Read the April 2 meeting.

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© transcript Emily Beynon Thank you.

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Good night.

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guitar solo

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Recording in progress.

so

Valerie Amezcua

madam clerk please start the meeting yes mayor please go ahead i hereby call the satana council meeting to order this meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via zoom the public may access the meeting via the satana 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 council member becerra council member hernandez council

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Penaloza? Present. Council Member Vasquez? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Fan? Here. Mayor Meskwa? Present. The records show we have five

Valerie Amezcua

members present. Thank you. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda? There are none. Do any Council Members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Jennifer L. Hall

No, there are no speakers in the audience nor were any cards e-comments received related to the closed session agenda.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. We'll now at this time recess to closed session.

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guitar solo

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guitar solo

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Progress.

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Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, please start the meeting.

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, Mayor, go ahead, please.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. Thank you all very much for being here this evening. I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. 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. As a reminder, this is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. As mayor, I'm afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or a break or even to clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business.

Valerie Amezcua

Warnings will be provided prior to any action. For everyone's safety, per the fire marshal, please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, or along the back wall of the council chamber, or in front of the entrances or exits. To ensure that all members of the public may watch and participate in the meeting without disruption, designated media areas for filming and photography are marked, or please check with staff in the back. Guidelines for members of the news media and anyone else who wishes to film or photograph the meeting are available in the lobby during city council presentations and oaths of

Valerie Amezcua

office guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos madam clerk please conduct the roll call council member becerra here council member hernandez

Jennifer L. Hall

present council member lopez here council member penaloza here council member vasquez president mayor pro tempad here mayor mesqua president the records show all seven members are present

Valerie Amezcua

thank you madam clerk before we proceed to the pledge of allegiance please make any announcements

Jennifer L. Hall

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 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand now in order to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence this does not apply to public hearing item number 23 or the housing authority agenda for which comments will be heard during those specified times and please hold your comments on those items until called upon thank you thank you very

Valerie Amezcua

much the first item and the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance Nabil would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance

please place your right hand on your heart and repeat after me I I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much, Nabil. At this time, words of inspiration will be provided by Reverend Walter Contreras. Please come to the podium, sir.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able to share with you. My name is Reverend Walter Contreras. I am a faith-rooted organizer for CLUC, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. I'm also part of SAFE, and I would like to pray with you all just for us to come before God and allowed him to give us wisdom in everything that we do. Dear God, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to be able to represent your people in this wonderful city of Santa Ana.

I pray that you will give each member of this council counsel the wisdom, give them the authority, and help them to understand their responsibility, the moral responsibility that they have in order to provide guidance and decision making for this city. I pray for every person of this city, those ones who are being represented and those ones who are not, who don't have a voice.

We understand this city is a very, very special city because it has a lot of residents who are non-documented. We have a lot of people who are part of this city who need to have a voice. I just pray that you will give us a vision to see further than ourselves and to be able to have a heart of inclusion and belonging and helping others so they can foster, Lord, inclusion and help them to understand the civic responsibility that they have.

Help the city to take that powerful opportunity of moral authority you've given them so that we can see every voice and hear every voice that is not being representative today. Give them wisdom. Give them joy. Give them the willing heart to take that step as leaders to do what is best for this city. We ask you all of this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you so much, Father.

Valerie Amezcua

madam Kirk are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda there are none thank you mr. city manager can we please have staff presentation please I'd like to welcome our new acting city manager Alvaro Nunez he's he didn't realize I was calling on him as so let's welcome him as our city manager thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

so sir when we say city manager that would be you to respond all right thank you if you have your presentation for the parks and recs please

if I could has please the your parks and recreation team join us up here

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

I think he wants you to come up all the way we know they're not shy so and if I

can also have David bolts team up here Gary and I know you're all here Eric and and the bill all right hi everybody and a very pleasant good evening to you today in front of you is your parks and recreation team as well as some of our friends or from the public works department on our park amendments and our design team from David volts we are here today to honor them for some of the

awards we just received um next slide please so every year we go to the california parks and recreation society also known as cprs this year is in palm springs and what it is is all the parks and recreation departments from across the state north south mid all come together to network to you know learn to give presentations and again to recognize some of the great things you're doing in community most of you might know this as the best of the best of boards but it is known as the state awards of excellence next slide please so this year we were honored with three

separate awards first one excellent in design park planning community class two for santiago park two creating community award of excellence for the community health and wellness for our community gardens and last our marketing and communication award of excellence for the print publication class for for our Kaltura magazine next slide please first off we have the design team from David bolt up there we have a Eric and we have Gary they were part of the team as well as Macy Mike and George who are

part of our public works teams so basically if you guys have not gone by santiago park it is turning to a gym of even a more gym of what it is and again we did a design of removing the existing street and parking lot to create additional open space and development of vacant areas to include a new amphitheater renovation of historic gas house building new playground area restaurant renovations appendix areas open lawn area pedestrian tails waterwise landscaping and sightlining and i'm here to tell you we're just getting started with santiago park so be on the

lookout for that next slide please our second award went out to our community gardens team as you guys know we do have five gardens out that promote physical activity to produce fresh produce create a calming environment that reduces stress and they also foster community connections education emotional well-being by engaging people of all ages and naturally based activities so the things we highlight there are foster we foster social cohesiveness we sustain and steward natural and cultural resources support human development and endless learning and we strengthen the

community's identity and we facilitate community problem and resolve issues so those of you that have gone to pacific park el salvador park um roosevelt walker and yeah madison and jerome you know go check it out you know we have an event coming up where a lot of these gardens gonna show some love which you guys all know the me and got the San Ana so again it's great next slide please you know here are some of these pictures and each one of these pictures do come from the five gardens as you see there's so much that's going on there and we're really excited of what

Rudy Veronica and our team have done out there next slide please you guys have seen it we are now on our fifth edition about to put out our six our city of santa ana cultura magazine um up there you see the five photos and what's beautiful about that those are from right here taken in santa ana by real people none of our photos in our magazine are nothing but real and we engage a community to send in photos so if you guys do get a chance to check it out we have QR codes it's in English it's in Spanish it's really good next slide please you know what makes our culture magazine more than a brochure you know it's

includes tipsity and community engagement it's inclusive tied on Spanish translations it's eco conscious and budget-friendly subscription model we have intentional soaring telly storytelling articles we have community service focus holistic branding and like I was just mentioning we have the community exclusive photos next slide please this is a bit of a surprise you know she didn't know about this but standing so she's a little embarrassed staying up there we have demi perez she was honored with the mark feldman professional volunteer award for cprs district 10. we sit in

district 10. so this award is presented to a professional volunteer who has contributed to district 10 or cprs during the past year who has also gone above and beyond to make a difference in their community other than being a part of our award winning team demi has also was is also the marketing specialist for cprs district 10 and has shown exemplary work ethic in what she does so a big big big round of applause

so next slide please and again that's what we got I just want to bring these bring your Santa Ana Parks and Recreation team up here so you guys can see what great things they are doing for the city what yeah hey round of applause everybody so again Thank You council forgive me the time of the day to show you guys what we do well thank you all very much for the hard work I

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

think if any of the council members want to make comments but thank you all for everything you do I was out there with you on Easter a Saturday in the rain you guys are working even in the rain so thank you so much for everything that you do

i'm just going to look closer all right

Jessie LopezItem 4

oh my gosh thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

madam city attorney do you have anything to report out of closed session mayor

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

council members and members of the public we had three closed session items this evening but we do not have any reportable action great thank you at

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

At this time, this is the time the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call for our speakers, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to resolution number 2023-047, speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial epithets, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. speakers will have two minutes for their comments before calling the speakers I'll provide the following summary of emails provided as of today at 2 p.m. council received 89 e comments 2 on non agenda topics 58 on item 19 and 29 on

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

item number 21 those were distributed to the council and posted to the city's website for public review we'll hear from speakers here in the chamber first followed by those on the conference call or zoom please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record and when you i'll be calling names three at a time if you could please line up in the aisle behind the podium when your name is called first three speakers pedro magalan melissa aberto and jorge rodriguez madam city clerk can you give them the time please yes it will be two minutes for your comments

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Pedro Magallon, and I'm here representing my colleagues and myself on Team 90 League, United Latin, and all the other ones that we spoke to last time. We're here again because we didn't get any response from our comments of last session, and we're trying to see if we could meet with Mr. Hernandez and Mr. David Peñalosa, even though he thinks that we're a mafia we want to prove to him that we're not and we'd like to work with the city council so that we can show what we're doing and how we're doing it and how

we're making a difference in in santa ana with the youth and soccer and the hispanic organizations

also uh amesqua you know you and i talked a lot when you were in the uh on the other side in the school board and you talked about amazing things that the city should be doing and we want to join in that amazing journey that you guys are doing right now. So please help us. I've had numerous meetings with some of your staff, with Mr. Mendoza as well. We couldn't get anywhere. Our organization, 100-plus kids, have not been able to train for the last month. We're going to go in our second month because not so much is the policies and procedures that you guys approved, is so much as the adding things that they keep adding

to the policies and procedures that you guys did not approve. So we would like to address all that stuff with you guys whenever it's more convenient for you guys. And tonight, you know, I want to recognize Mary Elizadas. She just retired from Park and Recreation. She's one of your part-timers. She was very helpful for, I think, 15-plus years. And I didn't hear mention of her in anything, but I want to do it because she did a great work with us all this time. So thank you for your time, and hopefully Mr. David and Hernandez, if you guys could take our calls and have the time to meet with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Melissa Porto, and I am the league representative for Team 90 League. I've been struggling with severe anxiety since I was 11 years old. Soccer has helped me control my mental health struggles and also become a better version of myself. A lot of children depend on their sport to help them through their depression, ADHD, PTSD, and in my case, my anxiety. And the recent increases in the field fees make it too expensive to participate in sports. This can cause a bad increase in mental health problems for our youth and our community.

I recently read an article in the voice of OC that states that Santa Ana has gone up in rankings for the amount of parks. This is great, but personally I don't think it would be it should be about the parks we have. I think it should be about how those parks are for sports and activities and that they help unite the community. By allowing field fees to go up you are taking away from not only the youth but the entire community as a whole. Please consider helping us because 100 plus kids in our organization have not been able to come to practice because fees went from $3,000 a month to $7,000 a month.

We would love to meet with you, Pena Loza, so we can educate you on how we are not a mafia.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Jorge Rodriguez, followed by Brian Leos and Salvador Toscano.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jorge Rodriguez. I'm part of Santana DSP. I'm here because we've been here for three years with the new administration that they assigned for parks and recreation and in reality we have not advanced anything. It is due to lack of experience, to a total ignorance of our national identity. We are a city where 76% are Hispanic and our culture is ignored, what our community likes. gusta entonces no sana no sana is Lando knows como ya dijo Pedro and

anteriormente estan creando cosas de repente de agregando las a los procesos y las reglas que hay en las en las para rentar las los parques y sin avis so si como hacer como dijeron nos gustaría reunirnos con alguno de ustedes con el señor Peñalosa para explicarle acuérdense que siempre las historias in those levels yet in a second also not so many para so very good compartment con nosotros experience yeah this is a this a man has a bit como podemos dar un mejor servicio la comunidad

good evening to everyone when this sort of a really good some part of set and senate the sb and uh... being here are coming here for three years there's been three years with the new leadership in parks and recreation but there has not been any any progress we would like to express that we the people lack the experience and they do not know our ethnic group there we are 76 percent Hispanics they they do not like they do not know what we like and like Pedro said they are isolating us from

participating and they're adding to the rules without any previous any prior notice on how to rent the parks and all the requirements so we would like to meet with some of you with mr. Pena Lhasa because there are always two sides to every story and we would like for you to get to know us so that so that you know how we can serve the community better thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Brian Leos, followed by Salvador Toscano and Pedro Arzate.

Good afternoon, my name is Brian Leos. I currently play in a local club called La Machina. I have been playing for La Machina for half a year and I'm here to tell you guys my story and why taking away the fields from us and other establishments is unfair. I live in an area where there's gang violence and where there's a lot of homeless. I live in an apartment where my dad and I rent a room and playing soccer has kept me from staying away from the street violence and ever since I joined La Machina, it feels more than just a soccer club. It's more like a family.

Ever since you guys started raising up the prices for the soccer fields and not letting us play in the fields, also calling the several soccer organization mafia, a quote that city City Council member David Penalosa said, yes, I've taken away our love and passion of the sport from the team and the other local Santa Ana teams. This is how most of us local soccer players stay away from the gang violence. Majority of the children here in Santa Ana are always being stereotyped and are expected to go into prison coming out of high school. And lastly, to the director of park and recreation, your decisions of charging us $159

an hour really kills any possibility of kids like me to not be able to afford to continue in the sport that I love. Hope you guys rethink your decisions and help these soccer organizations. Thank you for your time.

Good evening, Council. My name is Salvador Toscano. I live at 2227 North Broadway in Santa Ana. I am here tonight to speak on tax fraud in the construction industry. It is estimated that construction tax fraud is responsible for cheating communities out of billions of dollars in tax revenue. That's billions of dollars in lost tax revenues that could be used for building and renovating schools, repairing roads, caring for veterans, sheltering the unhoused, and funding other essential public programs. programs. The prevalence of construction industry tax fraud has reached crisis levels and must

be stopped. This April, Carpenters Local 714 and the United Brotherhoods of Carpenters are taking part in a National Tax Fraud Day of Action, a week-long series of events to raise awareness about construction industry tax fraud. The Tax Fraud Day of Action grew grew out of widespread outrage about construction industry tax fraud, a range of practices where employers evade their tax responsibilities in several ways.

Often, they intentionally misclassified workers as independent contractors or pay workers in cash-only arrangements. As a result, these businesses significantly reduce their income tax and payroll tax responsibilities and defraud communities out of much needed tax revenue. And as communities are continuously facing budget shortfalls, it's more important than ever to crack down on these bad acts employers who are stealing from the residents of the city of Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next three speakers, Pedro Arzarte, Johnny Mejia, and Uriel Chavez.

Hello, my name is Pedro Arzarte, and I reside here in Santa Ana. I'm here to speak more about on the fees and policies of Parkinson's recreation. More on a personal note, I kind of grew up here in Santa Ana. Since young, I had the opportunity to be part of the sports atmosphere here in Santa Ana because of how cheap it was. I come from a single mother home, so we did not have the financial freedom. It was not a luxury of us. So I want to touch on how that helped me to become a better man in life. Not to mention the difficulties. I ended up being what we call the super senior. I was a senior when I was 19.

It gave me the discipline and the courage to become a better man. The man I am today, I am a service member of the Air Force, and I'm on my way to become a pilot and I want to touch on that because of that I have a younger brother that's growing up and the prices of the stadiums or the fields is just very very high where most families in Santa Ana cannot afford on that we're talking about seven thousand dollars a month so I please stand here ask you to reconsider the pricing and policies of the parks and recs thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Johnny Mejia, Uriel Chavez, Alvin Alamon Sr.

Hello, my name is Johnny Mejia. I'm once again here representing the soccer for the youth program and the adult program. I was wondering what's the process to get our feedbacks from our comments because I left you guys our emails and stuff like that. So if I can share again my personal cell phone number so you guys can either text me if that needs to be done or email because we need to get this done as soon as possible. As you hear our players, they're not playing. Me personally, my youth group, I lost over 40 teams in the last two weeks. That's about close to like 200 players that cannot participate. They had to

council so they can't afford these fields at a high fee so uh if you guys can please consider the um fees right because all the um regulations are contradiction so it's very hard for these city of santa ana you know all these players come from they can't afford to pay these high fees and And also just the rules and regulations that it's there, it's really unfortunate that if a group member falls, he started his program, say, 15 minutes before prior, everybody gets punished for it.

We used to have 15 minutes prior to start, you know, to prep the field and go into the field and start. But now everybody has taken that away from us. So because of that, people have to rush in on time. We can't start early, not start early, but at least set up early. So that's very hard for us, for the organizations to get ready for our fields. So please consider that and I'll leave that information.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next speakers, Uriel Chavez, Alvin Alamon Sr., Maddie D. White.

All right. The number of residents is 1,385 and you have 115 that are not residents. So, we currently have an average of 87.3% of Santana and 2.7% of other cities. We are here to communicate three points.

in March of 2024, on March 15th, they checked and they all got off. So, the rule that you all approved was violated. So, they ignored the children, which means we have children without being able to practice. We have a field that has 200 children practicing, and Mrs. America says, no, you can't have 200, only 100 children at least. There is no rule that says that. There is no capacity in the field that says that either. Thank you.

