Read the August 16 meeting.

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Good afternoon, everybody. Let me go ahead and call this City Council meeting for August 16, 2022 to order. Let me go ahead and begin by making some opening remarks. The meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting via the Sanity YouTube channel and the city's website. As always, please bear with us as the technology may interrupt the flow of the meeting. I'm going to turn it over to the clerk so she can call roll.

Council Member Hernandez?

Jessie Lopez

Present.

Council Member Lopez?

Jessie Lopez

Here.

Council Member Mendoza? Present. Council Member Penalosa?

David Penaloza

Present.

Councilmember Fan? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Becerra?

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. Let me go ahead and just ask and canvass the council if there's any members who would wish to accuse themselves or pull any items from the closed session or actually any abstentions. Seeing none, hearing none, Madam Clerk, do you want to go ahead and give your remarks? Do we have anybody in that, is there anybody wanting to address us?

Mayor, there are no speakers in the color queue. All right.

Let's go ahead and recess in a closed session, then we'll reconvene when we come. Thank you. Thanks.

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academic accountability, physical fitness training, exposure to culture and the arts, and an expansion.

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Good evening everybody. Let me go ahead and reconvene the open session of the Santa Ana City Council meeting for August 16, 2022. Let me go ahead and begin by making first of all welcoming everybody here tonight and by having a few housekeeping remarks before we get started. So this meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel and the city's website and as usual please bear with us as our technology may interrupt the flow of meeting. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk so she can call roll

of the council. Councilmember Hernandez. Present. Councilmember Lopez. Here. Councilmember Mendoza. Present. Councilmember Penaloza. Present. Councilmember Fan. Mayor Pro Tembecerra. Here. Mayor Sarmanto. Here and I think

Councilmember Fan is maybe on our way here and we have Councilmember Hernandez who's going to be joining us virtually. So before we proceed with the Pledge of Allegiance, and I'll ask Councilmember Mendoza if she'll lead us in the pledge when we're ready to go, but I'll go ahead and turn it over to the clerk for her housekeeping comments.

To request to speak on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, with the exception of public hearing item number 23, please dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raised hand from Zoom at this time. Please hold your comments until the mayor opens public hearing for item 23 only. Please announce your name and ward or neighborhood you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record.

Thank you for that. Let me go ahead and ask Council Member Mendoza to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please stand. It is my honor to honor our flag and our country. For those who've served in the military, present, past, and future, you may salute. Actually, not future, just present and past. The rest of you, please place your hand over your heart. 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.

Yes, if you'll all please remain standing. We have the honor tonight of having Sean C. to lead us in our words of inspiration for this evening. And if he can approach the microphone and lead us tonight.

Coming to us from the Orange County Islamic Center, from what I understand. So thank you, sir. Please, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. and thank you the City Council members. Thank you KLA and the hardworking staff for giving me this opportunity to stand before you and for the American Muslim appreciation and for the Muslim Awareness Month proclamation. On behalf of the Muslim in Santa Ana, including the CHAM community, I'd like to extend the Islamic greeting of peace and salutation to everyone in this chamber. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. I'd like to read a short prayer for the blessing of this gathering.

The path of those who have blessed, not those who have displeased or those who go astray. May God bless everyone and bless the residents of our great city. Thank you.

Thank you very much. You can all please be seated. If I can have Masa Faludi from the Council on American Islamic Relations, Please join me up here in the well. And anybody else who's here from care, please join me up here at the front.

So as everybody is making their way up here, I am very humbled tonight to be making this presentation. This is a proclamation that is going to be recognizing August 22nd, excuse me, August 2022 as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month. So this is the first time that I've been on the Council, since I've been on the Council that we've made this presentation tonight. Do it with a lot of humility because we talk about Santa Ana and our county being as diverse as it is. We know that there are many different faiths that are practiced in our county. We know that there are many different cultures

that are, you know, that we're blessed to be surrounded by. So we are just very fortunate tonight that we have members of the Muslim community join us. And as we recognize the month of August as Awareness Month an appreciation month for the Muslim culture and the Muslim faith. It is especially important for us here in Santa Ana to take a moment as the county seat to make sure that we know that we welcome everybody, that this is a community for all of us, and as you just heard, we have words of inspiration that we do here to begin every one of our meetings with somebody hopefully recognizing different faiths that are reflected

here in the county. So we really do appreciate all of you being here. Thank you so much. I've had the privilege of getting to know all of you, and I see somebody who's kind of shy who doesn't want to come up here. So where's Mohamed? Oh, he's got the camera. So Mohamed, I know you're shy. You want to be behind the camera. So in any event, I just know that we are honored to have a mosque here in the city as well, the Orange County Islamic Center that's right on First Street between 5 Freeway and Grand Avenue. and I know that that's been a work of love for many in the community to build up and build out

and have their faith practice there. And so I've had the honor of going and praying with members there. And I'm a Catholic by birth and Catholic all my life, but I think the commonality between faiths and spirituality is the fact that we all pray to our gods and we do it in union, and we know that we respect one another. We may practice faith differently, but to the extent that we in Santa Ana, I think, understand that we have a richness of diversity, it's just beautiful to see rabbis come up here, priests come up here, chaplains, people of different religions that have blessed us,

you know, Vietnamese Buddhist monks that come and speak to us. So it is especially important tonight because I know that this community, the Muslim community, has been especially impacted by, unfortunately, acts of hate, as many other communities have. So it's important that we take a moment to uplift these communities and make sure that they know that Santa Ana is a community that we are honored to have them call them our neighbors. So let me begin by just making a few comments on the proclamation. So American Muslims have long been part of the history here in the United States

and have contributed to the production of wealth and construction in this country, dating back to the enslaved Muslim Africans who were brought to the United States under the institution of human chattel enslavement. American Muslims pursue diverse professions and make rich contributions to the social, cultural, and economic vibrancy and fabric of the United States. They have distinguished themselves by fostering greater respect and understanding among all people through faith and community services, American Muslims have long contributed to the welfare, humanitarian, social justice, and community building initiatives in the region

through founding grassroots organizations that challenge inequality and center people for community justice. Nonetheless, American Muslims in California continue to face harassment, assault, and discrimination. To cultivate an amiable cultural climate for all residents, the city of Santa Ana embrace the diversity of our communities and afford everyone the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of American Muslims.

It is appropriate to acknowledge and promote awareness of the myriad of invaluable contributions of American Muslims in Santa Ana and across the county and across this country, and extend them the respect and camaraderie every American deserves. To that end, I am proud to have the City Council proclaim this month of August as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month. So, in essence, we are making and proclaiming this month as Appreciation Month for the Muslim faith and the Muslim culture

to make sure that we all understand that it is our responsibility to make sure everybody feels protected and safe in our county. And, you know, I am, again, especially humbled by the fact that we are doing this today. It is long overdue. We know the contributions that the Muslim culture has made here in our country, and we know, unfortunately, the disparate treatment that they've received and the troubled past that they've had in our country. But through efforts like this, we share their experience, we share, you know, the richness of their culture, and hopefully we become a better society and a better city.

So with that, let me go ahead and call, do you mind, Hassan, in saying a few words on behalf of the community? Please, give a big round of applause to Hassan.

Good evening. Salaamu alaikum. Peace be with you. Mr. Mayor, thank you. Councilmembers, thank you for this honor. It's a great privilege to be representing a thriving community. You know, thousands of Muslims call Sana'ana their home. There are two mosques, very active mosques. There are food pantries to help those in need. There are people who work here, go to school here, live with their neighbors. They are very proud of being part of Sana'ana, and we're very proud to be part of this beautiful diversity of the city.

You know, we know that when we recognize and celebrate one community, that means we're celebrating all of our communities. the beautiful diversity that constitute our country and our beautiful city here, Santa Ana. So thank you for that. And we share this joy of being part of this beautiful diversity in Santa Ana. And we look forward to continue to work with our neighbors, with our city, law enforcement, professionals, to make sure that we make the city the best city, the safest city, the most affluent, hopefully, and the most prosperous. Thank you very much. God bless you.

You know, and as Hizamo speaking, I remember there was an incident that occurred at the mosque on First Street that I described, and I know our police department responded immediately and made sure that everybody who was visiting the mosque felt safe, felt welcome, so I want to thank our officers for responding and making sure that everybody feels, you know, safe in our community. So let me go ahead and just extend this proclamation, recognizing American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month, and encouraging residents to join us in acknowledging and celebrating the cultural diversity among our community.

So this is especially on behalf of all our residents, as well as the City Council. Thank you so much for blessing us with the mosques, your presence, making our community richer. Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

Let's take a quick picture.

Let me go ahead and call up Mayor Pro Tem. he is going to be recognizing Santa College of the 1962 football team and celebrate their 60th anniversary and the 1962 National Championship come on up

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Thank You mayor Sarmiento if I could have Ed Arnold Art Hatfield Don or Joel old grin Ken Potter and and let's see Kimo Jarrett and Wiley Carlisle please join me up here yes please

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so while they're while they're coming up here I'm just gonna do a little plug for our current 2022 Santa Ana College football team. So last season they went undefeated in league play and won the American Metro League championship under the leadership of head coach Anthony White and his coaching staff and coach White's here with us this evening. Thank you for joining us.

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he definitely deserves that so now uh 2022 uh they're going to begin the defense of their league title on saturday september 3rd at 6 p.m at the bowl right here in downtown san anna against fullerton college and that's going to be what's called the 99th key to the county game which for many that is actually the oldest rivalry uh community college football game in all of California. So for the 99th meeting of these two teams shouldn't be missed so if you could come on down September 3rd at the Bowl. Now we talked about the 2021 team and we talked about the 2022

Phil BacerraItem 1

team but Santa Ana's football program over the years has been very impressive. They've had 19 league titles and three national championships. So tonight we're going to honor one of those teams and that would be the 1962 national championship team on their 60th

anniversary of winning that title. Yes please give them a round of applause.

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So that year the Dons finished a perfect 10-0. They shut out six of their opponents and only allowed an average of 4.3 points per game. That's, I don't even know how you do that barely over a field goal right so the 1962 team also set some team records that still stand for most yards rushing with 2,564 they played in front of a record crowd of 41,000 in the or I'm sorry 41,709 and that was in the junior Rose Bowl in which Santa Ana College shockingly shut out their opponents 20 to nothing now this victory would not have been possible

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without the perseverance and the dedication of the entire team coaching staff and a supportive administration and district leadership so tonight here in the audience we have joining us san anna college's current athletic director mary haggerty uh yes please

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we also have san anna college's president dr annabelle nary dr nary

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WE HAVE SAN ANA COLLEGE'S VICE PRESIDENT DR. JEFF LAMB. JEFF, THANK YOU.

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AND WE HAVE THE RANCHO SANTIAGO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD PRESIDENT DR. TINA ARIUS MILLER. DR. MILLER. THANK YOU GUYS FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT. SO WE ARE GOING TO TONIGHT WE'RE JOINED actually by some of the members of that 1962 national championship team. Feels good to say that, right? With me, I have Art Hatfield, who currently resides in Huntington Beach. He was in the first graduating class of Santa Ana Valley High School, and he's proud to be from Santa Ana.

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We have Don Orr and his Santa Ana sweetheart who have been married for 58 years and have two children. After Santa Ana College, he attended Whittier College and received his teaching credential. After 36 years of teaching, Don finally retired in 2002. And then next we have Joel Oelgren.

Joel, where are you? There we go.

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So Joel resides in Santa Barbara and is a 1960s Santa Ana High School graduate. Now I don't like to read this part, but he graduated from UCLA with a BA in economics and then a JD from UCLA Law. Yeah, you know. But he became a member of the law faculty in the University of Malawi from 1968 to 1970, and then returned to private law practice. Then he ended on a higher note, right? He went and retired as a partner at Shepherd Mullen, Richter, and Hampton. Not bad, right?

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And then we got Ken Potter. Ken? There we are, Ken.

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Ken, after leaving Santa Ana, he went to work on the waterfront as a marine clerk for the next 40 years. He has three children. He's a grandfather to nine grandchildren. And just recently, the Potter family was inducted into the San Pedro Sports Hall of Fame for their sports records as a family. So four generations. You have Ken's father, Ken, his son, and his grandson. So I would say Santa Ana College was blessed to have that talent here with us. We had Kimo Jarrett. Kimo, are you here?

Right here.

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All right.

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Now, not to brag, but he was the star defensive end for the team. He's married with two sons, and both are recipients of football scholarships from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He's been in the insurance and finance industry since 1995. And then we have Wiley Carlisle, which, where's Wiley? There he is.

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So Wiley

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he received an athletic scholarship and teaching credential from Whittier College he taught and coached at Santa Ana High School for 35 years teaching US history and coaching football baseball and track as alma mater and he says that Santa Ana helped him live his dreams I mean that sounds like a heck of a dream so thank you for what you did right now you might expect me to say that Ed Arnold's tie to this 1962 team was that he was covering the Dons as a sportscaster, right? Given, you know, his 30 years both on radio and television, we all know him. I know I grew up

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listening to him on KTLA and yeah, it's just, it's kind of like a flashback when I see Ed and I just think of growing up and not going to bed till I got the scores from you. So the thing you'd say, So why is he up here? Well, his tie not only as a very ardent supporter of Santa Ana College, but Ed actually had probably the, I would say, the best factoid of this whole year. He married the homecoming queen. Married the homecoming queen.

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That's right.

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Now, we're celebrating 60 years for the national championship from Santa Ana College. Ed and his wife Dixie are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary so congratulations Ed and Dixie.

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So lastly I just wanted to acknowledge two players from that team that weren't able to join us here this evening that would be Mark Weehard and Terry Miner and I also want to acknowledge Cheryl West the team's cheerleader who is unable to make it as well. So on behalf of the Santa Ana City Council I want to express our pride in recognizing Santa Ana College's 1962 national championship team on their 60th anniversary so let's give it up for them

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so you know when you have an expert in the room you've got to let the expert shine and since I'm looking over at Ed Arnold and I've got a microphone right here. Ed, would you like to come up here and take over for a sec?

Bill, thank you very much. These guys are very grateful, as am I. This all came about because the mayor pro-tem and I were talking when he was kind enough to kind of help us with a little promotion of a golf tournament at Santa Ana College. It raises money for athletic scholarships and also for whatever's needed by the different teams. And it's his idea to do this and it really it makes these guys feel good I'm sure and I know it makes me feel great I was not lucky enough to play with them I did in 1961 with most of them and I'll tell you these are some of the most remarkable

individuals that you'll ever meet I mean friendship that's lasted over 60 years and the amazing thing to me is the number of guys that have gone from us and and we're very lucky to still be kicking. Some have had some pretty rough challenges, but, you know, you look at them and you wouldn't know it. And to point out a couple of things, I mean, you talk about an outstanding coach. I've heard that from many parents through the years on Wiley, and it's amazing. And Joel not only was a great football player and an outstanding attorney,

but he's a guy that's made a lot of difference in lives through the years. Don Orr has been just unbelievable. And what he has done to help Santa Ana College and help Santa Ana period through the years is amazing to me. And then Mr. Potter is just, I was lucky enough to host a number of years the induction at the sports walk in San Pedro. It was not this time when his family was honored. but I'll tell you something, the reputation they have as a family and the difference that they have made, it's been amazing through the years.

And Kimo is the one that really kind of set our love for Hawaii and the place that Dixie and I like to go, if we can get a good deal, is head over for Hawaii for two days. But it was because of Kimo. And then, you know, you look at Art, his banking career and everything that he's done, and it just amazes me the character of each of these individuals. And I'll tell you, the highlight of, one of the highlights of my life, not only the highlight is marrying Dixie, but getting to know these guys. It's something very special. And I've got one person that, is it okay if I call one of them out?

Mr. Orr?

Don is an outstanding quarterback, and he kind of got the short end of the stick in some respects because of some of the Marines that wound up being recruited. I was one, but I was not the good one. But he can tell you about teammates and keeps in touch with them. But what has amazed you through the years, not only what you guys accomplished as a team, both 61 and 62, but the friendship that you guys have maintained through the years. It's pretty amazing. We've all stayed close and been friends, and a lot of guys have moved and are gone,

but we all kind of stay in touch with each other, so we love Santa Ana College. Thank you, kind sir. I appreciate it very much, and I know that you've got other things to do, and we'll get us out of here, but again, Mayor Jim, we thank you very much because I appreciate everything you've done for our guys and for Santa Ana College, and thank you so very much. Appreciate it. Can we get a picture?

