Read the October 15 meeting.

If you can all please slowly rise. I said slowly because the camera still hasn't come on. But now it did, so we're on. So please, let's say a Pledge of Allegiance. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If you can remain standing, we have Bob Barnett, our police chaplain, giving us our invocation.

Lord God, we begin this night by inviting your presence to be here. we count it a privilege to be able to serve our community we ask a blessing upon our mayor and the city council members we ask that you give them the wisdom they need Lord as they guide our city we're mindful tonight too of all the first responders in our city we ask that you keep them safe we thank you Lord for so many people that make this city wonderful we ask that Lord our city would always have a reason to smile at the future and bless those tonight that are here to be honored for their public service

we thank you in the lord's name amen thank you you may be seated

we're going to do uh some um brief presentations but soon thereafter we're going to jump right into the Centennial Park Grand Central Community College item I know there's a lot of folks here I don't know if everybody's gonna speak or if you have something coordinated something coordinated would be preferred

so Reuben Smith are no fear here I know I heard earlier that right there so you're going to coordinate the speakers? All right, you got it. So let us do a few presentations and then we'll come to your item. First we're going to start with the proclamation that I'm going to do talking about the childhood lead poisoning prevention week. So whoever is presenting that come on down and after that will be Mayor Pro Tem Villegas.

Thank you.

in particular that have lead poisoning I know sometimes they may not look sick or act sick but they can be it's a very very toxic element and it's not made to be in the human body so would you like to say a few words and I'll present this

to you momentarily absolutely so mr. mayor esteemed council members thank you so much for partnering with the Orange County Health Care Agency to promote public awareness about this most important preventable environmental threat to children. As you mentioned, it's a silent disease. Folks may not even know their children have been exposed, and so that's why it's so important that we do universal screening on young children who are in publicly funded programs like Medi-Cal, Head Start, and WIC, so that we can detect it and identify those that are exposed and get it out of the home so that they don't get those permanent problems.

So on behalf of the health care agency, I have esteemed colleagues from Environmental Health and from our lead program itself, and we just want to thank you again for helping us to raise awareness about this condition.

Why don't you put that mic down and come on over here, and I'll read this to you and present it to you. Apparently, since pre-1978, paint had lead. Exactly. So there's still a lot of it around. and apparently you found something like 400 cases of ages 0 through 5 here in Orange County last year. Yes. So unfortunately it's still happening more than we would like to think. So please keep up the good work. And here's a proclamation recognizing this as Childhood Blood Poisoning Prevention Week and it's my privilege to present it to you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, if I can have the folks from Casa de la Familia join me up front. Today we are recognizing the National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, like we do every year.

Thank you, ladies, for joining me. Thank you.

Good afternoon.

So domestic violence is something that we in the Latino community, it's taboo to speak about. It's terrible. You know, we have these things that happen at home. They're very sensitive situations, and it affects everyone. You know, children that are affected by these things, you know, if you don't get professional help or any type of help that could better the situation, you know, you send these kids to school and then you expect them to do well.

And it just doesn't work like that. So we are here today, I am here today presenting a proclamation on this Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I ask our friends over at Casa de la Familia, who are here in Santa Ana, to join us because they provide many, many services. I'm about to ask our friends here to speak a little bit about what they do over at Casa de la Familia. Thank you.

Thank you. Buenas noches. Good evening. My name is Gabriela, and I'm the Communications and Development Director at Casa de la Familia, and I'm here with Candace Rodriguez, one of our therapists at Casa de la Familia, una de nuestras terapistas en Casa de la Familia. We've been in Santana for over 22 years. We're over on 4th Street. Estamos en la Calle 4. Tenemos aquí más de dos décadas. Estamos para servirles cualquier persona que ha sufrido violencia doméstica. No tan solo la víctima, pero toda la familia. We provide services not only to the victim, but to the entire family.

That's why we're called Casa de la Familia, or CDLF Counseling. So we're here to support you and your family. Please give us a call. All of our therapists are bilingual. And would you like to say a few words, Candice, or are you good? Well, I'm very honored to receive this proclamation on behalf of Casa de la Familia. It is very empowering to see the growth. and just getting domestic violence survivors to come to our agency and receive those services. I do home visits and I also see clients at home. So again, that journey of healing, it is very necessary. As Mr. Villegas was saying, it is very hard for children to just go to school

not thinking about what is going on at home. So if you know of anybody, just refer them over. Thank you so much. Just real quick, Councilman. I'm so sorry. We have a campaign. It's called Love Without Violence. Tenemos una campaña que se llama Amor Sin Violencia because love shouldn't be violent. El amor no debe de ser violento. Entonces, si escuchan eso o saben de alguien que está sufriendo violencia doméstica, también tenemos grupos de apoyo. We also have support groups for women at Casa de la Familia at no cost. So please feel free to give us a call. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'd also like to report out that in a couple of months we will be opening our Family Justice Center here in Santa Ana. I've been working on that quietly for about three years now. Casa de la Familia will be joining us and providing services. And this is a facility that streamlines services for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and sexual assault. So I want to thank everyone for, I want to thank Casa de la Familia for being here today. and on behalf of the Mayor of City Council, please accept this proclamation on National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Thank you, Councilman.

Councilmember Iglesias.

Good evening, everyone. So it is my honor today to provide this proclamation recognizing fire prevention week. As you all know, fire is a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally, and homes are where people are at great risk from fire. U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 355,400 home fires per year, resulting in an annual average of 2,560 civilian fire deaths.

Newer homes are built with lightweight materials that burn faster than older home constructions, with many of today's products and furnishings producing toxic gases and smoke when burned, making it impossible to see and breathe within moments. So these conditions contribute to a much smaller window of time for people to escape a home fire safely, and with people having as little as one or two minutes to escape from the time the smoke alarm sounds. So the 2019 Fire Prevention Week theme is, Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and practice your escape. So effectively serves to educate the public about the small but important actions

they can take to keep themselves and those around them safe. I don't know if you all know, but Mayor Pro Tem Juan Villegas, he serves as the board for the Orange County Fire Authority. And due to prior, he wasn't able to make this presentation, as you know, because he just made the other one. So as council members, we're only allowed to do one. So I had the honor to provide it to you, Chief. so with this said I am providing this proclamation to the chief and for him to be able to tell us a little bit more if you know what they do here in Santa Ana

as you all know there are first responders and I'm very honored that you're our chief here in Santa Ana and I know that ever since I've been here you've always had an open-door policy and I know with the community you also extend that invitation to them so if you want to share a little bit more I would Really appreciate it.

Thank you. Good evening. I just want to echo what Cecilia Iglesias was saying in the sense that what we ask everybody to do is make sure you have a working smoke detector and know at least two ways out and to check your smoke detector. People always think that you're going to have a lot of time to get out of a burning building, and that's not the case. Just like she said, you have about one to two minutes. And the working smoke detector is going to allow you to have that time. If you don't have a working smoke detector, you can contact the fire authority via OCFA.org,

and we will come out to your residence, and we will install it at free of charge, no cost. We also ask that if you see one of our fire trucks and they're not in the middle of an emergency, if you want to have a question with them, please feel free to talk to them and ask them things. and they'll also have smoke detectors that we can install at your residence too again at no cost all of our fire stations are open understand though that our firefighters work 48 hours on and so they can come see you and they can also have you come to the station but always they're

always at work they never take a break so um if they have to go on a call we hope you understand thank you

now we'll have councilmember pinalosa

David PenalozaItem —

good afternoon ladies and gentlemen I wanted to I'm here with the consul of Mexico Mario Cuevas here to recognize these 1960 microphones falling over to recognize the National Hispanic Heritage Month National Hispanic Heritage Month is from September 15th through October 15th so in good old Mexican Hispanic fashion. I waited until the last day to really come in here and recognize Hispanic Heritage Month.

David PenalozaItem —

So we celebrate the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. September 15th is the starting point of this month-long observance, as it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Chile. Those were seven, but you know, they also celebrate their independence during the first week of the celebration on September 16th and the 18th. Hispanic Heritage

David PenalozaItem —

Month gives us a formal opportunity to recognize and honor the significant contributions the Hispanic community has made the United States and the city of Santa Ana. Standing before you here to accept this proclamation is the Mexican consulate of Santa Ana, Mario Cuevas, serving our Hispanic community through resources, education, and information. We wish to honor you for your hard work with this proclamation. So thank you. Muchas gracias por todo lo que hace por nuestra comunidad. Y, you know, quería presentarlo with this proclamation on behalf of the city.

David PenalozaItem —

Hispanic Heritage Month from the city of Santa Ana. You could hang up at the consulate. And this is just to, you know...

David PenalozaItem —

And it was very important to recognize this month because, you know, Santa Ana is predominantly Hispanic and we wanted to make sure that we, you know, not just this month but the entire year, you know, it's important that we all recognize our culture every day. So thank you so much. Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much.

David PenalozaItem —

If you want to say a couple words, go ahead. I'll hold this.

Buenas tardes. Noches. Sé que tienen una sesión muy importante con muchos temas. Voy a tomar tres, tres párrafos nada más para compartir con ustedes. Good evening, everyone. It is my honor, great honor for me to be part of today's City Council meeting, to accept this proclamation.

and recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, a month in which we not only celebrate but acknowledge the culture, traditions, and contributions of the Hispanic community to this country. As you can see I am a little nervous because I have to say thank you and good evening everyone with the council mayor. Thank you very much. Council members, it's my pleasure to be here. My honor and my colleagues from the consulate as well Santana is the most Mexican city out of Mexico in terms of percentage it's almost 80% Mexican origin so that's a big honor and that's a big

responsibility the constantly has been there from 1999 and which are working with that with our brothers and sisters from other consulates so it's for it's a It's a big honor. And everyone of this population, a strong commitment for the family, for the work, to keep on going. The times are not certain times. Los tiempos no son los mejores, pero trabajemos juntos para mejorarlos y siempre unidos. En esta gran ciudad, que es la capital del condado, nuestra gran ciudad, una de las dos más grandes del condado.

Así que es un gran honor para mí, and I hope this proclamation encourages the community to join the national celebration of the values, achievements, and contributions of these outstanding men and women to this nation and this big city. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias. Es un honor y mucho éxito en las deliberaciones. Que salga todo bien.

And next we have Councilmember Vince Sarmiento. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So from some good news to even better good news. So I have the honor of recognizing two gentlemen who are from Seegersprung. So did everybody see the backpacks here?

Raise one up, Mayor Pro Tem.

They're from what school? Seegersprung. And so it's got water bottles in there. It's got, I think it's got a T-shirt in there. It's got the towel. So when they play, we're all going to go out there and wave our towels. Frankie Gonzalez and Carlos Quesada. Frankie is a high school counselor. And Carlos is a district safety officer over at Seegers from High. And they are personally responsible for what's called a Road to a Better Future Scholarship Car Show. And what this is, is basically their way to give back to the community

and do their part to provide students support when they graduate. So a lot of folks that work at schools and work with kids and are employees, they just figure, you know, you're going to clock in, you're going to clock out. Not these two gentlemen. These two gentlemen a few years ago decided to take it upon themselves to raise money, to dedicate themselves to work with parents, booster clubs, campus clubs, and raise more than $10,000 in scholarships for these students. Let's give them a big round of applause.

You know, and I think that a lot of times what students hear, especially our kids here in the city, they hear about all the negativity that the press talks about in Santa Ana. They see things that really decay a person's outlook and their confidence and their trust in the area and the city that they live in. Stories like this need to be told more because they happen all over town, and we just don't speak about them enough. So to the extent that this is one isolated case, I know it's taking place all over the city, but they're doing an exceptional job to inspire others to do just as much.

And I know having our chancellor here from the Santa Ana College, Rancho Santiago, and our representatives from the Board of Trustees, these folks get your students ready. And they send them and get them ready for four-year colleges, for doctoral programs, and it's just an amazing, amazing group of folks that we work with. And it starts here, when they see folks sometimes and students that are most vulnerable, who are going to be graduating with very little money, very little support sometimes because our families are challenged.

And they take it upon themselves to make sure that they're going to be leaving not only with some money in their pocket, but with the love and support of folks from their campus that they're graduating from. So I don't want to speak much more. I want to turn the microphone over to these folks so they can go ahead and talk to you a little bit more about what inspired them to do this, why they do it and what the families say about this because that's the beauty. Because they hand these things, they hand these scholarships to the students, but the parents and families are the ones who are really grateful for that.

So Carlos and Frankie, in any order you guys want to come up, the microphone is yours. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

First of all, I want to say thank you for this recognition. both carlos and i are products of the san anna unified school district and so our love is is here in in our community and that was started as a simple idea has now become this great annual event where we have a lot of parent community student support gives students and the boosters an opportunity to raise money for their clubs and what better than to you know do make make an event that's part of the culture part of the community and so we have a lot of love for our community and our students and hopefully we can continue to have this event

every year yes kind of to piggyback on what mr gonzalez has uh said um we're both lifelong residents here at the city um our hearts here in this community we've um spent you know our kids here in this district or you know gave ourselves to this district and uh we're we're grateful we're overjoyed to be here seeing our fruits of our labor come to fruition there's so many people, I don't want to take up too much I know you guys got a full plate, but there's so many people to thank first off, our administration team at Segerstrom it takes so much to put this all together, and so many components and for their support

our counselors our parents alumni, community small businesses, everything it takes a long, we plan this event every year in April and we start we started already, you know, and after many, many long, hard nights, brainstorming, putting things together and here we are, and car clubs, meeting with the community and getting everybody together and it's an awesome thing and we thank you guys for having us here and I know a lot of you who have entrusted us with your children at Siegerstrom and the school district, we're very proud to represent and we thank you all, each council member.

We appreciate it. I hope you guys like our little, from the Seekers from Family, a little token of our appreciation. So we look forward to we've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go. And we look forward for your support in the future and we invite you all to come see us and visit us sometime in April for this car show. It's a beautiful thing to see all kinds of people from all walks of life, all coming together for a good cause for our kids. And that's all I got to say. And we thank you and have a good night.

Why do you guys want to get off the floor so quickly? This is good stuff, man. This is stuff we want to hear. So I want to just give you a couple of certificates of recognition on behalf of a very grateful city for everything that you do, for all that you've done, and everything you're going to continue to do. So this is for Frankie Gonzalez in recognition of your outstanding contributions to the community. Frankie, thank you so much for everything that you do. Thank you.

And Frankie was telling me back there that the students all know Carlos by first name. Oh, he knows the students by first name. I think they probably know you by first name too. but this is also for your hard work and the way you put it so eloquently that the administration is also behind you guys there and they that that makes it so much easier for you all to do what you do which is to help students so this is for you Carlos thank you keep it going I already committed myself to go to this year's award-winning scholarship benefit that you're gonna have so count on us there the city's behind you the city loves what you do

Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, I-Next, I-Next, I-Next, I-Next, I-Councilmember Solorio

thank you always a little hard-filling Councilmember Sarmiento especially if he's recognizing you know children and and student efforts and great individuals like we have but councilmember Sarmiento is also here in in spirit and that for this presentation regarding water because I serve on the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors and Councilmember Sarmiento serves on the Orange County Water District and I'm real pleased and honored to today recognize this is the start of the water year many folks don't know that the water year starts October 1st my wife said but where's the rain it comes later

but you know this is the official start and we're really you know privileged in Santa Ana to have some amazing programs and some amazing staff and I'll talk about them as well I have here with me Nabil Saba he's the water resources manager and I know there are some folks from the water department that we'll talk a little bit more about in a little bit but you know first a little on water itself we're about three years from the historic and you know horrible drought that we had we did survive that but we actually start this water year with the

surplus the state reservoir water storage averages across California have increased some have increased as much as 40% in the reservoir compared to a year ago so all that rain we got last year was was was good and we now have more and more capacity to store that although changes in weather play a role managing our water responsibly also involves having good infrastructure wastewater systems and water conservation efforts they're all critical well so many of us like to say it's not about using less water but wasting less water and that's

a an important priority here in the city as well our city because it includes a water department maintains facilities and runs programs with the most efficient and cost-effective methods and best practices in the industry we promote and we're doing more and more every year which is nice to see more and more water conservation and and bar environmental sustainability programs including with partners like the coast keepers and and children and we're having more landscape workshops also very recently the city of Santa Ana joined a broader MET program to start a publicity program to talk about

California native plants because many want them but don't always know and nurseries are a key part of that and so this program called Calscape is something that this city has joined today via you know a proclamation that I'm going to present recognizes October 1st 2019 through September 30th 2020 as the water year and recognizes the contributions of our city and city staff in protecting and sustaining the highest water quality and sewer services at a good and affordable price but also let me say a few other things that aren't here on my

prepared sheet first with all the folks from the Rancho district you know so many water science and other degrees that you have apprenticeship programs certificates all of Orange County benefits you know from the quality of your of your faculty in your program so thank you in particular you know the trustee Alvarez and Hannah for being here and our new chancellor is as well the rain's been good as I mentioned but we also have to maintain our system and our department does that with some fantastic staff there's a lot of rehabilitation and maintenance work that needs to be done but I'm also really

pleased whenever our employees work within the industry to learn best practices to collaborate to understand you know case studies and there's an association called the Orange County Water Association and they have an annual contest where they have you know water departments you know compete with other departments and I think it's the only one that they were there really is the biggest competition it's called something it's called a pipe tapping in our city of Santa Ana water department won that contest let's give them a round of applause

I know Caesars here for the water department if there are others from the water part if you could raise your hand very good and come on up we'll have you in the photo come on up don't be shy since you're here already anyway so I will have that Nabeez talked a little bit about our water system and talk about this great contest that our employees won come on up let's give Nabil a big round of applause a little shy

well thank you councilman Solorio I just wanted to thank the mayor and the council members here in the city for their support and I'd like to also thank the city manager for the support and the executive team are really dependent on you guys for everything that we do we look forward for a great water year next year we have quite a bit of projects capital improvement projects that we're taking on so our objective really is to deliver the best quality water at all times to all residents in the city and we are proud in our system we continue

the investment in the infrastructure and we look forward for a great year next year. Thank you again for the recognition. We also, the pipe tapping competition is a competition that really entails these guys going on a, tapping into a waterline pipe under pressure the fastest way they could. The competition is pretty fast. Our team has won quite a bit of competitions we have first place we won first first place

three times at the Orange County Water Association over a few years and also we are or we won first place three times at the Huntington Beach Public Works week competition we also won three three times we ranked third place three times at the American Water Works Association competition throughout the California Nevada section. That's nothing to be, I mean, it is a lot to think about and be proud of because these guys work really hard in practicing and showing their skills in tapping the line.

