Read the February 18 meeting.

Madam City Clerk, we're going to go ahead and call the regular meeting to order. UC4 Council members?

Yes, Mayor Pro Tem.

Okay, and the mayor's up front in a few minutes late, so we're going to go ahead and get started. For everyone, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. You can put your right hand over your heart. Ready, again. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands, from a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

If everyone could remain standing for the invocation by our police chaplain, Doug Hardin.

Would you pray with me?

Father God, we come before you this evening, Lord, as a people desiring to see your best. God we come expecting Lord for you to intervene Lord in the affairs of men God you don't just sit in the heavens and watch and look and hope things go well but God we want to see you do great and awesome things in our city in our community amongst our people so Lord as we gather together Lord with our leaders this evening we pray God for your wisdom God we pray that you would lead us and guide us God Father certainly we know there's challenges ahead of us

there's difficulties we face God things that are far too great for us it's easy Lord to be discouraged in those times but as David wrote in the Psalms Lord I would have lost heart if I didn't believe that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living so God would you help us to wait on you to be of good courage Lord that you'd strengthen our hearts because we expect to see you do great things God be with us give us patience and wisdom lead us and guide us Lord have your way amongst us we pray and we'll trust you and seek to honor you in Jesus name

Amen

Thank you everyone please be seated

if I can have the folks from Relampago del Cielo join me up front here in the well

Thank you.

45 years nonprofit here in the city of Santa Ana for the very special Relampago del Cielo Ballet Flocorico. Something that's very, very dear to my heart because I used to do that as a young man back in my day and many pounds ago. And it's something I enjoy very, very much. Every time I see the great work and I see Relampago del Cielo perform at their events and many different locations, but also the one famous here in Santa Ana High School. I feel young again when I see that because it's just wonderful.

The music that they present, the culture from very different regions in Mexico, and it's just an outstanding event. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of their presentations, I highly, highly recommend it. And I'm just very proud to acknowledge, if you can all step forward a little bit, very proud to acknowledge all of them for 45 years of great work teaching our youth and our families, from one generation to another, I believe. And so, three generations. So, you know what, if you can come up, Marlene, and say a few words.

I'll hold on to this for a second, please.

Hold on, sorry.

Mayor Pro Tempiegas, council members, thank you so much for this recognition. We are extremely humbled, and I accept this on behalf of Rolambo de Selo with much humility. I was a little girl when this organization started 45 years ago, founded by my mother, Rosie Pena. And I always say this, no one could have ever imagined that we would still be here 45 years later. We started with a young group of students at Santa Ana College, where she was instructing Mexican folk dance. And their vision was to do more than just take classes. They were so intrigued by this dance form.

But the bigger picture is the youth in the community that we've been reaching. We started many years ago, 45 years ago, teaching children. It was a handful of kids. And then when I grew up and was able to dance, my mom said, would you like to teach kids? And I never thought about that and started instructing children. And it was so inspiring. I loved it. And here we are 45 years later. We had a handful of students. We're reaching annually over 350 students from our community. We just, as Mayor Potem Vegas mentioned, we just had a big concert last weekend at San Ana High School's Bill Medley Auditorium.

We sold out almost 1,500 seats. It was incredible. And to put 350 kids on that stage was quite a task, but we did it. They were amazing. We have an amazing staff that works with our children. And we're just so proud of the work. and the fact that we're still here in this community, really giving back through the culture and through the art form. And that's the main purpose and what we instill in our students is that idea and that thought of doing something you love, whether it's a hobby or a passion, but also in figuring out how can we give back to the community. And it's through our performances. So again, we're very humbled.

We thank you so much for this recognition. And we hope to be here for many, many, many more years.

Thank you very much. I'd like to say a few words, please.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Lucy Santana, and I have the pleasure of serving as president and chair of the board of directors for El Lampago del Cielo. And with me, we have several of our board members who may be familiar to many of you. We have Teresa Mercado Cota with Santa Ana College, Luz Mendes, who has been actually one of the original dancers from El Lampago del Cielo and has been on the board for many years, Norma Trujillo with Disney, Angelita Moraga, independent journalist, and a former OC Register reporter and has one of our newest board members but

what I will share is that many of us well between us I can't even count how many years we have involved but I know that I personally have been involved with the organization for over 25 years we all have had either family members who have danced with a group or have been supportive in one way or another and I'm so proud that now my daughter has the opportunity to dance and to learn about our culture and just want to thank the city of Santa for always supporting us for always being there whenever we've reached out to say hey we need help or do

we have a venue and we're really proud of being able to be part of the events that city of san anna hosts and for us to be able to go out and to really ensure that people are learning and hearing about the mexican culture so thank you so much thank you everyone and on behalf of the

mayor and city council want to present this certificate of recognition for 45 years here in the city of Santa Ana and for your outstanding contributions to the community. Thank you. I'll give them a round of applause.

Thank you.

And next we have Council Member Jose Solorio.

Curious Entertainment. How many of you have heard of Curious Entertainment? A few of you, right? They've had some of the biggest events in Santa Ana, and we're going to tell you all about it because I think it's good stuff, and a lot of people enjoy it in our city, and we want to keep creating more fun activities for our community. Curious Entertainment, for its third year, has successfully planned and executed what's called the Orange County Block Party. They've most recently been doing it here on Flower Street next to the stadium. The music festival has grown from 5,000 attendees to this past year over 11,000. So that's amazing.

They went from 5,000 to over 11,000 and it keeps growing. And I grew up in the era of hip-hop and rap music when it all started. So it's nice when we have entertainment groups that bring out a variety of folks in that genre, including from when I was a teenager. So this year, for example, some of the main stars was Ice Cube, right? You've heard them saying as well as on TV. The Dog Pound, as well as Lisa and Cult Jam and many others. And maybe they might remember some of the other acts, but it was absolutely fantastic.

They catered to a very diverse audience. And I went to last year's festivity, And there were people from all over Southern California, so it's not just, you know, San Anivin, it's beyond. And it's something that in the process has promoted a lot of unity, brings people together, and it was a very safe event. They worked very closely with our police department in terms of, you know, safety and coordination, so it was very, very well done. they also that this past year provided a lot of the services at our 150th celebration at Centennial Park so they've done other things here in the

community they have very strong roots here in Santa Ana which is why I know they're they're proud to do everything that they do and so for me it's you know with great honor that I recognize a curious entertainment they're doing things locally they're doing it with success and whenever I drive around town And I kind of also look to see what businesses might be there that I didn't know. And so, for example, recently I was near a diary in Bristol, and I saw that Curious Entertainment had a small office there, so I know they care about Santa Ana and want to keep working here in Santa Ana.

So I'll let them say a few words, but let's give them a round of applause for all their contributions to our city.

Thank you. Thank you.

Let's give him another round of applause. Thank you for everything that you do.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. So we're going to move on with the meeting. And on the consent calendar, if there's any council members that would like to pull an item, please let the clerk know.

Council Member Iglesias.

Okay, 25A and 25C.

25A and 25C.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay, is there any other council members? Mayor Pro Tem.

Council Member Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem —

25D, please.

25D as in boy?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes. No, D as in dollar.

D as in dollar, 25D. Okay, any other council members? I'll move the balance.

Second.

Okay, all those in favor, push the green button for the balance.

Mayor Pro Tem, just for excused absences for Mayor Pro Tem.

Mayor Polito is running a few minutes late. Everyone agree? Excuse the tardiness? Of course. Push green if you want the balance to move.

Very good. Is there any speaker cards for item 25A?

We do not.

Okay. Council Member Iglesias? Yes. The floor is yours.

so um my question on this item is is for us to approve agreements with with um Liebert Cassidy Whitmore for special legal counseling services and consortium employee training services and it says from January 1st to June 30th 20 22 I am I'm a little confused is that 200,000 is that for the three years or that a yearly allotment that we're going to be providing so councilman you're very you're correct

it's for two things it's for us to authorize an agreement which would be for a legal consultation for a period from january 2020 to june 2022 in amount of 200 000 so the 200 000 is for the total two and a half years the other item before you is for a one year and it's a membership to the consortium where we access training and other consulting services and what

exactly is it that they're they're going to be providing something that our HR

department can't do for us in house and I'll ask our director of personnel to come up and he can tell you what the consortium provides in the year and then the other services he can talk about it's primarily your labor relations area

good evening councilwoman and gentlemen of the City Council the consortium is a part of the Orange County City resources. We come together and we use Liebert to provide trainings from basic leadership to legal updates to negotiation trainings and by going through this with all of the city we cut down the cost quite a bit. So the cost for all that before you tonight is the share for the City of Santa Ana which they porrated based on the number

of employees that we have not always ma'am I guess we could it's just the resources to conduct training is is very expensive and it's time-consuming whereas go through this consortium we using attorneys there are practitioner fields and they provide provide information for the whole county so when we go we kind of learn it from everybody else as well so is this unless we use it

then it's we pay for it or is it something that even if we may not use

it we have to pay for it well we part of the membership so we pay this is our share but I can assure you councilwoman that we're sending employees from our city quite a bit and in fact so much so that we're trying to petition for more seats so we can send more employees to go to these type of trainings

okay okay thank you is there any is there a motion move the item second okay all those in favor push green the motion passes next item is 25 C as in Charles Council member Iglesias so this item says

approve amendments to agreements with Mercy House Living Centers Inc to increase emergency solutions grant and to utilize homeless emergency and aid programs funds for the link shelter in the amount of two million three hundred five thousand nine hundred eleven dollars so I guess my concern on this one is that I know that we've been trying to address the homeless issue the the services that we're providing to them and I'm yet to see I guess a return on our investment because when I ask

about how many people were serving how many people are no actually being self-sufficient when to come out of our programs I don't see that it's that many so I don't know what the oversight is to Mercy House because I know they're providing the services but then we still have to pay staff time and every you know like with Stephen Mendoza's department so they could oversee this so is that 2.3 million is that for the year that we're authorizing you're asking us to authorize or what oh how much money is it on a yearly basis because then I

see that 6.3 million too I'll ask executive director to come up but what this is as you've already extended so for the link it's an interim temporary shelter and you did the first year and then this body already approved the second year of it this is identifying the funding that will complete that second year which will take us to October 2020 if we are able to keep it open beyond that we would have to return to you but I'll let Steven explain the different pots of money that we have available to go towards keeping the link

open this last year thank you when we first brought this to you originally we brought to you the the scenario that we were going to use inclusionary housing money and it was a direction at the time from the City Council to try to wean ourselves off of the inclusionary housing meeting monies used for this purpose so what we're doing this year this is we're bringing heat monies into the picture saving the inclusionary monies giving those back to Judson over at the housing authority and he'll use those inclusionary money for what they were intended to be used it was always a goal of the City Council for us to

return to you to decrease our use of inclusionary monies and so we're doing that and then we also have sick about six more thousand dollars to use to displace this and then the third action was an additional 398 to true them up for their first year due to you out unexpected expenses such as utilities so the six million we always predicted for two years and then now it's 398 more for the first year and then the rest of the actions are just changing out monies so

I mean I'm okay with you know provide I guess more like the operations of it but I guess my concern has always been the outcomes of the services that we're providing so how are we monitoring that to make sure that the the resident you know the residents are going to the link are truly being served well part of our

success story is that over a hundred and seven of them have gone on to permanent supportive housing provided through our housing authority and other agencies within the county that's one of the measures of success you'll see the other measurements on our dashboard that we post live every 30 days yeah but I just

I just feel and I think that's one of the 85 A's that I have with the work program I think it's something that we have to give them more of skills and stuff you know so when they really out there they're self-sufficient and I still don't see that with them with what we have the contract with Mercy House it's just it's just more than anything they're just where how in my opinion they're just warehousing them and they're just you know monitoring the operations but they're not really giving them that extra push to be self-sufficient

So if that's something that you could look into on how we could do that and definitely measure something, at least for this year, how many went to school, how many went to work, and the return on our investment, because then they could help others when they come back. They'll become those mentors. Kind of like what we did with the housing with Judson. We recognized those individuals that graduated from the program. It would be nice to have something like that, too, at the link, you know, having individuals graduating from the program and telling the success stories.

Because that's, when you tell stories, it's kind of like, okay, yeah, you know, we're doing good. So if that's something they can incorporate into this whole operations and also requirements for Mercy House, I would be very supportive of that.

Certainly. Is there a motion? Council Member Saludio.

Thank you, Council Member Villegas. I wanted to thank staff, our city manager, and Mr. Mendoza. I have seen the dashboard, and it's correct. Almost from day one, we've had a very transparent system where we talk about where the referrals are from, what kind of services they're receiving, various kinds of successes. Clearly, we could always do more. But a lot of these individuals aren't there often even more than 30 days. but maybe a related issue might be we might want to review what kind of services we provide there at the link and work with Mercy House to see if

those are the right services or which ones to to beef up and then there's connection with other programs and funding sources for example in terms of receiving jobs one of the providers there is a group called Second Chance and you know lo and behold you know we have a separate but related item CDBG where that group that provides you know job services at the link isn't being recommended by the you know Commission for funding and that's something that we ought to review but you know anytime that we can look at the services and help the individuals there I think would be helpful but I did want to compliment

staff for that you know transparent program and then the county I'm using that as an example we share with the public where folks are coming from and what service are being provided and so you know the county should follow our lead so with that I do support it and move the item second with comment

second thank you mr. mayor pro tem so I just wanted to thank you all as well and and Steven in particular because I know you were here when we began this whole thing and what we used to begin the link was money from the inclusionary fund so this is a really good step backfilling those monies that we used and I think we're staying true to what our word was because if we talk about graduating folks from the shelter to good things we have to have a continuum of care right so that means affordable transitional housing which the inclusionary fund supports so I think that that's the value in seeing this because yeah once folks

leave where do they go to the extent that there are some affordable units and transitional units that's real valuable and that's where our inclusionary funds come into play so thank you for making sure it got back filled and it's back where it's supposed to be and I'll second second with that okay we have a

motion and a second so those councilmember thank you mr. mayor pro

David PenalozaItem —

Tim I just wanted to thank staff and and Mercy House in this case I was there last month along with Daniel from our city manager's office we were we hosted or help coordinate a field trip with the school of Our Lady one of our local schools here in Santa Ana and the eighth grade project was to set up care packages for residents at the link so it was nice to go out there with a group of kids and see that I think they have like four or five workstations at the link with computers for resume building and job search

David PenalozaItem —

and they have somebody there that helps the homeless individuals find employment and work on the resume and I was nice to see all workstations were occupied at the time that I was there visiting with the school kids so very happy with the work that they're doing but I would like to reach out so we could highlight these cases because a lot of times we do see that you know we're we're investing a lot of money into the shelter but a lot oftentimes the community wants to see these cases highlighted are those willing to make themselves public of their

David PenalozaItem —

success stories so that would be nice but that said all great comment thank you

everyone if you approve push green

okay that motion passes next item is 25 D as in David councilmember Pena Losa well do we have any speaker cards on that item by any chance we do not okay

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you. Councilmember. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. This item 25D is to award an agreement with Systems and Software Inc. in the amount of $3.3 million and amend agreement with Utility Works Consulting, LLC. and this is basically I'm very supportive and happy with this item I want to thank staff for this because this is going to give the option and the opportunity to every resident in the city to make your utility payments at the nearby 7-eleven CVS which in a city where almost 50% I believe of our residents do not have access to a car and public transportation systems not always

David PenalozaItem —

the greatest as well it's nice to know that i could you know you can't just make your payment at city hall you could also walk by to your nearest 7-eleven and cvs to pay your water bill so that's very exciting to see um want to make sure i got that correct madam city manager if i

just may add one thing so that option will come online with the second phase of the backbone upgrade so not immediately but in the future i i jumped ahead of myself as always but it's just

David PenalozaItem —

good to see that these improvements are moving forward to make these things happen so very happy for this and thank you staff for bringing this forward with that said I'll make a motion to approve. Is there a second? All those in favor

push green. Motion passes. Madam Clerk we have some oath of office to take. Yes if I

I can ask for Manuel Escamilla, Carlos Perea, Michael Tardif, and Gisela Contreras to come up here in the chamber well, please.

