Read the August 1 meeting.

Can we try a few other mics, please?

Testing, testing.

Good, sounds good.

Thai Viet Phan

Testing, testing.

Sounds good.

Thai Viet Phan

Testing, testing.

Sounds good.

Thai Viet Phan

Testing, testing.

Sounds good. Thank you, Norma.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, okay.

How did voting and raise hand work once I left?

The mayor mentioned something about the one thing that we've done with the two or?

It's just something she mentioned when I was going.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It was actually a pretty

Thank you.

But yeah, that's perfect.

Thank you.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

.

What are you going to forget? I've had so much trouble

What are you going to forget? If I just want you to love

It's the soul that tells me

That's the one that tells me to follow you

I want to give you all the time I want to give you all the time I don't know how to love, my heart

Yo sí sé de amar, sí sé de amor, corazón, corazón

guitar solo

. .

. .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. .

I

Quieras Sé de amor

Corazón

Sé de amor

Eres mi, eres mi corazón Eres mi corazón Yo te quiero, no el amor Entenderlo, que no me perro, sin amor

Sin alma que me dice, que me dice que te siga

It's the soul that tells me, that tells me that you're a sinner.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

. .

. .

. . . . .

. .

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I don't know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Madam Clerk, please start the meeting. I hereby call the Sanai City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place in person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. the public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting madam clerk please conduct a roll call

Jennifer L. Hall

councilmember Becerra here councilmember Hernandez councilmember Penaloza present councilmember fan councilmember Vasquez present mayor Proton Lopez here mayor Mesquith present the record show five members in the

Valerie Amezcua

President you have a quorum thank you madam clerk are there any additions or deletions to the closed session item mayor and council members I know we don't do this often and then in the last several meetings we've had several requests but here I am again asking you to consider we're consider adding an item to your closed session agenda as a late breaking item under the Brown Act to make to add this item you must make two findings the need to discuss this matter immediately and that the item came to our attention after closing the agenda. As was communicated to you earlier this afternoon and some of you

Valerie Amezcua

may not have seen your email, at 1.30 this afternoon we did receive correspondence from an attorney who has filed in the Orange County Superior Court a case called Albert Castillo versus the City Council of the City of Santa Ana. It's a verified petition for writ of mandate and complaint for injunctive relief. We do not have a case name, a case number yet, but and we have not been served. The City received the letter this afternoon from the attorney who has concerns regarding the recall petition. We'd like to take you into closed session to discuss these legal matters. We ask that you make the findings

Valerie Amezcua

and add this item to your agenda based on a two-thirds vote requiring five votes of the City Council.

I'll make a motion.

David Penaloza

I'll second.

Who's prepared to vote?

David Penaloza

Point of just clarification, Madam City Attorney. Not sure what the proper protocol would be, but would this be the proper time for the Mayor Pro Tem to recuse herself from this vote or the closed session item?

Valerie Amezcua

My advice would be that given that this has come up so quickly, I would suggest that the Mayor Pro Tem not participate in this vote to add the item to the agenda or to participate in closed session.

You actually have to recuse yourself right now before we vote.

Jessie Lopez

So I'll recuse based on the advice of the City Attorney.

I'm sorry let's start all over again we're gonna wait till she leaves the room and then we'll do this again and I'm gonna change my motion go ahead I'm

Jennifer L. Hall

sorry mayor you said you were going to change your motion yeah I'm making a

Johnathan Ryan Hernandez

motion to add it I'll make a motion to add the item I second a motion by

Jennifer L. Hall

Councilmember Hernandez seconded by Councilmember Vasquez to add the Castillo versus the City of Santa Ana matter to the closed session agenda for this

evening. Councilmember Becerra? No. Councilmember Hernandez? Yes. Councilmember Penaliza? No.

Jennifer L. Hall

Councilmember Vasquez?

Benjamin Vazquez

Yes.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor Emescua? No. The vote is two ayes, three nays. Ayes by Councilmembers Hernandez and Vasquez. Nays by Mayor Emescua and Councilmembers Becerra and Penaloza. Motion fails. Item not added to the closed session agenda. Thank you.

Thank you. Do any Councilmembers need to announce their abstentions on closed session items?

I see none. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Jennifer L. Hall

Just double checking, Mayor, hold on one moment, please.

I'm sorry? We do not.

Perfect. We will now recess to this portion of the meeting to consider the items listed on the closed session agenda. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

.

. . . . . . . . . .

.

.

. . .

I've had so much fear

Why are you going to forget

If I only want you to love

It's the soul that tells me, that tells me to follow you

I want to give you all your forgiveness

But I know I love love, my heart

I know I know I love love, I know I love love My heart, my heart

guitar solo

I'll see you next time.

That's love, I'm in love And I have love, I have love I have love, I have love I have love, I want to give you everything I want to be the love

Corazón

Se llama

Eres mi corazón Eres mi corazón Yo te quiero al amor El que me da

Quiero ver Mi perro You see my love

It's the soul that tells me That tells me that I'm not You see my love It's the soul that tells me That tells me that I'm not You see my love

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

How do you say that you're parted from me, the little bit of my bones, that have fallen the esquemas of my life?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

I I I I

I

I I

I I I I I I

I've had so much fear

What do you want to forget

If I just want you to love

It's the soul that tells me, that tells me to follow you.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Oh, my God.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What are you going to continue?

Understand me, I'll give you a moment. And fight for a life that is worth the price That is love, I understand And I have love, I have love I have more than that I have love, I want to give you everything

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry

It's the soul that tells me that I'll follow you

It's the soul that tells me that you're not alone.

Oh, my God.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

. . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

.

. .

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

piano plays softly

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

. . . . . . .

. .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

piano plays softly

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

We'll be right back.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

guitar solo

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm being alone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you.

Let's get started. Thank you.

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guitar solo

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What are you going to forget? I've had so much fear

What are you going to forget? If I just want you to love

It's the soul that tells me Que me dice que te siga

Quiero dar Dar de todas, todas, todas, todas Tu perdón Que no sé de amar

Corazón Yo sí sé de amar Si sé de amor, corazón, corazón

Say my heart

¿Para qué vas a seguir?

Entiéndeme, yo te lavo And fight for a life that is worth the price That is love, I understand And I have a love, I have a love I have more than that I have love, I want to give everything I want

Quieras ser de amor

Corazón

Ser de amor

Eres mi, eres mi corazón Eres mi corazón Yo te quiero, amor Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship

Friendship Is the heart that tells me, that tells me that I hate you.

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

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I I I I I I I I I I I

I

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Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friendship Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends Friends

Thank you.

Thank you.

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guitar solo

Thank you.

Let's go.

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Thank you.

I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order at this time. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Becerra?

Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Hernandez? Council Member Penaloza?

David Penaloza

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Fan? Here. Council Member Vasquez? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Lopez? Mayor Mesqua?

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Records show five members present in the chamber.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, before we proceed with the Pledge of Allegiance, I'm going to make an announcement at this time. I believe the city attorney is out of the room.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, this is the announcement about the Zoom comments right now. Okay, all right, go ahead, I'll wait. Okay, thank you. For members of the public on Zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, You must dial star nine from your phone or click the button labeled raised hand from Zoom now in order to be in the speaker queue when public comments commences.

The first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Where's John Ramirez here? John, I see you. Come on up, John. Ladies and the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

Thank you.

Place your right hand over your heart and repeat after me. 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.

Thank you, John. Really appreciate it. At this time, I'd like to call up Reverend Walder, Frank Walder, please, for the words of inspiration from Our Lady of Pilar Church. Thank you, sir. Help us, God, to listen to each other and to listen to ourselves. There, deep inside us, below fear, pressure, or agenda. In the calm of our hearts, you are present. There, in our hearts, in your quieting presence,

we hear your truth and find the courage to act upon the truth with fairness, compassion, and love. Help us to hear tonight your call to love and to seek the common good as this evening we serve our city at this meeting and together listen and speak and act with justice and charity.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council meeting? There are none.

Thank you.

At this time, we're going to do presentations. Thank you all for waiting while we were in closed session. We really appreciate it.

I'm going to do the first one at this time and if my colleagues, if anybody wants to join, you're more than welcome to join me.

I WOULD LIKE TO CALL UP AVERADO NAVARRO, PLEASE.

Thank you.

Thank you, Everardo, for joining us. He came all the way from Los Angeles today for this recognition, and so thank you very much. It's very special to stand up here with you. I want you to know that as the mayor of Santa Ana for what you did, and I'm going to talk about that. Everardo, Mr. Navarro has two sons, ages 17 and 12, and works in the technology field. On the evening of May 19, 2023, you put yourself in harm's way. He doesn't frequent Santa Ana very much. However, on that day, he was headed to a personal development seminar.

Mr. Navarro noticed an officer having a confrontation with the suspect. It's right here on the five-foot right, correct? And that the officer was pinned on the ground and that he needed assistance. In that moment, Mr. Navarro, he immediately reacted to help. So, you exited your vehicle and you ran towards the officer. I'm going to go into a little detail here. And you punched the suspect and then held him down with the assistance of two other men. And this is written up by the staff and you know, they put, you punched the suspect.

I'm going to probably use the term that you assisted that officer when he needed help. So again, thank you. Because of your quick action, an officer was able to make it home safe to his family that night. And there's an article here in the register that says three men helped a CHP officer during a fight in Santa Ana with a suspect. And this is really important because you do not hesitate to get out of your car. And you have two sons. And are they here? Is your family here? They're more than welcome to come up here. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up.

You know, a lot of times people have a lot of negative things to say about officers.

But I'm very proud to stand up here with you as the mayor of Santa Ana that what an example that you are for your two sons and for this community. that whether it's an officer or whether it's anybody else in the community. Hi. What's your name? Alejandro. Hi. What's your name? Miguel. Nice to meet you.

After seeing what you did, I'm sure if you would have saw anybody that needed assistance, whether it was a police officer, a woman in her vehicle, a young man, that you would have exited your vehicle to help. Absolutely. Because that's inside you. So the talking points are wonderful. But when people do something like that, and you put your life at risk as well, that says a lot about who you are. And so, again, I'm sure you both are very proud of your father. And he also got home safely that night. But I want you to know that that officer, he got home safely that night because of you.

So this is a recognition from the city of Santa Ana. and recognition of your outstanding contributions to public safety. So thank you so very much. Thank you.

I don't see the chief here, but I do see AC Rodriguez. Would you like to come up, sir? Can we do a photo, please?

Say a few words.

Well, thank you for the invitation, Mayor, first of all. And I just want to be very short. There is a sentence, I don't know. You can say it's Spanish. Igual es todo nervioso. Pero hay una frase que dice, el mal solo prevalece cuando las personas buenas no hacen nada. So I invite you to...

Hacer pequeñas diferencias. I never thought it would happen. I didn't think it would happen. However, it happened. And we all, including the suspect, were, fortunately, saved. It didn't happen in any tragedy. That was very good. So, we always have to try to do the right thing, even though it seems very small. Thank you very much for it. Thank you. Would you guys like to say anything? Come on up to the microphone.

Well I just want to say that I'm proud of my dad and I'm glad that everyone involved made it out safely. It's beautiful. Thank you so very much. Mejom do you want to say something? All right we're going to take a picture now with our police department here in Santa Ana. I'm sure they want to also thank you for your service.

Anybody want to join from the council? You're very welcome. Come down and join us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

for commercials. For radio. For radio. Is there a speaker here? Yes, we do. Very nice. So, so nice. Thank you. You got radio walls. Right here. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

All righty. Next presentation is by Mayor Pro Tem Lopez. We can have Mia Verdin, please.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Hi, good evening. We're here tonight to recognize Mia Verdin for outstanding contributions to the community Mia was born and raised here in the city of Santana and is a proud daughter of immigrants from Mexico She graduated this year Go Saints and will be pursuing double degrees with a minor in public policy at the University of Berkeley and I first yeah Yeah. And I first met Mia about two years ago when I was looking to appoint a high school student to the youth commission. And I thought to myself then, Mia is not ready.

Jessie LopezItem 2

But then I reminded myself that I would never know that if I didn't give Mia the opportunity to sit on the commission and show us what she could do. And that is what Mia has done. While she has served on the commission, she has also been a full-time student. She has been a member of the NAC, and she has also helped lead her band team. So go, Marching Saints. And I have seen Mia's work ethic and dedication for the past two years. I have seen her dedication to her community, and I couldn't be more proud that you agreed to represent your peers on the Youth Commission a little over two years ago.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Mia is a fierce advocate for youth leadership and has fought to see the implementation of policies that empower young people in the city most recently advocating for a youth center here in the city of Santa Ana and Mia has also been involved with numerous organization organizations that are Santa Ana residents led like Santanero project a youth empowerment initiative as well as Chispa a nonprofit that empowers young Latinos in Orange County and now we get to see Mia and we get to follow her educational experience as she goes off to Berkeley and represent the city of Santa Ana so thank

Jessie LopezItem 2

you Mia for all of the hard work for attending always being present at the Youth Commission meetings for being there promptly and for being prepared and I just want to say thank you for serving your community and for everything that you've done so far so we'll hear from Mia and we're also going to present me with flowers and with a little gift.

Yeah, of course.

So first and foremost, I want to give my greatest gratitude to Councilmember Jesse Lopez, who has been here with me through this whole process and explained to me what the Youth Commission even was. I am in debt to her, truly. And she is the definition of someone who goes out of their way to empower others, as well as young people in the city. I would also like to thank my parents for always driving me to City Council meetings and keeping the house quiet whenever I had my zoom Youth Commission meetings I would also like to thank the other members of the Youth Commission

thank you for your rigorous dedication to meeting and you know just wanting having the same mission of wanting to do good in the community but as well as

representing the other youth in the city. I'm not really sure what else to say, but just thank you to my community, thank you to the youth, and thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next one is by Council Member Becerra.

To Carol Chapman Cox, please.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Carol, if you could come up here.

Phil BacerraItem 3

so for those of you that don't know carol chapman cox you're probably wondering why we're recognizing her this evening well you're about to see so carol Carol was born here in Santa Ana, raised here as well. She's a proud alum of St. Ann School down on Main and at Mater Dei High School. So after graduating from Mater Dei, Carol spent 42 years at Chalk Hospital, where she served as a pediatric intensive care nurse, or PQ nurse. And the values of giving back and paying it forward were instilled in Carol and her six siblings by her parents, who sacrificed to provide a Catholic education for all of their

Phil BacerraItem 3

children. So like her parents, Carol worked hard as a single parent to give her sons Sean and Aaron a modern-day education. And in tribute to her parents, Carol and her siblings established the James and Dorothy Chapman Fund, which offers need-based financial aid to students from St. Anne's who continued their education at modern day. For almost six decades, Carol demonstrated unwavering loyalty to her alma maters as a devoted benefactor and as a volunteer.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Carol consistently supports various initiatives at Marde, such as the annual appeal, all-school auction, and the Helen Stevens Honorary Fund. Since retiring from Chalk 14 years ago, Carol volunteers there two days per week in the PQ and the spiritual care department. Now, here's something impressive as well. Each morning, Carol joins a group of modern-day faculty and students in the grotto on the campus to pray a decade of the rosary. Every morning, huh? Every morning. I love it. Carol believes that giving back to the community feeds her soul and a life of service is just who she is.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Her unwavering commitment to selflessly serve others and make a positive impact has defined her life's purpose. So while I know that Carol hasn't done all these things so that we can recognize her tonight, but I think it's important that we do that because it's important for all of us to know that here in Santa Ana, there are amazing people from all walks of life that give tirelessly and should serve as an inspiration that helps make our Golden City shine through all the things that you do. So we are very appreciative.

Phil BacerraItem 3

So it's my honor tonight on behalf of the city of Santa Ana to present you with the certificate of recognition on behalf of the city and appreciation for everything that you do for our city and the inspiration that I hope you'll serve. So thank you.

Thank you.

I'd like to thank you very, very much for this honor. And I truly am just humbled that this happened. It's kind of not why I do what I'm doing. I do it because I love it. It feeds my soul. And I'm just very proud that I'm a member of this fine community and that my mom and dad lived here and brought us up to be good people and realizing the importance of giving back. AND TO DO WHAT WE CAN TO IMPROVE FOR EVERYBODY ELSE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU.

NEXT WE'LL HAVE COUNCILMEMBER HERNANDEZ.

WITH SARIANAS THE MALI FACTORY. WE ALL KNOW WHO SARIANAS IS.

COME ON UP.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

All right, if we can have the Sarinanas Tamale Factory join us here up in the front. We are presenting this to Teresa Nieves with Sarinanas Tamale Factory.