We own the best record in Orange County for the tapping competition, and I'd like to introduce.

I'd like to introduce Enrique Renuso, Philip Ramirez, Robert Gonzalez, and Vince Lopez and Cesar Barrera from the team. And just thank you, and we're pretty proud. Thank you.

Water is life. La vida es agua. And I know John, you're a big believer in the water that we need for our state and for our city. So again, on behalf of a grateful city, we're amazed by all your wins. I know you had so many victories, including the record. So on behalf of our Mayor and City Council, congratulations.

Thank you.

David PenalozaItem —

Just tell them in the mic. Yeah, I was just simply asking what the shirts symbolized, because I noticed there was a memorial ribbon on the... Sorry, Nabil, if you could explain a little bit. Sure.

The symbol of LV is for Luis Verdesco, who passed away. He was part of the team. And so in honor of his service to the city, they had that on their... And on the back, you have a logo. It said Santa Ana. Yes. West Coast Tappers is our team. And we represent Santa Ana. And the team was established in 2014 or so. So we've been tapping for four years now. And many more to come. Thank you.

Okay, and now we're going to take our agenda out of order. We have a lot of speakers that want to speak on the Rancho Santiago and Centennial Park.

So, what items? I know there are two items. Madam Clerk, what are the two items?

75B and 75C. So I'm going to bring them both up to our attention at this time. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem?

Not yet. We're just going to take this item first.

Is there a presentation by staff? Seeing none. I'm a little bit confused. I've got quite a few speakers here. Ruben, but then I received a message from you talking about five speakers. Should I go with the five? And I have like Yvette Aguilar, Debra Cisneros, Jeremy Laughs, Dr. Linda Rose, the other names I recognize. All right, so I'm going to go with the five and see how we do.

If I have complaints after that, we'll handle it then. So of the five speakers, let's start with Board Member Claudia Alvarez, please. And then followed by Dr. Linda Rose, I believe it is.

Good evening, Mayor Polito, Council Members. It's great to be amongst the city family again. So most of you know me, but today I wear the hat that's most important to me, and that has to do with education. I am the board president of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, and we have with us two of our board members as well, John Hanna, who's here today, and of course our student trustee, Tudor Moreno. You're going to hear from him later. Today we're here to talk about a historic moment, and I call it historic because we've been working on this for quite some time.

This was created back in 1979 when I was only a small child, and I know I still live 29, but I actually benefited from the education given to my mother back then, back in the early 1980s at Centennial Education Center. And I will bring you back to then 2009 when the first original 30-year lease expired. And I sat here as your mayor pro tem in 2009 and talked about the importance of this center and went ahead and supported a five-year extension. But that was the year that the 99-year lease conversation began. And we have that documented with our former city manager, Dave Rimm,

having sent a letter to the district saying, let's talk about 99-year lease, even with an option to buy. We gave a five-year extension while I sat here as a council member, very much caring for education. I went on to the board and now serve, as you know, with our colleagues and represent Sanana College as well, which is the college where Centennial Education Center belongs. Let's talk about Centennial Education Center. It's a wonderful facility. Unfortunately, it's sitting on bungalows. Bungalows that have a 10-year lifespan, and we're talking about year 39 on those bungalows. Our students deserve so much more than that.

Our community deserves so much more than that. And I know you have been supportive, and that's why we're here today, and that's why it's so historic. We had a conversation about four years back about the improvements that we needed, and I remember that Council Member Sarmiento Mayor Pulido went over and walked the center with the city manager at the time, talking about, yes, we have a commitment to the center, and now it's actually come to fruition. And all along, throughout all this time, serving 10,000 students a year.

But as I also indicated to you, it's also personal because I think each of you could think about someone you know that started the education at Centennial Education Center. I know that Councilman Rapinalo has shared a story with me about that and hopefully he shares it today. But we have a lot of different great success education stories to tell in this city. And that's why it's important that we go ahead and finally build a state-of-the-art facility this community deserves. Today you're going to hear from our president at Santa Ana College, Dr. Linda Rose.

You're also going to hear from one of our students at the Centennial Education Center. You're going to hear from our student at your state. And finally, you're going to hear from our wonderful new chancellor who's going to close it up for us. And at the end, you're going to be convinced that, in fact, we need to get this done. Thank you so much. I'm glad to see you all again.

Dr. Linda Rose, and then after that a student representative, and then after that a student trustee.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

And Mayor Polito, may I just mention that since you're taking these two items together, 75B and C, since C is a public hearing, if you would just open that public hearing, all of this testimony will actually be included.

Let's formally open up 75C, which is a time and place for the public hearing on this matter involving Rant Santel Community College and Centennial Park.

Thank you. Please go ahead. Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak this evening. I really want to thank the City Council for the partnership between Santa Ana College and the city by allowing us to use Centennial Education Center, to use the park. But nothing I can say is going to top what the student is going to say to you about their experience at Centennial Education Center.

that center has changed hundreds of thousands of lives in 39 years. Many thousands of lives. And we want to continue along that road by helping community residents who are interested in coming to Centennial Education Center for ESL classes,

to earn their high school diploma, as well as some of the career technical programs that we have at the center now. So we are doing many things to change the offerings that we have at the center to improve the lives of community residents. So I just want to say thank you again, and I really want to yield the time mostly to this young woman, who is going to come up here and speak about her experience at Centennial Education Center. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Can you just give us your name for the record, please? My name is Leslie Sanchez. Go ahead. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Like I said, my name is Leslie Sanchez, and I'm here today to just share with you the impact that the Centennial Education Center has had on me and my life. I dropped out of high school at the age of 16. I was dealing with issues of drug abuse and gang violence. I began my journey at Centennial a student who was broken I was lost I was

unmotivated and it was at Centennial that I really found a community that supported me and guided me down the right path and I feel that Centennial really allowed me to build a foundation where I could redirect my life. And I graduated Centennial with my high school diploma and with honors. And in the process, I also convinced my older sister to join me, and we graduated together. I stand before you, not only a graduate of Centennial, but also a graduate of Santa Ana College

and future alumni of University of California, Irvine. And I really just want to thank you guys for taking the time to hear me out. I know that I'm just one, and you see behind me there's countless others who also show their support. And I just want to thank everybody who came here today, and I thank you guys for taking the time to vote on this agenda. Thank you. Thank you.

I understand, do we also have a separate student trustee as well? So let's hear the student trustee. And then I think the Chancellor, Marvin Martinez, will speak after that.

Good evening. For the record, my name is Theodore Moreno, and originally I did not have intentions to speak today. However, when the nice ma'am outside asked me, are you here to speak on any line items, my heart couldn't allow me to say no. My admiration for my students that I serve in this community college district is very strong. I'm just so inspired to just think of how far many of these hundreds to thousands of individuals have come in their lives by the benefit of this school of continuing education.

It is just remarkable to believe that we have such a great opportunity in this city. We have such a beacon of hope when at times we feel that this world is without hope. We feel that all is lost. We feel that there is no room to improve upon ourselves or for our fellow man or woman. However, this continuing education center is that light to this world. I've always been asked by my fellow leaders in my life, to those who inspire me, to always recognize that when God gives you an opportunity to speak of good news,

don't discount that opportunity. reach out to those of which you can and just to express as much as you can of that good news and that good news is the School of Continuing Education I am inspired by many students such as Maria del Carmen she is the center of continuing education within the student government of Santa College and she is a champion for her fellow students and it is very very great to just listen to their stories many students don't know English as a first language they come

seeking essentially the essentially the American dream they come to benefit their benefit their families and to give hope to one another as we would want to see that hope in our own families. And so I'm here to just champion for this approval of this of this lease so that we can continue inspiring the future generations in the city of Santa Ana, the most beautiful city in Orange County, if not the world, and I hope that you can agree that it is that as well. Thank you for your time, God bless, and take care. Thank you.

Chancellor Martinez, before we begin, if you could maybe just for our own edification, just give us a couple numbers. How many students are associated with this particular continuing education program, and how large is the campus now? I went over there recently. You have more buildings and more people. What are the numbers, if you don't mind, please?

All good questions. The program serves 10,000 students per year. 8,000 of the 10,000 students are Santa Ana residents. And it exists in a land property, I believe it's two and a half or two and three quarters of property. And that's where we have our campus. It also includes the parking area that students also use where they park their cars. And against other facts, it's been around since 1979. and so it's been nearly 40 years, of course, in existence.

And on the main campus, how many students are there currently?

On the main campus, it generates around 19,000 FTS, which basically results in nearly 23,000, 24,000 students. Thank you. Yes. Good evening. I'm Mayor Pulido, Mayor Pulton-Villegas, members of the city council, and also City Manager Ridge. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to give a few words to all of you today. First and foremost, I want to thank the City Council members for giving an opportunity to meet with me and to give me the opportunity to talk to you about this really important community resource. I also want to thank City Manager Ridge.

She is wonderful, wonderful, a pleasure to work with. and you know I think that you know what we put together here for you is a lease that in many ways represents a partnership between the Rancho Santa Ocumlee College District and the city of Santa Ana as you look through it you know we try to look in many ways possible you know how does this center support the needs of our students and at the same time support the needs of the residents of the city of Santa Ana so when you look through the lease agreement you'll notice a number of areas where we've done that an example

we would love to look at you know we're looking to develop a library a branch library it'll be a joint usage I understand the need for libraries is in need of course in our city here in Santa Ana we're very happy to construct a library that will meet the needs of our students and to construct a library that meet the needs of the residents of the city of Santa Ana we've also included a community room which could be used by residents for by neighborhood councils by homeowners associations so also used for meetings also included some recreational rooms so we can offer community service courses recreational

courses from Zumba to yoga and others so that we can really support the needs of our community so so again you know that's been our approach I want to conclude also by letting all of you know that we are committed to building and and supporting this facility of course in the least we talked about a potential bond there are board of trustees are considering and in the bond we are budgeting 50 million dollars in order to support the Centennial Education Center I want to share with you that we're committed beyond that. So what is it that I mean by that? Well, what happens if the bond measure does not pass?

Well, I'm here to share with you that we're committed even if it doesn't pass. If it doesn't pass, we will finance, we will find the dollars in order to maintain our commitments to what we want to build there. So I do want you to feel reassured that even if the bond does not pass, we're committed to building and making that into a state-of-the-art facility. So on that note, I want to thank you for your time. Thank you very much, Mr. Chancellor.

I understand I also have an Evelyn Torres that wants to speak.

I'm seeing no one. She might be outside. Well.

Evelyn, please go ahead. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Evelyn Torres. I am a 16-year-old resident here in Santana, and today I came to speak to you about item 75C, and I wanted to tell you all that I support the building of the Safe Skate Space on the Future Park on the currently vacant lot on Ray and Myrtle.

A lot of families have, sorry, a lot of families live in apartments or garages, and therefore they do not have access to their own yards. Even when they do, oftentimes apartment managers will not allow youth to play in their spaces. This forces them to stay at home and play video games or play near the dangerous streets,

which can not help their health or well-being. This is a problem because compared to neighboring cities, they have more than two safe skate spaces for the youth. rather than here we only have one on the west side which isn't access which doesn't give access to the youth who are on the other side of the city um and i really hope that i actually have some people in the back who have been going to city input meetings and we've been um we've been doing a process of like probably two years that we've been working on being able to have safe skate

spots for youth in the city and I hope that the city listens to the youth that have been taking their time out of their day to go to the input meetings to support the building of safer skate spots thank you

yeah I'm now gonna bring both actions to City Council for a comment and

consideration. Comment, Councillor José Solorio. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm very supportive and prepared to move both items, but I wanted to also say a few things. First, you know, your students are our constituents, so there's a lot of them and well served and the quality of the programs is outstanding. So that's Short-Round Libraries in Santa Ana is very welcome, with or without a bond, and we'll see how we can help support that vision, because it's an important one. Also, I've mentioned to the new chancellor,

who's fantastic, and Ruben in a meeting, that the location's a little bit tucked away, and I think the school would benefit from signage on Edinger and or Fairview to promote your programs and city programs as well. We have things like the big 150th anniversary ceremony there. We do our 4th of July ceremony there. And the park gets of a good size that would benefit from some signage to promote programs and the location for the events. Finally, and we've got to figure out really how this all fits,

but I know there in the past has been talk of a pool for Godenas or an aquatic center for Godenas, the broader community, and as we're having conversations about the college district, I think we also need to think about Centennial overall, Godenas, and how some of these things relate together because again, I could see families or individuals in the family use city services, school district services or college district services. So I look forward to having those kinds of conversations with you. But I'm very supportive. I know we've been hearing this item many, many times, and we want to get this going.

We want to grow and improve the services there. So thank you all so much.

Why don't you go ahead and make a motion for a purpose of discussion? I'll move both items. Okay.

Second.

So we have that motion to second. Now we'll keep talking. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

David PenalozaItem —

I just wanted to make sure that, for the record it's stated, that I want to make sure that we have an agreement in place when it comes to the library use, the community center, because from just watching the relationship between the school district and the joint use agreement, and there's always, you know, I can see residents wanting to use the community room, you know, whenever this is built, and having to go through countless obstacles and just unnecessary red tape to book the room or whatnot. So I want to make sure that there's a really good partnership when it comes to this community center and this library

David PenalozaItem —

where we could easily access it and it could be ready to use by any member of the community that wants to put it to good use. And I just wanted to say that I have the worst memories of this adult education center growing up. because I had to be left in the car by my mom while she was in there learning English. It was a benefit to her, but I sat in the car as a 10-year-old kid sweating and hungry, doing homework with my brothers. But now I know they offer child care, which is good. They're improving.

David PenalozaItem —

So it's something that I'm excited to see with that branch library that's much needed in that area and that community center. And your mom learned English, right? Yeah, well, she's still, you know, I still have to translate for her, but, you know, but hey, it's, you know, I enjoy it. So with that said, those are my comments.

Thank you for your comments. Councilmember Ceci Iglesias.

Okay, so I want to thank you all for being here. and I just want to say first and foremost I appreciate the education aspect of the Santa Ana Education Center at Centennial Park. One of the I do have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns on this item not because it's something that won't benefit our community but I believe as two institutions public institutions trying to make something work. It's very, in my opinion, it's something that is very convoluted. And one of the things that really strikes me is, as you all know, I don't favor

any tax increase on our community. And what this grant, I mean, this, I guess, item is asking us for us to approve this long-term lease. And then there's a condition there of the $50 million in bond that would be allocated to Centennial Education Center. So I would like to ask one of the members from Santa Ana College or Rancho, I know this is only for the Education Center. What is the entire bond that you're trying to pass or going before the voter in March? What is the entire budget that you're looking at?

Yes.

Good question, Councilmember Iglesias. The total amount of the bond that we're looking at right now is $450 million. It includes a total of seven projects that will be funded, four at Santa Ana College and three at Santiago Canyon College. so the board has not voted yet for for the so they're still deliberating and and we're hoping to move in that direction but it's 450 million dollars

okay thank you sir thank you so you know with that explanation as you all know the city Rancho Santo Community College District has gone before the voters in 2002 they went before the voters for measure e and that was a an amount of

$317 million 2002. And then repeat again, history, 2012, $198 million. So already we're on the hook as taxpayers for almost $500 million. And then with an addition here of thank you for sharing that, $450 million. So we're going to be almost a billion dollar in debt. And I have my reserves on this, I wish, and I know I've had this conversation, if we could move forward without bringing anything that has to do with, you know, bringing more debt to our community, that would be something that I would like to talk about, but right now the way it stands,

I don't agree because I'm looking out for the taxpayer, and I feel we already pay about $200 more a year in taxes, and with another $400 million, minimum $200 more a year, for those that have higher property taxes, it'll be higher. And then also here on the form, and I know we already read, it states that the share of the operation and maintenance cost of the common area is going to increase from 7.4% to 25%. That's a little bit. I think you guys should be paying a little bit more, I think, to at least 50%, 100%, because you are using it.

And I know as a state, they do allocate money to you, and then that money can go back to the city. So I really thank you for your answers.

