parks and Rec miss Lisa Rudloff thank you as well for for your efforts in making this you know moving this along I just also wanted to kind of state and reclarify, you know, amongst the city and all city departments that this council, you know, unanimously approved moving forward at this location at Centennial Park for the dog park. So I'm excited that that's happening and looking forward to more of this as it progresses.

David PenalozaItem —

So thank you, everybody, for your work. and with that I'd like to make a motion to I guess it would be is it a

receiving file no motion needed no motion needed perfect you can make it

David PenalozaItem —

anyways do you have a lot right yeah I'll make a motion to repeat receive and

file all right it's unanimous good job next item madam clerk 19 D pulled by

Phil BacerraItem —

councilmember Becerra mr. mayor I just I thought it'd be appropriate for us to hear the presentation from executive director minty that's appropriate please

go ahead executive director minty thank you mayor and city council the presentation tonight is a quick update on the progress of the general plan and I'm gonna pull it up thank you so as you are aware the general plan is the foundational document for long-range planning document and the last time was

updated was in 1982 through extensive outreach since 2016 the city and staff in the City Council was able to arrive at five critical core values that talks to health equity sustainability culture and education these five core values were used and are continued to be used as part of the formulation of policies throughout every single elements within the general plan and these policy continued to reaffirm health equity sustainability culture and education so

that our community will be able to promote these core values throughout the life of the general plan the extensive outreach that I talked about for since 2015 resulted in over 48 community meetings and workshops individual workshop within each of the five focus area that are being proposed for land use changes and as well as pop-up booths as city events and special gathering and we're still doing that today you know working with the care teams to go out into each neighborhood at every single event that they have to reach out to these neighborhoods throughout the city and as of today I think we've been able

to reach much of the city through the care process as well there's also an online community survey that was completed where we had over 650 participant we have a series of industry ducts of videos to introduce residents to what the general plan is what it's about and what it's doing and what the city is proposing to to use the general plan for we consulted with community leaders civic leaders like yourselves planning Commission advisory general plan advisory committee but we also took the time to meet with individuals in different neighborhoods meet with leadership in each neighborhood and

conduct the walking tours and many of those tours some of the council members even join staff as well so you know quite an extensive outreach effort that we have done since 2015 and will continue to do to date as we go through the adoption process to bring you up to date since the last time we update you we held two community meetings to check back in with the community on the progress of the general plan to share with the community about what we're doing and through that process we we heard additional concern about the outreach regarding environmental justice and the need to evaluate additional

issues there was also a large number of folks that wanted the city to consider slowing down on the process due to kovat 19 but we continue to work with the community and we immediately responded to additional meetings with the community to talk about these type of issues so we follow that up on August 1st with another workshop with a community forum subsequently on August 3rd the city released the document for a public 45-day public review but with that review period we schedule a subsequent meeting on August 24th and September 14

to continue talking to folks that wanted to focus on environmental justice issues and additional community meetings were on August 31st October 14th and as recent as last night we had environmental justice I'm sorry the August 24th and September were planning Commission study session where the public had the opportunity to participate as well so throughout August in October as we continue to move forward we will have general outreach the outreach process include members of our staff joining the care team with

their continued outreach and effort in the community we continue to have social media information and mailing of communication regarding the general plan progress as the environmental outreach process is going on we're in the final step of preparing the general plan element for review and adoption by the Planning Commission and City Council as well as the EIR the Planning Commission right now is tentatively being scheduled to be heard on November 5th and if there's a recommendation that point it's tentatively scheduled for

City Council for adoption on November 17th and soon thereafter we will have the consideration of the ALUC action which you took allowing staff to provide a notice of intention last Friday so with that that concludes staff's presentation on this update I'll be happy and answer any questions any

other count comments counsel yes mr. mayor this is councilmember

David PenalozaItem —

Pena Losa and I was also going to pull this item but I'm happy my colleague but Sarah pulled it and I basically just wanted to you know also bring up the need for more outreach in relation to the environmental justice component and I know that our staff is you know meeting out there with the community frequently and the which they had one last night with the environmental Mental Justice Roundtable people. And one of the topics that many people brought up was that in these meetings, it's the same people that show up.

David PenalozaItem —

It's the same 15 people that show up at every meeting. And how it's perceived that there isn't an effort on behalf of the city to really make that outreach out to really dive into the community. the communities are being impacted mostly by the environmental justice component of it. I know that earlier today, my colleague, Councilmembers Armiento,

David PenalozaItem —

proclaimed this week as a childhood-led poisoning prevention week. And something like that is something that we should think about, and not just this week, but moving forward as we have more discussions about how our general plan is changing. I know that I personally, along with Councilman Becerra and Mayor Pro Tem Villegas and the city manager, we've done these neighborhood walks about the different land uses that are going on and have been going on for decades in our city that are affecting the public health. I know that we went out and toured Logan, the Logan neighborhood, about a month or two ago.

David PenalozaItem —

And as well last month, we toured Madison Park. The Madam City Manager was out there in heels walking the railroads for over two miles. And so my head off to her, you know. But that's what it's going to take for us to really get a grasp of what's going on in our communities is if we go out there and see this for ourselves of what's going on in both neighborhoods. I mean, it's things that I already knew, but it's always just, you know, it's very eye-opening to see it, you know, as often as we should. Logan neighborhood. I mean, you could literally see bodies being cremated from some of these people's driveways.

David PenalozaItem —

I hate to get morbid, but there's a crematorium in that neighborhood. And there's a junkyard in the middle of the neighborhood. In Madison Park, there's a lot of factories that butt up against these apartment complexes and neighborhoods and single-family homes. And it's, you know, noise, pollutants, all kinds of different things that are affecting our quality of life and health of our residents. So it's something that should – I know that it's not something that we could fix overnight, but that's the reason why this general plan update should have ways where we

David PenalozaItem —

could start moving forward kind of phasing that that that burden out from these neighborhoods because it's something that's going to affect it daily

David PenalozaItem —

so mr. Ty I had a question so how many neighborhoods exactly are in the census and the environmental justice hazardous area?