I can hear you. Hi. I'm glad you made it.

Yes.

Come on. So if you could all raise your right hand and repeat after me. Aye. And then please state your name one at a time, please. Aye.

Isela Contreras. Yes. I'm Mike Tardif. Aye. Carlos Pereira. Aye. Manny Escamilla.

Do solemnly swear Do solemnly swear that I will support That I will support and defend And defend the Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States

and the Constitution of the State of California

against all enemies, foreign and domestic,

that I will bear true faith and allegiance

to the Constitution of the United States

and the Constitution of the State of California,

that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation

without any mental reservation

or purpose of evasion that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you.

Please feel free to.

okay congratulations to the commissioners so we're going to take something out of order and been asked if we can take the 55e and hear it now if we have any speaker cards on that we do

so we're going to need a translator also down here item 55e

so Jarvis Jennings going to be the first speaker followed by Lynn Lee

Mr. Mayor Potem maybe you could read what the item is regarding so that the public knows you want to?

we have the clerk

it's adopting a resolution declaring the opposition to the county of Orange's construction and operation of a homeless shelter on Yale Street and anywhere else in Santa Ana until the County of Orange is operating a proportion proportional amount of shelter beds in the South Service planning area as exits in the Central North Service planning areas thank you madam clerk go ahead sir thank

you good evening my name is Jarvis Jennings I live in Santa Ana I've been here for about a year after I married my wife I applaud you guys for coming to this decision to introduce a resolution to against the homeless shelter in Santa Ana Santa Ana has already provided homeless shelters already which is you know enough the question that we have mainly in the community is to get to this point what was done by you to get to this point and why did it take so long to get to this point to be against it I understand there was a court case that

was either positive or negative but the council asked for the homeless shelter in the first place

I know that the resolution is to ask the other parts of the county to put in their fair share to help with the homeless crisis that we do have in the county and in our area and in our city in particular we would like as a community to meet with this council whether in a different meeting or one-on-one two-on-one you know whatever you guys can provide us to meet with you to help you with your resolution that you're going to go towards the county and mainly we just want you guys to fight for our city and for our community and for our kids our kids go to school they try their best

you know I have two daughters that go to Valley which is basically about a mile from this new shelter if it was put in we're worried that they'll be just lingering around the neighborhoods we're worried that they're going to be accosted or offended by these people they do deserve somewhere to live but at this time they need to be placed somewhere else to live you know north you know north county has done some but south orange county has no true homeless shelters they do provide some other services but they do not have homeless shelters they need to foot their own part of the bill they need to take their

own responsibilities for this county and for our and for our area and help out I understand that South County has fought this religiously and has pretty much won every time but we need you guys to fight just as hard for Santa Ana as they are fighting for South Orange County as I said earlier I know you guys came to a decision a couple years ago to want to replace one shelter with another shelter and I understand that I understand that after something has happened because I'm not aware of everything I know you guys keep some things in private because it's

legal but now that you've come to this decision to fight it please fight it with everything you have tooth and nail and do not give up. Our kids deserve to live in a peaceful environment and not have to worry about going to school and somebody coming up on them, trying to accost them or anything else. Okay? And if you are able to get this fixed, please do not let it come up again until there's more in the other areas. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

Next speaker, Lynn Lee, followed by Barbara Lemire.

Thank you, Pro Tem Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas, and City Council Members. Thank you for proposing this resolution. We at Godina's PTSO applaud you for taking a stand to protect our city. As you know, we're eager to continue to work hard to come up with solutions with the Yale shelter. At our last meeting, we decided to request from you a committee to deal with the homelessness in Santa Ana.

We would like to be on that committee because it is very difficult for us to participate in this democratic process just by coming up and talking to you in this manner. There's no dialogue here. So I really think we need a committee where we can participate as citizens within Santa Ana to try to help you address this situation.

we would like to also reiterate our message that we in Santa Ana feel that Santa Ana has done it's more than its fair share to address the homeless problem as you know there's over a thousand beds here in Santa Ana and no other city in Orange County has that we just heard that the beds in the what is it called the courtyard has just increased to 450 it used to be 425 now it's 450 we do believe it needs to be moved but it

needs to be moved out of Santa Ana because we have the bulk of the homelessness here in Santa Ana we have to deal with things like we see open drug deals in parks. We see open people, you know, shooting up heroin or whatever it is that they do, their drugs in the streets. And our children are witnessing this. My son walks from Godinas to Taco Bell every so often, and he fears for his safety when he's walking there because he runs into

homeless and that's only a block away we know that most of the homeless in Santa Ana are not Santa Ana residents and don't come from Santa Ana simply by the fact that 80% of the homeless are Caucasian and Santa Ana is more like 80% Latino so that there in itself tells you that we are taking in the county problem and we are being dumped on and we don't want this anymore so thank you for doing this

Council Member Becerra we appreciate this and we would like to continue to work with you on this and we are looking forward to a contact with you to set up this committee thank you

thank you Barbara Lemire Followed by Nemehri Lopez.

Barbara? There you are.

Good evening. Sorry about that. Good evening, everybody. I'm a 54-year-plus neighbor. I live here. And I was appalled when I went to the first meeting about this shelter. I was appalled nothing was planned. They bought a building in Santa Ana. They have no plans. Absolutely none. Mr. Kim even said he put the cart before the horse. It's been going along like that since. I think Santa Ana could have a shelter. We do have shelters. But for our people, these others, I don't want police, as they told us, would become from other cities dropping them off. I resent that. They need to take care of them.

They need to take their share. I'm tired of it, tired of it. I commend you for this being brought up and handled this way. We need to have a voice. We don't hear about this until after the effects, and that's too much. So I'm hoping everybody keeps this up, keep it open, and let's stand up for Santa Ana and hope the other cities do their part. Thank you.

Thank you.

Namedi Lopez, followed by Catalina Vega.

Miss Lopez? No?

Okay, we'll get back to that. Catalina? Not here?

I am.

Okay, very good. Followed by Cecilia Bautista.

sorry got too excited there good evening council members and fellow neighbors of Santa Ana I want to start off by saying that I am a full support of the item 55 55e we are with sorry I'm a little bit nervous we are with you in saying no more homeless shelters in Santa Ana period why only our city. Why are we the only ones helping keep other counties clean while ours gets worse and worse by the minute? Enough is enough. I pay taxes like everyone else and I demand our streets to be safe like our fellow outside city members, neighbors. My children matter, my family matters,

and my fellow neighbors of Santa Ana matter. We deserve and demand the same respect and privileges as our fellow next-door cities. I want to take this time to thank Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias for the time you have spent bringing the issues and relating to the homeless to light, and for the time that you have taken to come to the meetings and speak out against the Yale shelter. You have shown us that you care, and I thank you for that. I also want to thank Councilmen Becerra and Peñalosa for drafting this item and officially supporting the county opposing the shelter being placed in

Santa Ana. If I can make a small recommendation, and it's small but big, I would highly recommend that you add Councilwoman Cecilia to the boys group. Since she has shown us that she's opposed to it as 100% and has done a lot of work and has worked and gone out and retrieved information for us. And lastly, my husband Danny couldn't make it today due to his school and he had to be in class. But he wanted me to relay the message to you on his behalf. He said even if we cannot stop the Yale shelter from being built, at the very least let's make it only serving our homeless

Santa Ana residents or at the very least central cities. Please do not allow the South County cities to use our shelter. Thank you and shout out to Council Members Cecilia and David.

Thank you very much. Cecilia Bautista. Oh, there he is. Thank you. And then followed by Joel Uñiz.

Buenas tardes, Miembros del Consejo. Mi nombre es Cecilia Bautista. Yo vivo en el área de Edinger y Standard. I'm a representative of the School of Madness in Action, Madison. The reason I'm here is because I want to be clear that we are not sure about a shelter in Santana. Because it's the reason we're oping. Because we, at least in personal, have lived many situations. Thanks to the Lord, I'm also a member of the church. Because she has been supported. She has sent messages. What happened to me. What happened to me in my family. I don't want to worry about all the days when my daughter walks to school,

if she'll get well, when she'll cross the train. Why? Because there are many homeless. All that brings many problems to the community. The primary care that we have close to it is the same. All the days, the children have to be running on the feet of the homeless. We ask, please, think about it before we take that decision. And if you already took it, as they say, you can take it.

E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E Quiero pensar, quiero que de verdad piensen en las familias. Así como piensen en su familia, piensen en nosotros, piensen en los niños. Es lo único que yo les estoy pidiendo.

Nuestros hijos y la comunidad merecemos un lugar seguro. Quiero darle también las gracias al señor Peñalosa por hacer soporte el día de la junta a la señora Iglesias. Me hubiera encantado verlos a todos, que todos se opusieran. And here I want to say, as I said to the Ms. Iglesias, whenever I have a problem, she will answer me immediately, because I have to be sending messages to you when there are more people who can support. Everyone represents the city of Santa Ana, not only you two. And all have to take their place and do their work. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Cecilia Bautista, and I live in the area of Eringer and Standard, and I represent the parent group from Madison, Madres en Acción, Moms in Action. And I'm here because we don't agree to have more shelters built in Santa Ana. And I say this because I have personally lived many situations, unfortunate situations like this. And I've told Ms. Iglesias about it, and this is a problem. I don't want my daughter to be safe coming from school.

I don't want to be concerned about my daughter not arriving home, having issues at the railroad tracks. As they mentioned before, a lot of elementary kids have to step over the feet of the homeless who are laying there on the sidewalk. and we have told other other people you also represent us and why is it only that we have shelters in Santa Ana and I've heard this from other cities like Costa Mesa and I don't want to believe it's true but when we ask why the shelters are only allowed in Santa Ana is because they say and I don't want it to be true that you only care about money here so I want you to to help our

children, take care of our children, and think of our children and ourselves. And our children deserve to have a safe place to go to school. So I want to thank Mr. Peñalosa and Ms. Iglesias who were there supporting us on that day. And I wish that all of you could be there supporting us as well. When I have an issue, Ms. Iglesias is the one who responds, and Mr. Peñalosa responds. But you all should respond. You all represent us, so please do your jobs. Thank you.

Thank you. Joel Muñiz, followed by Chris Schmidt.

or of the homeless is very strong and no cessation, it is growing day with day.

So, my wife told me about these meetings and told me to assist you to support some ideas that maybe help us to give a little solution to this problem. For this I have a justification of this problem and she says, And this problem is not exclusive to a specific place, but it is a social problem that includes all the country by the lack of laws and opportunities for people. I have a vision. The vision of this project is to make this country a place of opportunities

for living in a home and with opportunities for the production of goods and services. I have a mission. This mission is to include all residents of this country in a place and build the tools necessary to make them productive.

I have a few objectives. One of the objectives for the specific problem of the indigenous people is to make a pattern of them. other objective is recaudate the resources necessary to be able to give this problem of the people without housing other would be able to acquire housing and the last is to create groups of volunteers I have a medium-term goal that is to create a rescue program of the person is in the guard personas que and

the news hogar personas que han perdido su trabajo personas que han caído en la farmacodependencia a causa de estos problemas antes mencionados y otro que sería ayudarlos a estas personas que padecen enfermedades ya crónicas and I have a long-term goal goal, which I think would be the most difficult and that would correspond to you, which would be the problem of the indigents, the problem of the living, as they are rent,

and here I put an example. I live in the house where I live, rento el dueño de la casa paga tres mil dólares del costo de la casa no es no ignoro cuánto sea el este el tiempo que tiene que pagar pero él paga tres mil dólares renta la casa en dos mil seiscientos una parte y mil seiscientos en otra parte que me hacen un total de cuatro mil dos $1,200, $1,200, la casa se paga con los inquilinos y todavía le quedan $1,200 para poder disfrutar con una casa y con ese dinero.

La luz ya está roja, ¿se puede concluir, por favor?

¿Perdón? La luz. Oh. Se puede concluir, por favor. Ok. Entonces, la propuesta en general es la siguiente.

Thank you.

Homelessness is an issue that is a big issue and it's growing day by day. My wife told me about this meeting and I wanted to come with her to bring you and offer you some solutions. And this is a problem that is not exclusive to one place, but it's all throughout the country. And I'd like to bring you some suggestions. I have a vision to bring opportunities to provide homeless services. My mission is to include all the residents and to build the means to help these people, the homeless. My objective, the short term, is to pardon the homeless, to provide housing for the homeless,

and to have a volunteer program for the homeless. My midterm objective is to provide rescue for the homeless, rescue them from homelessness, provide them jobs and helping them in their drug addiction if they have that, and also to help them if they have chronic illnesses. My long-term objective is up to you because it involves legislating the homelessness, providing housing, and helping with rent. As an example, I rent my home. The owner has a $3,000 mortgage that he pays for so many years.