Just coming back to the question in regards to the bond measure, I believe that the real question is, is the college district committed to building a site at Centennial Park? And the answer to that is yes. Regardless of whether we have a bond or not, we are committed to using our resources. We're committed to financing whatever that we need to do in order to build a site. So I really don't want the board to feel that this is all pending upon a bond passing. It's not pending that. We're committed to making this happen.

And I get that, Chancellor. Thank you for explaining. But I think it's one thing that we haven't even heard from the National Park Services about if we're able to do this or not. And what's the rush if it's not for us to put it on the bond in the March election? So that's my concern. If there was really no rush for us to put it, I think we could be having deeper conversations. So thank you.

Thank you. We have comments to my right as well. Councilman Vince Sarmiento, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for those responses, Chancellor. And I know that this matter has been before us for quite a while. I see Trustee Alvarez and Trustee Hannah there. I think, man, before we start getting too old, I think we need to address this at some point, right? we've tried. And so, you know, I want to thank you for something that we did in the past while we had a different council. There was some conversion of lands that were made and a lot of folks, you know, in the past have spoken about there being a net loss of open space and park space for our families

and the fact that the campus, the satellite campus, is occupying part of Centennial Park. Well, we got more than two and a half acres of new park space in the city as a result of this relationship and one of them is the Pacific Electric Park on McFadden and a park on 6th Street that we're going to be cutting the ribbon on very soon. So just so we know and just so we're clear there hasn't been a net loss. In fact, we've been able to open up some pockets of space in the city where our families who are living in some very densely populated areas can have a chance to

have some open space for their children. To the extent that I'm very supportive of this because if there's ever been a sound investment for us, it's education. And I trust the will of the voters to be able to make decisions on their own. We're not going to obligate anything. An assessment isn't going to be imposed on them. The bond is simply a question that's going to be put before them and I think, as they've done in the past, the voters will speak loudly and clearly that they know that education for their families, whether it's youth, whether it's seniors, it's an important priority for us, and it's something

that I think we all value. So the only question I had for staff and maybe for the city manager to address is, I know we've spoken about lease terms, and I think there was 99 years that was proposed. I know we're coming off a 30-year lease, and then I know 50 was proposed. Any reason why we landed on 85, it just sounds a little arbitrary, or is there some science to that?

There actually is council members. So one of the things we wanted to do, and we need to correct the date on it, but what you're doing tonight is you're approving the lease in substantial form, and I can still work out some of the details with the college district. We were attempting to pick the end date that coincides with Godinia's lease on the property. So individuals 80-some years from now, it won't be me, can figure out they'll have all of that land in play at the same time. So that was the rationale for the length.

It provided enough time to make a substantial investment on the district's part, and then it did coincide with the other lease on the property.

Great. Thank you for that. Well, hopefully it's not any of us in 80 years.

Just the other question was, I know there's some contingencies on this, obviously, and the National Park Service to go ahead and approve. and finally just a in the event that there is failure to perform not because the bond doesn't pass because I believe that what the Chancellor said that there's a commitment that's made irrespective of the of the you know conclusion of the bond but to the extent that maybe things happen right and you know and and there's a failure to perform is there a reversion clause in

the lease yes council members so the the lease is conditioned on two things really. It's conditioned on the approval from the National Park Service, which is the other item before you for approval to submit. And we've engaged in some really good dialogue at the federal level, so I'm confident that we are going to receive approval for that. It's also conditioned on them making a substantial investment in the property. If they were not to make a substantial investment in the property, we could

shorten the lease term. Great. Well, I have full trust in the new Chancellor. Welcome, by the way. I don't think we've ever formally welcomed you, but this is welcome to the City of Santa Ana. And to our trustees, thank you for all the work that you do. So I'm going to be supportive of this for all the reasons stated above and as I've supported in the past. So those are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you for the comments. Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to say thank you, Council Member Pinalosa, for bringing that up about the agreement regarding this entity and the school. yeah we do need to have that pretty clear because it is it is pretty tough sometimes dealing with the school district and the city and who is responsible for what and so forth I also want to welcome the chancellor to Santa Ana thank you Mr. Martinez and thank you for bringing this forward and I also want to support what my colleague here councilmember Sarmento was saying it's the will of the voters if a bond were to pass.

It's not just one person. It's not even this council. Or it's not the board. It's the voters of Santa Ana. They're the ones that make up the mind. And they're the ones that say yes or no.

And of course, I second the motion on this, so I'm supportive.

And thank you, everyone, for coming out. Thank you. I have a comment, and then I'll go back because there's some additional comments to my left. I just want to say that I see an A-team here. I mean, Enrique, Ruben, John Hanna, Claudia Alvarez, the new Chancellor, Martinez. I asked him, how come it's Marvin? Later you can ask him, but I'm so happy that you're here and what you're doing. And Linda Rose. And I understand Councilmember Moreno's son was the young man that spoke earlier. So hello to Ted as well.

please. And look, this is a great project. I want to thank our new city manager, May. She's not so new anymore. She's been here a few months, but she's still pretty new, and she's doing a great job. And I know she sat down with our attorney, Ruben Smith, and they pounded it out, and it's what it takes sometimes, and they got it done. And it is time, because we've been talking about this for over a decade. And it's tough to do sometimes because it's easy to derail these efforts. But right now I think we've got momentum. It's the right thing to do. It's going to help tens of thousands of people.

Your folks or our folks, it's really the same community that we're helping. And just seeing Santa Ana College get stronger and stronger and stronger, it's a great thing. It's becoming a better institution, helping so many people with their careers, their jobs. Some are vocational. Some go to four-year institutions. Just doing a wonderful job, and we're blessed to have you here in the city. So with that, I'm ready to vote yes, but we have a short comment from Councilor Pena Lofton.

David PenalozaItem —

Yeah, I just wanted to say that with how advanced science is, I could possibly still be here. You guys can't. I'll be 115, but I'll be... Anyways, I just wanted to point out that Congressman Correa also reached out, and he's very supportive of this lease agreement. And so, you know, that's what it's going to take. It's going to take an entire community effort. So you have the support from Congress, too. So there's that.

So with that, just before I close the public hearing, I want to make sure I didn't miss anybody. seeing not missing anybody come on down

and then after that i'll call for a roll call vote

good evening mayor city council members um i'm glad to see this is on the agenda tonight i heard a lot of good things on there i'm glad to hear about the community benefits possibly getting a library back on the west end side of town but i'm kind of here tonight to talk about the process and I'm going to channel the voice of Steve McGuigan who was a big advocate for Centennial Park who's no longer with us my concern with the process is if I didn't raise my hand you would have never called my name here I turned in the card to Mike you asked those people if I couldn't speak you took that right away from me I had to raise my hand

I asked does anybody else want to speak

I turned in the card, you held them up and you asked them, only you five are going to speak

you're speaking now, do you want to keep going

No, what I want you to do is follow the process. This is a lease agreement. It should be a 25A under agreements. This is wrong. We're doing this the wrong way. This is a lease agreement for 85 years. There are several lease agreements before you tonight as 25A, B, and C. That's what this should be. We're not following the process. You've just heard the Chancellor stand up and say, it's 2.3, 2.5 acres. It includes the parking lots. I bet you city staff will disagree with what he just said I'm not against this I'm concerned we're not following the right process the National Park Service

has not given us approval from my understanding we've submitted to land swaps to National Park Service they've denied both why because they don't want it here they want open park space we offered Rancho the three acres in the back of the park where the Santa Ana Fire Department used to be we wouldn't be going through any of this if they took the three acres that is under a deed restriction that says educational purposes only because it's under the Department of Education again I'm very concerned we're not following the process they said their bungalows on the property their buildings that's not

right all I'm asking you wait till the National Park Service approves it and then come back, make this a 25A, and do a lease agreement. But this is not the right process. If Steve McGuigan was here, he'd say the same thing. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Does anybody else wish to speak? Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to Council. Those in favor? You want to speak? Come on up. Come on up.

thank you thank you for having me here and this is my first attempt at you know the the whole council meeting thing so I'm a new resident in Santa Ana just barely three years and and I'm here to actually have a grievance that I want to make clear regarding the police department and their lack of enforcement of things that are going on on one of the parks that are in construction right now on 6th and Lacey there's this it's not even finished the park is not even finished and

there's there's people not just children but there are children going on this property on the playground there's people jumping off of our garages that are I live in an apartment complex right behind on the other side of the park there's skaters on top of the garages flying off of there into the skating rink and even while the construction workers are there they are there they don't even abide by the trespassing laws there's there's signs which my one of my residents one

of my co-resident actually was instigating the whole process of putting the the no trespassing signs on the saw on the on the fences because nobody was doing it the construction workers weren't doing it and every time I've called the police my neighbors have called the police nothing they come out but they don't do anything they don't do anything and I was told directly from the police themselves that there's nothing they can do there's underage children there's kids that don't even live in our neighborhood that are coming in carloads carloads unloading bikes unloading skateboards unloading

scooters all these people are just like doing whatever they want and and my concern is I appreciate the police department in this town because when I have called them on other things prior to these this situation they have been there they have been there and my problem right now or my issue is why aren't they issuing either summons or whatever and especially when they're underage it's like they don't care this is what they do the police come by they put their lights on because I do understand they have other more important things to do

but if this was taken care from the very beginning it wouldn't have gotten this far and so none of these kids none of these grown-ups that go there they don't care about the police coming because the police will come they'll honk their little light things and honk them tell them to get out they don't even get out of the car anymore and they they chase all the kids out or the adults wherever they are they're even there after dark the lights aren't even put up yet

If you have a moment, I know the Chief came back into the room. Please meet between him and the park. We'll follow up.

I would like to because this really needs to be addressed.

Thank you. We'll follow up.

What if somebody gets hurt, right?

Chief, can you just make sure you both talk?

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for coming.

Anybody else?

Come on down.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Yvette Aguilar, and I'm here with my family and next-door neighbor to present our concerns, as well as the concerns of additional 30 other neighbors who participated in the community petition we submitted to Place Works and Santa Ana Recreations and Community Service Agency on September 19, 2019, opposing the skating area proposed on rate site Rancho San Diego College Replacement Park Project. We oppose having a skating area residing near our homes. Due to the reputation, the skating culture carries and lack of police patrolling.

Our neighborhood is not suited for young children and their safety. They would be exposed to potential vandalism, crime, and acts of violence. Local news reported a violent crime wherein Santa Ana resident was brutally beaten with a hammer and a skateboard at the Santa Ana Centennial Park in 2017. A skateboard was used as a weapon. Additionally, skateboards have been known to be used as weapons within its skating culture to settle quarrels. We worry that such behavior and ambience will potentially occur at the rate site if skating area were erected.

We would like to prevent similar incidents to occur in our neighborhood for the safety of all residents, seniors, and children by holding off the skating area at the proposed project. The community service supervisor and the team that coordinated the community meetings regarding this project made poor effort in keeping us all informed. Most of the residents I spoke with were not aware of the project and are not in favor of adding a skating area. The neighbors I spoke with regarding the project are apprehensive about having a skating area so near their homes.

Fear the overall outcome of the park due to creating an area that may be used by unsupervised adolescents and children along with the higher rate of homeless population that has increased since the Santa Ana River trails were cleared. We do not understand why this gate area was proposed after the majority of the residents are not in favor of it, nor were aware of it, or asked for opinion. PlaceWorks stated that the neighborhood is pedestrian park intended to serve the area of residence, which at this moment they and the Santa Ana Recreation Community Center survey agency are failing to do so.

Another concern to loud noise due to the wheels of skateboards on pavement. Per the study report provided, Placeworks measurements are not valid due to inadequate city comparisons. They measured noise and collected data at Harvard Skate Park located at the City of Irvine. We are all well aware that both cities differ economically, culturally, educationally, and population. Santa Ana population surpasses Irvine's population at 335,000 residents, while Irvine populates stands at 266,000. We do not accept PlaceWorks' noise-measuring data as accurate or reliable data, nor a fair comparison.

Santa Ana Centennial Park is still open to the public. PlaceWorks could have collected data from the location or other similar nearby cities with skate parks, such as Costa Mesa, Fullerton. An alternative skate park location is Vans Skate Park in Orange, California. The site is well-established, large, and open to the public for free, and is located only three miles away from the site at rate. Along with research, I came across a news article in 2010,

potentially building a skate park at the, I'm sorry, potentially building a skate park and BMX field at the San Nail Lawn Bowling Center.

Adrian, please, I'll wrap up. It's red.

Okay. Okay, we would like the ideal location. Therefore, there are larger and better and safer locations suited for the skateboarding community. We leave a copy of all our concerns, along with local news reports and crime stats, reviews, recordings.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

um Claudio Gallegos representing congressman Lou Correa wanted to reiterate what councilman David Penalosa stated the congressman is in full support of the lease congratulates the city on this great achievement the congressman himself was a former teacher at this site and so it's got a special place in his heart and he's glad to see that this is going to be a permanent fixture in our community we welcome the Rancho Santiago Community College District who has been such a great partner and we are looking forward to see what the future brings should any issues arise

with the National Park Service please contact our office we'd be happy to work with all parties to resolve any issues that may arise.

Please tell the Congressman we appreciate his cooperation. We know he's already intervened and I'm sure he's going to continue to assist us all. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Alright. This is a public hearing. So we have Leslie

Go ahead, Leslie. And then we have Maria with no last name. Please go ahead.

My name is Leslie Pobletta. I'm a 14-year-old resident of Sanana, and I'm here to say that I support the skate elements and the park that is going to be in Ray and Myrtle because skate has nothing to do with gang or anything. It won't be dangerous for nobody. I could say this because I live in a gang street, Townsend, and skateboarding has nothing to do with gang or anything that will be dangerous for neither parents, students, children. Skating is not dangerous at all. It's a form of recreation, transportation, and ETC.

It could be used for a lot of things. It keeps children healthy. The skaters, they're healthy because they're active.

Thank you, Leslie. Do you know who Maria is? Maria, come on down.

Good evening, council members. My name is Maria Rubalcaba. I do have a last name.

You didn't write it down, though.

Yeah, I didn't have enough time to write it down. But I wanted to state my support for the skate parks. We have been working around supporting safe skate spaces for the youth of Santa Ana. As you know, Santa Ana is one of the youngest cities across the nation. and we are heavily populated with youth. The issue with only having one skate space at Centennial Park is that you get youth having to come from across town to make their way all the way to the southwest side of the city simply to have a safe skate space. So what we find, the issues that we find, is you can go to Mendez to the parking structure

and you can go to, right here at City Hall, you can go to any place in downtown by the Calle Cuatro Plaza any place around the city and you'll see students skating there and this is a danger both to the youth but also to the other folks that are there shopping or you know any vehicles or anything like that that is why we're advocating for a safe skate space it's not because it increases criminal criminalization in the neighborhood on the contrary it actually helps increase the neighborhood safety and creates a feeling of community for the youth of Santana. So contrary to the previous

speakers' points, we have been doing a lot of research. We have worked with several folks from UCI professor. We have worked with other folks from Placeworks and other urban planners, and we have seen the connection between the positive increase of skate spaces in the city of Long Beach with the ask foundation you all can look it up ask foundation as well as next up foundation over in Anaheim and as well as the Tony Hawk Foundation the Tony Hawk Foundation I have been in contact with them and they have offered their support to match the city whatever the city is

able to put down to create a safe skate spot they will also come in they come in towards the end of the process so that means that the city needs to be already on board with the project in order for them to come in and finish the funding so again we have been doing our research for over three years and we are confident that a skate space in Santa Ana a safe skate space in Santa Ana will definitely help the the youth of Santa Ana especially with a lot of the issues that Santa Ana has and with measure X and all of these the cannabis tax and all of this this is part of that

tax part of that commitment that the city and the voters wanted to see to have that commitment to the youth to create safer spaces safe programs and safe spaces for youth to continue you know thriving in the city of Santa Ana so I hope that you take this into consideration and that you do not ignore the youth's request because as the previous speaker mentioned as well we have been going consistently to all of these community outreach meetings so I just hope that you don't ignore the youth's voice simply because a couple of residents have petitioned against it. Thank you

so much. Thank you. So with that, see I have no other cards. If there are no other speakers, I'm going to close the public hearing and bring it to council for consideration. Those in favor, please press green. We'll hold the roll call vote open for a moment.

Motion carries. Congratulations.

Applause

Why don't we take a three-minute recess, we'll let the room clear out, and we'll continue with our meeting.

I'm going to continue with our council meeting.

Thank you.

I just want to inquire if there's anything to report out at closed session, please.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Mayor, we do not have any reportable action. We were given direction on several cases.

Thank you for that report. I will now go to the minutes. Yes, and just a clarification maybe from the city manager or city clerk. I do not want to participate on the cannabis vote. I believe Councilor Inglés is possibly the same situation, so I just recuse myself at this time, or what do we do?

So, Mayor, the second reading of the cannabis ordinance that you're referring to, it was passed on the consent calendar. So right now the minutes and the records reflect that both Councilmember Iglesias and you, Mayor, were yeses on that. So this would be the opportunity for the two of you to clarify, as you had publicly stated before, Mayor, that you were abstaining from everything cannabis-related.

Yes, I just, frankly, I just missed the vote. I was not aware. So I'd like to set the record straight and abstain.