Based on the information we have, there are 17 neighborhoods in our city that are considered to be the environmental justice disadvantaged community.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay. And seeing that, 17 neighborhoods, and we've taken a walk-in tour. I know there's other neighborhoods that have been involved in these environmental justice meetings, but we've done walk-in tours with two of them, Madison Park and Logan. which is great, but the other 15 neighborhoods, we should actively be out there, you know, knocking on their door, the leadership in those neighborhoods saying, hey, you know what, we need to take a walking tour because you're part of this, you know, disadvantaged communities that are on this map. When do we have a, you know, a Saturday morning or a, you know, Friday night

David PenalozaItem —

where we could go out there and walk the neighborhoods because if they're some of the neighbors are being negatively affected we should make that that effort and and be aggressive in in in taking a kind of the same neighborhood walk that we did with Madison and Logan we should be be doing those same things so that we can make sure that we we check all the boxes when it comes to to these neighborhoods knowing of what's happening, the general plan changing and whatnot. So I know we're doing a lot. Like I mentioned yesterday on that Zoom call with the residents, but there's always room for improvement and room for growth.

David PenalozaItem —

I know it's a couple weeks away when this is going to come before us. So any effort that we could make in the next two weeks to a month to increase the amount of times we meet with these neighborhoods about this issue would go far and above beyond any, the residents would appreciate it. So, and I would appreciate it as a council member. So with that said, those are the only comments that I had for this item. I know it's a lot of work. I know that you've been working on this for over five years as a planning department

David PenalozaItem —

and a city in updating this general plan that's been long overdue. So in any way that we could increase that outreach, just get more different people involved, that would be all that I ask. So thank you, and that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you. I believe this was a receiving file.

That is correct.

Next item, Madam Clerk.

25D, pulled by Councilmember Peñalosa.

Go ahead, please.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, sir.

David PenalozaItem —

25D is approval of agreements with ARC Document Solutions, Inc., ERM Technologies and Viatron Systems, Inc., for scanning, digitizing, and indexing services for a total not to exceed $500,000 for the planning and building agency. I'm pulling this item because I need to highlight the importance of it. Moving forward in this direction would allow our building and design professional customers to submit plans and documents electronically. This will save people time, paper and printing costs, and streamline the entire process.

David PenalozaItem —

Another plus is that it will also have staff time, save staff time, and allow for future integration with any future land management system that I'm hoping comes soon. Oftentimes, we hear from residents, businesses, business owners, and city staff about the red tape that exists at City Hall and that we're all very aware of. I know that as a candidate for office, the red tape at City Hall is one thing I personally promised to address. So I'm happy that we're here and just want to thank our staff for getting us here. So a couple questions for this investment.

David PenalozaItem —

I mean, it's a total investment into our just way we do things on the ground floor of our infrastructure. and I know that it specifically states that it's going to allow staff to digitize the thousands and thousands of paper plans and rolls that we have stored somewhere in this building, an off-site, I believe. So is this company going to take those hard copies, what isn't in digital files, and digitize them for us, or do we still have to do that?

No, they will be doing that for us.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay, and anybody that comes into City Hall to turn in plan updates, building updates, permits, any of that, they would be able to do that from the comfort of their own office or home once this is fully integrated, correct?

We'll have a digital plan submission process, correct.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay, so it's going to save people trips here. It's going to save people time. It's going to save staff time. It's going to save storage space. And, I mean, it's just so many boxes that get checked off, which I want to make sure that I highlight because it's a good thing. I mean, when you're talking a very slow government entity, just because of what we're dealing with, it's exciting to see things like this and investments like this made into City Hall. So I'm happy to see that. one last thing in regards to the land management system that I know is also in the works and coming

David PenalozaItem —

soon when is there like an approximate timeline where that would would come I'm gonna have Jack

come up but we even met just today to go over four proposals that we have received on the land management system all of those proposals if we select them have about a two-year to three-year horizon between when we start and when we would have going live with actual land management system that's what I recall okay which no need

David PenalozaItem —

for him to come up that kind of explained it and gave me a known estimate so I'm happy for that I just again wanted to highlight this and thank staff for their their hard work and moving this forward because it's something that's desperately needed if we want to move into the i won't even say the 21st century if you want to move into the 20th century we're still in the 19th century you know when it comes to process no no no fall of our own or our staff here but just you know the the lack of investment in those areas over the last couple decades so i'm happy for this um

David PenalozaItem —

yeah let's for every city department this is where we should be at looking at to to streamline our entire process everywhere whether it's parks whether it's planning water police department i mean uh city attorney's office we gotta uh look at more of ways where we could invest in our in our digitizing and streamlining the processes so thank you um with that said i will would you like would you like to move approval yeah i'll make a motion to approve 25d

Phil BacerraItem —

Mr. Mayor, I'll second with comment. Motion and second. Comment, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate what my colleague has highlighted as far as all the efficiencies and the strides into the 20th and 21st centuries. One thing I think that's very important to highlight is the transparency aspect because what was painful to see in previous agendas and just what we would see on our website, You would look at a set of plans and you just couldn't see a thing. It was just terrible. It looked like it was photocopied from a set of plans from the 80s. I mean, it was just terrible.

Phil BacerraItem —

So I think that this digital submission and archiving will be helpful. And I appreciate what our staff is doing with Min and Jack as far as, you know, trying to bring us into a point where we have a GIS platform where people could not only search plans, but hopefully permits and other items that will be helpful so that we can really truly say that we're a business friendly city and that we're actually trying to be transparent not just to folks hoping to develop here but folks that want to see what we're looking at having developed here so with that i'm happy to be seconding the motion

Phil BacerraItem —

mr pro tem do you want to mr mayor

Go ahead

We have a motion and a second So I think we need a roll call vote

Yes, go ahead

Councilmember Becerra

Phil BacerraItem —

Yes

Councilmember Mendoza Yes Councilmember Peñalosa

David PenalozaItem —

Yes

Councilmember Sarmiento

Yes

Council member Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Potem-Viegas?

Yes.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries. Mr. Mayor.

Yes, Mayor Protem.

No, no, no, this is actually council member Sarmiento. You know, I was on mute. I apologize during 19 days in David when we were getting the receive and file on the update to the general plan. I just had a very brief comment. and since we didn't vote on that, do you mind if I just go ahead and do that? It'll be brief.

Go ahead, comment now, yes.