He rents one part for $2,600. He rents another part for $1,600 for a total of $4,200 that is paid to him, and he has a $1,200 a month surplus. So I propose to involve all cities. It's not a Santa Ana problem. There are 34 Orange County cities.

Thank you very much. Chris Schmidt, followed by Vanessa Gonzalez, followed by Richard Santana.

good afternoon mayor pro tem city council members I've come before the city council several times opposing the shelter I've also gone to the County Board of Supervisors meeting opposing it too but what I really wanted to point out was earlier today I emailed the city a petition that was circulated to the surrounding businesses around the Yale Street property basically that petition said they opposed the shelter basically they believe that our city has already done enough there's already over a thousand shelter beds in our city there's a disproportionality where our city is overwhelmed with the burden of trying to

deal with the homelessness for all of Orange County meanwhile certain areas of our county are not doing anything every year our city estimates we spend between 15 to 17 million dollars addressing the homelessness issue in our city about a year ago Orange County Fire Authority put out a report saying they were receiving three 9-1-1 calls a day to the courtyard right across here residents of Santa Ana we pay for that because OCFA is contracted with our city every time I go by there I either see a fire engine or Santa Ana police units there I watched as two people were ejected from the courtyard shelter you know where they go

they walk right out into our community I asked Frank Kim the county CEO what's gonna happen at Yale Street when you have to remove somebody he looked me right in the face and says we don't have a plan again over 300 people from the surrounding businesses on Yale Street signed this petition I emailed it to the city today please take this into consideration our city has done enough while we don't see other cities doing anything and we hear the rhetoric online where city council members from other cities saying over their dead body will they open a shelter oh well there's an armory in Santa Ana just take them there

Well, the county is going to fund Yale Street so we can just send them there. Enough is enough. We need you to stand up and fight for us, just like those cities are fighting for their residents. So please take this into consideration, and I thank you for your time.

Vanessa Gonzalez, followed by Richard Santana, followed by Dale Heldig.

Hi, good evening. First of all, thank you for your time. I'm here as an individual and a mother. I have lived in Santa Ana for eight years as a resident at the Wilshire and many apartments and my children attended Madison Elementary. My family moved to Irvine in May. It'll be two years. The abundant negative impact that we have experienced has been very traumatic on my children. Every place they went, whether to school, to home, to after-school activities, to the grocery store, to the library, and more, my kids and many others in the city have had to witness homeless people

either all drugged out, having indecent exposure, prostituting themselves, or taking space, making messes of places where children should feel safe and secure. I still volunteer my time in Santa Ana, and I have talked with residents formally and informally. I was part of a community building initiative where we surveyed over 100 residents, and every single one declared issues and run-ins with homeless. I'm also part of a parent leader network working with the Centre for the Study of Social Policy. We see where some places have the majority of a minority living in their cities, yet their voice is not heard for various reasons.

Although homeless do have their own individual stories and they do deserve rights and places to live, it should not be at the expense of the families and the city's integrity. More cities in the county need to put shelters in their cities and not just provide the money to keep them in Santa Ana. I also would like to suggest, it's just an idea, or ideas that run out in my head, that there should be a way for them to serve and work in them to earn food and a bed or money so they don't have to beg. And somehow they should also have home arrest because many of the times the police cannot come and arrest them

because there's no room for them in the jails for them to pay for their crimes. So thank you.

Thank you very much. We now have Richard Santana from Senator Umberg's office, followed by Dale Helwig, followed by Claudio Gallegos.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, Villegas, and Honorable Council members. My name is Richard Santana. I'm here on behalf of Senator Umberg, who represents the city of Santa Ana and the neighboring cities of the 34th Senate District. Senator Umberg recognizes that we have a crisis of individuals experiencing homelessness, and he supports housing these individuals in a fair, equitable fashion throughout the county. Residents of Santa Ana should not have to bear more than their fair share and undo of this burden of this issue. We commend Santa Ana for being a leader in addressing the crisis,

and we expect other communities to step up and do their part. We look forward to supporting both Santa Ana and the county in meeting the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Dale Helvig, followed by Claudio Gallegos from Luke Correa's office, followed by Carlo Bonanni.

Dale Helvig, 30-year resident of Santa Ana. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. I support your position on the resolution against the homeless shelter at Yale. I find it interesting, though, that there's many parallels between this project and a 25-25 project that you guys just recently approved. Citizens were against 25-25. Citizens are against the Yale Street Shelter. You guys are going to have a hard fight because you're fighting the bigger dog now. You guys have shown that you are willing to go ahead and not listen to people. and so I was wondering if the council or if the Orange County is going to listen to you.

Are they going to treat you the same way you treated us? I think it's going to be an interesting fight. I think you guys need to fight it. I support the fight. I want to see it defeated because, again, the citizens should decide what's best for them. You didn't let us do that with our project. We're out there canvassing the city to try and overturn your decision and let the citizens vote on it.

Unfortunately, we have thugs standing outside the places where we're gathering petitions, surrounding mothers with children, so we're talking about personal safety of the families of the city, and we have thugs that are probably being supported by the developer that are standing outside places of business, intimidating people, telling them, do not sign this petition. I find that totally unacceptable. But that's the kind of business that you guys supported earlier, and I find it appalling. So I hope you succeed in this practice of getting the Yale Shelter moved, because it does need to go to another city.

We have done absolutely enough of this stuff. And I also find it interesting that someone would say that the homeless aren't from Santa Ana because they're white. I think that bringing race into the homeless position is wrong. If you're homeless, you're homeless. There's no getting around that. So take that in mind, too. Thank you.

Thank you, Dale.

Mr. Claudio Gallegos from Congressman Luke Correa's office, followed by Carlo Bonanni.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council. I come representing the congressman to reiterate the position we stated last week. That we support the council in their decision to oppose the Yale shelter. That we oppose any more shelter beds in Santa Ana until the rest of the county, primarily South Orange County, steps up and does their fair share. We all...

the 46th congressional district already has over a thousand beds here in Santa Ana several hundred in Anaheim probably close to half or more of the shelter beds in all of Orange County are in the congressional district despite it being less than 25 percent of the population of Orange County. If anyone thinks that is fair, then I don't know what to tell you. But the Congressman has stated, and we will stand with the City of Santa Ana, no shelter beds until South Orange County steps up.

parlo bonani followed by jeannie jurapo jurado followed by zach

how you doing pro tem mayor and council well the homeless shelter i blame the past three city councilmen past three city council groups because they were all excited about the medical marijuana it showed up 12 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever. And that's what brought them down here to Santa Ana, because we had them all over the place. Okay. Saturday night, there was a shooting somewhere in Santa Ana. It's the first time I seen over 15 units chase the guys. And guess what? Right where Trader Joe's is, right where Big Lots is, the pizza parlor, right in that area. I never seen so many people run out of the parking lot to target,

because all the cops were right next to Chevron and the little Mexican restaurant right there getting the guys down. And they've moved back on the railroad tracks, just to let you know, Pizzolosa. They've moved back on the railroad tracks. But this time, I hoped the union PD arrests them and takes them to L.A. Because when they are released in L.A., they need to get back down here because they're no good up in L.A. So this homeless thing that's going on, I don't know what you guys are going to do, but this was going to downfall from years past because we got to have the medical marijuana places in Santa Ana. Okay?

And that's the fault of past city council members. And I always used to tell them, go to Sandpoint. Go to North Sandpoint. Go in those different areas right there and put your homeless shelter up on the people's grass and grounds right there. Okay? So, and another thing I noticed, why isn't this shelter more west, towards the west end of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Westminster? because our person that's in charge of this area won't do it, because he won't get in next to the Vietnamese people. And it had to be the Vietnamese people had to sue the city of Santa Ana because they're not representative.

Well, if we look out here, there's no Vietnamese people out here. Where are they at? Oh, we got one. Here we go. There we go. We got one. But where's the rest of them from the west side of Santa Ana? Okay. So that's the thing I'm going to do. And tonight, that's the reason I was running night here, in front of Trader Joe's, I saw a guy getting assaulted. And I'm going to tell you, if I can get some paperwork and I can stay in front of Joe's or Vons or whatever down there, I hope they assault me because I grew up here in Santa Ana. I've been here since 1970.

And we'll have a dance out in the parking lot because it's wrong. And I don't know why these city council members don't tell Irvine to back off from building a lot of these high-rises apartments here in Santa Ana. Okay, we don't need them anymore. Traffic is a nightmare in Santa Ana. And the more you guys think about building these units, you guys are creating a gridlock for Santa Ana. And I've been hearing that Garden Grove and Orange is going to sue Anaheim because if Moreno gets his way and builds everything around the stadium, imagine how the 57, 22, and the 5 freeway are going to be. Okay, that's upon you guys' shoulders.

And some other people said out there, and maybe, maybe we should get a whole new city council member, new mayor, somebody that's going to do something for the people of Santa Ana.

David PenalozaItem —

So thank you very much.

After Jeannie Hurado, we have Zach.

Good evening, everyone. I know you heard from the residents here, you know, representatives from, you know, senators and the congressmen. So I hope you take into consideration because I live near where down the street where Yale Street is in a private community. And our concern as a community is that when homeless people come into our community, we call the police. And what do they tell us? They can't come out because it's a private community. We have to call our private security.

So with that said, if that Yale Street shelter is put in that place, you're going to put tons of communities in at risk, especially the ones, you know, that are non-private, you know, with even the children in that area. And, you know, just an example with someone said, you know, people are, cities are bringing other people, homeless people into the city.

I was at the Verizon store and one of the girls was telling me about her boyfriend who works for the city of Anaheim in the Parks and Rec and told me that her boyfriend told her when the homeless people are, I guess when they finish their stay at the homeless shelter, what happens is they kick them over to Santa Ana. So Anaheim needs to take accountability as well. So I hope that you guys take into consideration the safety of our community, the kids, and the private communities and non-private communities, because this is a big risk. This is a liability, and it's going to be all on your shoulders, in your hands. Thank you.

Zach, please. Thank you. Born and raised in Santana. I'm proud of my city. I never thought I would have to actually feel nervous when I speak in public.

I have a lot of passion for this city. I was born, I was taught by my parents to always help and love the needy. I've worked with a homeless community. I'm broken between my values, but it's gotten out of hand. It's gotten really out of hand. Seeing my father of 88 years have to walk through the streets with all this problem in the downtown, it's getting out of hand. And I like the comment somebody said, it's not a recent problem. I've seen it get out of hand over the years. Who to blame? I'm not here to blame anybody.

but I'm proud of this resolution and I like I've been watching you on Facebook on the videos we're watching and we watch who stands up we are watching

y quiero que la comunidad latina los que hablamos español also speak up we need to have this room filled up so you guys can see that we're proud of this city and I've worked with a homeless community and I can't give many details but a lot of the people that are homeless are not from our city. Can we track them?

Can we track them? Can we legally track them and say so many percentage of these people came from Texas so many people came from a certain city can we do it legally? Those are questions that I have you'll be

help us help you I want to meet with you guys somebody said about committees I want to be a part of that committee I want to be a part of the solution because I'm not going anywhere my father's not going anywhere we're going to make the city of Santa Ana a great place to live

muchas gracias y hablo español perfectamente I see just the way I speak English and I love to help and I've been grounding up people to bring. We've donated. I brought people. Yeah, there are people from South County that do care.

120 blankets. Many volunteers. I need to share these stories. We need those stories. What you were talking about, we need these stories told. But this problem is not a Santana problem. They dumped it on us. The taxes are going up. The properties are... And the response, I don't know what we can do, but there has to be a quicker response. There should be a hotline that we don't have to inundate the Santa Ana dispatchers. But the response is not as fast as it should be. Thank you very much for what you have done. We're keeping an eye on what you guys did at the railroad tracks, the lawsuits. That was great. Great job.

We've got to keep doing this. Opposition, and this should be on the table. More of this item should be on the table. For me, every time you guys meet. because this is a hot topic. Thank you. Thank you.

Perla Dionisio.

Hi, good evening. Buenas noches. I am here to speak up as I always do as a resident. I wonder if Elvisara left so that I don't speak directly to him, but I'm pretty sure you guys know exactly how I feel about the City Council.

I am here, first of all, to thank the community for being out here. A todas las mamás de Mamás en Acción. Muchísimas gracias por siempre tratar de representar y proteger a nuestros niños.

and I am also here to tell you once again that you need to step off of that and I am so glad that is 2020 and we're finally getting rid of you thank you but unfortunately he's not just the one problem we have several problems on this council seat on this city council for which reason I am here to let you guys know that there is a going petition to recall Jose Solorio. I have the petition if you want to sign it. I'll wait outside. There's also a petition to protect Santa Ana

residents. So I have the petition for rent control and there's a lot of great people across the city collecting signatures. So please sign it if you're able to vote in Santa Ana. And also a petition to a referendum for the 2525 North Main Street. So even after you leave, and I know you're not going to get on the OC Board of Supervisors,

we still have a lot of work to do. On regards to the homeless shelter, over the last several years, I have been volunteering, providing meals with different organizations. We helped out the people at the riverbed get into houses, get into showers, getting food and basic services that they were denied, not just by our city, but by the county.

Having another shelter in Santana is not only going to take away services that we are already not providing to the community, but we're not holding accountable the cities that should be providing the cities that have resources to do so. Not just the children in Irvine or Newport, new protection. If anybody needs protection, it's our Santana kids. Because as a teacher, I can tell you that every single one of our students lives with trauma in their homes. And I have been coming up here for years telling you guys begging you city council members come and go and nothing changes in this city

gentrification has its claws wrapped around your neck and your wallet pot dispensaries have their money in your wallet and you have allowed that why not give up some of that money to actually fund affordable housing real affordable housing in our city and as an OC board of supervisors your your campaign is ridiculous. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you.

I believe that was our last speaker so I want to bring it back for a discussion I was able to hear some of this as I was coming in, and I've got things to say as well, but let's go ahead and start with other council members. Who wants to go first? Councilor Peñalosa, please go ahead.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank all the residents that came out to speak today.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay? Y nosotros sabemos la forma de cómo entender. Pero por la mayoría todos hablamos español. Muchas gracias por hablar.

David PenalozaItem —

With that said, you know, it's unfortunate it took this long for a resolution of this type to come before us. For the last year, I, along with the councilwoman, have been yelling from the mountaintops that we need to hold the county accountable and demand they stop dumping their homeless problem on the residents of Santa Ana. A couple months ago, I had an 85 item on the agenda to direct staff to look into data of all the sheriff detainees that are arrested daily in South County and released into our streets the next day. Nobody cared to chime in or support me in forcing the county sheriffs to change their inmate release practices.