.

Squeeze it, squeeze it. Squeeze it. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . Do you want to hold it to your... Oh, good job. Oh, yeah. That's why you said that. That's why you're with my car. What a guy.

Thanks, guys. Thank you.

Thank you everybody and thank you for coming and joining us. It's great to have you here in our chambers. And as everybody knows, Ed Arnold is the voice of our zoofari and he's been that for many, many years. So thank you Ed for being here. Let me go ahead and call Councilmember Lopez up and have her present, make her presentation to Gustavo Hernandez, if Gustavo can come up here and join us.

And I'll turn it over to her.

Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 3

All right. So, good evening, everyone. We're here to present a certificate of outstanding contributions to one of my favorite writers that is born and raised in the city of Santana, Gustavo Hernandez. this. And in 2021, Moontide Press published Gustavo's first book of poetry titled Flower Grandin First. And we were actually very lucky to hear him recite one of his poems from that book not too long ago. And it was very beautiful. And the book is a coming of age story with poems that deal with Gustavo's experiences of growing up here in the city. And the book

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received great critical acclaim and was featured in the Orange County Register the LA Times as well as various academic publications such as the hard word review and on several occasions Gustavo has partnered with local bookstores to facilitate free poetry readings workshops for the community and frequently gives inspirational presentations to middle school and high school students here in the city of Santa Ana and he is a product of our SAUSC school district, and he attended Lincoln Elementary School, Carr Intermediate School,

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and Santa Ana Valley High School. And his poems are widely published in many national and international publications. His poem, Marte, was personally selected by the United States poet Lorette Adalimond and was featured in her poetry podcast, The Slow Down. So there's another podcast recommendation from us to you and many of his poems deal with grief after the love the loss of a loved one and he is a firm believer that creative expression is a valuable tool in the healing process and encourages those he needs to

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explore their grief through creative writing and we're very proud of you Gustavo thank you for working with not just our local school district but for not forgetting your roots and for working with our youth and understanding that when there are resources investing invested in our community we thrive so thank you

I just quickly want to say thank you Councilmember Lopez for this honor I I can't write without grounding myself in this city. It's impossible to do that for me. So this means a great, great deal. Quiero darle las gracias a mi mamá que está aquí y a mi padre que en paz descanse que sin ellos no tendría libro, no tendría poesía, no tendría palabras y no tendría lenguaje. So gracias.

Yes. Poet Diane Seuss once said in an interview that in her life, poetry rose to meet her need. And I feel like the same has happened for me. Poetry has been a source of confidence. It has been a force of healing. It has been everything. It's been a lifesaver. So I want to just encourage anyone out here who is a father, a mother, an uncle, an aunt, a teacher, encourage your young ones to read and to write and to express themselves in language.

And show them that language is not to be underestimated. It is one of the great powers that we have as humans. And it can be used for so much. just I know for me one of the biggest joys of writing this book was being able to memorialize my family and that is it's priceless because once we're gone what is left right and to me I feel like I've done my job as my family's historian so I'm happy to um to accept this um because it just

you know it's it's validation it's my city saying we see you and that means everything to me so thank you

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all right

Thank you, Gustavo. Thank you for those beautiful words. Let me now go ahead and call on Councilmember Mendoza who is going to be recognizing Leonel Flores.

Good evening, everyone. Unfortunately, Mr. Leonel Flores is not able to be here with us, but I wanted to publicly award this certificate of appreciation. Mr. Flores was in the Arts and Cultural Commission. So Santa Ana's boards and commissions are advisory groups that study specific policy areas and report to the city council about the work they do when they meet together. So this helps us, helps the city council deliberate common municipal issues that affect our city.

So in addition, the commissioner position also gives the assignee the opportunity to learn and practice their leadership skills. So that was one of the benefits that, and the opportunity that that Mr. Leonel took. So that's why I wanted to publicly acknowledge Leonel Flores' time and effort on the Arts and Cultural Commission. His leadership skills and time on the commission are very much appreciated by me and by the city. Leonel, thank you very much for all the work that you did. Keep up your positive and productive work in our beautiful city. Thank you very much, Leonel,

and we will put this in the mail for you.

Thank you, Council Member.

So that brings us to our staff presentations, and let me go ahead and turn it over to the City Manager so she can give us an update on our homelessness issue.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. For tonight's homeless update, I am having Ken Gaminski, our part-time homeless coordinator, do the presentation. and someone recently asked me a question about we have so many different resources that we're providing to homeless but what do they all mean and what do they all do we use a lot of acronyms smart cult heart city net so the presentation is going to focus on those resources and what they actually do to serve the homeless in our area and then we'll give you a brief update on the shelter

and the number of individuals that are taking advantage of all the full services that are being offered there so with that i'm going to turn it over to ken geminski

good evening honorable mayor members of the city council this is our ninth recurring monthly update on homelessness and homeless services provided by the city of santa anna

this evening we'll be updating you on understanding the city's homeless response the SMART program, what is the difference between COLT and HEART, monthly outreach highlights, the differences between public and private property, and what is occurring at our navigation center that was recently opened.

Santa Ana provides a robust network of outreach services to address homelessness within our city.

The Santa Ana Multidisciplinary Homeless Response Team, better known as SMART, is a partnership between the City of Santa Ana and our nonprofit homeless outreach partner, CityNet, which provides trauma-informed outreach to individuals currently experiencing homelessness. The Homeless Evaluation and Response Team, HART, is a law enforcement-centric outreach program that has been in place since 2012. The Quality of Life Team, or COALT, is a multidisciplinary response group comprised

of the Santa Ana Police Department, Parks and Recreation staff, members of Public Works, our Code Enforcement, and the City Attorney's Office.

SMART provides trauma-informed care services to address homelessness in Santa Ana, reports into the My Santa Ana app, and the community call line go directly to teams in the field, diverting these calls that don't require a public safety response from police and fire.

the Santa Ana multidisciplinary homeless response team or smart is a partnership between the city of Santa Ana and our nonprofit homeless outreach partner sitting it the team works 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week and is made up of outreach workers mental health clinicians nurse practitioners and plainclothes private safety officers. SMART utilizes trauma-informed care to work with our homeless population on a daily basis to provide pathways to end an individual's homelessness. The team also manages a dedicated live call center to answer calls from residents and businesses

related to homeless concerns, as well as calls redirected from police dispatch lines. The SMART team remains involved each day, engaging homeless individuals to offer shelter opportunities or case management. SMART also transports individuals to the Navigation Center, so there is always a warm handoff between the City and our Navigation Center provider.

The Illumination Foundation. In addition, they address all non-emergency, non-public safety homeless calls and respond to reports submitted to the My Santa Ana app from residents. The City of Santa Ana would again request all residents to utilize the My Santa Ana app so as to maximize the smart team responses while minimizing their driving time throughout the city.

The SMART team routinely contacts SAPD dispatch when the need for law enforcement assistance arises during their contacts or if the scope of their contact requires a law enforcement response.

During the month of July, SMART continued operating throughout the entire city, engaging 939 contacts, with 196 of these contacts being new individuals. SMART exited 67 individuals off the streets of Santana during July. Since December, the team has had 4,105 outreach contacts and has responded to over 6,671 calls from CityNet dispatch. Success stories range from assisting an individual into a residential treatment facility for mental health and substance abuse,

transporting a woman and her dog to the navigation center after she was found living in her car, Reuniting a young man back with his family in Charlotte, North Carolina And arranging for all return flight documents for a mother and her two toddlers Who came to the area from Peru to receive medical assistance for one child

Of the 67 individuals who were exited from the streets of Santa Ana in July 57 went into an emergency shelter 50 of these individuals went to the city's new navigation center on Carnegie, three to the county shelter at Yale, one to the Fullerton Recuperative Care Center, one to the Fullerton Navigation Center, and two to a center called Precious Life in Los Alamitos.

SAPD addresses homelessness in the city by assigning officers to respond to issues centered around two related programs, COLT and HART.

In November of 2012, the Police Department's Civic Center Detail launched the Homeless Evaluation Assessment Response Team to address homelessness in the Civic Center area as well as throughout the city. All police personnel assigned received over 16 hours of specifically designed mental health training for first responders to offer outreach and mental health resources. The police department recognized at that time that the criminalization of homelessness was not a long-term solution to the pervasive issue. But law enforcement is an integral part of the solution.

HART officers make unique connections with homeless individuals offering options outside of incarceration. However, utilizing that tool when appropriate. Today, HART serves as an arm of the Quality of Life team.

The Homeless Evaluation Assessment Response Team continues as part of the COLD program to this day. Today, officers assigned to this detail focus exclusively on the most vulnerable and hardest to serve. These are the individuals who have severe and chronic mental health or medical issues that preclude them from entering shelter. The officers work long and hard to assist these folks off of the streets and into various different treatment options.

It is always a huge success story for these officers when an individual they have been working with for a very long time finally exits the streets or receives housing.

The Quality of Life team, also known as COLT, was established in 2018 as a 30-day pilot program. Comprised of a core of city employees from various departments, the team's chief mission is to respond to complaints from all parts of the city addressing unlawful encampments, abandoned property, and to offer housing, mental health, and other services concurrently. Reports come into these field teams through the My Santa Ana app.

prior to the team's creation city departments each dealt with homelessness issues in silos the quality of life team was successful in bringing a cohesive group together to work collaboratively and more effectively in the field when addressing encampments and providing services the 30-day program was so successful it's now a best practice and a standard Santa Ana response Again, COLT was designed to address encampments and large-scale cleanups as every deployment is resource-heavy.

In July, COLT continued its daily coordinated responses throughout the city. The COLT program contacted 216 individuals currently experiencing homelessness, services, providing outreach services as well as enforcement action when necessary. They conducted 572 cleanups of various sizes, performed 74 arrests or issued citations for various offenses, and placed or assisted in the placement of 21 individuals into shelter.

Our highlights include Colt officers assisting code enforcement with an inspection of the Sunshine Village Motel. During the inspection, officers located 188 fentanyl pills, 28 Xanax pills, and 0.75 grams of powder fentanyl. Based on the officer's investigation, one of the subjects admitted to possessing the fentanyl with the intention to sell and was arrested and placed in the San Antonio jail. Union Pacific Railroad finally assisted Colt in a cleanup on the tracks

behind South Mini in July. 30 individuals were contacted north of Edinger Avenue. 16 were taken into custody for warrants and or narcotics related offenses. Two were taken to the Carnegie Navigation Center and the remainder were issued warnings for being on the tracks. Union Pacific Railroad crews were able to clear the tracks of all trash and debris. An in-service training was held for social workers at OC Global Medical Center. The training provided referral information services for individuals that were experiencing homelessness

and due to be released from the hospital. This was held to prevent or minimize the amount of individuals being exited from the hospitals to the streets of Santa Ana. The training was presented by Colt, CityNet, and Homeless Services staff. Lastly, a large-scale cleanup of Santiago Creek under the 5 Freeway Overpass was also conducted. That consisted of crews from the City of Santa Ana, CityNet, the California Highway Patrol, and Caltrans. Another cleanup is scheduled for August.

The Public Works Agency continues to conduct routine encampment cleanups within city storm drains and flood control channels. Additionally, barriers to prevent trespassing, such as installing steel grates over storm drain pipes, as shown above, right above slide 15 number, and new fencing are being implemented. During the next four months, approximately 6,500 feet of new security fencing will be installed along city stormwater channels.

Who should respond? Smart, Hart, law enforcement, Colt. Smart is the city's front-line responders to individuals and small groups of homeless individuals. SMART, HART, or a general law enforcement response will be utilized when individuals experiencing homelessness are involved in crimes of public disorder, depending upon the intricacies of the call for service. COLT responds to large-scale encampments or cleanups, designed to work extensively with

outside city resources like Caltrans, railroads, private property owners in general, and outside law enforcement resources.

SAPD addresses homelessness in the city by assigning officers to respond to issues. If that's not right, we'll skip that.

Let's talk about what the difference between public and private property is. Public property refers to property owned by the government or its agency, rather than by a private individual or a company. It belongs to the public at large. Examples include parks, streets, sidewalks, libraries, schools, playgrounds that are used regularly by the general public. Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguished from public property, which is owned by a state entity,

and from collective or cooperative property, which is owned by a group or non-government entities. So what's the difference? The city has jurisdiction to address all homeless-related issues on public property owned by the city, but not public property owned and maintained by other government entities. such as other cities, the County of Orange, the State of California, and the federal government. Jurisdictional issues often arise on public property as entities routinely push complaints from one entity to the other.

The city must consistently work with outside entities such as Southern California Edison, Caltrans, CHP, Orange County Sheriff, Orange County Public Works, the Army Corps of Engineers, etc. to ensure other governmental entities maintain their property. Needless to say, these other government entities often do not place the same sense of urgency on these issues. This leads to frustration among our residents and the city as a whole. For example, the top picture illustrates past encampments along the Santa Ana River. This is public property owned and maintained by the County of Orange.

Santa Ana worked with the County of Orange to address this issue. The second picture illustrates the now cleared homeless encampment in the Civic Center. Santa Ana was responsible for this issue.

The third picture depicts Santa Ana police officers engaging individuals along railroad tracks. Railroad tracks are not public property, but private property. That property must be maintained by the private property owner.

So what's happening at our Homeless Navigation Center? As of August 10th, there are 96 guests residing. This includes 12 families with a total of 13 children, ranging in age from 7 months to 15 years of age. The highest census count to date was on July 24th with 114 guests. The COVID outbreak that came just after this date reduced the number of individuals on site and intakes were not allowed for several days. This again is why our numbers have dropped. In July, one guest was successfully

housed in her own apartment. One guest was pending the issuance of a voucher and two others were issued vouchers and are actively looking for apartments.

Events that took place at the Navigation Center in July include 17 referrals were made to mental health treatment and seven medical appointments were completed on site. Since the site opened, they have completed 73 medical appointments on site. COVID tests are conducted weekly for both staff and guests. Members from the Messengers of Recovery Motorcycle Club spoke with Navigation Center guests candidly about their experiences with addiction, homelessness, and incarceration in hopes to offer inspiration and encouragement. The speakers urged guests to pursue a 12-step

recovery program with each of the bikers recounting his own life story complete with mistakes and sins at time capturing the attention of the audience and drawing nods chuckles or even gasps. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous classes are offered on-site as well as parenting classes and a new Dayhab program. The Dayhab program is a CalAIM funded program contracted by CalOptima. The DayHAB program started July 1st consists of independent living skills programming designed to prepare program participants for living

independently in community-based housing. The programming generally falls into the following categories financial management interpersonal skills coping skills health management job skills behavioral health and housing navigation. Classes are offered on site once a week for all clients on a rotating schedule.

Lastly, finally, in July, the landscaping was completed. The fences were torn down. The City issued its Certificate of Occupancy on August 11th. So the Homeless Navigation Center is now completely open and ready to receive up to 200 individuals. I look forward to any questions.

Thank you for that presentation. It was very detailed. Appreciate that. Let's all remember that this is a presentation so we have to keep within the scope of our discussion. Keep it limited. So let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there are any questions or comments. Council members?

I just want to say that I've had personal experience in working with Mr. Gaminski and the teams, and I've seen the great job that they've done in the neighborhoods and the improvement of the environment and the appreciation by the residents of how quick and prompt they come out and take care of these issues. So it's a great program, and I'm very proud that we continue to offer that throughout the city. And thank you to you, Mr. Gaminski, and to the rest of the teams.

Thank you, ma'am. I'll pass on your thanks.

Thank you. Any additional comments, questions? Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. Don't worry, Ken, relax. My only real comment, well, first of all, congratulations on getting the Navigation Center open. I know that was quite a feat, and if this whole city gig doesn't pan out, I know that you will be an excellent expediter in the contractor world, so congratulations and good job on that. Based on the comment that you made about the multi-jurisdictional issues, you're a thousand percent correct, because let's say if I'm going down dire at the edge of my ward, I've got folks that are standing just inside the median onto the freeway off ramp.