And Councilmember Iglesias has publicly stated numerous times she's opposed to anything cannabis-related. So we would need to make those amendments to the minutes, and your colleagues would need to vote on that, and then you would vote on the minutes.

So I request that, and then I would turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem.

So if we can get a vote to accept the minutes with the amendment, correct?

David PenalozaItem —

You don't have to call it out.

Madam City Attorney, can't they vote on a revision or a correction of the minutes?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

They can vote on the correction of the minutes. They're not voting on the actual substance. I think the mayor is just being exceptionally careful, but you can vote on the correction of the minutes.

All right. So those in favor, everybody say yes.

Just for clarification, so the revisions of the statements that we just made, we're going to vote those incorporated into the minutes.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Yes, so the minutes will reflect that we actually had you make these clarifications at this meeting. Okay.

So we go ahead and vote.

So everybody vote, please. Jose.

All right, next motion. Are we on, is it 11A?

We do have a speaker for 11A.

All right, let's go ahead and take the speaker.

From the Public Law Center, we have Yugochi Anderdale.

Sorry, I'm not saying your name correctly. Can you please help me?

That's okay. Good evening. My name is Ugochi Annabara Nicholson. I'm an attorney with the Public Law Center. Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. I'm here to ask that the Council reject Ordinance NS-2976, or otherwise known as 11A. We ask for this rejection because we have serious concerns about the constitutional violations as well as the violations of state and federal disability rights laws affecting individuals who are homeless and without shelter.

We also seek for this ordinance to be revoked this evening because of the gross and stiff and significant penalties that are imposed upon people who are homeless for no other reason than the fact that they lack shelter.

We submitted a letter earlier today that gives the balance of our comments related to the violations of constitutional and federal and state disability laws that we believe are being violated by the drafting of this ordinance and the way that it has been presented, including but not limited to violations of the law for being void for vagueness, as well as interfering with the constitutional right of the interstate of right to travel and the protections against interference with due process rights and rights that are protected under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution and the California Constitution.

Finally, we request that the city remove any and all references to the imposition of misdemeanor criminal liability from this ordinance if the city moves forward with tonight's ordinance. And the reason for that is simple. There are 2.2 million people in the United States of America who are in jails and prisons. The majority of them are black and brown women, men, and children.

It is inherently difficult for them to receive and reenter society and obtain housing for the mere fact that they have a criminal record or they have had interference with their criminal justice system. For this reason, we are asking that the city not countenance and participate willingly in the ability for individuals being unable to reenter into society for the sheer reason that they have a criminal record or that they have interaction with the criminal justice system.

So to the extent that the city has included misdemeanor liability within this ordinance, we would strongly ask that it be removed from this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you. You're very eloquent. Thank you. Madam City Attorney, do you have any comment?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Mayor, we received this letter just today. I will tell you that our ordinance was drafted after ordinances adopted by other cities where those ordinances have been tested by the courts. You will see in your item before you this evening that we did during the first reading have a request to remove the misdemeanor penalty. It was brought back to you under second reading by putting the misdemeanor penalty back in at the request of our enforcement team. Not because everything would be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, but we feel that we need to have the full set of tools available to us for enforcement.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

If the council agrees with that, then you can conduct the second reading including that. If you disagree with that and want to read as you did with your first reading without that penalty, that is completely at the discretion of the council.

Thanks for that. Comment, Mayor Pro Tem?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. So we're voting on option one or two on 11A, is that correct?

Yeah, so we're considering right now.

I'd like to make a motion to approve option one.

I'll second.

Councilman Solorio.

A couple of things. First, this item isn't about criminalizing homelessness. It's about updating our ordinances, especially it relates to recreational vehicles, but not just that, but also oversized vehicles. on the, and it's again an improvement of what we currently have on the books overall. With respect to option one or two, I guess they both would be fine or an improvement, but some of our colleagues may not know, especially the newer ones, we started going down the path

of only having the financial fines because in addition to what the young lady so eloquently spoke about, we have a lot of immigrants in our city that are before the courts or have relatives trying to improve their immigration status. And so having potentially a misdemeanor for a pretty basic, not violent activity would reflect very badly on their record. And so as we think about helping our immigrants and things that might hurt them, I do think that moving forward without the misdemeanor penalty is better.

Again, that's not to say that I don't think we shouldn't have anything on the books, but the financial route I think would be preferable. And I just wanted to share that with my colleagues.

Thank you. Additional comments? Was that a motion?

Right, but I mean, it sounded like you're supporting section, the second option. Okay, just a question. So my comment was that I certainly want to thank staff for making an effort because this is responsive to residents that have had some really viable concerns about some oversized vehicles in front of their properties. And so I'm certainly sensitive and respectful of us trying to address that concern. The problem is that the question is an arguable one whether or not we will have this ordinance challenged. And I know I have a lot of trust and confidence in our city attorney,

and she knows that there is a similar ordinance that this was drafted, I guess, and based upon in San Diego. That's been challenged and has been upheld since. So I certainly respect the intent of trying to address this. I just think it's not narrowly tailored enough because I know that when we've tried to do this in the past, we've had a permanent injunction, and ironically it was imposed by Judge Carter, who we know very well from our homelessness cases, when we tried to place time, they're called TPMs, on lunch trucks and trying to move them along.

So what we did is we invited litigation, and the threshold is very low to challenge these ordinances based upon constitutional terms that the attorney for PLC just cited, I think, very well. So I certainly respect and support the effort and the intent. I just don't think that this achieves that. I think it'll be challenged. It may not be effective.

And to the extent that I am supportive of it, what I would support is the second option because it doesn't include those consequences, I think, that none of us want to see, which is folks having to deal and be part of the criminal justice system simply for trying to find a place to reside. If folks spill out of these vehicles, they're going to spill out into our streets. And that's something else that we're going to have to deal with.

So what I would do is, as I mentioned in the first reading, Madam City Attorney, take a look at the election code because it does now have case law, or it references the election code and case law, where a lot of folks are using for voting purposes their vehicles as a residence. And they're recognized for voting purposes. So when somebody doesn't have a home and they have a vehicle and they want to vote, they can. and the Registrar of Voters recognizes their vehicle and where it's parked as a residence for them to be able to vote. So in any event, I certainly respect the effort.

I just, again, would opt for option two if we're going to have to opt for any of these options.

Thank you for those comments. We have a motion and a second, I believe. Those in favor, please vote aye.

Okay, just for clarification. So we're voting on option one, right? Right. Okay, cool. Yes.

What's that Hawaiian symbol that they do? Yeah, it kind of looks like that. Hang loose? Right.

You need six fingers for that.

Right. I have a question for our city attorney. I mean, we could always bring it back and make revisions, but is this coming back on another reading or is this the… This is the second reading.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

No, this is the second reading and your city charter allows the second reading to be amended if it was in compliance with the first reading. And since the first reading included the misdemeanor, we were able to put this in as the second reading. I will say to the city council that my understanding in talking with our enforcement division is It is never the intent to cite for the misdemeanor. That is never where we begin. That is where you end up, and I think the majority of the enforcement that you will see will be the monetary fines, as you're recommending.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

It's just that we didn't want to single out this one provision in the municipal code when everything else is a misdemeanor, because it could have some enforcement implications on those other sections. With respect to the comments that were made tonight, I will personally make an effort to reach out to the attorney. I think it's in all of our best interest for her to understand where we're coming from, and we'll see if we can resolve any differences that we have.

Thank you. I had started moving down this path with a recent 85A, this last revision of keeping the misdemeanor actually runs contrary to more recent things, like with the food truck ordinance where we took out criminal provisions, and also we recently took actions against the Trump administration for the public charge and related things. because it would hurt immigrants with their immigration proceedings. And I'm hopeful that in the near future we may want to consider that as well because this could impact them too. Thank you.

Additional comments?

I just want to clarify from the city attorney. So it's always at the discretion. It's not mandatory to charge someone with a misdemeanor. So it's just like any other law out there. This is just handling this business. If it doesn't have the misdemeanor, you're taking away the teeth from this, it's not going to really do any good. That's my personal opinion.

Okay. So with that, Madam Clerk, what's our next item?

We want to consider the consent calendar, the balance.

I believe, Councilor Iglesias, you had some items. Would you like to pull them?

Yeah, and I believe so did Councilmember Peñalosa. Okay, I want to pull 21A.

Okay, 11A, we already talked about it.

And 25B.

Councilor Payne-Losa, did you have items you wanted to fall? Yeah, just 25B. 25B as well. Any other items? D. Oh, D. Any other items?

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion on the balance.

Move.

Motion or move? We have a motion. I'll second. Those in favor, vote green.

So, Council Member Sarmiento voted by indicating, before he walked out of the room, to have a fellow council member assist.

Is that like an alley-oop or something, Madam City Attorney?

I think it counts, right? He was in the room, and we all saw his intention.

All right, 21A. Council Member Iglesias.

For 21A, the reason I polled it was because I was reading the, I guess, the recommendation from our Community Development Commission And regarding the Community Development Block Grants application, which I read and I agree with the process, just one thing that I believe it's missing, and I would like to ask the city manager if how we can include it.

How can we include an outcomes, measurements of the outcomes, when we, I guess, approve or award these grants to the community-based organizations. Because, you know, I believe in giving out money so they can serve, but as a contract administrator for the County of Orange, I remember we used to have outcomes in saying, okay, we gave you, say, $500,000. Okay, were you able to meet those objectives? Were you able to meet those goals? And we had within a year at the end of when the contract expired, then we would have some type of oversight on that and say, okay, yeah, they were able to meet the goals that they stated that they were.

So is there some type of process on this? Because I haven't seen it yet, and I know I've asked, and I don't think we do have it. So is that something that we can incorporate into this? Certainly, Council Member.

You do have the most common goal, obviously, is the individual served by the programs. But part of this commission, the ad hoc commission's recommendation, is to facilitate a study session for prioritization of the funding and also strategic plan goals. So they certainly can incorporate in item three of their recommendation to have some firm outcomes and expectations that they can monitor in the future.

Okay. If we were to include that, then I would be supportive of this item.

uh is that the the recommendation by staff or what uh or you want to amend what's before us

yeah so with with the recommendation or the amendment that um she just explained i would

be supportive and moving it forward i can uh make a motion to approve with the amendment okay

councilman solodio just a general comment uh and actually just today or yesterday i received a similar concern. There's a lot of bureaucracy in reporting and a lot of other things regarding the CDBG, including outputs, outcomes, all the rest. So I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but I understand the spirit and I think if there's enough, nothing may be necessary, but I think there's quite a bit of that type of accountability provision in there. All right.

So with that, those in favor, please press green.

I moved it at the P6P.

Or vice versa.

You choose. Okay, next item, I believe, was that 25B?

Go ahead.

For this one, just a point of clarification. It's for the Allied Universal Janitorial Services.

And it says various city facilities. Does this also account for the parks?

Included in this janitorial service contract includes your community, your recreation center, so it's mainly the facilities and the buildings.

Oh, okay, so it has...

It's not landscape maintenance. It's merely janitorial.

Oh, okay. Okay, that's it. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem —

Would you like to make a motion? Mr. Mayor, I have a... Go ahead, please. Madam City Manager, with Allied Universal, I know we were going over that they do the security guard, security company, and then the janitorial services. And I know that we had directed the City Manager to work on doing an RFP for, I think it was the second or third year when it came to the security services, if I'm not mistaken. I just, because I keep seeing the amount of money going towards Ally Universal,

David PenalozaItem —

I want to make sure that we're being equal and bringing this up for an RFP to numerous other companies that want to bid into having these services rather than just extending the same contracts over and over and just throwing millions at it.

David PenalozaItem —

Because I know that they are sizable contracts. and just is that being done the the rfp is it still yes certainly council member you're you're

remembering correctly so with this one this was competitively bid for the janitorial services but regarding the security services for the parks we went with the existing security contract with allied so that we could get it up and running but the parks erect director lisa does have on her to do list to go out competitive with that as well.

Okay.

All right, so with that, I believe we have a motion and a second. Did you get it?

Is there a motion and a second then?

David PenalozaItem —

Second.

Those in favor, vote aye or agree.

So next item, I believe it's 25 D as in David.

David PenalozaItem —

Yes, that was pulled by me, and I know Councilwoman Iglesias also had similar questions. I believe she has similar questions. We usually do when we both pull the same item. But Madam City Manager, I just wanted to go over this really quick. I'm all about bringing updated technology and Wi-Fi and remote access and control to everyday items, even like our street poles in downtown.

David PenalozaItem —

But I was looking over the Petra website, Petra Systems, and I know that in the PowerPoint as well, We talk a lot about the potential revenue that could be generated by having these Wi-Fi hotspots on our light poles. But it was never mentioned how much money could potentially be generated. Any value to it wasn't presented in the PowerPoint, and I couldn't find it online either. That was one question, just how much money are we talking about?

David PenalozaItem —

and the second was the only worry that I have is that the only other countries where this has been implemented in is to me seem like third world countries. It was the Middle East, the Caribbean, and I believe South America was some of the cities that I saw that were using these systems, which I'm okay being the first in the States as a pilot program at no cost to the city, but the pictures that I did see online where these are already installed and existing you have really ugly solar panels that just look they're they're an

David PenalozaItem —

eyesore when you're looking at them on Google Earth thing and Google images so I just want to make sure that that any design is brought to you or or us before these go in I don't know if we've seen one not not a picture or not a drawing of it but an actual device of what this is going to look like when there is installed in our light poles because I know that just in the last couple of weeks I've had a lot of concerns from Wilshire Square and Madison Park about these antennas going into our light posts and poles, how they're very ugly and just an eyesore in the neighborhood. And I came in with

David PenalozaItem —

the idea to put all our electrical wiring underground. I know that costs millions and and that's not an easy thing to do. So just the idea of putting more antennas and more solar panels, if that is a potential part of it, onto our poles is troubling just because of the aesthetics. Can somebody answer just those questions?

Certainly, Council Member. So you are correct, you read all your materials on this item, it is a pilot program, so there is no estimation of anticipated revenue. That would be, if it's a successful pilot program, that would be the second phase of it. So it's being installed in a very limited area in the city to see how those connections and Wi-Fi accesses we can use to improve city services. And then the contractor will determine if there's an actual outside market for those services as well. And that's where any revenue sharing or revenue would come into play.

In regards to the design of the equipment, I'm going to ask Tarone to come up and talk about that. As far as the other contract, it is a pilot program, and there's no cost to us, and we are fully indemnified, and they're installing it on the light fixtures that are associated with the traffic signals for clarification.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you. And I have a follow-up question to that, but we'll...

Mayor, Councilmembers, Tyrone Shosonic, Deputy Public Works Director, Construction Services. This program here, this pilot project is basically going to put controllers on top of our street lights with a small antenna on the bottom. And that's basically so that we can provide the services throughout the city for all of our residents and for smart programs.

David PenalozaItem —

And it's only restricted currently to downtown?

Right now, currently, we're basically going from Main to Flower, First Street to Civic Center in that general area. just to do a test pilot program.

David PenalozaItem —

And the solar panels that I saw on Petra Systems' website, those aren't going to be part of the installment, right?

No, there'll be no solar panels on this project here. Petra, when they initially reached out to us, this was about six, seven years ago, they had a solar program to where they could tap into the savings that were offered by the state, and they contacted us to discuss using that to turn our meters backwards for our streetlights.

David PenalozaItem —

okay because yeah because the ones I saw online were about they looked like 50 inch televisions they were pretty big going on on light posts I just would roll over if that was what we were installing in our downtown area thank you Tyrone for answering that and madam city manager when you say third-party companies are we talking just the traditional cell phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, are we expecting them to come into downtown and say, hey, Petro Systems has

David PenalozaItem —

installed 5G network antennas into the light post, so we could tap into this and buy that from Petro Systems? And also, is this providing Wi-Fi hotspots to anybody who's near the light post?

So if the pilot program goes well, that would be the second phase. It would be selling the Wi-Fi access to the companies such as you listed or the bundler companies out there that procure that.

Okay. All right. Can I get a motion? Go ahead.

So this is just a one-year commitment on the pilot, correct?

Yes, beginning on tomorrow's date, October 16th, for one year. Okay. And is this something that we partnered, say, with Santa Ana College, Cal State Fullerton, because I know they have some type of facilities in downtown or the school district?

No, this is strictly for our downtown area using our lights, and it is very creative and innovative, and as Councilmember Penaloza mentioned, it's the first in the United States.

But in the Artist Village, the Cal State Florence facility could benefit from it. At the Grand Central Building.

In future phases, absolutely.

Okay. So because I know when I was on the school board, we had talked about having, like, Wi-Fi in our different, you know, schools, the 62 schools that we had. So is that something that maybe we could have a conversation with them?

In the next cycle.

Yeah. Okay, certainly. Okay.

David PenalozaItem —

All right, so I'd entertain a motion. Really quick, Mr. Mayor. Sure. I would make a motion to approve this item. Only if we make that change to the, I know that the staff report said that this would be a one-year pilot program. And at the one-year mark, the city manager has the authority to extend the contract without having it come back to council for further discussion. Is that correct?

And that's how it's currently worded, yes.

David PenalozaItem —

Is there a way that we could make that change? It would come back to the council? It would come back to council in a year?