David PenalozaItem —

It probably wasn't politically convenient at the time. I am thankful for Councilmember Bacerra, who immediately became the fourth vote we needed to be able to stand up for the residents of our city. It will not surprise me if it is now unanimous. It is election season after all. Pay very close attention because there was zero will from most of the members of this council to do anything. Two of them even stood side by side with Andrew Doe in Judge Carter's courtroom and agreed to the Yale homeless site. The Board of Supervisors keep saying that this was done at the direction of the City of Santa Ana.

David PenalozaItem —

Unfortunately, it was done single-handedly by the previous City Manager at the direction of a minority of this council. We all saw Lisa Bartlett's newsletter stating that she believes South County homeless should be taken to Santa Ana. Just like she apologized to the residents of Irvine for even thinking about bringing homeless to their community, I'd like to call on her to apologize to the residents of Santa Ana. I'm waiting for it. I sat next to her at the OC Business Council dinner, right next to her. She couldn't even look me in the eye.

David PenalozaItem —

So, Board of Supervisors, we're here to call this opposition against your homeless shelter and finally stand up for the residents of Santa Ana.

And I hope that my colleagues agree with me.

David PenalozaItem —

Though, that's all I have to say.

Thank you for those comments. Additional comments? Councilman Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I too want to thank those who came from all over the city tonight to support this resolution. The city of Santa Ana hosts 785 year-round emergency shelter beds, in addition to a 200-bed shelter for folks in the winter. This does not even include the numerous nonprofits that operate in the city that provide varying levels of beds, including Wise Place with 60 and the Salvation Army with 75. As of the fall of 2019, Santa Ana had approximately 1,600 affordable housing units, with an additional 857 more coming down the pipeline.

Phil BacerraItem —

In January 2020 alone, the city's quality of life team had 725 contacts with homeless individuals. 495 of these individuals were not from Santa Ana. That's almost 70%. 230 were from Santa Ana. That's just about 30%. and a whopping 37 accepted a shelter bed in Santa Ana.

Phil BacerraItem —

Meanwhile, where are the plans from the county to spread the wealth, as in to make sure that the South County folks actually have shelter beds or services or facilities of any sorts? The city of Santa Ana, its residents, and its businesses cannot continue to shoulder the disproportionate impacts that the homeless crisis is having in Orange County. while our neighbors to the south do very minimal to address it, if anything at all. There have been questions by various folks to ask whether Santa Ana supports or opposes the shelter. Let me be clear about one thing. This is a county-proposed shelter, not a city-proposed shelter.

Phil BacerraItem —

We already have a 200-bed shelter that the city operates, and the city operates it quite well because if you go to that shelter, you will be hard-pressed to find it because it's operating in such a way you don't have folks hanging out outside. Whereas the courtyard, it's a disaster. And when the county folks come to present to our community and say, we're going to run the Yale Street Shelter much different. Really? They have a chance right now, right this second to do something, and they choose not to. But they want us to believe, yeah, go ahead, you take this. You take this burn.

Phil BacerraItem —

And oh, by the way, this shelter will be for folks from all over Orange County to come in. That is unacceptable for us. Let's see what happens going forward, whether the county will respect our position, because hopefully, as my colleagues have said so far, everybody hopefully up here will be supportive of this. You've heard the community, and hopefully we'll take that stand. But let's see where the county goes from here, because the county took what Irvine said very seriously. They've taken what other cities have said very seriously.

Phil BacerraItem —

And let's see what they say now that Santa Ana stands up and tells them to take their shelter and put it back in South County. Thank you.

Thank you. Additional comments, Councilor José Solorio. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few things. First, I want to thank all the parents that came out and spoke. You are making a difference, so thank you. Thank you very much. And in particular, know that, like for me and I'm sure most of my colleagues, if you want a meeting, we'd be more than happy to address you. We just can't as a quorum, but know that I'm open and willing to attend those meetings. And also, even though the mayor was away, I know that he's also heard about the community's interest in some kind of advisory committee

to involve the community in some of these homeless decisions and strategy, and I think we ought to have a follow-up on that, Mr. Mayor, working with our city managers. I'm a big supporter of that. I know there's a lot of frustration. Believe me, I'm frustrated. and one of the many kids that are impacted is my child who has to walk from Gaudenius to Valley, so this is real for all of us. We've had situations in the past where we had, based on prior decisions, a needle exchange program here right outside of City Hall. I know when Mayor Pro Temo Viegas and I joined the council,

that was one of the first big things that we needed to take care of because it was a big problem for our community. related to that there were literally three four hundred tents right outside of City Hall here in the Plaza the flags that we had to work with the judge and others to get approval to remove them and both those right next to our library and we had hundreds thousands of children and parents exposed to very bad situations at the library so there's been many hurdles up to this point we've been able to overcome them we need to keep overcoming them uh we also you know really at

the urging of the judge you know previously for us to enforce our anti-camping laws there was a lot of insistence from from him and the county that we do something with the county initially wasn't you know the yell i think the staff came up with with that site uh but you know we're not happy about their commitments that they had made they were going to involve us in a lot of things including how this might operate and that never came to fruition, which is why you see us here today again showing opposition to this statement. But I know that they already know that St. Ann doesn't oppose.

They already know that St. Ann opposes this shelter. We really got to do more than this symbolic resolution. I know our legal case still isn't over. We got to beef that up to make a stronger case there. We also have the issue of the jail. that I know Council Member Pinalosa just spoke to. And again, just because they get a letter from us saying, hey, don't do that jail release policy in Santa Ana, they're not going to say, okay, we'll do it differently. We're going to need court action on that and or legislation, and I've started to talk to Senator Umberg and Assembly Member Daly,

and I would encourage you as well because through a state law that can be fixed. And then finally, I know we're focusing a lot on South County, and sure, they need to step up as well. But we have other cities in the first district that are being protected because, you know, the supervisor currently from that area is not from Santa Ana. And so they're perfectly fine putting things in Santa Ana but not putting accountability in the other cities like Fountain Valley, Westminster, Garden Grove. And then in North County, there are other cities that don't have them. Everybody needs to do their fair share.

I do want to you know think you know my colleagues you know new councilman open I mean Sarah that just joined us and councilman pin your loss of her for bringing this forward and it's gonna take a community to take this back you know in the past with other facilities the county has backed off like with Normandy as some years ago that included the supervisor changing position so we also need a continue to put pressure on our current supervisor so that he does the right thing and you know we'll need to work hard to make this happen thank

you thank you uh mayor pro tembe yegas please thank you mr mayor so thank you um councilmember

solorio i still remember you know you brought me back to when we went to the board of supervisors and that same day uh councilmember um iglesias was there with the school board and we went because they were trying to remove the shelter from irvine and we went over there to tell them to keep it in Irvine. Why are they not doing that? But, you know, there wasn't a big crowd. This stuff's been going on for a long time. This thing has developed. The homeless issue has been going on for many, many years. It's a really difficult one to deal with. Every time you do something, someone is suing you.

Some lawyer out there is going to get together with these folks, and next thing you know, they want to make some money. You know, I see the percentage of money that the actual persons they're representing gets, and then the majority goes to the attorneys. It's tough. Some of this stuff is just plain rotten. But same time, I like to look at both sides of the issue when I'm dealing with something. So I start to think, we want to force South County to do something. And by the way, I'm with you on the resolution. Of course. Everyone here is united on this. We want to do something. Problem is you have to look at the other issue.

Can the judge that is in our area force South County to do something? Madam City Attorney, can the judge do that? Judge Carter?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Only if he has jurisdiction over a case.

Only if he has jurisdiction. And guess what? We lost that jurisdiction. That's the reality. So I look at the battles. I'm saying, okay, what are they going to do to us? What are we going to do? I try to strategize when we look at these things. Another thing is, if the county were to build it somewhere else, let's say they build it in Fountain Valley, the shelter. There was no Yale site. Everything's beautiful. Can they force the people that are being sheltered across the street to go over there? Madam City Attorney.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

I don't believe they can force them. Can't force anyone.

That's another thing I think about, because what's going to happen then? So, you know, this is a tough one. We all stand united. Many of us have gone before the board, gone before the public, yada, yada, yada. I remember in 2016 when I was running, I was working out here in the Civic Center where there was a sea of homeless folks out here. I know because I was working right in the middle of it. And I didn't see anyone out here complaining about the kids going through the homeless right there on Ross. And this is across the street. I mean, there was a few, but I mean, not like now, not like today. This is my ward.

I own this. This is a top priority. I ran on this. And then you walk in that back room, and then you realize the legalities that you're facing. And the politics. and who's doing what next thing you know you're stuck and then we have to get unstuck and then we're back this is tough we're all united here i support this does it have any teeth it just shows our stance and like council member solorio said we'll have to figure else we have to figure something else out there's more but can the county do what they want without our permission madam city attorney is that correct can they do what they want without our permission

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

we think they may be able to use their land use powers yeah you got to think about these things

so it's not as you know simple as we all think yeah we can all you know come out and be united on this and i'd love it but believe me are those guys at the board going to listen it's tough let's stay united let's see what we can come up with next and uh you know i support the resolution

Thank you, Councilmember Vince Sarmiento. Have you already spoken, Phil? Yeah, you have. Go ahead and jump in if you've got something to say.

Phil BacerraItem —

Just real quickly, thank you, Councilmember Sarmiento. One thing I'm hearing tonight is that past councils didn't do enough, or that there wasn't the action that the community wanted regarding this issue. Well, it's 2020. We need to start moving the ball forward. We can't complain about moving the ball backwards. Okay? You've got seven of us up here now, and as one of my colleagues mentioned earlier, we've got a tipping point where there is a bigger push to do something. Okay? So now I ask you, I implore you all to please support us. Support us in these actions. Okay? You don't have to like each and every one of us individually.

Phil BacerraItem —

As a city council, though, with this resolution, it puts in place our position, our official position. There's no more questioning it from the county.

Phil BacerraItem —

All right. And I know that it's been seen as a symbolic resolution. No, this resolution puts in the ground what our official position is. So I don't see it as purely symbolic. Do I think we need to do more than just a resolution? Absolutely. But we've got to start somewhere. And I think right now we just need to figure out where exactly we are. And I think hopefully by the end of tonight, you'll see seven folks united supporting this resolution, hopefully supporting subsequent action to the effect. Thank you.

Councilman Sarmiento, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And so we've been here before, right? This isn't the first time that this has happened to us. Somebody mentioned Normandy. So that was a pretty valiant effort that many of you near Cornerstone Mini put up the fight. Remember, that Normandy site was very close to Kennedy Elementary School, very close to Century High School. and the county could have put that shelter there if it wanted to. They had purchased it already. They had land use rights. But I remember the one county meeting that they had or the one town hall meeting that they had was on a Friday, July 3rd,

on a long weekend where nobody showed up and they said that they had complied with their notice. So there was a big outcry from the community. We had about 450 members show up to a county-led town hall. And so this can be done. It can be done outside the legislative process, outside the judicial process. As you know, people were bused in from Irvine to prevent that site from being used. So I think what folks listen to most is voices. And when your voice is as loud as others, they have to listen. And so my position on this has been clear. Since 2016, when I came out with an article that was in the Voice of OC,

when I questioned the money that the county was receiving, they're the vested agency responsible for social services. They're obligated. They receive money from the federal government, from the Housing Urban Development Department, to the tune of the $11 million a year to deal with this stuff. And the court's clerk, when they were going through this case, found that the county had not spent close to $300 to $500 million that should have been spent on these services, whether it's mental health, whether it's shelters, whether it's any other sort of supportive services and they didn't so we wouldn't be in this

mess if they had spent that money and used it wisely and yeah I think there's a lot of cities that unfortunately are complicit in this I do want to say not all of them are you know burying their head in the sand because if you look at Anaheim you look at Fullerton Orange they are trying to do something they are part of the solution so we can't paint everybody with a broad brush but I do think that I've never supported another shelter here in the city because I don't see other cities stepping up. There's 34 of us. And even though we have a lot of the centers,

whether it's the services that are federal, state, and county, we shouldn't be the ones that bear the entire burden. We're not going to discontinue helping, but I do think that we have to make sure that until others step up, we shouldn't allow that. Any other shelters here. And that's the stand that I've taken. It's been consistent. Going back to Normandy and before, my op-ed was clear on where I stand. So to the extent that others are willing to go down this path, look, I went and stared Andrew Doe in the face. He wasn't happy. He wasn't happy that I told him. Not only did I not

want shelters, but I didn't want the mental health facility, which is the only one in the county. And it's here in Santa Ana. And all the impacts that it has, we have to absorb. So to the extent that this is symbolic, it's not a binding document. It does at least clarify, because we had the CEO of the county come here and say you guys wanted it here well this obviously shows that some of us

have a different opinion thank you thank you uh councilman iglesias thank you i just want to thank

everyone for being here today and voicing your concerns and opposition to this shelter and for also being very supportive of my my stance on this issue i have been very involved with opposing the homeless shelters and needle exchange program here in Santa Ana even on my years when I was on this on the school board because I believe our families our students matter in our residents matter and unfortunately you know I was on the school on the school board unfortunately on the school board we were all together on this but we would never see our council prior council being

supportive of what we were doing so I just want to thank you guys for for being here and voicing your concerns because it's going to take all of us together to make this happen. I just want to say that Council Member Peñalosa and I have been the strongest opposition to this shelter from this entire council. It's been about 18 months. I had repeatedly asked all of my colleagues to attend Board of Supervisors meeting with me, and I was very disappointed that no one ever bothered to show up from city staff to these Board of Supervisors meetings. So in a way, the county would say, you know what, they're letting it happen.

It's been a fight. I have done videos with my commissioners and community members to expose the state of emergency that we are living in here in Santa Ana. Many residents and businesses had expressed their concerns to the prior council and some current council members, but nothing had been done. Unfortunately, because of our differences on the homeless dumping, Supervisor Andrew Doe and myself have parted ways. except for Councilmember Peña Losa.

Except for Councilmember Peña Losa, I strongly believe that my colleagues on this council and the mayor don't understand the challenges we face as a city because of the homeless dumping, and I honestly believe they don't care because this shelter is not in their backyard. This resolution, as everyone has been said, is just symbolic. There is nothing here saying that we will prohibit the county from building this facility. I know we can stop it if we want to because where there's a will, there's a way. Can we make them accountable to the zoning restrictions that the city has in itself,

which the zoning restriction says that we have a charter, a section in our charter that says, where permitted any emergency shelter for homeless or multi-service center for homeless shall comply with the following. That's section 41-1201. Occupancy, a maximum of 30 beds or persons may be served nightly, with associated support services not too open to the public. One multi-service center may be permitted in the city of Santa Ana, allowing a minimum of 150 beds or persons may be served nightly and a maximum of 200. So why are we allowing the county to do 425?