Phil BacerraItem 5

And so, of course, that becomes a Caltrans issue. Or I know further on the north side of town, I get a lot of calls from folks that are complaining about the off ramp on the 17th Street where there's quite a little homeless village popping up there, but that also is Caltrans jurisdiction. Down in my ward, I know myself and others are losing our minds over the fact that the open air flood control channels our county jurisdiction and I'm trying to get services there so when I'm looking at the website for the city I see a lot of you know numbers for economic development code enforcement police

Phil BacerraItem 5

department and then of course thankfully reporting via the my San Ana app but could we start to actually highlight ways to contact those other jurisdictions because I think that it's important for our folks to know that because they They adapt, right? They as in our residents. They adapt. So they know that if we're talking about an off ramp, they're not going to continue to call PD unless of course they can't get through to the other agencies. But a lot of times they don't even know where to begin with some of these agencies. I know right now I wouldn't know where to begin trying to get the county out there other

Phil BacerraItem 5

than to call our local electeds, which I want to thank Supervisor Foley for helping us. She's been really responsive, but we still have the persisting problem. So I would just ask that we promote that information for other jurisdictions. Share the love, if you will.

Absolutely, sir. Just one thing to add to that. When we run into difficulties with other jurisdictions, we are starting to move forward if another government entity will allow us onto their property to take action

and provide some of those cleanups instead of waiting three months for somebody from a state entity to show up. And then we're turning around and looking for ways to bill the state entity for the cleanup. So we're trying to find ways to push other entities to be more responsive to our residents here. But based on what you've said, I will speak to staff and we'll see what we can do to

Phil BacerraItem 5

take care of that. But one last comment and to your point about the cooperation with these other jurisdictions, I wouldn't be opposed to us looking at exploring ways to where we could provide the service, we the city, in a way that we would be compensated for. In other words, if we could respond to, let's say, an off-ramp, if we can get there more quickly and the state would compensate us. I mean, we're blessed that we have electeds up in Sacramento that are responsive to us. So I think maybe having those conversations with them, because while our electeds are responsive, we know that Caltrans is not so much.

Phil BacerraItem 5

And so I would like to possibly explore that both with the state and the county, because as I mentioned earlier, the open air flood control channels in my ward are county jurisdiction. And I know Supervisor Foley has been able to budget two more sheriffs in the county budget, and that's wonderful. But unless those two sheriffs are just constantly circling up and down flower and up and down sunflower, we're not going to see the level of response that I know that our PD and our Colt team could provide.

Understood, sir.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. I also had questions about Caltrans because I submit my fair share of tickets to Director Saba to sometimes I include the city manager quality of life team and so we get the same emails regarding the off-ramp issues off of East Force or 17th in Santiago and fortunately the team did take care of that thank you everyone but I wanted I wanted the residents to hear from staff about is Caltrans being responsive to those emails that we are essentially submitting that are coming from residents?

So in all actuality and honesty, I think that I happen to have an opportunity to drive through LA, I don't know, a week or so ago. You can look along the side of the freeway and see trash and debris, mountains, right? When we reached out and attempted to work with Caltrans, they assisted us underneath the 5 freeway overpass. That took us three months to coordinate.

Had we not performed the cleanup, the extensive cleanup that you're referring to, I think it would have been three months. The issue is Caltrans has so much throughout the state, they just don't have the manpower either, which is exactly what every other private property owner in the city would tell us. So that's why we're trying to find ways that we may be able to augment responses to certain types of property and then bill owners for that.

If they can't do their job, maybe we should do it and just bill them for it. Our people deserve better than what they're getting.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Okay, thanks, Ken. And with Quality of Life Team, their function, as I understand it, is essentially part of the function is to drive around the city and go to those hot spots that they are aware of, right? and that does that include private properties and properties owned by the city so what you said is

kind of true and kind of not colt was designed and put together to handle encampments

And from large-scale encampments, it kind of morphed into being a response tool. However, Colt is made up of law enforcement, like I said, public works, park and rec. It's a group of people that when they go and move through the city, they're going with the intent to clean up and solve a problem. So it's incredibly manpower intensive. Hotspots are often better served by either smart, heart, or a law enforcement response.

Colt is truly responding to a myriad of My Santa Ana apps every day. because we know by looking at the pictures, a majority of the My Santa Ana apps need cleanups associated with whatever kind of intervention is occurring. Okay. Does that help?

Jessie LopezItem 5

Yes and no, because I think people have an understanding of Colt that it doesn't matter where this issue is located, that they will respond. And so I think there's a little bit of confusion there in terms of what can Santa Ana residents expect when they call the Colt team?

So I think I failed to answer one part of your question, which dealt with private versus public property, right? There was a public property restaurant that had been closed for some time. And with that, there was a large amount of homeless activity occurring on the property. Colt went there on numerous occasions and attempted to have people removed. Colt, by way of code enforcement and the city attorney's office, understood that this was a matter of trying to hold a property owner accountable for their property.

As such, code enforcement and the city attorney's office worked with the property owner and said, you're either going to provide security, you're going to provide fencing, You're going to do something to secure your property because it's your property. Now, through those efforts, the property has been completely fenced. The amount of homeless-related activity in that area has dropped dramatically, and the problem has been pushed from the private property out onto the sidewalk,

where now we can have law enforcement, smart, and heart working on those individuals who are still remaining in the area. But that's an example of a private property location that the city doesn't have a lot of control over, but it's going to work with property owners to ensure that they do what they're supposed to do on their property and if that issue gets pushed out back onto the public sidewalk then it becomes our issue again

Jessie LopezItem 5

is that helpful that's helpful for me anyway um another question i had is when we're when residents are sending emails and they're saying hey we need help now and the response is sorry you were too busy what should residents do so the the average response time for smart even though

some people disagree the average response time I think it's a little over 32 minutes um if you have an emergency situation you still have to call 9-1-1 but if you're calling for a homeless related issue, that's going to be a low priority response from the police department. So we're trying to use smart resources to go out and go to these areas quicker. But if it's an emergency, I need help now, then it's still a 911 call.

But we have to understand we do have limited resources in the city and And they're going as fast as they can. All of the different teams are truly going as fast as they can.

Jessie LopezItem 5

And by limited resources, you mean smart, quote, heart? Yes.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Okay.

Jessie LopezItem 5

That's going to be it. Thank you.

Thank you, councilmember. Any other questions or comments on this presentation from the council?

Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. It was very helpful and really great to see all of the hard work that everybody has been doing. So, you know, that's where we are trying to invest our dollars, trying to address the issue, quality of life issues. My question is, I'm not sure if it's more for you or Nabil, but it is related to homelessness because some of these issues are related to infrastructure. right the calls that I get the emails that I get is related to homelessness 95% of it is related to the channel the Greenville channel a Centennial Park channel so you were talking about public

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

property and jurisdiction right and the issue of well we maintain and own Centennial Park but the channel right on Centennial Park is owned by the county and so I know that madam city manager you and Daisy Perez have and brought forth you know the fencing along I think the underpass right and that was to help alleviate it was an infrastructural change to alleviate homelessness and encampment so what other areas or is this within your jurisdiction to talk about how do we invest or how do we get our partners to invest on infrastructure changes that might help alleviate these types of response times because what we're doing

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

is we're reacting to consistent you know we clear an encampment or we try to get the trash out and then two weeks later people are back and it's a cycle I guess

excellent question councilmember fan and we do have ongoing dialogues in that area so nabil works very closely with the county he's even done some joint field trips out to look at it and he shares what he put on as our storm drain covers suggesting it you know this material really works maybe it's something that you can try we've been we try to engage in those dialogues with all of the various public entities it's just an ongoing challenge and a complex problem other infrastructure things we do evaluate you know include different landscape materials different

bus benches and all of that but sometimes that isn't very well received by a lot of the public so we are always looking for solutions that does include infrastructure changes right and and

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

i brought this up because you know we're talking about lack of people power right we can only have so many people respond it takes time you have to engage with the individual a response can be a few minutes to several hours if there's a lot of need or health issues and so I guess I wanted to put that out there to our residents, too, who are hearing this presentation and this conversation, these questions, that our other agencies, like Mayor Patel brought up, it was Caltrans, obviously we have the county. They, too, are partially responsible for the property that they have jurisdiction over.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

And we can't, and please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but we can't expend dollars to put up a fence where we don't have jurisdiction. You know, we can't spend a million dollars to fence off all of the Greenville Channel with the fencing material we would prefer because that would potentially be, I mean, we can't trespass on their property. Right? And so I wanted to put it out there because as everyone does come to the city to talk about these issues and we're working on it, I hope that you two will come to the county and our other sister agencies to ask that they also participate and work with us. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Any additional questions or comments? Councilmember Hernandez, okay?

Yes, he's okay. Thank you.

Seeing none, thank you for the presentation. We appreciate it. One of the things I just want to remind everybody as we wind this up is that, you know, we aren't the agency vested with this responsibility. So this has been litigated. So a lot of what we've spoken about are issues that have been asked and unfortunately answered in the negative. But, you know, I would just continue reminding staff just to keep a log of what's being expended. and I know we were probably right around 25 million a year that we dedicate to this issue that again should be handled by our county agency and so it's not so

we have to you know do what we can with the resources that we have and those 25 million really should be going to other municipal functions and core city functions but but it is going to be an ongoing process and in the meantime we can't not do anything about it so that's why those monies are being dedicated but Hopefully there'll be a change across the street and there'll be a different way of looking at it. I know Supervisor Foley's office has been very receptive to seeing what the county can do to work with cities closer. And she, as a former mayor of a city that's been impacted, I think has a better understanding

and has been a very, very welcome change in conversations about this. So that being said, thank you for the presentation. Let me go ahead and ask Madam City Attorney or Mr. Funk if you can speak on whether or not we have anything to report out of closed session.

Of course. Good evening, Mayor. I'm here to have members of the council and members of the public. There was no reportable action tonight from closed session.

Thank you for that. Let me go ahead and move along to the public comment section of the meeting. And this is for agendized and non-agendized items. As usual, I will be taking comments from those that are present here physically. and we also have members of the public that wish to address us that are online or joining us virtually so this is the time and place for uh meeting for uh our meeting for the city council to receive comments from the public uh and pursuant to the brown act the council may not enter into any conversation or discussion on any of the comments made you will have three minutes to

go ahead and address the council there is no um you know it's not mandatory that you use all three minutes. In fact, I've heard the most effective comments or the most concise comments. Please go ahead and state your name. You don't have to give us your physical address. You can let us know what ward you reside in if you reside here in St. Anna, and we will, again, hear from members of the public that are here physically. I have a stack of cards. Many of you are here on item number 22. Simply say, you know, if you're one way or the other,

feel free to do that, and we can get through this a lot quicker. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk so she can make some comments to those that are online.

Speakers on the queue may provide their comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction. When unmuted, please announce your name, ward, neighborhood that you reside within, the City of Santa Ana for the record. To request to speak, dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. Before unmuting colors, I would like to begin by reporting the following summary of emails provided today.

Non-agenda items. There was one Santa Ana resident that recommended to expand voting rights to all veterans that have served in the armed forces. One Santa Ana resident comment regarding voting rights. One Santa Ana resident in support of police commission in Santa Ana. Item 22, Cypress Fire Station. Sixteen residents, Santa Ana residents, excuse me, are in support of PAL program at Cypress Station. Three residents, non-disclosed, in support of PAL program at Cypress Station. There was one Santa Ana resident not in support of a PAL program at Cypress Station, and one

resident not disclosed not in support of PAL program at Cypress Station.

Great. Thank you for that summary. Let me go ahead and call the names of those who are here in chambers ready to address us, and I'll call you by groups of three. So if you don't mind, those that are in the queue are ready. If you can just stand up and ready to go ahead and speak right after the person in front of you. Let me ask Jaime Jarmides to come forward, followed by Tony Carrillo, followed by Karen Marks.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members and staff. My name is Jaime Ramirez and I'm the elementary principal at Roosevelt Walker Academy in the City of Santa Ana. And I'm here to talk about Santa Ana Police Athletic Activities League, Santa Ana PAL. Santa Ana PAL is a crime prevention program that employs educational athletics and recreational activities to create trust between youth and law enforcement. As someone who has collaborated with Santa Ana Powell for over 10 years, I can say without reservation that Santa Ana Powell is an authentic program that's sole purpose is to bring the

community together and provide different programs to our Santa Ana students. When I was an assistant principal at Jackson Elementary School, I was able to witness how Santa Ana Powell brought an innovative lunch fitness program to the school. Due to the success of the program, Jackson Elementary School was recognized with the California Golden Bell. When I was promoted to principal at Roosevelt Elementary School, I immediately reached out to Santa Pal and brought the program to my school. After one year of implementing the lunch fitness program, my physical fitness test scores increased 37% increased from 37% to 85%.

Aside from the our lunch fitness program, last year Officer John started a girls softball team the bumblebees when I had the honor to experience firsthand the impact it had in our students and our families it was amazing to see the involvement and excitement of our families and my staff during the games the bumblebees created a fire that cannot be extinguished our community wants more our students want more and I as the principal Russell Walker Academy want to provide my students all the opportunities they deserve. For this academic year Santa Ana Paula will be opening another one of

his centers in our Rosalba Walker Community Center where in partnership with the city will be providing tutoring to our students as well as provide more opportunities for our students to join other sports, take art classes, and many other activities. In closing I would like to emphasize how important it is for all of us to come together and support our kids, our students, and I believe Santa is a program that can assist us with that. Personally, I don't see them as a program. To me, they are part of my staff, and I know our students also see them as part of our school. Their presence and support has helped them connect

and develop long-lasting relationships with our students. And that is what we want, to connect with our youth. Thank you.

Thank you. Tony Carrillo followed by Karen Marks followed by Irma Jauregui.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and distinguished council members. I wanted to be here today and talk to you a little bit about the people behind me. They're the people that serve this community. If you guys would just stand up for a second.

Thank you. I wanted you to take a quick look because these are the guys that go out and make sure that your water is safe to drink. They make sure your streets are clean. They run the programs that you want to do. They're how your vision is taken care of through the city. They're your ambassadors to our community. They're part of this community. They live in this community, most of them, and they love this community like you do. They come from this community like most of you do. So when we have the opportunity to come and share what we're going through right now,

the hardships our community is suffering through the economic that is befalling all of us. So what we ask for today is that you stand with us. When Santa Ana needed SEIU, we stood with you. We carried your vision out. We carried your plans out. We go out and do those cleanups early in the morning, late at night. We set up the programs even over and above to beyond the scope of our work. there's the gun buyback programs there's the covet testing that was set up there were so many things that were done to help this community through colby so don't abandon your employees today

stand with them and give them the respect they deserve thank you thank you tony karen marks

followed by idma haudagi followed by gloria haudagi hi council member and everyone else i'm

I'm Karen Marks. I'm here tonight to support the Cypress Fire Station. As the principal just mentioned prior to me, this is all about our kids. Our kids in that area need our help. That particular area is just a mess and it needs a place they can be. PALS provides that and the police officer substation would help in that regard as well. These kids need to build relationships with the PD if they are going to be successful citizens in the country, our county, and in our city. I'd also like to point out that we need to use that facility as a multipurpose. It's not just a PAL center, not just a police substation.

It has to represent the whole community. And one of the things I'd like to see there is more of a senior citizens facility where they can come that's closer to home. It's not the one up on Birch. It's not so far for a lot of our people to get there. I would like to see them offer classes there for elderly people or people who are just interested in learning something new that they didn't get a chance to learn in college. I think we could partner with a couple of different facilities, such as Santa Ana College or Santa Ana Unified even, for that matter, to work together to provide education services for parents

and people who just want to learn a little bit more about life. Finally, I would like to see it offered as places where communities can gather. I'm from Wilshire Square. We have no facility for our neighborhood to gather, so we use each other's houses. But it would be really cool if there was a community center, which was close enough for us to all get to, to be able to help you as you begin our South Main corridor projects and as you begin to connect our neighborhoods. And we would like to be a part of that, and that would be a great opportunity for us to meet there.

All these changes in our city require visionaries, and you as our elected officials have to be those visionaries for us and represent what we want. And one of the things that we want is a more inclusive and a more multifaceted use of our historical buildings and things that we call that make our city as rich and special as it is. So I hope you will consider it used as a multifaceted, not just one or two things. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Irma Hauragi followed by, is it Gloria Hauragi? Maybe I'm not reading. I don't have my glasses on. La Fira. La Fira. And then followed by Ernie Condi.

Hello, everybody. This is Irma Hauragi. Lovely to see you, and thank you again for supporting us. I will try to be succinct and factual. Most of you know me. I am not only a resident of Wilshire Square, and I lived in also Madison Park for 42 years. I've been 34 years a realtor. I'm a financial advisor. I'm a community person. I have a deep, deep love of South Maine. I used to sit on the board of the Salma Board South Anna Merchant Association, and revitalizing that area is key to having the best program or combinations of programs.