Good evening, my name is Uriel Chavez, and I'm from California Youth Soccer League, and I'm here to support my other friends as well and I'm not very good in speaking but I'll do my best our league California Youth Soccer League has about 1,500 members you youth members some adults and 1385 are from Santa Ana 115 are non Santa Ana residents so that's about 87.3 percent Santa Ana residents and 2.7 from other cities. And our California Youth Soccer League has been damaged by three things.

One, they put us in level three for 2023 because the administration for Santa Ana Parks and Recreation did not see the rosters for each of the groups. and also the spaces that when they checked this past March 15th 2024 they put us all down and also because they did not follow their own your own rule they violated that rule and we like to we don't have the field for for the kids

to practice we had about 200 kids in one field and Miss America said no you cannot have 200 you can only have about a hundred and so you need to listen to this thank you

good evening mayor Meskwa City Council members my name is Alvin element long time resident of the city of san anna some 60 years now and i'm here on behalf of a group of concerned citizens in the city of san anna about the juneteenth celebration that is has changed what we have heard is that it has been farmed out or bid it out to another outside organization and the orange county heritage associate council will not be heading that

that celebration many of the leaders of the Orange County Heritage Council are my former students I worked in the school district for over going on 40 years and many of those are my students and every time I've gone to one of those celebrations and saw the organization and the structure and the just a camaraderie that was going on up over at uh centennial park i look at it as a you know as a coach and as a mentor there are we're like surrogate parents and it's almost like my kids

are out there doing such a wonderful thing and we what we've heard is that that has been uh taken out of their hands and given to somebody else an outsider that has no contact with the city of san anna and that concerns us and uh there hasn't been a good explanation that i have heard why that has happened and so one of our requests is that we would there should be a reason why this has happened and uh i'm here to let you know that my family and anybody that i can um convince or uh will not be participating in anything that is not uh headed by the orange county heritage association so thank you very much

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

next three speakers

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Maddie D. White, Connie J. Jones, and Wellington Bennett, if you could please line up.

Good evening. I've been in Santa Ana since 62. It was bad. And we don't want, we want the city to help us keep our Juneteenth black organization we invented it and we want to keep it instead of giving it to someone else that knows nothing about the city of Santa Ana and the blacks please help us keep our organization in

in the Blacks' hand because we want to celebrate the days with our heroes and the ones that's coming on. So please help us keep our Juneteenth in the organization that it's in now. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

you. Connie Jones, Wellington Bennett, Ferla Wallace. Good evening honorable

mayor and city council members. My name is Connie Jean Jones, born and raised, live, work, educate, and pray in Santa Ana. I'm here on behalf of the Juneteenth celebration that has been put on for the past couple years by the Orange County Black Historical Commission. To put the event for African Americans in someone else's hands really doesn't please us. I look at this council tonight and I'm pleading with you to give reconsideration the first year 2021 we did it and we had 3 000 people attend

the second year 2022 we had 4 000 people attend and you funded it from my understanding the third year which is now we're supposed to be getting funded for it but for some reason the funding has disappeared for us to for us to put it on it's been put in hands of someone else So it's like a baseball game. You get to first base, and we got to first base, and we did good. We got to second base, and we did good. But now we're trying to get to third base and to make it home, and for some reason,

the money's been snatched from us and given to someone else. So we're not able to make it to home plate. Please reconsider putting it back in the hands of Orange County Black Historical Commission so that we can continue to make a difference in this diverse community of Santa Ana. Thank you.

Good evening.

Mrs. Mayor, City Council of Santa Ana, I've lived here over 45 years. Some of you are still in school, some of you wasn't even born yet. So we come this day to tell you guys that we as a people, we as a unit, we're going to celebrate the stuff that our forefathers had built for us. Our forefathers suffered, sacrificed their lives, and now we celebrating Juneteenth, that means we celebrating them.

So we're asking the mayor to please reconsider their idea about giving Juneteenth to somebody who don't even know how it's run. Keep your $2,000. dollars. We don't need it, but we're going to, if we don't get what we're asking for, we will boycott Juneteenth. Eso es todo lo que pedimos. Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Perla Wallace followed by Sherry Minke and Ty Pham. Okay good evening I'm Perla Wallace.

I've been in Santa Ana since 1962 and I've been to tons of Juneteenth celebrations. Juneteenth is very serious. It's not just some big party. It is our culture and we want to keep it that way. So everybody up here, I don't know if you know what Juneteenth is or what it represents. I would advise to do your research. Google Juneteenth and you'll get a lot of information. I also want to ask that we do keep

Juneteenth under the Orange County Heritage Council and if we can make that happen and keep it in our backyard we will have either way it goes we're going to have a wonderful celebration of Juneteenth it won't stop we're gonna do it either way it goes so we just ask that you take a listen and we would appreciate it if it stays within the Heritage Council thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

sherry minke followed by ty fam and Ricky older sherry minke sherry minke

Morrison Park I shared my personal STR story at the Planning Commission meeting meeting on December 11th 2023 please go back and watch that if you want to hear my personal story but I am a homeowner and short-term rental host in Santa Ana and have been for 10 years on behalf of the local short-term rental host community I ask that you please vote no on agenda number 21 in favor of a sensible collaborative regulations that protect the many benefits that short-term rentals bring to our community i am a mother of five and being able to share my home helps me earn

income to support my family short-term rentals also offer much needed affordable travel options for large families like mine which traditional hotel rooms or suites cannot accommodate that's one of the reasons i am so passionate about short-term rentals short-term rentals have been allowed in the city for over 10 years where home sharing is a lawful valid residential use under the city's existing law by introducing a rush ordinance to restrict short-term rentals the city is acting contrary to a well-established case law in california and ignoring due process and

community input if the council moves forward with tonight's recommendation they would be inviting legal challenges rather than working with us the residents to ensure short-term rentals continue to benefit our city take for example a recent review that I received from a family who stayed at my home the review says we usually stay in Santa Ana for our Disney vacations but this time we opted for Santa Ana and wow what a game-changer the review goes on to talk about the beauty of the neighborhood and of the city and they hope to be able to come back and stay so

please consider all the parts that this ban would have on so many people here in Santa Ana and those coming to the city thank you

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

So if you could please keep your claps, please calmly because we need to get through the two hours of public comments. And I say this every time we have public comments, so it's not just because it's you guys. So please, if you could just keep it down. Thank you. Go ahead, Madam.

okay thank you um good evening uh mayor and honorable members of the santa ana city council thank you for this opportunity to speak this evening my name is ty fam the co-owner of the bowling crab restaurant on macarthur boulevard in mitchell town square in south santa ana i'm here tonight because we need your help we need your help in understanding why the proposed proposed redevelopment of the 41 acres Metro Town Square, where our family has operated our popular seafood restaurant for more than 12 years, has not moved forward in the entitlement process and already been approved.

In fact, it has been nearly two years since the developer related California first met with the tenants at the center and shared their exciting vision to remake the entire site. To date, there has not been a single formal hearing before the Planning Commission or the Council to consider this much needed and overdue plan to revitalize our center. My question to you tonight is simple. Why? Our lease, like almost all the leases at the center, expires next year in 2025. We love our location and allow customers who are like family to us. This is why we want to sign a new lease and remain in the center.

To that end, we have spent thousands of dollars throughout the years on remodeling the interior and plumbing issues that we had due to the aging of our building. And we're planning to spend more money to remodel the exterior of the building, which is much needed to better serve our customer and grow our business for our family and our 75 plus employees right here in Santa Ana. Unfortunately, we put all those plans and dreams on hold because the Related Bristol project appears to be stuck in limbo. In the food and restaurant business... So your time is up. Oh, shoot. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

The next three speakers, Ricky Older, Reverend Wesley Menke, and Richard Austin.

good evening mayor and council my name is ricky older i've lived here for 42 and a half years in santa ana i live in wilshire square which is just around the corner from this related visual project um as you have heard from mr fan the business owners are on hold but we as citizens here in Santa Ana are on hold too. This is a project that will bring so much needed commerce and something really special that nobody's talking about.

One-third of this project will be open space. We will no longer have a black parking lot, ugly non-historic buildings, and I love historic buildings, but they're not historic down there we need to look forward to this this is a mixed-use project we will have senior housing we will have hotels we will have walkways we will have opportunities for people to interact we will make this South Bristol corridor a much more beautiful place why we don't know why we're not going

forward we're confused as to what's missing here because we've given everything we can to this the people have talked to the neighborhoods we've made out reaches and we don't know why this is not going forward so please talk to staff talk among yourselves ask why we can't bring a golden opportunity to our golden city thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

wesley menke richard austin susan tillow

good evening and thank you so much for serving the city please vote no on agenda item 21. my name is wesley menke from morrison park please do tax and regulate short-term rentals my wife sherry and i own and operate a short-term rental business out of our family home in morrison Park. It is the one and only real estate property that we own. We bought our home in this beautiful city because in 2014 I was called to serve as the pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Iglesia Luterana San Pedro, in the Willard neighborhood. Some years later I was called

to serve at Grace Lutheran in Upland. This call currently provides housing to me and my family. Because of that, we decided that we would rent out our family home as a short-term rental. Because when we did research, this body voted not to extend a moratorium in 2015. We checked the code and the website. Nowhere does it say it's prohibited. Nowhere. There is a legal excuse that's given called permissive code, which is very confusing to anyone that tries to do their due diligence. they find nothing saying you can't do this. So we were surprised when we received a notice.

Since then, we have gone to multiple planning commission meetings, and we desire taxation and regulation for short-term rentals. Our home sleeps eight people. Where else can big families stay? It's too expensive to stay in multiple hotel rooms. We love coming home to this city and staying in our home during my time off i enjoy doing regular maintenance we enjoy employing maricela our cleaning professional we would be happy for her to unionize with any union that's here tonight and we will work that our workers are paid ethically regulate and tax thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

richard austin followed by susan tillow and francisco b

Thank you very much. My name is Richard Austin. I'm here with, in regards to agenda item number 21.

We are a resident of Santa Ana Ward 3 and have been for over 23 years. My wife and I have been involved in short-term rental since 2018, and we have always maintained high standards in customer satisfaction, which has resulted in repeat and returning customers. We are on-site and have not encountered any of the issues surrounding short-term rentals that we hear about all the time. Every one of our guests have been respectful of our home and neighborhood. In fact, I hear and see more noise, pollution, and trash with the line fireworks on the 4th of July than I do with short-term rentals.

I also see homeowners and long-term renters, degradation of the neighborhood, residential character, with the Christmas lights on the exterior year-round, visible trash and or trash bins in plain sight, commercial trucks parked on residential streets overnight, and homes with multiple vehicles parked on the streets. The income that we derive from our short-term rental helps us maintain our primary residence, which in turn keeps our neighborhood with a feel and look intact that is so precious to us. But most importantly, the income helps us support my elderly father-in-law who resides in the Washington Square

neighborhood and allows him to stay in his home. Our short-term rental employs local Santa Ana residents, i.e. handymen and gardeners. We market Santa Ana and help the businesses by directing customers to them.

Finally, Airbnb customers don't want to stay in hotels. It's just a fact. Ask them. We always stay at Airbnbs when we're traveling as well. Also I think it is shameful.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Your time is up, sir.

What was that?

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Your time is up.

Oh, no.

I was just getting going. This was good.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

The next three speakers, Susan Toulou, Francisco Bee, and Samuel Vance.

Mayor Emescu, honorable city council members, my name is Susan Toulou, and I lead the Short-Term Rental Alliance group in the city of Orange. On behalf of our members, I'd like to speak to item 21 on this evening's agenda. agenda. Santa Ana is at an important crossroads. In fact, you are exactly where we were in November of 2020. In our journey, we stepped back to consider the objectives and concerns of all sides – the community, these home-based small businesses, and the city and its ability to regulate them. Working together, we considered everything from city culture to permissible

dwelling types, and we addressed concerns like responsible neighborhood integration, operation, occupancy allowance, parking, and keeping noise at bay. There was give and there was compromise, ultimately arriving on an STR regulation. Our Orange host group worked closely with city staff on creating the ordinance, fostering collaboration with STR platforms, and now also with the city as they enforce the code. Today in Orange, STRs are enjoyed by tourists who visit our city, appreciated by local businesses who get more traffic from our recommendations, the wider community has visibility into clear rules under which we operate.

And the city receives valuable, net new revenue from licensing and occupancy taxes, which have helped to fill some of the city's budget gap. This is a win-win-win scenario. In short, regulation works. We ask you tonight, is there a middle path that can satisfy all sides? We respectfully recommend rejecting the staff proposal in agenda item 21 our group in orange is here and we're happy to support you as you navigate the process thank you very much for your consideration

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

hi everyone I'm gonna ask you to please hold your claps and applause it's really hard for us to get through everybody we only have two hours and I know we have a lot of speakers and so please it's whether you support it or not just hold

your applause thank you ready okay I'm here today as a tax-paying resident of Santa Ana to request representation from our publicly elected council members I ask that you change the current rules and allow Santa Ana residents to have a small ability to have short-term rentals using their homes I ask because we also deserve a spot on the table and a complete ban would take that away from from us. It can be as simple as only allowing home sharing, which would mean a Santa Ana resident like myself would have to live in the home and or to only allow one short-term

rental property per household. If the city does not have enough housing for local residents, then there is a simple solution. Require a license to have short-term rentals, which will help give more taxes to the city. This additional money can be used to fund affordable housing instead of luxury apartments we keep seeing pop up that many residents don't make enough to live in. Many of the problems brought up in the report did not cite any data or studies that prove these problems are as big as it claims them to be. I do agree with the council and the local jobs union that a

free-for-all on short-term rentals is a bad idea and a complete ban is also a bad idea. It makes sense to set a limit to preserve local union jobs, but a complete ban will also affect local jobs which includes local restaurants, small businesses, uber drivers, and others because of the tourism that short-term rentals bring to the city. From other comments shared today, many residents do not feel represented by our council and not just by this item but others as well. We are not asking for special treatment but we do ask for fair and equal representation not only that this ordinance could make things worse as

long-term rentals usually have more issues with parking maintaining their homes and if not it's not the same it sometimes it is worse than actual

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

short-term rentals thank you next three speakers Samuel Vance Lizeth Salazar and And Ana Gomez.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

And as a reminder, please get in line. Let's hustle up here. That way we can get through as many folks as possible. Thank you, I would love to hear from as many people. Thank you. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Greetings, Madam Mayor, honorable council members, and special acknowledgments to Patricia Adelacon, PhD, former aide to Dr. King and one of the organizers in the March on Washington. I expect some great things from this council. I have worked with Councilman Sarmiento before he was a supervisor and also Jose Solario was one of the people that taught my daughter. My name is Samuel Vance and I am a resident here, long-term resident in Santa Ana. And what I wanted to do was share a story with you.

you. In my neighborhood, on my block actually, or near my block, someone had drained a pool and the pool was drained for quite a while. They finally wound up renting space in an empty pool with sleeping bags. So I don't know how it is when you guys go home, but I'm sure nobody goes home like that. They had a, like you have a pup tent and a sleeping sleeping bag that is no way to live so I would encourage you to think about this and consider what it is to have that and that there are various alternatives to that you've heard one side you've

heard other sides in my opinion what we really need is a yes on 21. um I I say that because I I feel that that is the best way to go. And I'm hoping that after careful thought and deliberation, everybody here will consider what is happening. The situation is not going to go away by itself. This is something that must be dealt with in some type of form or fashion. So basically, I'm saying to you, yes on 21. Also once again, yes on 21. And once again, please, yes on 21.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

one lizeth salazar followed by anna gomez and jonah breslau

For this reason, I voted yes tonight at point 21 to prohibit short-term rentals without amendments or exceptions. Thank you for your time. Good night.

Good evening. My name is Lizeth Salazar. I've been a union worker for two years. I live in Orange County. And I rent my studio to low-income people. I do not charge them for utilities because I know that there's a big need. and there's a big need for long-term housing that's why I vote yes on 21 so to ban all short-term rentals without modifications without exceptions thank you very much good evening mayor Misca and to council members my name is Anna Gomez I'm a resident of Santa Ana and have been for close to 30 years I'm here

to speak on agenda item number 21 the ordinance the proposed ordinance of prohibition of short-term rentals. I just want to raise the question as to why there are hotel union workers here when the majority of the hotels in Santa Ana are not unionized. A quick call this evening to the hotels informed us that are they not only part of Unite Here 11, they are not unionized at all. Most of the hotels are franchises and are not unionized. I ask that you vote vote no on agenda item number 21. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next three speakers, Jonah Breslau, Liliana Mendoza, and Oscar Gamero.