That is something that we need to, as a city, be more proactive. This resolution is just one of those feel-good gestures where this council can say, we tried. This is the attitude that has gotten us this far. Let's send a stronger message to the county and tell them that the buck stops here. But nothing will happen because right now is election season, and everyone wants to look good to their donors. The building of this shelter site is a money-making deal for a lot of people. Mayor Pulido, with all due respect, will you be willing to stand up to the Irvine investors and say no more dumping in Santa Ana?

Yes.

Will you be willing to look for another site outside of Santa Ana for the county?

Yes.

I believe you and Mr. Former Mayor Dunyang were the ones who found the Yale site for this county, for the county, so I'm hoping that you do stand on your word. But unfortunately, in March of 2019, you committed to providing 700 beds to homeless from all over the county during Judge Carter meetings. And unfortunately, you know, Council Member Solorio has stayed quiet for the last two years. You have guys been okay with purchasing that site because we have a letter from our prior city manager that the only reason he can send this out is if the council majority would approve it.

So, like I said, this shelter is only some, I mean, this resolution is only symbolic. And Council Member Bacera, unless you're physically willing to sit outside in front of supervisor's office and the shelter site, the resolution means nothing.

So what I challenge is this entire council, the mayor, to help me oppose AB 109, one which Council Member Solorio was supportive, Prop 47 and Prop 57, with a letter to the state legislators to support the chief of police to oppose this legislation that has made the homeless and transient issues in our city impossible and a complete waste of our hardworking residents' resources. So I'm hoping that we do more because there's no teeth to this resolution, but I know we could do it together and we could really take it up to the state if we wanted to do something. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Registro.

Thank you. I believe that there is money that the county has not used to help this problem. 300 to 500 million has been a number that's been mentioned. I've heard numbers that are even larger than that. There's CalOptima. It's a $3 billion entity annual budget. They have money, some of which could be used to address this problem, and basically it's not being done. And if you look at other supposed solutions, they've just all been bad for Santa, I believe. And look, we've worked with a judge. We've tried to work with everybody.

But every time we get the wrong end of the stick, let me give you a couple examples. We had about 700 people sleeping on the riverbed not too long ago. A couple years ago, they were all out there. Guess what? They started taking them off the riverbed, but they came really into Santa Ana. A lot of those homeless that were out there now came here. The Civic Center. Civic Center was really bad. But guess what? it got cleaned up but not really because it moved over you know to the courtyard and moved you know to our city streets and neighborhoods so every time it's like a beanbag or something you push

something here go somewhere else but it's not a comprehensive solution that's what we need and then when you have cities like in south county we recently sued you know dana point San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, and the reason was they were talking about putting people in cards and bringing them here to Santa Ana to sleep. Supposedly, you'll sleep in the daytime they were going to go back. Guess what? If they bring them here, they're not going back. So we sued them, and then they said, okay, we're not going to do that. We're watching, but we have to do that every single time. We have to stand up for the city and push them back.

Otherwise, they will dump on us. And there's a lot of other things that are going on right now that we have to just call the county on, such as mental health services on South Main Street. Somebody mentioned the shelter that we have over on Warren and Red Hill. You can't even tell it's there. But the mental health service facility, you can tell it's there. Why? Because people come and then they stay and they beat up the city every single time. So that's why I think the ultimate statement, the ultimate thing to do is to put it on the line, and that's what I'm doing.

And that's why, as I look to this election that's before us, I believe I'm taking the problem on directly, which is we need a solution at the county because the county will care more about other people in other parts of the county than they care about us and this community and Santa Ana. Even though we're the largest city in the first district, I don't think that we're the one that is best cared for in the first district. So I am happy to support this resolution. And I agree that if we all work together, maybe we can move the ball forward. But it's not easy.

There are forces that will push against us. But, you know, we have no choice. I know the thing I talk to my colleagues and the city manager most about is the homeless. It's like a broken record. I go to my dad's house. He lives around Fairview and First Street. I come home just driving down First Street between Fairview and Flower. I can't know how many homeless I see. And typically it's 10 to 20 every single time. And then I call the chief. I say, can't we pick them up? Can't we do something? Even if they're not breaking a law, I want us to be in their face. I want us to say, you know, what are you doing?

And if they're doing anything bad, arrest them, take them off the streets, protect our city, protect the community. It's never been this bad. It's never been this bad. And so we have to be more aggressive as we push back. so with that I'd like to allow you know councilman Iglesias and whoever would like to make a motion for this resolution and and to take a vote yeah

I have one comment go ahead mr. mayor just to clarify something because you know we can all have our opinions on who's who's done what and again really what matters here is the community the community being part of the solution but it's never good to give out misinformation on important things either for our city manager or city attorney the issue of our ordinance or charter and whether we can legally ourselves you know laterally stop the county from building something like this can you speak to that general question and then also inform our colleagues about uh

sovereign immunity that that the county has on land use real quick so i think there are two issues

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

that you need to be mindful of one is our SB 2 ordinance which regulates attempts to regulate homeless shelters and the section that was read by our council member regulations is correct that is the regulation that applies to homeless shelters the issue at play and one that I think needs to be reviewed and how it plays out I can't as I've told you before guarantee the outcome of that but the issue is whether the county which is an arm of the state of California must comply with a city's zoning and ordinances do they have to comply when they're carrying out a county function so we know that when the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

county for example might be building a hospital they can build that hospital because they are charged under state laws to be in charge of building hospitals and providing those medical services and we do know that there is some law that says that they don't have to comply with our with our zoning or building requirements the issue of whether a county building a homeless shelter would enjoy that same protection is untested it's not one that has has been before court before but some of that law that applies to that hospital scenario might apply here as as we have arguments that they must we've argued

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

many times that the kids of the county's responsibility so I as I told you many times before I don't enjoy providing this type of legal analysis in public but you've asked the question and we have done some research and you know we've advised you on what we think the possible outcome might be so this is not an issue of whether our zoning prohibits it or not the question is whether the county has the authority to preempt that zoning

David PenalozaItem —

just a quick question so madam city attorney so we could always challenge if it hasn't been tested before we could always be the first to challenge it and

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

one of the other things I'd like to point out yes and as you might recall we've had some discussions and we pointed out to you some various issues you might recall as to if you were going to pursue this challenge what are some of the other things that we might look at you might recall that we have looked into that this may be another area and city and i've been reminded also that at least in another city the county um has used its preemption authorities to

come in and to place their shelter all right i think we've all made comment uh did we have a motion earlier before I got here? I'll entertain a motion. Council Member Becerra? Thank you,

Phil BacerraItem —

Mr. Mayor. I would like to make a motion that we adopt a resolution declaring the City of Santa Ana's opposition to the County of Orange's construction and operation of a homeless shelter on Yale Street and anywhere else in Santa Ana until the County of Orange is operating a proportional amount of shelter beds in the South Service Planning Area as exists in the Central

and North Service Planning Areas. I'll second. Okay, those in favor, please press green.

Are we back to the consent calendar?

No, we're at 55A.

Which is next item?

55A is the next item. 55A, okay.

We are done with consent.

I would entertain a motion on item 55A. So move. I'll second. Is there any discussion of that? Go ahead, Councillor Iglesias.

For this one, Madam City Attorney, my question is, what exactly is it that we're doing? Is it just something just updating because we have to, or why are we back dealing with this again?

Under state code involving the pension system, CalPERS requires every contracting public agency to publicly post and make easily available in one place all of your employee classifications and their pay assignments. So this is setting forth that formal resolution to put that information forward to comply with state code.

Okay, but it's not changing anything that we're giving you?

You're not making any changes to pay rates. We're just consolidating and incorporating the changes that were previously approved as part of contracts that you approved by a separate motion.

And this is just going to make it easier for people to find information, or what is this?

So typically what CalPERS will do when any public employee retires, they'll verify what the earnings are against that publicly available schedule, and CalPERS could question the earnings of an employee if it doesn't match to what the public schedule states.

Okay, thank you. I'll move it.

Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second? Those in favor, or any opposition? Is it unanimous? We'll just move on. no opposition okay unanimous no that's used mayor if we could please use the voting board nobody else does by the way I'm gonna take you to an OCTA meeting

I am I'm gonna take her we don't do it there we don't do it at a QMD all right Next item.

55B.

Is there a motion on this item?

Move. I'll second it. Those who have been pressed green. Next item is Act 55C.

That is correct.

There's a resolution amending parking permit requirement for Flower Park. We have one speaker. Alfredo Rodriguez. Come on down, please, sir.

Good evening. I'm just, I lived there for 15 years already, and we have the same problem because of the apartments around the area. We can never, if we get home after 5 o'clock, even 4.30, 4 o'clock, we can never find a parking space. So you're in favor of this? Yes, I'm in favor even to make it 24 hours, you know. And also, if I can suggest getting more than two permits, because I have a couple sons. we only get two permits per house housing so you know my sons can't really find parking either so we get two so we're trying to see if we can suggest to get maybe either two more can I ask you to work with a city manager on that I

got we have to make sure it's well managed but she's our city manager so she'll manage it so just work with her on that specific okay well how do I get in and touch with just walk over there she'll give you her number right thank Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Solorio.

Mr. Mayor, I am supportive of this item, but I just want to make sure that staff will be equally open to other neighborhood associations that have similar amendments to their programs, because it's one thing for one neighborhood to receive an action like this from the dais, and we just need to be equally open to other neighborhoods.

I think it's staff, but it's also the council. Councilmember, we have to be open. And if we are, we'll direct staff. but thank you for that so we have a motion I believe we have a second those in favor press green okay next item would that be 55 D is in David correct I would entertain a motion so move second those in favor press green

68, fiscal year 2022 community block grant program, total amount of $7,560,549.

Roberto Santana, followed by Luis Mendez, followed by Jenny Rios, and Juan Torres.

Good evening, Mayor Polito, Councilmembers, City staff. My name is Robert Santam, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the impact of the Boys and Girls Club and specifically the impact of your investment back into the community through CDBG funds. I understand the responsibility that you bear to invest public funds back into the community, and I'm sure that I speak on behalf of the other organizations that benefit through CDBG. and our appreciation that you're investing in the mission of these organizations. I first want to start off by sharing that I'm a product of Santa Ana,

and I celebrate this year my 15th year serving at the helm of the Boys and Girls Club. Several of you are very familiar with our mission and the work that we do in the community. In addition to the work we do at our main Boys and Girls Club that was renovated in 2013, providing all the kids that attend this program with access to 3D printers and robotics and engineering programs and entrepreneurship programs. We also have a partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District that leverages the resources and the expertise of the Boys and Girls Club

onto every elementary school campus, every middle school campus, and every high school campus here in the city of Santa Ana, ensuring that we are serving almost 10,000 kids across this entire city at almost 60 sites. Specifically, your investment through CDBG into the Boys and Girls Club will support our College Bound Initiative, which is in its sixth year. We have a 100% graduation rate with this initiative, and 100% of our students leave this program with a plan for their future. This last year, we graduated just in Santa Ana. 104 of our graduates were accepted into a four-year

university, 67 into a two-year university, and one into military service. But 100% of these graduates left the Boys and Girls Club through College Bound into these programs this last year.

Thank you very much. If you can conclude, because the light is red. Great. Thank you very much.

And we're at a quorum.

Yes, thank you.

So we're just going to wait until we get a council member back. Just one, Christine, if they have other things to do. you have to disrupt them

alright we have four Peña Loza is here so our next speaker Robert Santana I believe or I just spoke Luis Mendez he spoke very well Juan Torres

good evening Mayor City Council members on behalf of the lamp ago that cielo we just would like to thank you in advance for your consideration in our CBDG grant for political dance instruction we would like to continue another 45 years and expand our services to children especially low to moderate income students so thank you again for your support thank you Miss Jenny Rios good evening mayor council members yeah I think you guys know me I just I'm here on behalf of Delhi Center those of you

who know are who are familiar with Delhi Center you know that we've had our ups and downs over the year over the years and a few years ago we were on a downswing. We, the staff and I though together with the residents, our volunteers and seniors and teens, we've worked really hard to improve things at Dalhousie Center and I'm glad to say that we finally are around that corner now and now we're on an upswing. And we have really worked on defining our programs and services at Delhi Center and CDBG funding has helped us do that.

It has helped us to really focus in on making sure that residents in Santa Ana are fulfilling their financial stability dreams, that they are able to make ends meet. We are working with two specific programs with CDBG that we'd like you to support. Our FES program, which is our Family Economic Success Initiative, we're helping families to save money, to increase their income, to reduce their debt, and to reduce their dependence on predatory lending services. Our TEL program, our teens engaged in learning and leadership, we're working with our teens to teach them how to work, basically. They are doing the

work at Delhi Center. They are learning skills that they are applying in making meaningful contributions to the community. They're learning how to work, and in fact, we recently hired one of our teen graduates and we're looking forward to hiring some more for our summer programs we are asking that you fully fund our two those two CDBG programs either through CDBG or through other funding sources so that we can continue to serve the families in Santa Ana to help them reach their economic stability goals and I'm going to turn it over to Juan he's our next speaker and

he's actually our teen graduate who now is an employee at Dalai Center so yeah Yeah, start this time over. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Jenny. I already called.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. I was a teen in the at Del High's TEL program. I learned a lot of things, like how to work on my resume, how to work in the front desk, which I am now, what I do now, as well as how to better talk on the phone with customers. I was at the time while I was in the TEL program I was working at Jack in the Box

and going throwing sorry um being in the TEL program I got an opportunity to be part of the Del High staff once I was done with the program. Thank you I heard about you by the way so thank you very much. And I just want to also thank the commissioners and thank you all for giving us the time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck to you. John Magana, Jonathan Magana,

Obainati Alvarado, and then Lucy Santana.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Jonathan Magana. I live in the Delhi neighborhood, and I've been a part of the TIL program that's offered here at Delhi Center since April 2019, so almost a year. Some aspects of the program that I found valuable to me have been the classroom trainings I provided there, which go over many skills, but some of which are leadership skills, working skills, along with time management. I find the program to be significant, not only because they teach us the skills, but also because they give us opportunities to work within the community and also to help the surrounding areas.

and we are also given opportunities to interact with various populations that come to Delhi Center. And we would like to ask you to support the Delhi program so that we could also give other teens just like us the opportunity to become productive Santa Ana residents and also just have a better future for all of us. I'd like to thank you all for listening.