Simply just to commend staff for all the work that they've tried to do in engaging the public in what's a very short time period, very compressed time period under some very difficult conditions. And I know that somebody was mentioning we've been dealing with this for five years now and I think I was on the council before many who serve on here. I think it might've been just the mayor and I, where we funded this. And I think we put about $2 million to fund the update to the general plan. So there obviously was a need even back then.

And I know what we're trying to do right now is to try to, you know, bring this home in the 11th hour and try to do a lot of last minute catch up and engaging the public. But the problem is that we're just dealing with some very difficult conditions under which to engage the community. And, you know, a lot of people just don't feel safe engaging right now. And they're trying to do it virtually. Some people don't have the devices. We have some families in town that don't have access to Wi-Fi or the Internet. And so they can't really engage even in that form.

So I know staff is really contorting in a way that they're trying to do all they can to try to get as robust a response as possible. But one of the things I just wanted to remind everybody is that when we engage the public and do outreach, we're not simply talking to the public. we're supposed to be listening and we're supposed to be receiving input from the from community members and residents to tell us what their opinions are of what they should see in a in a revised general plan as we know this this hasn't been revised since 1982 well before many of our

residents who want to comment on this were even born so to the extent that this is such a critical document that's going to be governing probably a generation. I think we need to make sure that we incorporate, not just speak to the public, but give them an opportunity to opine and give us what their thoughts are on compatibility issues, on environmental justice issues, on these five focus areas that are essentially going to gut the remaining elements of the housing opportunity ordinance and affordable housing as we see it for the next few years.

So I think what's really troubling here is that my experience on the Orange County Water District, we found that there are contaminants in the groundwater, and we've had ongoing litigation against many of the businesses that unfortunately have been dumping toxins into the ground, and we've seen that apparent. and we've had this litigation going on for the past 10 years. And so, you know, if that's existed for this long, we know that there are consequences of what many of us see.

No buffer between, again, sensitive receptors, parks and schools, and these, you know, businesses that unfortunately have contaminants that they release into the air and into the groundwater. So to the extent that this is a very, very sensitive subject with respect to housing, with respect to environmental justice that we're subject to now, I think it is something that may be just too much for us to overcome under these conditions of a pandemic and expect to have a really solid, robust exchange that we all expect.

And I don't see the urgency since we've waited for five years and we had four years pre-pandemic to deal with this and we never did. Now we're expected to do this in a matter of weeks and it just makes it really difficult, even though there's been heavy, heavy lift on behalf of the staff to do this. And I certainly, again, this is no criticism of them because they're dealing with this as best they can. I just wanted to make sure that we all understand that you know, this may be decided by four council members that are presently on this council that

may not be here past December. So, you know, to the extent that we want folks to be able to be, you know, to do this and, you know, as thorough a manner as we can, I just think that there's very good cause here to not proceed and to slow it down and to understand that this pandemic has interrupted all our ways of life. I mean, not just how we do business on the council, but how people live in a society like ours, how people are able to continue operating their businesses. And as we see, many of those are failing because we just have very difficult conditions that we're dealing with.

So I just want to make sure that we understand the context in which we're dealing with this. And is it worth the expediency that we're trying to accomplish? So in any event, those are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, we're on another item. Yes, we just went back momentarily on this. What's our next item, please?

25G pulled by Council Member Deñalosa.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Madam City Clerk. And Mr. Mayor, I promise this is the last item for tonight that I pulled. but 25g um i can't begin to express how excited i am for this uh back you know when i first you know got sworn in i took a tour of the san anna zoo in early 2019 and i remember it was it was uh february march it was pretty warm out it was a warm day and um there was a lot of families out I think it might have been spring break week, actually. There were a lot of families out, parents with their kids.

David PenalozaItem —

And the parents, you know, I pointed out of how miserable they kind of looked. I was like, you know, it's moms and dads bringing their three, four kids and their niece and then their nephew. And, you know, you want a beer or two to take the edge off. I know that I personally, when I take my nieces to the zoo or to Disneyland, it's like I take them because I'm going to enjoy a cold beer and have to deal with them. So this, I remember bringing it up to staff at the zoo, and I said, is there any alcohol sales here? And they said no.

David PenalozaItem —

And they said that nobody had really shown an interest in bringing that to the city. But the reason I highlight this is because every time that there's a budget approval every year, we're always nickel and diming every department. We're cutting money from various departments. And I don't think that we often, you know, talk about that, that ways where we could generate revenue into our city. that's not a tax on the residents and that's not just another apartment building that's going to bring in some property taxes over 15 years, which won't, you know, the impact will be more than the

David PenalozaItem —

taxes that come in. So this was exciting for me because, you know, alcohol sells at the zoo, you know, it's something that the parents will definitely enjoy. It'll open up the opportunity to have more events at the zoo. I know we have beautiful spaces at the zoo where friends of the zoo have their annual fundraiser, the Sufari, and it's a great space that could open up for private events, corporate events, weddings, parties, you name it. But again, people want to have alcohol consumption at their catering events. So this is something good for us.

David PenalozaItem —

This is something that even when you look at a possible 20% commission to the city of any of the revenue brought in, that's a good thing. Because this is something that I want to see more of, not necessarily alcohol, but I mean just ways where we could bring in that extra revenue that's not a tax, that's not something added or a burden on our residents. And it could become a fun thing.

David PenalozaItem —

So this is a good thing. This is exciting. I know there's one of the cool things about it is that the alcohol sold is going to be focused on Santa Ana breweries and Santa Ana distilleries. So that's another plus for this is that not only is it going to bring extra revenue to the zoo, but it's also going to bring revenue to those breweries around the city that have, you know what, have suffered over the last year because of COVID. So it's a win-win across the board. It's a win for the parents mainly. They're going to be at the zoo and be able to have a nice cold beer while their kids run around.

David PenalozaItem —

And, yeah, I mean, I just wanted, again, highlight how cool this is. thank staff, the parks and rec staff, the staff at the zoo, the city manager I know worked closely on this. So with that said, I will make a motion to approve 25G.

Is there a second? Second.

I will second. Council Member Mendoza.

All right. Roll call vote, please, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Becerra. Yes. Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Aye.

Councilmember Solorio?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Mayor Pro Temp-Viegas?

Aye.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries 7-0.

Next item, Madam City Clerk.