All right, well again. Thank you. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

All righty. Well, today, August 1st, 2023, we have a historic proclamation before us. Today, August 1st, is the beginning of Chicano Heritage Month. Let's make a round of applause for that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

The city of Santa Ana was the first city in the United States to declare August as Chicano Heritage Month, making history. Today, we are presenting this very same proclamation to Sarinana's Tamale Factory, the oldest Mexican restaurant in all of Orange County that we get to call home here in Santana, and more importantly, it's home in Articia Pilar, one of the original Chicano neighborhoods. Let's give them a round of applause for that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

Today the city of Santa Ana proclaims August as Chicano Heritage Month. We acknowledge the wealth of achievements of Chicanos, the outstanding wealth of contributions to Chicano culture, the diversity of Chicanos, and this contribution of civil rights who advance the Chicano movement, making America greater for everybody. When we speak of Chicano heritage, we're not just talking about people of Mexican descent born here in the United States. When we speak of Chicano heritage, we speak about rich and diverse culture of people who have paved the way and have played a monumental role in shaping our community.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

Chicano pride also takes form in the form of food and family. This is why it is my honor to present this proclamation to Sarinana's Tamale Factory, a family-owned business going six generations strong. For 80 plus years, 86 years, Sarinanas has proudly called Santa Ana their home. Throughout this month, Chicano pride will take form in remarkable blends of music, dance, art, various celebrations, and more importantly, food. Throughout this month, you will have an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate Chicano history.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

Santana and before we close this proclamation I'd like to read this proclamation so that residents know what you will proudly display in your restaurant proclaiming Chicano Heritage Month whereas Chicano Heritage Month is celebrated in August to recognize the significant contributions of Mexican Americans to the history of the United States whereas Chicano or Chicana or or Chicanx, is sometimes used interchangeably with Mexican-American. Although the term has different meanings for different people, nonetheless Chicano and Chicana was reclaimed by ethnic Mexicans in 1960s and 1970s to express political empowerment,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

ethnic solidarity, and pride in being of indigenous descent. And whereas the Chicano movement was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican-American descent that worked to embrace a Chicano-Chicana identity and a worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and encouraged community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Examples of this movement are shown through the advocacy work of individuals like Vicky Castro who led the student walkouts, like Corky Gonzalez, like Santa Ana's own Sylvia Mendez, Dolores Huerta,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

countless others, and more importantly, Santa Ana's very own Ruben Salazar, who was the first Mexican-American journalist in California. Unfortunately, he was murdered by a sheriff during the Chicano moratorium. Whereas the Chicano movement was influenced by the Black Power movement, and both movements held similar objectives of community empowerment and liberation, while also calling for black and brown unity. And whereas Chicanos, Chicanas represent a significant and rapidly growing demographic in Santa Ana where we honor their invaluable accomplishments and contributions.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

And whereas the oldest Mexican restaurant in Orange County, Sarinanas Tamale Factory, represents cultural diversity and the unwavering commitment to preserving ethnicity and descent within the Chicana Chicano community here in Santa Ana. Now, therefore, we the mayor and the City Council of the City of Santa Ana do hereby recognize August as Chicano Heritage Month and encourage residents in join us in acknowledging and celebrating the cultural diversity among our community. Please give a round of applause for Sarinana Samale Fakri.

She's gonna put me on the mic. Teresa, she's my mom and we're proud to support her at this time and throughout our childhood and throughout our adulthood. Sadly, my dad is not able to be here, but we're here in support of my mom today. We thank the city, the mayor, and the council members for representing our small place that we call home away from home on Fifth Street. Thank you so much.

Well, I'm going to thank you, everybody. my family, my grandkids, everybody to support, especially the community, to give us all the support all these years. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

You're a generation of the family.

I just want to take a moment and say thank you to everybody. Thank you to the community. Ever since I was a child, I've been a part of this community. I love working there for as long as I have and supporting my parents. I wouldn't have had an education that I have without my parents. So thank you so much. And please come by. We're always there. We love seeing you guys. We love watching you guys be like, hey, aren't you my cousin? And then you just, like, run into each other while you're there. It's the best. If you haven't been there, please come and check it out. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

big round of applause for them

councilman hernandez we need a photo please

thank you

Thank you.

great thank you final presentation by councilmember Vasquez to Jimmy Rumsey hi Jimmy

yes you can bring your family with you please

I don't know they're all five here

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

Hello, hello everybody. I want to just congratulate Jimmy Rumsey for coming out. He is my coworker. I do work at Valley as a teacher and he's a restorative practice consultant out there giving kids hope. He's a father of five and Jimmy's life didn't start like this. He was born on the run. And literally, his father was a fugitive, raised and came back to live in Tustin, had a hard time in his teenage years. He was in a lot of problems and issues going on until he ended up in an ER. And he changed his life. And he got hope and redemption.

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

And Jimmy has grown to be somebody that I lean to, somebody that I go to when I have issues with children or with boys. and he can mediate because I have high expectations of my students and they don't understand that it's love but he can translate that for me he could translate that I care for you because I'm telling you you need to do this work or you need to be in class and I always turn to Jimmy because he always gives the kids hopes he nurtures he nurtures boys that are able and girls that are able to graduate I see little angel he walked with he walked at a continuation school

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

I went to that graduation so it's my honor to to be here. Jimmy is also you can read his story in his book, Slim Chances. It's a story of struggle, hope and forgiveness, something that we should always remember. He's a valuable contributor to the community as a positive mentor to our youth. Please join me in thanking Jimmy for continuously giving back to the community. Thank you Jimmy.

Thank you, Mr. Vasquez.

I'm extremely honored to serve the great city of Santa Ana. I believe our younger generation is our heart, and I'm fully committed to empowering and supporting them in every way possible. I wrote a little script down here I want to share with you guys since you brought up a little bit about my past there, Mr. Vasquez. There was once a time in my life when I'm sure no one would believe that I would be standing here being recognized for doing positive things in the community. I wrote a book about it, Slim Chances. My book, I'm sorry, my book Slim Chances, but I'm here to tell you that if you put it in the work and

believe in yourself, anything is possible. You have the power to make a difference in your community. Every setback is an opportunity to grow. Don't ever doubt yourself, stay focused, and dream big. I would like to also take this opportunity to thank my support system which helped me get to where I'm at today the Patterson family thank you for always loving and supporting me your support has made a tremendous impact on my life my family here and my other three children who couldn't make it today you guys have been it will always be the greatest part of my life thank you for always loving and supporting me mr.

councilman Jonathan Hernandez thank you for always supporting myself and project kinship mr. Vasquez thank you for all the amazing work you're doing at Valley High School with the students there. It's an honor to work with you. And Project Kinship, I have my Project Kinship team here with me. Thank you guys for believing in me and for giving me the opportunity to serve this beautiful city and the youth here. And last but most definitely not least, I would like to thank my friend Valeria Mesca, the mayor of Santa Ana, for always supporting us at Project Kinship and all the work that we're doing there. Thank

you guys all for your support. I'm very honored to be here tonight. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All righty.

Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

We had two closed session matters this evening. We did receive Council support to file an amicus brief in one matter. We do not have reportable action on the other matter. And just to announce for transparency purposes that earlier this evening the Council was asked if they wanted to consider a new matter in closed session that arose after the posting of the agenda and that was not approved by the City Council. That's all the reportable action we have.

Great, thank you. I just have to report out before we move on with the agenda at this time that, per the charter, the mayor has appointed an ad hoc committee comprised of myself, Councilmember Becerra and Councilman Vasquez to review two ethics code complaints, one filed against Councilmember Hernandez and one filed against a personnel board member. We will be reviewing the complaints and making recommendations to the full council and we are working closely with our city attorney. And with that, thank you very much and let's go on to public comments now.

At this time, Madam City Clerk, can you start with Zoom comments please? This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Pursuant to Resolution No. 2013-019, speakers are requested to refrain from profane language, racial epitaphs, and libidous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. We will now hear from members of the public that are on Zoom, a conference call, followed

by those physically present in the council chambers. Madam Clerk?

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Yes, Mayor, and prior before going to the Zoom comments, just make the following announcement about written correspondence. We did receive 16 emails on non-agenda topics and three emails related to item number 25. For those members on Zoom, you may provide your comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction. When unmuted, please announce your name, ward, or neighborhood that you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record. So the first speaker on Zoom, Felicity Figueroa, please unmute and proceed with your comments.

Thanks so much. So I just wanted to make a comment about the proposed intoxication detention and service offering policy that was introduced in the mid-July meeting. So my feeling is that all people who reside or work or do business in Santa Ana, whether housed or unhoused are your constituents and deserve the same level of respect and concern. So instead of criminalizing people on the street, why not do what you can to deal with the real issues here, like the tremendous overwhelming shortage of affordable housing. Instead of

othering people on the streets, give them housing choice vouchers that they can actually use and provide free and accessible mental health and substance abuse treatment options and services. that aid in recovery without demonizing the people, but rather recognizing these societal problems as public health issues. We all want our cities to provide basic needs for its residents. So we ask that you invest in housing and community services rather than over-policing and detention. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Next speaker, Victor Payan.

Yes, hello, can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Yes, please go ahead.

Okay, I want to talk about a few items on the agenda. First and foremost, I want to thank the city for ending the nightmare reign of Santa Ana Police Officer Association President Jerry Soprano, who habitually sued the city and lost, disrupted our democracy, and has been under investigation for his actions. I hope a new POA president can be chosen who understands that the Santa Ana Police Department's job is to protect and serve, not to plunder and pillage, not to demand raises, and then use that same taxpayer money to attack the city and its residents. I hope this puts an end to the

predatory relationship and shameful legacy, and that a new president is chosen who reflects Santa Ana's true values of the city, the police officers, and its people. Number two, I want to address the recall election. It's unfortunate that the end of this predatory reign did not take place before for the bogus, expensive, and retaliatory recall election was foisted upon us. I urge every Santa Ana resident to oppose the recall and send a message that police state attacks against our democracy and duly elected officials are not tolerated in Santa Ana.

And number three, I want to talk about Council Member Hernandez's call for revisiting the fees for community spaces and centers. I want to support this call because for more community centers and community spaces being more accessible. I don't know if you know this. Well, you probably do, but I don't know if the public knows this. To use a community center, whether you're a child or a quinceanera, you have the same fee. It's over $100 an hour plus a $300 deposit to even hold a community meeting. Why is this cost so high when staff is already being paid to be there during normal hours of operation?

Public facilities are critical to communities that lack meeting spaces, organizing spaces, learning spaces, and social spaces. We need to make them more accessible. It is a civil right. As for the community, the Roosevelt Walker Community Center where I live in Pacific Park, there's a computer room that has 20 computers that's closed to the public because I think it's being used as an office. And next to it is a PAL that's only open like six hours a week that's completely closed all other hours. So there's space available. It needs to be accessible. It needs to be equitable.

And there needs to be regular access to these facilities to increase the quality of life in communities. They're paid for by taxpayer money and the resident taxpayers should be able to use them as frameworks in their community. And to be honest, there aren't really that many. We need more, but we need to make the most use of the ones we have, not push communities to go to private spaces or private homes to have to discuss their community issues. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Next speaker, Pocha Pena. Madam City Clerk, I have a question. I wanted to see if my colleagues would indulge moving the public comments portion of the City Council meeting to now so that elected officials can offer some public comments. I'd like to make a motion so that I can take this time now to share

my public comment before the end of the meeting. I'm sorry, why are we

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

doing this? We have done that in the past where we allow Council members to speak before the end of a meeting. I would like to indulge my colleagues if it's okay I share my public comment. I don't have a problem with that but we've

have 25 people waiting here and nine on zoom that have been waiting a really long time so. I'll be very brief Madam Mayor. Okay. I'll be very brief madam.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

That's fine. Thank you. I wanted to bring my public comment portion to the beginning of this meeting because I am formally requesting special outside legal counsel be appointed to me due to references made to my role as a council member related to citywide special events. I am also taking this time to inform you that I would like to move forward with an ethics complaint on Mayor Valerie Amesqua due to a Brown Act violation on April 18th, 2023. I moved forward and provided a written disclosure to our Madam City Attorney on April 19th, 2023. On April 25th, 2023, Madam City Attorney.

David PenalozaItem 5

Point of order, Madam City Attorney. Yes. Can we interrupt public comment this way? I mean, we're in the middle of public comment.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

I believe this is a matter of public interest, sir, and I'm still commenting publicly.

David PenalozaItem 5

Point of order, Madam City Attorney.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

In terms of process, the council member made a motion to be allowed to advance an item, which is the council member comments. It's up to the chair. She would make that request. It appears that she yielded to him. If she doesn't yield to him, then we would need to make a formal motion in order to make that happen. But it appeared to me in this process he made the motion and the chair yielded and allowed him to make the comment.

Thank you. I mean, unless you want to vote on it. I don't have a problem. You can make whatever statement you want.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

I'd like to finish my comment without being interrupted. Thank you. On 425-2023, Madam City Attorney, you provided a memo to the entirety of the City Council, which can be attached to an email that I sent today at 6 p.m. earlier this afternoon. It is my knowledge and understanding that District Attorney Todd Spitzer has received this disclosure. I have concerns about this investigation due to the fact that this disclosure was sent to our District Attorney several months ago, and I have yet to receive a response. As a result of this Brown Act violation,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

which is state law, I am required to bring my concerns to you under Charter Section 401.5 to the entirety of the Santa Ana City Council. I am choosing to do so transparently before the public. I have received confirmation from you, Madam City Attorney, Sonia Carvalho that Mayor Mesquil confirmed with you to have spoken to council members Phil Becerra and David Penalosa prior to the closed session meeting on April 18th, 2023. I would like to move forward with the disclosure of the alleged Brown Act violation that occurred on 4-18-2023. It is the responsibility of the City Council to review this matter. I suggest the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

creation of an ad hoc committee to investigate this matter and take action. I would also like to know the status of this disclosure being sent to our District Attorney Todd Spitzer. That concludes my public comments. I look forward to a response from the city attorney regarding my special outside legal counsel and the Brown Act complaint that I filed on April 18, 2023. That concludes my comments. Thank you. Perfect. Okay, we can continue

with the Zoom. Madam City Attorney, before we continue, so I don't know anything about this, I don't think any of us do, so can we get that information, please? Yes, this was just transmitted

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

to me this evening at 6 p.m. so as you know there's a number of things pending i haven't had an opportunity to review it but i will as with other complaints i'll make sure that all of you get a

copy um with direction right and i understand this is coming forward for many reasons and i'll share

Phil BacerraItem 5

my closing comments but thank you madam mayor if i may ask quickly so so this was received at 6 p.m yes so while we're in closed session that's the time i have okay thank you

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Just a point of clarification, this was received April 19, 2023 by our city attorney and our district attorney Todd Spitzer. This was sent several months back.

Yes, you have a question?

David PenalozaItem 5

Point of clarification, Madam State Attorney, I have never broken the Brown Act, I've never violated the Brown Act. I don't really care to know what the council member is alluding to, but whatever it is, I mean say right now I really don't there's nothing to hide so I mean can you please disclose what you're alluding to our city attorney will send

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

out a memo regarding what I sent okay deflection everybody yeah we'll be

waiting for that memo because that's why I read the ad hoc committee just so everybody understands the ad hoc committee was created because of the charter of city Santa Ana the mayor did not put that in order that is part of the city charter and it's very balanced with Councilman Vasquez and Council member Sarah so I have no idea either but that's fine I'll take all the hits that come with being the mayor but this ad hoc committee is part of the city charter and per the direction of the city attorney the mayor has to create it in place members on this ad hoc committee.

So if all of a sudden we find that I've done something wrong or Councilman Becerra, Councilman Penelosa, that's fine. But Madam City Attorney, I would have appreciated that we would have known before we come out here so we don't have to disrupt this meeting any more than we've already done. So next time, please notify us.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Well, Mayor, with all due respect, I have been in the middle of addressing a writ this afternoon. I'm being asked to do conflict of interest advice on the spot and I was not checking

my emails so I thank you it's been a crazy day for you so thank you very much.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Madam Clerk you want to continue please. Yes Mayor thank you. This next speaker on Zoom.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Please unmute and proceed with your comments.

Okay can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Yes please go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council and staff. This is Sandra Pena Sarmiento, also known as Pocha Pena, and I'm addressing you as co-leader of the Pacific Park Neighborhood Association in Ward 2 on agenda item number 25, reconsidering fees and reservation guidelines for use of community centers. I came to you two weeks ago to speak of the disenfranchisement of our neighborhood, Pacific Park, and the extreme hardship we have been subjected to by staff policies.

July was the last month our neighborhood association committees were allowed to meet free of charge at the Roosevelt Walker Community Center. After this, it will be $232 a meeting plus a $300 deposit. We have a youth committee, an events committee, and now a leadership committee that meets every month in addition to our general meeting, which is every other month. So for our committees, that's an expense of $696 every month plus the deposits.

We are all volunteering our time to advocate for our neighbors and cultivate local leaders. Why charges the same as for a neighborhood birthday or baptism? Why must we be driven to meet at spaces outside of our neighborhoods, places that are difficult for our working class immigrant neighbors to access? The same is happening in Madison Park neighborhood, where they are now being charged for meeting and organizing space. And Madison Park has been doing an amazing job organizing around environmental justice, partnering on projects with UCI and cultivating youth leadership.