Good evening. My name is Jonah Breslau. I'm a researcher at Unite Your Local 11, and I'm asking you to continue to protect long-term residents, like the hundreds of our members that live in Santa Ana from the negative effects of short-term rentals and to vote to approve Agenda Item 21, which prohibits short-term rentals with no amendments and no exceptions. Our members are suffering from the housing crisis, and you will hear from many of them about the impacts of short-term rentals. Many cities across Orange County have already passed strict regulations on short-term rentals because they recognize that short-term rentals remove

remove long-term housing from the market. At least 11 cities in Orange County prohibit short-term rentals in some form. The city of Irvine banned short-term rentals in 2018 and saw rents drop 3% on average within two years, a drop that was even greater in areas hit hardest by short-term rentals. Meanwhile, unhosted short-term rentals in Santa Ana have increased by almost 300% since 2019 likely driving up rents and displacing tenants Santa Ana needs to continue having its short-term rental ban just like other cities have I urge

you to vote yes on item number 21 prohibiting short-term rentals with no amendments and no exceptions let's keep residents housed and our communities

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

intact thank you next three speakers Liliana Mendoza Oscar Gamero and dr. Director Patricia Adelakan.

como esas y no pudimos encontrar una vivienda que estuviera de acuerdo al income que tenemos en casa. Encontrábamos viviendas de renta, pero esto también ocasionaba problemas en nuestra comunidad porque muchas personas piensan que las viviendas de corto plazo dan más dinero que a una persona que renta a largo plazo y eso no es verdad. I'm here to support this measure, which is 21. And we are not only a union of workers, but we are also a union of people in this community

fighting for just things. So, it's not fair to us that the people who live in the streets or in other houses don't have the opportunity of these houses that are renting in the low term. So somos muchos en la calle a veces. So gracias.

Good evening. My name is Leonardo Mendoza. Thank you for your time. I used to live here for 20 years in this city, but I raised my daughter here. She was born here. But unfortunately, we could not find low-cost housing in the city, so we had to move out.

And for a long time we lived in situations such as this. We could not find housing according to our income. So we found ourselves renting housing. And because a lot of people think that short term rentals provide more money than regular or long term rentals and that is really not true. so I'm here to support item 21. I'm here with the workers union but not only that I'm here with the union for this community because we fight for fair

things and it is not fair that homeless people do not have the opportunity to have housing due to short-term rentals. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Oscar Gamero followed by Dr. Patricia Adelacon and Liza Rodriguez.

They are sometimes charging up to $150 each year. The contract is for one year, and it doesn't seem fair to them that the increases they are making seem to be making us to get them out of the city of Santa Ana. And many people, many working people like us who work in hotels, it's not fair that we are paying so much money because everything is changing here in Santa Ana. They are taking everything out of the city of Santa Ana. We feel that most of the people who live in Santa Ana are forcing us to leave the city because everything is too expensive.

And unfortunately, we can't survive like this because with these salaries that are very low, we lose all our salaries paying rents, since every year they charge us around 150. That's why they are giving us the contracts for one year. If you don't agree, you leave and they hire people who charge more money. That's what's happening here in Santa Ana. That's why we're asking you to please support us and help us pass the law 21, please. Please support us. We need the community to be helped, because we're the workers. We need your support, please.

We need your support to pass Proposition 21. Thank you.

Good evening City Council, my name is Oscar Gamero. I have lived in Santa Ana for about 34 years. I'm a member of United and I would like to tell you my story. The problem is that we do not have a contract where we live. Our contract is only from year to year and they raise $150 every year. and it's not fair that they're raising our rents to get us out to get us out of Santa Ana and we there's a we're a lot of us in the people who work in hotels are in this same situation and it's

not fair that they're raising our rents to get us out of Santa Ana because I feel that's what's happening that they do this to get us out of Santa Ana because everything is too expensive We can't continue living like this. We make too little money and all of our money goes to pay rent. So that's why we have only a year contract and they charge more every year, $150 more every year. And I'm here to ask you to support us in passing item 21. And we need help. The community needs your help. The workers need help. So please pass number 21. Thank you.

Honorable Councilmembers and especially Jonathan Hernandez, I saw you last week. What a wonderful occasion for everyone here. I think you know what the Fourth of July is.

That's the same thing as Juneteenth. The Fourth of July represents the freedom of Americans in America. Juneteenth was founded when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln to free African Americans or the slaves. After that, the message got around from state to state to state. and finally three years later the information traveled so slowly to

Galveston Texan Texas to say you're free you're no longer slaves the people jubilate it they dance in the street they drank red drinks and so on that was the first Juneteenth way back in 1863 that's what Juneteenth is all about out. Don't play with people. Have empathy. Many of us can relate to other people. Cinco de Mayo and other similar groups across the world. I took time to come here today because Juneteenth is so close to my heart. I have a business here

in Santa Ana for over 20 years. Youth on the Move and the International Educators Hall of Fame. We do wonderful things with young people. We've brought them right here to City Hall where they received awards for what they do. Yes, you can clap if you know who we are. The International Educators Hall of Fame and Youth on the Move.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Dr. Adelaide, your time is up. I'm here because please, why are you taking

a black thing and giving it to someone else it's cultural it's heavenly is moral have empathy next

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

the next three speakers are Liza Rodriguez Hector Lopez and Teresa Garcia good evening everybody my

name is lisa rodriguez and i've lived in orange county for over 40 years my husband and i are both senior citizens we would like to move but we can't afford to my husband has medical issues and cannot work so for that reason we are a one income household deposits and rent are too high more than 50 percent of my income goes to pay the rent we need more affordable housing for seniors seniors for this reason please vote yes tonight on item 21. thank you

next speakers are Hector Lopez and Teresa Garcia

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Hector Lopez Teresa Garcia oh got it

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good evening to all my name is the yeah moment is on your profile good evening to all my name is the Nessa Garcia lived in Santa for seven years I'm here because I'd like to ask you to please vote yes on item 21. Before you vote yes on 21, to consider this. This would help us a lot with long-term renting or rentals. I do not want short-term rentals because we spend a lot of money getting down payments and all that. The rent goes up every year. The landlords are only interested in money.

They're not interested in the renters, and we only make minimum wage, so this would help us a lot, because things are costing too much money. So I'm asking you to please, before voting yes, you consider this before voting yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Hector Lopez, and I'm here to ask you because we cannot pay rent. Rent costs so much and keeps increasing. I have a family of four to support, and I cannot pay more rent. So please help us because we are making only minimum wage.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

each thank you the next three speakers tell my go miss so no Reno Gomez and Elvia Espinoza tell my center Reno and Elvia

and you will understand that things are going up and up and up and we are increasing. And at least I would like to be supported in that aspect. Thank you.

Good evening, God bless you all. My name is Thelma Gomez and I'm here to ask for your support on this proposition. and rents are going up too much, cost too much every year, and things keep going up in cost, and we do not have more money. So I'd like your help in supporting us on this. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Zenorino Gomez, and I've lived in Santa Ana for more than 30 years. and we are here to ask you to please support Measure 21, since the rents, as all my colleagues are saying, are very high, and we don't need short-term housing, we need more long-term housing, because the rents are very expensive. We have lived here for so many years, and it is not possible for them to take us out of our city. Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Enorino Gomez. I've lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years. And I'm asking you to please support item 21. On the rents, like the people have said, are too high. And we don't need more short-term rentals. But we do need more long-term rentals because the rents keep going up. and they want to get us or kick us out of our city. Thank you very much.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

The next three speakers, Elvia Espinosa, Jimena Bakulima, and Pam Pence.

Good afternoon, my name is Elvia Espinosa, and I have been working in the Costa Mesa Hilton for more than 30 years, and I am resident in Santa Ana for more than 30 years, too. and Bristol neighbors.

Since I moved to live in Santa Ana from Los Angeles, I have been paying my rent, and I had to live with many family members and unknown people to be able to pay the rent. For this reason, please vote yes tonight on items 21 to prohibit short-term rents with no amendments and no exception. Thank you for your time.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Jimena followed by Pam followed by Colin Goronski.

Because I can't live here. I live far away. I'm very tired from my job. I have to drive for about 40 minutes to get my job. I've tried to live here, but my salary isn't enough. The cost of living is very high. I can't find a house to live in. My salary isn't enough. So, for that reason, I decided to come here to ask you to support us in this measure. I vote yes to this measure that affects contracts in the short term.

It affects us, who already live here, who want to live here. aquí entonces les pido de favor que que nos apoyen a esta medida 21 gracias buenas noches

good evening my name is pam moments thank you good evening my name is kimena vacuno i've worked in the sheraton for about two years i have three kids but two of them are in ecuador because i I cannot afford to bring them and school them here. My husband and I also, we share our home with another family, and we live very far. We cannot afford to live near where I work, and I'm very tired when I get home. I have to drive about 40 minutes to get home. I have been looking around where I work, but I cannot afford it. It's too much. The cost of living is too high.

So that's why I've decided to ask you to support us in this measure, to vote yes in this. This affects us all. Short-term rentals affect us all who want to buy or want to rent in long-term rentals. So I'm here to ask you to support item 21. Thank you very much and good evening.

I am also over 30 year resident of Santa Ana I run an Airbnb out of my home and I would like item 30 21 to be approved perhaps a modified I am NOT taking I understand what you're saying with short-term rentals it takes housing away from folks who are struggling to make ends meet In my situation, I rent to people from around the world in my own home. I make their beds. I clean the toilets. I take care of the entire rental.

And it provides extra revenue to my family. It also has provided an opportunity for my kids to learn about international people from other nations. and it has also been the reason why I started my Airbnb is because my kids grew out grew up grew up moved out of the house and I am living in a home with extra bedrooms and I have a passion for the ecology and I did not want my home to be heated for the few of us who still lived in the home so the reason I

started the Airbnb is to make it so that my family's ecological footprint is smaller and by doing that there's less need for hotels if more of us are renting our homes and rooms in our homes and there's less need for building and providing more hotels in the area thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

thank you colin goronski followed by karen o and angie weeks

good evening mayor mesqua uh pro tem mayor lopez and city council members first thank you again for your service and leadership to our wonderful and diverse city of san anna i'm colin goronski i'm from the fairbridge square neighborhood. As I spoke back in July at a council meeting, our neighborhood had had issues with properties bought solely to run Airbnbs. Our original concerns, which are still important, were as follows. Owners of the Airbnbs encourage all types of strangers to come into our neighborhood, which affects the safety of the residents and the children who live there. Suddenly now, we never had to

before, but now everyone wants to put up cameras in the neighborhood. We'd constantly have late night noise if you look at the airbnb commercials they advertise do whatever you want in an airbnb because you can't do it in a hotel our streets are full of cars especially on the holidays um and most of them park illegally airbnb owners are dishonest with us even though they know that the neighborhood is documenting what they are doing and basically it's curse commercialization of a residential neighborhood because you're running a motel in a neighborhood.

Since I spoke last July, we continue to have a problem with these Airbnbs. The owner of 1609 Clemson has created tensions between the neighbors, including bribing with gift baskets and intimidating of renting to a drug rehab if we don't let them run his Airbnb. Due to the increased cars and traffic. A neighbor's pet was killed by an Airbnb guest's Uber. The driver hit the animal while neighbors watched. They tried to save it but unfortunately it didn't happen. Police have been called by the Airbnb guests on our neighborhood residents during holidays

because they do not have enough places to park for their big parties. Thus Airbnbs are not only a nuisance but they are unsafe for our neighborhoods and its residents we ask that the City Council vote yes to amend the current municipal

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

oh sorry next speakers Karen Oh Angie Weeks and Angela C hi there I am a 35

year resident of Santa Ana in Ward 3 and I'm here tonight to request the City Council to give thoughtful consideration to voting no on the banning of short-term rentals. I recently opened and started operating an Airbnb in my home. I have a one-bed, one-bath unit attached to my home, and this is allowing me to financially remain in my home. According to AirDNA, which is a website that provides short-term rental data and statistics, states that in Santa Ana, one-bedroom units make up 60 percent of all of our city's AirBnBs.

Two-bedroom units account for 21%. That's 81% that are two bedrooms or less. It's crucial to differentiate between small owner-occupied hosts and absentee owners who utilize property management companies to oversee their Airbnb properties. These absentee owners are most likely not even residents of Santa Ana. While I empathize with the concern around our city's housing shortage and crisis, I find it difficult to believe that short-term rental units in our city would have significant impact on permanent housing given that most are one or two bedroom units inside or attached to an existing home.

Santa, I believe that our city would benefit from implementing licensing and a transient an occupancy tax on short-term rentals like many other cities do which would generate revenue for santa ana like the reverend said earlier it was beautiful taxation and regulation these funds could be used to look for options for affordable housing options and as well as enforcing existing regulation on noise parking exceeding occupancy limits etc furthermore our local economies boosted but in closing, I'm running out of time, carefully consider these nuances and just instead of a blanket band, let's find a balanced solution. Your time is up.

Okay. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Angie Weeks, Angela C., Rich Ortega.

Hi. My name is Angie Weeks. Thank you for taking the time to consider our thoughts on short-term rental banning today. I've been a resident of Santa Ana since 2016 when we bought a flipped 1920s craftsman in Henninger Park. I accidentally happened upon short-term rentals when I had to go back to my home state of Michigan for an extended stay and I couldn't afford my mortgage. I decided to see if Airbnb could help me cover that and it did and I was very excited about that. It allowed me a new ability and freedom to travel that I had never known before. But it's not about me.

Short-term rentals don't just benefit the homeowner. They benefit the city in the following ways. First, awareness. People from other states and countries are not aware of Santa Ana. They know of the beach cities. Second, there's less parking issues. Many of these people are taking public transport. They're supporting your local Uber and Lyft drivers. Hopefully that drives responsibly. think and also think about the downtown and the businesses that just had to deal with that dip in their own businesses because of the construction that happened there your short-term rentals are boosting those downtown businesses not

taking away from it I love the services that Santa Ana offers rather than offering it rather than banning the short-term rentals why don't we just regulate them and possibly tax them so that all members of this city of Santa Santa Ana have you know something to work towards and be happy about it will continue to fund our city's initiatives and the homeowner and give the homeowners of the options that they deserve truth that all Santa Ana residents um seem to embrace is that we tend to be a city of anything goes you're going to find chickens roaming you're going to find cars parked in front yards you're going to

find various vendors on streets and random fireworks and that's a great thing we've never been a city of nimbys and why should we start now um i don't think that trying to help people that have bought in an opportunity zone thank you for your consideration next three speakers angela c rich ortega and douglas mcleath good afternoon council my name is angel and i was born and raised here in Santa Ana. As a member of this community, I have exercised my right to vote in electing all of you as our representatives and so today I wish to

express my concerns about the potential banning of short-term rentals. As a first-generation citizen in this country and a mother of one, I have encountered many economic challenges in covering the basic needs of my family prior to having having a short-term rental. I began my short-term rental in 2020 and it has been a life changer. I've been able to get out of debt, buy a car, and now saving up money for my family's future. My godmother, who is also here, has resorted to renting out half of her house to help her children manage their college expenses and to pay her mortgage. My goal here today is to help you understand how

how devastating this ban would be to our lives, really. Please vote no on item agenda 21. This is not a business venture for us, but rather financial assistance for many of us. On another note, I do sympathize with the people struggling to find a home. However, it seems like they're arguing more so for rent control. So short-term rental bans are essentially irrelevant irrelevant to their arguments. Please, for the love of God, do not deny us the right to earn a modest income for our families. Please listen to our requests, allow us to pay the taxes,

set regulations, and support us by legalizing short-term rentals as many other cities have. Thank you for your time.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Rich Ortega followed by Douglas McLeath and Meg D'Amico. Hi my name is Rich Ortega my wife Nicole

and I are 24 year residents of Santa Ana and we do operate a short-term rental in Ward 3. It's allowed us to make improvements to our home and and you know worth permits of course so we paid fees to the city there. The other thing is that I think these short-term rentals are kind of looking as a solution to the rent crisis that we have here in the city. And the reality is that most of these short-term rentals are just a one-bedroom, one-bath unit, and there's no way I could support having a family live inside my home. So hence, the regulation of taxes and fees

fees would help offset that I Was unaware of the first, you know speakers going talking about these kids and not having soccer fields and these fees and I'm thinking of myself how is the This the council not looking at short-term rental taxes to pay for those soccer fields for these kids

You know again not not even aware of what was going on I'm thinking to myself we would fund those soccer fields we unfortunately are not going to fund long-term housing we just aren't where our bedrooms are one baths are not going to solve the problem but taxes and regulation will the gentleman who spoke earlier about you know Airbnb you know basically you know come party it's ridiculous it doesn't happen it hasn't happened and you know I I think these scare tactics are ridiculous. Most of you probably up on the council have used Airbnbs,

and so I would say, are you those party people? I doubt it. So please support Airbnb short-term rentals. Thanks.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

So this is going to be the last time I think I'm going to do this because we have done this with other groups, and it's not fair. So you get two minutes. please keep your noise down to a level we do two hours of public comments two minutes and we have a lot of city business to conduct so you need to keep the noise down so we can get through all the speakers please give everybody the same respect that I hope that you would want in return Thank You madam clerk

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Douglas McLeath followed by Meg Domico followed by Mario Alvarado good evening

My name is Douglas McCleaf. I've lived in Santa Ana since 2005. In 2012, I started an Airbnb unit on a room I have over my garage. That Airbnb unit is something that helped me to survive when my child had a birth defect, we were having financial difficulties, and I may very well have lost my house had it not been for the Airbnb. Since that time, I've had more than 1,000 people stay there, and I have not had one noise issue, one parking issue, one trash issue.