75A, public hearing item 75A. No, there is 55B. That's a consent calendar that's been approved. Oh, thank you.

Mayor, it's a public hearing 75A.

All right, this is time and place for a public hearing item.

75A. Before we continue, let me formally open up the item and ask if there's any speakers which to speak on this. Mr. Mayor.

Yeah.

Mr. Mayor, this is a credit. Mr. Council Member Serviento.

Yes, go ahead.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I consulted with Madam City Attorney and out of an abundance of caution, I am going to be recusing myself on this matter because I have some business interests. I have clients that might be within proximity, close proximity to this project area. So I'll go ahead and recuse myself at this point.

Phil BacerraItem —

Madam City Clerk. Okay. Is there a way to mute some of these folks that are not talking?

I believe don't we have a request by the applicant to continue this?

David PenalozaItem —

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve item number four from the staff recommendation.

My items are done. They got passed.

Council member Mendoza, I believe.

Mayor, if I may, and then I'll turn it over to Council member Penaloza, who is starting to make a motion. For the item of 75A, based on the applicant's request, we are requesting that you delay considering the project approvals, and you continue those to November 17th. but staff is recommending that you take option number four, which is a recommendation to extend an extension to the exclusive negotiation agreement for the project. And I believe that's where Council Member Penaloza was headed.

David PenalozaItem —

Yes, that's what I... So is there a second? Well, just to clarify...

Is there a second to that motion?

David PenalozaItem —

I'll second. Mr. Mayor?

All right, go ahead.

David PenalozaItem —

Just to clarify, so we will have the public hearing for item 75A at the next council meeting, correct?

Continue to November 17th, yes, sir.

David PenalozaItem —

So we're continuing the public hearing to November 17th, and I would make a motion to approve number four of the staff recommendations, which is just to authorize the city manager to execute a second amendment to the ENA to extend the term for a 60-day period.

And I'm sorry, sir, the actual recommendation is number six, not number four. My apologies.

Yes. All right, let's note that in the, let's note that as a proper motion then.

So if he accepts that, I will second.

And we have a second.

Yes, sir.

Friendly a second agrees to the amendment. So with that, let's go ahead and have a roll call vote, please.

Mayor, before we proceed, I do want to make mention that I have one caller who's been waiting to speak on this item. Did you want to go ahead and have her speak?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I began with that. Go ahead.

Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you. Zoom caller Danielle Wilson, you have been unmuted. Please unmute your device, and you may proceed to speak. Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. I didn't realize the item was being continued, which I'm very, very pleased to see. So I will hold my comments until the public hearing. Thanks.

Thank you. You're very wise and appreciated. So let's go on then and roll call vote on the motion before us.

Councilmember Becerra? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

oh sorry council member Solorio yes mayor Potempiegas yes and mayor Pulido yes okay motion carries so six one with council member Sarmiento recusing we are 75B

this is another public hearing

and what I'm going to do is go ahead and open up the public hearing ask to see if there's anybody that wishes to speak and if not I'll turn it over to staff and I'll bring it back to council do we have any speakers on this Madam Clerk

no we do not Mayor

all right let me bring it to the staff any brief presentation or recommendation here

and madam city manager certainly mayor just very briefly the item before you is to adopt a resolution that would authorize our city the ability to join the statewide community infrastructure program authorizing the california statewide community development authority to accept applications from property owners within our city for special assessment proceedings and levy assessments within the territory basically it's joining a program that would allow for property owners in our city to access money should they want to make improvements to their property

there there's no cost to the city it's merely extending a benefit to property owners within our

city limits thank you and we have no speakers i would entertain a motion motion approved

Is there a second? Second.

Council Member Mendoza?

Thank you, Council Member Mendoza. I would, if there's no comment, I would call for roll call vote, please.

Council Member Becerra?

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Council Member Sarmiento?

Yes.

Council Member Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Temp Vegas? Yes. Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries 7-0.

So now, Madam Clerk, are we approaching 85A?

That's correct, Mayor.

So who would like to talk about this? Council Member Solorio?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know this council cared greatly about every life lost and violence in our community. And we do have a special reward program for situations where it's gang-related, in particular if there are deaths involved or major violence. I'd like to respectfully ask that our city manager work with our police department to provide a council to provide the council an overall summary of for example like the past 5-10 years how many times have we offered the special reward what's come of it and

that may just shed light on should we be trying to grow the program promote it more raise more dollars don't need a report now but just moving forward I also bring the side and forward because there's a very active situation that I know I and my colleagues that really care about which involves that the Barrios family and I do think they sent in a statement that they asked the clerk to read and with the indulgence of the City Council I would ask our city clerk to

please read that hello my name is Eva Barrios and I'm here to speak on item 85a discussing consider directing the city manager to direct staff to provide an update on the game homicide reward program and any open cases. Sadly, my family and I are currently relying on the exact homicide reward program. My 18-year-old daughter, Victoria Barrios, was the unintended victim of a drive-by shooting on August 30, 2019, and her case remains unsolved.

to put it into perspective that is 600480 minutes, 10,808 hours, 417 days, 59 weeks, and 4 days, that her case has remained unresolved and that those ruthless killers are still at large. I feel that increasing the reward will help to get leads to solve my daughter's case and others like mine. I would like to also ask, what is being done to address the increase of gang violence in our community? Why are there not more resources indirected to that issue,

and why has it become such a common thing for shooting to occur in broad daylight or at any time here in our city? I ask that our elected officials be compassionate and consider the impact that all of this violence is having on families such as mine. My current situation has unexpectedly maybe become somewhat of an advocate for my cause and many others, and I have now turned to creating my own campaign, help find those responsible for my daughter's senseless death. As a parent, I know I will do everything I can until the end of my days to see the justice that we deserve.