To look at the South, the firehouse, which is a beautiful historic building, and to have a multiple purpose with the PATH program, I was very impressed. I physically went there two or three times because I am very analytical. We have to use our funds and our resources and our assets to the best use possible. The PAL does that with building relationships with the children and the community. But the multiplier effect that that's why I'm so passionate about was I observed that the surrounding community by them just by their presence being there the safety

went up the cleanliness the businesses came over to come to thank the officers by their presence being there and having a substation the delinquency and the crime element went away to different places and that brought a sense of stability to the area that impressed me so much that I started emailing all of you to go see this. I was very impressed. I also would like to see that in the times the PAL program is not in effect to be utilized by seniors. We definitely, I will include

myself finally in that group, I would love to see activities like yoga, tai chi, things that benefit our seniors of mobility and of many uses. So you would have the substation in the back. There's an alley. There is ample space for that. The square footage of the lot is around 7,400 square feet. The building is about 5,000. I've been in it. My husband's in construction, so I have a good eye for things like that. I saw their substation. It's only a little room above 16 by 20 feet, so that would not take that up. But just by the effect of being there,

all those businesses would change. We could revitalize the South Corridor. That has been one of my dreams to see, but it would have multiplier effects. So that function would be phenomenal to have pals and not listen to the voice of anarchy, not to have the separation of divisiveness. So I please and implore you, have the pals and the senior programs because I know the pilot program at Roosevelt is just temporary and then put them back. Thank you so much. The other programs are phenomenal. Your cousin is very talented in art and in music but this is the best use of that property. Thank you.

Thank you. Glafira Jauregui, Ernie Condi, and Tina Miller.

because the properties that are not having a good use do not have a vandalism and the bad habits of people in the street. So, I think that this is very beneficial for the city. I hope this building a center for people in third grade doesn't leave anything in one idea. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Grafina Haurigi and I'm here to support the idea of building at that site a senior center. In my experience working with seniors for many years, I believe that this will help them a lot. The neighborhood around there, the properties there when they're not being well utilized, it leads to vandalism and people's bad habits, homeless people's bad habits go in there. So I'm asking you to build a senior center and it's not, it's going to be a good idea for this. Thank you.

Thank you. Ernie Condé, Tina Miller, followed by Alvaro Garcia.

Did Ernie and Tina leave, I believe? Got it. Thank you. Alvaro Garcia, followed by Juan Rendon.

Hello, good afternoon. My name is Álvaro García and literally live a few steps from the program PARC. Thanks to the people who have made this possible program, after my children started to be in this program, they always have the interest to come early, which I like to never, never, never to retrasarse. I would like to support the children of my neighborhood, because I've seen them, I've seen them, I've seen them, I've seen them raying paredes. If this program was more big, I think we would have to end with the delincuencia.

This program is the key to improving my community. When I started the renovation of this program, my children were very excited. They said, look, they're almost ready. When they were ready, they wanted to practice, to do sports. They liked baseball. The sport and the study were the best combination. Every time they have a game, they're excited. If the official John is present, they're more effortless. They're more loving and respect. Every Sunday we're going to look at him in his baseball.

of baseball and one of my children is the bad boy. I consider the official my family. I thank the people who chose him. He is the best that he has been given to me, my family and my community. The fact is possible to be the presence of more policemen in my community, because only the presence of a single policeman impone much authority and respect, I have a lot of respect, I have a lot of respect, I have always been worried about it.

I remember that just a few months ago, there was a guy who shot on the street, where every day my wife and my kids are going to school. It was a very dangerous path. I also remember that I have a few months my neighbor only went to fill his gas, his gas, his gas, and he put a bomb on fire. It's very dangerous to my neighborhood. And now the presence of police officers is better. I'm very grateful for this. And I would like to help you more. 30 seconds.

A few more seconds. Well, it will be better. Gracias. And that will be the best. Gracias.

Good evening. My name is Álvaro Garcia, and I live barely steps from the PAL program. And I'd like to thank the people who will make this program possible. My kids are very excited. They want to be there early. They don't like being late to the program. but we want this to be even bigger. I like the kids. The kids are very excited and I've seen other kids that are out there doing bad things and tagging. So if you had a bigger program there, this would end crime and delinquency around there. So the key is this is very important for the community.

My kids, when they were building it, were very excited. Hey, you know, Dad, this is coming. It's almost ready, Dad. It's almost ready. So they were very excited for the program to come, to be open. And when the officer goes to baseball, my kids love baseball, and I believe that the sports and school is a very good combination. So when the officer goes to baseball, on Sundays we go and help and support. One of my boys is a bad boy for him. So I don't think of him as a police officer. I think of him as my family. So I want to thank the people who chose him for the program.

And when we have more police officers' presence, it's better for the community. They bring authority and respect. So I've always been concerned around the area because some months ago, some kid shot up the street where my wife walks my kids to school. So it's very important. The neighborhood would be better. One of my neighbors just a while ago was robbed while going to get some water. So he was robbed with a screwdriver. So it's better to have more police presence. So please help us make this a reality.

Juan Rendon followed by Ana Nidia Cruz followed by Maribel Rendon.

Hi, my name is Juan Rendon, and I'm here to show my support for the Police Athletic and Activities League program of Santa Ana, also known as PAL. My 15-year-old daughter, Linda, started with the PAL program when she was in seventh grade. At that time, we were looking for guitar classes for my daughter, and they had a guitar teacher at PAL where they offered these classes for free. And being the only source of income at my home, this was music to my ears. We met Officer Kenny Aguilar, who was in charge of that program at that time. And we found out they also had a RON team. So my daughter, Linda, liked the idea of joining the team,

since she was in cross-country at MacArthur Fundamental. A little later, that same year, my son, Guillermo, who was about eight years old, also joined the RON team. But I have to say that before he joined, I tried to put him in soccer, in the soccer team, and also take self-defense classes, and he did not enjoy that. And it wasn't until he saw his sister and all her teammates at the running club at PAL that he discovered his passion for running. My daughter is 15 and my son is 12 now and they're both in the school team for cross country in which they both have achieved great things. And part of that is because of the people at PAL

always encourage them to do better, not to give up. And this program is not just a running club. It also offers tutoring for our kids. They have a gym where they can exercise. They take our kids to field trips. And now with Officer John Holcomb in charge, they don't just have a run team. They also have a baseball team, batting cages at the facility. This is a place where kids can come and do their homework after school and exercise right after that, rather than them being out on the streets. I also want you guys to know that when the pandemic hit and all the schools were shut down and we couldn't take our kids to Powell anymore,

Officer John came up with a brilliant idea. He would come online and encourage the kids to draw with him online. Needless to say that both of my kids would look forward to this day drawing with Officer John. It is when hard times hit that we need more leaders like Officer John Holcomb, because I'm sure by him doing this not only brought joy to my kids, but to all the kids in this program on times of uncertainty. The bond that these officers are creating and developing with our kids is great. I've always teach my kids to respect authority, and I'm sure there are some bad apples out there,

but for the most part, our police officers deserve our gratitude and respect. Last, I want to say thank you to everyone running the PAL program. you make a world difference in our kids lives we need a lot more pals so no kid is left without the opportunity to be a part of something great thank you very

much thank you Ananidia Cruz followed by Maribel Rendon followed by Isabel Linda Isabel Rendon

casa para mis hijos. Estamos muy contentos del programa y de los cambios que ha habido con mis niños. Ahora yo miro que este programa no solo nos ayuda a nuestros niños, sino las familias, la comunidad, las escuelas. Entonces, si seguimos con estos programas, si ustedes traen más programas a esta ciudad como este, que no es un programa, para mí es una familia, sería el cambio grande, because police is community and you are not as a city. There are less homeless, less delinquency, there are many things that we would help. It is a benefit. My children have been impacted with police,

because now we don't see them as parents, or the police, and we are afraid. No, now it's, oh, I'm going to see if it's Officer Kenny, Officer John, or any of the trainers,

So, coach y a veces nos toca verlos y es emocionado los saludan y miro que eso es bueno no es miedo es respeto y los vemos los niños los miran como su familia como sus amigos los todos los que trabajan en el programa son muy buenas personas se preocupan por nuestros hijos si los miran preocupados ahora los conocen que tienen toman el tiempo para hablar con ellos que es algo que I think only parents do it, but the children can arrange them and not only listen to them, but also encourage them. That's my experience.

Officer Kenny, who was the one who knew my daughter, is supporting her a lot, and is a mentor for her. And now with Officer John, it's the same.

So, No, the program PAL. For me, it's the family PAL. So, I would like to take into account this program and open a lot more so that we are more benefited and blessed. Bless our city more than Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Ana Lidia Cruz, and I'm from Santa Ana. and I'd like to talk about my experience with the program. It's not actually a program. It's more like another home for my kids. I'm very happy with the changes that they've been having. It's not just beneficial for the kids. The families benefit, the community benefits, or the schools benefit as well. We need to have more programs like this. Again, it's not a program. It's like a family to me. These changes have been great. The police is the community, and you are part of this community.

And if we have more programs like this, we would have less homelessness and less crime. The kids are very, they're not intimidated by the police. They're not afraid of them. They come up to them, Officer Kenny, Officer John, all the coaches that are there, because there are coaches to them. and they get very excited when they see them. They say, is it Officer Kenny? Is it Officer John? So they're not afraid. They respect them. And they're more like a family. They're our friends. The PAL program is great. The people at the PAL program are great.

They're concerned. If they see our kids that are worried or something, they check in on them. How are you doing? They give them some advice. and even Officer Kenny is mentoring my daughter and Officer John too. They're all my three kids. And all the girls there are part of the PAL family. It's not a PAL program. I call it the PAL family. So we need to open more of these programs, a bigger program, so that you can continue blessing the city of Santa Ana.

Maribel Rendon followed by Linda Isabel Rendon followed by Vanessa Badillo.

Hi, my name is Maribel Rendon, and I am a mom of two kids in the PAL program. I would love to share some of our wonderful experiences we've had with this program. I first came across with this program on Facebook. I found free guitar classes. I said, wow, that's awesome. I'm going to take my kids. I'm a stay-at-home mom, so we depend on only one income. but I said it's not too close but I'm willing to make the drive in order for my kids to learn how to play the guitar. When I got there I never knew that program was there and I never knew all the stuff that they offer there and once

my daughter got in in the program she was also starting MacArthur and she grew up without playing sports as little but once she got into MacArthur she realized she loved running and so we realized pal was offering a running club and it was just the perfect fit she loved it and she grew there and not too long after that my son realized he loved running too and so they both have been in pal for quite a few years and are both now in their schools in CUS country and track. And they've just been great.

And we have great mentors there, starting with Officer Kenny when we first met him. We thought, wow, police is doing this, but this is pretty cool, you know? And it just, it came so easily to talk to them, you know? We didn't see the uniform. We didn't see that. We saw another human being caring for our children. And that is so awesome. To be able to bring that to other families, to our community, would just be great. I want the blessing that I have to be a blessing to other kids, to our community, to other families.

I can tell you that they make the effort to be there. My daughter had a play at school. officer Kenny was there my daughter had a cross country meet he was there and and not it went but the pandemic hit they made it fun for them to do crafts online they provided everything and I just want to tell you that they do wonderful wonderful job and the connection the bonds that they do with our kids has no prize.

And I just would love to see that to other kids and families. Thank you.

Thank you. Linda Rendon, followed by Vanessa Vadillo, followed by Veronica Renteria.

Hi, my name is Linda Ysavala Rendon, and I am one of the students who is at the POW program. This program is honestly wonderful and has provided me with many opportunities. I was able to join the run team there which not only allowed me to do something that I love but I was able to gain experiences running 5ks 10ks and even had the chance to run a few half marathons with the team when I first joined the program I didn't quite know what to expect but I was surrounded by staff who supported me loved me and always encouraged me the program would help me with

homework when I needed it provided tutoring and always held the students accountable for our schoolwork which can be quite helpful but the support was never just at Powell. I remember when I had my middle school cross-country meet officer Kenny showed up to support another student and I when I had when I was part of a play in eighth grade he also showed up which meant a lot to me the stigma of needing to fear police officers or being nervous around them was taken away I would get excited at the fact that I knew police officers personally and held them in such high

regards. This program has always gone the extra step to provide kids with great and fun experiences. I remember the kids especially loved this volleyball team that would come out and teach us how to play. When the pandemic hit and we were stuck at home with nothing to do, the program provided online crafts and they provided all the materials that we needed. One of my personal favorites was the drawing and art contest with Officer John. Officer John would go out of his way to make fun videos teaching us how to draw different cartoons. Not only did the POW provide prizes, but they would drive and see us in person,

which was such great interaction. Additionally, I got the chance to go to Disneyland with the program, which is something that, on the normal, we wouldn't be able to afford on our own. They would encourage the kids to recycle by handing out raffle tickets for every ten bottles that we brought in. The program also helped us kick off our school year by providing us with a free pair of vans. The POW provides so many things, from the run team to baseball to even when school is out, a summer program for the kids. We get to know police officers personally and respect them,

which can get rid of all the negative stereotypes that we hear by the media. I've gotten to know and respect all the staff and police officers that work with POW. For all these reasons, the opportunities, the experiences, the support, and overall fund provided, opening another PAL program would be so beneficial to the families and children in our community. The PAL is unlike any other program, and I want to thank each and every staff member and police officer I have encountered there. I was encouraged, supported, loved, and I hope that other kids get to experience what I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Vanessa Radillo, followed by Veronica Renteria, followed by Ricky Renteria.

Good afternoon, my name is Veronica Renteria and I'm going to tell you my experience with the PAL. I have three children in this program and my problem was that my older son was having problems in school. I went to several places to get the opportunity to improve, but I couldn't improve because he was becoming a little agressor. and I was looking for help and I found this program where my son was there.

I went and talked to the official John and told me what was happening with my son, the problem I had with him. He talked to my son and since then my son improved in his behavior, in his qualifications. Now I have three children in the PAL and I'm very happy the three, because this program is completely different from the others. They have everything they need, they have discipline, responsibility, respect. They can also have the sports that they need, and that helps them to not be in a family and to improve our community.

more than all because as our children are our children, it's the future of our city and they are the ones who have to improve from little. And this program helps us a lot. The police do a great job with them because they, as they see that the police are involved, are more responsible. The police staff also helps us a lot. And they love us a lot. They are like a family for us. My son, at the smallest, said, Do you think I'm going to go to that program? And now he's the first one who is there. Thank you very much. That's all I wanted to tell you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is and I'd like to talk about my experience with the PAL program. I have three kids and my problem was with my oldest. He was having problems in school. I went to several places to try to look for help and I couldn't get any any help. He was becoming very aggressive and I sought help and I found this pal opportunity and I talked to the officer, officer John. I told him about the problem with my son and he spoke with my son and he he talked to him about his issues. He was having some behavioral issues and His behavior improved and his grades also improved.

I have three kids in the program. This is a program unlike any other. And they help the students. They help the kids. And they provide them with discipline, responsibility, and respect. And they have the sports that they like so they don't get involved with gangs. Our community improves because as we are improving our kids, which are the future of our city, our future is going to be better. So the program helps. The police officers are doing a great job with the kids, and the PAL staff loves them. And even my youngest son, he said,

don't even think I'm going to be going to that program. And now he's the first one to go there, who wants to go there. Thank you.

Is Vanessa Badillo here? Go ahead, Vanessa. Vanessa followed by Ricky Renteria followed by Maria Diaz.

Good evening. I have lived in Santa Ana my entire life and have been part of the Santa Ana Police Athletic and Activity League PAL for the past ten years. My first years at PAL were mostly fun and games. I didn't realize that the fun and games were helping me develop social skills. Participating in the games allowed me to socialize with kids my age enabling me to become more confident in my speaking skills. I was able to communicate my reading struggles to PALS staff who helped me reach my appropriate reading level. This confidence allowed me to create a close bond with founder and first director, Officer Tom Serafin,

who became a lifelong role model and friend. Thanks to Officer Tom, I now view police officers in a positive way. As I aged in the program, more experiences emerged. PALS partnerships with different outside programs taught me to play musical instruments, the importance of the lifeguard program, how to prevent forest fires, and how to keep our beaches clean. I became more independent during field trips because I had to learn to become self-sufficient by ordering my own food, being patient and punctual, and budgeting my spending money.