There's been lovely people staying there, and it's been a marvelous experience. And they've brought revenue to the city of Santa Ana. And I don't think that that unit over my garage is a place where I could rent to a family and ease the housing crisis that is supposedly existing. To require me to change how I rent my Airbnb would be no different than you requiring any other resident in the city of Santa Ana to open up their room because you thought it would solve a problem that wasn't their fault in the first place.

So I'd ask you to vote against the ordinance and if you are going to regulate that it would be something more reasonable as opposed to a shotgun approach that's going to hurt very many families in the city of Santa Ana. Thank you.

Meg D' Hi. My name is Meg D'Amico. I was born and raised in Santa Ana and currently live in the house that I grew up in. And I am the unhappy neighbor of an Airbnb.

I think there are many drawbacks that many people have mentioned. I am absolutely sympathetic to the nuance that a lot of people have also brought up in terms of the difference between kind of big anonymous investment groups versus individual owners. owners. But I do want to say as the neighbor of an Airbnb, we've been really unhappy with the situation really consistently. The biggest issue, we've had big parties, right? We've had trash, we've had people smoking outside our windows. For the most part, it's not that.

For the most part, it's families going to Disneyland. That being said, it's still a constant stream of strangers right over the fence from our property, right over the fence from my three-year-old's bedroom window. We hear strangers' voices in the baby monitor. It's just a disruptive, stressful situation at times. And in my case, over the last year I was going through cancer treatment, and I bring that up to say a person's home should be a sanctuary. and our neighbors who we have not had the opportunity to talk to the owners of

that property and problem-solve any of it and I think if we had a phone number to call that would be different but for us we've had nothing we've had no ability to problem-solve and I would I would ask that if not voting in favor of the ordinance tonight of thinking of different ways to help homeowners like myself um have kind of a sense of security in their own community thank you next the next the

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

next three speakers mario alvarado followed by t leon berry and reyna cower good evening mayor and

city council and uh everybody here in attendance everybody watching at home my name is mario varado i'm a long time resident of santa ana uh proudly from ward five and uh i was lucky enough to be invited to the growth conference where we saw uh previously acting city manager tom hatch be congratulated and tom if you're watching congratulations thank you for everything you've done in the short term i want to congratulate uh acting city manager alvaro nunez i know that you'll be amazing at what you do i'm here to just encourage the city residents to come out and speak

and see about the needle exchange program that has after review it's it's being called a disbursement and distribution of needle exchange the city is proactively going to neighborhood associations and providing information and so I encourage the residents to come out and get to know the information get to you know digest the information with other residents to figure out for yourselves if this is a program that we want to have in the city or not and I tell the residents it seems like this is a a time where the city staff and the majority of the council is in

union saying no to this product and so it's rare to see a moment like this um and so i tell the city city council and i and i and i asked the city council um please use this moment to come together show the support together, show the residents of Santa Ana why you were elected. You know, you were elected to be leaders, to act mature, to come together and have a voice of union. This is one of those events where you guys can actually express that. My name is Mario Alvarado and I am Ward 5.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

T. Leon Berry, Raina Cower, Melanie Grant.

Hello, City Council. My name is T. Leon Berry. I've been a part of this city for over 50 years. I want you to support the Juneteenth celebration. I want you to remember that when we came to Santa Ana, we couldn't live anywhere else. Santa Ana was the only place that took us, but we brought something to Santa Ana. We brought federal funds. We allowed y'all to build schools, to bring in teachers, to bring in the Hispanic community,

to have somewhere to live and things to do. So please remember us, the black folk. That helped you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

you. Reina, followed by Melanie, followed by L. Unity Cole and Deacon J. Jones. Good evening,

council members. I am Reina Kaur. I moved here to Santa Ana a year ago from the San Francisco Bay Bay area. I moved here for work. I bought a house, but I recently lost my job due to corporate greed as a part of cost cutting from my office. Airbnb allows me to be able to pay my mortgage, which is over $7,000 a month. I have taxes, annual taxes, $10,000. On top of the $10,000, I have a supplemental tax of $8,000.

Airbnb really allows me to have the flexibility and host people and be able to pay my mortgage and afford a home. I have had long-term renters in the past. I have dealt with squatter issues. Long-term renters not paying rent for over a year. and having no help for those reasons I really need the short-term rental I'm renting just two bedrooms in my house and I really need your help thank you

my name is Melanie grant I am a member of the Orange County Heritage Council the group that founded Juneteenth celebration in Centennial Park in 2021 the city of Santa Ana came to the Orange County Heritage Council and said that they wanted to be you wanted to be a part of our celebration and you wanted to ensure that it would be here for a long term the Orange County Heritage Charities Council is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We are the successor organization to what

Mrs. Helen Shipp founded the Orange County Black History Parade and Cultural Fair in 1980. It was held in the city of Santa Ana for decades when suddenly there was a change of atmosphere and it was at a time that the group stood up for ourselves for some injustice we were proceeded to be run out of the city of Santa Ana we were successful in moving to the city of Anaheim who welcomed us with open arms and we've been there ever since next year we'll be celebrating our 45th year

But what I want to say is that there is a, appears to be a pattern and a practice of running the black community out once something becomes successful. There is a email from the interim city manager to, and it was included to the city clerk, where it documented that yes, we were the group that founded it. Yes, we were the group that made it successful. successful. Yes, we did nothing wrong, but there's a change in leadership that decided

that they didn't want an $80,000 party in their city. And it's an insult. It's an insult to our heritage, our families, our community, our history. It's an insult.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

L. Unity Cole, followed by Gabriel Strobel and Priscilla Mosqueda.

Good evening. How are you all doing? My name is Unity Cole. I'm here with my partner, Deacon Jones. We are the Unity Peace Walk founders. We walk and pray for world peace, no more wars, while out doing good deeds and feats. I'm here on behalf of the Juneteenth situation. Juneteenth is a holiday that derived from our trials and tribulations, from struggles of toils and tears that us African-American, African descent people went through. Everybody knows

about that. It is a holiday to us that we take a lot of pride in and even when nobody was giving us anything, we would put our chickens in a basket and fry them, and my grandmama would make 30 pies, and we would go out to the park and everybody would share what they had. This is a holiday like all other holidays where nationalities take pride in their self, like Cinco de Mayo, like the Chinese New Year. Just like us, the African Americans and African descent people, we We deserve the opportunity to spearhead our events and our affairs.

The Bible says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It feels as if you all are drawing a circle and leaving us out. And my request to you is to draw a bigger circle, a bigger circle, and then bring us in. Be our friends. African American people have done nothing but a lot of great things for a lot of great people. We are good role models and we care about you all. We need you to care about us.

Gabe Strobel, Jr.: Hello. Hello. My name's Gabe Strobel. I originally came here for short-term rentals, but clearly Juneteenth has become a massive issue here. So obviously I'm in support of going back to the local council for them as well. It's clear of that. So to go after that, a much less important issue, I use a short-term rental. Our house has a small studio in the back. I have two daughters, hopefully three on the way, a three-year-old and a two-year-old. my wife is able to stay at home and raise them and that's where the the

money goes from our STR we employ a local cleaning professional she gets paid almost $3,000 a month between us and our friends that have the short-term rental I think if you actually look at the numbers it will really help the city of Santa Ana by keeping this rents have gone up we heard 300% in Santa Ana to To say that that's short-term rental related or that that's the cause is crazy.

Prices in Irvine have dropped 3% over two years. You are still looking at a 297% increase in housing. I understand, I empathize with those who can't afford rent. We're in the same area. We pay a lot to rent as well of where we live. It's an issue that everybody goes through in Southern California, others more than others. but I don't believe by banning STRs will fix that problem, but it will damage our family. It will cause my wife to have to go back to work and send our kids back into school and we don't wanna raise them that way. We wanna do it in our home

and we wanna do it with our family and I wanna see my kids every day. So thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Priscilla Mosqueda followed by Amy Phan.

good evening everyone and thank you City Council members for hearing us tonight my name is Priscilla Mosqueda I work as an educator I live in Ward 2 and my husband and I are proud residents of the city of Santa Ana a few years ago my husband and I became first-time homeowners through the assistance of NACA the neighborhood Association Corporation of America with the help of NACA and the resources that they offered what seemed like a dream of home ownership became a reality. We were able to buy a multi-family home which we wouldn't have dreamed of being able to afford. Shortly after moving into our new

home, one of our tenants gave us notice that he was leaving and as first-time landlords we were nervous about what this would mean for our budget, for our mortgage, the increasing cost of taxes, insurance, and yeah especially with the cost of turnover and the fear of limited landlord protection and loss of rents during COVID, we didn't want to be in a situation where we wouldn't be able to pay our mortgage, which led us to explore short-term rentals. Since we reside on the property and we could keep a close eye on it, as owners who live on the property, we take great pride in keeping and

maintaining our home. We value our relationship with our neighbors, and we really try to ensure that there are no disturbances. We haven't had issues with noise, parking. In fact, we mostly host young families who get to experience Santa Ana's vibrant local restaurants and businesses. Thanks to the income of short-term rentals, we have peace of mind to be able to cover our mortgage payments, the increasing costs of insurance, utilities, taxes, and other bills. However, as many have mentioned before, we are open and we welcome regulation from the city

so that we can collaborate and ensure that short-term rentals provide opportunities not just for ourselves but for the larger needs of the city. I don't know if I'm who you think of when you think of who's on the other end of this boat we're not a large business a lot of large corporation just a first-time homeowner trying to run a small business and provide for myself pay the mortgage and create opportunities for me and my family thank you amy fan

good evening council my name is david huang and i will be delivering comments on behalf of my friend Amy Phan. So for those of you in the audience just in solidarity, everyone who opposes item 21 today please stand up with me. So thank you. So my friend Amy would like to say Airbnb really supports the local family and the local economy. Like me, I am a single mom with a five-year-old daughter. This provides me with additional income to be able to be self-sufficient and not rely on funds from outside sources.

I can stay home, take care of the house, Airbnb, also clean up the house when the customer returns to the house. I have more time to take the house, make the house look nicer. Also, I have time for my daughter, pick her up at school, or take her to the doctor. and the income of the Airbnb really supports our family as cost of living has risen substantially. In my opinion, the customers when they live in the short-term rental, they are very nice, following the house rules and don't make the noise to bother the neighbors at all. Nowadays, people like to book and stay in short-term rental Airbnbs because SDRs are more convenient,

more safe they help them save more money and when the customer comes to live in Santa Ana in the Santa Ana short-term rental they bring more business to the city and make the local economy better so I hope the city of Santa Ana could please help the local family do short-term rental and so that they could support their family and additionally we just with the time that I have left I just want to seize upon a few sentences in the staff report justifying this ordinance first as this gentleman has stated before me many of these units are insufficient to incise to house families so if short-term rentals are banned

these additional residential spaces are not guaranteed to increase the supply of long-term rentals which is the principal goal of this ordinance and emergency time is up second the staff report states that mayor that concludes the

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

public speakers that are present we'll now begin the zoom speakers speakers on zoom when you are unmuted please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

madam city clerk how much time do we have left 22 minutes mayor thank you first speaker on zoom

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

marvin please unmute and make your comments

Thank you everyone, city mayor, city council. I'm Marvin, I reside in the north area. I currently run a short-term rental in my home. As many of the other hosts have mentioned, I use it solely for the income purpose to make sure that I can make ends meet. I'm able to have my wife and my two kids, you know, be able to afford for them, provide for them. Everyone knows here, you know, cost of living has gone up. Everything's going up. And at the end of the day, we're not trying to be a major business or corporation.

And I understand everyone that has mentioned, you know, rent control issues and short, you know, shortage of housing. However, like everyone has mentioned, it's not going to increase the supply. I only rent partial of my home. So really it's not, like I said, it's not going to – I wouldn't even be able to provide long-term rental for housing for other residents of the area. However, that's a separate matter. That would be around rent control. Please vote no on item number 21.

today. This is going to hurt me and my family and ultimately will not, you know, will not help to supply the shortages that we have in the city. In addition, the need of tourism continues to be there and it's going to continue to be there. So if we can just supply, you know, an extra room here in the backyard, if there's an extra home for like the other posts I've mentioned, I think it's just helping the city to combat additional projects and planned developments of other hotels that are going to pop up anyways and i think it's just going to help our community

we allow this um and i'm all for for regulation and taxation so i mean by all means we want to share the wealth i mean we we don't want to um do it illegally so please vote no on bill 21.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

thank you your time is up next speaker on zoom vu huang please unmute and make your comments

Hi, my name is Vu Hoang. I'm also a host in Santa Ana on Harbor Boulevard. I would like to urge city council members to vote no on short-term rental ban. I know there's a lot of concerns with the rent being so high and expensive. A lot of people raised their concern. I just want to bring it up that um there the report says total of 1100 short-term rentals um a fact check santa ana has 43 000 uh housing units for rent so that's about two percent of short-term rentals a total

number of uh units available for rent uh based on a google check is 2341 available right now now. With the rent increase, there's a lot of blaming on short-term rentals, but I think that's baseless assumptions because the real estate market has gone up overall. So rent goes up to follow because people have to pay higher mortgage. So a fact check, Santa Ana real estate increased 12% year over year. So if last year's rent was $2,000, a 12% increase

reached with 2,400. And if you add year over year, it's going to increase. So it's not because of the short-term rental, because it's a small bucket in the overall picture. And so I do support regulation and taxation, but blaming short-term rental for rental expense cost being high is not not true. There needs to be some fact check. So I urge city council to kind of pause and do some study to see the pros and cons of short-term regulation. I want to also bring

up that there are many cities around us that allow short-term rental. Anaheim, Orange County, Fullerton.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next speaker, Fernando Devoros. Please unmute and make your comments.

Hi, can you hear me? Yes. All right, thank you. So first off, solidarity with our Black community fighting to keep our city's Juneteenth in the hands of the OC Heritage Council where it belongs. My name is Fernando de Veras. I'm a local educator, organizer, and journalist here in the city of Santana, and I'm calling in today to talk about recent reports published by NOC-LA, the OC Register, and Voice of OC, where they spell out how our mayor, Valeria Mezcua, cost Santa Ana taxpayers more than $600,000 in a settlement paid out to our former city manager Christine Ridge. I tried sharing this story on the Facebook page

Neighbors of Santa Ana as did several other concerned residents but the pages administrator Commissioner Danny Vega was actively deleting posts and blocking people who tried to share the story but I guess that shouldn't surprise anyone since he's a close political friend of Mayor Mezcua. For those who haven't yet read the news here's a summary. According to the reports Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Mayor Mesquite played a pivotal role in the removal of then-city manager Christine Ridge, prayers to the new city manager, and then-chief David Valentin, as revealed by public records.