but it is all even more comforting to know that the people we elected to put on and your positions are also doing everything they can to help me and families like mine. I am not sure if many of you have seen the billboards that have been put out up in your our city but it is unfortunate that those billboards and all the social media but I have out there there didn't they that did not draw attention from most on the board but I look forward to hearing from any of you on your thoughts or suggestions on what could help solve my daughter's case thank you and thank you compliments Eladio for inviting me to speak on this

topic I hope you have a good night thank you councilmember Solorio thank you

very much city clerk I do see our police chief as well I know he's been working with the family and having his staff assist with social media and other outreach so i do know our police department is trying to do what it can but it's up to the community we need really the community to step up and when they have tips to share them and i'm also happy that the the message that was sent by the family also speaks to maybe there's a need to increase the reward levels and again i know we have a fund i don't know how big it is because it's been a while we get a full

report but I rather have you know those dollars be used on an ongoing basis for the reward and maybe outreach maybe some of that money also needs to be put out there for outreach because I do know that while we do apprehend many folks that commit violent crimes in our community every now and then you know we have to put them still on a on a list where we're still looking for them so I hope this inspires our city manager and our police chief and council colleagues and others on how we can improve the program to you know bring justice to our community thank you

any other comments council members if not i'll go on to the next yes go ahead yes thank you and

uh i want to thank the council member for putting this on um you know i've had the privilege of getting to know Ms. Eva Barrios over the last couple of months. I didn't have the privilege of knowing her daughter Victoria but I've gotten to know her through my conversations with her. I wanted to you know just thank Chief Valentin and I know that Ms. Barrios also said that Deputy Chief Kaminsky has been doing a lot as well to make sure that this case doesn't get cold and this

case doesn't become forgotten nor eva's memory and um i know that uh they will be doing some different events to just to continue um uh drawing attention to that really senseless um uh awful act that that took victoria's life as a young woman and so to the extent that we can you know continue to support her efforts and I know the chief and his staff I know are trying to do all they can to make sure that again resources continue to be allocated towards this and I know every

bit of attention that can be drawn to this will be and again just trying to make sure that this doesn't become something that just becomes a distant memory so thank you and those are my comments.

Thank you. Any other comments?

See none. Let's go on to the next item. I believe that's item 85B. Council Member Becerra, please.

Phil BacerraItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's always important for us as policymakers to take what other jurisdictions are doing that works or that are valid attempts to try to address an issue or a situation that's developing in a city. And I want to applaud our colleague over in Huntington Beach, Councilmember Patrick Brendan, who brought this before his council a couple months back, and they just recently adopted an ordinance on this.

Phil BacerraItem —

And from my understanding is Councilmember Brendan took this from what was policy, or what is policy, excuse me, in Long Beach, and that is to have an ordinance adopted that prohibits the sale and repair of bicycles and bicycle parts on public property. as a result of long beach's ordinance bike theft in their town dropped 31 percent from 2018 to 2019 and i know all of us have seen it all around san anna whether you're in the south end or the north end you see the the person riding the bike and the person carrying the other bike and it's sometimes

Phil BacerraItem —

it's rolling sometimes it's in his hand but the point being is a lot of times that's probably not a bike that belongs to that person and those bikes as we've seen the media report where you've got these chop shop operations that are happening at one point they found one uh in a little cubby hole area of the san anna river and frankly i want to make sure that our public safety departments have the the tools necessary to be able to go after this type of crime and so what i wanted to do was bring this before my colleagues and ask that we direct our staff to move forward with an

Phil BacerraItem —

ordinance like this because I think frankly you know we're all sick of seeing you know crimes like this take place and we know that once these crimes take place they only lead to other things I mean we've got folks that I can tell you from where I live on the south end of town there are folks all along the train tracks that have got just massive amounts of bike parts and again I'm sure they didn't find those in the trash can so I'm hopeful that you'll support this and I hope that we can ask staff to move forward and bring this back to us hopefully in 30 days if that's possible

i i would be supportive uh comments from others yeah mr mayor this is uh councilmember peñalosa

David PenalozaItem —

i would also be supportive of seeing something like this come forward um for consideration i know that that it's definitely a constant issue here in our city uh to bring up my nieces again And one of them got her bike stolen last week from the brand new bike, about a month old. And it's a really nice bike. And unfortunately, it was her fault, though. She left it out in the driveway unattended. But we shouldn't have to worry about things like that, right? I know that previously, from what I've heard some staff members tell me, is that and and if i recall correctly what i was able to find is that we used to

David PenalozaItem —

encourage residents to register their bikes with the city at a very very low to nothing cost if i remember and then the previous council member they removed that i don't know much of the history but i mean that's something that we should also look into and and i would like to see information of why it was required before and what happened, the discussion, any notes that exist from any of those discussions of why it was stopped, that would also kind of curb the stolen bikes in the city and avoid all of the problems that we're seeing throughout.

David PenalozaItem —

So I'm supportive of this. I want to thank Councilman Bacera for bringing this forward.

Mr. Mayor I also wanted to Speak in support I know we've been Doing kind of like selective enforcement But I think this will help make the message A little bit stronger and clearer I know In the past in thinking about this As well I think it's one thing if You're repairing your own bike right like If you're on a sidewalk if you get a flat and You're doing it yourself or someone's helping You that's one thing but it's when it's multiple and ongoing and you know day after day or when it's commercial in nature or not and then I think to moving forward as we do ordinances like this

we also need a write a little bit more about what the enforcement and outreach plan is because I know in the past whether it's been regarding panhandling or whether it be regarding large vehicles we'll do these ordinances and and then maybe there's lack of clarity to staff about how to enforce it. So if we, and maybe this might be kind of the trial for that, you know, once we do an ordinance, how are we gonna communicate to the public that this is a new ordinance, and then how might we do enforcement on it, and whether that's clear or necessary in this document, or if nothing else, just for staff to be mindful of that,

that would be fantastic. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I have a comment. This is Member Tembe-Legas.

Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank the council member for bringing this item forward. If the staff could possibly work with whoever owns the railroad area, because we find a lot of bikes in that area, and I know we can't enforce anything without their permission or without working together, so that would be a step, I think, in the right direction. And I'm very supportive of the item. And I thank the council member again for bringing this forward.

Any additional comments?