Yet they are being forced to meeting in a commercial district outside of their neighborhood. So at this critical time for the east side, when we have an influx of new populations, rising rents, gentrification, environmental toxins, and economic challenges, these fees the city is imposing are blocking our residents' ability to organize, to have the public space, to advocate for healthy air, draft bylaws, identify new leaders, plan public events, and encourage public participation.

We need more community centers, and the ones we do have need to be managed better. During our committee meeting this week, we observed a computer room with over 20 computers blocked from public use. Because the center was built without adequate administrative space, so the staff has been forced to commandeer the computer lab, Ms. Peña your time is up. Ms. Peña please reconsider how you manage. Ms. Peña next speaker, Pocha.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

If there's another speaker named Pocha on Zoom, you may unmute.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Okay. Next speaker, Victor Mendez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Please unmute and proceed with your comments.

Can you hear me okay?

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Yes, please go ahead.

Give me just one second because the sound from my sphere is an intermediate.

One second. Okay. So number 18, I'm going to be very brief tonight. There's a lot going on that meets more than meets the eye. But for three years, I've really spoken about the problems of workers' compensation. and tonight before you, lo and behold, you're being presented with a $28 million deficit. Okay. I don't know if this is even salvageable at this point. I can only state that, look at the liability situation, your work comp situation, the risk management program is now effectively bankrupt. It's bankrupt and needs a serious restructuring. Now, a few years back,

the city manager committed to getting a plan of some type of reorganization or restructuring for workers' compensation, that never happened. I don't know if that would have prevented this situation, but tonight the staff has been very transparent. You are facing a bankruptcy situation, at least in terms of risk management liabilities. And it's up to the council to start directing staff to get this fixed, if in fact there is a solution. It's hitting a lot of different expenses, like your liability insurance is more than doubled which is astronomical. So there's a lot of things that come out of this, but you have to seriously

take a step back and try to get this fixed. So that's all there is on that. On the issue of this public intoxication issue, I've experienced actually stronger responses from the patrol officers related to these intimacies. And I can say without doubt, my neighborhood, which consists of affordable housing, supportive housing, and public services, all within about a mile lead, is a lot safer now. And so I think, you know, housing alone isn't going to solve the problem. We simply have to get these streets safer and start working on the problem. But I agree, policing alone will not solve the problem.

But it's sure a good start. And it's kind of nice to come home and not have a drunk wave a bottle at your head trying to hit you as i experienced thirdly uh please go forward with your recall certification uh you know i six thousand people did sign that petition and it's time to get them going i looked at you know who's really behind these flyers uh company by the name of south cord management headed by a gentleman by the name of elliot lewis mr lewis does not live in santa anna he's a resident of long beach he's an he's an active participant in the cannabis industry and he has a reputation at least from his

digital profile being very disrupted in various communities who oppose cannabis retail business manhattan beach being the prime example he also describes himself as a fleet of the lead of hustler uh he also donates to councils and in fact has gotten to some problems in that respect the very model he uses to advance his agenda he criticizes the poa for and but he comes around and points

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

of fear and calls the POA corrupt. Thank you. Next speaker on zoom Pat Davis please unmute and proceed with your comments. Pat Davis.

Hi, thank you. Sorry, I wasn't hitting that button fast enough. Thank you to the city council for giving us the option of hybrid comments. That really is a wonderful way to make sure that you can increase your participation. I do not live in Santa Ana this time, but my ties go deep and even most recently, My grandson graduated from Santa Ana College, which I'm quite proud of. In the last meeting, I did listen in horror as this body described what was a plan to deal with intoxication, trying to state it was not to deal with the unhoused, but it was in fact absolutely aimed at the unhoused.

The cruelty and the dangerous information is quite concerning. and I do agree there's a problem, but there are ways to address it and they do not include incarceration. One thing I wanna bring to the attention of the body in case you haven't looked at it is in the homelessness report, which I found rather startling, the quality of life team shows up with a decorated dumpster, is that the numbers of permanent supportive housing units. There was quite a bit of attention to the 267 units,

but I'd like to bring to your attention that 327 people have died during a portion of that time and will continue to die in high numbers on your streets. We refer to that as those who've died without fixed abode, and this year you're on target to have well close to 100 who will die on your streets. So something different must be done in that respect. The mayor's plan to increase jail activity doesn't sound like the right one. and criminalizing houselessness and substance abuse re-traumatizes everyone, and it's also illegal. I do hope and expect that the city manager, Ridge,

will think long and hard about what she brings back to this body because your propensity to approve the most vicious approaches is not only dangerous to those on the street in your community, but it also brings forward a great opportunity for more litigation, which I don't think Santana needs. And to speak to item 24, I'm quite troubled with this recall with Jerry retiring, you would think that there might be a way to re-examine the whole basis for this. And I appreciate what council member Lopez brings to the body and you absolutely need her on your council. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Next speaker, Eve Garrow.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. I'm Eve Garrow, a policy analyst with the ACLU of Southern California and a volunteer with housing as a human right, Orange County and other local advocacy groups. I urge you to reject the so-called intoxication and service offering policy that you discussed at your last city council meeting. This carceral policy would call for Santa Ana police officers to haul all residents who they perceive to be intoxicated in public to jail and to provide them with information on available substance use treatment

services before release. I urge you to focus on investments in housing and voluntary community based services instead so that help is actually available. The policy is premised on the false assumption that people are refusing housing and services and must be forced by our criminal legal system to get help. But we know the real problem is a dire shortage of housing and services people need to survive and to thrive. Santa Ana's waiting list for housing choice vouchers is closed, as are the lists for all other housing authorities in Orange County, and they remain closed for many

years. When they open and applicants finally get on the lists, they can expect to wait years longer to receive affordable housing. Meanwhile, the cost of rent in the private market continues to spiral out of control. Weights for mental health and substance use treatment are also long and are rarely available on demand. We know that criminalizing substance use, the so-called war on drugs, is a failed and retrograde policy that is both immoral and ineffective and has only served to fill our already bloated jails in prisons and to ruin countless lives. The mayor and several city council members at the last

meeting made it clear that the underlying goal of this policy is to forcibly erase unhoused neighbors from public places. In fact in an attempt to justify the policy some of you engaged in extremely dangerous speech when referring to some of our most economically distressed community members. I feel the need to comment on that. These words otherized and denigrated unhoused residents and perpetuated several false and inflammatory stereotypes about them. As elected officials, it is your duty and responsibility to treat every resident of Santa Ana, no matter who

they are or where they live, with the dignity and respect we all deserve as human beings. You should hold yourselves to the highest possible standards of decency and use your power to provide people with authentic care. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Next speaker, Kimberly Adams, please unmute and proceed with your comments.

Good evening, my name is Kimberly Adams. I am calling regarding the intoxication, detention, and service offering policy. I wanted to start out with listening to the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance references liberty and justice for all, and the prayer mentioned love and charity. And this policy does not hold any of those ideas.

is and um i was very disturbed by listening to the last discussion on this matter um about the policy and a lot of very derogatory um inflammatory denigrating comments were made about the unhoused and the thing is this I work every day with the unhoused and these are folks that only want what we want they want a safe stable home they want what you and I do and it's

a perfect storm of circumstances that finds them in their circumstances in their um in their current state and the um the fact that i have i i work with unhoused clients on a daily basis and i know of three right now who have been waiting months for a shelter bed so the services that we're you're going to be offering are not there there are some but they're not there not enough criminalizing

houselessness has harmed and traumatized unsheltered community members who are routinely harassed, displaced cited and jailed for being unhoused but are rarely offered a safe, permanent, affordable home

I also wanted to point out that right now as evidenced by the growing YIMBY, Yes in My Backyard movement and the rise in organizations like Housing as a Human Rights County with whom I belong proves that what we do want, what the majority of people want is sharing services for people who need them. And these are people that you won't hear at city council meetings because they're probably putting dinner on the table and they've worked

eight to ten hours a day so um but the majority uh really really do want a humane way of helping people with medical and behavioral health issues ms adams your time is up thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Mayor Pro Tem and Council, that concludes the speakers on Zoom.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Great. Thank you, City Clerk. We'll move to the speakers that are in the chamber. We'll start with Eric Ruiz.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Eric? No? Okay. Mary Lara?

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you. Is this on? Yes, we can hear you.

Is this on? Okay. Oh, yeah. First, thank you all very much for giving me the opportunity to say a couple of words.

My name is Mary Lara, and I am the director of the TKO Boxing Club, have been for 28 of our 29 years and for the past 26 years we have had at least one boxing show a year. At the beginning we had two or three boxing shows a year and to get a boxing show at our boxing club is not easy. The process is every December I

have to go to Carson where the Southern California group of USA Boxing holds a lottery so I and about 60 or 70 other boxing clubs take part in this lottery and try to get a show date for the following year. We're lucky to get a Saturday because, first of all, if you pick a lower number, one, two, three, four, five, whatever, there's 60 people. The first people are going to get the best dates. We had been having our shows at our gym at Jerome Center,

and then a couple of years ago we outgrew Jerome Center and started having them at the last two we've had over at Salgado Community Center. And the advantage of having a boxing show here in Santa Ana is that first of all our boxers get first priority of getting matched up for a fight. And the second advantage is the city of Santa Ana, the community gets to see our kids showcase their skills.

So 2023 this year is the first year in 26 years that we have not had a show. And the reason for that is because last year when we had our show at Salgado, the cost was outrageous. I mean, we paid $80 an hour to use the basketball court, another $40 an hour to use the room where all the kids from all the boxing clubs that came to our show weighed in. So the cost was just outrageous. And the board and the coaches decided not to have a show this year.

And that's very unfortunate for our boxers who have to go to Victorville and Riverside and other faraway places to take a chance that they'll get a fight. And then they don't get a fight. And then they have to come back home with nothing. So thank you very much for your time.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you, Mary. Next in line is David Duran.

Jessie LopezItem 5

And after David, it's going to be John Rhea.

So, at the beginning of the meeting, we did hear some prayer, and we did hear some, you know, recognized good people for doing good things, and how they care so much about not only the good people, and rightly so, and they cared so much about the good things that they did.

But last meeting on the 18th, this dais, not everyone, but the mayor and a majority were focused on not doing good things for the residents here in Santa Ana. They were focused on criminalization. They were focused on taking people who are suffering possibly from addiction, possibly because they had too much to drink, and maybe more than likely possibly just because they were poor.

And they identified them in very harmful ways, very derogatory ways.

And the mayor and majority of the dais supported the idea that these people should be jailed.

I am certain that Boise Martin would combat this diocese thoughts and I'm certain that should the diocese decide to move forward with the criminalization of the poor and the sick that litigation may follow.

I do not support, and I'm asking this dais to also not support the idea of criminalizing its citizens because they're poor, criminalizing their citizens because they're sick, or criminalizing their citizens because they're addicted in some way, shape, fashion, or form. A good third grade class would be able to figure out that sick people or poor people need help. I don't think jail is part of that.

And I'm hoping you change your minds into understanding that human beings deserve better. than what this dais is proposing.

Jessie LopezItem 5

After John, it will be Lupe Lopez.

That came up quick. Good evening, Mayor of Mesquah, council members and staff. My name is John Raya, and I'm the founder of TKO Youth Boxing Club. I'm here this evening to support the consideration of restructuring of the fee schedule for the use of community facilities. TKO has provided a safe structured environment for Santa Ana's youth for 29 years. This is possible because of the dedication and commitment of an all-volunteer staff. Some of our volunteers, Mary, have been with us for 28 years coaching and teaching these kids healthy eating discipline and goal-setting. The nonprofits that serve

Santa Ana provide a service to our children their families and the community it only makes sense that the community facilities be welcoming accessible and affordable I'm going to share with you the eloquence of some of the participants at TKO these first two are from kids as part of TKO I want to thank you for the opportunity to stay out of drugs and other things that affect kids of my age. I'm 12 years old and this is my second year practicing boxing at TKO. Thank you for supporting this place accessible for our parents because sometimes they don't have enough

money to pay for our classes like this. Thank you. Here's another young lady who says I enjoy TKO because I lost 25 pounds. That one cracked me up too. This is another this is a parent now. I'm a parent of two kids at TKO Boxing Club. I'm grateful for this nonprofit organization. It has helped my kids with their physical health, mental health, and discipline. It's helped them physically because they are unable to exercise at home. It has helped them mentally because it gives them, gives their mind focus and challenges their thinking for strategizing. It has helped them with

their discipline because they have a schedule to follow, eight coaches to hear, eight to listen to. This nonprofit organization was all, has also helped my husband and myself it has helped us because I feel more at ease knowing that my kids are in a wonderful program where they can be nurtured physically and mentally I'm proud to be part of the TKO family this is another parent to whom it may concern I found out my 10 year old son was being bullied at school and as you can imagine effect it affected me and my wife especially knowing that my son had kept this secret for some time. My wife and I decided to

put our son into a self-defense class and God opened up this door for us for TKO boxing. My son loves it literally and it has started to build his confidence and our relationship at home. TKO also makes sure that it's affordable and the staff seriously makes me grateful for good people offering their time and hard work thank you for all the staff and the folks who helped my son the TKO

six seconds I'll finish up here the community paid for and the taxpayers have already paid for these facilities these investments are best when residents and their children are using them for every hour of participation in youth sports there's a return on that investment fostering a healthy and positive attitude is a benefit to all of us thank you please support this restructuring

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you for your public comment. The next speakers will be Rebecca Stein, Juliana Mushire, and Alan Wu.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Mayor Pro Tem, forgive me. Can we kindly ask for those letters?

Yes, I was going to put those back in their folder and give them to the clerk. Thank you. Thank you. I think you'll find them very interesting.

Good evening. My name is Lupe Lopez and I am a business community member here in Santana and I have a letter that is signed by Chairman Shauna Cunha of the Juanaño Band of Mission Indians 84B, Chairman Matt Bellardis of the Juanaño Band of Mission Indians, Vice Chairwoman Jeanine James of 84B Juanaño Band of Mission Indians, and Dr. Jose Moreno, President of Los Amigos of Orange County. As you know that this is today's the opening of Chicano Heritage Month and thank you Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez. I'm a Chicana. My children are Chicanos and Chicano

comes from the indigenous term and the rising of indigenous ancestry but you have noticed that in the past meetings there has been a lot of name calling especially to me calling me out as a pretend Indian by people that you allow to have on your Chicano heritage events of last year like Heidi Lucero such as Nally Legaspi we're here you would see in these public comments were Nally Legaspi your Commissioner Council member Jonathan who has stated that because I speak Spanish in the Mexican community that there is inappropriate and because I dress in my Native

American regalia that she has posted that it's a costume and that it should be taken away from me, torn off from me. That reminds me in Chicano heritage, the Zoot Suit days when they would rip off the Chicanos from their Zoot Suit clothes because they thought it was a costume, because they thought that it was something that they can do. But you know what? Your commissioner Nellie Legazpi is not going to be allowed and inappropriate to call my outfit a Chicana, an Indígena, a Mujer, a Yaqui Indian, a Purrpacha Indian, to say that my outfit's a costume and to say that what I wear should be taken off.

And here as a community of Orange County, we're taking a stand because Chicanos took a stand in our cultural heritage and I'm taking a stand. And as Heidi Lucero has posted my birth certificate, has posted my children in our outfits. And it says here, dear Orange County community leaders, we, the members of Los Amigos of Orange County and Native American chairpersons, extend our appreciation for your vision and mission to support your constituents and the community at large. As leaders in Orange County, we want to work together to ensure all communities, especially mine,

especially marginalized groups are treated with dignity and respect. And I'll jump down to where it says, while you're aware that there may be differences amongst members of the groups or organizations, we believe that folks should be handling this in different respects. We invite you to join us in standing firmly against these practices and demand tactics cease and desist immediately. Ms. Lopez, your time is up.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you. It's all in the reading. Thank you. Rebecca Stein.

Actually, it's Rebecca Kovac-Stein. Oh, I'm sorry about that. It's okay. Hi, my name is Rebecca Kovac-Stein. I'm a homeless and housing advocate. And I'll begin with, you can't punish unhoused people who depend on Santa Ana for support. Instead, help with a shelter bed, a detox bed, a sober living bed, some form of bridge housing, permanent supportive housing with on-site services, or a housing choice voucher. Obtain and read the recent report by CityNet commissioned by the county on documenting the opinion of the unhoused.