Powell monitors student grades every six weeks and encourages them to self-advocate so they don't fall behind in school. Finally, distributions and drive experiences are gifted to families thanks to Powell's partnership with Helping Hands of Santa Ana. Coming from a one-parent household, the yearly Vanshu gift, various Thanksgiving food items, and Christmas gift were a great financial assistance. In fact, the whole program is free of cost, and my family was never asked to pay a penny. My involvement in Powell evolved once I entered high school. I had to learn how to manage my time between band rehearsals and volunteering at Powell.

My volunteer work was converted into an employment opportunity where I worked the past two summers. I chaperoned field trips, allowing me to connect with students and staff on a personal level. The more interactions I had with students, the more I understood how much the fun and games actually guide them to gain social and academic skills. Finally, working at a young age has aided me to transition into adulthood. Upon reflecting on my years at PAL, I can testify with confidence that this program is incredible because it offers so much to Santa Ana families.

It provides a safe haven to all students in the program, which keeps them away from gangs and getting into mischief. Furthermore, POW has beautified the center's surrounding grounds by creating a small student-run garden, repainting the center's exterior, and knocking down a makeshift alley, which greatly reduced the number of transients near the center. POW's mission is upheld by the current director, Officer John Holcomb, who has transformed the center with the addition of a new arcade area, art studio, mini theater, and teen lounge. These additions are incentives for current students to continue participating in the

program so that they may be added to Powell's Hall of Fame and thus become examples for others. To conclude, the Santa Ana Police Athletic and Activity League has profoundly and positively impacted the residents of Santa Ana and therefore is an invaluable program. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Ricky Renteria followed by Maria Diaz followed by Rafael Diaz.

Hi, my name is Ricky, and the POW program has been a help to me a lot. The time I spent there, started baseball there, had a lot of great friends there too.

There's a lot of great stuff in the POW program. They have an arcade, a batting cage.

They also added a half court for basketball. They have Teen Lounge. They edit a lot of more stuff, too. It was pretty great when they edited this stuff, and I enjoyed it, actually.

And hopefully they add more stuff in the future to the program, and it's a great place. Hopefully they open more, too, in the community.

Take your time.

P.O. program is great. I'm friends with Officer John. He's a great man. He helped me a lot with the baseball team. Coach Abel did, which is a baseball coach in Santa Ana Pau.

So now I'm currently still playing baseball, and it started because of Serena and the Palace. So great.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Ricky. Good comments.

Maria Diaz, followed by Rafael Diaz, followed by Mark Lopez, followed by Jeff Katz, if he's still here.

Good evening, my name is Maria. I, in my experience of the program PAO, in reality, the only thing and the beautiful of that is I want to thank God for the city for having made this reality. We would like to open more, many more centers to help the children that, that, unfortunately,

they don't have motivation to be able to go ahead. Thank you to the official Jan, to the official Kenny,

for bringing the children to a good way, because for them, the children have been very much, especially my own. I have three children, the youngest youngest is in the 11th grade. She is... she is going to the Valley School, she is going to the Valley School.

And the program was very fundamental for them, because she was from there, she grew, she was born. She started to run, she motivated a lot in the official. Thank God she is very good, she is an excellent girl,

like my other child. She is starting her career, her steps, like my daughter, she is running. She is the baby of 6 years old, thank God she is going to go to the program. I just have no words to say that thanks to you that are here and have made reality that many children have been able to exploit themselves and know that they like sports. Because thanks to you and to them, they are where they are now.

Now they are many.

There is the baseball program, the baseball program,

and I hope that there are many more programs for them. And the truth is that to a official, no need to be afraid. No need to be afraid. There is to be confidence. 30 seconds. They are very fundamental in the formation of the young people. because without them the city was a disaster total. And thanks to them, the city is improving. And I hope that they take much into account that and hopefully they will be in reality more dreams of many children who want to be in this program, but unfortunately they can't.

Because they have no space for more small.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Maria, and I'd like to talk about my experience with the PAL program. It's a very nice program. I thank God, and I thank the city for making this possible. And we need to open more centers like this. These centers help our kids, and that they feel frustrated. They don't feel motivation. They help them to succeed. I want to thank Officer John and Officer Kenny because they take our kids in the right way, in the good way, in the right path.

And not only my kids, but every kid's. I have three kids myself in the program. The oldest, a girl, is in 11th grade at Valley High School, and she's a runner. And the program was fundamental for her. and she started, she had her beginning in running there. She was born running because of that program and they keep the kids motivated and I'm thankful for the officers. Also my boy starting in running as well and also my six-year-old is going to start going to the program soon.

I have no words to thank you for making this possible. The kids, because of this program, are learning to love sports. And I want to thank them, and I also thank you for making this possible and helping the kids succeed. They have baseball, they have running, and I hope that we have more programs for them. We don't need to be afraid of police officers. Police officers have to be trusted because they're fundamental in building our kids and helping the community and helping the city improve and that our kids can achieve their dreams by going in programs like this.

Rafael Diaz, followed by Mark Lopez, followed by Jeff Katz, followed by Salika Diaz.

Good afternoon. I'm Rafael Diaz, and I've been going to PAO for many years now. PAO has shown me the passion I have for running, thanks to the former PAO Director, Officer Kenny Aguilar, and the now Director, Officer John. I have grown to respect and look up to officers. Before PAL, I had a problem with math, but the staffs encouraged me to do good in math and help me, and I am doing great in math right now. PAL has also allowed me to make new friends outside of school, and I'm more comfortable around adults such as staffs and police officers. I have a sister who was a former student at PAL.

She is now in her junior year of high school, and she is going to be the first person in our family to go to college. She's very thankful for her PAL staff who have taught her many things, and we both look up to all of them. We have a good relationship with staff. Going to PAL has encouraged me to go to college and help other people like PAL help me. I would like to thank Ms. Gracie, Ms. Daisy, Ms. Beatrice, Ms. Patty, Coach Abo, and Sir Dario for always supporting me in everything, including sports and academics.

Thank you. Thank you. Mark Lopez, followed by Jeff Katz. Is Jeff still here? Jeff may have left. Followed by Salika Diaz, followed by Margaret Akana.

How are you doing tonight? I'm going to give you a quick military analogy of how PAL does that work. It works but doesn't work. You guys are winning some great significant battles, but you're badly losing the war because the shooting thing at Spurgeon proves it. The recent murders on many proves that. You are not winning this war against the gangbangers. What might work in other areas is not going to work where we live, where I live on Myrtle Street. You have some hardcore gangbangers out there, and your target audience is the youth. you got some 8 to 15 year olds who can band with the best of them. They can pull on you.

They are a hardcore, already ingrained, and a lifestyle. I think you need to pacify certain neighborhoods first before you allow that. I think you guys even know, and I'm going to hold the citizens accountable too. I hear a lot of great stories too, but I blame a lot of the parents in the community. I'm tired of these residents. Oh, poor me, poor me. I think today we need to have the residents accountable because yes, you have some great experience here, but I see more people are talking about the best experience. And I'm tired of you city council people pandering these people. They need to be held accountable.

And a lot of the problems we're having is your fault, especially you, Mayor Stavridor. You need to be held accountable for a lot of problems every day. It's because of you and your buddy, Polito. The rest need to be held accountable. And because it won't work in our neighborhood because the fourth street, the bigger picture is it can work, but we have the fourth street art redevelopment. And I think the digital sort of be great for that. But big picture, if 4th Street does not work, that Powell Center is not going to work because I call it, it will become Polito's and Sarimantos Folly.

Because downtown has to work for that center to work even Powell. Because if it doesn't work, I see the transition now to a good thing, but the overall picture for that center to work has to be incumbent on 4th Street. Because that's the great thing we can have. It can be a great force multiplier. Because I see the transition now. But I'm tired of the politics. I'm tired of this, that, this or that. Let's get it done so it can benefit us. Maybe the power will work initially, but eventually I'd like to see transition to work with a non-profit where the residents are held accountable. Maybe have a volunteer police force,

like Cypress has a good program where the residents are more involved in it. They drive around in vehicles like that, but it's the citizens that make it work, sir. You guys are not social workers, but I do commit new work. It's the residents have to be more accountable for the kids' actions. They need to stop playing this poor victim right role and you stop pandering that, empower them, not Padme, sir. Thank you.

Celica Diaz, followed by Margaret Akana, followed by Angela Yanuzi.

Good evening. My name is Celica Diaz. I live and work the Pacific Park neighborhood. And I want to make something very clear. I am a Pacific Park neighborhood volunteer leader. Volunteer leader. So now I also want to let you know that I'm very happy because city has started the renovation of the cypress street fire station so i'm happy because the homeless is out of there and so i also want to ask you to please support us and get the power program at the cypress street fire station but i also want to ask you to add a senior center

there the senior center will be helpful and will help a lot of of our seniors including my parents and I just look forward to working with you guys and bringing positive programs that will be beneficial to our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Selka. Margaret Akana, followed by Angela Yanuzi, followed by Ray Diaz.

Margaret, Angela, Ray. Sandra Pochapena, followed by Victor Payan, followed by Dr. Loretta Garrett.

Ray's here.

There you go, Ray. Come on up.

I'm ready to get started. So good evening, honorable mayor and city council members. My name is Ray Diaz. I am a student at UC Santa Cruz, the former chairperson of the Santa Ana Youth Commission and a resident of Ward 5 and a proud Chicano. I come to you before like tonight to speak on an item that isn't on the agenda and that is hardly talked about. So on August 2nd, 1892, Francisco Torres was lynched on what is now known as Fourth and Sycamore in the city of Santa Ana. Early that morning, a mob of men dragged Torres, carried him to a telephone pole, and hanged him.

As we proclaim the month of August as Chicano Heritage Month, I would like to urge this council to immediately approve a community historical marker on 4th and Sycamore so that the community can learn and heal from the historical trauma that is embedded in not only this city's history, but the county and the country. We speak often about the victories that the Mexican-American, the Chicano, and Latina community has had, but fail to have the conversation about the atrocities committed against people of color across this country. My identity plays a large role in who I am today,

and it would truly be an injustice and a disservice if we did not call what was done to Francisco Torres what it was, racism. I live in a county that failed to provide basic services in the height of a global pandemic that led to the death of hundreds of our neighbors. I live in a county that essentially told my parents that they did not belong after the passage of California Proposition 187 that would have refused them basic state services. So finally, this community historical marker does not solve most of the challenging issues that our community faces, but it serves as a step in the right

direction and begin to have the conversation on which groups of people are under attack in our city. Gracias.

Thank you, Ray. Sandra Pochapeña, followed by Victor Payan, followed by Dr. Loretta Garrett, or Canet, not sure.

Hello, everyone. I'm Sandra Pocha-Pena, a Santa Ana native and the other Pacific Park Eastside neighborhood volunteer leader, along with Salica Diaz. I want to start off by thanking all of you city council members and our hardworking staff for saving the Cypress Fire Station and for our community use. That was a long road and without your help we couldn't have done that. Today you will vote on a viable use for our beloved firehouse and I urge you to make a choice

that benefits all ages, all cultures reflected in our Eastside population. As you heard the testimonial from many people here, the PALS program is something that has worked in the neighborhood where it's located now, which is not Eastside, and we're going to have a PALS program in Eastside Pacific Park. It was just announced last week. We're going to have a full PALS set up over at the Roosevelt Walker Community Center, a space that does have basketball courts and a place to run and the space to accommodate all of the things that they offer.

So a third PAL program in Pacific Park Eastside, just a few blocks away from the one that has just been announced, is redundant and wasteful. And we should have the, you know, it's not too much to ask for some diversity and offerings and amenities. How many PALS programs do we need in the city before we have a second library? library, and now that our main library is going to be closing for a significant amount of time for its major repairs, we really do need a second facility in this city, and something that really can benefit everyone. Many people here have spoken about the need to benefit our seniors.

You know, senior citizens can't even make medical appointments, and for a while they couldn't even get vaccines because they didn't have access to online or Wi-Fi or to computers. A facility like a digital library and history room, which was first proposed by Gerardo Moet, our former Parks and Rec and library director, much beloved, and that was in 2006, it really inspired us all. It inspired us all to envision that beautiful building as something that could benefit everybody, our seniors, our adults, and our children. I'm sure that if we had had the staff support to rally all of the people that have benefited

from our library programs, you would have some very dramatic testimonials here because libraries and the learning and all, they provide much more than books. You know, they really are very transformational as well. And we deserve to have a fully operational digital library in that facility. It does not have space for a track or other athletic activities, but it does have space for learning and inspiration all ages. Thank you.

Thank you, Victor Payan, followed by Dr. Loretta Canet-Bales, followed by Susana Sandoval.

Hello, Council. Good to see you again. I'm also here to talk about Agenda Item 22. And the Agenda Item reads, the recommended action is to rehabilitate the vacant Cypress fire station into a new police athletic and activities league center. And we've heard a lot of people from the PALS program talk about how important and impactful it was for them. But I want to say two things. I'm a resident of Pacific Park. Number one, this conversation was started by the Roosevelt Walker principal saying, as Bocha Peña just mentioned, that there is already a PAL coming into Roosevelt Walker. So there's no need for a second one at this location.

So all these people who came to talk about their wonderful experience, I don't know if they knew that. so they can have a wonderful PAL program at Roosevelt Walker. But let's talk a little about the Cypress Center, the Cypress Fire Station. It was going to be sold to a developer, and through a community effort which included many residents and community leaders, it was saved. The one person that came to public comment to okay it for the developer was Celica Diaz, who spoke here in favor of this building being a PAL facility. Everybody else wanted what was said in many conversations.

They wanted something that served seniors, a digital library, a community technology center that bridges the digital divide with computer and internet resources, educational programs for youth and adults and seniors, career development programs for youth and adults, arts and culture events, community meeting and event space, none of which was included in the staff's recommendation. I think because the PAL already has another facility, the only move to make today is to table this so that we can explore other options in unity with the Santa Ana Unified School District.

A school district board member has already expressed that they want to bring this before the joint committee with the city to talk about the school being a partner. We've talked about SAC, Santa Ana College. We've talked about the library. the library was there for the residents with technology resources during the pandemic. You can rent computers and access spots. All of these things, which we don't have in Pacific Park. We need these other resources. We don't need a third PALS in our neighborhood.

And I've heard fear-mongering going on, too. During the discussions in the Pacific Park Neighborhood Association, there was a lot of fear-mongering happening, equating not having PALS with increasing crime. that we need a substation there because it will magically make crime disappear. The crime is happening a block away and we can put a substation in front of the crime itself where the Dollar Tree is located. There's better solutions, but we do not have digital resources in this community which are sorely needed. So I ask you, please, the only solution today is to table this and communicate with these

other partners who can find a much more suitable use for this space and end the fear mongering. We've heard that any other option is anarchy and that's just a shame. Thank you for speaking your time is up.

Thank you, Dr. Canet-Bales, Susana Sandoval, followed by Ramin Patel.

Thank you, city council members and Mr. Mayor. My name is Dr. Loretta Canet-Bales, and I'm a resident, a proud resident of Santana, and I reside in Wilshire Square. I'm an educator, and I've also served as a volunteer for the United States Justice Department, along with being past president for the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

This evening, you heard some very powerful statements from the strong hitters in this community. And who are those strong hitters? The parents and kids of the program. I'm here to support PAL. I've been there. I've visited. I've seen the kids. I've talked with them. I've talked with the officers. And my experience has been that we are very sorely lacking

a cohesive effort of law enforcement police officers being a part of the community. And how beautiful it was this evening that the parents that you heard from spoke about the officers, considering them as family, son familia, and how they've reached out to their children. And isn't that what we all want? is to have a community that is united with its police officers, not separate and apart.

And what a perfect place to have a PALS program,

but in the Cypress fire station. And it is in the community. Previous to my speaking, the right honorable gentleman spoke about not needing another PALS program.

We have a population that is surrounding the Cypress fire station that needs a PALS program. Furthermore, it could serve as a community center. 30 seconds.

Lastly, as elected officials, you can leave this as your legacy and be proud that you stood this evening and said, you know what? We're going to honor the community.

And we do want our officers to be considered like familia. So let us all stand together. Thank you.

Thank you. Is Mr. Patel still here? Mr. Patel is gone. Susanna Sandoval, followed by Victor Mendez, followed by Maribel Gomez, who's our last speaker in person.

Good evening. I'm a resident in Santana for 32-plus years, Ward 6, Wilshire Square, and have worked on educational, social, and environmental justice campaigns over the years. I built my career and retired as an academic counselor at UC Irvine. With my community, resident, and educational experience, I support the establishment of the PAL program at the Cypress Fire Station due to the high crime rate in this neighborhood and devastation that this crime has on the surrounding business owners. The PAL program is successful with the children it serves and neighborhoods as demonstrated by the West McFadden program.