Absolutely. If you just word that into your motion, I'd be more than happy to return and give you the results.

David PenalozaItem —

Just word that and make it. Okay. I would like to make a motion to approve with the added language that after the year of the pipe program is up, If it's going to be extended, it comes back to the council. It comes back to the city council for further consideration.

I'll second. Those in favor, please press green.

Madam Clerk, what's our next item?

Not 55A? You just jumped the whole section. Okay. Adopt a resolution declaring October 27th, 2019. Move the item. I'll second. All right. We have a motion to second. It is a formal celebration of the city's 150th anniversary.

David PenalozaItem —

And just with a comment, just a reminder of those watching at home that October 27, 2019, Sunday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. We'll be having the city celebration at Centennial Park. You're all welcome to come and enjoy the festivities.

Ward 6, welcome to my neighborhood.

And I think they want to put an orange tie from me in the time capsule. I don't know.

David PenalozaItem —

When it opens up, you can open it.

Right. In the future, somebody will say, what was that? All right. So one last thing I know that I just want to mention, just because one of the residents raised this to me. Since it's going to be at Centennial Park, and this is our sesquicentennial celebration, maybe naming Centennial for that day, Sesquicentennial Park.

It's already halfway there. Let's consider that. It's not a bad idea.

He will, because he'll be taking vitamins and extending his telomeres and phytoplankton and all this stuff.

He just needs to stay healthy and maybe go vegetarian or vegan. Are you going to run in the 5K on Saturday?

David PenalozaItem —

I wasn't sure what you're asking. I was like, run for what? I just got elected.

David PenalozaItem —

Yeah, I am going to run. All right.

Shadow the dog will be there, right?

All right, just go ahead and vote. If you like it, press green.

All right, next item.

Adopt resolution to negotiate a cooperative agreement with the Orange County Transfer Project. Move the item. I'll second. Those in favor, please vote green.

55C, adopt a resolution authorizing grant application submission in amount of $750,000 for a WaterSmart Drought Response Program. So moved.

Second.

Those in favor, please press green.

55D, adopt resolution authorizing grant application submission for advanced meter infrastructure and hydro prior generation from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation.

Move the item. Second.

Those in favor, please press green.

55E, I would entertain a motion adopting resolution authorizing application reimbursement for drinking water. So moved.

Second.

Press green if you like it. 55F, adopt a resolution authorizing police officer Galena to purchase a retired Santa Ana police canine.

David PenalozaItem —

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to say. I think you should amend that. There's another offer. I'd like to say that you want to bid. I want to make a motion to deny, but to buy, I want to outbid Officer Galena. I'll give him $10. Give the city $10. Instead of $1. I could use Puskas at home to help fight off terrorists.

David PenalozaItem —

I'll move the item to approve, but Daisy has a presentation.

David PenalozaItem —

Daisy has a presentation on the dog?

Alright, but now Council Member Payne-Los is going to fall in love again and want to outbid the officer.

Possibly.

Bring the mic up. This guy was doing anything you couldn't get away that day. I was at the right place at the right time.

It's all I've kicked you down.

A good partner is someone that is loyal, has 100% commitment, and someone that respects me. The only difference between my partner and somebody else's partner is my partner has four legs.

I am Officer Luis Galliana and this is my four-legged partner named Puskas. Puskas is nine years old. We do a lot of training with our dogs. We constantly have to train. We will only use our dogs when there is a very dangerous person. This guy's running. He's approaching Red Hill. The day of the incident that was captured on live TV, we were in pursuit of a assault with a daily weapon suspect who tried to run over a female officer for the city of Garden Grove. A pursuit ensued.

He probably had a good 35, 40 yards head start. And he was really, really far ahead of me. So I knew that the only way we could catch him was with Puskas. So I let Puskas out. He's out on foot now. He's trying to run. I've seen Puskas do a lot of amazing things, but never one like this one. He's got the dog coming at him. The dog takes him down. I didn't think he was going to take that much of a leap, probably about 12 to 15 feet that far behind the suspect and still grab him. He held them until we were able to arrest him and take him jail.

There's no other thing that I would rather do in this department than to work with my partner. Thank you, guys.

What I've been doing with him is slowly transitioning him to retirement. I'm letting him in the house more, introducing him more to everyone else. At home, he's very playful and loving. He's a part of a family now and I feel really safe around him. You expect a vicious dog and it's the complete opposite.

When I saw the footage later that day on TV, I mean it was incredible. If he would have made it into the building, who knows what would have happened. So, Pooh Scott definitely is a hero. Between him and I, we've successfully taken a lot of crooks off the streets.

Thank you very much for the presentation. You don't have the dog here, do we?

We do not. We don't want Council Member Penaloza to take it.

We have a motion, don't we?

David PenalozaItem —

Yeah, I made a motion to approve and just wanted to thank Puskas for her service to the city of Santa Ana. For being a good boy.

Do you have the second? Okay, all those in favor, push green.

Second. Second.

All right, motion passes, and we are at 75A. Is that correct, Madam Clerk?

Yes, that's correct.

And this is the time and place for the open, to open a public hearing for an appeal application on number 2019-03 filed by Karen Grant appealing the decision of the Planning Commission in approving a conditional use permit number 2019-30 and amend the variance to allow a car wash at 301 North Tustin Avenue in the conditional use permit. City Managers, is staff available to make a presentation?

Yes, we have a brief presentation for you.

good evening may pro tem and member of the City Council this is a public hearing regarding appeal number 2019-03 appealing a Planning Commission decision for approval development project at 301 and 325 North Tustin Avenue. On September 9, 2019, the Planning Commission completed a public hearing approving conditional use permit number 29-30, approving a car wash approximately 4,350 square feet in size, conditional use permit number 2019-31,

allowing for a convenience store, approximately 3,000 square feet in size, in conjunction with a gas station, which is a permitted use in that zone. It includes a variance for the reduction of the yard, the front yard, and side yard, I'm sorry, the front yard at 301 North Tustin for a portion of that. And as you can see on the site plan here, to be reduced from 15 feet down to 10 feet, but while the rest of the project site complies with the front yard requirement of 15 feet.

The Planning Commission in reviewing the project also adopted the environmental as part of their approval of the project. On September 19, 2019, the applicant representing the owner of a car wash, William and Corina Conklin, at the speedy car wash at 2035 North Tussin Avenue, submitted an appeal of the Planning Commission decision. It was carried a grant on behalf of the Conklin.

The appeal requests indicate that the commission failed to satisfy the five required criteria of finding for the granting of the CUP under the Santa Ana Municipal Code Section 41638. They also alleged that the commission erroneously determined that the project was character exempt from CEQA as an infill development project. I'm sorry development project they contested the amendment to the variance indicating that the project should have been denied because it does not address special circumstances they also claim that the notice for the September 9th

2019 planning Commission public hearing was not reasonably distributed and was not in compliance with noticing requirements this is the project site it is located at the southeast corner of 4th Street and Tustin as you can see here it consists of two properties at 325 and 301 Tustin Avenue the site as you can see currently has a gas service station as well as car wash both of these are currently operable currently and it's located 325 North Tustin this is right

at the corner just south of that is a site that was formerly occupied by the Zocalo restaurant and a demolition permit was issued in May of this year and the site as you can see now is clear and it's fenced and is ready for construction

so the site as I indicated is approximately 1.4 acre in size it includes a car wash was about 4354 square feet with a tunnel it has a design that shows there is a pay point a stacking queuing area of approximately 180 plus square linear feet and allow for stacking of the vehicles on site as you can see here this is 4th Street I'm sorry this is Tustin and this is 4th Street the car wash will include 20 vacuum bays a couple employee parking spaces was as well as a

handicapped parking spaces it will have a tunnel that is located along the south side of the site the vacuum is has been designed so that they're located on the north side of the building and is will be away from adjacent land uses to the south to the east is the freeway the 55 freeway and to the west as you can see is Tustin Boulevard the conditional use permit was also approved with certain condition so that the project would reduce noise emission to those adjacent properties

that includes hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the summer and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the winter.

It also required that as a secondary step, the Planning Commission in place a condition that says after six months of approval and occupancy, there shall be another noise study be completed to evaluate whether or not those design implementation that has been put in place was effective, if not additional measure can still be put in place to help reduce any noise emission from the project site to comply with local noise standards.

This is a rendering of the property, as you can see. This is the gas station. This is at the northwest corner of the site. This is the convenience store, the 3,000 square foot convenience store located mid-site. And then the car wash, which is located along the south side. And it is located there for a reason because of circulation and also allow for the maximum ability to stack all of the vehicles on site because it is the deepest part of the project development site.

This is an elevation view of the car wash. In terms of the analysis of the appeal, the first claim by the appellant is that the commission failed to satisfy the five required criteria for granting of a conditional use permit. And in the planning commission resolution, as we provided to the city council, the planning commission did find that the car wash, what's significant here is that the car wash, number one, is going to replace an existing car wash, as I mentioned earlier. So there's already one on site. It will simply be relocated.

But that the car wash will replace the existing. It will continue to provide services to the community. And in addition, it has been designed to mitigate, to eliminate any potential impact that the current one would have, including circulation, including noise. All of those have been improved, and your state-of-the-art design has been put in place so that the new car wash would minimize any impact to the adjacent properties. It also was designed to minimize the exterior noise to the project.

A noise study was completed by LSA in July of this year for the project site and is part of our project file that confirmed that the project, both the car wash and the gas service station, when in operation, complies with the city's noise requirement. And so, therefore, the Planning Commission found that the approval of the condition of use permit for the car wash is in compliance, and they did make positive findings for the approval of that.

If you're almost done, I think we're ready to continue.

I have just a few more slides, so if you'll allow me. In terms of the determination on the caracal exemption, the Commission determined that the project was caracal exempt in accordance with CEQA guidelines section 15332. This particular exemption requires that a zoning designation and the general plan be in place for the project, and which it does have, the zoning for the commercial does allow for this type of approval to occur, and that zoning was effective as of January 4th of this year. The site is less than five acres in size. As indicated earlier, the site is 1.4 acres.

It has previously been developed and does not have any endangered or threatened rare species. The site, as you saw, is currently operable, and the restaurant was previously slared up until May of this year. And it is also served by public utilities and will continue to be served by public utilities. The impact of noise, traffic, air quality, water quality was all reviewed, and utilities can be served on site. So the project qualifies for all of those elements of this caracal exemption. In addition to that, staff in further review of the CEQA exemption guidelines,

we found that the project was also exempt under category class 15 303 which is class 3 for new construction or conversion of small structure it allows in an urban environment up to four buildings and up to 10,000 square feet this project has two buildings and in total about approximately 4400 square feet so the City Council as a de novo public hearing tonight could also reaffirm the Planning Commission's findings but also add the additional carical exemption of 15303 as part of its finding and it's very appropriate to

have multiple carical exemption be a part of a entitlement approval the analysis of the variance the applicant claimed that there were no special circumstances that was found by the Planning Commission to warrant the appeal of to warrant the approval of the variance they based their finding on the applicants application and information however the Planning Commission when it approved the variance made its own finding in compliance with our code and the finding found that because of the site location its

proximity to freeway the shape of the property the requirement by the city of having to provide dedication for turn lane all those things restricted the ability of the owner to enjoy this property and be able to have uses of the property as other property owner would so therefore a variance was granted based on those findings as you can see on the the site plan here and as mentioned earlier the variance will vary for very limited area of the site of for allowance of a turnaround for the car wash otherwise the rest of this site

complies with the the standard for a front yard setback so the variance is very appropriate and the finding was made in terms of the notice the city has noticing requirements for all public hearing in this case we provided advertisement on published it in the Orange County register on August 30th we mail to all property owners and residents within 500 feet of the project site state law only it requires 300 feet we also posted on the project site and as you can see in the picture there's a posting on August 30th so we have made

all of our best effort to comply with state law to comply with local publication requirement we even sent email to the appellant ten days before the meeting to notify them of the the project hearing as well so that's above and beyond what is locally required so with that it is recommended that the City Council consider adopting a resolution denying the appeal application 20 1903 and upholding the Planning Commission approval of conditional use permit number 2019 30 variants amendment to variance number 2018 10 conditional

use permit 2019 31 and environmental review 2019 69 as amended in addition as I mentioned earlier the City Council can also reaffirm the Planning Commission's Caragor exemption number 32 in addition that it is also appropriate that you can determine that the Caragor exemption class 3 can also be incorporated for approval of this project that concludes my staff thank you if you can be by in

case we have questions I have many speakers I'm gonna call on Tom Kelly Thank you, man. Thank you. Followed by Evan. Thank you. Followed by Lorena.

Followed by Gloria.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

Mayor, as this is a hearing, we do generally, according to our script, we have the applicant. We ask the applicant if they have any questions.

Well, I just have a, I'm just opening up the public hearing, and these people are requesting to speak.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

yes but generally after our staff report because it's public hearing we would ask

if the applicant would go first if they have anything they want to present they may or may not they might just be here to answer questions and or the and or

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

the appellant we usually do that this process and then we take the applicant

is here you want to be you want to say something and and the appellant as well

all right they'll wait they'll wait no they'll make comment the appellant is the appellant here go ahead

Thank You mayor Polito and members of the council most of us feel like there's a Starbucks on every corner Santa Ana has 13 Starbucks by comparison the city of if the city approves the car wash at 301 North Tustin Avenue it will have 23 three car washes to Santa Ana need a 23rd car wash to Santa Ana want to be the car wash capital of Southern California let's think about what a 23rd car wash will do for the city and the surrounding community it won't bring jobs to the community you only need three or four employees to run an express car wash it won't generate sales tax revenues with 22 operating it won't provide a

needed service there's another car wash on the very same block as the proposed car wash and yet another one a block away on 4th Street the retail center with the restaurant previously approved as part of this project would have benefited the community it would have provided jobs a place to shop to eat gather on a daily basis and improve the aesthetics of this important location which the city has declared to be a gateway to Santa Ana unlike the car wash the retail center would have imposed no significant environmental impacts on the community with the mitigation measures adopted in the MND and MMRP for the project the

LSA noise study which the city is hidden until posting the agenda of this hearing on Friday shows noise from the car wash will exceed what is considered acceptable in the general plan noise element up to 20 feet away from the car wash 20 feet away from the tunnel would be on the other side of dr. chose dental office how would it be in how would it the sound of feel and sound inside her building where she's performing sensitive procedures the noise study didn't consider impacts from the interior of her building the noise studies levels are inaccurate and too low but even using those numbers there is over a

three decibel increase above the ambient noise level which is a significant impact under CEQA how will noise from the car wash impact pedestrians walking past on the sidewalk the tunnel oh the tunnel opens directly towards the sidewalk as well as Jason and Ariana Burris's law law office directly across the street. It's claimed the project approval is conditioned on the car wash complying with the city's noise ordinance. This is all smoke and mirrors. The city's noise ordinance has no specific standard for noise on commercial properties. So you're effectively conditioning

project approval on compliance with nothing. The noise study didn't consider vibrations at all, and Dr. Cho's dental practice, which is located mere inches from the car wash tunnel, uses medical equipment that is very sensitive to even the slightest movement. The traffic study failed to consider weekend trip counts, which are significantly higher than weekdays, and didn't account for the collision rate at 4th Street and Teston Avenue, which already exceeds acceptable standards according to the California State Highway Patrol. This car wash will service up to 30,000 cars per month.

the original project with the retail center and restaurant avoided these significant environmental impacts and the city didn't have to circumvent sequa like they're doing for the car wash in order to approve it in order to push the car wash through the city has piecemealed approvals for the revised project with a car wash component which is expressly prohibited under sequa the whole project is made up of several components including the general plan and zone amendment needed to develop both properties the city found that the project with the retail center and restaurant would have significant

environmental effects on the tribal cultural resources identified at those properties as well as hazards including asbestos and lead-based paint which we know now the city is concerned with in light of flood poisoning prevention week on September 9th the Planning Commission approved a revised project with the car wash and in doing so completely abandoned the mitigation measures the city adopted in the MND and MMRP for this same project. To do this, the Planning Commission carved out the general plan amendment and zone change from the project description as

they would claim that the revised project with a car wash was now categorically exempt from all CEQA environmental review. Why did they do this? Because a project cannot qualify for the claimed infill exemption if it requires the general plan amendment or a zone change. The city in turn claimed that since the revised project is exempt, no subsequent environmental review was required, even though the project had been significantly revised to include a car wash. This is unlawful piecemealing of a project, which CEQA expressly prohibits. In addition, in adopting the MND and

MMRP, the city already determined the project creates a substantial environmental impact, and therefore a categorical exemption wasn't available then, and it's not available now either. In approving the project for the car wash, the city is also violating laws dictating when variances can be granted. The city claims the variance is necessary to protect the applicant's property rights because the property cannot be developed without it. This is completely false. The project was a retail center, with the retail center on 301 required no variance at all.

In fact, the variance for 301 is only necessary for the exact reasons stated in the variance application. so the developer could build a car wash tunnel in a way that will maximize his profit. Granting a variance to maximize a developer's profit is an impermissible special privilege and an unlawful basis for granting a variance. This is the community that will be impacted by the car wash. They're here in orange shirts. They will suffer from the noise, the vibrations, the traffic, the collision increases, and the poor aesthetics every single day. They say no to the car wash. They say yes to the retail center originally approved.