Read what the unhoused have offered as insight on the types of services they're asking for that may be unavailable. In any event, the brainchild of the proposed Santa Ana intoxication detention and service offering policy apparently leans into tossing an issue into the lap of law enforcement. How so? By targeting, arresting, and jailing the unhoused as an alternative to the unmet housing and behavioral health needs this population requires. Years ago at a meeting of some sort at the Del Heist Center in Santa Ana, a woman named Valeria Mesqua gave me some advice. Advice that I carried with me for years in my advocacy work

as a homeless and housing advocate. She advised me to stay in my own lane. At that, in that moment, I didn't know what she meant by that. Days later, those words resonated with me and a deeper dive into a dedication of sorts for truths relative to homelessness and housing advocacy commenced. I thank you. As a volunteer advocate, I began searching for available homeless services, resources, and programs. I learned which operators were offering those things and how those programs were funded. At this juncture, I can attest that the county's Office of Care Coordination has been invaluable,

coupled with the insights of those on the streets of Santa Ana. I have been fortunate enough to meet, greet, and build trust with the unhoused with the ultimate endgame in mind. the keys to their own apartments. Right, Ben? Not once did my work intersect with asking folks to get clean and sober first or to make threats of arrest. No, no, and no. I stayed in my lane, and my lane demonstrated that working towards the Housing First model worked. Tonight, I asked this council to defer to the experts on the real issue here today. That's homelessness. This is not an intoxication issue. Your aim at attacking the unhoused

will likely engage the city of Santa Ana into unnecessary litigation. Kindly vote down this proposed intoxication detention and service offering policy. Now is the time, Santa Ana Mayor, for you and those on the dais to stay in your lane. Run the city and not the lives of the unhoused. Thank you very much.

Juliana Meshayev, followed by Alan Wool.

Juliana? I know, I heard you call my name, so I'll come back. I have Juliana in front of you. I apologize.

Hi, my name is Juliana. I am a community organizer here in Santa Ana with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. I'm a resident of Ward 4. I'm here to respond to the proposal that we should incarcerate people who are publicly intoxicated, a proposal that is obviously geared towards our homeless population. Some members of the City Council have engaged in fear-mongering, feeding into the idea that the homeless population is made up of sexual predators, human traffickers, prostitutes, and criminals. This is a narrative meant to mobilize the community against the most vulnerable among

us and justify the allocation of resources into the failed approaches of policing and criminalization instead of addressing the root causes of homelessness and addiction. Homelessness and addiction should not be perceived as personal failings. Instead, they stem from a complex interplay of systemic issues that affect individuals and communities. These challenges arise due to a combination of factors, such as soaring housing costs, persistent poverty fueled by stagnant wages and limited job prospects, as well as inadequate social services for vulnerable groups, including the disabled, the elderly,

and individuals struggling with mental and physical illnesses. Many in the homeless community that are addicted to substances become addicts due to the dehumanization and despair caused by living on the street. Criminalizing and policing exacerbates the issues faced by homeless people, making it harder for them to find a job or qualify for housing. I'm not surprised that the three members of this city council that support this measure are heavily backed by the police union and two of the members that are opposed are dealing with the prospect of recall initiated by the police union.

This reflects the immense power that the police have over our policy makers and the way they choose to allocate resources. We must redirect our resources from policing, which currently accounts for over one third of our general fund expenditure, into programs that address root causes, like providing housing as a human right. Because everyone deserves housing. It is the first step to addressing other issues, including addiction. Thank you.

Alan Wu.

Mayor, members of the City Council, friends and neighbors, in the name of peace, I'd like to speak to you in support of Jonathan's motion to reconsider the fees. there's a whole history of fees that goes back as I talked to Leon Raya who used to work for the city park and rec who took care of our kids after school and and and I understand the need to cover the cost but we're a poor city with many residents that depend on park services for for after school program

for for care of the kids while they go to work and my kids have used it in the pass. We wanted to put on a Chicano seminar for the Chicano history and we found out that we had to come up with a thousand dollars really quickly to pay for the fees and prior to this the Artesia Polar Neighborhood Association didn't have to pay for these fees. When we did activities with the school Fremont we had a joint use agreement where when when Park and Rec were using

the facility and or or the school they were able to share and use the area around fremont and and south of the park we need our programs and not only police program of public safety but we need these programs as a safety uh way of evolving the community providing alternative for our kids to engage in more healthy community activities. And without that, and without our neighborhood associates and the community groups being able to use these centers, where do we go? To other cities? Then that defeats the purpose of being part of the city,

fulfilling our dreams and our vision for the city, the senior mission statement, the senior general plan. We can't have that if we have to charge our residents out of existence. I'm using our public facilities that we're paid for. So I want you to really look at it and look at prevention measures. As a member of the Drug and Alcohol Board for many years, I know that alcoholism is an extreme problem in the city. So we need to deal with the alcoholism. And on the Planning Commission, I have to approve these conditional use permit that increases drinking in our city. So do we contribute to the problem

or do we try to solve it? And I want to say that in a way that does not put this issue, but I hope you consider what we're saying from our standpoint and neighborhood people. We have a hard time coming up with fees to use our public facilities. So if you could help us out by reconsidering, find other ways to do it, find corporate sponsorship. ship you know have have uh donald trump sponsor our toilets and pay for that you know it would do mr wu your time is up thank you dan bastian followed by karina bastian

good evening everyone i come to you today uh regarding the park plan over at uh 10th and flower After seeing, I'm unable to make most of those meetings due to time constraints, but after seeing the most recent proposal, I noticed that it affects something that we have not been able to handle in Willard, and that's parking. If you look in my area, I live around 10th and Parton, and the parking situation there is if you get a permit, you can park at a meter until 2 to 6 a.m. Only 25% of the meters or less allow you to do that overnight, which means everybody Everybody is fighting for parking in a very condensed area.

This new park proposal takes away seven parking spaces, takes away two single family residences and puts a skate park in its place. We have skate parks at Centennial, which is 2.6 miles, Mariposa, 0.8 miles, OC ramps, 2.7 miles.

in all honesty I don't understand why we're taking away parking. The next issue with that is that if you look at the neighborhood we have vendors that take over near the Willard Intermediate School where they allow them into the playground. Now the trash cans haven't helped. I take my dog on walks around there and she almost every time hits glass. People drink beers, they drink Coca-Cola's, they smash their bottles around the school unnecessarily. Those trash cans have done nothing. And I'm hoping to find if there's a way to make sure that doesn't

happen. Because I live very close to where that park is being proposed. I'm hoping that there was an impact study. And then, what was it? So getting back to the parking, the primary issue is that area has been just troubled. There has been street work done regularly, which has eliminated even more parking. Recently, the meter department has issued out permits to allow people to park in any space. So those of us that pay for a permit, we can only park at 25% of the spaces. But these guys who have the green passes that have seismatic construction being done

to two of the biggest apartment complexes in my area are now taking over the streets, taking over the parking we could have, and we have to park blocks away if we can even find it. So my suggestion is fix the parking before you add on to the neighborhood because, in all honesty, we need the parking. My neighbors get tickets all the time, and it's unnecessary. It's a $70 ticket because you pay $75 to park in your neighborhood, and it's taken over by everyone else. Thank you for your time. And thank you, Councilman Lopez, for your work with Bicycle Treatment.

Karish Karimi, please.

My name is Karina Bastion. I would like to share my frustration with our police response time, my location, Willard District. Eight months in the year and there's been two shootings in the corner of 10th Street and Pardon. The first one was on February 28th and the second one on July 23rd. The first one police were present after 30 minutes and the second one passed, police passed by after a record breaking of 20 minutes. Nothing has been done and I can only expect another shooting in the very near future. I reported a homeless lady on drugs, doing more drugs in front of my property, and attempted

to approach me while threatening me when I told her that I was calling the police. Over three hours later, the police arrived and I shared that the woman was long gone. The police officer responded, you have to call more than once for it to be urgent. My parked vehicle was hit by a speeding car at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Dispatch responded, if there were no injuries, there is no reason to respond. When I asked if there was an arrest or ticket involved, a ticket involved, an unlicensed driver hitting my vehicle over 50 miles per hour in the residential zone, the response

was over half of the drivers in Santa Ana do not carry a license or insurance.

My neighbors, family, and friends have reported multiple cases of illegal activity in the Willard District. The reports involved tagging underage kids drug use and selling drugs to drivers on the streets, bike theft and selling stolen bikes, homeless trespassing and littering, attempted car robbery, suspicious window lurking, public drunkenness, speeding, and gunshots. Wheeler District has been and still is a hotspot for violence, homelessness, and destruction of

property. This is not new news to the Santa Ana Police Department. There's always a crime happening in Wheeler District. Every time a call is made to report dispatch, police do not arrive until after They're 40 minutes. Mind you, the police department is 0.5 miles from the Weather District. We need more patrols. Please make it happen.

Karash Karimi.

Followed by Claudia Morales.

Hello, my name is Kourosh Karimi. I'm a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. I'm here today to address the very cruel, very oppressive policy that the City Council proposed at the last meeting, the intoxication detention policy. We believe that this is further criminalizing and oppressing houseless people who are our sisters and brothers, our community members, many of whom are workers who cannot afford to live in the city that they work in. That is a huge crisis of a broken economic and political system that is not serving our community.

Instead, it is trying to pin us against one another, especially against the most vulnerable, people who do not have a home, who have to sleep on a bench at night. This policy of detaining people does not serve our interest. Our interest is to expand affordable housing and to ultimately struggle to make housing a human right. So there can be no homeless people anywhere in the streets of Santa Ana and ultimately throughout the whole country. We live in the richest country in the world, but there's so much poverty. That is a broken system, and we've got to start by uplifting each other, by fighting for our community,

not wasting resources to throw more people in jail or to, right here, waste taxpayer money for a special election at the behest of landlords, police unions, and other special interests. That is not what we think of when we think of democracy, when we think of justice. We want a government that advocates for us, the working class, the people who make this city run, who make this country run. We all, everyone in this room has more in common with a homeless person than we do with the billionaires, with the rich and powerful corporations that are destroying our communities, that are raising the cost of living and lowering our wages.

That is not what we think of when we think of democracy. So let's vote down that cruel proposal and instead start uplifting our community and fighting for real justice.

Claudia Morales. Thank you.

We are in favor of our Unidades Unidas and Seguras. The procedures with which we have treated people without homes, we know that it is not the answer. The incarceration does not work.

The work of 16 years old Dr. Esteban Acosta, medical, psychiatrist and therapist, shows that they are people who have specialized and professional help, but especially human rights. In our group, there are people who have been for 52 years without a home, and now, after six years, they have been enjoying a home, with a home that only covers their needs.

Además, los policías tienen verdadero trabajo con los criminales que preocupan fuertemente nuestras comunidades.

Organizations Sin Fines de Lucro is the option for, is one of the options for able to support these people because we have testimonies of people who have been able to recover by the humanitarian aid that these organizations Sin Fines de Lucro have been able to give them, unconditional. These people need to give their dignity. If you can see them in the eyes, you will realize that they are human beings. People without housing need resources, not the prison. And after this, I ask you to make an extension

the invitation that we have made to each other, the vice president and alcaldes, that we have sent a email from our union to work with you bra to bra, for us, families that are below, to work with you and keep our home. Because the conditions that we are living in this moment has led us to think that I can be the next person without home. Because the conditions are tremendously tremendous for us. And right now that I was here,

I was waiting for the cold, I was waiting for the cold, I was waiting for the bath, because I said, what time I'm going to do, right? Well, I said, wow. But we make an extensive invitation to work together, especially with my vice president of the 4th district, Filio Serra, for that we can know more and work for maintaining our homes. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Good evening. My name is Claudia Morales. I'm speaking to all the public servants here. And I am here as part of Esperanza Tenants United. And I want to be a voice for my brothers and sisters who are united in this cause. and we want to have safe conditions. The homeless need treatment and what you're giving them is not the answer. Jail is not the answer. And this is based on 26 years of study of Dr. Acosta, medical doctor and psychologist, psychiatrist.

And they need professional help. And with professional help, there's testimony. of people who have been homeless for, who do not have a dignified and stable home for 52 years. And after working with him, they have basic, their basic housing needs met. The police are already working hard to deal with criminals and we know that nonprofit organizations are but one option to help these people. and we want to come back and we want we're here we're back so that you can

work with us hand in hand with us and people and homeless people are people when you look them in the eyes you can see the human being behind the eyes and homeless people need resources not jails and we are here to ask the city Council and the mayor to work with us shoulder to shoulder. We sent you some information, some communication and the conditions, we need to improve the

conditions. When I look at the conditions here around me, I'm worried that I could be the next homeless person. So I was here waiting in the cold and trying not to to go to the restroom because it might have been my time to speak, but I'm here and now and I invite you to work with us to find the solutions, especially our council member from the 4th District, Mr. Phil Becerra.

Thank you. Mara McLook followed by Lou Noble.

Hello, counsel. Thanks for having us here tonight. My name is Maura Mykilek. I came up from South County to express my concerns about your new policy, to pick people up and bring them to jail to offer them services. I'm concerned about the harm that this will cause to people, but also about the precedent that it sets. I'm a social worker in southernmost county and I work with people who are homeless and live on the street. So what you're planning to do sounds like the old-fashioned drunk tank where people couldn't quite make it home from the bar and they get

picked up and brought in and they wake up in the morning and they go home. Or maybe they do a few days at Charlie Street to dry out and then they go home. But that's just not what we have anymore. For many of the people you're going to pick up, there's no home to go to. This is not going to accomplish what you hope. And I'm afraid you're going to find out that the hard way. But it's not going to be especially hard on you all, but it's going to be extremely hard on the people who are picked up. What you're going to find out is what those of us who work in the homelessness services know.

And I don't understand why nobody's spelled this out to you yet. But we have, I mean, we don't have services to offer. Right now in the county, we have at least 8,000 people who are already connected with service providers and on waiting lists to receive housing assistance. And this includes people in Santa Ana. These are people on the street and in shelters who have done everything they need to do to get help, but the help's not there. And in terms of substance use treatment, did you know that in all of Orange County for people who have Medi-Cal, there's barely 60 detox beds, 60.

And there's about 160 rehab beds for those same people. Yeah, I know, right? And at any given time, the ERs are filled up with people who can't get adequate psychiatric help, and they usually get released before they ever do. So people on the street, they're not there because they don't want help. They're there because the help they need doesn't exist. So how are you, your staff at the jails, going to get people treatment or housing when it's not there? So it's painful to think of the resources that you're going to waste on this fool's errand when there's actually ways to spend the money that will truly help people.

Taking people to the jail for intoxication will only kick people when they're down. People living in poverty, probably most with disabilities. And I'll end on this. I have to end with my favorite phrase. We don't have shelters. We don't have treatment for substance use or mental illness. And we certainly don't have housing for people who are poor. But somehow there's always a bed at the jail. How is that okay? Thank you.

Lou Noble.

Hello. You know, we're all brought in, brought up with different faiths. And all our faiths actually teaches us not to oppress the poor, but to help them out. And the Bible makes it clear on Proverbs 14.31. whosoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their master, but whoever is kind and needy honors God."

13 years ago I moved to Orange County. In 2008, this country bailed out Wall Street and Wall Street bankers while they were actually foreclosing on millions of Americans in this country. That's when our population of homelessness rise to the, as we saw it.

As an advocate, I became an advocate because I wanted to make, you know, some positive outcome on this. problem and we fought for shelters we fought for housing but housing wasn't coming soon enough vouchers people were waiting 10 years before vouchers many families broke down got separated many didn't make it back

in our homeless population, many self-medicated, many disabled. And it's been that way, like a vicious cycle, that time and time again mayors and council members come in and out, and we still have not alleviated the homeless problem by criminalizing the homeless and doing the same thing over and over again, spending millions of dollars on law enforcement, that when I went out there and talked to a lot of the police, even some of the chief of police said,

we're not going to get ourselves out of this by criminalizing people. Yeah, there are criminals out there, and law enforcement is there. But a lot of the times, they're so busy pushing people out from one end to the other or trying to push them out of railroad tracks or, you know, where they want to be totally hidden from the public. Many even work. And it comes to a point that any one of us could become homeless. I mean, a lot of artists, a lot of people that I met out there became homeless. But we're not going to get ourselves out of this.

You know, we even try to get to structured campgrounds long way back. Mr. Noble, your time is up. Because shelters are the same as jails. Thank you, sir. Daniel Riley.

Hi, I'm here to speak on the proposal to direct police to arrest people that are publicly intoxicated.

This was clearly meant to target homeless people in the area. Putting the most vulnerable people in the community in jail is not a solution. Treating them like criminals will only make the problem worse. Jails should not be a catch-all solution to society's problems. We need real solutions that can help these people for good. And the first step is housing, health care, and effective social programs. Thank you.

Woo Yu. Woo Yu. Apologize if I say that wrong.

Good evening. My name is Wei Yu. I'm a resident of Santa Ana Ward 3, and I would like to make a comment about the intoxication, detention, and service offering program. So sometimes when I walk down the block that I live on, sometimes I do see unhoused people. I see maybe they're sitting on the sidewalk. Maybe they're carrying all of their belongings on their shoulders, and then what happens? And then I just keep on walking to my destination, and then they are just doing their best and trying to survive. Do I think people who are struggling with substance uses, do they need help? Yes, I do think so.