In a legal claim submitted to the city by Ridge, she alleged that she experienced discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and pressure to take illegal action. Ridge alleged that she endured repeated pressure from Mayor Mesquite, contrary to state law, to take care of police union president Jerry Serrano. If anyone here knows anything about Jerry Serrano, you know that that dude's slimy and corrupt as hell. They wanted him to take care of his pension, and they were repeatedly directed to provide Serrano with a higher-paying salary position without regard for any provisions or qualifications.

The city had to pay Ms. Ridge more than $600,000 in a settlement just to avoid a lawsuit, and according to those who register, they also had to contract with a law firm to look into the work conditions at the city, which cost $175,000 to taxpayers. payers. A mesquite for those who don't know received over $218,000 in contributions from the police officers association in 2022 when she ran for mayor and she also supported the SAPOA's failed recall attempt of Jesse Lopez in 2023. So I just want to make sure that the public is aware of this and the way that the POA is trying to your time is up next speaker Catherine Levasseur

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Levasseur, please unmute and make your comments.

Yes, good evening, Mayor Emezcua and Santa Ana Council members. I'm Catherine Levasseur, a Huntington Beach resident and founder of Huntington Beach Short-Term Rental Alliance. Since 2015, I've been renting out my property for short and mid-term stays. With four years of experience as a permitted and licensed STR host, I've gathered valuable insights into operating under regulated programs based on my first-hand experience I urged the council to oppose agenda item 21 concerning STRs and

instead implement a fair and reasonable short-term rental ordinance I appreciate the existing regulations in Huntington Beach and the positive impact my guests have on my city contributing through lodging taxes and supporting local businesses i recommend looking at at your neighbor to the north the city of orange as a model adopting sensible regulations can greatly benefit the community i encourage rejecting agenda item number 21 and collaborating with the local community on a balanced short-term rental plan thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next speaker on Zoom, Joan Durnell-Powell. Please unmute and make your comments.

Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I'm the president of the National Council of Negro Women of Orange County. We were established back in 1988 in reference to empowering women and their children in in the African American community. I've been attending Juneteenth and we've been a part of Juneteenth for as long as Juneteenth has been celebrated in Orange County. I'm here tonight to speak as the president that the Orange County Heritage Council has been a fantastic, phenomenal presentation over the years in putting on the Juneteenth celebration.

It's just very strange to me that the Juneteenth celebration has become more and more a part of the Orange County community over the years. And I don't know why at this time they're not the leaders in this participation in the establishment of the 2024 Juneteenth. I am asking City Council to give them back the opportunity and the empowerment of still representing the African-American community here in Orange County. We have a voice and we're going to continue to express it. And my final words is, as Marvin Gaye would say, what's going on in 2024?

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next speaker on Zoom, Chispa. Please unmute and make your comments.

comments?

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Next speaker, Becca Ayala.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Please unmute and make your comments.

Good evening, council members, mayor and council members. My name is Becca Ayala and I'm with Better Neighbors LA, a coalition of host tenants housing activists and community members working to curb illegal short-term rental activity with the intent to protect long-term housing. We conduct data analysis and research on the short-term rental industry and its impact on affordable housing. I'm speaking in support of Agenda Item Number 21, Ordinances Prohibiting Short-Term Rentals, and ask that you approve both ordinances with no amendments or carve-outs. According to our data analysis, since 2019, the number of unhosted

short-term rentals has increased by almost 300% in Santa Ana, comprising 682 units as of March 2023. Our analysis also shows that combined posted and unhosted short-term rentals account for at least 1.27% of Santa Ana's total housing stock. Better Neighbors has seen firsthand the impacts of the short-term rental industry in LA. According to a study by Professor Waksmoos at McGill University, since 2015 short-term rentals have increased rents by $810 on average, taken 2,500 homes off the long-term market, and contributed to an additional 5,000 people

experiencing homelessness in LA. Given the recent growth in short-term rentals in Santa Ana, it is likely similar impacts are occurring in Santa Ana as residents are already facing high housing costs. Both proposed ordinances will further codify the City of Santa Ana's current current prohibition on short-term rentals, and in the process safeguard housing for long-term residents and families. For these reasons, we ask that you vote yes to pass both ordinances prohibiting short-term rentals with no carve-outs or amendments today. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Thank you. Next speaker on Zoom, Minh Truong Tran. Please unmute and make your comments.

Good evening, City Council members. My name is Minh Truong Tran. My family bought our first townhome near New Hope Library in Santa Ana about 22 years ago because that was the only thing we can afford in Orange County. However, we grow and love the city and end up buying three more homes over the past 22 years. Three of those four homes we are renting to our long-term tenant. And I would say we contribute our small part to the housing crisis.

One of the four we put on short-term rental regularly about four years ago. One thing I like to call the City Councilmember attention to is the some of the claim in the staff reports. So this is a consequential decision. If I'm in your chair representing us, I want to see some facts behind this claim before I vote on this. The claim saying there is no fiscal impact associated with the proposed action.

Using the same data point from the staff report, there's about 1,100 short-term rental right now. And on average, we could host between five and ten family of months. If you do a quick math, you take that, it's about 84 families that we host per year on average and that is like 92,000 families or visitors have to stand out across all 1,100 short-term rental. That is an enormous amount of visitors that bring revenue in terms of sales tax revenue to the city.

So I urge the City Member Council to really find a fact behind the fiscal impact behind making the decision. Your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

The next speaker on Zoom, Mazen Shalan, please unmute and make your comments.

Honorable members of the City Council, I wish to express my concerns regarding Agenda Item Item number 21, the proposed prohibition of short-term rentals in our city. An outright ban could harm our local economy as these rentals significantly contribute to our tourism industry, economic growth, and job creation. They support local businesses and offer homeowners a crucial source of supplemental income. income. Prohibiting short-term rentals might also reduce tourism revenue and lower property values as many visitors prefer these accommodations for their flexibility and affordability. Instead

of a ban, I suggest the City Council considers regulating short-term rentals to address noise and ensure responsible hosting. This approach can balance economic benefits and community concerns. I propose a phased implementation of regulations, starting with issuing licenses to rental operators. This strategy allows for immediate legal operation under specific conditions, serving our community's needs while enabling effective monitoring and regulations. A future cap or monitorium on new licenses could prevent market oversaturation and protect housing

housing affordability, adapting measured regulations support economic growth, community well-being, and our city's long-term sustainability. Thank you for considering these suggestions. I urge you to vote no on 21.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Mayor and city council, that concludes the Zoom speakers that were in the queue when public comments started.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you, Madam City Clerk. At this time, we are going to go to the consent calendar. Before I do that, Mr. City Manager, can you send an email out, meet with the Orange County Heritage Council, please? Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

I'll follow up and report back to the City Council.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you. Can you turn your mic up? We can't really hear you, but thank you very much.

I'll follow up with them and then report back to the City Council.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Now we can hear you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay, at this time we're going to go to the consent calendar items. Items 5 through 18 are before us. Council members, please announce any items that you will be abstaining from due to conflict. And if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion. At this time, Council Member Hernandez, any items to pull, please?

No.

Phil BacerraItem 5

No.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Council Member Becerra? Nope. Council Member Vasquez is not present. Council Member Lopez? Council Member Panalosa?

David PenalozaItem 5

No.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Mayor Pro Tem?

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Nothing to pull, but I will recuse myself from item 12 as the City of Anaheim is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. If it is pulled from the agenda, I will leave the room while it's discussed. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

And I have no items to pull other than to make a comment on item 16. And I just wanted to thank city staff for bringing this forward, the amount of 75, not to exceed $75,000 to provide veterinarian services for spay and neuter program to low-income Santa Ana residents. Really appreciate that. Thank you very much. At this time, can I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Moved by Councilman Panalosa, second by Councilman Becerra. let's prepare to vote please

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

but is six eyes no nays with a noted since councilmember Vasquez yes seven eyes no nays consent calendar approved as presented great thank you so very

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

much at this time we're can we bring up Louis spear fees here still to be sworn in as Commissioner there he is thank you so much

I, Louise Muir, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of California, against all enemies, foreign foreign and domestic. I will bear truth and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, Constitution of the State of California. I take this

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

All right. Thank you. Congratulations, Mr. Luis Miroslal, Council Member and Commissioner. OKAY, AT THIS TIME WE'RE GOING TO GO TO THE BUSINESS CALENDAR. ITEM NUMBER 19 IS RELATED TO THE EARLY BUDGET DIRECTION. MR. CITY MANAGER, MAY WE HAVE A REPORT, PLEASE?

WE HAVE OUR FINANCE AND DIRECTOR, CAT FUNK, DO A PRESENTATION FOR US.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. The purpose of tonight's report is to provide information about the upcoming budget and future expectations for the general fund, and to obtain City Council direction on a handful of items to help build the proposed budget.

The community outreach effort has increased this year, including mailed postcards to every household in the city. To date, we have received approximately 1,400 responses. responses. All materials have been published in three languages and all feedback received by April 29th will be presented to City Council on May 7th.

For benefit of the public, the General Fund is the primary operating fund of the City. It accounts for the City's unrestricted revenues such as property tax and sales tax. The General Fund pays for public safety including police, fire, and ambulance. It also pays for park maintenance, recreation, library, code enforcement, and many other programs.

The most recent update to the General Fund 10-year outlook is up next. First I wanted to share the assumptions used to create the outlook. We only include recurring revenues and spending. We use the best information available and apply inflationary factors to everything else.

The graphical results of the outlook predict that expenditures will increase faster than revenue, creating a budget deficit in fiscal year 25-26. When the Measure X rate decreases in 2029, the deficit will increase significantly if there are no changes in the next five years.

In general, there are three options to rebalance the budget in the future. Ask the voters for more revenue, decrease spending, and or encourage new development to increase the city's tax base.

So we saw the general fund outlook for the future. These are actual Measure X receipts by quarter. measure X is the single largest general revenue source at 22% of the total the last four quarters are below the trendline measure X is flattening out which means we don't expect to be able to add or expand services without decreasing something else for measure X revenue the measure X citizens Oversight committee met on February 21st and March 13th to formulate recommendations for the 24-25 budget

process. The recommendations are one, to favor one-time spending for Measure X revenue. Two, use Measure X to study the feasibility of citywide parkland acquisition including the vacant parcel in Washington Square. Set aside Measure X revenue today for future use when the Measure X X tax rate decreases in 2029 and expires in 2039, establish a long-term plan to prepare for the future loss of Measure X revenue, shift Measure X to fixing streets, sidewalks, and tree trimming, leverage Measure X for grant opportunities by using it for required

matching contributions, and take steps to increase revenue generated by parks, recreation, and community services thereby decreasing the need for a Measure X subsidy. Next up there are a variety of topics for which we seek City Council direction this evening. Even though each slide contains a question we look forward to hearing from the City Council at the end of the presentation. The City charges fees for services that benefit individuals. An example is a building permit. These services are provided by city employees. The cost to compensate

city employees has increased enough to support raising miscellaneous fees by 4.66%, which is the increase in the consumer price index. For over a year, the city has received more revenue for Medicare and Medi-Cal transports. A new funding program with higher reimbursement rates is partially funded funded with discretionary contributions from cities providing ambulance service. Santa Ana has not paid the discretionary contribution estimated to be $2.9 million per year. Medicare and Medi-Cal transports comprise approximately three-quarters of our activity.

Revenue has increased by at least $4 million. We recently engaged a consultant to perform an emergency medical services and transportation and optimization study. That study includes recommendations that would generate even further revenue increases.

We would like direction from the City Council about whether to continue providing parking validations and include the cost in the proposed budget budget for City Council meetings.

This slide includes two questions, both related to the Parking Enforcement Program. Contract services help the City generate $4.9 million of annual parking citation revenue. Citation processing costs have increased due to higher postal rates and a higher volume of delinquencies. The cost of contracted enforcement increased with our latest competitive procurement process. The City reduced contract service hours to minimize that cost increase, but we found the reduced level of service to be inadequate.

To keep up with increasing costs, we would need to add more than $300,000 for each of these contracted services. services.

The City's Downtown Parking Enterprise currently offers free parking. The current year General Fund subsidy to the Downtown Parking Enterprise is $1.9 million. If we continue the status quo, the General Fund would need to subsidize the operation by more than $4 million, which is not feasible. Even by reinstating the regular parking rates, we anticipate the need for another general fund subsidy of $1.3 million. So this question really has two parts. Do we eliminate free parking to minimize the general fund subsidy?

And do we consider parking rate increases to eliminate the general fund subsidy?

The Vehicle Incentive Program provides a $500 sales tax rebate to residents who purchase a vehicle at a dealership located in Santa Ana. The program was implemented shortly after Measure X became effective in 2019. The original program authorization was for five years. We expect the budget will be difficult to balance this year, therefore staff recommends allowing the program to end. If the City Council wishes to continue funding the program, then we recommend a smaller allocation and a limited extension period.

For the most part, the City purchases its fleet vehicles. Planning and building is one department that continues to lease some vehicles. The lease terms end next fiscal year for all 18 vehicles leased by Planning and Building. The vehicles will be held long term and therefore we recommend replacing the leased vehicles with purchases. The estimated cost is $1 million of one-time funding to purchase 18 vehicles which include trucks and SUVs.

The Revived Spending Plan is primarily funded by the Federal American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. The federal funding comes with spending restrictions. There are seven full-time city employees, plus one more that is partially funded with this money. After December 31st, the funding will no longer be available for these employees. employees. The staff report includes detailed information for the services provided and the annual cost of each. The City Council may consider including six months of one-time

funding to keep the employees on payroll through June 30, 2025 to provide them more time to apply for other vacant City positions.

There is one additional question in the staff report about whether we should explore spending opioid settlement money for medical treatment for homeless individuals who wish to detoxify from fentanyl. In addition to the detailed information provided with each question, the staff report includes other information about the future of the city's budget. it. We have information and or recommendations with each priority previously identified by City Council members in Exhibit 1. Parks and Recreation has a proposed allocation for City events. The State expects gas tax

revenue to decrease in the future which may necessitate additional general fund subsidies for right-of-way maintenance. The current year Measure X spending plan plan as presented in Exhibit 2. There is detailed information regarding forthcoming requests for one-time general fund subsidies for the city's internal service funds. We expect a few reallocations in the revived spending plan. There is information about deferred maintenance at the Santa Ana Zoo, including how to fund it in the future. And then due to the cannabis tax decrease, we will need to reduce proposed spending in

the cannabis public benefit fund we expect by several hundred thousand dollars finally the staff report in also includes information about a forthcoming proposal to issue water enterprise revenue bonds for system improvements we have been conducting internal budget meetings with each department to vet requests and understand department priorities after we gather that that information, we'll compare it to the City Council priorities, early direction from tonight, and community priorities. Then we build the proposed budget for presentation

to City Council in May. The public hearing and adoption are currently scheduled for June. That concludes my presentation and staff is ready for questions and or direction.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you very much for the presentation. If I can ask the Council please to push your button if you want to speak. Three minutes, three rounds at this time. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to start first by thanking Catherine Downs for today's presentation. Thank you, Cat, for your devotion to balancing our city's finances. In the topic of balancing the future, I want to highlight my support for Measure X Citizens Oversight. They've recommended to utilize Measure X funds for a feasibility of citywide parkland acquisition for the vacant parcel in Washington Square. I do know the Measure X Committee met recently and they did approve a resolution. So I would like to support the direction that Measure X has provided to the Council for

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

us to move forward with the feasibility study although i do know there is a park space being built in the willard community which is off of 10th and flower i do believe that parks improve the quality of life for families who live adjacent to one i think that families in washington square deserve to have that same opportunity as well just as the residents in willard do they should have their own parks unique to the needs of those residents washington square is a multi-generational neighborhood with elderly members of our community that walk their neighborhood in the mornings they walk their neighborhoods in the night you have

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

grandkids and great-grandkids who live in these homes and they deserve to have access to a park our measure X citizens Oversight Committee has supported it so I would also like to be public in my support for that I am supportive of ambulance transports I would like to see us fund that my request is that that be be funded by our police department given that this is a new program where we will be reimbursed rates for Medicare and medical transports I think a pool of money that we can work with since this is an area that addresses public safety is our police department if it were up to me we'd have Orange County Fire

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Authority here at home we'd have our own fire departments in Santa Ana we don't have that unfortunately because they were defunded and pushed out so I would like to see us strengthen our public safety efforts by funding the ambulance transports with our police department money I am supportive of having parking validation for our constituents so that we're encouraging them to share here I would also like to uplift businesses in downtown Santa Ana and address the concerns that they've shared with me with LAZ parking enforcement I would like to see hours shifted in parking enforcement so that we have a more

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

business-friendly downtown for me and you know I have taken direction from businesses who are impacted and what that looks like is Monday through Saturday 8 o'clock to 6 p.m. you know it encourages more people to spend locally when it comes to addressing the measure X committee I also am supportive of funds going to Angels Park I'd like to thank our staff for their recommendations to retrofit existing poles, fixtures to LED, including security, and as well as the playground and fitness court. I am also supportive of Civic Center being repaved from Shelton to Flower. Civic

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Center should be a shining example of what Orange County looks like. We have seen the Board of Supervisors revamp our Civic Center corridor. I think the City of Santa Ana needs to join those efforts so that it doesn't feel like Disneyland when you're driving on Civic Center. So as you're coming to the poem of your voice in city hall you you you have a seamless drive there mr and councilman hernandez i'll come back to you thank you madam mayor that'll conclude my first round

Phil BacerraItem 19

councilman visser thank you madam mayor so i'm just going to go through and address some of the items we saw on the slide so um so let's see where were we at um all right so first thing um I would like to see a comparison of other cities miscellaneous fees before we even look at increasing ours. I would like us to be competitive when it comes to those. I would like to have staff continue to provide parking validations for council meetings only. I think we have a lot of validations that we provide that we should probably narrow the focus to the council meetings. Let's see. when it comes to parking enforcement.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Question, why do we use two different contractors?