Thank you, Jonathan. Mr. Nati Alvarado. Pastor Nati.

Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Nati Alvarado, and I'm the Executive Director with Neutral Ground, Nati's House. I want to, first of all, thank you for the support that you've given us to be able to work with our students and our individuals, our young people and young adults in the city with our gang interventions work that we've been doing as we're connected with some we work within the high schools. and we actually have an elementary school also here in the city we're working with. I want to ask regarding our Summer Night Lights program this year that you guys would consider, and us doing it again.

We did it for the last two years in the Artisa Pilar community, and we were able to service each year over 1,500 individuals, and within the months of July going into August, the crime also within that area had gone down. We were able to bring families into the park. They would have never got to know each other. So just basically I just want you to know that, you know, if you guys would please consider once again with all the investment that you guys already did with it for the last two years that you invested into Summer Night Lights, we would possibly be able to continue to do it there at El Salvador Park. Thank you.

Thank you, Nati. Next speaker, last speaker is Lucy Santana.

Good evening. So I am wearing my other hat. So I am the CEO for Girls Inc. of Orange County, and I've actually just started my 21st year previous to being with Girls Inc. I actually worked for the city of Santa Ana for about nine and a half years. So I'm a lifelong resident of Santa Ana, very proud of the opportunity that Girls Inc. had to apply for CDBG funding. We're really pleased and honored that we are being recommended for the amount that we are. We will be doing an early literacy program for girls in kindergarten through third grade. As we know, it is very important for girls to be able to read at grade level because

once they hit fourth grade, they need to read to be able to learn. And if they're not reading and they're not proficient, they're not going to. So we're really looking forward to be able to serve girls and their families through the After School Engage 360 program. So we want to thank you for your time and thank you for your consideration of funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Lucy. And that is the last speaker, Mr. Mayor.

Is there any council members that would like to speak?

Council Member Iglesias.

If I may.

I know that we're, that this goes, I believe the process is this goes before the community and housing, the commission.

And, but there's some providers or some organizations out in our community that have applied for this two years in a row that I am aware of. and they haven't come as one of the ones being selected. So my question is, what's the selection criteria? What is it that you guys look at? And the one, and I'm going to say it publicly, the one that I've been noticing that never makes it is the Boy Scouts. And I know they provide good services here to our kids in our community of Santa Ana.

so I'm wondering why is it that they never make the cut so I would like to see what is it the criteria that the staff uses in order for them to provide the amount to these organizations and these organizations are great they do a lot of good work for our community but I'm just wondering about why the Boy Scouts never make it and I know that they've submitted their proposals certainly

councilmember our executive director of community development can discuss your correct it's the Commission that does they receive a presentation from each one of the applicants and they're making the recommendation for you tonight so this is what they are recommending but he can explain the criteria they used to

evaluate but my understanding is that they never make it even to the Commission so why is it that I mean who's screening them before they gets to

the Commission well everyone goes to the Commission the Boy Scouts did not file an application this year for a two-year funding opportunity this year I would list of all the applicants that did receive funds and are recommending funds and have not received funds and Boy Scouts are not on that list the criteria is set out in our process I can get the detailed criteria for you the scoring the the Commission meets as a body to have presentations from each of the applicants the applicants come to this very room present to the full body then the Commission had a subcommittee that looked at the applications and then

they return to the full body of the Commission to render and score make recommendations and those recommendations are forwarded to you tonight the one difference this year is it's a two-year recommendation to allow more certainty to these applicants for year two of their funding it's hard to ramp up a program and then take it down the the same year so what we're doing is recommending a two-year cycle this year for them I know last year I had asked

for outcomes and how these services are providing a benefit to our youth and to our community. Is that something that we're tracking? Is that part of the RFP, how many they're supposed to serve? I mean, what's the benefit?

Absolutely. Because this is federal dollars, these are people who are probably scrutinized more than they want to be. They are scrutinized at a level of checking the income of the participants in the program because they have to be low to moderate income residents. So someone like Natty is burdened with becoming a specialist in CDBG funds. Right, Natty? And so our expectations are that they pass our test and then, of course, pass the test when we're audited by the federal government.

So is income-based in order for them to receive these services?

Most CDBG funds are developed for low-income census tract areas. And if you have not an assumed group, like seniors, seniors are an assumed group to be low income. Or you test it by census track. If it doesn't pass the census track, you test it by attendees in a program. There's three ways to test it.

But say like for the youth services, that's also income-based in order for them to participate? Because what Pastor Nati was saying about like the night, you know, the night, what's it called, the summer night out.

how how do you know who's who I mean I thought it's just it's an invitation to the entire community well you just just now he has to screen his participants he

knows I mean we we and we screen Nattie's records so we we set the expectations for a recipient like Nadi Nadi I'm sorry I'm using you as a recommend as an example but you're here but he has to become a specialist to enforce the regulations that we're going to enforce on him and he knows it he knows the burden it is it's not easy to use these funds every every recipient of it knows how hard it is that's why we wanted to make it a two-year process to make it a little more free-flowing and the assurances that that money would be

there in year two but if someone that's not income eligible are they turned away

not necessarily not necessarily because of the census tract but around the country community development block grants are to serve low to moderate income residents or low to moderate income neighborhoods okay thank you

David PenalozaItem —

customer paya-losa thank you mr. mayor pro tem thank you steven for that and I just wanted to add to to councilwoman iglesia's questions or or more just information for I've cuz cuz I personally was able to attend some of the summer night lights last summer a couple of them I think and yeah it is an open invitation to a low-income community but I've seen the work that they do and how they have each they they have people walking around with forms and making sure that people fill out these forms

David PenalozaItem —

to know who is participating in these events and whatnot and I just for a little background info speaking with some of the directors at the illumination foundation a couple years ago they applied for CDBG money they received like 60 grand and the following year they I asked Maria is going to apply for it and they said no that it was too much it wasn't worth their the 60 grand that they got that they were nitpicked until every penny to see where it was getting allocated where it was spent and they said that it wasn't worth the time or the trouble so I mean that

David PenalozaItem —

just goes to show that that they are we are doing a good job and making sure that these dollars are used appropriately to where they're supposed to. And I'm happy for all the participants that applied. And just for a – I know you mentioned the Boy Scouts of America. Just for a – I would be careful, I guess, now, because I think today they filed for bankruptcy or whatnot. It was all over the news today for other reasons. So you should be careful of giving money to who, just anybody that applies.

David PenalozaItem —

But with that said, I would like to make a motion to continue this item for two weeks. Maybe bring it back to the next. I'll second that.

You want to second that? So we have a motion and a second from Councilman. And Councilman Rosaloti, do you have comments?

Yes. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor Patim, and thank you, Councilman Peñalosa.

yeah typically we have a hearing and so this time we kind of had a little bit of an informal hearing and then we'll take time to deliberate and follow up with staff so a two-week continuous is very appropriate I do have one question to staff if Mr. Rendleson doesn't mind coming up and reading the process a lot of it is is very similar but I think I read something about an ad hoc committee and I'm not sure if there was an ad hoc committee that reviewed the apps in the past is that a new yeah that is a new system

where they were a couple of them volunteered to look at the applications

so so no one else on that Commission read and rated the applications Judson

did they all right okay all of them heard the presentations at the beginning at the first Commission where they were all present only two or three did the

rating and then the ratings that and that's why for me some of it came back a little bit different than typically right expect who were the two or three that were on that ad hoc if we remember come on up hold on let me get my staff I'm sorry mr. Judson Brown and as he's coming up maybe you can answer the more general question of does a two-week continuance okay that doesn't create any

process problems for you no that doesn't at all sir okay very good Johnson you want to provide the names of the ad hoc yes yes sir it was Jim Perez

Commissioner Garcia and Commissioner no I'm sorry Commissioner Santana and then

Commissioner Aguinaga on the on the ad hoc committee and then and then finally I do want to suggest with the summer night lights program and I don't know if there was more than one group that applied for that but I do feel that that was a program that for the past two years the City Council and the city wanted to invest in so we built it up with a lot of success no real issues you know great participation as councilmember Pinalosa said so for us to go from two programs to zero it seems a little bit problematic to me the Del High Center in addition to the good work they all saw like a whole site for a lot

of other groups so they indirectly support groups other than that and then And the senior serve Meals on Wheels. I know that with costs of food and gas and everything going up, that if we could do a little bit more for that group, that would be helpful. But I think this two-week period for us to review and provide additional suggestions and talk to staff would be well worth our time. Thank you.

Councilmember Salorio, I'm glad you mentioned that about the senior citizens and the lunches. I've got to take this back and have the staff look at it again. So if you approve, go ahead and push green. The two-week extension. Two-week continuance.

We've got Mr. Mayor and Mr. Benian-Losa coming up. This is a two-week continuance on the CDBG.

Yeah. I made the motion, sir. So he gets the vote.

If he hurries.

Thank you. Mr. Nesha.

Are we on 65A?

That is correct.

I would entertain a motion. We have one speaker, Chris Schmidt. Come on down, Chris.

Mayor and City Council members, as a commissioner on the Environmental and Transportation Advisory Committee, I just wanted a quick reminder of the condition of our city roads that need to be repaired. I believe at the last city council meeting there was an agenda item where we were removing a concrete street and putting in asphalt because we couldn't afford to replace it with concrete. And I believe the council meeting before that we discussed how much money is needed and looking at issuing bonds against future gas tax revenue. I'm seeing here six million dollars of surplus that we could probably use to

fix our city streets I'm not saying all six million has to go out I I support the two positions we need to hire but why aren't we setting aside 50% of this money to fix our city roads and streets so again just take that into consideration we do have money available it's just about prioritizing it and setting that money aside so take that into consideration when considering how you're going to appropriate this money tonight. Have a nice night. Thank you. This is a receiving file. Motion to approve. We have motion. We have a second. I'll second it. Those in favor, press green.

Can we get our city attorney back? I think next item is 65B. I know there I just was over there just told me to tell her and council member sarmiento as well

and councilor sarmiento

vince if you're there we're taking up 65b

yeah

All right, we have some speakers. Let's hear the speakers. We'll go from there. Mike, Mike Tardif, Gisela Contreras, and Carlo Bonani. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Concerning the recall election and the political organization funding it, the head of the powerful Santa Ana Police Union and their dirty political tricks hit squad wouldn't know the truth if it slapped him in the face. Seeing union leader Jerry Serrano push this recall and accuse Councilmember Iglesias of lying is unsurprising. It's just part of the baggage.

He has made a series of unfounded comments, complaints against her, which neutral legal experts have declared groundless. Among his many untruthful claims, the most blatant may be that his effort to remove her from her position on the Santa Ana City Council is not about a contract vote over a year ago. Rather, she is unfit and her behavior illicit. In fact, Serrano's campaign to remove Cecilia from office is only about that contract. Here are the facts.

Last year, Serrano demanded that the Santa Ana City Council approve a $25 million pay hike for police. On the night of February 6, 2019, when the pay hike came to a vote of the council, she said no. Her reason was simple. We can't pay what we don't have. Looking at the city's already high taxes and massive public debt, among the worst in California, she could do nothing else. She was outvoted that night, and the pay hike sailed through. Please remember that. Remember when Serrano and other city union leaders demand that we raise sales and property taxes in Santa Ana,

or begin massive cuts in staffing and services to save Santa Ana from bankruptcy. Serrano's mad race for higher salaries for police is raising the cost of living in Santa Ana. That sort of greed separates our families every day as parents work more than two jobs to pay for hikes in the sales tax, in higher rents and taxes. The city's taxpayers pay Serrano more than $355,000 annually in salary and benefits. The union leader who is pushing this recall is being paid by the taxpayers of Santa Ana to recall the council member who the taxpayers elected.

Jerry Serrano has dumped buckets of cash into a campaign to recall council member Iglesias. He has spent more than $300,000 working for her recall. This includes paying bounties to untruthful petition signature gatherers. This union-pushed recall will cost Santa Ana residents and taxpayers over $700,000, money that could be better spent fixing our crumbling roads and upkeeps of city parks. Council Member Iglesias is defending all Santa Ana residents, not just those with good political connections at City Hall.

She will leave it up to the good judgment of the voters of Santa Ana to determine who is looking out for their best interests. Thank you. Thank you. I believe I already called Gisela Contreras and followed by Carlo.

Carlo, come on down. I think Gisela took off.

Mayor, Pro Tem Mayor and Council. So here we are going to have a special election to recall a City Council member. Okay. And there's a lot of people out there. And I'm going to mention to all you City Council members that we are going to get a petition to change the Santa Ana Police Department to the Sheriff's Department. because if their union boss wants to spend their hardcore union money that you guys, actually the citizens of Santa Ana, pay for, and they cry about it and they complain about it, then it's time to change. Because years ago there were city council members that wanted to change the police department to the sheriffs,

and we backed up Rojas, the old chief. And so now we've got to change it because it's ridiculous, the lies that are going out there. A lot of people don't remember when the crack cocaine hit Santa Ana in 1987-86, up there by 17th and 17th Street. Maybe a lot of you guys weren't born or been around or were still in high school.

Walters told his men, we're not going to let the city go like South Central, South LA, Long Beach. He put them there. And even back then, they were looking to get a raise. And it didn't happen. But until they cramped down on it, like in 93, 94, just before the World Cup, the boys got a raise. They did their job. Okay? And like I said, I don't know how this union boss is to spend his union people's money. A lot of guys in other parts of the city, they call him the Jimmy Hoffa Jr. from the Irishman. And it's pretty sad to hear the police union boss be called Jimmy Hoffa Jr. But it's going to happen.

Maybe the city has to change around. And the last thing I want to talk about, which I forgot in the other one, Mayor Pro Tem Polito, go talk to the mayor of San Diego what they're doing with their homeless people down there. He spent $11 to $12 million of their money, and they only have three choices. Go to the homeless shelter that they're providing for them, which is a FIFA center, okay, or move it, or they get picked up. And you know how they're making their money back? Most of the people down there have outstanding bench warrants for their arrest. They're hiding. It's the same thing here.