Thank you. Thank you.

Tom Kelly.

Hello, my name is Tom Kelly. My family has run a farmer's insurance directly across the street from the lot in question for the past 30 years. I've grown up staring at the same lot. to watch different businesses go there and fail and I just have a couple concerns specifically for that lot ever since the Zocalo restaurant which it was formerly has failed there's been a groups of vagrants that have been using the lot to stay there and it's got and they have gone around at night engaging on or my property is in prostitution and drug use and we've had a lot of

vandalism so I'm happy that something's being built there but my concern is to to be sure that whether it's a car wash or something else, that it's an open space with a lot of lighting. We've had to remove most of our foliage to kind of make the area more safe. And my other concern is that street and the intersection on Tustin Avenue and Fourth Street have an immense amount of traffic, an immense amount of accidents. And I just want to be sure that there will be multiple exits for the car wash to come out so people turning right onto Fourth Street are able to go out

because that's hard as it is right now to turn out onto that street. So I know I didn't have a lot to say. Thank you for your input. We'll take it into account.

Are you Lorena? Yes. Please, go ahead. Buenas tardes, Mayor Pulido, Mayor Proterm Villegas y Concejales. Un segundito. Let me get a traductor. are you going to speak in English? well wait we'll get you a translator

ok ya está gracias

in the auto-pilot of cars with the facility on the street street 301 some of our reasons are first, the commission of planning changed the area of this area if this is possible, why it has a plan general no it doesn't have a rule if we are going to guide them this auto-pilot would be the number 23 how many will be enough for our

Thank you.

firmadas por los habitantes que están en contra de la apertura de este negocio. Apreciaría mucho que se dieran el tiempo para verlas. Es la opinión de sus ciudadanos que votaron por ustedes. Muchas gracias.

Good evening, Mayor Pulido, Mayor Pro Tem Villegas and City Council members. I'm here today with my friends here with the orange shirts to manifest their opposition regarding the opening of the specialized business, the car wash that is at the address in 301 North Tustin. And these are our reasons. First of all, the Planning Commission changed the use zone for this. and how is this possible if we already have a general plan?

It doesn't make sense to have rules if you are not going to follow the rules. This car wash will be the 23rd car wash. How many are enough for our city? Anaheim is known for Disneyland. Buena Park is known for Knott's Berry Farm. What would you like Santa Ana to be known for? The car wash city? We don't want this to happen. Let's vote no on another car wash. And I have in my power the comments and written testimony from and signed by the residents opposing the opening of this business. Please take the time to listen to these people's opinions.

These are the people that voted for you. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Gloria, followed by Carmen. Gloria y luego Carmen.

Hola, alcalde y consejo. Mi nombre es Gloria. Esta noche me gustaría hablar sobre el autolavado en Santana, en la avenida North, Tasting, número 301. Este será el autolavado número 23 y con uno aún más en el proceso de planeación. Me gustaría que gente visitara nuestra ciudad para visitar bonitos restaurantes o centros comerciales. However, the people who manage our city only to use these autolavados and the ones who only contaminate our city with the water that is running by our streets, water and water systems. This is unjust to our residents. We put our faith in the local leaders to take the best decisions for us.

This night, please, take the correct decision to vote against this autolavado. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Gloria, and I'm here because I'd like to talk about the car wash on Santa Ana on 301 North Tustin Avenue. This would be the 23rd car wash, and more are in the pipeline in the planning process. I'd like people to visit our city to visit the beautiful restaurants and shopping centers. However, people come to our city just to use these car washes, and in doing so they just contaminate our city with the soap that is running through our streets, our sewers, and our water systems. It's unfair for our residents. We trust in our local leaders to make the best decisions for us.

Tonight, please make the right decision and vote against this car wash. Thank you.

Carmen.

Carmen, y luego sigue Leti.

Buenas noches al consejo, mi nombre es Carmen. Estoy aquí para hablarles sobre el artículo 75A. Simplemente puesto, yo no quiero otro autolavado en Santana. Si es aprobado, este sería el autolavado número 23 en nuestra ciudad. Y no entiendo la necesidad de otro. Why is this council is against good communities local? Why should they be doing the best for our city? This auto lavado will not be in our vecindario and will not contribute to the community. This space

may have been used for a beautiful tienda for residents and visitors. I ask the council to please do what correct and vote en contra de la construcción de este auto lavado. Gracias.

Good evening, members of the City Council. My name is Carmen, and I am here to talk about Item 75A. Simply stated, I do not want another car wash in Santa Ana. If approved, this would be the car wash number 23 in our city, and I do not understand the need for another one. why is the city council against local facilities? Shouldn't you be concerned with doing the best for our city? This car wash does not fit in our neighborhood and would not contribute to the community. This space could have been used for a nice store for the residents and visitors.

I ask the city council to please do the right thing and vote against the construction of this car wash.

Leticia. And then, Graciela.

Good evening, I'm the Alcalde and the Concejal. My name is Leticia and I'm here tonight with many of my neighbors to talk about the public article number 75A. The Plan General of Santana was created by one reason. Our leaders local plan what type of installations are built and where.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Leticia, and I'm here tonight, like many of my neighbors, to talk about Item 75A. The general plan of Santa Ana is created for a reason. Our local leaders plan which types of facilities are built and where to ensure that we have a successful and sustainable city. 301 North Tustin Avenue is in a commercial zone, which could have been an office building or a commercial building of high quality. I do not want another car wash in the city. Please follow the rules of the general plan and keep this zone as commercial space. Thank you and good evening.

After Graciela, we have Villani Ortiz. Please go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council. My name is Graciela, and I am a resident in the city of Santa Ana. I am here to voice my opinion on public hearing item 75A. As a resident, I am upset about the lack of transparency by our planning commissioners and city staff members. it's it's disappointing that it's disappointing that the planning commissioners changed the zoning of the site at 301 North testing without properly notifying the public I'm sure there's a reason for that and I and I'll be waiting for the for them I'll be waiting to hear about it until then I

ask council to vote against this car car wash being built it's unfair to residents to allow another car wash in our city please don't let us be the the car wash capital and joke of Orange County once again. Thank you for your time. Have a great evening.

After Villani Ortiz, Cara Grant.

Buenas noches, alcalde, alcalde interino y consejo. I came this night to talk to you about the autolavage that is proposed in the north testing number 301. As I mentioned, this night this will be the autolavage number 23 in the city of Santa Ana. And there are three more to come. I know this is not a great issue for you from the Council, but it is for all of us with an orange

it is very simple, we do not want another auto-past. We want better things for our city. When voting tonight, please keep these people with orange orange glasses in mind. Thank you for your time. Good night. noches.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council. I'm here tonight to talk to you about the car wash that's proposed on 301 North Tuscan Avenue. As it has said here tonight, this would be the car wash number 23 in the city of Santa Ana, and there are three more in the works. This may not be a big deal for you in the City Council, but it is for all of us with the orange t-shirts. It is very simple. We do not want another car wash. We want better things for our city. And in voting tonight, please keep in mind these people with the orange shirts. Thank you for your time and good evening. Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor Plito and members of the council. My name is Yunhee Cho. I'm the owner of 171 North Tustin Avenue, the building right next to 301 North Tustin Avenue, the proposed site for the car wash. I have been practicing dentistry for over 27 years. I always strive to do my best when it comes to taking care of my patients. My primary concern is treating my patients with utmost care in a gentle, peaceful, and caring atmosphere. I was pleased to hear that there will be a commercial shopping plaza next to my building back in 2016.

A nice-looking shopping plaza is good for the neighborhood. It will benefit all properties in the area and the city. I was quite shocked to find out that there will be a large car wash instead of a shopping plaza. There is a self-car wash a few doors down from my office, and there is another car wash on 4th Street, only 0.3 miles away from the proposed site for the car wash. I was notified about the car wash until after demolition of the restaurant. During the demolition, the noise was so loud and the shaking was so extreme that I could not focus on my procedures.

Some patients had to leave and cancel appointments. I even had to close my business for a week.

I found several vertical cracks from the ceiling to the floor in my building after the demolition. None of these cracks were there before the demolition. I was so troubled that I wanted to discuss about the project with Mr. Chase Russell. Mr. Russell came to my office with Ms. Jill Wallace, who worked for the City of Santana Planning Department for many years. At the meeting, Mr. Russell and Ms. Wallace said there will be a big car wash, not a shopping plaza. They made it sound like it was a done deal, and I could not do anything about it. Ever since I heard about a big automated car wash business coming right next to my building,

I've been very worried and anxious about it. A dental office like mine is extremely sensitive not only to noise but to any movements or vibrations. Simple procedures such as taking digital x-rays, cone beam CT, or taking impressions are very delicate procedures and require no movement. Other treatments such as fillings, crown and bridge preps, root canal treatments, surgical implant placements, and restoration all require highest accuracy and precision. Any movements or vibrations created by the big car wash could have a detrimental effect on the

outcome of the dental procedures that I perform daily. It will be a big problem if I cannot treat my patients during and after car wash construction. My tenants own a massage business. Massage place has to be very calm peaceful and relaxing they worry that they may not be able to give proper treatments to their customers we don't need another car wash I oppose the car wash project I approve and welcome the retail center project

thank you thank you Jason and Ariana

Jason Burris and Ariana Burris if they're not here then those are our last speakers okay come on down

good evening mayor and members of the City Council you had called me earlier but I think in the kerfluffle. You might have lost my card. My name's Evan and I'm here today to tell you why I'm opposed to this project and this car wash. In granting a conditional use permit, the most important question that you ask yourself is what's best for the community? And that's the first element that's required. The choice that you have before you is whether you are going to have the project that for three years, since 2016, Mr. Chase Russell and all of his representatives told you it should be a retail center?

Or, at the last minute, they jammed in a car wash. They're going to keep the gas station, they're going to keep the convenience store, but we're going to switch the retail center and we're going to put in a car wash. Why did Mr. Chase Russell, who owns six car washes in Orange County, come to you two, three years ago and tell you they wanted to demolish that car wash at 325. And now, at the last minute, after they've cleared the lot, they come before you and tell you, oh, no, no, we were just kidding. We actually want a giant car wash. The planning department tried to tell you

that there's already an existing car wash, so what's the big upset? it's a tiny gas station car wash that currently exists that does up to about a thousand cars a month and you're going to replace that and move that directly next to the dentist's office that has a capacity of 30,000 cars per month there's a reason why the community is out in force tonight in opposition to a developer who's trying to stuff their pockets at the expense of the community. The second point I'd like to make for you is that it would be completely inappropriate

and a violation of the due process rights of the members of the public, as well as the appellant and the other people who have spoken tonight to try to shoehorn in a different categorical exemption as a basis for approving a project.

There was zero notice to the community. There was zero notice before the presentation tonight that that was even something that was going to be considered, and it would be completely inappropriate, and it would be guaranteeing that the Santa Ana would be subject to a lawsuit and would owe attorney's fees to the plaintiff in such a lawsuit, and I don't think that would be a wise use of the resources of the city. And lastly, let me finish with this. For over 50 years, our California Supreme Court has told every local government that a variance cannot be granted as a special privilege for a property.

It was the seminal Topanga case, and the Code of Santa Ana mirrors those requirements that were provided in Topanga. And what the California Supreme Court said in that case was that if you can do anything with your property, if it's usable for any purpose, then you are not entitled to a variance to do something else that you would prefer to do on your property. It doesn't matter how small the variance is, that they only want 10 feet or 5 feet. It's still a variance. And in order to have it, they essentially can't be able to use their property.

They've proven to you, when they came to you in 2016, and up until last year in December 2018, told you that they could do a retail building on 301 North Tustin without a variance. They are therefore disqualified from obtaining a variance as a matter of law simply because they want to put in a massive car wash to maximize their profits. It will be a bad decision if the city council approves this car wash because what it will guarantee is that it will be tied up in litigation and ultimately the city is going to have to pay for that. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, what I'm going to do is close the public hearing and bring it back to council for consideration.

I have just a comment. So I read the staff report and it says that it's all cleared. Is there a, is Vince Fragoso, he's planning, right?

Yeah, and Ming, I think, was part of this too.

Mr. Min?

Yes, sir.

So the opposing side is saying that there wasn't any outreach, there wasn't any notice to the public. Did that take place?

The project was noticed as in compliance with our local regulation as well as state law.

So it is in compliance?

It is in compliance, correct.

Okay. All right. Thank you very much. So, and some of the members of the public were saying that there's, you know, keep repeating, 23 car washes in Santa Ana. So I figured, okay, we're 343,000 residents. We're half a million approximately Monday through Friday. So if you were to divide 23 car washes among the residents, that's 14,900, you know, residents per car wash. No wonder all of the car washes are busy. Every time I turn around and I see a car wash, it's busy.

Because I know there's restrictions regarding people washing their vehicle, you know, all that kind of stuff. You know, most people that live in apartments, they don't wash their cars at the apartment complex. Just an observation. I'm not saying yay or nay, I'm just an observation. Because every time I see a car wash, usually you've got business. So anyway, that's all I wanted to know. I read the report and I just wanted to clarify some of the issues that were being brought up. And that's my comment, actually. So we're voting on if we're going to vote down or...

Yeah, approve the appeal or deny the appeal.

Okay, so I make a motion to deny the appeal.

Is there a second to the motion? i don't know if councilman solario is going to come back in or not i just wanted to make sure

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

mayor that the applicant was given an opportunity they haven't come up but i just want to make sure

according to our script that they're well the applicant is here would you like to say something

go ahead come on down well good evening council members mayor mayor for 10 thank you so much for your time um really wanted to just answer any questions you guys may have um i know it's getting late so if there's any questions directly that i can clear up for you

Thank you.

So this project is in my ward. And just for purposes of disclosure, I have had a chance to know and meet with the applicant for many years. and I feel very very bad for him tonight because this shouldn't have been a tortured process this shouldn't have been something as difficult as lengthy and quite frankly as clumsy as it's been you know what I do have some questions for staff the madam city attorney are we sitting as we're sitting as a review body tonight because it's an appeal from the Planning Commission correct yes

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

again as a quasi-adjudicative, you sit here as judges and you need to base your decisions on evidence in the record, not based on your legislative perspective. Got it. So, you know, I also

understand that there was a pre-existing car wash there at the gas station that had been there for years, different in dimension than the one that's proposed. And I know that there's been discussion from the appellant about an over-concentration of car washes in the city. That is something that's sort of beyond the scope of what we're looking at tonight. We're looking at this application and the variances in the other ancillary documents that are provided to us. When did this application change? Because I remember it was for a retail proposal. So this is to planning staff. What happened?

What changed the direction? Because I know my discussions with the applicant early on were very strong. And I think there was a proposal for revising the footprint of the gas station and of the store and then adding some retail on the empty site where the restaurant was. So what happened, staff? I mean when did that when did that occur and why wouldn't you advise the council

member who represents the ward the previous application was submitted beginning December of 2016 the application and it went through with the review process was approved by the Planning Commission in October 2018 the City Council approved the project in November and the second reading was complete in December so by January 4th of 2019 the project was complete the zone change in the general plan amendment became vested the applicant

came back in May of 2019 and submitted a new project application the new project application included the gas service station it included a smaller convenience store and a new car wash on the project development site in terms of the rationale provided the applicant has indicated and I believe the applicant can answer this question for you as well but what we were informed is that the economic conditions have changed the retail is wasn't something I mean work on site they had to reconfigure the project development so that can be economically viable

in terms of the communication to the council members i don't know if any of that was done but obviously as a council member of that ward if you weren't notified then it wasn't completed so when

was the initial application submitted to staff on the onset prior iteration that uh the prior iteration was December of 16 so he this has been with us since 2016 correct okay and now it's 2019 heading to 2020 and we're just getting to it and a very different version of what came to us before who who is the who represented

the applicant mr. Richard Finkel representing Russell Fisher limited partnership. Is that it? That's what we have on the application, yes.

Richard Finkel.

That's the applicant. I thought somebody said that there was another person representing the applicant. Have you had any contact with anybody else on behalf of the applicant?

In terms of the name of Jill Wallace, I don't know there is a tie, a link to the project. I've had a phone conversation with Ms. Wallace regarding the project, but the application indicate it's Richard Finkel who is the applicant representing the Russell Fisher Limited Partnership.

Look, my time's up. I'm going to go ahead and, you know, those are my comments. I just have a lot of questions. And, you know, again, I think we have an applicant that has been really, really misled. His application has been distorted. And I think, unfortunately,

he relied on staff. And I think that staff let him down. And I know you came to us later or midway through the process or towards the tail end, but I just think I just feel very, very bad for this applicant. And we shouldn't be here right now.

Thanks for that. Any additional comments? If not, we have a motion, a second. Councilor Iglesias?

I have comments and questions.

One of the comments that I would like to say, I know exactly where this location is at. It's on my way to work every day when I drive to Teston. and one thing that I was looking at, which is I think is the letter from the attorney talking about the, I guess, collisions, the accidents there. I know that right now with just the small car wash that's there, it's busy at times and usually like during lunchtime, because that's when I try to go there, the Del Taco that's there.

And it's the one thing that is really, for me, that really concerns me, and I didn't see it here as part of the, I would say the negative impact, it's so close to the 55 freeway. And I know that there's traffic when you're trying to make a right, because it's just right there. When you're trying to make a right on Fourth and Tustin, there's always a traffic jam all the time, regardless at what time, and especially around 5 o'clock when I'm driving back home, it's just crazy. About two or three people can go. And they're going into the 55 south, and they're also going to the 55 north.