Seeing none, let me just add, as I said earlier, that I am supportive. I know the railroads were just mentioned. I think I don't need to discuss that in detail right now, but I know that they are trying to be more responsive and respectful and working with us. So maybe, you know, we can somehow make sure that enforcement occurs there as well. I know I've called these in often. I've even gone on chases where I actually follow people that are riding one bike and holding another bike next to them. and you know they're taking it over by the riverbed or some other part of town

where they're going to dismantle it and sell it for scrap metal. And it's just, you know, a crime occurring in broad daylight. And under any circumstance, it's unacceptable. So, you know, let's move forward. And before we go to the next item, I just want to add, and I don't need an 85A or whatever, but, you know, we're talking about bikes and mobility and all. you know and Long Beach was mentioned by Councilman Peña-Losa earlier I believe or maybe it was Becerra and talking about the different cities and best practices but

you know in Long Beach they also have the birds and the limes and we had those at one point and mobility matters and that really helps mobility and again I don't need 85A or B or C But if any of you are interested, please talk to the city manager and the city attorney.

May we can get those back before too long.

And now let's go on, I believe, the next item. Is that, Councilman Peñaloza, you want to talk about the horrible things happening, I believe, in Armenia, is it? Please go ahead.

David PenalozaItem —

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. 85C was just to discuss and consider directing the city manager to bring back a resolution denouncing the attacks of Azerbaijan and take a stand alongside the Armenian American community in our region. So just a little background for my colleagues and the public listening. Artsakh is a historically indigenous Armenian land located in the southern Caucasus. Artsakh is a beacon of ancient Armenian culture dating back to before the common era and is home to a vibrant Armenian community today. On September 26, 2020, Azerbaijan's military

David PenalozaItem —

forces launched a deadly and unprovoked attack against the Republic of Artsakh, including that country's capital city, Stepanakert. And that attack has already taken innocent civilian lives. This reckless invasion is a direct threat not only to the Armenian population that has lived in our talk for a millennia, but also to stability in the surrounding region. During a time when the United Nations has called for a ceasefire around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Azerbaijan instead is renewing warfare, violating its ceasefire agreement with Armenia and causing death and destruction.

David PenalozaItem —

The United States is based on and committed to the values of democracy, liberty, and the right of self-determination. As such, we have a moral obligation to stand up and speak out on behalf of the people of Artsakh who have earned their right of self-governance and have flourished as a free, democratic, and sovereign nation for almost 30 years. Southern California is home to nearly half a million individuals of Armenian descent, the largest population of Armenians in the world outside of Armenia. As such, the attacks of Artsakh are of local importance.

David PenalozaItem —

and the reason why I wanted to bring the people are probably asking what you know can the city of Santa Ana do you know with this and you know it's a resolution to stand to say that we're standing in solidarity with our Armenian American community for over 30 years the Armenian American community of Orange County has considered Santa Ana their headquarters the 40 Martyrs Armenian church is located just off McFadden Avenue, and it has shepherd the Armenian-American community from all corners of the county to Santa Ana on a weekly basis. Children of Armenian families

David PenalozaItem —

from all over Orange County are brought to Santa Ana to attend the Ari Gariagos Minisian Armenian School, and I apologize if I butchered that, and multiple athletic and cultural organizations operate out of our community center located off McFadden Avenue. So there is a need for us to stand in solidarity with the Armenian American community and those Armenian Americans that cost Santa Ana home. I call on my colleagues on the Santa Ana City Council to take a stand and consider directing the city manager to prepare for our consideration a resolution denouncing the

David PenalozaItem —

attacks on Artsakh by Arzabirjan to stand alongside the Armenian American community in Santa Ana and elsewhere in the United States. And those are my comments, Mr. Mayor. And I welcome any input from my colleagues. I believe my colleague, Councilmember Sarmiento, also had some words.

If he's available. Yes, thank you, Councilmember. And I apologize because I wanted to join this 85C by council member Peñalosa when I first saw it brought to our attention and it just got by me but look it doesn't matter the important thing is that it is before us now and I did want to see if you know the council will indulge me to just recite something that was forwarded to me by a business owner here in the city but more importantly a friend and his comments are the

following. These barbaric, unprovoked military attacks target civilians and civilian infrastructure and use prohibited cluster bombs with a clear desire to commit another genocide against the Armenian people. Turkey has shamefully recruited and paid terrorist mercenaries to invade Bartok and endanger the entire Caucasus region for decades. In addition to condemning Turkey and Azerbaijan for these war crimes, I urge the Santa Ana City Council to support self-determination for the people of Nargano, Karbaugh, and immediately recognize the independence of ARTAC.

Thank you for your support of human rights, freedom, and self-determination of peoples. Sincerely, Timothy Jamal. Tim has been a good friend for a long time, not just of mine. um you know our our children know each other but he's been a good friend of Santa Ana he worked with the um uh uh wardrobes uh this one new non-profit that just opened up um where it gives clothing to those less fortunate so they can interview and and you know go to their interviews well-dressed and well-groomed and receive resources on how to prepare uh uh uh you know cv and um just do some

training in advance of receiving work. But I think to Councilmember Penalosa's point, we do have a nexus between San An and the Armenian community. But even if we didn't, we can't as a community sit idly by and not denounce what we consider and what many consider our war crimes. And for me, this is very personal because my brother-in-law was Armenian-American

and he passed away when he was 33 years old, about 25 years ago. And he was a deputy LA sheriff. And his community had a lot in common with the Latino community. They were very, you know, So faith-based and, you know, hardworking folks. And many of our Armenian community resides in the area of Glendale. So you have a very, very large community there. But, you know, as was mentioned, they're really all over Southern California and, you know, are an important community in our society.

So to the extent that we all stand idly by and see things that are happening that are unjust and criminal is really derelict for us. So I am very happy to join the council member in directing or encouraging that staff prepare and bring back a resolution denouncing these attacks. And I think it speaks well of who we are as a community. It speaks well of who we are as a society. but I certainly stand with the Armenian American community to make sure that this stops and that

we play our small role in making sure that this stops as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Any additional comments by council members?

If not let me just add that I wholeheartedly support this effort. Councilor Sarmiento, I remember years ago when that tragedy occurred in your family. And what's occurring right now is a tragedy. It might not be here in our streets, but it's happening to friends of our city and within our city. And I think there's a very appropriate position to take. So with that, I believe we're towards the end of the meeting.

David PenalozaItem —

Mr. Mayor, just really quick, I just want to thank Councilmember Sarmiento for the support and you as well and my colleagues. Just to clarify, I would like to see a resolution come forward before us in the next two weeks. I know that there was already a draft floating around that we could go off of, but is that something? Do you need any further direction?