I just bought a guy dinner at Norm's last week, right after I got done working up in L.A. He's from Dallas, Texas. Dallas, Texas gave him bus money and money to come to Orange County. They'll take care of you. So that's where they're coming. You've got to look at the other cities. The city of Mary says, what do we got to lose? This is what this city has to do. That will help the homeless people. And the other is down on Main Street. Some little old lady down there is renting three warehouses down there for all the homeless people down there. That's the reason why you don't see them at nighttime.

But you'll see them in the daytime come out, like they're all fresh, ready to go and everything else. They're inside their own little shelter down there. You guys don't even know that. I don't know where they're at because I'm not going in through those warehouses there without carrying a weapon. Okay? And like I said, I hope the Union police say like they were going to do. They're already on the rail line from Harbor going down to Delhi. And like I said, if some of the old guys from Delhi were around, it wouldn't happen. Thank you, Carl. You're welcome. Okay, I believe that's it on this item.

I'll bring it to council for discussion and consideration.

Any comments?

I'll start off. I'll start off final support. So I'm a hard no.

Any other comments? Mr. Mayor? Yes.

Phil BacerraItem —

Just a point of clarification. Is this a discretionary item other than possibly setting a date?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

No. If the city council only has two options this evening, you can take action tonight and accept the city clerk's certificate, and you can then therefore call an election, or you can wait for two weeks. The state law says you have up to 14 days to call the election. If the City Council fails to call the election within that 14-day period, then the county would be the one to step in and call that election. So this is not discretionary. You have ministerial duty to call the election.

Thank you.

So just for the record, we could accept the petition or the information from the clerk, but not set an election today and still do so in two weeks. Okay.

Additional thought or comment?

David PenalozaItem —

Councillor Peñalosa please. Yeah just to get it over with I'd just like to make motion to approve option one and just set an election date.

Well actually Mr. Mayor I'm curious what you have to have a date though. Do you propose a date?

So just to be clear first we have to adopt the resolution and so that includes everything and adoption adopting the resolution accepting certificate of verification from the county and also from the clerk and then there's approving appropriation adjustment and then there's an option one or two just to be

David PenalozaItem —

clear so just to be clear it's state law is either we decide right now or the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

county decides for us in two weeks no um you the City Council a have to do what the City Clerk is mentioning there's a resolution to accept the certificate she's presenting to the council that there were sufficient number of signatures under the recall law. You have to do that this evening. She's presenting that to you.

David PenalozaItem —

Why don't we do that as a separate motion? So what happens if we don't? Is this the county decides?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

If you don't set the election, which is a separate action, so there's three actions that they're asking you to take, accept the certificate, make an appropriation for an election, and either set the election tonight, choose a date tonight, or wait and in two weeks choose a date if you do not choose a date in two weeks

David PenalozaItem —

that's when the county would step in and choose a date for you so so so well we're still gonna be on the hook for this that's the problem so so I guess the the date so option approve option one with and you got a set an election that you said and that would be any other dates recommended by the city clerk on the second attachment right so May 19 so that is are you including also

the adoption of the resolution accepting the certification from the county and the clerk and also the approving appropriation adjustments or did you

David PenalozaItem —

want to do it all in one or did you want to separate that's your option one right

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

yeah no ma'am clarification I think the mayor was on to something here yes I think that you might be well advised to just take up action on item number one and put that aside because what that is, the city clerk is presenting to you her certification of the certificate. She's telling you that once you get that out of the way, then you can have a conversation about the election and when you want to do it tonight or wait for two weeks. Correct. November is a good day.

So, Mr. Mayor, I'll move that we adopt the resolution.

Accepting simply the certificates, right, the election results from the county. Correct. And I believe we don't have a choice on that one. Right. Because if we say we don't accept them, what happens then?

We disenfranchise with the role of the clerk just right.

And the county correct.

All right. So is there a motion just on the first item? I just moved. So is there a second?

Phil BacerraItem —

Second.

All right. Those in favor of accepting the county's report, press green.

All right. So we've accepted the report. Now we can either take action today or in two weeks. Mr. Mayor, we still have the appropriation.

The second item is appropriation adjustment.

But we may not want to do that today.

You could decide to do that.

Right, we can do that in two weeks if we wanted to when we set a date.

David PenalozaItem —

Why bring the item back in two weeks? Why not just do it now?

If we have votes to decide now, you could. If not, it'll come back in two weeks.

Council Member Solario? Mr. Mayor, yes. Similarly, on this item, it does require five votes. It might be hard getting to five tonight, as well as through the budget process. We could also fund this election if necessary or in two weeks, as you mentioned. I just would not want the five-vote requirement on this thing to not allow us to do our job.

David PenalozaItem —

So for the appropriation, we could do it at a later date during the budget process, correct?

You could do it in two weeks with the calling of the election, but you would need to do it jointly because it is necessary to fund the actual special election, and we're seeking an appropriation of $710,000 from general fund balance.

David PenalozaItem —

So, Madam City Manager, how in the past year we've had numerous votes where it requires appropriation, adjustment and at the direction of the mayor you separate both and make it two different items to appropriate at a later date and approve contracts and items without appropriating funds you we've done it in the past so how how are

these any different for example for this one the city clerk doesn't even have a sufficient budget to absorb this so the money is needed for her to make the expenditure in other departments we could true up at the end of the year because there were sufficient funds that they still had remaining in their budget. So that's the main difference between the two as far as timing.

Why don't you guys do the police union money? They've got lots of money. Mr. Mayor?

Are you done, Councilman Paganoza? Okay, Councilman Salote. I would just add, though, that all these are kind of case-by-case, but we're really not going to have the election until May or June or after that, so it's not like we have to pay a bill. you know really quite frankly any time before the end of June I think I've even heard staff say that for the last election and it's been months we still haven't been billed so I think just between now and before the election is when we have to appropriate it but there's nothing in law that says that this money has to be appropriated today or in two weeks I defer to the city

clerk is to when she has to meet the obligation right or maybe toward city

attorney would do we have the options to make that appropriation decision at a later date like in two weeks or or sometime after that you know I would

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

also defer to the city clerk but I would say that when you ask for the county services which you will do when you adopt that resolution you're representing to the county that you have sufficient funds to pay for those services which we do which we do and that would be up to the city clerk yes

and and I would require the appropriation adjustment which is why it's here before you tonight I don't have sufficient funds because I am still going to have to pay for the 2019 special election that we had and so all the funds is going to be depleted to that and that bill's coming up any day.

But could that funding decision be done in two weeks rather than today?

Yes.

I'm sorry?

We could do that in two weeks. That's correct. Yes, we can. That was your original recommendation actually to hear this in two weeks so it would have been

Why don't you make a motion to that effect. That's a lot of money.

David PenalozaItem —

Right. And we're not deciding right now. So can we set the election date today and then appropriate the money in two weeks?

Yeah. Yes, council can do that.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay. So is it a different option?

No, I just need someone to motion and second to move item number two in two weeks.

David PenalozaItem —

No, Madam Secret, I asked if we could call an election date tonight.

Yes.

David PenalozaItem —

And then, okay.

and then appropriate funds next in two weeks. Yes.

David PenalozaItem —

So I guess I would make a motion to call the special election on May 19th and then bring back the appropriation item in two weeks.

I'll second that.

Yeah, I'm a no on that, just for the record. Councilman Regalias?

So I see where this is all going. Okay.

So today what we have before us is either you're going to support or vote no against greed and corruption. Because here are the facts. Last year, Jerry Serrano demanded that the Santa Ana City Council approve a $25 million pay hike for police on the night of February 6, 2019, when the pay hike came to a vote of the City Council. I said no. My reason was very simple. We can't pay it. We don't have it. Looking at the city's already high taxes and massive public debt, what the Wachstum County has called a sinkhole,

every resident in the city of Santa Ana, including children, are on the hook for a debt of $5,400 per person. We are leaving our future generations to a debt that they won't be able to afford and will be forced to leave Santa Ana. As you know, Santa Ana sales tax is now 9.25%, the highest in the county. The tax is supposed to generate $60 million in additional yearly revenue. It was promised to the voters to fix streets, improve the park conditions, and provide youth and senior services, and to increase public safety.

But of course, since this money was a general fund increase, there is no accountability on where this money can be spent. The Measure X committee has been warning us on the allocation of these funds, but no one bothers to listen. Greedy and corrupt Jerry Serrano has not been happy that I voted against him and publicly called him greedy. We all know that he will be retiring in the next few years, therefore he is lining his pockets to have a sweet retirement deal that will cost the hardworking residents of Santa Ana in the tune of $350,000 a year. Since Jerry Serrano can't be trusted to have the community's best interest at heart,

he decided to pour $301,000 to fund the petition for this recall from his members' money, which is taxpayer money, and $150,000 against my campaign in 2018. This recall will cost the city general funds approximately $700,000 when it's all over. So the cost to date in silencing me, a truth teller, is $1.1 million. I believe with that money, if the police association really cared about our residents, they could have spent it on youth services and seriously fighting the criminals in our streets.

What I find ironic is that today we have supported a strong stance on stopping the Yale shelter. This is one of the bogus reasons why Jerry Surrano is recalling me. He states in the petition, which I have right here, that I fail to see the need for homeless shelter beds. So I guess if you agree with him, then why did you vote to oppose the shelter? Or should you all just be subject to a recall, too?

But wait, maybe because all of you sitting here have been put in these seats by the Police Union Association. With all due respect to Juan, but that is how you got started, Juan. But now you have seen the corruption, and I'm hoping that you stand your ground. If this was a legitimate recall by the residents, I would accept it. But this recall is based on lies. I have prayed about this, and I am at peace, but I will leave it to your conscience to dictate your vote. We don't have to take a vote today. We can leave it up to Daisy, our city clerk, to control the process.

The latest budget report shows that the City of Santa Ana will be facing a structural deficit in fiscal year 2021-2022. Remember it when Jerry Serrano starts to demand, and he will, that we raise sales and property taxes again, or begin massive cuts in staffing services to save Santa Ana from bankruptcy. When Jerry tells you that I'm hostile to our immigrant families, I seriously laugh, because most people know that I'm an immigrant, a daughter of immigrants, and I don't support the separation of immigrant families. But in pushing for his own agenda, Jerry's mad race to higher salaries for police

is raising the cost of living in Santa Ana. That sort of greed separates our families every day because parents work more than two jobs to pay for the hikes in the sales tax and higher rents and taxes. Meanwhile, the city taxpayers pay Serrano more than $350,000 annually in salary and benefits. Is it because he's fighting crime? No. Thanks to the sweetheart deal that the majority of this council gave him, Serrano gets to work full-time for the union while he's on taxpayer time. I do not hate to say I told you so. You know, I'm a public servant, so when you hear Jerry Serrano say that I hate public servants,

remember that he means I am defending all the residents, not just those with good political connections at City Hall. And when you hear Jerry Serrano tell you he opposes me because he cares about public safety, remember Serrano is the guy who rear-ended a car in Westminster. Then he threatened his occupants if they called the police. When they made the call anyways, he fled the scene. Westminster police ultimately tracked him down. One officer said, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath. I asked him to remove his sunglasses, and he did.

At that point, I noticed Serrano's eyes appeared watery and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred. Serrano refused to take a field sobriety test, but when they searched his vehicle, police discovered empty flask. So ultimately, Westminster arrested him for driving while intoxicated. I'm almost done. Santa Ana residents deserve better from us here at the city council. So I will leave you with this. I am a child of God, a mighty God, and he will fight my battles.

He has everything under control. My public service features in his hands. It is up to you if you want to support greed and corruption, then vote yes for this recall. If you vote against it, then have Daisy, our city clerk, call the election. Thank you.

Okay.

We have a motion, a second.

And for clarification, Councilmember Peñalosa and Councilmember Becerra, what election date were you moving? The 19th of May. May 19th? Is that correct?

Okay.

And I just, you know, personally think if we have two weeks to think this in more detail, we should. I know some people are ready to vote right now. I am not. And so I would oppose the motion for that reason. Councilmember Sarmiento.

Just a quick clarification. I think when council members speak with broad strokes, it's always distorting the truth. Some of us didn't receive a dime from the POA. Some of us had about $400,000 spent against us in the last election cycle. So being clear with facts and just pandering on issues is not a good thing, and it's not a good look for this council. So to the extent we're accurate with our facts, we understand those. look, don't speak with broad strokes because that can be done to you. And I think that's what's going on. I think that's why you're so upset. So to the extent that we all respect the truth and facts,

that's what we should all be basing our comments on.

All right.

We have a motion. Council Member Solario. Question, probably clarification question to our city clerk. Can you call the election date without this council providing that direction? because that was mentioned.

So, Council Member Solorio, just as the City Attorney had actually addressed that question earlier, and really what it is, is if Council doesn't decide on an election date in two weeks, then what will happen is the county election official will be the one to call the election. And so it's reaching out to ROV to determine that date. So it's not our quarter. It's not you. It's not physically me. You cannot. Not me.

Okay. Thank you for the clarification.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Those in favor, press green. Those opposed, press red.

We have a motion and a second. Four. For the motion to set it for May 19th and to bring back the money in two weeks. and I'm stating I'm a no

the voting board yeah yes please vote again I'm sorry.

Shame on you, David.

See you in two weeks.

All right, to be continued. Just on two weeks. Shame on you. Four? Venacella. You're a seller. You're a puppet. I'm a puppet. Caporinas. Puppets.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

item 65 C city clerk I just wanted to make sure just for transparency purposes and for the public would you like to make an announcement in terms of the May 19th election and processes for pulling papers sure so the nomination period

will open tomorrow at 8 a.m. and I'm requesting that any candidate who wants to pull papers. If the recall prevails or is successful, I will need you to call or email our office and make an appointment. And nomination period will close at March 5. After this meeting this evening, my staff and I will work on continuing to edit the candidate handbook because we have to insert all the dates that are listed here tonight.

Case item 65C.

All right. Who wants to have any interest on 65C?

Somebody wants to be dead.

I will nominate Phil Becerra.

Councilman Becerra. Okay, those in favor, so I screen you.

ADA.

Just one. Go ahead.

Comment on that one. I was the prior representative for SCAG, but also this too goes not just only SCAG, but OCOG. So you'll be the representative there. And I believe Council Member Solorio is the alternate, right? Do we have an alternate for SCAG? I don't remember.

Should we be voting for that, too?

Phil BacerraItem —

The city clerk has the roster.

Let me look it up. One sec.

Is that before us, city attorney?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

I don't know that that's not agendized this evening. so if you need to have an alternative, you'd need to bring that back at a subsequent meeting. Okay.

All right.