PAL services contribute to the success and confidence of our children at the same time impacts building bridges and communication with law enforcement in a proactive and positive environment. Very much needed in our community. The Roosevelt Walker Community Center actually is a perfect environment for the proposed digital library. And also, as we understand it, the PAL program is temporary at Roosevelt Walker. We need the PAL program at the Cypress Fire Station where services are just very much needed.

Safety and the well-being of the children, families, and businesses are the priority. I urge you to move the proposed digital library to the Roosevelt Walker Center and to investigate other options for the proposed arts residency program. We do need PAL at Cypress Fire Station and consider services for our seniors as the location as well. And how beautiful was this evening? The parents and the children said it all. We need the PAL Familia at the Cypress Fire Station. Everybody will win with this program, and building the bridges with our law enforcement is really crucial

because there has been so much controversy for decades, and this is building bridges, and it's building our children's future and the parents growing along with their kids. So please put the PAL program at the Cypress Fire Station. And there are many other wonderful venues that will service all sectors of the community for the digital library. So let's go with our familia, our children, our parents, and law enforcement. Thank you.

Thank you. Victor Mendez, followed by Maribel Gomez.

Good evening. I just want to update each of you on the situation over at 2222 East First Street. senior citizen affordable apartment building. The residents were notified on 630 about a 10% increase to their rents that became effective on 8-1. This increase, at least for a one-bedroom apartment, amounts to about $1,500 annually, which is quite a substantial sum for most of them, including myself. 10%, as I've come to find out, is well above the market for an affordable unit here in Santa Ana. particularly a senior one, and even well above that for a luxury apartment in Santa Ana.

So it's quite high. Having said that, the residents conducted a rally in front of the apartment. They paid their rent on August 1st, and on August 3rd, they conducted a rally, which created some pretty good news attention and was broadcast, and that was helpful on many fronts. I also inquired with the state treasurer about this rent increase and I came to find out that the rent notice that we gave us was defective, such as the fact that they had to retrieve that rent increase and then send a new one out. So what we were able to do is defer this rent increase another two months, saving the residents

approximately $100,000 as a result of this rent deferral. We're still going to have to pay it, but because that rent increase didn't meet civil code At the time it was issued, we no longer have to pay it and we'll get our rent credit as well. Had no one pursued that, they would have continued to pay these rents in violation of the code.

So, where does that kind of leave us right now? Two things we will need, we are asking of this council. So one, a one-time $750 supplement through the Revive Program or other funds to assist the senior citizens during this period, and two, to initiate the process to include affordable housing into the rental control ordinance and capping these rents at 4%. It's obviously that affordable housing developers don't believe in fair play, and trying to deal with them directly as a resident or as a tenant is very difficult. It's very difficult.

So those two things are going to be what we're going to request to this council. Hopefully you can assist us in this very difficult time moving forward. The residents still continue to deal with drugs, prostitution, and homeless intrusion. Hopefully that we'll be able to meet on this next week and try to get some resolution. You know, I personally have issued drug transactions right in front of me, and I'm getting a little tired of it. I'm tired of hearing my neighbors move out, and we just simply got to put an end to it, and we will. Thank you.

Thank you, Victor. Maribel Gomez is our last in-person speaker. Then we'll go ahead and take our speakers that are online.

Good evening everyone. My name is Maribel Gomez. Quiero ser hoy la voz de mis compañeros de la calle 4, del street card.

Octa sigue negándose a darnos ayuda económica.

Varias cosas que se han prometido no se han cumplido. Señores, no jueguen con nosotros, con nuestra desesperación y el único medio de vida de nuestros pequeños negocios.

No inviertan 700 mil o más dólares en una pista de patinaje cuando nosotros estamos en estado de emergencia, perdiendo negocio, viviendo con tanta presión encima, etcétera, etcétera. El vandalismo como nunca se había visto. Tengo yo 40 años en Aries Beauty Salón en la calle 4.

Señor Sarmiento, necesitamos respuesta a estos puntos mencionados. Sabemos que ustedes son nuestros líderes y que son los que nos pueden ayudar. Por favor, atiendan a nuestras voces. Tenemos mucho vandalismo y mucha gente en estado de salud bastante delicada. Gracias por escucharnos esta noche. Gracias.

Good evening. My name is Maribel Gomez, and I'm here tonight to be a voice for the merchants of the 4th Street during the streetcar situation. OCTA keeps and continues denying us financial help, and the many promises that they have given have not been fulfilled. And please, ladies and gentlemen, please don't play with us. Don't play with our desperation. We are trying to make a living. Don't play with the living that our small business has made or is making.

don't spend over $700,000 on an ice rink when we are in a state of emergency we are losing our businesses and this is a problem there's a lot of vandalism and such that is nothing that I've seen in all my time there I've been at Arias Beauty Salon for 4 years on 4th Street Mr. Sarmiento, please listen to us and answer our pleas. You are our leaders, and you are the ones who can help us. So please listen to the voices. There's lots of vandalism going on.

There's a lot of people who are sick, so we need your help. Thank you for listening.

So I'll go ahead and turn it over to the clerk so she can call on the people that are waiting online.

Zoom ID Nathaniel Greenside, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes. Nathaniel Greensides Ward five resident item 13, a skate park in downtown Santa Ana is long over to do a long overdue. And to be frank, I think the alleyway is a site for a skate park is too small. A proposed space, but something is better than nothing. And I hope we can see more mini skate parks like this come into existence, moving forward, if not larger skate parks. Item 19,

Out of the 35 townhomes that are proposed for construction on these two lots near the 555 interchanges, only four will be sold at affordable rates. And I can't say that I'm happy only 11% of this new project will be sold at affordable rates. But again, something is better than nothing, especially with the housing supply shortage. I also applaud this developer opting to build affordable units instead of paying in-lieu fees. Thus far, it seems that the choice to pay the in-lieu fees, the fees in lieu of building actually affordable units,

indicates that a developer doesn't actually have an interest in their purported industry of being a housing provider or supplier, but rather intends to further extract wealth from our land and residence. Item 20, in the interest of making civic engagement accessible to our most vulnerable, elderly, and differently-abled residents, and therefore all residents, I believe our city should proceed already with codifying the use of teleconferencing systems for any and all public meetings to all extent possible instead of relying upon a state law that came into existence because of the covid19 pandemic and will expire at the end of 2023.

I read through the assembly bill and it seems that we don't have to do this exercise every 30 days if we decide to make teleconferencing a permanent fixture. Item 22. While PAL, Police Athletic Activities League, offers beneficial programs to residents, some of the rhetoric in addition to the adherence to a fervent belief in police-administered youth programming feels very eerie given the historical knowledge I learned in high school about the mechanisms and factors which culminated in the outbreak of World War II. Turning the old fire station into a library or a community center,

which could or would offer just as good of services to everyone in our city, would be a better idea, in my opinion. Comparing the number of adults who earned money playing sports they played as a kid versus adults with high incomes as a result of knowledge gained in books will show very quickly what is a better long-term investment for our city. Item 24. I'm in full support. I love this item. proposed by council member fan and I'm highly appreciative of the sample and background that is offered with it in the past I've witnessed council member requested items be utilized as a means by which council members attempt to

direct legislative actions sometimes seemingly in spite of already planned actions by city staff which is not a good use of anyone's time to have to consider and discuss something already slated for consideration or discussion or to discuss a specific matter ad nauseum simply because any individual council member didn't like a past decision additionally when meeting Any agenda is published. Having a memo to accompany any council member requested item will give the general public a better idea why any individual council member might be requesting an item.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 13

That's it, please keep me in the queue for the public hearing, thank you.

Zoom ID, John Ramirez, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes.

John Ramirez. Can you hear me? Yes.

Good evening, City Council and staff. My name is John Ramirez and I'm a resident of Ward 2 and I've lived in Santa Ana for 42 years. I'm calling in support of agenda item 22-1, which would direct the City Council to rehabilitate the Cypress Street water station into a new PAL center. I believe the center would greatly benefit the youth in the city and provide them with a safe environment to engage in sports, mentoring, homework, along with many other recreational activities that would no doubt provide an overall positive outlet for them in our community. This would also aid in developing community trust

between it and the Santa Ana Police Department as children and residents will interact with SAPD personnel. As a resident and your constituent, I direct you to vote in favor of item 2201 and make this much-needed PAL center a reality at the Cypress Street Fire Station. I wanted to add that I've met Officer Holcomb personally on a few occasions, and he is very down to earth and personable. On a tour I took at the current PAL center on McFanis Street, I've seen the kids there resonate and connect with him. Officer Holcomb is a good man and the perfect person to be running the PAL program, as demonstrated tonight by the public comments

from our residents speaking in favor of them.

Lastly, to all city council members, you've heard from your constituents, both children and parents who can favor the pop program tonight. As their elected representatives, you all need to do as you directly to do and vote in favor of the pop program being installed at the Cypress Street fire station. This concludes my comment. Thank you city council and staff. Mayor, there are no more callers in the queue.

Great. Thank you for that. Let me go ahead and bring it back here for the consent calendar item portion of the meeting. And I'll ask any members of the council that they wish to recuse or abstain from any matters on the consent calendar or pull any items off the consent calendar.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 13

I'll make a motion to approve, Mr. Mayor.

One second. Hold on. We've got a motion in a second. Councilmember Phan, go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 13

I'd like to pull, I'm just kidding. I'd like to recuse myself from item number 15, as Tetra Tech Inc. and Somos are clients of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. And I would like to recuse myself from number 19, as Brandy Wine Acquisition Group LLC, the applicant, is also a client of someone at my employer's office. Thank you.

Great, thank you for that. any other abstentions or recusals or items that would be pulled off? Hearing none, seeing none,

David PenalozaItem 15

I think we have a motion and a second. Mr. Mayor, I wanted to also record a recusal on I lost the item number, oh number 15 as one of the recommended engineers have contributed in the

passed my campaign. Got it. Thank you for that. Any additional recusals or abstentions? I know it was Council Member Hernandez who made the motion. I didn't hear the second. Was that Mayor Pro Tem? Got it. So we have a motion and a second.

Council Members, please vote. I just want to say in closing for the record, thank you for item number 21. So we may have a member of the Muhammad Ali family here in Santa Ana come and support this movement to put the champ on the stamp. So he may get a postage stamp. So we're hoping we can arrange that because that would be incredible to have one of them here. So in any event, has everybody voted?

Council Member Hernandez?

Are we doing a voice? Yes.

I'm so sorry. Yes. We're going to do real quick.

I was waiting for my device to turn on.

Is it not working? Council member Hernandez is teleconferencing, so we'll take a roll call.

Got it. We'll do a voice vote. Go ahead, Council member Hernandez. Yes.

Council member Lopez. Yes. Council member Mendoza. Yes. Council member Benalosa.

David PenalozaItem 15

Yes.

Council member Fan. Yes. Mayor Pro Tempecera? Yes. Mayor Sarmento?

Yes. Thank you, everybody. Let's go move along to the business calendar item, item number 22, which is to provide some direction on the Cypress fire station, which we heard a lot of tonight. So does staff have a brief presentation?

We don't have a presentation for this item, but it's simply we're just staff is looking for direction on what you would like to do with that building.

Perfect. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council for some comments, questions, and direction. Who would like to start?

I will start.

Go ahead, Council Member.

Thank you. I've had the opportunity to tour the PAL program twice over at the McFadden Library area, and it is a phenomenal program. Not only does it benefit the students, the families, but it also benefits the surrounding communities, and it is beneficial because it does deter from delinquency and the homelessness issues of that area. And it is an ideal location to have another, a second panel program at the Cypress Fire Station

because this is one of the most dense areas of Santa Ana. There's apartment buildings. And so it is understandable that the PAL program over at the school is going to serve some students from that area. However, there is going to be a tremendously long list for the students to get into that program. So by having the PAL program over at the fire station, it will alleviate that burdensome waiting list.

And this area, this location is going to be big enough to support what some of the residents said today is providing a senior center area. Because the senior center activities will work in the daytime. And then when the students are out of school, which is about 2.30, 3 o'clock, then the center can be used for the PAL program. and included in the PAL program is also library services. So the students will get the benefits of learning, of technology, of doing their homework,

the same services that are provided by our library services. In addition, there is the option to have automatically book dispensers at the PAL center. That's what is currently available at the McFadden PAL program. And so we're not going to be depriving the students of library service. Actually, we're going to be enhancing by having the PAL program there. In addition, we will have, we will be looking, it's my intention to have another PAL program

over in the south side of Santa Ana because this program is so valuable. It's not just a one-time thing for these students. It's a lifelong proof and evidence of the success. You've heard personally how it's impacted many of our families and our students because of the mentorship and the relationship that the officers have created with these attendees, these students have the mentor for life.

Some of these students mentioned on the emails that I received that the officers continue to attend their activities outside of the normal PAL program. They've come to their graduations, their performances. They've helped the students with their college applications. And so you see that this is going to be not just the library services from 8 to 3 p.m. This is a 24-7, lifelong, successful program that works.

And if we're going to deter delinquency and issues that may affect these children, this is one sure way to do it. We can have what some of the other speakers suggest. We can have arts and crafts, which is offered right now at the PAL program. And we can have a technology training. And so this PAL program encompasses all of that. And this is the ideal place because there is such a great need in that area. I live there in that east side of Santa Ana, and I know the issues. I know what happens when we don't have something to keep our kids occupied after school.

This is going to be ideal. And so I ask all of you to give the PAL program an opportunity to be open here and work with us, work with the community, and work to bring success to all of our residents. And I guarantee you, you're going to see success, you're going to see improvement, and you're going to see how beneficial this PAL program is going to be there at the Cypress Station.

Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Council Member Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. I firstly want to thank all the families and residents that came out tonight to speak on this item.

David PenalozaItem 15

One thing that we've got to remember is that this City Council has already moved forward with approving a second PAL program once at the 2021 budget approval, then yet again this year with the 2022-23 budget approval. We approved half a million dollars each year for an additional PAL program, a second one. The only problem is that we haven't found a location to permanently put that program in. It's also important to realize and know that the current PAL location at the Roosevelt Walker Community Center is a temporary classroom site that is only

David PenalozaItem 15

operating two days a week while we find a permanent location for this second PAL program to be to be put in. Very supportive of moving forward within this direction and seeing the Cypress Fire Station become our second and permanent PAL program just given because of what it will bring to that community. I've seen and spoken to hundreds of families that are serviced by the POW program over at the Old Macfadden Library. And you know, it is very inspiring to hear these stories of these families and kids from

David PenalozaItem 15

all over that side of town to know how positive of an impact the BEAM part of the POW program has had on them. You know, as we move forward, you know, we're investing currently over $20 million to revitalize Main Street. Along Main Street, you have multiple dilapidated buildings and old businesses that could use, you know, a big investment and facelift. The Dollar Tree is one of them that still sits along Main Street.

David PenalozaItem 15

And that parking lot, I know I've been working tirelessly with PD and code enforcement. The security guard there has my cell phone number and she sends me pictures weekly of the number of illicit activities that take part in that parking lot.

David PenalozaItem 15

There is, you know, I can't sit back and say we're going to invest $20 million into revitalizing Main Street, but this business, this parking lot, this neighborhood along Cypress Street cannot seem to get cleaned up for as much as we try to enforce and go out there and clean up that area. I think that having a police presence in this neighborhood and having a power program service to children that live in this neighborhood is going to be very, have a very positive of impact to our community and that side of town. And just so that the record is clear, you know, we have, we currently have two full-time operating libraries

David PenalozaItem 15

at the New Hope Library and the main library. And we are looking at a third permanent site. You know, I know that a couple weeks ago I directed staff with the support of my colleagues to look at the old Santa Ana Armory to purchase that building from the state to possibly have that third library location in that part of town. We're also looking at numerous other spaces that could become, you know, a permanent library or a temporary library or even just library pop-ups throughout the city to accommodate for the temporary closure of the main library that's going to be close to a year.

David PenalozaItem 15

So there's movement happening across the board on having the third library, and now having a second PAL, a permanent second PAL location. I know that in speaking with Officer Holcomb, there's been also, they've been testing how they can implement senior citizen programming. So now they're not just servicing children through high school and through graduating high school, but also senior citizens on the off days when they're not servicing those kids. And, you know, our senior citizens, they cannot make it to the Southwest Community Center or the downtown senior center.