One contractor is for citation processing, and one is for additional contracted enforcement services. So it's two different things.

Phil BacerraItem 19

So we couldn't get, like, a bang-up deal by using one contractor? Would you like to?

Excuse me. I believe the current contractor for enforcement does not provide that service. And the same thing with Data Ticket. They don't provide enforcement.

Phil BacerraItem 19

But are there companies that provide both?

We can explore and look into it.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Okay. I'd like to look into that. And what are the increased costs related to delinquency processing?

So the increased cost comes out of the contract fees for late payments. So when the contract agreement was first established, more people were paying on time. When people pay on time, the contractor only takes 15% of those fees. When they go into delinquency, which is, I believe, after 30 days or so, the contract, the data ticket takes 20%, plus additional miscellaneous fees for processing late payments.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Okay. That makes sense. Okay. Well, I would say we definitely need effective parking enforcement. So what that takes, you know, please make sure that that's built into our budget. In the parking structure rate analysis, what is the difference between the status quo column and the regular rates column? I was trying to understand that.

»» Okay. The status quo column is the — it's exactly what we're providing today. Okay. The regular rates column would be to revert back to the rates that were in place before we started providing periods of free parking.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Okay. So that would be pre-2020 then?

I believe so.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Okay. Okay. As far as when it comes to what we should be providing as far as parking in downtown, I think we need to look at some level of free parking but in the structures only, not on the meters the meters i don't care what city you're in those are premium parking spaces i think if we're going to look at any sort of discount it should be to encourage people

to park in the structures not the meters yeah and we do not provide any free parking on the meters it is just the parking garages no but what i mean though in the rates so for instance in the past

Phil BacerraItem 19

downtown had this really goofy setup where on a sunday we would actually provide free parking at the meters okay thank you but then we would actually charge in the structure and that's completely backwards it should be the opposite we should have more encouragement to park in the structures not the parking meters we want quicker turnaround from the meters so that's where i would say is if we're looking at rates and how to structure them it should be that way in regards to the zoo um san anna zoo is 13 bucks whereas la zoo is 22 bucks and san diego is 72

Phil BacerraItem 19

So I'd like to look at what's a reasonable rate that we could charge for the Santa Ana Zoo. I don't want to see a dramatic increase, but I do think that we are definitely a bargain for the region. In regards to the Vehicle Incentive Program, it's set to expire in March. I'm sorry, it expired in March. And so what I'd like to know is why didn't staff bring that to us in February or January to ask us what our input was back then, rather than just to let it expire. I get it from the presentation. You guys are not as excited or you're not recommending for it to go forward. I would think that just given the high sales tax

Phil BacerraItem 19

that we have here in Orange County, just by virtue of Measure X, I could see why this was necessary at the beginning. I would be open to exploring it through at least the last day of the 1.5% Measure X rate with a funding allocation closer to what we are expending on the program. In regards to the opioid settlement money, I support exploring the feasibility of using these funds for medical treatment for homeless individuals wrestling with the addiction to fentanyl who wish to detoxify. I'd prefer, though, that we secure these beds in locations that are not necessarily here in Santa Ana.

Phil BacerraItem 19

And I would like to conclude by just adding five items to Exhibit 1 as part of the council priorities. So number one, first and foremost, we need to fill the sworn police officer vacancies. So whatever that takes, let us know what that means and what we can do to do that. Number two, because we keep talking about revenue dropping off, I'm emphatic about us investing in the water tower observation deck. And so I know right now Public Works is conducting the feasibility study. But once we know that cost, I would like to see that prioritized because I think we all know that that would generate revenue.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Who doesn't want to go up on top of our beautiful water tower and look out on Santa Ana and Orange County? Number three, I would like to have us look at prioritizing dedicated left turn signal enhancements for three intersections that we constantly hear about nasty traffic accidents happening at. And those are Raitt and Sagerstrom, Flower and MacArthur, and Flower at Dyer and Sagerstrom. We need these improvements. These aren't just wish list items. We need these improvements. Number four, formalize the use of Grissett Park as a city park. I know it's a city-owned piece of dirt now, and it's a joint use with Greenville Elementary.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Unlike other joint use opportunities, this is actually city-owned. We're not contracting to use a school district piece of land. What I'd like to see us do is look at how we can add some parking on the eastern edge, maybe some angled parking, and formalize the agreement with the school district so that after school that park is clearly in use. And also, too—COUNCILMAN DESERA, I'M SORRY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

I WAS LOOKING DOWN. I WAS WRITING, SO YOU'RE WELL OVER, SO LET ME GET BACK TO YOU.

Phil BacerraItem 19

I GOT TWO MORE. CAN I JUST FINISH UP?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

NO, BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE FAIR TO EVERYBODY ELSE, SO I APOLOGIZE. I WAS LOOKING DOWN.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

YEAH, SO I WAS WRITING WHILE. SO, OKAY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

COUNCILMAN PANELOSA? THREE MINUTES, PLEASE. THREE ROUNDS. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR, AND

David PenalozaItem 19

THANK YOU, KATHERINE, FOR THIS PRESENTATION AND FOR THE WORK YOU'VE BEEN DOING THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS. to bring this budget forward. One thing right off the bat that I want to say that I am continuing to be supportive of is the city clerk's office offering free validation to anybody who wants to come and attend these city council meetings. That is one thing that we should continue to provide. And in regards to the parking, I know that there's been some changes here at the Civic Center that we now are, a lot of the properties here now belong to the city of Santa Ana,

David PenalozaItem 19

and I know there was some questions of who exactly has jurisdiction over a couple of the parking structures here so can we get clarity on that because if there are some that are city-owned why are we still paying for the validation

David PenalozaItem 19

and anybody city manager or finance director no from what I understand the

county owns them and they're part of the jpa let's look into it and we'll get back to you okay thank

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

you i think mr garcia did you have a response if that's okay mr city manager somebody

uh we do still have many uh parking garages at uh we've got the spurgeon and fifth we've got third and Birch fifth and main third and Broadway is no longer city owned and so we are still providing validation in those other as well as the the soon-to-be completed third and Bush parking garage which is gonna have that beautiful water retention project so that surface lot will also be available for city use to to provide to businesses in the area. So, it's really there.

David PenalozaItem 19

Male Speaker 1 Thank you, Mr. C. Male Speaker 2 Supportive of the validation that the city clerk's office provides, but if there are other areas around the Civic Center that we could look into. Male Speaker 3 Exactly. We'll check around the Civic Center. Male Speaker 2 Thank you, acting city manager. And I'm generally supportive of any consumer price index increases when it comes to fees. however similar to what I've asked for with labor negotiations I'd like to see a matrix of where the city of Santa Ana Falls in regards to the the rest of the county and surrounding cities when it comes to any of the fees that we would

David PenalozaItem 19

typically increase if you know if we are already above from everywhere I hear whether it's business owners or people wanting to do business in the city that's the first thing they say is that the fees are always higher than they are in tustin or anaheim or irvine if that's already the case i'm not supportive of seeing any uh consumer price index increases at the moment but if it is in fact depending on where we are in the on this matrix so that thank you councilman becerra for requesting that if we could work on that on getting a matrix of where these various fees fall um regards to the rest of the county that'd be

appreciative excuse me councilmember Penalosa the the city has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of fees would you be okay with a representative sample yes

David PenalozaItem 19

a sample would work fine I realize that that we do have a ton of number of fees that would that would that could be a year-long project so thank you for that and with the ARPA funding I know you guys mentioned that there are seven staff members that are currently funded by ARPA. Do we know which staff is that exactly?

Yes, that is on finding it here in the staff report.

David PenalozaItem 19

Seven and a half temporary city employees.

Staff report's pretty chock full of stuff, huh? Oh, here it is. Page 14. the seven positions are listed. So there's the PAL Assistant Director, two Associate Engineers, the Public Works Projects Manager, Public Works Project Specialist, Associate Parks Landscape Planner, and Assistant Parks Landscape Planner. So we've provided an idea of what kinds of services these employees provide, the annual cost of those positions, and we we thought that a nice option for the City Council might be to extend their funding for that additional six months but it would have to be from

general fund money because the ARPA guidelines won't allow for it and that way it gives these these people more time to fill in to other vacant city city positions.

David PenalozaItem 19

Okay. Thank you for that, Catherine.

David PenalozaItem 19

The other thing related as well to the parking, the downtown parking enterprise, currently we offer two free hours of parking, don't we, in downtown?

Yes, I believe so. Mike? I'm sorry. Director Garcia? Could you provide some color? It's free during the day, and from 6 o'clock on, it goes to two hours of free parking.

David PenalozaItem 19

Okay, I guess that's where I was trying to also understand the difference between the status quo and the current two free-hour parking. I would still like to continue offering some kind of free parking, whether it's one or two hours. You know, that's TBD. but if we could try to see how we could keep that still moving forward to incentivize people to shop in our downtown I'd appreciate them those are my comments for now mayor thank you thank you and I'll come back to you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

councilman panel OSA so before I move on let me just cover mine really quick here so I'm on the first one page six here cat encouraged new development to increase tax base in the city very supportive of that as well the measure X citizens oversight usually measure X to study the feasibility of the park in Washington Square but also to look about look at setting aside measure X revenue for future use so that when that time comes we're not pulling out our hair trying to figure out what to do then but let's start looking now being proactive

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

I agree with the parking I'd like to keep it free downtown until the evening hours like Mr. Garcia said at 6 p.m. we start charging so that we can generate some revenue there as well I'm supportive of the vehicle incentive program because it's for our constituents and so if they buy a car in our city we we benefit and they benefit as well and so I'd like to continue that and the replacement of the lease vehicles there there it does cost quite a bit of money exactly can't do we know how much is the cost for leasing the

18 vehicles i can certainly bring that back when the council has more budget discussions i can tell you that it'll be more than a million over the life of those vehicles perfect so i'm supportive

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

of purchasing them if they are needed after you do a very thorough which i know you and city manager the emt would do a very thorough evaluation of what the need is and then to purchase and purchasing of those vehicles also i'd like to um add so real quick before i run out of time is senior office ASSISTANCE AT SANTA ANA PD. CHIEF, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, THE PD USED TO BE OPEN UNTIL I BELIEVE 8 PM, IS THAT CORRECT?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

THE FRONT DESK.

THAT'S CORRECT, MARY, IT USED TO BE OPEN LATER HOURS, BUT THOSE WERE STAFFED BY RECORDS PERSONNEL, NOT SENIOR OFFICE ASSISTANCE.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

SO RECORDS PERSONNEL, SENIOR OFFICE ASSISTANCE, WHATEVER STAFF THAT YOU AND THE EMT AND THE CITY MANAGER AGREE. SO IN MY OPINION, WHEN PEOPLE want to go into the police department i think we close at four o'clock now um i i just i think the front desk closed at four chief is that correct close at five o'clock five p.m excuse me five p.m so after hours where do people go they pick up the phone they have to wait so i just think it would be in my opinion it'd be good for our constituents to have the police department open again to a later hour and we would need staff to fill those positions because i know that currently at the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

front desk there they're short staffed if i'm not mistaken and so i think it's very important that we look at those positions to fill also and i have a couple and i'll share with them later the my san anna app i had sent an email last year and i think it was brought up here as well to translate to spanish and vietnamese so mr city manager if we can get that i would really appreciate it i don't know anybody up here that would disagree that it needs to be translated to spanish and vietnamese we all ask people to use the app but if i'm spanish speaking or vietnamese I cannot use that. I need assistance.

So we'll look into it, and we're sure to translate it if we can. It is a software that we buy, so sometimes we have limitations, but we'll definitely look at that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

And that's the email that I did receive that they were looking into it last year, and I think the most recent one email was back in December. So if we could just get more information, I'd really appreciate it.

We'll do better tracking and follow-up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you so much. I'll stop there, and I'll come back for a different round. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Councilman Vasquez, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

Yes, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I want to start with the Measure X recommendations. Yeah, I want to use Measure X to study the feasibility of a city-line parkland acquisition, including the vacant parcel in Washington Square. I want to set aside Measure X revenue today for future use. and of course establish a long-term plan to prepare for the future loss of measure X revenue I think we we've been asking that me and along with council member Lopez and a few others I'd like to see the parks and rec fees that we do

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

have and just a comparison to see I know people came in today and they're worried about it I had phone calls from not only soccer but baseball leagues about the fees that they pay uh i want to continue make sure that we have the ambulance transports

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

we should pay for parking validations for city council

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

uh and i am for the parking enforcement they do generate uh funds for the city so let's be negative we did and something yes with that one and of course i'm going to support the two-hour free parking in downtown santa ana

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

I'm going to take the vehicle incentive program and take the staff recommendation not to extend it.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

I support using general funds for the 7.5 temporary positions. Hopefully they fill in. We don't use all the funds. I'm hoping within six months that we do have them. They do fill in and we keep everybody with us. I want to support councilmember Becerra on his left-hand turn especially on flower and MacArthur and I know I've seen many accidents I go that way towards my mom's house every Sunday now we see accidents here we hear about accidents on flower and McFadden that being said I also want to hopefully we bring back crossing guards I want to fully bring back crossing guards in

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

Santa Ana and support our kids are why we're here and that they're fully supported and we have crossing guards not only to SAUSD but all the children in Santa Ana they're all our children I want to look into dual use with SAUSD not just so we have a working relationship with SAUSD I want to see a dual use of parks Hedinger Elementary which is parked there's no park there BARN ELEMENTARY, THERE'S NO PARK IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD. AND ALSO PEO PICO AND LOW ELEMENTARY, WHICH IS A NEED. HIGH DENSITY AREA, OF COURSE, THAT NEEDS A PARK.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

I ALSO WANT TO LOOK AT PARKING. SO WHEN WE HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUSD, WE HAVE A FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP, MAYBE THEY'LL GIVE UP SOME PARKING UNTIL 630 IN THE MORNING. IF YOU GO TO WORK EARLY, YOU TAKE A PERMIT AND YOU'RE OUT BY 630 and we relieve parking across the city. I think that would be a great use to have a relationship with SAUSD.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

I also want to look into pedestrian safety, like blinking crossing lights, anything to slow down as kids cross. I know in between on McFadden between Flower and Main, it's hard to get across one side of the street to another, and many times I've tried to walk over, and it's it's like playing frogger where you're going to get hit by a car if you try to cross so i would want blinking lights not only just for this area but across the city so we can help uh young people and adults and seniors cross the street i also want to see a raised crosswalk

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

so we don't have when we can't have uh where we can have speed bumps so race crosswalks to slow down for pedestrian safety um i want to make sure we upgrade our alleyways with cement paving council