And it's something that I feel with having a bigger car wash there, it's going to just add that much more traffic to that area. So I don't know if that was something that was studied. I don't know if you guys can tell me that.

Yes, good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is William Galvez, City Engineer. And I know that there's been some questions as to the peak hour traffic on the street and the peak hour trip generation of the business. What we looked at and what the worst case scenario is, it's peak hour traffic during the week, which is actually when the business generates very little traffic, which is during the week. Their peak hour, I'm talking about the car wash, their peak hour is on the weekends. So we decided to look at the worst case scenario, which is basically weekday peak hour traffic.

As far as the collisions go, our ITE manual actually dictates that whenever you have more than one collision per million vehicles, that's when you trigger additional studies. This particular intersection is less than one half of that number. So there is no reason to look at any collisions. The collisions there aren't any significantly greater than any other intersection nearby. So I know that the concern is that how close it is to the freeway.

and so all I can tell you is that the peak hour trip generation for the business is on the weekends and on the weekends this is when we have less traffic in the region, in the area.

Okay, well I would have to just respectfully disagree. Another thing, if I may really fast, just one thing that I wanted to ask was that, and it's not a traffic question, so it was more on what the dentist said. I know that when El Zocalo was there, which was something that it wasn't really, you know, it was a restaurant, but it wasn't really used. What I'm concerned about is also the, I guess, their business and how it affects it. And was that something that was taken into consideration to see how that's going to affect economically those businesses that are there?

Was there a study or some type of, I guess, questions or something that was brought up to the Planning Commission on that?

So when the Planning Commission review the project, it does look at the compatibility of this particular project with the surrounding land use. And the code has a mechanism for the Planning Commission to, when it feels or believes that there could be potential impact, but the land use is still compatible, that condition be placed upon them so that they can be made compatible. In this case, the car wash is a conditionally permitted use, and there have been conditions placed upon the project so that the Planning Commission found that by placing those conditions, it is compatible with its existing use.

It was fully discussed, the surrounding land uses, including the dentist's office. They also provided testimony at the public hearing as well. as well as other commercial land uses. So to answer your question simply, the condition to use permit can be permitted, and appropriate condition was placed on the project so that it will be consistent and compatible with the adjacent land uses.

Okay. Well, thank you for the clarification.

Thank you. Counselor Solorio, please.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In my ward on 17th Street, we've had a number of issues with car washes, And so I know mitigating issues around it and addressing local neighborhood or stakeholder is important because of those type of concerns. It is in Councilmember Sarmiento's ward, and I had thought that he had been up to speed and had been receiving information along the way from staff. Sounds like that's not the case.

So if he has reservations, I have reservations, and maybe we need two to four weeks to consider that. I know this is an appeal type of process, so I don't know what kind of restrictions there may be to receive additional reviews. So I don't know if our city attorney maybe can speak to that. Would it be possible to do a two-week continuance to get additional information?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

yes in accordance with section 41-642 the city council may refer the matter back to the planning commission may seek more information or make may make a decision this evening you have all those

options available to you i appreciate that i was in the room next door and did hear all the testimony and read the materials but uh you know hearing councilmember sarmiento's concerns does uh uh raise additional questions and i know there's been other questions from the audience and and from the dais so i just wanted to share my my concerns on how i'm not quite there yet on this thing uh but appreciate staff's response go ahead mr russell thank you so much

mr iglesias to answer your question as far as with i think it was the dental office with the dental office we have spoken with them several times what we actually did is we gave them 18 inches of our land as an extra buffer between the buildings we're also doing 8 inch grouted concrete construction to ensure that there's no additional sound which also complies with the regulations from the city on the sound studies that are done one month after opening one year after opening to make sure and also to reiterate with car washes and gas stations there's no vibrations that actually doesn't hurt their equipment

we made sure that the noise was mitigated there is mitigated and then with Mr. Solario. Nice to see you. In regards to people that have shown up here today, we had zero appearance at the Planning Commission meeting. This all happened after the appeal, so I just want to be transparent with that. We had no blowback, no negative feedback from any residents. We also don't have residents in the area. We back up on a freeway. I appreciate that, but in addition

to the attendance here, I know I received a number of calls and emails, and I'm sure my colleagues I just want to be clear on that. I appreciate that. Thank you.

All right. If I may bring it back, I also know that there used to be a restaurant there. El Zocalo was actually mentioned by one of the speakers, and now that's gone, and it became a little bit of a blight there for a period of time and was an eyesore and a problem. So that's all been bulldozed. And I think maybe that's part of what changed because now the project site's a little bit bigger, I think, enabling this project. So with that, we have a motion and a second.

Mr. Mayor, I just have an additional comment. Madam City Attorney, look, I just want to see how we can help the applicant, right, because he's come in good faith more than three years ago. And this is just brutal for me to think that somebody's been waiting for three years. And what also troubles me is that, you know, I just have sort of a fundamental question to ask. Can our staff refer applicants to consultants? What's our policy on that?

As a matter of principle, no government employees cannot endorse a consultant or a contractor whatsoever.

And we're sure that didn't happen here?

I have no knowledge of that occurring here, but I certainly will look into it.

Thank you, Madam. And I certainly trust your judgment and your oversight on this. So I want to see how we can help, you know, cure this. What makes me feel like this is something that we can address and try to maybe mend this, in the event, because I did also have a conversation with the attorney for the appellant, Ms. Grant, and she was kind enough to send me some background information, and she makes some extremely compelling arguments. I think that there are some vulnerabilities. I think there are some flaws in the way the Planning Commission addressed this,

but I also do think that the CEQA analysis that has since been addressed and modified

can withstand a challenge. To the extent that there's any liability on this on behalf of the city, is the applicant willing to go ahead and maybe redress the city if there is exposure?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

So in accordance with the city's policy, each of our conditions of approval require an applicant to defend and indemnify the city in the event of a challenge. You have been presented with a notice of intent to file a CEQA lawsuit, and we did attempt to confirm with the applicant today that they acknowledged that requirement and that they would be responsible for any cost the city incurs as a result of the challenge.

And that is the case, Mr. Chase Russell?

Yeah, that doesn't make me any happier about this because he's going to be out of pocket for things that were not done well. and so that certainly doesn't give me any solace because I think he's been there's a punitive you know exposure that he's gonna have as a result of this so look I think I think at the very least you know I'm willing to go ahead and support the project based upon the applicants willingness to indemnify the city in the event of a challenge and and you know mr. mr. Russell I certainly think that, I don't know how many ways I can apologize on behalf of all of us here at the

city. It just is very unfortunate. And to the folks who came here and spoke, I understand that there's a concern with the oversaturation of car washes, but not in this area. There's one in Tustin on the corner of First and Tustin Street, but that's a manual car wash. Nothing is very different than that. And there are no residents or neighborhoods or homes in the area that I think you back up to the 55 freeway. And I do know that there was a car wash on 17th Street that was mitigated to the point where it really didn't harm the residents that were right behind

it. And we did have homes there. And I don't know if it's the same size and scale as that car wash, but I know that there was a lot of mitigation efforts made to prevent the vibration and the sound to those residents. So I do think that those abatement efforts can be met. So given that, I just think this is probably one of the clumsiest things I've ever seen and probably one of the saddest things before us.

Thank you. So I think final comment, Councilor Solodi? Just a follow-up question. I do appreciate Councilmember Sarmiento's additional comments on the indemnification. application. Is that agreement already in writing or when would that come or how we do that? I do appreciate the applicant's concurrence I guess to do that but is it already done or when will it be?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

I understand is it's included as a condition of approval on the project so it's in writing in the resolution but we might ask the director of planning the building to confirm that.

That is confirmed. We have written confirmation from the applicant, as also he indicated today, that they will defend the city based on the condition of the approval.

Very good. So with the council members' supportive comments, I will support it, but I think there are some additional questions related, unrelated, that we'd like to follow along.

Thank you. So we have a motion to deny the appeal. Those in favor, please press green.

David PenalozaItem —

Wait, just is this including that identification of the city? Yes. Okay.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

And I'd just like to reflect for the record that it also includes all of the information presented by staff tonight, including the documentation of how they've added some additional CEQA determinations. You would need to also add that to your record.

It's all in the record. Thank you for that.

All right, motion carries.

So with that, Madam Clerk, on that item is? Item 85A.

85A.

Councilor Registro, did you have a summary?

Yes. Yes, thank you.

I'll begin slowly just because I know there's a number of folks walking out.

This 85A item has two related items.

First, kind of the latter part. I know I and the community, we've been hearing different responses on when measure X funds are used or not. I did speak with both our city manager and city attorney, and maybe they can work together to craft a legally defensible, simple response so that everyone hears the same thing. I know the last meeting there was a question related to this item, and I think the response was very different from prior responses, but I think that could be clarified.

The first part of the motion, I know staff soon will be working on budget proposals for the following year. And given that the community has graciously voted in $60 million in Measure X dollars for what they believe was to primarily work on homelessness issues and reduction of 911 response times, I know I personally felt, and you heard it from me during the budget approval process, and we've heard it continuously from the community, including the Measure X Oversight Committee,

that for this year one, the percentage of revenues of the $60 million that were going directly to homeless-related services and reducing 9-1-1 response time was pretty low. and so I'd really just like for the council, the community, and the staff to think about how we might be able to, looking at the next fiscal year, dedicate more resources to addressing our homelessness crisis and reducing 9-1-1 response time. So I just kind of wanted to put that on the record and share that thought with my colleagues, with staff, and Measure X oversight commissioners.

I know I'll be reaching out to mine because this is important, and we're still early enough in this Measure X program that I think we could shape what future years look like from the perspective of funding. That's all.

Okay, let's go on to the next item.

We have Jim Carson, please.

Followed by Dale Helwig.

Wow. You all are amazing. I've been doing this all night. Hi, my name is Jim Carson. I'm a resident of Santa Ana. And I'm going to make it real short, less than three minutes. I just wanted to talk very briefly about the sex trafficking slash prostitution at Harbor and Hazard. I have some emails going to some of you, and thank you for responding. I met a couple of you at the last community meeting.

I've been working with this population, with these children and young adults, for 26-some-odd years. I just retired from Orangewood Foundation here in Santa Ana. I was with them for 12 years. And, you know, we know children are being sold on harbor and hazards as well as young adults. And I guess I'll send the questions I had just through email.

but there's a 12 year old young lady named Ori who was trafficked on harbor and has she's 24 now and she trains police the FBI flew her out to Texas to train them she's an amazing survivor and there are more kids that have been that have been sold out there and are gonna be sold tonight in this weekend so I had a few questions what the process is about you know how to communicate with you all and all that but I think I'll just send it by email if that's okay is that all right with you guys okay good it's just a long night so that was about it I just wanted to say thank you for giving me the opportunity and if I can

help in any way or if any of the survivors can come who have been trafficked and share their thoughts and ideas about solutions with you all I know they would welcome that opportunity so thank you very much all You're welcome.

Thank you. Dale, followed by Lizzie Lyles, followed by Magda Trujillo.

Dale Helwig, Park Santiago. Thank you, Mayor and Councilmembers. I did want to thank Chief Valentin for supporting the park cleanup and riverbed cleanup at Santiago Creek last weekend. The cleanup went real well, and, in fact, it looked the best that it's been since we've been doing these cleanups. We did remove about 12 encampments, which was down. We didn't find as many needles as we've found in the past, so that too was good. So thank you. The other thing is, I just don't understand this Measure X stuff, because Measure X money went into the general fund,

but yet we keep on talking about Measure X dollars. and so it's kind of like the school got lottery money at what point in time do we say well are we tracking the lottery money for the schools you know it measure X is the general fund so let's just treat it as the general fund instead of piecing it out or whatever the other thing that I want to talk about was I came to the legislative and ethics legislative affairs ethics and it's got a long title for it and the process for filing a grievance with the city is

broken there was an issue that occurred back in January and February against a fellow commissioner a grievance is filed citizens is filed complaints against the city and it says it's going to go to the ethics committee well at the time the ethics committee didn't even exist when it did finally meet the issue still went unresolved and it's been nine months and no answer has been provided to the residents as far as what's going on and we talked to mr. Solario and mr. Penaloza about it and hopefully that can be an item that comes up on a future

council meeting as a discussion item to figure out how you're going to handle these issues that come before the city not only from residents but you know Maybe the same process is broken with city employees. I don't know. But to not address issues for nine months is kind of sad to see. So hopefully we can get a quick turnaround on some of these issues and get some of these things fed back to the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Dale. Next speaker is Lizzie Lyles, followed by Magda Trujillo.

Good evening. My name is Lizzy Lyles. I live at 1629 West Pine Street in Santa Ana. What I want to talk about is parking problem issues in my area. I know we have them in all over Santa Ana but my area at the last meeting I heard the city manager talk about homelessness did a wonderful job I would like to see us talk about what

we're gonna do about parking in my neighborhood the city of Santa Ana allowed developer to develop 60 townhomes on first and Pacific 60 townhomes where were those people gonna park they park in my neighborhood I live behind

the walnut apartments walnut pacific that the townhome people that their parking impact the walnut of parking the the walnut impact pine street so and And then Walnut, we're impacted by the single family homes that are renting out their rooms to families that shouldn't even be there.

So we're being impacted by all of these cars on our streets. When my kids come to my house to visit, they can't even park. We need to do something about it, and I would like for us to not only talk about what's happening with the homeless, but talk about what we're going to do with parking in Santa Ana. And permit parking, I've tried it twice. I can't get it in my neighborhood. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Lyles. Next speaker is Magda Trujillo, followed by Velia Regalado.

Hello. Good evening. Long night. I'm actually coming here, again, my name is Magda Trujillo. I'm coming here for an issue that happened this morning. It's been happening for over five years. So this morning, I actually woke up around 6.40 to the sound of a car hitting a pedestrian on the corner of Bishop and Maple. Now, I've lived there five years. This isn't the first accident that we witnessed. I have my neighbor, who's a nurse, and had to go run out to help the pedestrian.

But the reason why I'm standing here in front of you guys is because I'm representing the east side. Our voice needs to be heard. This is not the first time that I call the city based on that intersection, and nothing has been done. I have three schools around my neighborhood, Walker, Roosevelt, Walker, Roosevelt Community Center. There's kids there every morning and every evening. My husband woke up next to me, and he ran. The first thing he said, I pray that it's not a child that gets hurt.

You know, so I'm here to bring attention to that corner and not just that corner, but just the east side around, you know, all over because there something has to be done. You have the bike trail. People walk there. You know, we're trying to advocate and promote wellness. And how can we do that when it's not safe? You know, so I'm here just to bring attention to it. this is my first time being here, but it's not my first time making calls. You know, I spoke to Council Member Piñalosa, and he was very respectful to call me back immediately and to bring attention to this.

But again, you know, we can't wait for somebody to get hurt. This isn't right. I shouldn't be here because somebody got hurt. It should have been fixed five years ago. And this is an ongoing issue. So I just wanted to bring it to your attention. When this does cross your guys' desk, please don't just bypass it, but take a look at it. Because I live there. What would you guys do if that was your school, that was your community? So I'm just here to, again, bring it just to your guys' attention.

Can I ask you to speak with our chief right now, get your information so we can really address this issue as soon as possible? Chief?

And also Public Works.

David PenalozaItem —

Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Yes, sir. May I really quick just to, and I want to thank her for coming out. She reached out earlier today in regards to this issue, and I informed her. I was like, hey, you know, it's council meetings tonight. I lied to her. I said it looks like a short meeting, so you'll go on around 7. So my apologies because of the time. But thank you for coming out, and your concerns are duly noted, and I hope that the city manager and the chief made notes of that intersection. I drove by it today, and it's along the bike trail. and the stop signs are a little wonky.

David PenalozaItem —

There's one, then you go a couple blocks, and so there's another one. And because it's a bike trail, there should be more attention because there's people crossing on bikes and scooters and little kids. So it's important that we pay attention to that. So thank you for bringing it to our attention.

We have a part two in the corner of Maple and McFadden that they just built. It's a really nice park. Pacific Electric? Yeah. It's a really nice park. But when we first talked about this, they did put up some signs. And what they did is they kind of painted a Yield sign on the actual street. But it's not enough. It's kind of like a through fair street. I think that's what you call them. You see Flower N17. You can go through that neighborhood. There's a reason why. That's what needs to be done here. Either you guys need to do that same thing, close the street, or put some speed bumps,

but a stop sign and some paint in the concrete is not going to help.

So we have the chief and public works personnel over there, and if you can go over there and share your information, and they'll speak with you about it. Thank you very much for coming out. We thank you. Next speaker is Velia Regalado, followed by, put my glasses on here, Victor Payan.

Good evening. My name is Velia Regalado, and I actually am Magda's neighbor. So basically, I just support what she just said. I did reach out to the victim's husband, and the victim is in the hospital with six broken ribs. and she was currently in the MRI machine getting a MRI of her brain and so it's gonna be a long road to recovery so when I run out there to help her I did see a toddler walking in the street with what the dad pushing his little toy it was

about 6 45 in the morning so we have people there at all hours of the day from early to evening time. So thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much for coming out, and you'll probably join them in the back.