But what was proposed during the last meeting, increasing police presence in the street, giving them more power, and involuntarily committing people to jail, that's not about helping people. This is about controlling and dehumanizing the most vulnerable members of our society. This is about giving more power to police officers that are already assaulting people in the streets and also getting away with it. This is about appeasing greedy corporations who are gentrifying our neighborhoods because as long as people are suffering, they are making money.

So I'm just asking you to care. I'm asking you to have compassion. And Santa Ana is a great city and it's what the people make of it. It's what all the residents of Santa Ana make of it. Thank you.

Thank you. Irma? Irma Haragi? Irma? Irma?

Good evening, Mayor. Welcome back and Council Members. Thank you for allowing me to speak. First and foremost, I want to thank Council Member Peñalosa and Mayor Mezclaw for supporting Wilshire Square. We had a phenomenal centennial. We all gathered and celebrated in the wonderful family environment, the friendship and the relationships we had. It's a 25-year tradition, and it's going to continue. One of the great things is that we all work together. We're all volunteers. We all work to bring this to happen.

and part is your help, but a lot of it is all the volunteers that work, donate money, donate time, and we go out and fundraise to make these things happen. And the association has been very successful because it bonds us together. So starting something small is creative, and so we thank you for your support on that. I have been hearing the comments of all the residents, and my concern is on the item 39. There's another side to this is the legal residents, the law-abiding citizens, when they're threatened, what do we do?

We must have compassion with those that are ill, mental, but sometimes they're a danger to themselves. And those specifically, just those specifically, sometimes you have to make that hard choice. I only have a family of males. I'm the only woman, all brothers, all male cousins, all sons. And sometimes we have to have as moms and sisters tough love. but for their own good. Sometimes we have to do those hard things, but only those people because they're, so for that I do support, but to do it with care and with caution. As far as the parks on item 25, there is also on your, this is my time,

on your mission is to have public safety, a prosperous economic environment, and opportunities for youth. looking at bringing more employment, having the ability to allow, give citizens the ability to raise their skill set, because a lot of people are complaining of housing, and I'm a financial advisor. I try to help the middle and lower incomes. My heart is into that, but their skill set doesn't allow them to earn and be, have the value to have those higher paying wages. So having

a lot of businesses come back into the cities and also have availability of job training and skill sets enhancement would be much better because giving a handout is one thing, but when you train somebody to stand on their own two feet to help somebody else, that is really empowering. So for that, when those opportunities come, I would encourage you to look at that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Maria Rosa Lopez.

Followed by Jene.

Hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Maria Rosa Lopez. I'm a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 324, and I live here in Santa Ana. And I'm speaking against the recall of Council Member Lopez. The recall is a waste of city resources. The city paid the register of voters $20,000 just to count the signatures. The estimated recall election will cost the city more than $600,000, and if the proponents

are successful, the city will have to spend another $600,000 to decide who will replace her. That is more than $1.2 million wasted that could be dedicated to repairing our city streets, improving services, meeting the needs of working families. In addition, there have been reports of voters that they were lied to and deceived, that they were told false information like at the recall was actually about improving education, of that Jesse supported racing rates or supported street racing.

I don't know if you know, but Jesse Lopez is going to be up for re-election next year. Why don't we just wait for the voters to decide who they want for the city council member in Ward 3? And the city doesn't have to waste that money in the recall election. I have heard, you have heard, all the needs for the city of Santana. 1.2 million dollars we can use it in better services leave the recall for

next year it would be time if the if the voters won the City Council Jesse Lopez or if not it will be the time for them to decide thank you

Thank you. Araceli Robles.

My name is Jonna and I'm a community organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. And I want to address something that Mr. Becerra said at the last council meeting. He said, and I quote, you're not hearing sympathy for our residents. Nobody is trying to solve the problems our residents are facing. What are the residents of Santa Ana actually worried about in their day-to-day lives? They're worried about making rent. They're worried about putting food on the table. They're worried about stagnant wages and lack of healthcare. Jailing more people isn't going to raise wages. It isn't going to make rent less expensive.

It isn't going to erase the debt that every single person is struggling with. Why is this council trying to spend more time and resources on criminalizing people who who clearly need help instead of, for example, assisting those on the brink of eviction, or the people who are forced to work two or three jobs just to feed their family. We need to stop pitting working class people against each other by demonizing the poor. Treating homelessness and drug abuse like a personal moral failure instead of a failure on society's part is ignorant at best and purposely dehumanizing at worst.

People don't become dependent on drugs for no reason. Poverty, mental illness, lack of community support are what drive people into that state. And these are problems that can be solved with affordable housing, higher wages, and access to healthcare. It is inhumane to jail people struggling to survive instead of addressing the root causes behind drug use and homelessness. We live in one of the wealthiest counties and one of the wealthiest states in the world. We have the resources to meet every single person's needs, including those who have been

pushed onto the streets and into a desperate situation. I also just want to give everyone a clear picture of what the city spends its money on. In the budget proposal for 2023 to 2024, Santa Ana allocated 35% of its budget to the police department. That's $146 million. The city spends over a third of its multi-million dollar budget on police and then wants to spend even more money to jail people rather than to help them? What will the spending do to actually help the working class people of Santa Ana? Will it build the community spaces that residents clearly want?

Will it protect workers from low wages and an increased cost of living? Will it provide the housing that everyone needs and deserves? Instead of spending so many resources on the police force and this proposed program, we could use that money to ensure everyone's needs are met. because simply sweeping this problem under the rug won't solve anything. Addressing the actual needs of the people will. A council that truly works for the people would understand this. Thank you.

Thank you. Araceli Robles.

Buenas noches. Mi nombre es Araceli Robles. Hace 6 months I was displaced from the city of Santana, for the high cost of the living. He says a thing and says, well, divide and you will win. What you three want to do with Santana is divide ourselves, so that you can then benefit from a personal way. We know that those who pay their campaigns and are in those spaces, is the Department of Police. So please, do not be so obvious, because it is so obvious when they are favoured to them,

both for photos, for recognition and not so many things. This is so obvious, we should have passed a law here in the city of Santana, that no one public service does not have money for a campaign to another public service, because there is a conflict of interests, so you are benefiting from that way. Something very important, I have a mental child with a mental condition, and he is not a second person, my child is more than all of us in this moment. None of you have lived that your two children, by the fact that they work in the yard, are at 5am,

then the police will be killed and 30 police officers are pointing to the head. So, they don't have to let the police at the emergency of mental health emergency, because they are not prepared. They are not prepared and they are not prepared.

The system of health is so fragmented that if a medical officer comes to a medical and I have a mental health emergency, if I don't want it, they will not be able to help. But the police officers can kill them.

Good evening, my name is Araceli Robles. six months ago I was displaced from Santa Ana because of the high cost of living. There's a saying, divide and conquer, and that's what you three are doing to the Santa Ana community. You're dividing us because then you will benefit personally.

And we all know what is happening, that the people who are paying for your campaigns as a police department do something so that it's not so obvious. It's obvious that you work for them. You can see it in the pictures and all the recognitions. It's so obvious. We should pass a law in Santa Ana to forbid public servants from helping monetarily other public servants because it's very bad what's happening. And another important thing, I have a son with a mental condition. He is in no way a second-class person. They all the same, he's the same as you, the same as everybody else.

It's hard when you have two sons who work in gardening and they get up at 5 a.m. to work and the police go after them and harass them. And then for some reason you have 30 officers pointing their guns at their heads. The police are not equipped to handle mental health issues. The health system allows, if there's a paramedic coming to help, if I have a mental health issue, the paramedics cannot help me, but the police can come and kill me. So what system is this?

So when you go out to speak to the community, you need to connect your tongue to your brain.

Thank you. Frida Ramirez.

Good evening, City Council members and Mayor Valeria Mesquat. I'm here to speak about the growing homeless issue and its relation to the public use of drugs. The last time that we were all here, there was a proposal from Council Member Phil Becerra to enforce existing California law and penalize those who were partaking in illegal public use of drugs. and we had some council members mention the unintended consequences of policy and how enforcing existing laws can have a reverse effect on some communities and it can also make society less trusting of police entities.

I enjoy this conversation because I commemorate the council members that brought up such important issues when creating and enforcing policy. Nonetheless, it should not take away from what the community is saying. The community is tired of not being able to feel safe on their streets because of public drug use. The community is tired of not being able to use their parks because of the growing homeless population that is engaging in public drug use. When there is a conversation about the unintended effects of policy, it should not be used as an excuse to not act for the betterment of society. That is why I'm here today.

And while it is not an agenda item today, I'm going to continue to hold this council responsible for creating a better solution. If enforcing existing California law can aid in some sort of unintended consequence, then it is up to you as a council to come up with a better solution, with more permanent solutions and not temporary fixes like short-term shelters and short-term resources. This needs to be approached differently with permanent affordable housing and lasting measures that will ensure that there is accountability and safety for the unhoused people with an emphasis on rehabilitation.

And if the justice system cannot offer rehabilitation for the unhoused, then create a system that does, especially creating a system that is acting in the best interest of what your constituents are asking for. The conversation of the unintended effects of policy is great. However, they can be mitigated with proper planning, proper execution, and with attention to detail. And on that note, I know that there is a plan being drawn up for this measure, so I would just say create a permanent solution. The funding is there. The research is there. The resources to create an amazing plan are there.

So please put your constituents first and restore the community to become something great. I want to thank you all for your time and listening, and God bless you all.

Thank you. Ivan Enriquez.

Followed by Alejandro Gonzalez.

Hi, my name is Ivan Enriquez. I'm a resident in City Council District 3. I am speaking on Agenda Item 24. ultimately because there has been a wide swath of members of the community who've had similar adverse experiences like me with canvassers hired to contact and engage voters in City Council District 3 to recall Santa Ana mayor pro tempore Jesse Lopez please note that I have contacted the city clerk and shared this testimony prior to the completion of the signature gathering process as a third shift graveyard shift employee in a union shop I was asleep in the afternoon when the canvasser came to my door.

I immediately got dressed and went out to speak to them. And what followed bothered me enough to contact the city manager's office. The canvasser urged me that Councilwoman Lopez was detrimental to the community as I read through the text of the petition, at which point I responded that, actually, she has been very beneficial to this community. I'm going to decline to sign. Have a good day. The canvasser became upset, called me rude, and they walked off to my neighbor's house. I went out to the street to speak to my mom, who was on the phone. And when I started telling her what had just transpired at the doorstep, the canvasser

berated me from my neighbor's property that I had been, in fact, rude. For an associate of a group with a license to access voter data and make contact with voters and comport themselves in that way is not just questionable. It's actually very reminiscent of the voter suppression tactics we hear in other communities outside Santa Ana. I felt compelled, based on my personal experience, to share with other community members in Ward 3 what happened, and by doing so found that other people had experiences similar to mine.

I want to end by saying that I've had the experience of having three separate council members serve me as a Ward 3 resident, and I think that it would be a shame to lose female leadership on the dais when the dais is already composed of a majority of men. I really do urge all residents in Ward 3 to think about the fact that a regularly scheduled election for the seat occupied by Mayor Pro Tem Lopez will be held next year, making this recall election duplicative and when unsuccessful, and will more likely than not involve a lower level of participation of all residents in a special election than a primary or regular election.

And I also just wanted to say that I have volunteered on political campaigns in the past and I've made contact with voters at the door. And I know that every one of you, if I volunteered on your campaign, would not want a canvasser to comport themselves the way that they did at my doorstep. So I would just like for you to think about that when making decisions on the dais. Thank you.

Alejandro Gonzalez.

And this city, as most of the most Mexican city, we want to represent each of our organizations and federations with our culture and traditions, as we deserve in this great city. And we call you for that the 32 for Mexico, that represents our President Mike González, we give you a place to the 32 for Mexico in our independence, of independence to represent our organizations. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. I'm representing my friends, 32 for Mexico, which is an organization that fights for 23 years. We're in Santa Ana to unite our community, our federations and organizations of Mexicans who fight for Mexico and to represent our values. And we are here to ask you, as representative organizations, we represent our culture and traditions in the city of Santa Ana. And we're appealing to you to allow our group, 32 for Mexico,

on behalf of our president, Mike Gonzalez, to allow our group to be represented in the parade, in the Mexican Independence Parade, to represent our organizations.

Javier Reynoso.

Buenas tardes a todos. Mi nombre es Javier Reynoso, y también vengo representando a Los 32 por México. The last year I had the opportunity to participate in the event here in the Mini Mall of Santa Ana and the truth is that I felt the mexican that I had lost in my life. The truth is that I have 26 years in the United States and I cried because I never had ever felt that feeling of remembering the national anthem, remembering my land that I left in Mexico and it's why I want to join this year to Santa Ana.

And I thank you very much, Ms. Valery, for doing this tour that so much represents the Mexicans. And I would like to see a Valerie Mezco, a Becerra, a Hernandez in the Casa Blanca. I really want to thank the Santa Ana, we are growing a path to the first city in Mexico. mexicano y cuando eso pasó el año pasado me sentí que volvía al méxico que dejé al méxico que se quedó atrás y yo los veo todos ustedes y me siento orgulloso de que ustedes tienen esos puestos un

básquet son lópez un piñalosa una mezcla un becerra un hernández y nos falta uno de ellos en la casa blanca y yo sé que lo vamos a lograr juntos lo vamos a lograr aquí estamos Gracias.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Javier Reynoso. I'm also from the 32 for Mexico organization. And last year I was able to attend the event at the Santa Ana Mini Mall. And during that time, I gathered back, and I got back the Mexico that I thought I had lost after 26 years of living in the United States, I cried, and I felt this wonderful feeling of remembering my traditions and remembering the national anthem and the land that I left behind. And this year, I'd like to join the Santa Ana celebration,

and I'd like to thank you, Ms. Valerie Jamesqua, and you and Mr. Becerra, Mr. Hernandez. this, I'd like to see one of you in the White House someday. And Santa Ana is growing. Santa Ana is number one with Mexicans. And again, last year I felt this wonderful feeling of this Mexico that I left behind. And I'm proud to see the last names here, Vasquez and Lopez and Peñalosa, Becerra and Hernandez. And I want to see one of you in the White House in the future.

Thank you. Tonantin Reyes.

Hello. My name is Tonantin Reyes and I'm here representing Board 5. I just wanted to come before you guys all today to talk about the Chicano Heritage Festival that's going to be going on in August 27th. I wanted to talk about the community center that was there because I heard some information that it's like $800 to rent it every single time. And to me, that doesn't make sense because I don't understand why a third of the money is going to the police, you know, instead of going back into the community. So I want to know what could be done so that more community centers in the city don't have to be rented out for so much money

from the people from the community. And that's all. Thank you, guys. Have a nice day. Thank you.

Veronica Gomez.

Hello everyone. Thank you for your time. I live on Ward 6 and I am here to originally talk about the parade, but hearing all the most important issues that I have heard tonight, I would like to speak about the fair allocations of funds to what black community really needs. In particular, the fees that are when the community needs to use public services. And I'm talking about in particular the spaces for, like earlier people said about using the community

community spaces for them to hold meetings of their words. And also the second item that I would like to also include in the allocation of funds is about the September 25th Day of Remembrance for Murdered Victims.

For lack of funds, I couldn't hold a vigil last year, so that's why I'm asking you to allocate funds for what the community needs. An incident that happened, and I'm referring to an incident that happened on work one at Centennial Park September 25th my son was murdered in Centennial Park and I've been hosting a vigil for on the day of remembrance for murdered victims and last year was that not possible because the fees that are so high to host the fees in Centennial

Park so again I'm using this moment to request the allocation of funds for the community really needs it thank you so much thank you jose luis ramirez

hola buenas noches mi nombre es jose luis ramirez residente de la ciudad de santana ya por muchos años son temas muy importantes todos los que han tocado aquí toda la comunidad and for me it's great to be here, seeing a person that we have worked together for years, me is a pleasure to see Valerie here, sitting here in this cabildo, Jonathan, I'm going to be with you, and with us, I hope to be able to identify myself in the same way. I think my colleagues, the people who have come to talk, we have a topic about art, culture and tradition, because in all these things that I have to talk,

Júrenlo, desde que está el alcalde, que conozco, que estuvo en su momento, Miguel Pulido, posteriormente Vicente Sarmiento y en esta ocasión Valerie, son los mismos temas que vengo escuchando, mismos temas, pero no menos importante también el desfile de las fiestas patrias. No estoy de acuerdo, por ahí tocaron los procedimientos que se llevan a cabo para llevar a cabo el desfile de las fiestas patrias, no estoy de acuerdo, because after three years that came the pandemic, that pandemic that killed a lot of our family, including my family, my family and friends, I think here in the city of Santana

you have also a referent that is in Los Angeles, the Desfile of Los Angeles, which is a great event and that no only is a event that promotes art, culture and tradition, but also promotes economy and is a part very important. I hope that here in the city of Santana to all those who are in the table and the people who signed up for to carry out the fiestas patriarchy because for something they do, they do fiestas patriarchy because Mexico pesa, gentlemen, in any corner of the world and that is why they do carry out fiestas patriarchy. I hope that here no one has formed a monopoly like it has formed in Los Angeles, California,

because if not, many people from Santana, we go and we make a big event international of Los Angeles, California, to promote our art, culture and tradition. And not only of Mexico, because we also have We have brothers, like Guatemala, Central America, all of which is Salvador, X countries. So, I ask that if you design a team to promote the desfile, teach them the appropriate procedures and that the team that we have been working for years, years representing the states, we respect the Señor, because we are not of agreement, or I am not of agreement with you in the personal,

in which we are sorting people to work for years to take a long time to take a long time to take a long time. I hope that the people who have worked as activist, and I have to know what I'm talking about here, I hope that this is not a monopoly and that we really have to do together with... I don't have the word leader, all of us here, all of us are leaders. That word used by leader of the community is false. palabra falsa. Gracias señores, espero que se reconsidere a la gente que designaron y que se haga un buen procedimiento. Gracias.