I'm just, Council Member, let me maybe suggest this. You know, this is very urgent in a way. What's happening is happening right now. Possibly if we could empower staff to draft the resolution, maybe, you know, share it with Council members, people edit or whatever, and once we get a final version let's just put it out to the community because you know the sooner we take a position on this the better um and i think staff has the gist of it so let's give it a crack it doesn't

work it doesn't work but i'd love to see especially you and you know the others that have expressed support of this um let's uh let's staff you know draft something and and and and present it in memo form maybe we can get it done earlier i would love to tell the armenian community right away that we're with them and that we've taken a formal position and you're right mr mayor there there is a

David PenalozaItem —

this is happening right now and it's an unfortunate um circumstances and and there is an urgency to it but would this be something where we we have a special meeting for this um or maybe what i'm

I'm suggesting Madam city attorney or city manager, couldn't you, couldn't we empower you right now to go ahead and draft it, check in with council members without violating the Brown Act, but come up with a document to save time to be able to do it, you know, with the authority now and not necessarily hold it up for two weeks or having a special meeting.

any thought madam city manager I am gonna defer to the city attorney who I think does have an idea that we could make this happen quickly yeah I think

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

because our agenda item says to bring back the resolution I don't know that we could do a formal resolution but I think if with your direction and if you give approval to the city manager to the mayor and or and or council members to sign we can prepare like a proclamation resolution type of document which is less formal than a resolution which does have to follow certain rules. I'd like all council members

to sign it. Okay. Mayor Pulido. Mayor Pulido. I'd like to suggest maybe that um thank you mayor Pulido. I'd like to suggest that we form an ad hoc committee of about three council members and give

them the authority to to make that take that action. That's fine would that work for you

David PenalozaItem —

Council Member of Pinaloa or no I don't I don't think I mean I don't think an ad hoc meeting is necessary at all would have just be a waste of time but thank you for that but with the res I would like to see both Madam City Attorney bring back a just a quick proclamation that's not as formal so that we could put something out there publicly as soon as possible and bring back the resolute a formal resolution at the november meeting i know that some of the that's fine american groups that we were we understand that just make sure we don't violate

David PenalozaItem —

the act and uh so so that would be that would be a fine with me is that's fine i think that that

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

might be my suggestion as well member would comply with the brown act and it would also very clearly show your support for what you're trying to support here perfect the armenian All right.

Thank you.

David PenalozaItem —

Just as long as we have a formal one come back in November. Awesome. Thank you. You got it.

You got it. All right. We're almost done. City Manager, any comments?

Just two brief ones. The first one was an update on the police oversight community feedback. As follow-up to direction provided by the City Council at the September 15th meeting, staff has been working on completing a community engagement plan regarding the police oversight committee. We prepared a draft community feedback survey to be shared on the city's digital platforms, and we also are coordinating with the city's neighborhood associations. That was a specific ask to engage the neighborhood associations. There are 15 remaining neighborhood meetings through the end of the year.

That will be this opportunity for us to share the feedback survey. We also are engaging our local businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, and other stakeholders to capture their feedback as well. We anticipate that we will return back to the City Council as promised which was within 90 days in late December 2020 with the additional research and survey findings as directed and requested by the City Council. The second item is just to inform you that our police department has been adding on a temporary basis

11 additional officers to be assigned to the quality of life team and this is to allow for a 22 officer team for about a 30-day period and this is specifically to target hot spots that involve organized narcotic activity and violent crimes against persons and involving homeless individuals across our city. And that's all, sir.

Are you done, Madam? My city manager?

I'm finished. Thank you, Mayor.

All right. Thank you. Then let's go to Council's comments. Councilor Becerra, please.

Phil BacerraItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to encourage everybody who's listening to get out there and vote. This council was very supportive of making sure that ballot box, ballot drop box locations, excuse me, were located throughout the city and not just in one primary geographic area. So I encourage everybody to utilize those and make sure that you get out there and vote. one thing just to emphasize is the fact that the registrar of voters for the county is located right here in Santa Ana right off of Grand and McFadden so if you have any concerns there are it's a vote center and a ballot drop box

Phil BacerraItem —

location right there at the registrar of voters so please get out there and vote and have a good night everybody and go Dodgers

thank you for that and definitely go Dodgers Councillor Mendoza, please.

Thank you, Mayor Pulido. I would like to encourage the public to continue to go to the various sites where there is free COVID testing provided by the city of Santa Ana. And if you don't have the information, just contact city hall and there is various locations still. And I believe the services have been extended. So I encourage everyone to get out there and continue to be cognizant of the COVID risks and be safe and wear masks.

And I would also like to commend Chief Valentin on his efforts for his police officers and his department in following up with the street racing. We have had lots of success in curving and decreasing street racing in Santa Ana. So I thank the police department and Chief Valentin for his efforts in doing that.

And my last comment is regarding the dog park that's coming up in the plans. we could possibly look at naming that park to after one of our veteran heroes since Santa Ana is working on a recognition program to bring forth those veterans who live in San Ana, who have lived in San Ana or who currently live in San Ana

and have served our military and honor them by naming some of the public places. And we could begin by working on that as we start the plan for the dog park. And our city manager mentioned that perhaps we can even do a bronze statue honoring one of our police service canine police officers in someone maybe one of those dogs who has been of service to the Santa Ana Police Department

and in addition to that bronze statue of our if a canine officer have that that dog park named after one of our veteran heroes so thank you very much everyone have a good night

David PenalozaItem —

all right now let's go on uh counselor peña loza please thank you mr mayor um i just wanted to um you know unfortunately the the 2020 census is now over the the current uh federal administration ended it as of October 15th. So that was the last for anyone to fill out the census. We originally thought it was October 31st, but that was cut short. But I would like to kind of announce that Santa Ana's final self-response rate, not the total response,

David PenalozaItem —

but the self-response rate of people that did it themselves online was 70.4%. So that's, you know, it's better than what I thought we were going to be at. So I'm happy to see that. We're fourth in the United States with populations between 320,000 and 360,000. So that's also good considering that we're, you know, fourth in the entire country. The national average was 67%, and the state self-response average was 69.6%. So we're above the national average and the state average. So a round of applause to the residents of Santa Ana.