So we have now item 80A, is it? Make a motion to approve. I'll second it. If it doesn't favor, press green.

I need to reset it.

Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Butters, please pay attention. Thank you.

I have a question. Go ahead.

So we're allowing the county to use their vouchers in the city of Santa Ana, or what exactly is it that we're doing on this one?

There's a number of actions that are entailed in this one, so I'll have Executive Director Mendoza just briefly walk you through what actions are before you tonight.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. tonight you'll be authorizing myself to enter into a joint powers agreement with the county for the joint ownership of two adjacent parcels off of Washington the joint ownership allows the developer to build across property lines that's the first action the section second action is an option agreement with the Washington Santa Ana housing partners and that's the related companies that's the developer that responded to Judson's RFP about a year and a half ago to one use our property to ask request funds the third action will be the 65 year

ground lease the fourth action will be consent to the Orange County Housing Authority to administer project-based vouchers in the city of Santa Ana for that development and those vouchers will go to subsidize the residents that are in those units just like we have vouchers so do they so that but there'll

be Santa Ana residents that are going to be prioritized for this they will be

marketed and prioritized we can't guarantee they will all be Santa Ana

residents and it'll be from the county of orange vouchers for the housing correct okay well yeah thank you all right so on ADA I believe we have a

motion in a second those in favor council already voted we are okay so you reset and we voted yes okay are we on 85a then madam clerk the housing authority special housing authority housing authority section 108 program so I would entertain a motion is that an item 1 2 3 and 4 second those in favor press green

Please pay attention. I don't like the buttons, but... If you sell the board, it makes money.

All right. So now we're back to the... Any public comments?

Leopoldo Orguello, I believe. Shelly Faulkner. And Carlo.

These are public comments.

After this. We're right here right now.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. About a year ago, the SIG Center of Santa Ana requested additional parking to be put on Greenville.

across streets of Greenville and Warner. I am a homeowner and a board member in Woodwood Forest, which is on Greenville and Warner.

The problem with this is that we have a problem with the Sikh Center parking in our community. When they have their events, Our board has to pay money for security so that they will not park on our streets. It costs us extra for paving our streets. One solution that I want to bring to your attention is there is, right directly next to their center, there's a portion on Greenville and Warner where the parking will be better suitable.

So Greenville does not even have a bike lane, and it would also maybe cause accidents to our community. So I just want to ask if you would consider another option instead of putting it on Greenville. I haven't heard whether there's been any resolution or action taken, but I'm just asking if you would consider something else. Thank you.

Leopoldo, if you're here. If not, Carlo, you're up.

Mayor and Pro Tem. Again, I'm coming again about the heavy traffic on MacArthur Boulevard, all the way going across back and forth early in the morning and late afternoon. I know we can't do anything about it because everybody wants to rush home north on the 405 freeway and everybody wants to rush south back towards Irvine. So just to let you all know, whoever allowed that homing development to go in there, and I'm glad they're not selling. They're having a hard time selling those million-dollar homes. They're not worth it. But I feel sorry for the kids at Seager Strum and at Greenville. It's going to happen one day.

I keep seeing it get closer and closer. And then the second thing is I would like to thank the gentleman who gave me the coins for the city for 150-year anniversary. The city of Chino and the city of Chino Hills love it because I do referee out there for AYSO. and they really appreciate the design and I wish I could buy more so I can give them out there because we use them during the flip for the beginning of the game, but they do like the coins. So I've been using it. Just to let you two guys know, thank you from the heart. Appreciate it.

Been here a long time in the city. And I hope the rail line gets to go through before I don't stay here too much longer in the city of Santa Ana. I would like to see that rail line going and the way the construction look like it's going mayor two thumbs up for you and I hope you make it to the county supervise thank you thank you so now we're going to go I believe is it the housing authority we did that right so are we on 85 a then that's correct 85 a okay I believe that some mayor pretend

Villegas and Council Member Iglesias. Council Member Iglesias, please. Okay, so one of the reasons that I put this on the, I asked the city manager for us to do, put this on the agenda is because I believe that we're not doing enough for our military men and women in recognizing their services to our country. I know if you go into other cities like Anaheim, Westminster, and in the North County,

they have our young men and women in service highlighted on banners on the polls. I was wondering, we have money that we could allocate to this. It seems like we allocate to other priorities. But for me, recognizing their service is a priority to me. So I was hoping that with Mayor Pro Tem, since he's a veteran himself,

that we could provide staff direction to see how much it would cost for us to recognize them yearly, not just on days of Memorial Day, Veterans Day, but I believe their service warrants us to provide that recognition to them. So I would like to see that be something that becomes more of our tradition here in Santa Ana, that we recognize those men and women who are serving in the military and who have served.

and also you know adding to that I'm hoping if we could somehow to in our budget because I know we're talking about the budget the mid-year budget and all that we can allocate funds for our 4th of July parade and recognize them on that day too to be something that you know we can parade them we can put some you know money aside so we can we can we can really thank them for what they're doing and what they have been doing so I mean that was my thought behind it I I'm hoping that mayor pro tem has other other you know comments but if we if we

could do that I would really really appreciate it so we can acknowledge the service that the servicemen are giving to us thank you councilmember Iglesias

for bringing this up, and I'm very happy to participate. I recognize at least three veterans in this audience right now, and I'm very proud to serve with you, brother-in-arms, always. People don't understand, even in peacetime when you're serving, it's a sacrifice. You're away from home, you're on your own, you're in another state, another country, and it can be a little tough. And I remember we had to wait a couple of weeks to get a letter because there was no Internet back in the day that I served.

One of the things I would like to see, in addition to your comment, your suggestion, Councilmember Iglesias, I think it's quick to, that low cost and quick to make is a registry for our veterans in Santa Ana, where they could put their name, branch, year they served. we have a lot of veterans a lot of history in this city we have 300 people buried in sanana cemetery and going back as far as the civil war i think 300 of them i don't know how they ended up here but they're here and and uh you know i'm proud to uh recognize them

and their sacrifice and also there's just so many when i went knocking on doors when I was running for office. I ran into a lot of veterans. I would see that flag up there, and I would start a conversation with them. And it's just, to my surprise, I found so many people that have served. And a lot of people who, you know, immigrant folks that are here, and their children are serving in the military. I'm very supportive of that. It's just, I guess you have to be there to really understand what they go through. It could be tough. And like I said, a little lonely out there, but it's okay.

Another thing, you know, America will, you know, have victory always.

One more thing is I understand that, you know, the Civic Center is in my ward. And I've been working quietly with, you know, the Civic Center Authority. We want to change our area. Across the street over at the county, they have the big buildings going up, the new county buildings. We need to do something here. We need a new council chamber. We need a new city hall. We could use a small convention center. But I would like to see maybe a statue or two or some kind of plaque that would honor our veterans.

Because Santa Ana is home to many veterans. If not here, when the Willowick thing goes through and we get that big park, need something, some kind of statue or a plaque there. I know they took the walk of honor. Yes, one of my friends on that wall, a good friend of mine.

And they moved it over to the fairgrounds, right? Yeah, I was there when they did that. But anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm sure we could have discussion. And if any of the other council members would like to participate.

Councilman Regles, yes.

David PenalozaItem —

Peña Loza, please. Yeah, I just want to thank Councilwoman Iglesias and Mayor Pro Tem Villegas for this. We definitely do need to do more in recognizing the veteran community in our neighborhood, in our city. There are many, and like the Mayor Pro Tem said, knocking on doors, that's the best way to meet them. You know, I would come across veteran after veteran after, you know, with the, you know, seeing veterans that had the Marine flag, the Army flag, and saying, yeah, you know, My one son is a Marine, the other one's in the Army. My daughter's a police officer.

David PenalozaItem —

There's a lot of families in our city that have given and sacrificed a lot for our city. And driving around Westminster, I see on the light poles the banners recognizing numerous veterans and residents of the city that have served our country. I don't even want to get started with banners here in Santa Ana because I know that how hard it was to get some hundred and fifty banners up. But, you know, if that's a way that we could recognize them, you know, let's look into every possible way where we could do it.

David PenalozaItem —

maybe highlighting, you know, I was just thinking creatively as I was listening to my colleagues speak, maybe highlighting a veteran, you know, on a water bill, you know, every once in a while to not add more costs. You know, print their mug shot on the corner with their little bio on the border, you know, of mail that we already send out to our residents every month. You know, we'll see a new one. You know, this was a resident of Santa Ana that lived, you know, maybe he's still living or she, maybe they're not living, but, you know, recognize them, highlight them on our website, you know, along the bottom border.

David PenalozaItem —

Any way where we could easily do it to, to, or quickly do it versus, you know, banners and other things, that's additional cost and more thought going into it. but any quick ways where we could do recognition of just brave veterans, that would be great. So I'm happy that my colleagues brought this forward, and those are my comments.

Thank you. Any additional thoughts? Mr. Mayor? Council Member Solario, and then...

Thank you. I agree with the variety of suggestions up here, but another idea would be to talk to some of our veteran leaders in Santa Ana to see what ideas they may have, because I think it's a recognition thing, but probably even more important is just to make sure that our veterans are doing okay. Many are seniors, and we mentioned the Meals on Wheels and similar programs earlier. No better way to recognize a veteran than to make sure that their basic living needs are met. We're trying to house many of them. We have a veteran's village in the works and other programs,

But I'd like for us to keep that into account and get ideas from some of our veteran leaders. Thank you.

Okay, so what is the pleasure? Just go ahead.

Phil BacerraItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, too, want to thank my colleagues for bringing this item before us. I'd be happy to trade the county the shelter for exchange of bringing back all of the veterans honorarium that was in our Civic Center that they relocated to Costa Mesa. But in absent of that, I think that perhaps as we consider designs for any alterations to our civic center, that we consider incorporating ways to honor our veterans. And I agree with Council Member Solorio, but I think the intent of this item was really just to provide honor for them and more just in recognition of their service to our country and what they contribute.

Phil BacerraItem —

And so I think I'm open to ideas about what our veteran leaders here in Santa Ana would suggest, but I think there's ways to incorporate it in our Civic Center.

All right. So now anybody else wish to speak? May I pro-tem? Okay. Go ahead, Councilman Iglesias.

I see Christine looking at it. Go ahead.

Mayor and Councilmembers, I'm clear. have got the direction, so we will return with a number of options to properly recognize the veterans in our community for your consideration.

All right. Thank you. So in 85B, Council Member Iglesias.

I think this one we addressed it when we were talking about the earlier with Mercy House. So my thought with this is to direct the city manager to develop a homeless work program to provide meaningful work for the homeless. I know that in speaking to Christine our city manager you had mentioned that the other cities have done this piloted and kind of sort of you know um made a successful model so I know we we we have money that we could allocate from our homeless services to this I would say you know

bring back something to us that would show us you know next six months what that would look like and provide them something that they could be proud of that you know what we have done here in the city for them you know we can so that was that was my thought behind it and um and I know that we discussed it and that was recommendations by some of my colleagues here that we should start looking at what we were doing with Mercy House at the link so I'm hoping that you

guys would be supportive of that too any questions madam city manager is there

any opposition to that idea council of the audio not a position but I think as we create this it could be a city specific program or working with nonprofits that do this because again we spoke earlier about you know there's that group second chance that's what they do and there are others so it may mean just reestablishing uh you know you know continuing arrangements with groups like that and i know we make an effort and we shouldn't we shouldn't stop trying and i agree with the

council members comments good comments thank you so with that the council member vince sarmiento so just so i'm clear you're just going to bring back options we're not doing yes if the majority

is supports this item i will do the same as the other 85 item and bring back options for

your consideration. Thanks, Mr. Thank you. So with that, let's go on to, we already had public comments. City manager comments? Mayor, I actually don't have any tonight. That's a good one. Let's start with Councilor Becerra, please. Councilor Vince Armiento. Well, I just want to

say thank you to staff. Thank you for everybody who came out and addressed us. Just a reminder to everybody, by the time we meet next week or next meeting, the election will be on that day. So please get out and vote. Make sure that you exercise that very precious right that we all have. It's important, however you vote, just to make your voice heard, and especially here in town. You know, I was a little disappointed in myself, because this month is Black History Month, and none of us presented a proclamation or recognition that we normally do annually.

And we had a very vibrant black African-American community here that resided here. Many Baptist churches here, so their footprint is very extensive. And it added to the culture and the flavor of our community. So to the extent that we know how valuable a role they played in the development of our city, I just want to make sure that we don't let this month pass without us recognizing it. At one time, I believe we had a Black History parade, even here in town. So it is unfortunate that the community has just gotten smaller and smaller, and I just don't want it to pass without us giving a nod to our past and our history.

So with that, I'll bid everybody a good night.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us this evening.

Councilor Jose Solorio

Just like with Councilmember Sarmento just wanted to remind folks about the election there are big changes in terms of how we can vote we have these voting centers on the way and big voting boxes throughout our city and others so read up and learn about all opportunities for voting

Thank you. Councilor Peñalosa please

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you Mr. Mayor just wanted to also remind people that March 3rd is the election and election polling places are changing completely for everybody so make sure you you go to the register voters website to find out how easily you could vote everyone should have received a ballot as well so with that said just wanted to remind Lisa Bartlett that the residents of Santa Ana are still waiting for an apology.

For that, Ceci Iglesias.

I just want to thank everyone in the community who is supporting me through this process of the recall. I just can't thank you guys enough. I know that this is something that we'll get through it, and I just want to thank you in advance for always being there for me. and I just I just want to say that whatever happens on May 19th it's hoping that this council here knows that greed and corruption needs to stop at the city

level because it's it's not going to get us anywhere our residents deserve better and I know that that elections have consequences and in but the one thing that I'm really happy about this is because we are exposing the the worm that has been the parasite here at City Hall and that's a Santa Ana Police Association so in with it with Jerry at the you know conducting that that the

Association it's just going to bring a bad bad image for our police department and that's something that it's very unfortunate because the the officers do the most that they can I know there's that between a rock and a hard place they're forced to be Union members and and the only thing that Jerry's looking out is for himself and he's not really looking out for their members or for the for the residents of Santa Ana so with that said I know well I'm going looking

forward to May 19th and in defeating this recall because it's all based on

lies. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, I just want to remind everybody, we've already had some folks mention it, but March 3rd is when the ballots are closed. People are actually already voting, so vote early and often. No, no, you can't do that, but make sure you vote early. Vote absentee, everybody. You've got to mail by ballot, so let's do that and onward and forward. Have a great evening. Thank you. ! E E E E E E E E E E E E E