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

VASQUEZ HERE OVER I'LL BE BACK COME BACK TO YOU THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ YES THANK YOU

Jessie LopezItem 19

UM SO FIRST ROUND WILL BE SUPER HIGH LEVEL IN RESPONSE TO YOUR STAFF REPORT CAP AND SECOND ROUND WILL BE INFRASTRUCTURE REQUESTS OKAY UM SO AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE STOCK REPORT I REALLY ENCOURAGE ALL OUR RESIDENTS TO READ IT I THINK YOU WILL LEARN A LOT ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF THE CITY and what you should expect within the next five years and beyond that financially and service wise from your city I think it really highlights the scale you know the magnitude of the structural deficit that we are going to

Jessie LopezItem 19

be facing as a community and so you know most likely because of that I think it's fair to say that we should prepare ourselves for a possible reduction of services across the board because we are spending more money than we are bringing in and as the chart shows that's that squeeze is going to start to begin next year and it will eventually get worse and worse year after that and in five years 30 million will no longer be available that currently is available that we use and there will most likely be as I said a reduction in services

Jessie LopezItem 19

that we provide to our residents and when measure X fully sunsets the number becomes much larger than that so you know it's no surprise right for a long time now some of us have felt that we're not in a secure financial ground with with the budget and part of the big emphasis that I wanna give direction to staff is to make sure that we have some sort of plan in place to address the first drop off with Measure X and to address what will possibly happen with the final drop off of Measure X. And I think that's, if I'm not mistaken,

Jessie LopezItem 19

a recommendation that has come from the Measure X ad hoc committee. So thank you to my Measure X representative for emailing me their recommendations. I really appreciate it. And so I also want us to continue making contributions to the employee pension costs, stabilization fund to mitigate future costs. You know, that was something that we worked on, the 2021 council, and we saw, you know, a decrease, right? And so we know that when we are proactive in these measures, they can be helpful. With parking validations, excuse me,

Jessie LopezItem 19

I'm supportive of making them available to our residents that come and are part of this process. However, I don't think that people up here need to be using them because we already have free parking in the garage, and we really need to be making use of that space as opposed to be using these validations. Additionally, I have questions about the county structure. Is there a possibility that we can have conversations with county staff to see if maybe we could build a relationship relationship to use that structure at a very reduced cost so that we get off this dependency of the validation

Jessie LopezItem 19

And so I see that my time is right winding down and I'll come back for a second round of comments. Thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Mayor Pro Tem Van

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

Thank you Hi, everyone. Thank you for being here I'm gonna probably say something pretty unpopular right now which is we do not have the money to do all the things that we want to do and And this, I would say, I as a council member have been extremely lucky that I joined this council when there was a, you know, inundation of state and federal dollars for city councils to do programs like some of our park events, like renovating some of our libraries and things like that with ARPA funding, right? But we're going to have to get realistic.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

And so the first thing I would like to say is, you know, there's a lot of requests for parks, park lighting, park events, new parks, park maintenance, park restrooms, and I love them because that is, we want our residents to use these parks. parks. You being out there ensures that they stay active, that they stay clean, and that we don't have an issue with people loitering or doing unsavory things. So I'm just going to present this to you. It's not an immediate short-term thing, but

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

I would like to see staff potentially come back with an idea of a park facilities bond bond or park maintenance bond or something for parks and libraries only. So it's limited because I did not support Measure X when it first came on the ballot because I did not like the idea of a sales tax that would apply to everybody. It's extremely regressive and I did not like the idea that it was not limited to youth parks and recreation libraries and things like that. a bond would ensure that we can limit that funding solely to you know parks

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

recreation youth programs libraries and the kind of maintenance that the previous councils had deferred for years and I don't want us to be back in that hole again where we cannot have green grass because we don't have the funding to maintain the grass or that we have nasty restrooms that you don't want to put your kids in and I don't want to be in because we can't maintain them the way that we want so I would like to see that if that is possible because if you want something you're gonna have to pay for it the second thing I would say is regarding the downtown parking I think that we're gonna need to bring it at

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

best down to one hour in the parking structure or even 30 minutes the other thing I would like to say is you know I know we're gonna get a new analyst and a a deputy city manager to help with special projects. I really need to see them working more to demand money from the state and federal representatives because I hear all the time from our assembly member, our senator, and our congress member how City of Anaheim will ask for $15 million and San Antonio is asking for one and a half. We can't do that. So that concludes my first round of comments, and I'll come back again. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you very much. Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Thank you, Mayor Mezcua. And I appreciate all the dialogue here that we're having. I want to share publicly that I am supportive of my Santa Ana app being translated into Vietnamese and Spanish. We already have it in English. I want to make sure it's accessible to all of our residents. That is the most across the board equitable approach we can have. Bless you. I am supportive of reassessing parks and recreations fees. I wanted to be on the record that I am supportive of that. I know there were some public speakers. I think we as a city need to present less barriers to kids being able to have access to their parks.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

I am supportive of keeping the immigration defense fund here in the city, supportive of adding some stop signs and doing an assessment on the need for speed humps near Santa Ana High School. There's a lot of students who are walking between Ward 2 and Ward 5, which is Councilmember Vasquez and my ward. With an abundance of caution in protecting pedestrians and families, I think it's time that the city address the neighborhood most adjacent to Santa Ana High School.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

I know that Chestnut, the Myrtle Street, as well as Pine Street and Walnut are very busy streets where you have hundreds of kids walking at all hours of the day. We need to protect them by adding some stop signs and some speed humps. I'm also supportive of alley repairs taking place off of First and Bristol. The property adjacent to the Santa Ana food market is an area where there is a lot of people experiencing homelessness. I think it's time for the city to address these issues by repairing that alley. I'm also supportive of keeping the Santa Ana Juneteenth Festival in the hands of

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

the Orange County Heritage Council and increasing it from 50,000 to 75,000 supportive of keeping Chicano Heritage Festival in the El Salvador Park community keeping it in the hands of the Chicano people supportive of ensuring that we are addressing the street repair along Civic Center I do see that there are some monies earmarked through public works i'm supportive of us repairing rate street from civic center to washington we have already repaired rate street from first street to civic center because of the streetcar i think the streetcar shouldn't just tear apart our

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

neighborhood but it should address the other parts of the of the neighborhoods that they're the streetcar is going to be driving through um parts of artisapilad where the streetcar is going to be home and need to be addressed are fifth street between rate and fairview there is going to be a number of infrastructures brought to the artista pilat community i think that it's time for the city to work collaboratively with octa on sharing those costs el salvador park restrooms i do know that there's some sal tower monies that we're going to be using i would like to put put

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

it on the record i'd like to see those restrooms replaced i'm supportive of having a five thousand dollar budget created to support the santa nita mural restoration which was recently tagged on and last but not least supporting parks and recreation with measure x monies for the expansion of the eddie westfield stadium so that parks and rec can generate more revenue that includes my second round of comments thank you council member becerra thank you mad mayor

Phil BacerraItem 19

i am not going to read through the whole budget and tell you everything i support i think staff is doing a great job of putting a lot of things forward so you don't need to hear 20 minutes of me telling you everything i support i presented five things or at least i got through three of them i was about to get through the fourth one so i'll just continue so we don't have to be here all night as far as for grisette park i'm not asking for any enhancements any equipment just what we could do to formalize it i guess the only thing i'm asking for is the sign looks pretty tore up

Phil BacerraItem 19

if we can at least get that repaired that'd be great and then the fencing along the county flood control channel along flower and sunflower like we've seen with our law enforcement obligations we just gotta go do it the county's not helping us i mean i wish the supervisor that ran for the seat that said they were going to help sannyana i'm still looking to you supervisor sarmiento in hopes that you will follow through and help us with that channel with both those channels flower and sunflower but in the meantime as we've always had to do when it comes to the county we're just

Phil BacerraItem 19

going to have to do it ourselves so let's do it if we have to send them a bill later then so be it but we need to get those channels in better shape they're drug dens they're just giant sources of criminal activity we need to do something about it and last but not least in regards to washington square i support a feasibility study but what we also need to do is when we talk about feasibility let's talk about feasibility of a park but let's also talk about the feasibility of how we can subdivide that land maintain the r1 zoning let me be clear i do not support any sort of application

Phil BacerraItem 19

FORWARD TO DO SOMETHING WITH THAT LAND AT THIS TIME. SO LET'S SEE WHAT THE FEASIBILITY STUDY COMES BACK WITH AS FAR AS A PARK AND WHAT IT WOULD COST TO ACTUALLY GET A PARK IN THE SITE, ONGOING COST, AND THEN ALSO TO THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING IT SUBDIVIDED BECAUSE I THINK THERE'S REALLY THOSE ARE THE TWO OPTIONS WE'RE LOOKING AT THIS POINT. SO LET'S FLUSH THOSE OUT AND LET'S SEE WHAT COMES FORWARD. WITH THAT, I'M PRETTY SURE KAT'S GOT ENOUGH DIRECTION AS IT GOES. SO I'LL CONCLUDE MY comments right there thank you very much thank you councilman vasquez thank you uh i want to support

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

uh the mayor's proposal again for the translating of my set and uh city app and uh i want to double with a council member ty fan um sorry uh mayor pro temp uh to have i don't want to council member anymore thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

I was kidding.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

To have a parks and library bond, I really would appreciate for having a ward with so park-borrowing and to be able to use our schools, I think that would help and support, especially if we Martin Elementary, Lowe Elementary, Hedinger, all in the middle, all in the center, and we could use those parks so that bond would go a long way. Also support our libraries where we can and make sure we have the programming I mean if there's anywhere to expand I would be for that as well thank you council member Hernandez for mentioning slowing down having raised speed but raised crosswalks maybe by

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

Santa high school on Pine Street on Walnut I would also want one on Center Street by Diamond elementary and Michael hard and Mary and also if we could have we have a quality of life team that's been doing good work and now with a council member of the set us idea to have them at the at the gel to support folks I think that was a great idea and we're we're seeing the benefits of having sitting at there so

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

So if we could have a better pay for all involved in quality of life team to make sure we don't lose them, to make sure we get people, the quality people that it takes to do that difficult work. So I'm going to be in support of that. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 19

Council Member Lopez. Okay. So back to Big Picture Cat. On parking, I'd like to see if the Public Works Department can absorb some of these responsibilities that LAZ is doing, that PD is doing now. to bring it in-house, to try and save money since you are so close to the parking permit program, since this parking issue really falls on the department each and every time that we receive a complaint. So I'm interested in seeing if there's any technology that the department can acquire to help with this LAZ contract because it's a really high cost.

Jessie LopezItem 19

And to that extent, Cat, I support you seeking a lower level of service to fit within the baseline as it is detailed in your staff report. On the fees, I don't need to see all of the fees and I'm not really interested in taking a sample. I really just am interested in seeing the parks and recs related fees because I always hear from my constituents about the difficult time that they're already having in paying some of those fees specifically like for neighborhood related events so that's what i'm concerned with i can't imagine if they're going to continue to go you know be raised that

Jessie LopezItem 19

people will be supportive of that on the opioid settlement i don't have any direction for you tonight cat i still want to find out what other cities are doing besides the option that is being presented in front of me and I will do also my own due diligence to bring back options that I see that I'm supportive of in different jurisdictions when it comes to staff that are dependent on ARPA this is a major concern for me and so my direction is whoever is dependent on you know ARPA money which is temporary money I would like to see them rolled into the general fund you know

Jessie LopezItem 19

specifically personnel from Public Works any part-timers that are part of the the Parks and Rec's department, landscaping planners, and economic specialists to help with business retention, promotion, and attraction. I think that's also really important. And I am supportive of staff's recommendation, which we discussed during last council meeting about using PD's unfunded positions that have not been filled to switch them over to non-sworn because as staff detailed to us, we see a reduction in cost.

Jessie LopezItem 19

And so I think that is a very smart option for us to pursue. And so I see a lot of the infrastructure requests that I sent over email reflected or detailed in the staff report. So I will try to only highlight the things that I wasn't able to include, which I let staff know. Super supportive of the alley improvements, improvements particularly in Santa Ana Triangle between North Main and North Bush there's a really tiny alley that for for many many years people want to see refurbished I do have a lot of you know requests for parks and I see that my time is winding down so I'll wait for my third round

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

thank you very much Mayor Pro Tem Fan thank you mayor um as to the arpa staff I am supportive of extending the six months so that they can finish out, you know, making sure that we comply with all the ARPA requirements, and then time to either find a new position or roll them into other positions in the city that might be available to them or that they may qualify for. Analyst positions, you know, maybe even the deputy city manager, I don't know. I will let you, you know, staff do that, but I think that that's really fair. I don't want someone to have to leave four months until the grant ends, and then we don't have anybody

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

to administer it because they need to make sure that they can pay their mortgage the other item I would like to see is an economic development I think you see a theme here with some of my comments and in conversation with our city manager you know we don't have a very robust economic development team and our economic development team is the one who's gonna go out there work with our businesses bring new businesses bring new development here to the city so that we can pay for all the events and services that we want to have for for everyone in this room. And so that's the one area that I would really like

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

to see us build up and work with our chamber in order to really bring that into the city. So I will let you handle that as to how you think the staffing would work.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

And I support a lot of infrastructure requests, streets, pavement, I think in the last few years we have put more money in that and there's always a need. but at this time I am not supportive of new events increases to events no new increases to any you know type of street improvements alley improvements or anything like that unless we can find a way to actually pay for them I think we're gonna have another discussion regarding the sanitation fee that's a a two to four million dollars excuse me issue that we're gonna have to address

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

in this general fund right if that doesn't get you know figure it out and that that's kind of where I'm at at this point and I want to reiterate I think a parks and library zoo bond I think would go a really long way because I would also address the concerns regarding you know the fees that our residents may have to pay in order to use those services the last thing I do want to say regarding the school district and the parks unfortunately you know this is something I had floated along you know many times regarding the joint use and having public access to the school you know grass and things like that there's

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

they have concerns with liability and that's been the refrain that I've heard multiple times that they don't want people on site after hours because it might you know if something happens to someone they might be liable so I don't know that's feasible but if that's not in order for us to still have these types of public services with our parks and and all of us being able to go there and enjoy it i would really like to see this

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

bond idea come back thank you thank you mayor pro town so i'm going to go my round i also support the arpa funding staffing i don't want people to be out of a job i'd rather have them stay on we assist them to obtain other employment but i'm going to step out of the box a little bit everybody's talking about parks and the need or some few people are but it's also about the safety of our parks and how are we going to maintain that and so we sit up here and i always talk about that safety safety safety our families will not go to the parks no matter where we have them if they do

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

not feel safe so mr city manager however you guys want to address that but we need to really look into that area the other issue is another safety issue for me is on the bike trails for example McFadden to Warner, Chestnut to Maple. I'd really like us to look at and other bike trails as well in areas where our community walks or runs or rides their bike that if we can look at to and this is where the Chief's experience as well will come and the bill and many others blue emergency lights similar to what they have on the college campuses or cameras because I hear I'm citywide the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

council that sits up here they're in their ward so of course and I think that They want what's in their ward, right? They want to benefit the constituents of their ward. Well, I get calls and emails from the entire city. And so it would be great to have the blue safety lights or cameras in those areas because, for example, a constituent was running the other day and she put a video up about how she was running and she almost got assaulted by a homeless gentleman. And I reached out to her and it was like, it's this way all the time, Mayor, any time I'm out here.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

And so the calls for assistance I think fall on deaf ears, not because we don't want to hear it sometimes, we don't have the answer for it. So I'd really like us to look into either blue emergency light, like our campuses have, or cameras, so when something does occur, the police department has the ability to arrest somebody that commits a crime or assaults or sexual assaults or whatever it may be. Our families, our children, it really is about the safety of our community. And again, I think speed bumps was brought up. I did meet with the fire department and if you meet with them

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Mr. City Manager, they will tell you I think you were there at one of the coffees with the mayor The fire department is not a fan of speed bumps because when they're responding to a call it slows them down And so I don't know about everybody else, but I want them to get to my house quickly if I call them So it slows them down They have to kind of stop and then speed back up But they are okay with the roundabouts and I think and Nabil and I have had many conversations about roundabouts in our community and they can be very beautiful and we put you know flowers or plastic plants however so you know they stay there and that we

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

can do roundabouts in our community because I don't know about all of you again speed bumps the fire department will tell you that they want to be able to respond in a timely manner and so we cannot have that with speed bumps and I will end with this is that you know measure X we all knew I did not support and we knew it was coming. And so we do need to be prepared for that. And I'll come back on my last and final round. Thank you. Next person up, Councilman Hernandez. This is your third one.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This will be my final round of comments. I just wanted to voice my support for bringing speed humps to the Santa Ana High School area. As I mentioned, there is also additional concerns that I wanted to bring to the dais today. and that is in our cannabis fund so a question for you acting city manager Alvaro Nunez we presently in the cannabis fund have 4.2 million dollars allocated for youth five to six million dollars is allocated to enforcement can you tell me what is the amount of illegally operating shops in our city

What is illegally what?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Illegally operating shops. Illegally. Yes. Zero, to the best of our knowledge.