Good evening, my name is Jose Luis Ramirez, I'm a resident of Santa Ana for many years and there are many, many important issues and I'm happy to be here and doing good work with some of you, many of you. Valerie, I know you for some time. Jonathan, identify with you and many of you, other people who are here. And there's an issue that keeps coming around that's art, culture and traditions. And the same issues have been around since former mayor for many years, Miguel Pulido, then after him, Mayor Vicente Sarmiento and

now Ms. Barry Amescua, the same issues keep coming back. And it's the issues with the procedures for the parade and the Mexican independence day parade. The procedures are not being respected. And for many years after the pandemic, the pandemic that killed a lot of people and my people, my family as well, we are coming back with a parade and Santa Ana should do some of the recognitions that the LA parade does

because they're also fomenting and furthering the arts and culture and tradition but more importantly an economic issue. So Fiestas Patriots, the Mexican Fiestas Patriots is that because it's important. Mexico is an important part of our culture and we do not want our parade celebration to be a monopoly as it happens in in LA in the Los Angeles parade and many people from Santa Ana actually go to represent the culture the arts culture and traditions in the LA parade and of course other countries are

represented as well, our brothers and sisters from Guatemala, Central America, El Salvador, etc. So I'm asking you to help us promote the parade and to teach the people who are in charge the procedures that we have had for many years and that the people who have been the representatives for many years are not being pushed aside. I don't agree with them skipping us and we need to be working together, especially the people who have worked for many years for the community, community activists like the person to my right over here. So let's not have this be a monopoly

and we need to be working together. So thank you for considering the procedures for the parade. Thank you. Jaime Edwards?

I may be the improbable provisional Mexican in the crowd, but it happened that way. I'll speak in English.

Basically I have 12 years background of being on the board of advisors with the Parade. The parade and their activity preceded me by 10 years before that. In the time of pandemic, out of our own pocket and with cooperation in the city, we had an abbreviated parade one year, Centennial Park, and last year in Santa Ana Mall. Everything from the heart, everything to serve the city, and to be respectful of the tenets of preserving culture and history.

The ask is pretty simple. We're looking, and I understand it, the appeal is here to at least a quorum of the board, at least for a majority of the board, for four of you. For four of you to have some of the experienced people from the parade that as best I know for the 12 years I was involved we were always given accolades for doing it well and having insight as to the subtleties and of the best groups and cooperation to allow us to meet with whoever has the final word of the coordination of the parade to allow us to contribute our experience

and knowledge of how we've coordinated things to have best turnout and to have best cooperation. That's not asking for ownership or monopoly, it's asking for well-received and allowed contribution and reaffirmation that we're presenting the best possible parade. And so yes, we have a leader called Mike Gonzales, but we're on the board. I'm not a quiet person on the board. I have my voice. My wife is from Mexico, has her voice. Many of us, we have our own voices. It's not one person but we're looking to have the opportunity to contribute our genuinely successful experience

with a parade that had extremely well good reception all of those past years prior to the pandemic and my understanding is i need to ask for at least four of you to give us the authority or the approval or the encouragement to people with parks and recreation to receive us well and to allow us to have some input to, for our purposes, look for the best possible end result of a successful parade that well serves the audience that we try to serve, the people that bring their families and their children to observe this parade when it had been functioning prior to

the pandemic. And so I ask you for that. I don't know you as some of the others do, but I respect the fact that, you know, this is a lightweight question by comparison. A lot of the heavy questions I heard you're dealing with here tonight but it's still important. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for all the comments and call-ins. At this time we're going to go to the consent calendar items 6 through 22.

Before us, council members please announce if there are any items you'll be abstaining from due to conflict and if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I would like to make a comment on item 10. I just wanted to thank our staff.

Can you wait until we get there? There might be some other people. So just tell me what item.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Yeah, I'd like to make a comment on item 10, and I would like to pull consent item 24.

You make a comment on 10, and you're putting a pull 24.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Yes, just item 24.

Perfect. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

Mayor, item 24 is on the business calendar, so that will be heard separately. I'm sorry? Item 24 is already on the business calendar.

Yes, it's on the business calendar.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Oh, apologies. Thank you so much.

Councilmember Becerra? Nope.

Anybody else is pulling anything?

Perfect.

Benjamin VazquezItem 6

I have questions on 21.

You have a question? So then pull it. Pull it, yeah, pull it.

Anybody else have an item that you want to pull?

All right. With that, do I have a motion and a second to approve the remainder? I'll move the item. Councilman Becerra, can I get a second? I'll second. Councilman Penelosa, let's prepare to vote, please.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Sorry.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

The vote is 7 ayes, no nays. Motion carries to approve the consent with the exception of item 21, pulled for separate consideration.

And 10 for comment, that's correct. Madam Clerk, can we have Frida Ramirez please come up so she can be sworn in. Measure X, Citizen Oversight Committee for Councilman Penelosa, please.

I, Frida Ramirez, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion

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

.

Congratulations. All right. Item 10, comment, Councilman Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to thank our staff with the library and Public Works following the discussion related to the ceremonial street toppers. The planning division facilitated a series of discussions with the library department and Public Works Agency to brainstorm ideas to, number one, develop content on the city's library department webpages documenting and commemorating historic individuals in the city's history. Number two is to bridge that content with the community by making the information available through an easily accessible format in public settings.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 7

Because Helen Marie Shipp is the first historic individual commemorated through the city's ceremonial street toppers along a portion of Willett Street near Rate Street, the Library Department initiated its online content with a new landing webpage containing a biography of Ship and a map showing the portion of Willett Street containing Helen M. Shipway and Black History Square. The new landing page is accessible online by visiting www.santaana.org honorary street names and I'm very happy about this item being brought to us and And just wanted to thank the staff that worked on this. Thank you guys for all of your commitment.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 7

That concludes my comments.

Thank you. Item 21, Council Member Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 7

I just have a few questions for this. Can you describe it really fast for the public, what it is that we're purchasing?

Certainly, sir. So, Council Member Vasquez, this item is for the Public Works Department, who is undertaking a massive permit parking study. and as part of that the consultant wants to use an app throughout our entire city to document the cars that are parked the quantity of cars so we can identify which areas are most parking impacted so that we can create a better permit parking plan they do an app that does capture the license plate so that the cars are individually id'd so they don't miscount them but other than that they don't

Benjamin VazquezItem 7

access any registration data or store it that's great uh just i just wanted to make sure it's clear for the public so this is not stored as stored for purposes of

counting but no registration data is accessed and it won't be shared with

Benjamin VazquezItem 7

police department or eyes or any this is strictly for our Public Works

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 7

Department okay thank you that's all I need to do I'll move the item I'll second

as for prior to vote no other comments

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

A motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Councilmember Penaloza to approve item 21, a resolution for the automated license plate reader policy. And the vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Thank you. This is the end of the consent calendar. We'll now be going into the business calendar.

Item number 23 is about our police canines. Madam City Manager, is there a staff report or do any of the city council members need a staff report at this time or any questions or comments? We might have a special visitor for this item. Oh, all right. Let's do it. I will see if they do.

Yes, they do. So the kind of special visitors that I know all of you love. It's a canine. So the item that is before you, it's adopting a resolution and approving an agreement authorizing Corporal Joshua Grip and Trog to purchase a retired Santa Ana Police Department canine. He has worked many years with this dog, and he wants to spend the rest of the dog's life with him in his home. So it's a ceremonial adoption of a resolution to have that dog go home with this officer. And then at the same time, you also are accepting the donation of a new police canine from Johanna Shillery for the police department's canine program.

You probably recognize her name. She has done a lot of donations to our police department. So I hope it's not past the dog's bedtime.

That is wonderful.

And that he can make a big appearance and possibly we could get a picture of all of you with him.

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

Madam City Manager, please work on a police cat program. That would be very helpful. Thank you.

Yes, we do have a request from Council Member Fan. She would like to roll out cats.

I don't think cats can sniff out drugs or bite people

We were thinking that we would talk to Chief Henry and possibly do something with OCFA.

David PenalozaItem 7

So while the dog's coming up, can I make a motion to approve?

Sure, let's make a motion while the dog's coming up. I'll second. There's a motion and a second. Let's vote.

Come on up, sir. We're going to vote right now.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

A motion by Council Member Penaloza, seconded by Mayor Emesqua, to approve item number 23, which is adoption of a resolution and approving an agreement related to police canines.

Oh, how adorable.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Council Member Hernandez, would you cast your vote, please? Oh, look it.

Okay. Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Yes.

Aww.

He's 10. He's 10. Seat him.

Phil BacerraItem 7

He's 10. He's 10. He's a bike cheater. No, make a bike one.

I'm just kidding.

I don't know. I could go with it. What's the thing? Marble. Mark? Yeah, they were time in Mark. Oh, they're not retiring. No, no, man.

Seat. Oh, what's that? Oh, I get that. That's just me. Oh, wow. Okay. So what if I do? I'm doing another.

Oh, there's so much. Seat. And do it here, then she has something.

. . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

.

Thank you.

I got kisses, you didn't get kisses. I got so much.

He's tired. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. That's good attention.

Thank you. My favorite part.

Want a dog for a dollar?

All right, thank you. That was very, very good. Okay, let's go on to item 24 pertains to the recall petition. Madam Clerk, may we have a staff report, please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Madam Clerk, may we just also first announce that Mayor Pro Tem has absented herself from the dais as she has a conflict on this matter and will not participate in this decision.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Thank you. Mayor and City Council, the item before you consists of two procedural actions in compliance with the California Elections Code. To accept the certificate as to the sufficiency of the petition and to issue an order stating that an election shall be held. As background, I approved a form petition to recall Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Lopez, Council Member for Ward 3, for signature collection on April 7th, 2023. Proponents delivered the completed petition to my office on June 12th. Following a prima facie examination of the petition as required by law, I determined that

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

the petition contained the requisite number of signatures of electors of the city and accepted the petition for filing on June 13th, 2023, forwarded the petition to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, ROV, for signature verification as they hold the voter registration information. The ROV has determined that the petition contains the requisite number of valid signatures of electors of Santa Ana's Ward 3 to qualify the petition for certification to the City Council and has certified the results as of July 17th which are presented to you tonight as attached to the resolution.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

In order for this recall petition to qualify for an election, the petition must contain signatures equal to 20% of the registered voters of Ward 3. The required number of signatures for this recall petition was 5,274 which is 20% of the 26,370 registered voters as reported to the ROV to the Secretary of State on their most recent report prior to the form petition's approval which was dated February 10, 2023. After examination of the petition by the ROV, they determined that the petition contained 5,284 valid signatures exceeding the number required.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Based on the ROV's certification, I prepared a certificate of sufficiency which is also presented tonight as attached to the resolution. The first action requested is for Council to approve the resolution with the attached certificates. Following your receipt of the certificates, the Elections Code requires the City Council to issue an order within 14 days stating that an election shall be held for the voters to determine whether or not Mayor Proton Lopez shall be recalled. Before you tonight is a resolution calling and giving notice of such election and requesting services of the ROV to conduct such election.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

The election code requires such election to be held within 88 and 125 days of the issuance of the order slash adoption of the resolution. Elections must be held on a Tuesday that is not the day before, the day of, or the day after a state holiday. The Tuesdays available within the mandated window for you to set as the election date if you adopt that resolution tonight are October 31st, November 7th, November 14th, November 21st, or November 28th. In addition to calling and giving notice of the special municipal election, a related action is approval of a resolution setting a regulation for an officer's statement to

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

be printed in the voter information guide. Elections code section 11327 provides that an officer whose recall is being sought may file such a statement. The proposed resolution provides that the officer may file a statement of not more than 200 words and she'll submit the estimated payment amount of $1,102.45 for a printed statement or $431.56 for an electronic-only statement. This statement is optional on behalf of the officer. Items that will be included in the voter information guide include the ballot question of whether Mayor Pro Tem Lopez shall be recalled slash removed from office, yes or no,

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

the notice of intent language originally submitted by the proponents at the beginning of the recall process, and the answer to recall statement submitted by Mayor Pro Tem Lopez, both of which were included on the recall petition itself. Fiscal impact of this item includes the $22,936.40 for the ROV's verification of signatures and an estimated $607,403 to $666,990 for conducting the election. That figure comes from the ROV and includes base election costs such as vote centers, ballots mailed to all voters, personnel, etc., mailed communications about the upcoming

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

election security and sheriff services during the election printing costs for the voter information guide postage for ballots returned by mail and equipment recovery costs this concludes my report whoops this concludes my report and I'm

happy to answer any questions great thank you so much madam clerk so if you'd like to speak please hit your button to speak and then each council member will have three minutes three rounds if needed so at this time I do don't see any speakers anybody hit their button yes hit your button I have my button on okay hold on let me fix mine

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

mayor pro-tem Hernandez if you could possibly refresh your screen oh council member Hernandez oh yes I'm sorry council member Hernandez but I'll take it we do have another speaker in the queue mayor AS WELL. IT'S NOT SHOWING. OK. COUNCILMEMBER VASQUEZ.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

YES.

I APOLOGIZE. MINE IS NOT ALSO, MINE NEVER WORKS. I DON'T KNOW. I THINK IT'S A SETUP, RIGHT? LET ME TRY THIS AGAIN.

ALL RIGHT. HERE WE GO. GOT IT. THANK YOU. OKAY. COUNCILMEM VASQUEZ, PLEASE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 24

THREE MINUTES, THREE ROUNDS, OKAY? THANK YOU. I would like to reject the certificate based on that the petitioners lied to the members of Ward, the citizens of Ward 3. They were lying about that Jessie was for street car racing. Jessie was not for street car racing. What it was is she was against finding onlookers, but she was go after the people racing. She was against street car racing and not finding people onlooking. There were telling people door to door that she doesn't live in the ward where I visited her house many times and I know she does live in the ward. This is also

Benjamin VazquezItem 24

they they lied about that Jessie caused the rent to go up 15% where Jessie was one of the leaders that fought for rent stabilization and displacement in Santa Anna for all these reasons that how these petitioners went door to door and lied to people and continue to lie and we have hundreds of documents saying that they had been lied to and this recall is just a false based on lies so I don't agree with accepting the certificate.

Thank you Councilman Vasquez. Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

Thank you Madam City Mayor. I too reject this recall and want to take my three minutes to inform the public as to what this recall is really about this recall is about law enforcement in Santa Anna this is a strategy strategy that the police officers Association has implemented successfully dating back to 2019 when they recalled Cecilia Iglesias for being the only member of the City Council to vote no this is a strategy we have seen before many people have sued the city that were in positions of union leadership where they too have cited that this is a strategy that Jerry

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

Serrano has implemented. This recall is about protecting the special interest of the Santa Ana POA. This is an attempt for the Santa Ana POA to buy a majority on the Santa Ana City Council. This is an unprecedented election that is going to cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars when there's an election that can take place next year. This is undermining democracy that took place in Ward 3 during the 2020 election. And it is unfair that there is a police union who thinks that not only can they take a bulk majority of our city budget, but that they should also

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

control who is the decision makers, who are the lawmakers that create policy that our police officers then have to abide by, that direct our city manager, that direct where public dollars are allocated. We would never see the army control the FBI or control the state. But here in local cities, we are seeing police unions attempt to control local government. It's unprecedented, and it's exactly why the POA spent more than $1 million in the 2022 election to win a council majority that would do their bidding up here. So now he is trying to recall council member Jesse

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

Lopez so that he can flip control of this council. That is the full picture of what is happening before us here. This is a very alarming experience for voters to have to go through. It undermines democracy and it sets an extremely dangerous precedent that 2019 showed us the POA was successful in removing Cecilia Iglesias. Democracy is exactly why this dais should exist, But unfortunately, when special interests are this strong and they can have a stranglehold on elected officials, we see recall campaigns as a reoccurring strategy with the POA.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

And that is why I would like to make a motion to delay this item for a later council meeting. And I will put a motion on the floor.