David PenalozaItem 15

And it's gonna be very beneficial to numerous age groups throughout the city of our residents in a much needed area of our town. So very happy to see this, full support. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Any other questions, comments?

Go ahead, Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank all of the residents who came out and advocated for what they feel is the best use of the Cypress fire station. I respect every single family and every single resident of our community who takes time from their day to advocate for the betterment of our community, whether we have ideological differences or whether we are aligned. I want to thank the families that came and shared their experiences and their positive experiences with law enforcement, their positive experiences with the PAL program.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

I have certainly taken that to heart and I thank them for sharing and I'm happy that they've had positive experiences. I recently had the opportunity to tour the PAL center with our mayor and residents of the Sullivan community. And many of the residents, it was their first time visiting the PAL Center. We got a chance to meet the officers who were there on a regular basis. We had an opportunity to meet some of the staff who can give us an insight as to how many kids are there on a daily basis,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

what are the amount of hours children are spending, what are the type of assistance young people are receiving. we came to realize that the age demographic of youth that are being served is a very important age demographic 8 to 11 and although that is an important age demographic the demographic of youth that are most at risk to adverse childhood experiences with trauma with poverty with homelessness as we know data will reflect that children between the ages of 12 to 16 are at a very difficult position in our city

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

if we don't have the adequate resources to help them developmentally. That is why I am supportive of seeing the Cypress Fire Station work as a digital library, taking into account that we are the youngest city in Orange County. We have a lot of young people between the ages of 13 to 24 per capita. And the need for us to have a digital library, I think could not be more pressing. If there was anything that the pandemic taught us, is it taught us that there was a very strong digital divide. And especially when it comes to computer and internet literacy among seniors and monolingual families,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

predominantly Spanish speaking families. I feel that having a digital library is going to help us bridge that gap. I think that at a time where children are just now getting back in school, there could not be a better opportunity for us to serve children beyond the age demographic of 8 to 11. And it also allows us to serve children 365 days out of the year. I think that having these types of educational programs for youth, not only does it service young people, but it opens up the doors for us to serve adults. It opens up the doors for us to have career developmental programs for both youth, adults, and seniors.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

It also provides an opportunity for arts and culture, which is a very important subject to many families and children. And lastly, I think that having a digital library also creates the opportunity for us to have the digital library space be utilized as a community meeting and event space. And that is why I am supportive of us utilizing the Cypress Fire Station as a digital library. And with respects to the PAL Center, I think that there could be a better home for it. I just don't think this one is the one. That concludes my comments, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Let me go ahead and canvas the rest of the council to see if there are any questions or comments. But before I do that, Madam City Manager, are you looking for just direction guidance on this, or do you want a firm vote?

I'm looking for a consensus on direction because staff is very concerned about the building. We would like to move forward on programming it.

Got it. So you want direction from the council on it? All right, let me go ahead and come back. Let's go with Mayor Pro Tem and then Councilmember Lopez.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Thank you. And thank you to all the parents and the members of the community that came out tonight to address the council on this issue. You know, I personally support rehabilitating the vacant fire station and turning it into a PAL center. But I think that what we heard tonight from folks, I think there's, we can be a little more creative with the space. So, you know, as Councilmember Peña Loza talked about with Officer Holcomb about being able to diversify what PAL offers, not just for the youth per se, but also for our seniors.

Phil BacerraItem 15

I think that would be something to see happen, and maybe this is the site to do it because it's right there in the community. Another aspect, and this is something we're facing on the south side of town, is simply just having a space for the community to be able to recreate in. In other words, we have some amazing parks on the south side, but we don't have any indoor facilities. And so a lot of our neighborhood associations are scrambling to meet at locations. And I think for the folks over on that side of town where, I'm sorry, over by the Cypress

Phil BacerraItem 15

Fire Station, I think whether it's Pacific Park, whether it's Wilshire Square, once the fire station is rehabilitated, it would be an ideal place. I think that one of the advantages of going with PAL and our other departments is the fact that, you know, let's be honest, this building is on borrowed time. I mean, we are, the fact that we're even still talking about the building, the fact that it hasn't been burned down, the fact that it hasn't been completely damaged beyond recognition, we are truly blessed.

Phil BacerraItem 15

And so if we want to keep sitting here and pondering and maybe we'll throw it out to an RFP and maybe we'll come back in a year or two, you know what? Every day I'm just surprised that thing's still standing. I really am. And so I think that rather than continue to waste our time messing around with this, let's just get to it. We've got a program that works. We heard the testimony of all these kids today. We talk about building up children. I mean, to see some of the kids that came in today and they just, you know, they mustered all that courage and they were attributing it to what they learned in the PAL program.

Phil BacerraItem 15

And, you know, for some of the kids that their parents couldn't get them to participate in other sports, but they did in the PAL program. And it, of course, bridges that gap that we always keep hearing about, law enforcement versus the community. And here we are seeing that gap being bridged.

Phil BacerraItem 15

I mean, this is what we're, you hear so many people talk about how there's a divide between our law enforcement and our community, and here's a program that's actually bridging that and why there isn't, you know, I would say more widespread support, I'm not sure, but I do appreciate seeing all the folks that took time out of their busy schedules to come out tonight and support the PAL program at the Cypress Fire Station. so I you know one other comment I want to make is you know I was walking my dog over at Thornton Park and I happened to run into Officer Holcomb first he's blurring some music and I'm thinking

Phil BacerraItem 15

what's going on over there and a couple of the speakers tonight talked about the the bumblebees and the ladybugs and I got to see them play and and just the the joy and and and what Officer Holcomb and other officers did to take time out of their schedule to support these young ladies and watching them play and watching the parents and teachers come out and support both of these teams. And it was just a nice experience. This is the kind of thing that you would want to see. This is ideally, you know, what we hear. You talk about hate mongering. You hear about what the divide is between our community and law enforcement.

Phil BacerraItem 15

And then when you see activities like this where everybody's coming together, that's what we should be aspiring to. and it's not this vision. It's an actual reality that's happening and it's happening with the PAL program. So I'm very enthusiastic about seeing the PAL program expanded throughout the city. The only frustration I have with this item is that the Cypress Fire Station is not in my ward because if it was, I'd be even more ecstatic. But in all fairness and all seriousness, I think this will be an excellent location for PAL and I'm looking forward to seeing this move forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 15

Thank you, Mayor Salimento. So I do want to thank all of the families that came to the chamber today and spoke. It was very nice to see you. And I've gotten, I'm sure everybody here has gotten many emails in support of a library, a digital library, a history room, a STEM center, a senior center, a multipurpose center that's going to allow for different uses for the community, the immediate community and the surrounding communities. And, you know, I agree. We've also heard that neighborhood associations don't have a place to congregate. The grassroots community orgs don't have places to get together.

Jessie LopezItem 15

And so I think this, if I'm clear about one thing, it's that this place needs to be a multipurpose like facility with different functions to meet the needs that we're hearing from different residents, from residents that live in Pacific, the Pacific neighborhood and residents that live outside of that immediate neighborhood.

Jessie LopezItem 15

So I think, so that would be the suggestion that I have to staff is to think of something that is going to meet all of the needs that we're hearing about, that we're being emailed about. The lessons that we've learned, you know, from the pandemic in terms of people not necessarily having a place to go and fill out applications or forms, etc. I also, this is the first time that I'm learning about the pilot program at the Roosevelt Walker Center on the east side. And I think that's good for them. I think it's maybe a conversation that the school board members should take up if, if

Jessie LopezItem 15

folks want to see a permanent PAL site, you know, the school board has their own school police. That's something that they can probably fund on their own since we hear a lot about them having a bigger budget than us.

Jessie LopezItem 15

but you know it's great that there's a PAL center going in on the east side we just heard about I think plans for a PAL center in the south side of town so it seems like there's a lot of moving parts to different PALs being already planned for in the city and so I think the main priority for me right now is not necessarily tying the Cypress fire station to one specific program And I really do, I am invested in seeing something that is going to address all of the needs that the residents have brought up in public comment and email, and again, the lessons that we've learned these past couple of years. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. I think everybody has had a chance to speak. Council Member Phan, go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. First, thank you to everybody who's emailed, called, showed up. I think that's really great to hear about it. And I do think that this is something that the community advocated for. Frankly, I'm good with whatever you're good with. I'm excited that we can have this conversation, that we actually have money to have this conversation. But there are a couple items. I know maybe Director Sternberg, if you can get to the podium. I just do have a couple questions.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Thank you. Hi. Good evening. So, you know, we've heard a lot of conversation about this digital library and whatnot. I kind of looked it up. I actually, one of the speakers shared a PowerPoint presentation, which I did go through. I do think it is pretty cool. But what are your thoughts on that? We have the main library pretty close by, kind of down the street. And speaking to you, we do have, you know, the checkout kiosk, the computer, the laptop kiosk, teen center, which didn't exist when I was younger. All of these additional new programs.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Can you talk a little bit about why, you know, what your thoughts are for the digital library there?

So, you know, in terms of the digital library, I think the best, or what my recommendation would be is because the main library is about a mile away, you know, the library puts on a lot of digital programs anyways. You know, a lot of our Revive Santa Ana funding went to our digital literacy and technology skills program. So there is an abundance of that currently at our main library. the location of the the Cypress fire station is about a mile away my

recommendation would be to look towards the southern part of the city which really does not have any library physical locations in it at all and it's and they are that is a much more remote region of the city in terms of access and equity to what I can provide. All of our services are north of First Street in terms of our physical locations. We do have our bookmobile out there that goes all around the community, but that does not, it's not quite the same as having a physical location. My recommendation would be to look towards areas of the city

that are much more distant than the Cypress Avenue fire station for potential library services. We're also in the process of looking at temporary locations right now to kind of bridge that time period when we are going to be closed. But we still have some design left to do in terms of our main library renovation, so we do have some time there to make sure we iron out all those details and have adequate library services during the closure as well.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Thank you so much for that detailed response. And I wanted to ask you for your expertise because our former director of Parks and Rec, Lisa Rutloff, created this position with approval by our city manager and our city council because we wanted expertise specifically in libraries, because we wanted someone to overlook the various programs, ideas, and express and really meet the need that our residents require. And I think that we're working toward that. The Knowledge Mobile is super cool. So I definitely recommend you all take a look at that when you get a chance.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

But one of the, you know, comments is, well, access to computers and access to laptops and be able to use these apps. And well, I remember when we discussed, I believe it was the budget, we have access laptops that are being checked out. We're increasing the amount of hotspots and laptops for folks, so we have these resources available and we can work, for example, to reach out further with our seniors, although I think we have happy hour, right? Yes. With our seniors to allow them, to teach them how to use these programs. So I guess my point with that is in speaking to you, we have these services and it is a

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

service that is nearby and that we are continuing to work to expand it. Thank you so much. My next question is actually for the chief.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

You took like the hard way.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Hi, chief.

How are you?

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

I'm well. So I wanted to talk to you because one of the, I think, misconceptions that a lot of people had and that I had, because remember, I thought PAL on the budget when I first joined the City Council was paying for officers to work out or join like a gym or something because it didn't exist when I was a kid. I know Madam City Manager is laughing at me but really this has been an incredible program but when I asked you you know well if we have another PAL program wouldn't it take our field officers away from patrolling or homicide detectives and things like that and

your answer is no. That's correct. Right and why is that? We have one officer assigned to PAL and overseeing all of its programming and then civilian staff members assistant director and then part-time staff that that that provide the augmented services at the pal center we would uh at the pleasure of the council whatever location we were to go to we would duplicate the same uh and then we have um you know the bumblebees and the uh the softball program

was mentioned. That is run on a volunteer basis by one of our commanders. Volunteers this time, it's a passion of his. I also have here this evening Corporal John Holcomb, who is the PAL director, who can answer certainly any more specific questions that you have.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Thank you. And I think my point to that is, you know, we are not, we just approved eight new funded positions to increase police officers on our streets to ensure we you know work on quality of life issues response times etc and this expanding the program would not take away from that I you know when I spoke to residents one of the things that I talked about is working to build community trust with our police officers and with our community vice versa and one of those things I've advocated for which is police oversight we're working on that another is to ensure that we actually have positive interactions with each other not just

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

children with our officers but also our officers with our communities I do think that it's really important to have that two-way street and so I think the PAL program is an excellent opportunity for us to continue to do that I think that it's a great way for students and children in our community to get access to resources and mentorship and, you know, just experiences that they wouldn't otherwise get. So that was really helpful. Thank you. Thank you. So my comments are, you know, I would love to see a PAHL program. Our residents talked about what they want to see, how they feel with having

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

joined such a program, having a substation. I grew up on the west side. There is a substation on the west side, a very small one, but one nonetheless. And when I was a kid, we had a bigger substation on the west side that was able to respond to calls and whatnot. So the point is having this, in my opinion, presence in the community that is beneficial, that kids can go to, that is actually not going to be a huge parking problem either because I imagine a lot of the children get dropped off and picked up, yeah, or they walk.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

So it's not a situation where you need someone to drive there, find a place to park, and deal with the rigmarole. So overall, I would support a PAL program. I think it's great that there's this pilot program at Roosevelt Walker, but I have feelings about working with some of our sister agencies, and it might be kind of difficult in some cases. And so with that, I conclude my comments. Thank you.

Great, thank you for that. And I believe you've heard from everybody, you're getting some clear direction and it sounds like there's some obvious direction for you, Madam City Manager and staff. Let me just go ahead and, that is an amazing digital board. Is it in real time? I'm always like, just, it's incredibly efficient. Boy, that's just great. I was hoping it could be in multiple languages because, you know, right? If we could do that, that's the next challenge. So in any event, let me just begin by saying that, look, what a great problem that we have right now before us. This is the types of problems that communities would love.

How do we, what do we do with space that we have? You know, and, you know, whether it's a PAL program, whether it's a community center, whether it's a digital library, whatever it is, these are good questions to be asking ourselves. We have to remember other cities, some of our counterparts in the county, are dealing with some really, really severe challenges with respect to just bankruptcies, having to file Chapter 9s, corruption allegations, just a lot of very difficult things. And we're talking about how do we better serve our community. So I do want to thank our families that came in and spoke to us.

I think there were some good comments all the way around. I didn't understand the anarchy question because I think a library and community center, I don't know how anarchist that is. But to the extent that Mr. Sternberg is the leader of the pack, maybe we'll call you the anarchist. I don't know. But look, the way I see this is that my son, who just graduated from college, volunteered as a tutor at the PAL program at the PAL center. He worked with Officer Kenny back then, and so he had a great experience, not as a recipient,

but actually somebody who delivered services to many of the kids because many of the kids were younger in age. So he spent many, I think he spent a summer there. So to the extent that it is a great program, I think it's something that is valuable. Any program that services youth, that services families, is a valuable program. And no matter how duplicative it is, we can't have enough. just like libraries, right? Libraries are an essential part of civic activity, and that's what cities should be doing, is creating not books but spaces, and that's really what we need is places for our families

that are living in very overcrowded conditions to be able to go to, make sure that they're protected, that they're safe, that they feel like they belong. So, you know, when I was looking at, you know, it's funny, They ran a story on Anaheim versus St. Anna regarding public pools, and I know they had one pool, we have five public pools, and they were complaining about that. Well, one of the things I complain about is we have one and a half libraries, and they have seven. So that is a disparity that's glaring. We have a great main public library. It's incredible, but it is one main library for 300,

you know, what I would say, at least 330,000 residents. And I know I spent a lot of time there, you know, and that's just not enough. And that reflects our values. You know, how much do we value spaces, higher learning, academics? So, you know, we have to do better there. And to the extent that we can, I think we might be able to split the difference here. Because I keep hearing about Roosevelt Walker. And I remember, and if you can go back, Madam City Manager to the legislative history on what Roosevelt Walker was supposed to be. It was supposed to be what was called an e-library.

So it was more of a space where there were terminals, where there were places where kids could go. And really kids don't pull books off of shelves anymore. They just look them up on terminals. So to the extent that that might be a space, whether that's a permanent PAL program, whether that's an e-library, which it was intended to be.

My thing with the Cypress fire station is that I'm just glad it wasn't sold, because that was the original idea, to sell it off to a private purchaser, and they were going to turn it into a home. Now we're talking about what it can be as a community space. So I'm just very glad that we're having this conversation and not regrets about what we could have done with it earlier. So I'm a big believer as well as establishing trust between our officers and the community. That's important. And this is an opportunity as we have with our other PAL program to do that.