David PenalozaItem —

City staff, I know that Daisy in our city manager's office worked tirelessly over the last year and a half. And along with Daniel and a lot of our staff members in on the eighth floor. So thank you for that. and over the last couple of months the cares if I miss anyone by name I apologize I know there was many that worked on this but I wanted to thank you for that many over the last couple of months as a part of the cares team as well working towards making sure that everybody is counted so thank you for

David PenalozaItem —

that I just also wanted to say that that you know Halloween is coming up and And it's on a Saturday, and I know it's going to, you know, everyone's going to have the urge to go out there and trick-or-treat and have Halloween parties and whatnot. But I just want to encourage the community to use every precaution necessary. I mean, I know that we're all, you know, overwhelmed and tired of the pandemic, but it's still a very real thing, and COVID still exists. It's still out there. We're in the densest city, and numbers are high.

David PenalozaItem —

So just carry caution when you're out there trick-or-treating. If you have to trick-or-treat and go to Halloween parties, just be safe about it. Wear masks. Keep social distancing. All those things work. So just keep that in mind moving forward. And also, since we won't see each other or have a council meeting until after the election, I just want to remind everybody to vote. please please please vote it's something that that you should all do if you're able to do it and there's no reason why you shouldn't do it so remind remind everyone that you know to vote and that's it those are my comments Mr. Mayor

thank you for that now Councilman Sarmiento please yes thank you I just wanted to begin by

once again commending staff for the hard work and everybody else that did hard work on trying to ensure that we have as many people respond to the census as possible. It's unfortunate that we're dealing with an administration that was really hostile to ensuring that everybody get counted. So that brings me to my concern with voting, which is equally, you know, having

a lot of obstacles placed in front of increasing the vote and suppressing the vote instead. And so that's really unfortunate. One of the things I know in our community, because we've had a different system and we're not voting at our normal locations, a lot of people are confused. We did a really, I think we, as a council did a good job in compelling our registrar our voters representative to increase the number of drop boxes of voting centers on polling places and you know the problem with that is that now we need to create the connection between those

voters and where they need to go and and and how to properly fill out their ballots if they're going to mail it if they're going to drop it and that is you know there there is a large space between actually being counted and doing it correctly. So to the extent I would like to have staff do as much as they can in the space that we used for the census, maybe in these last couple of weeks do what we can to put up graphics, to have information that's educational on how somebody actually fills out a ballot correctly if you haven't already done so.

and maybe I'm, you know, kind of preaching to the choir and you guys have already done this, but in the event you haven't, maybe, you know, put our maps up, our graphics up of where these sites are on Channel 3 and any other way we might be able to share this with the public. But, you know, things like October 30th being, you know, the first day where people can start voting early in person. But a lot of what concerns me is that, you know, many votes may not be counted because they're not filled out properly.

And I think because there's going to be a heightened expectation for people having to do it exactly right, I just want to make sure that everybody's voice in the city is heard. so you know we we're dealing with unfortunately you know maybe not as much in California but nationally where you know there's just going to be a lot of doubt placed in the results of these elections nationally I think it makes a lot of people nervous and you know the great thing is that I you know hear and see a lot of people that are tendering their votes very early a lot earlier

than ever before. I know that there's forecasts of us eclipsing 85, 87 percent voter turnout, which is really, really incredible. So, you know, to the extent that we can make it as robust as possible, as easy as possible and safe for folks to do it, I would just, you know, just, you know, plea to the staff that we do as much as we can in these last two weeks to have all our voters votes count and make sure that we do what we can to facilitate that. And with that, I wish everybody

a happy Halloween, a feliz día de los muertos. I know that we won't be doing it traditionally the way we normally do because we have a lot of folks visit us when we do our día de los muertos. and it's not going to happen that way this year. So the sooner we all continue to follow safe guidelines, I think the sooner we can open up our economy and start doing commerce and enjoying things the way we used to. And with that, just want to compel everybody to vote and just make sure that everybody gets out there and does their civic duty. With that, I bid everybody a good night. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Council Member. Sarmiento. Council Member Solorio, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think Council Member Peñalosa started us off with a good agenda here, and so I'll kind of follow that in just a tad bit more. First, I want to thank him personally for taking the lead on the census. I know it was early on when he, I think, I'm not sure if he enthusiastically accepted the position, but he was motivated and interested, and he's given us good reports throughout really the past couple years. I really admire his leadership, and I know he had a very capable staff, particularly with Daisy, doing a lot of great work, and that's why we're above average, so fantastic.

Voting is important, obviously, regardless of how you vote. It's one of our sacred freedoms in our country. And then finally, Halloween. You know, the state has not been Halloween, but if you did want to google governor newsome halloween or the others muertos you'll see guidelines again they're not being banned but have precautions or think about alternatives there's a lot of things you could do with pumpkin carving inside your home or putting videos or things online or social media but I did look a few days ago at their website and they actually do have many

many good examples for safe alternatives for how to do halloween and dia de los muertos this year uh with that wish everybody a good evening we didn't get out of here too late so thank my colleagues and you mr mayor for for presiding during this meeting thank you you're very welcome

uh let's go on to mayor pro ten villegas please thank you mr mayor i'll go quickly so everyone

can get home and watch a dodger game um i just want to thank the the folks that came out from Willard neighborhood and did the beautification there on the corners they were planning flowers and handing out gifts to the local residents on the corner of 15th and Parton it was a very nice turnout it was a little warm I want to thank them for the hard work and dedication to helping the community look a little bit better in that area and thank you everyone and have a good night Go Dodgers.

Just a couple of things from me. One, I want to thank our city manager. I think he's done a great job on many, many different things, in particular, you know, COVID and how we're fighting it. And, of course, she's inspired Daisy, and Daisy's really come into her own. and this program, how we used it to up our census numbers, how we're using it to pass out masks, how we're using it to suppress our numbers. It's made a big difference. We're not there yet, but the rate of increase is decreasing.

And now we're starting to get data finally from the county. Seven months later, we're starting to get data that is specific by census tract. And so we're able to better target our efforts. And hopefully we'll be in the orange. So Orange County will actually go from red to orange. And with that, everybody, please remember to vote. And I think we're not going to be getting together until right around Thanksgiving.

So just in case, you know, be safe, you know, love each other and love the city. With that, this meeting is adjourned.