There's a motion on the floor.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Will you please repeat your motion? I'm sorry. It's to...

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

Delay this item?

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

To when?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

To our next meeting.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I'd second that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I would like to make comments first, though, before we take the vote.

Did you hit your button so I didn't...

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Oh. No, it says requested.

Well, it doesn't hear, so let me try it again. Go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Thank you, Mayor. First off, I would just like to say it is really shocking and disappointing to learn about the updated estimates from the ROV. When we first went into this, the city council budgeted pursuant to a city manager and a director of financial services a million dollars for up to four special elections. And in this case, we are still potentially looking at four special elections involving recalls. One is going to cost over $600,000. We've heard residents today and members of this council talk about how we need to invest resources into the city

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

to deal with whether it's homelessness, public safety, parks, community services, events, etc. That's over $600,000 that is not going to go to residents. If the recall passes, it'll be another $600,000, potentially more. And we are looking at a special election in the fall. We're looking at a March primary. Then if the recall passes, we're looking at a July or August special election, and then we're looking at a November election. So to me, you know, it is very disappointing to hear that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

And the concerns relating to this item is further amplified by the fact that we have received notice of a lawsuit. And in order today, I just found out about it today, and so in order to give our city attorney's office the opportunity to review the lawsuit and look at the allegations to determine whether we are at facing liability based on the claims and allegations made in lawsuit I support the motion to continue this item for two weeks pursuant to the government code and the law so that the city attorney has the opportunity to review those issues and come back to us let us know what we're facing because at

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

this point it seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars and what are we gonna get what we're gonna get is the same type of confusion and waste of resident city staff and everyone's time and I'm not sure it's going to have whatever result it is that the proponents of this recall is looking for and with that I will continue to vote yes on this motion thank you

no other comments let's prepare to vote

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

a motion by council member hernandez seconded by council member fan to continue item number 24 to the august 15th city council meeting

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

the vote is three eyes three nays eyes by councilmember Hernandez councilmember fan councilmember Vasquez nays by councilmember Penaloza Becerra and mayor Mesquita motion fails

Phil BacerraItem 24

mayor Mesquita may I ask yes question of the city attorney yeah I was just about to go ahead so madam city attorney so now that we've

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

got a 3-3 what now um that would be that would mean that you're not taking any action on this item so it's a defeated motion either way um the city clerk as the elections official would have a continued obligation to place this before you under the law on august 15th as that is the very last day at which this council can legally take action thank you and one last question um madam

Phil BacerraItem 24

city clerk so if we have it at the next council meeting and the same outcome takes place could you let the public and this council know what happens if we fail to take action on August 15th?

Can you speak clearly and slowly so we can all hear you and understand please? Yes, Mayor.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

In answer to Councilmember Becerra's question, the elections code states that the certificates shall be presented to the City Council, the legislative body. They must, shall call and order the election within 14 days of the presentation of that information. So that takes us to the August 15th date. If on August 15th Council fails to call a special election for consideration of the recall question, it goes to the County Registrar of Voters, Mr. Bob Page, who has five days to set an election date. That election date would then be held 88 to 125 days from his order.

Thank you. You're welcome. So just to be clear, so the public understands, and I know they do, I just want to be really clear. So on August 15th, if it fails again, then it will go to the ROV. Mr. Bob Page will within five days set a date for the election, for the recall election.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

That is correct according to the elections code.

Okay. I just want to be really clear. So August 15th, we do not accept it. We do not set a date, but the ROV will set a date. Yes. Great. Okay. Thank you so very much for clarifying that. Thank you, Councilmember Becerra, for the question. All right. Let's move on. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

David PenalozaItem 24

I will make a motion to move forward with calling and giving notice of a special election. item staff's recommended action of items one and two and council member penaliza we would need a

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

selected date of the options between october 31st and november 28th can you give those dates again yes so the available dates that are within the 88 to 125 day range from today are october third they're all Tuesdays, October 31st, November 7th, November 14th, November 21st, and November 28th.

David PenalozaItem 24

I would make a motion to approve the items one and two, and I guess go with the November 7th date, because that is what is traditionally in Election Day. It's that Tuesday in November. I'll second that. I will, yeah.

There's a motion and a second. No questions, other questions, other comments?

David PenalozaItem 24

Yeah, just a point of clarification, just so I understand more for Councilmember Fenn. So I guess what would be the reason for delaying?

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Oh, so my concern is that we received a lawsuit, you know, notice of a lawsuit from a very credible political law firm. This is not someone who just happens to say they're an attorney, put up shop, and say, okay, we're suing you for funsies. I checked with some of my colleagues in political law. This is a legitimate law firm who feels they're very reputable. And I would like to give our city attorney's office an opportunity to look into these allegations and give us feedback so that, you know, whatever decision we take, we have the most informed decision based on the information we receive from our professional staff.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

And so I don't see the harm in utilizing or exercising our authority under the elections code to wait two weeks to give staff that time and then make a decision then.

Do you have a comment?

David PenalozaItem 24

No. I just think, you know. I have a statement.

I have a comment. So I appreciate your position, and I totally respect that. But I just want to be really clear that on August 15th, if we still do not come to an agreement, the ROV will set it within five days. There's many reputable law firms out there, and since I've been sitting here now for seven months, we have lots of lawsuits, and not just by the POA. We have many lawsuits, and by reputable firms that file them against us. and we have our own lawyers here who do a wonderful job. And so I don't base my votes on any type of law firm

because at the end of the day, if it appears in court on Friday and we're told to stop in our tracks, we're going to do that. But if we're not, then it just moves forward and we're going to keep paying attorney fees no matter what. So I just want to be informed of the public that I don't want to use the excuse of lawyers and lawsuits because if we only knew, if the community only knew, how many lawsuits this city has by reputable lawyers and how much money we pay out as a city, it would be really hard to sit up here and make a lot of decisions

if we base it on lawyers and their reputations. And again, I trust our city attorney, and she did not give direction to not vote or move on this item. And so at the end of the day, come August 15th, if we don't agree to anything, the ROV will set the date and we will move forward. So with that, you made a motion and there was a second and let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

A motion by Council Member Penaloza, seconded by Councilmember Becerra to approve item number one, a resolution accepting the certificate of the ROV and the City Clerk Certificate of Sufficiency related to the recall of Councilmember Jesse Lopez,

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

and accepting a resolution calling and giving notice of a special municipal election to be held on November 7, 2023.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Mayor, may I ask a question following up on one of your comments? Sure, yeah, go ahead. It's for Madam City Attorney. Oh, go ahead. Madam City Attorney, so one of the comments, you know, we get lawsuits all the time, but if we wait the 14 days, so if we move forward today, and there may be concerns about... Now she can't see her at all. Yeah, he actually just blocked her. But I guess my point is, you know, are there concerns about attorney's fees? You know, if we go by today, because I know this is a priority matter. How soon is the court going to be able to take it up before we get to the August 15th date?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

We received notice of this lawsuit at 1.30 today. It was filed in the court. It has not yet been officially served upon the city. It did come with a cover letter asking this counsel, it was actually addressed to me, but asking the counsel and encouraging the counsel to please postpone this to give us an opportunity to take a look at the lawsuit. In these types of lawsuits, if they prevail, and unfortunately I can't give you an assessment if they will or they won't because I received it at 1.30 today and have not had sufficient time to review it, but if they were to prevail they could seek their attorney's fees as well.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

If we have an opportunity to review it, we can come back. We can even schedule this for a closed session prior to your next meeting and give you a clear opinion and analysis of where we stand on it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

And it, okay, thank you. Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 24

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Madam City Attorney, to what Councilmember Phan just asked about them seeking attorney's fees or what you had just commented on. So if we move forward, they can seek attorney's fees. And if we don't move forward, because they're suing to stop the whole process, they could also seek attorney's fees. Isn't that correct?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Yes. And if they prevail in this lawsuit, they could seek attorney's fees. I think the argument might be that if, based on the request that they made, I can't predict whether they would do more work, not do more work. I can't even predict that if you postpone this this evening, that they won't go in ex parti tomorrow. I can't predict any of that. But if they were to prevail and based on that work, they could recover attorney's fees.

Phil BacerraItem 24

So their action, right, what they've filed, is to stop the election. What we're charged with as a city council tonight is a ministerial action. In other words, the only discretion we have is picking a date, but beyond that, accepting the certification. We're not doing any work. We're not saying, you know, we're not going to condition the acceptance of the certification. We're going to accept it, and we're going to set a date. It's a very mechanical action that we're taking tonight. So if we were to move forward tonight, there's nothing, I guess, further punitive, right? Because if the, I guess if the

Phil BacerraItem 24

inspiration or the intended action or consequence of the lawsuit is to stop the election, if it's not stopped, we're still put in the same place, which is accept the certificate and then go ahead and proceed with setting a date, or at some point relinquish our duty to the ROV. Is that fair?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

I think that's a fair assessment. I think the only additional information we might have in the next 14 days is A, you would have the analysis from us to let you know what we think about the claim, and or you could have the benefit of a court's decision before you act. I think those are the only two things you see. And again, as I stated earlier to one or two of you that I had the opportunity to speak to, I don't have a recommendation on this. I think this is purely a council decision.

Phil BacerraItem 24

And thank you for that. Madam City Clerk, not to leave you out. So when did the signature gathering begin?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

I approved the petition for signature gathering on April 7th.

Phil BacerraItem 24

And when did the proponents submit their signatures? June 12th. June 12th. So they submitted them then, which means they concluded. They said, we believe, as the proponents have enough, and we submitted them to the clerk, which then in turn submitted them to the ROV. That's correct. And that was what date?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

I submitted it to the ROV on June 13th. And what's the date today? Today is August 1st.

Phil BacerraItem 24

And I'm not going to make you do any math, but Madam City Attorney, so it seems like they've had quite a bit of cushion of time, they being the folks that have thrown this lawsuit out there. So to receive it at what time did you say today? 1 o'clock? Oh, 1.30. I'm sorry. So even closer to the beginning of the council meeting. So I don't know. I'm not a lawyer, but doesn't that kind of seem like a stall tactic more than anything?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

We often see these types of things done. I know we've had CEQA public hearings, for example, where people have been given months and months of opportunities to comment. They'll show up at the public hearing with, you know, 10 inches of paper. Right. And as a planner, you might be familiar with that. And I think often these are attempts to see whether they can stall or to provide more opportunity for them to file suit.

Phil BacerraItem 24

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. So I would just say to my colleagues, we can either abdicate our responsibility or we can proceed with the ministerial action that's before us tonight. So I'm going to continue to support the motion that I've seconded.

And thank you, Councilman Becerra. Those are great, great information and questions that you have because we do have a responsibility. I have a question. I'm talking. I'm sorry, I don't interrupt you. Go ahead. It must be very important. Go ahead.

Benjamin VazquezItem 24

Sonia, at the beginning of this meeting, we had the, you wanted to add something to the agenda, an item to the agenda. Was this lawsuit that item that you wanted to add to the agenda so we would have that information before going into this? So now we're behind because folks voted down that item on the beginning of the meeting. So we could take two weeks and wait and let our lawyer look at those papers and then we could vote. Thank you.

You're done? Yeah. All right, let me finish my comments now. So thank you, Council Member Becerra, for your comments and your questions because it's very important. We had a similar issue when the AG sent us the letters with AB 2011, local control. this board this body up here has a responsibility to handle business as we say and so this item is before us and on August 15th I can bet dollars to donuts we're gonna be sitting here having the same discussion and it'll still be the same thing and then it'll be over sent over to mr. Bob page to set

this for the city of Santa Ana because we apparently cannot agree to this tonight and set a date with the understanding, Madam City Attorney, because I don't call you Sonia in public, your name is Madam City Attorney out of respect, is that if we were to vote as Councilman Becerra, I mean Councilman Vasquez just stated, if we waited until the 15th and we're in this situation again, tomorrow we could win this or Friday or next Monday. So bottom line is we don't even know what's going to happen with the lawyers because you

got it at 1.30. And I think we've had this, and I've been sitting here only a few months, but we've seen this before, have we not? Where we've been stalled?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Yes, I've given the example in the context of, for example, CEQA reviews and EIRs and documentation has been submitted and the example of the AG, you know, moments before you were going to take action, them asking you to delay. In that case, you may recall that we did delay and then came back and you adopted the ordinances anyway.

Right. And so we moved forward as a body. So I just want to clarify that because I think Councilman Vassara makes some great points about just being responsible, sending a date as Councilman Penelosa had requested, and then if we go to court and we're told no, stop in our tracks, great. If not, we keep going. Otherwise, we will turn it over to the ROV to make the decision after August 15th, because I'm sure at that time we'll still be sitting here 3 to 3. So let's prepare to vote on Councilman Panolosa's.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Did you have a comment? A third comment. You had three rounds? Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I believe the two-week continuance is part of our duties and is permitted under the law, correct?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

The election code provides that the body shall call the election within 14 days of being presented with the certificate.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Right. so I don't think anyone up here or at least I'll speak to myself is trying to let someone else make a decision for us I just want to hear from our professional staff maybe they'll say hey this is a completely frivolous lawsuit there's no basis and we can move forward but I want to give that opportunity so I can hear from my staff and see what's going on and on August 15th I will do my duty right as required under the law to set a date I don't think that that is saying that we're going to delegate it

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

to anybody else because it's with completely within the law and I think that it would just give I guess I just don't see why that would be an issue because it is permitted and allowed thank Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Becerra, please.

Phil BacerraItem 24

Thank you, Madam Mayor. One thing that's also allowed under law is to abdicate our responsibility and give it to the ROV. That is also allowed by law. Madam City Attorney, if I might ask, so let's just say this lawsuit by whoever filed it is successful. It's not the city of Santa Ana that's going to stop the election, correct?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

If they're successful, they would get a judge to issue that writ against you, the city council. The lawsuit that was filed names the city council as the defendant in this lawsuit.

Phil BacerraItem 24

But I mean, so as this recall process is going forward, the city doesn't have discretionary action as far as to say, well, we don't want it. We're just going to stop it because even though all these requirements under state law have been met, we don't have the discretion to stop it correct that's correct the only

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

discretion that this city council has as you sit here tonight the only discretion that you have is to act today or to act on August 15th that is the

Phil BacerraItem 24

only discretion that you have thank you and the last thing I'm just gonna say is we have the ability to act as in to set a date or we have the ability to abdicate whether we do that tonight or on the 15th thank you madam mayor that is correct

David PenalozaItem 24

Okay, no, their comments are yet. I'm sorry. I just have a question for the city attorney. Madam city attorney Earlier in the day when you first brought this up to me mentioned that you're you would still recommend moving forward tonight I recall What is that has that changed?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Do you want my opinion in public? I was willing to go into closed session. No, we're not gonna have we we said no

As you said, yeah, I mean, we voted earlier, and I don't want to step out of line like that. So I apologize. Okay, no, that's fine. We did vote earlier on this item, and you weren't here yet, Councilman. So we voted, we made a decision, so let's move forward.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

The motion on the floor is by Councilmember Penaloza, seconded by Councilmember Becerra, to approve the resolution accepting the certificates and to approve a resolution calling and giving notice of a special municipal election on November 7, 2023.

Thank you. Let's vote.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I do have a clarification just about the result of the vote, not issues. Madam City Attorney, if this vote, as it says, which is to accept the certificate of sufficiency and to set the date, fails, this item does not come back on the 15th because a prior motion to continue to the 15th also failed.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

No, the city clerk would have, in my opinion, a ministerial duty to represent this to you if this vote's in no action.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Got it. Thank you.

Madam city clerk, is there anything you want to add?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

No, not. Just a clarification that there is also a resolution setting a regulation for a candidate statement as part of the recommended action. But otherwise, yes, if this vote were to fail, I will be bringing this item back for your consideration at the next meeting, regardless of the initial vote to continue.

So you want to start again and give us the motion and move by, second by.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Yes, Mayor. So the motion is by Council Member Penaloza, seconded by Council Member Becerra, and it's to approve three resolutions. The first is a resolution accepting the certificate of sufficiency of the recall petition. The second is a resolution calling and giving notice of a special municipal election to be held on November 7, 2023. and the third is a resolution adopting a regulation for a candidate statement. Perfect. Let's vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

The vote is three ayes, three nays. Ayes by Council Members Penaloza, Becerra, and Mayor Amesqua. Nays by Council Member Hernandez, Fan, and Vasquez. The motion fails. Ministerially, I will return this item for your consideration on August 15th.

And once again, that will be the final day.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

For your action, that is the 14th day from this presentation of the certificate.

Phil BacerraItem 24

Great. Madam Mayor, I would actually, before we completely abandon this item, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the resolution accepting the certification of the Registrar Voters, but not take action on setting the date.