So if it does become a PAL program, then what I would want to see is that the funding come from the department. And it should come as money that's spent on prevention. Because law enforcement comes in all different aspects. not just detaining, arresting, enforcing, but it also can be spent on prevention and intervention. And that is something that I think should come from their department, and that is something that shouldn't come from the general fund because it's a very specific expense. And I think it hopefully will render results. I know that there is a wait list at the other PAL program.

when Councilmember Hernandez and I spoke, many families have been waiting, you know, for months and years for their kids to be part of the program. So I'm a little concerned about the logistical challenges about the fire station because it's so small, you know, relative to what we have over on McFadden. But, you know, whatever works, I'm fine. I just think that we have two spaces now that we're talking about, Roosevelt Walker and the Cypress fire station. So let's do maybe both, one at one site that makes sense and maybe one at the other site. So if we can, take a look at that.

And look, finally what I would say is that let's look at what's going to happen with the main library when it's closed. We're going to need some admin offices. And I've been saying the south side of town doesn't have those services. And I think, you know, talking to the staff at the Delhi Center as an outgrowth of that center, I met with some of the community members over the weekend. They're very excited about that, and I think they welcome that. And hopefully it's not just a temporary site, but it becomes an expansion and it becomes a permanent site.

So, again, these are good problems for us to have, and we're blessed to have them. So to the extent that, you know, we continue talking about this, you know, please keep us posted.

Thank you, Mayor. Just for summary, I do have a majority support to proceed with the PAL, but with also an interest in providing community meeting space as well as potential senior programming and then option to explore other programming that we can do at Roosevelt Walker.

Perfect.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Mayor, I had a question. I just wanted to, because I think you had some good comments I just wanted to elaborate on. So we keep talking about Roosevelt Walker and the presence of PAL there, but just for clarity for everybody, because I received communication from some folks, and I think we might have heard some people tonight say that PAL was coming to Roosevelt Walker. Like, it was going to take it over and nothing else was going to happen there but PAL. And my understanding from talking to staff was that is not the case.

Phil BacerraItem 15

And the actuality is that Powell was being, I guess, kind of coming in and utilizing the space to kind of give it some programming, but not taking it over the same way that they did when the old McFadden Branch Library was vacant, not being used. Powell came in and has occupied the space, I guess, on a more permanent nature, whereas Roosevelt Walker, it was not a permanent space, but rather just a programming, correct?

You're correct. So in an effort to bring more programming to all of our community centers, we are trying to also leverage our financial resources. So the Parks and Rec department collaborated with the police department, provided some space, not all space, and they opened up a pilot program. And currently, Powell's is only there six hours a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, two hours each. Parks and Rec is still programming the rest of the building.

Phil BacerraItem 15

So in other words, if we saw PAL at any of our other community centers that are city-owned, that's not to say that the PAL program is taking them over, they are literally using them. Like the same way when I was walking my dog and I saw PAL at Thornton Park using the baseball diamond, I didn't think, oh, nobody else is using the diamond anymore except for PAL. In other words, they were just using it for that time frame.

It's a pilot program to bring more programming and activities to that community center.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Okay, great. Right. And then as far as funding goes, just for clarity, I think one of my colleagues mentioned something about, well, actually it's in our report, that there's a million dollars that's going to go into the physical rehabilitation of the center. And as far as PAL funding, if I heard correctly, we have already allocated PAL funding. In other words, it's not an ambiguous thing that we now need to search for and do reallocations or reappropriations. We already have that dedicated to the program. Is that correct?

I'm not sure on the amount. I would actually have to defer to the police chief on the amount he currently has in his budget. I know Councilmember Penaloza mentioned.

David PenalozaItem 15

It was half a million dollars the last fiscal year and then half a million dollars this year for a second PAL program from what I recall.

Phil BacerraItem 15

So in addition to the current PAL program, correct? Correct.

David PenalozaItem 15

But of course I'll let professional staff confirm that. I just know that that's something that we.

The weird number is correct. So that was cannabis funding?

David PenalozaItem 15

Yes.

That was programmed. And then the million dollars was for the complete renovation, and that was revived dollars.

Phil BacerraItem 15

So we got revived dollars that will take care of the physical improvements to the facility. And then we have the million. Programming money. So we already have that. We don't have to pull from any other departments at this point.

Great.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Keep is good. Great. Thank you for the clarification.

David PenalozaItem 15

Go ahead, councilman. Madam City Manager, the mayor brought up a good point with the e-library that was the intent of the Roosevelt Walker Community Center. I know that there used to be, from the first open, there was an e-library kiosk component to the Roosevelt Walker Community Center. And over the last couple of years, I don't know why or who made the decision, but it was removed from the center. Is there a way that I know this isn't, we're not talking about the Roosevelt Walker Community Center here, but just as we move forward with our library programming, we should make sure that that is restored.

We certainly can look at that and we don't have Sonia here to keep us on topic for the staffer part, but thank you for that comment.

David PenalozaItem 15

With that said, I will make a motion to approve Staff's Recommended Action 1 for Item 22.

I didn't write the staff report for requiring an action. It was just to receive direction.

Okay. I think she just wanted to hear from all of us, and I think you have a good sense. I mean, so long, is there any other comments or questions from anybody else? Right. So just, I think your summary was, you know, was good. I think you just had some other ancillary requests to, you know, do the Roosevelt Walker research and then also keeping the costs and the expenses, you know, exclusive to the department, to PD. All right, so let's move on to the next section, which is the last matter, which is a public hearing. Let me go ahead and open up the public hearing, or actually call for item number 23,

which is to adopt a resolution to vacate a portion of the alley of 2nd Street between Broadway and Sycamore. And Madam City Manager, is there a presentation on this?

We have a very brief one, but the item really, you took action on it last month, which was your intent to vacate. This is merely the resolution fulfilling the vacation of the alley.

I think we can abandon it, and we have the handout here if we need to refer to that as well. So let me go ahead and open up the public hearing and see if there's any members of the public that wish to address the council on this item.

Yes, Mayor, there's one speaker in the speaker queue. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Zoom ID Nathaniel Greenside. Please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes. Thank you, Nathaniel Greenside, Board 5 resident. Just wanna point out that I'm happy to see that in the resolution, section five of it is that it will instruct enclosure of the area to be vacated. This particular street is, as we all know, pretty historic and a nice place for folks to walk, especially during the art walks every month. And so I'm glad to see that a covenant will be recorded alongside with the resolution. Thank you.

Mayor, there are no more speakers in the queue.

Great, thank you. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Is there any questions or comments or a motion? So moved. I'll second. Great. We have a motion and a second. Motion by Mayor Pro Tem, a second by Council Member Hernandez. Voice vote.

Yes, please. Council member Hernandez?

Yes.

Council member Lopez? Yes. Council member Mendoza?

Council member Fan?

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Yes, but with a quick comment, Public Works, please include a map that we can actually tell, like a physical map, please. And next time you have something like this, thank you.

Council member Penalosa?

Mayor Pro Tem Becerra? Yes. Mayor Sarmento?

Yes, thank you. And I want to thank the Cordero family for being so patient as we worked through these logistical challenges on this. So thank you, everybody. Have a great night on that item. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council. Yeah, you thought I was, you guys were ready to leave the room, right? We can thank Councilmember Fan why we have to have, no, I'm just kidding. We have one more item, a council requested item, and I think it's a very good item that was introduced by Councilmember Fan. I just wanted to ask the council, is there any opposition to this?

I think it's a good idea. I don't see anybody opposing this saying, boy, bad idea to describe an item that we're going to bring forward. So I'm not sure, Councilmember.

Jessie LopezItem 15

I have a question.

Go ahead, Councilmember.

Jessie LopezItem 15

Who would be writing the brief? Is it staff or is it the council member?

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

I would say it should be the council member with assistance from staff if necessary, but it should be the council member. If you want to bring an item before the council and ask that we direct staff to do work and whatnot, I don't think asking for a one-page explanation of what a council member wants to bring forward would be too difficult.

Jessie LopezItem 15

That's fine. So memorialize that, that it should be, the burden should be on the council member, not necessarily staff.

All right. Everybody clear? We don't want to treat us. We just want to concise. And if you can summarize it in a paragraph, I'm sure it will be well received by everybody. All right. Thank you, council member, for that item. That brings us to city manager comments. Mayor?

David PenalozaItem 15

Yes, go ahead. I have a comment, and I missed the, I had to, a little rush from break, but I missed the first part of it, but I just wanted to, I know if, you know, it's relying on the, first of all, thank you, Councilmember Phan, for bringing this forward. There was no first part, just the question. Yeah, it's much needed, just because of what, you know, the number of items that we frequently see, oftentimes wasting a lot of time, and so when it comes to council members writing that initial report, is there going to be a way where it's crossed and verified and checked by the city attorney's office if needed?

I believe that was part of Council Member Phan's recommendation that it would be just a quick review by both the city attorney and the city manager.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

So the recommended action is that the Council Member who wants to bring an item forward draft a one-page memo asking for what they want, why they want it, and a summary of the background and that they don't bring us you know they don't require that the item come back without staff input for example if you want something back in three weeks or four weeks staff might tell you not possible maybe longer maybe shorter and the last thing is that they at least one of the council members supporting the item sometimes there's two or three people that they first discussed with the city manager or the city attorney for input not approval I

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

I don't think there should be the onus on staff to verify every citation code, you know, provision or anything like that. It's going to be on the council member.

David PenalozaItem 15

Got it. Okay.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

So if they want to cite something, they should be checking that themselves. And that's why we have these council aides.

David PenalozaItem 15

Yeah. Perfect. Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

All right.

So you have sufficient direction on that? I didn't catch where there had to be a second council member to do that. I think, you know.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

No, I just mean sometimes a council member might bring something with, you know.

Yeah, when we do it and, you know, when there's maybe three sponsors or two sponsors.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Yeah, just one of you check with the city manager or the city attorney.

The great thing is that, look, in this city, unlike other cities, we are more open and willing to go ahead and have council members individually present things. We have other cities where they have to, there are barriers to bring, you know, items. and that is unfortunate because mayor is the only one who has the consent at that point. So I'm very glad that this is the type of system that we have and the process that we have that anybody on the council can bring an item forward. So to the extent this is clarity, I hope that we don't have to have the one pager attached on the agenda.

I think that could be maybe as an attachment or something like that, but as an entry item, we want to be able to see that the city attorney and the city manager's office summarize it the way we do. but if there's an attachment, you know, like a staff report, maybe that would be like the equivalent of the staff report But it's presented by the council members. So in any event enough on that Go ahead, Madam. Sorry

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

My apologies I just want to make sure that your request is similar to what I'm I'm not fully understanding that last comment

Yeah, I may not agree. I mean, I don't want to see the whole one pager on the agenda

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Is that what you're asking for? Yes, it should be the attachment to the agenda as an attachment

Yeah, the way this was, yes. Yeah, so we're saying the same thing differently. Madam City Manager.

I have three very brief announcements. So the city is very proud to host its first Chicano Heritage Festival Sunday, August 28th. A special thank you to Council Member Mendoza and Council Member Hernandez, who provide assistance in giving us advice on how to celebrate this fabulous event. It's a full lineup. There's performances by 11 bands, 10 DJs, Aztec dancers, food vendors, a kid's zone, and it should be fun for the entire family. And then as mentioned at the last meeting, we do have the South Main Street Corridor Project Construction Update,

and folks are all invited to a community meeting, and that is taking place this week, Thursday, August 18th at 630. And if you have any questions on that, you can certainly reach out to the Public Works Department. And then finally, Public Works is doing a intercoastal cleanup day. And if you are interested, they are looking for volunteers. And that's going to be on September 17, 2022, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. And you can also reach out to Public Works Agency if you have any questions on that. That's all I have.

Great. Thank you for that. Let me bring it back to the council for their closing comments. Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to the residents who tuned in to today's meeting. Thank you for the residents who participated and shared their advocacy.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

I am proud to celebrate Chicano Heritage Month. The first annual Chicano Heritage Festival will take place on Sunday, August 28th from 12 o'clock to 8 o'clock p.m. at El Salvador Park. This free community event is going to include live music, kids, activities, food trucks, exhibitors, and a car show. This event would not be possible without the dedication and hard work from our Parks and Recreation staff. So I want to commend them and thank them for their honor, making sure that this event is a success. Celebrating the Santa Ana City Council's proclamation, we recognized August as Chicano Heritage Month,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

and the event that we have will feature performances by professional entertainers, Little Willie G and the Midnighters, Joe Bathan, and many more to be announced. and please follow city of Santa Ana social media channels so that you can see a flyer, which would be announced shortly. Take care and have a great night, everybody. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. Council member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 15

Thanks, Mayor. A very quick reminder to folks that movies in the park on Wednesday, August 24th, it's the first time that this programming is coming to Montbré Park. So that's really exciting. and I hope that the families in the neighborhood come out in support. I'll be there with our Parks and Rec staff. In Prairie B1234, I was with Local Progress not too long ago, and it was a very well-planned and executed conference. I actually got to tour one of the cultivation facilities that they have in Denver regarding their cannabis, which was really amazing to see.

Jessie LopezItem 15

and it was very informative in terms of them being one of the first states that legalized cannabis and all of the lessons that they learned all of the things that went wrong and you know we just got to have a professional discussion about what the city of Santa Ana has done what they look forward to doing and it was a great learning experience and on Saturday September the third I'll be at the Santa Ana Public Library supporting author hour series which spotlights Maritza K. Rubio, a local Santa Ana resident and there will also be a free

Jessie LopezItem 15

book giveaway so I support I encourage everyone to come and support that event and happy Labor Day

weekend everyone. Great thank you council member. Council member Mendoza. Thank you. I would like

to remind the public that we also have a concert in the park on the 18th which is Thursday 5 30 and the band who will be playing there is Suave, so please come out. I'm going to be there, and I'm going to have some watermelon for you. And also, as the alternate director on the Orange County Sanitation District, I would like to invite the public, if they are interested in the Orange County Sanitation Wastewater 101 Citizens Academy, And the goal of the academy is to help our community understand the value and importance

of what the sanitation department does. The academy will consist of four workshops and will be available to anyone who would like to go. So if you are interested, you must be 18 or over. and if you are interested in going to this free academy, please let me know so that I can submit your name and let me know by August 30th. And so happy Chicano Heritage Month to everyone and looking forward to this great event. Please bring your families out there. Come and enjoy the food, the music,

the community involvement and everyone have a good night.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to state that last week as part, well, as your director for the Metropolitan Water District, I attended the ACWA program, which is the Association of California Water Agencies, I believe. And they were talking about the water and the lack of water at the Colorado River, where we get most of our imported water. I just want you to know that the MET board is working very hard to negotiate, you know, available water resources to make sure that we do have that imported water and to also work on creating sustainable ways for us to maintain our water supply and to decrease water usage.

Thai Viet PhanItem 15

And with that, I also want to wish every person who celebrates Buddhist Mother's Day, a happy belated Mother's Day. And with that, have a wonderful night. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Vanielloza.

David PenalozaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to say good night, everybody.

Thank you. Love those comments. Mayor Pro Tembisera.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Thank you. Want to wish everybody a happy Labor Day weekend. I hope that everybody will safely celebrate the contributions and achievements of labor. And with that, with the first Saturday of September falling during Labor Day weekend, I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours on September 10th for the month of September. It will be at 10 a.m. at George Upton All Access Park over at Thornton Park. And as far as Labor Day weekend, I still plan on going out watching Santa Ana College kick Fullerton College's butt. And that, again, is Saturday, September 3rd at 6 p.m. over at the Bowl. With that, good night.

Thank you. And let me just say thank you to everybody that came out and addressed the council and also to staff for all the hard work that they did. I did want to just give a quick report on some of the downtown issues. I know that some of us were copied with some of the vandalism and some of the door fronts that were broken. According to OCTA staff, they reached out to NOVA Academy and are going to be working out that claim. They're just expecting an invoice to be delivered by NOVA to OCTA. And thank you to all the merchants along 4th Street that contacted us, contacted OCTA as well.

It appears that the moratorium that was discussed and negotiated years ago will be abandoned for the time being and work will go through Thanksgiving and there is a very, very good chance that all this is done at or a little after Thanksgiving, which means that the merchants can salvage Christmas, New Year's, and that entire holiday. So with that, thank you everybody. Have a good night. We're adjourned.

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