Thank you.

Thank you again. Victor, followed by Chris Schmidt.

Hi, Victor.

Hello, council members. It's good to see you guys. Let me take some notes here so I can go rather quickly.

All right, as you may know, I am the director of Media Arts Santa Ana, and we have a film festival, the OC Film Fiesta, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. We're very excited. It was founded with support from the city and with the Mexican consulate during the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, and then the 200th anniversary of the Mexican independence. So this year we're celebrating our 10th anniversary in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the city and the 250th anniversary of the naming of the Vallejo de Santa Ana by the Portola expedition.

So our tagline is a celebration of Orange County's diversity and multicultural heritage. And we got the cover of the OC Weekly this time around. A nice story. And also we were featured in the LA Times OC section on Sunday. So we're doing our bit to bring attention to Santa Ana and what we call you know creative cultural development. We have wonderful documentaries and features about 15 filmmakers coming this year. We have a free opening night at the eBell on Friday at 730 and we have a VIP reception which I think you've all gotten the invitations to at 630.

So we'll have some catered food there. I hope you can make it 630 on Friday. We're also going to have Mariachi Los Astros from CAR. We support the local youth arts organizations. And we're also going to be showcasing Santa Ana High School's Edward James Olmos video project at AMC Orange 30 later in the festival. We aim to keep our tickets affordable, as I've said, with $5 tickets for students, teachers, Santa Ana residents, and military and veterans because we feel it's important as a social event for families to go. and whenever we do our show of hands, how many of you is this the first festival you've gone to?

It's about 50-60% generally, so it's an important first step to get people to talk about issues in their community through the lens of film to participate. We opened the festival up to, what do you call it, submissions this year. We got some great submissions. We're doing a spotlight on the Middle East, so we have films from Turkey, Morocco, Iran, and with what's going on in the in the world today around the Middle East it's important to bring people together to talk about you know people at the human level as opposed to just like the the macro political level that we see in the

news all the day every day so we're we have three Santa Ana venues the e-bell Club the OC Museum of Art and the consulate and this year we have 40 films six venues five free films screenings four cities one great festival and this all started as a free festival with the support of the city so So I really want to encourage you guys to continue your support of the arts and also to attend the festival ourselves. If there's any films you want to see, we can provide you with passes or if any of your staff want to go to see what we're doing. And the proceeds from our film festival support our youth media programs.

We went from the film Fiesta to Media Arts Santa Ana because we added a teen cinema camp, a youth murals and media class that focuses on how to do a community mural and also training kids with documentary skills. And also now we're adding a Millennial Producers Academy, Milpa. So we're teaching kids who are out of high school to 28 how to use video to make money and also partnering them with nonprofits so that they can do documentation. So doing really exciting work. Hopefully you guys will join us on Friday at 6.30 at the eBell Club. And thank you again, and I'll talk to you soon.

Thank you very much, Victor.

Chris Schmidt last speaker I'm here tonight for two reasons one I'm here to ask for your assistance um earlier today I sent councilmember Iglesias and some of your other staff are up here council members regarding roles and responsibilities of commissions and commissioners I sit on the environmental transportation advisory committee and at our meeting last week we were advised by city staff that we don't have a responsibility to review and recommend applicants who apply to remove a city-owned tree in the public parkway and we had a discussion back and forth with city staff and we literally

read the roles and responsibilities to them which I'm going to now the duties of e-tac shall consist of acting in an advisory capacity to the City Council in the study review recommendations with regard to the removal planting replanting or disposition of public trees in public right-of-way. E-Tax shall review, make recommendations regarding the request for public tree removal by individual property owners, neighborhood associations, or developers. But for some reason, city staff is telling us, the people you appointed, we don't have that authority. And it clearly says that in the city municipal code.

Mike Gonzalez, the commissioner sitting right next to me, looked at me and says, why are we even here? What's the point of this commission? for some reason I'm hearing this is happening on other commissions I talked to two commissioners for the Historical Resource Commission and Marashi and Mike Tardif they said city staff is also telling them they don't have authority over certain things that they believe is in their purview all I'm asking is if the clerk of the council or the city attorney can look into and see if our commission actually has these authorities or not because what's the

point of having it the second thing I'm here for tonight is a public safety issue earlier today I was speaking with the commander with the police department because I saw a weapons report on crime mapping and I asked if it was about the library apparently last week there was a mail in the library threatening people security guards gotten involved and the person was arrested he had a knife on his person he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon when I came to city council chambers tonight i had to go through a metal detector be screened for weapons i'm really

concerned that we have very little libraries in our city and we want to make sure the library we here have in downtown so council member panelos it's within your word i'd appreciate if you could look into that and see what the policy is on that um i'm just concerned somebody especially a kid is going to get hurt there so thank you very much tonight thank you we're going to move on to the

comments by the city manager.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I have three fantastic events to announce. The first one, and Daisy from the city manager's office has some visuals for you, as always. The first one is this Saturday, October 19th, we're hosting the 5K run. It's a free event, but the participants do need to register for it. Runners will run past city landmarks, including the Old County Courthouse, the Howe Waffle House, and the Civic Center. And the attendees are also invited to visit the Health Resource Fair from 8 to 10 a.m. on Flower Street, where they can receive free giveaways from local health and wellness organizations.

For more information, you can visit our website. The second event is Boo at the Zoo, and it's Boo Time at the Zoo. It's one of Orange County's longest-running Halloween events, providing a fun, safe, and family-friendly event for trick-or-treaters and children of all ages who love to wear costumes and embrace the Halloween spirit. This event will take place on the weekend of the 19th and 20th and the weekend of the 26th and 27th, and that's from 5.30 to 8.30 p.m. And admission is now available online. You can visit SantaAnnaZoo.org's website.

And then lastly, as always, this year is our celebration of our 150th, our sesquicentennial. And we're gearing up for the big event that I know Councilmember Penaloza already mentioned once tonight, but that is Sunday, October 27th at Centennial Park with festivities beginning at 3 and ending with a spectacular fireworks show at 8.45. There'll be two stages with showcase performances, food trucks with international food, there'll be free food giveaways, and there's going to be lots of activities for both the children and the adults. And that's all, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Madam City Manager. Now we're going to move on to Council Member Comments. Can we start with Councilmember Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Madam City Manager, I just wanted to ask, are you going to be participating in the 5K?

David PenalozaItem —

Putting you on the spot.

I know you are. Are you going to? Yes.

David PenalozaItem —

I won't let you answer the question. I will just move on. But just this is going to be the service as a reminder about the City app. I will ask. We're now halfway through October. And like I mentioned before, it's okay if we can't have it ready by October. Just let me know. Hey, it's not going to be ready by October. Mr. Chula, you're sitting out there, just letting you guys know that it's okay. But just let us know that it won't be ready by October. There's two weeks left. So I'm going to hold you guys to that. I said don't promise me dates anymore because I'm going to hold city staff to it.

David PenalozaItem —

With that said, I wanted to bring an item forward. Give me one second. I have my notes here. Pursuant to section 41642 and section 41645 of the Municipal Code, I would like to call up item number two approved by the Planning Commission last night. I understand staff will place this item on the agenda at the next City Council meeting for the Council to decide by majority vote if it wants to set the matter for a public hearing.

David PenalozaItem —

I want to review this item because it raises issues of the amount of liquor license that are already existing in our city and within this area. So just wanted to bring that item forward. Not sure if I need to list the title of the item. Madam City Attorney.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem —

All you need to do is just let us know, I think our staff will know what item number two is pursuant to the memo that you were all provided by the Planning Commission Secretary. Correct. In accordance with our code.

David PenalozaItem —

Okay. And that is it. Council Member Solorio.

Yes, thank you.

A few items. First on the pedestrian issue that was raised, I know I think about three or four years ago there was a pedestrian safety plan put together that I assume we're implementing. It might be good if our public works staff and city manager could kind of give us an update on how that's going because we do have numerous cases throughout the city where we get those types of examples of how we need to do more. I, though, too, believe, though, it's kind of a two-way street. No pun intended.

It's a two-way street in that, yeah, we should consider when appropriate stop signs, lights, speed bumps, et cetera, but individuals should not be walking streets if there are cars nearby or speeding and more care needs to be taken especially if they're protecting children. Also there are there's a meeting coming up I think it's tomorrow actually regarding improvements to the 55 freeway corridor and I'm hopeful that public works staff is going to be attending to listen in and I know there

There's some constituents from my ward that want to make sure that there's good staff participation and understanding that as it is, there's a lot of encroachment through neighborhoods to get on or off the 55 freeway. And we don't want to make that worse, if anything. We want to make it better. So let's try to attend to that. Santiago Creek, I do want to thank the staff, PD, and the Neighborhood Association for taking part in another successful one. And another tidbit about the 5K. I think there's over 2,000 RSVPs to be in that 5K.

So city manager, you will be in good company if you're going to be able to participate. And I'm sure she has special access. She just needs a T-shirt. I hear there. I know there was talk about T-shirts.

And I think that's it for right now. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Iglesias.

Well, I just want to thank everyone for staying this late. It's only 10 o'clock, so that's not that late. I just also want to report out that I've attended the meetings with what I'm assigned to attend, which is the Orange County Sanitation District, on September 18th, September 25th. And also I attended the OCOG meeting, which is the Orange County something of Associated Governments. Yeah. And in reporting in that, I would like to ask staff or the city manager,

if you can reach out to SCAG to see if they could provide to us a presentation on what's going on with RENA. because I feel it's something that is going to be impacting us as a city. And I know I get all the information, but it's just so much to bring back. The only time I have to share it is right now, and I think it'll be too rushed. So if I could have a presentation so we can have it out to the community on how it's going to affect us, because I know projects are going to be coming up and how this mandate by the governor and their staff on how it's going to affect cities.

So if you could look into that and maybe make it a presentation for future meetings, I would really appreciate it. Also, I would like to share something, speaking to the officers here today. I want to let you guys know that I support everything that you guys do. and I know that sometimes it's not out there in the community. The message is totally contradictory of how I feel about your positions and what you bring into our city. And the chief, I know that I have respect for you and also all the officers that are here, but it troubles me. You know, today in my envelope that says Council Member Iglesias,

we have this reliable source which talks about the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. And the first thing I open it up, the first thing that I see is the president's message, which is from Jerry Serrano. And he's a full page I'm talking about. It says, steam brethren, in all the years that the reliable source has existed, I don't think there has ever been an elected official as reckless and unprofessional that personally attacks our association. The POA has endorsed candidates and has opposed candidates through its political action committee.

This is done to protect our members' rights and to advocate for the best interest of our members and their families. Cecilia Iglesias, which, by the way, he misspelled my first name, should not be on the city council. She doesn't understand the purpose of local government or how it works. She is spiteful and petty in her dealings with city employees and staff, and she is a danger to the continued peace and prosperity of the city of Santa Ana. This is, like, so far from the truth that it's not even funny.

I don't even, there's just, it's a one page. I mean, I would love to have the spotlight, but with this right here, I just think it's very unprofessional of him. And I know there's something that, I don't know what we can do because this is, I mean, it's, and actually it's addressed to me. It's a Santa Ana City Council, Cecilia Hilesia. So it's just so very troubling to have an individual who is trying to stir up things with our officers. and I just want to tell our officers that I truly respect what you're doing. And unfortunately, you know, we're caught on this thing that is political,

and I just want you guys to know that I support your efforts, what you do in this city, but sometimes we have to take votes that really, you know, help us move our city forward. And so I'm hoping that you guys know that this is just something that it's troubling for me. So the last thing is, you know, the last paragraph I think is very troubling. It says, Ms. Iglesias seeks dark shadows and conspiracies around her every corner. We operate in the sunlight and based on facts. Ms. Iglesias would restrict spending on public safety. That is so far from the truth. It's wrong.

We know that money spent on public safety is money that drives the expansion of Santa Ana's economy, protects its citizens, and ensures equality of life. And that's what I want from us, for us, from you. and I know that's what you guys are providing. It says, Miss Iglesias calls people names and stirs up controversy and resentment. We get up every day and put on the blue uniform, go out in the street, and to take care of injured citizens, answer calls for help, give business as people the comfort that an orderly society demands. That's about the only sentence that I agree with him. I think that's what we need to do.

So I just wanted to tell you guys in blue that my respects are to you, and I want to thank the chief for giving me, and I guess you gave it to everybody, which is this, what's this called? They're the badge. Yeah, it says Santa Ana Police. So thank you so much. And with that, I just want to wish everyone a happy week. And then I guess our next time we'll see each other, hopefully, is going to be in my ward, Ward 6, celebrating the 150th year of the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Sarmiento.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.

I don't know how many years ago it was on Halloween night. We had three young children struck on Fairhaven Avenue just east of Grand Avenue. And I know it startled all of us. It shook us to the core. And a former colleague of mine, Council Member Martinez, began a crusade, is the best way I guess I can phrase it, trying to see how we can address just traffic safety and pedestrian safety because there were a number of people on bicycles who were struck, pedestrians,

and that night three kids were killed simply crossing the street, trick-or-treating. And so this weekend was a very alarming weekend for me because it brought back memories of that.

We're sort of coming up on Halloween, and we see a lot of folks being struck. And so to the extent that I know we had a plan, and I'm not sure what it was called, if it was called Smart Streets, it was something that we had invested a lot of time and effort and money into, to the extent that we can maybe revive that, Adam City Manager. And I know this obviously predates your time, but I do know that we've tried to address this. And I'm always a fan of not reinventing the wheel, so we had something in place that we might be able to revisit and bring back because I'd hate for us to have another season where we have kids going out,

simply wanting to trick-or-treat and be with their friends and not come home.

So I certainly was moved by the comments that were made by the young woman who came and spoke, Ms. Trujillo, and I think she straddles my ward and Council Member Peñalosa's ward. So to the extent we can take a look at that, that would be great. I just wanted to thank staff for all the good work that they've done. Thank you, Madam City Manager, Madam City Attorney, and Clerk, staff, and everybody else who worked on tonight's agenda and works diligently to bring us some good work. The last thing that was I know that we had talked about approaching OCTA and the Transit Authority

to providing some possible relief to our merchants along the 4th Street Corridor because of the impact to the construction of the streetcar, just to see where we are on that. And I know that was a while back, but it's not ancient history, but just so we can maybe stay on top of that because I know it's something that's important and we have businesses that unfortunately are not doing as well as they'd like to and we'd hate to see them fail and leave because it was a risk that they took on us and we want to make sure that we're responsive to their needs. So with that, I bid everybody a good night, and we'll see you at the 150th.

Thank you, Councilmember Zarmiento. I'm going to report out I was in Washington, D.C. last week. I met with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Wanted to hear what other cities are doing in the country and how they can help us. I did ask if there was someone that we could speak with in our region, because I know we have this dilemma going on between the county and the city, and they referred me over to Helene Schneider, which is the California regional coordinator from that office, so I could have the federal government come down here and speak

and see if we can have a discussion and see how we can address the homeless issue because there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I also met with the office of Senator Kamala Harris. I met with Yasmin Rigney, who is a senior policy advisor for her. The senator recently introduced a legislation to end homelessness act of 2019, so I wanted to hear what they had to say and what they were proposing. And I also spoke to them about a family justice center, and I gave them some information on the homeless situation here.

on what is occurring here in the city and that we could use some help. And I think I also sent a letter of support for the Family Justice Center. I also met with Senator Dianne Feinstein's office and we spoke about the homeless issue. We spoke about the U.S. Marshals Office and increasing the per diem for more funds for our jail because it seems that the county is receiving a little more than we are, even though the services are different.

I also spoke with her about, with their office regarding the Family Justice Center and also funds from the Homeland Security so we can have funds available to increase the services in our Emergency Operations Center so we can upgrade them because of the disasters, whether it be, you know, an earthquake, a flood, a fire. those things are very, very detrimental. And we need to make sure we prepare for those types of things. Also, I met with the office of the COPS office,

which is the Community Orientated Police Department of Justice. I met with Director Phil Keith, who's come out to Santa Ana to meet with us. We like to keep that relationship good. and he also sent an email to the Violence Against Women office in D.C. so we can continue to look for funds for our Family Justice Center. I want to make sure that that project is funded fully and we can keep it continuous because if we have it, it's going to stay here in San Diego Services. Also, I met with the Office of Bureau of Justice Assistance

and we spoke also about the Family Justice Center. They have a lot of different grants there. That was a very, very good meeting. It opened a lot of doors, and we are moving forward with that project. I also want to report out that on Saturday, the OCFA had an open house at stations 71 and 75. We had a good turnout. I stopped by in both stations.

And also earlier today, I want to commend Chief Valentin and his leadership and his officers and the Office of the District Attorney and our partners over at the state and the crime lab at the Orange County Sheriff's Department for being persistent on this case and not giving up and bringing justice to the six-year-old girl who was assaulted. And it's just tragedy. I know that happened six years ago. And our officers, some of them are here in this room. I'm not going to point them out. You know, some of them work our council meetings. They were doing a great job, and it's paying off.

And that's all over the news today. I just wanted to thank the chief and our good district attorney, Mr. Todd Spitzer, and our friends over at the state and over at the sheriff's department. And I don't think we have anything else, but I think with that, we're going to close the meeting. And thank you, everyone, for coming tonight.

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