David PenalozaItem 24

I'll second.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

I'd like to make a sub motion and recommend that we move and postpone this matter until August 15th. That is my sub motion.

Phil BacerraItem 24

Wasn't that motion already made? I second. It was already made. Madam City Attorney.

Phil BacerraItem 24

When we be re-voting on it. Councilman Hernandez made the same motion.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

yes but you've you've opened up a new motion so it's he has the ability to do a substitute motion

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

to your new motion and under rosenberg's rules of order we are able to postpone a consideration

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

absolutely i second that out all right i don't know the rules yet

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

you must not be reading councilman the motion on the floor is a substitute motion by councilmember Hernandez seconded by a council member Vasquez to continue consideration of item number 24 to August 15th

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

the vote is three eyes three nays eyes by council member Hernandez van and Vasquez nays by Councilmember Penaloza, Becerra, and Mayor Mesquilla. Motion fails, which returns us to the prior motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by Councilmember Penaloza, to accept the first resolution, accepting the Certificate of Sufficiency.

Let's prepare to vote.

And all we are doing, again, Madam Clerk clarified. Aye.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Is approving the resolution accepting the certification of the Orange County Register of Voters as to the verification of signatures and the city clerk's certificate of sufficiency for the petition seeking to recall Council Member Jesse Lopez. This is not setting any election date at this time.

Perfect. Thank you. Let's prepare to vote.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

May I comment on my vote?

Can you vote first?

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

Just that I think the certificate of sufficiency is actually the issue raised in the lawsuit. That is that issue for me. Thank you.

Perfect. Thanks.

Phil BacerraItem 24

I'm sorry, Benjamin. So would you like to go ahead and make a motion then to set the date for the election then and not do anything on the certificate of sufficiency?

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

No, because I don't want to set a date if it's not sufficient. All right. Thank you.

Are we done with comments? We've already passed the three rounds, three minutes. So let's move on now.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

The vote on this final motion is three ayes, three nays. Ayes by Councilmembers Peneliza Becerra and Mayor Emesqua. Nays by Councilmembers Hernandez, Fan, and Vasquez. Motion fails.

We are going to put this in the August 15th meeting. Let's move on. Councilmember requested items.

Item 25. Item 25 was requested by Councilman Hernandez. Councilman Hernandez, it's all yours.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

Thank you, Madam. I wanted to take the opportunity to thank members of the public who called in today and advocated for seeing improvement in the area of city facilities, parks, and recreation centers. over the past couple of decades you know many residents who were born in this city who live in this community know that our little leagues are a foundation of Santa Ana services the little leagues are not funded by the city of Santa Ana the city of Santa Ana has been a consummate partner with little leagues

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

dating back to the early 90s Pearl and and John Raya Leon Raya have been staples in Articia Pilar and all throughout the community providing little league services in the areas of baseball handball and a multitude of amenities that residents have benefited from however over the past year we have seen an increase in residents complaining about the facility fees that are attached to reserving community centers reserving the Santa Ana Stadium and utilizing our recreation centers. So what I am asking my colleagues today is to meet the community where they're at,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

support them in making these partnerships more accessible. Neighborhood leaders have requested for the city to decrease fees. What I would like to propose is that we decrease fees for neighborhood association events that allow the neighborhood associations to use community centers beyond neighborhood association meetings. I believe that if a neighborhood association would like to provide an educational seminar or would like to provide services back to the community during the holidays, I do believe that our community centers should waive those fees, given that taxpayers are the very reason why these community centers exist,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

the very reason why these jobs exist. I think if Parks and Rec wants to generate money, they should utilize the stadium and should book concerts, they should book fights, they should be proactive with programming our city amenities. I also think that we have to have a friendlier environment for our nonprofits, and we need to have different tiers of partnerships that are priorities. I think tier one partnerships can be looked at very closely to the model that the city of Los Angeles has, where they have core partnerships, where I believe that would qualify as our Santiago Little Leagues, our Pee Wee League football organizations.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

organizations. And I also think organizations like TKO Boxing Club has the second ranked welterweight in the world, Alexis Rocha, who was a kid at one point who joined this boxing club and is now one of the best fighters in the world. The city of Santa Ana should partner with organizations like TKO to waive fees to make boxing competitions more accessible to the public, utilizing our stadium, utilizing community centers. I do believe that a good example we can look at is taking a look at Willard and the Santa Ana Active Streets partnership that they had with the Willard community where the city of Santa Ana waived those fees so

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

that they can provide services to hundreds of residents. Artisa Pilar has a Christmas event that serves thousands of residents. The city has worked with them in the past on waiving fees and then lastly little leagues have reached out and shared that they have had games canceled due to increased amounts of fees and at this point it has become unsustainable and I indulge my colleagues to join me in decreasing fees. That concludes my comments.

If anybody has pushed the item to speak.

Is that a yes or no? Yes. Okay.

Councilor. It doesn't like you. Not me. Councilmember Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Thank you, Mayor.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Well, I think the intention between this item is wonderful. I think, you know, I feel like I understand why we heard from a lot of community members about fees and how expensive it can get and whatnot.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

But, you know, the difficulty is that the city has to staff the centers, whether it's staff time, electricity, security, all of the things that come with running a community center or any other facility in the city. You know, our city council has a discretionary budget of $10,000 a year that we can use in order to support any nonprofit that is interested in working in our city who may not have the funds necessary. So whether it is to rent a location or to hold an event, et cetera.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

So while I do understand, I also discovered that while we do have fees which are in line with other cities, there are actually not enough to recuperate the cost that it costs the city in order to open the facilities, staff the facilities, secure the facilities, et cetera. We are already subsidizing anyone who is interested in using the facilities here in the city.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

The city is not a profit-governed or profit-generating entity. We do things at cost in order to provide services to our residents and our taxpayers and our visitors. And so with that, I urge anyone who is interested who may have difficulty paying for some of these facilities to reach out to the city council member who represents their ward to seek support or build partnerships with other profit generating organizations who may be able to sponsor or support them in another way because they do get a tax benefit from donating to a nonprofit entity. And so with that, I will not be supporting this item today.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues thank you thank you

Benjamin VazquezItem 25

councilmember Vasquez I do support this item I've done events I've organized events many years and and I know that when we organized no check that that is the cost for the police department being available is 30% of the cost so that's something I would like to see the fee go down. I have been in talks with the baseball group at Memorial Park and they're worried about the fees and the cost of the lights. Pony baseball is worried about the the the fees of the

Benjamin VazquezItem 25

of the parks and the lights as well and and they're nonprofit and these are parents who go out there they're doing it themselves they're selling their they're they're selling uh at the snack shop and they're raising funds and they're looking themselves and they do this after school for their kids and i would like to see more support for the non-profits but also give space in our uh in our recreation areas where where a neighborhood association can have a meeting where a neighborhood association vol as volunteers come and give classes or have some kind of program that they need.

Benjamin VazquezItem 25

So I would like to see us support folks who have very little but time, and that's what they're giving. They're giving their time to their community, to their family, and their children. So I would like to support this item. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Thank you. I am supportive of seeing options come back because one of the main issues, especially what I received for Fourth of July in the neighborhoods and War III that were wanting to have these neighborhood events was one issue for them was the cost and so they did email me and asked me to intervene or or not intervene but to advocate on their behalf because they were notified of the cost you know like maybe a couple of days before the parades were gonna start And so it's something that I have continued to hear is the amount of money that nonprofits

Jessie LopezItem 25

or people that want to throw events are coming across. I'm not saying to subsidize an entire amount, but I am open to options because I understand that we have services and staff time that we need to pay for, and we are looking for funding sources. It's something that we discussed during the budget. But I am interested in seeing what options are available specifically to work with the neighborhoods and the organizations that exist here and are trying to continue their traditions and find it more difficult, more costly year after year to host our events.

Councilmember Penelosa.

David PenalozaItem 25

Thank you, Mayor Amesqua. I just wanted to start off by saying that I'm not supportive of this item at this time and want to thank staff for your tireless work over the last couple of years to really take a look at the bigger picture in our city when it comes to our city facilities and the need for us to at least have a cost-neutral program moving forward. I could remember back to early 1990s when I was a child and I'd go to Centennial soccer fields and our parks for soccer games and my uncles would play soccer.

David PenalozaItem 25

And I remember being a little boy and sitting there on the field and seeing how each player at the time in the mid-90s would give the coach 20 bucks each. And then the coach would collect all the money from all the different teams and give it to one person. And I'd always sit there and be like, oh, that's interesting. I never really thought about it. I was a child. I didn't care. And I was just like, okay, people pay money, right? And as I got older, I realized the number of people that were subleasing our fields, making money off our taxpayers, making money off our city. Because why?

David PenalozaItem 25

Because the city would rent out our baseball fields, our soccer fields, for a dollar. You know what? You could rent the whole field for a dollar. And what did our staff do? we initiated an investigation where there were many people that were basically

David PenalozaItem 25

found to be acting in a very criminal way basically embezzling and stealing money from our city in the form of subleasing fields so what did we have to do we had to restructure our entire field and facility renting system. We brought in a consultant that studied the fields, studied what other cities in the surrounding area charge. Why? Because we need to pay our electricity, our water, maintenance, employees, staff. Somebody needs to lock these fields up at night

David PenalozaItem 25

and open them up in the morning. Those people need to get paid. All the wonderful lighting that's coming in, that needs to come from somewhere. We can't just say, you know what, you know, we're gonna charge you zero dollars and you're gonna be able to have these state-of-the-art fields. Somebody needs to pay for this stuff. And I want to thank the many neighborhoods across our city that I see very activated every day to fundraise, to organize, to be able to put these great events and never bat an eye at the cost

David PenalozaItem 25

that it takes to pay for our police officers that are out there that have to barricade the street, public works, parks and rec. It takes staff time and enclosures and attorney time. I mean, it's, there are expensive feats to go under, so I can't support this at the time. Thank you, staff for tireless work over the last couple of years to really fix the problem of corruption that was going on in our city um related to this so thank you and with that um that is it mayor but

i cannot support this thank you councilman pan and councilman pan um but sarah please i apologize i

Phil BacerraItem 25

landed this morning from mexico i'm so sorry thank you mayor um i i just want to express that i also will not be supporting this item. While I appreciate the idea of trying to lower the cost for some of the groups listed, that was, as Council Member Penaloza talked about, that's why we had the lengthy discussions. That's why we had the items come before us. One thing I'm very appreciative of is not only Director Scott, but also his predecessor for bringing forth standardized policies, doing the necessary legwork to not only do a comparative study of what fees are in other cities, but where can we stretch it to make

Phil BacerraItem 25

sure that those fees are as low as reasonably possible while at the same time not compromising the quality of our parks. And, you know, in fact, when I first saw this item, I thought, well, you know, one thing that I've kicked around and I've briefly discussed it with staff is, you know, what are we doing for those that use our fields and they get a pretty good deal and then they take advantage of it. And what I mean by that is, I mean, for instance, they leave the fields in terrible condition. You know, are we actually withholding deposits? Are we fining? I'm going

Phil BacerraItem 25

the opposite direction because at least in my ward, the residents surrounding those parks are frustrated when folks that go through the permitting process don't even treat the parks like it's their own backyard. They treat it less than that. And so my frustration, I would say, is that you know we see folks take advantage of what the current system is and to councilmember paloza's point before there was really a true organized system there were people taking advantage of it in a criminal way so i don't want to go backwards so i just want to say thank you to staff

Phil BacerraItem 25

for all the work that you've done to this point i appreciate the i want to say the idea or maybe the motivation to want to reduce these fees but I think that we would see lower quality parks and I think that our staff has been doing such a good job in improving the quality of parks I don't want to see us go backwards and unfortunately we've got to pay for them and by law we cannot charge user fees in a way that exceed the estimated cost of providing the service so what we charge now does not exceed it we're not making money we're trying to pay for the

Phil BacerraItem 25

services for the parks and so um i just want to say thank you to staff for putting forth a policy and a fee schedule that does its best to maintain the quality of the parks to the best they can my last thing i'm going to say is that you know another thing that impacts the cost of providing quality parks is you know in talking with staff we've had several instances at our parks where people are stealing copper wiring. So here we are, we get a press release, we get an email that says, hey, guess what? Park X has brand new lighting. And then how many days later, oh, guess what?

Phil BacerraItem 25

You guys need to approve some more money to repair these lights. Well, what do you mean? We just, we just got them installed. We just got this great message about them being operational and for the use of the community. Nope, they've been vandalized. They've been damaged in a way that we need to replace them and so those costs impact our ability to provide quality parks so there's a whole litany of things here that impact it but I would just say again thank you staff for what you've done I won't be supporting the item

before us tonight okay great I'm gonna close it out there's no other speakers so madam city manager during the budget when we were about to vote I think you made a very important statement. Do you recall what that statement was? I do. You want me to remind you? You can remind me, Mayor. You said, we have no more money. I recall that. I dream about that. I don't dream about you. I dream about that statement.

We have no more money. And so, I mean, I think that for next year's budget, this could be a discussion of how we can help some of the organizations that are working with our youth and our families. Councilmember Fan, thank you so much for reminding our constituents and the groups to request funding from their council members because I know that when I became, when I started sitting in this chair I only had half of my funding and it was immediately gone because I gave it out and people all over the city organizations and groups and neighborhoods asked for money and

it's a hard decision but my focus was on youth and neighborhood association but around the youth so this year I was at Memorial Park with Councilman Penalosa and I reminded baseball and football sending your requests sending your request. Everywhere I go and I talk to organization, I say send in your request. Your council members have X amount of dollars. I believe it's $10,000, Madam City Manager, that each council member has. $10,000 to allocate to different organizations to assist them. Is it a lot of money? No, but it is

something. And I would love to support this item. However, as others have stated up here, just the cost alone to have somebody go out and clean the parks and the bathrooms and, you know, close up lock. I mean, if you sat down and I was looking at this information that I requested, parks, rec and community services section, and I was looking at the cost, it's reasonable. Does our community need to find ways, some organizations, to make more money? Yes, they do. and any way that we can help them do that.

But we don't have, I think the city manager said it very clearly, we don't have the funding. We have no more money to just say everything is for free. Now, if next year we want to have a discussion about maybe we do not have a couple parties or festivals and we move that money to organizations and youth programs or baseball or Little League, I'm sure they would be very happy to take that money instead of having a festival that costs us, you know, $80,000 and move it to these organizations.

I would wholeheartedly support that because festivals are one day, one night, and the funding that we'd be able to give them would not be one night, one day. It would be for the entire season of baseball or football. So I think we just need to remind our constituents to please ask for money, a donation from each one of your council members, and that I cannot support this at this time either because we do not have the money. We have to find ways to generate revenue. We do not have the money.

So we all just received new monies on July 1st. Everybody up here received their $10,000. So please send in your requests for $100, $250, $500, whatever it is that you're going to request. And hopefully your council members will get back to you and give you a check and make a donation to your organization. So at this time, no, I cannot support this item either. Thank you.

I think, Madam City Manager, you have, we're good?

Yes, Mayor, there is no majority for me to return with this item.

All right, item 26, please.

Item 26 was requested by Council Member Vasquez. Council Member Vasquez?

Benjamin VazquezItem 25

Council Member Vasquez? Hello. Yes, I am calling on for us, the City of Santa Ana, to support California Assembly Bill 1306 and urges the California State Legislature to pass this bill in order to harmonize state policy with broadly supporting the 16 criminal justice reforms that have already been enacted into law and be it. So we want to support immigrant families, refugees who have been incarcerated and upon release be let go home and not sent over twice as we have the practices that have been going on. We continue to do this. We

Benjamin VazquezItem 26

continue to hurt our families. It's a double punishment. Once you're incarcerated by ICE, often they go on there for a prolonged periods of time with no right to bail and being deported and permanently banishing them from the country. So as we've gone to restorative practices, as we've seen that people can rehabilitate themselves, as we saw Jimmy Rumsey become a family man and a leader and a community man, a supporter and nurturer of students we can do this with all folks and make sure that we give families hope and we don't snatch hope from the lives of folks so I hope that you would

Benjamin VazquezItem 26

support me in passing this resolution and support of the Home Act and send it on to the state legislature and the state and members of the Senate and

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

Assembly. Councilman Hernandez. Just wanted to voice my support on the item Thank you, Councilmember.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Councilmember Fan. Thank you, Mayor. I am in full support of this resolution and in support of the passage of AB 1306.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I've worked with folks who have been incarcerated. I've worked with the immigrant community. I, myself, being an immigrant. And we're not perfect. I'm not perfect. and to think that when someone is sent to prison who has served their term pursuant to the decision of a jury who says this is your term, this is your sentence, and you will pay your debt to society, and they may come out, they may rebuild their lives, they may give back to the community, but they won't have that chance because the state of California, when they pass sanctuary in this state,