Okay. So where are these enforcement dollars going?

So we do have an enforcement as far as some of them do come up operating on an occasion. And so we do have a robust interaction between both court enforcement and the police department. department, which helps mitigate any unnecessary influx of illegal cannabis. So that happens on a routine basis. Second, part of the Measure X, the way it was written, was actually to do public nuisance abatement. So it's not just related just to cannabis informants, but a general public nuisance type of enforcement.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Okay. So I see 2,359,000 is going to our police department, and then there is 1,029,000 on 150 going to the body worn cameras program and this is year two of five can you tell me about the body worn cameras program chief yes the body worn camera

is the cameras that officers carry and the all the officers that that are out in the field carry body worn cameras and that was implemented in 2017 okay and

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

then the two million three hundred and fifty nine thousand that goes to enforcement what exactly um are these monies you know going to on a day-to-day basis in regards to

enforcement there's various types of enforcement as the atkins city manager mentioned in partnership with uh code enforcement there's a several shops that still operate uh without a permit but also cultivation sites so there's enforcement on cultivation side and clearing those locations and then doing inspections and whatnot.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Thank you, Chief. And I want to ensure that we are fair across the board because we are going through our budget process, and our police department makes up the most heavily funded department that we have in the city. And I think it's time that we balance our budgets. We want to ensure that the police department has an ample amount of resources, resources, but as do we also want to ensure that Public Works is properly funded, Parks and Recreation is properly funded, because as we can see, there is an abundance of concern across our city, whether it be sidewalks, supporting a turning signal in the Bristol

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

ward, in your council member Becerra's district. And I think that the opportunity presents itself in the cannabis fund. I think you have over $3 million. dollars we can be equitable across the board to ensure Public Works receives 1 million 1 million goes to parks and rec and 1 million stays in our police department I think that accomplishes the equity that all of us are trying to fight for here today which is having safer streets well paved streets and well-funded parks and so I think that this is a area of funding that we should consider when we are talking about addressing potential shortfalls and

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

And where are the sums of money going to come from to address these issues? I think that balancing this budget across three different departments provides us an opportunity to serve a multitude of areas for our city. In our police department, in the public works department, and lastly, parks and rec. That'll be my final round of comments, is I just want to see our cannabis fund be more balanced so that we can actually focus on city services, youth development, and public safety. Thank you, sir.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you, Councilman Hernandez.

Jessie LopezItem 19

council member Lopez yes thank you so the request that I'm submitting to you and that I verbally and what I submitted in writing you know they're coming directly from Ward 3 constituents and neighborhood leaders and so I know that Ward 3 families use Ward 3 parks I see it all the time and I'm very very happy that they feel safe and that they feel like they can go to their local park and And so consistently for four years now, I heard from them that they want to see these types of repairs in their public parks, that they want better bathrooms, they want better sofa fields, they want better lighting.

Jessie LopezItem 19

And they also want playground equipment to be upgraded and for shading to be added. So that is why I submitted those requests, and that is directly coming from Ward 3 constituents. constituents. My long-term vision for park security, for me, it's bringing back our park rangers, right? I would love for Public Works to be able to get the ball rolling to see if that is something that can save the city money. I think Lions has done an incredible job. I can certainly attest to that, and we've seen a difference in Ward 3, but I would like for staff to have that

Jessie LopezItem 19

conversation to see if bringing back our park rangers is something that is sustainable for the city um also you know Santa Ana Pony has reached out they would like uh help funding eighty thousand dollars for the netting and uh the structure security of their fields that they use um Santa Clara is very bumpy Santiago street is also very bumpy uh grant to fruit is very bumpy and a lot of these streets a lot of these potholes that you are now seeing um are a direct result of all of the water that the city took last year right because it's very old infrastructure and so it

Jessie LopezItem 19

was not able to maintain really everything that happened with the tropical storms and so a lot of the streets you're now seeing those potholes become bigger or new potholes as i've seen in some of these streets, right? Like Fruit and Cabrillo, very patchy. East of 17th Street, I would say generally we need to do some repair work there as well. There's a request that came in from the Lyon residents. There's a crosswalk that connects the communities. However, there's no stop sign there. And so the cars just speed by and they came to a neighborhood meeting and they said, you know, we've almost been hit. People have been hit.

Jessie LopezItem 19

And so that is on the priority list for me. There's also a stop sign request at Walnut and Shelton. That's a very dangerous intersection. And traffic synchronization on Cambridge and Frey Haven when you're trying to make a left turn during rush hour, it's very, very dangerous. and not too long ago one of the cars actually ran into the wall which backs up into somebody's home and so those are the areas that again I'll be submitted submitting and writing Thank You Kat Thank You councilmember Vasquez please

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

Thank You mayor just like councilmember mayor Pro Tem fan I want to talk about economic development and giving some investment there I have an ideas of we We should have a fast track to open up a business in Santa Ana. It seems like we have the opposite. My mom opened up a business 35 years ago, and she had a rough time opening up a beauty salon. And I hear it from my friends. I hear it from anybody who invests and opens up, and they're up in arms at first. They open up, and they forget because they're already up and running. But let's be that business-friendly city.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

You can open it up quick, and you get through it, and we start making more money, and we get more people coming in to invest in our city. I agree with Council Member Lopez that those PD-funded sworn officer positions that we can't fill, can we transfer them within the PD department to unsworn positions to better serve our community? They're going to stay within the PD, all the funding, but we're going to support and give better service to the community. AS FAR AS DUAL USE PARKS, WILLARD INTERMEDIATE IS A DUAL USE PARK. AND I TALKED TO THE PRINCIPAL, BERTHA BENEVIDEZ, AMAZING PRINCIPAL.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

SHE'S AWESOME. AND THEY HAD SOME ISSUES, BUT THEY WORKED IT OUT WITH PARKS AND REC. THEY FIGURED IT OUT. OH MY GOD, GUESS WHAT? OUR PARKS AND RECS IS AWESOME. THEY CAN WORK WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO FIGURE THINGS OUT. SO THEY DID. THEY JUST LIKE, THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER AND THEY FIGURED THINGS OUT. SO I COULD SEE THAT AT at Pico, at Pio Pico Low, Barn Elementary, getting her as well. As far as safe parks, good programming. How can we add programming to our parks? Because I know Ed Carruthers is well programmed. And I walk by, because I walk my dog, by there every night and we see families. It's full, they're happy.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

There's families picketing within the skate park because they're hanging out with their little one and there's different age groups and it's a full park. But guess what? it's well programmed so it's safe because because the community comes out and they make each other safe so that's how you create safe parks um i really i want to touch about the powell program i'm not saying take those away but the powell on cypress if it's if they're open nine hours a week like the one on mcfadden maybe we could add a teen center there so let's talk about a

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

teen center dual use let's do use ourselves let's use our spaces and be efficient with them as well And as I went for on McFadden, if it's, we can have a family, I went by, I was in Huntington Beach and they had a YMCA family fitness center. I wouldn't mind having a PAL family fitness center the other days they're not open where families can be healthy, go in and do exercise as well. That's all I got. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you very much. Mayor Protap.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you to my colleagues for your comments. And I think I heard a lot of the same refrain, right? I think that the parks issue is up because it's at the forefront of our minds. It's one of the things that we really expanded with COVID money, with ARPA money. And so that's where it's really important to me. And I agree that safety at our parks is really number one. We can't have nice parks that people are afraid to go to. and so that's why with the parks and libraries and zoo bond you can have included in their park rangers who ensure the safety of our parks libraries

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

zoo and trails right that's an open space too they can ensure that our public works team is going to be able to upgrade and maintain those restrooms and lighting we need four million dollars to have sports field lighting we have people coming here saying we don't have enough sports field for our young people to stay out of trouble how are we going to be you know playing peewee you know softball if it's dark out at 5 p.m in the winter time and so i think all of that i guess i'm bringing that up because we can't just ask for things we have to figure out how to pay for them and in order to do that i'm

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

floating this idea because i think that it's one way that our school districts do it the community college districts do it and it's limited it's limited so you're you know exactly where it's going to go it's going to go to the things that i that is going to improve the quality of life for our residents um as to the rest of it i think that you know when it comes to any type of public maintenance of course we want to look at areas that are creating the most traffic accidents and the most deaths and pedestrian or vehicle accidents i think those are the really crucial

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

crucial parts, whether it's about the medians or roundabouts or bump outs, all of those things because what we're seeing is whenever there is an accident, you're going to have costs to our businesses, costs to our residents, traffic, increase in other problems, and damage that's going to have to be paid. And sometimes it's going to cost even more to the city because we have to deal with all of that too. So those are the kind of maintenance areas and public works and infrastructure areas that I'm interested in supporting. But again, otherwise, I'm not interested or supportive of increasing programming of any type,

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

new events, new grants, or new things because we have not figured out how we're going to pay for those new items. And what we see is a decreasing budget year over year, and we're going to have to make those tough cuts. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you, Ma'am Pratt-Temps. So this is my last one and apparently I think after this we've already gone three times we can move on So I'm gonna go back to dispatchers It was at the last meeting that it was brought forward and then it was asked to be brought When there's active city manager when the next city manager is here So I think this is an appropriate time to ask to place on there so we can discuss adding four dispatchers We know it is one of the most crucial positions in the police department as I had indicated the last meeting It's a very stressful job. They asked for two at the last meeting.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

I think four would be more appropriate. Again, what we can afford. If we can look at that, Mr. Active City Manager, because when people call in, they want somebody to answer. And they want them to be able to answer clearly. And so four dispatchers is something that I would support. Also, again, as I stated, safety's the number one issue for me. Yes, I'm supportive of parks, love them. families do use them throughout the entire city however because I represent the entire city I do get the calls about bathrooms and safety and just like everybody else up here does and I think mayor pro tems her her statement earlier

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

about you know I don't want to misquote you there's enough money and there's not enough money right and so we all have to be aware of that we all have a list there's a lot of things that we all want but what should be our priorities the quality of life and what being safe in our communities and so those are the things that I would hope that we would look at up here to say how do we keep our constituents safe healthy at the same time provide very good services for them and that we don't end up in a financial positions where we can't come back from and so I just want to state that and again when referencing rough

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

referencing the speed bumps I look to the experts and that is the fire department who has indicated and I don't know anybody you know if you disagree my goodness please if we put speed bumps fire trucks have to stop almost completely and slow down so before they can get to you they have to do that and then get their truck rolling again and so it takes them longer to get there and I'm all about slowing down the traffic in our neighborhoods and in our city but But how do we do that without putting speed bumps? And I'll leave that to the experts because, Nabil, I see you shaking your head. You're the expert in that area.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

And it costs, right? It's a huge cost. And so there's a lot of things you heard us up here say what we want. It's great. It's kind of like, ooh, we won the lotto. No, we did not. We have a set budget. And last year when we went through this, the city manager at one point said, we have no more money. Because people kept asking. council members kept asking and asking and asking so we have to be responsible and look at the budget and how much money do we have and what are our priorities as a council and as a city serving our constituents and so with that mr city manager um i think this item is well mr councilman panel

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

also you said you didn't want to speak i okay so once councilman panelosa is done then did you push the button too oh okay you're the last one councilman panelosa and then we're going to move on thank I believe you'll have some direction correct okay thank you thank

David PenalozaItem 19

you for that I just wanted because I try to remain consistent I know when we have the reclassifications of the sworn vacancies I said that that would be a better discussion to have with the with the larger budget we're now having it so I also want to just echo what my colleagues have said I'm not supportive of reclassifying all the positions that were recommended, but maybe looking at that and maybe seeing which positions we could reclassify within the police department to have other, to address other staffing issues within the police department. So definitely supportive of that, and this is a time when we should

David PenalozaItem 19

make those big staffing decisions. Also just wanted to thank staff for including Bristol Street Rehabilitation in your staff report. I know that, you know, as many of us have heard before, Bristol Street is our biggest revenue, tax revenue-making corridor in the city. And if, you know, our public works tries to sell those parcels of land on Bristol Street, no one's going to want to buy them when Bristol Street looks the way it does.

David PenalozaItem 19

So if we invest our monies into finishing Bristol Street, specifically between Warner and St. Andrew, or Warner and Ettinger, it would be more appealing for someone to want to buy those pieces of land along Bristol Street and help bring in that economic development and that revenue that we so long for. so thank you for including that I hope to see Bristol Street the diapers of diapers project for those who are unaware because the construction started when I was in diapers and and it might be completed when I'm in diapers again

David PenalozaItem 19

who knows but that's the joke so thank you Steph that's it mayor thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

Thank You councilmember all right mr. city manager do we have direction so

So, thank you Mayor Portempo, City Council. We're going to compile the information we received, and we'll provide a matrix, and then we have direction, at least to begin formulating a good budget presentation for you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

Can we actually get that earlier on, so we have more time to ask staff questions before it gets onto the agenda? Thank you. Okay, so now we're gonna go on to item number 20. It's related to an ordinance for emergency services. may we please have a staff presentation?

Yes we do, we have Finance and Management Service Executive Director Kat Downs make the presentation.

Thai Viet PhanItem 20

Is the Director Downs show every spring, right?

Yeah.

Okay, great. So thank you very much for considering this item tonight. Local government has increasingly been the target of cyber attacks. So internally, we have taken and will continue to take proactive steps to protect the city.

We would like the City Council to consider expanding the local emergency definition to the municipal code to include cyberterrorism, de-energization, and EMP attacks. Oh, Lord, don't make me say that again. So doing so will increase the city's flexibility to respond to these types of events. And we have the IT director and myself will try to answer any of your questions, but that concludes the prepared presentation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

Sorry, I spilled water all over. So thank you, Mayor Pro Temp, for helping me out here because I spilled water everywhere. Okay, any council questions at this time?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

I don't see any nobody's push their button mayor I'll go ahead move the item

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

I'll second perfect let's prepare to vote a motion by councilmember Becerra seconded by councilmember Hernandez to approve the introduction and first reading of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana amending chapter 2 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code administration article 4 officers departments boards and commissions division 15 relating to emergency services section 2.643 definitions and the vote is 7 ayes no

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

nays motion carries thank you item number 22 are there any questions or comments by the council or do we have a staff presentation I'm sorry 21 I

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

apologize I was not trying to get out of it I just spilled water everywhere so kind of threw me off okay item number 21 and we have our staff presentation please mr city manager

yes we do by executive director i'm planning to build an agency men thai

good evening mayor and mayor for chairman of the council the actions before you tonight is to adopt an urgency ordinance by two-thirds vote adding article 11 to chapter 8 of the sent I'm 21 to chapter 8 of the Santa Ministerial Code prohibiting short-term rentals and also conduct a first reading of a regular ordinance reflecting the same changes and also adding the same information and regulations to the SEMC and if approved this ordinance the The urgency ordinance would be effective tonight and would apply citywide.

And the reading of the regular ordinance would be done tonight as well as the second reading following and will become 30 days after that for the regular ordinance. So what is short-term rentals? Short-term rental is the renting out of a portion or entire dwelling unit that is used for short-term lodging accommodation for transient activity, generally less than 30 days. It is a very popular format of renting out a drawing units on platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, and Craigslist, as well as other advertising platforms.

In terms of current enforcement, short-term rentals, I want to be very clear, are not and have never been permitted as a use under the zoning code. We currently have approximately 112 confirmed active short-term rental enforcement cases, 36 of which involve owner residing at the same address, 84 of which involves property owners owned by or an LCC or managed by a property management with an absentee landlord. Complaints that we receive include excessive noise, parking problems, trash, degradation of neighborhood and residential character.

In response to recent legal development and community impact, our effort tonight seeks to amend the Municipal Code to expressly prohibit short-term rentals in alignment with the city's current practice of the SAMC. This slide is meant to provide some context as for housing in the city. It is not by any mean to say that short-term rentals are negative impacting housing in terms of the large number and the volume of numbers. We currently have about 82,000 housing units in the city as of January of 2023.

We have about 1,100 short-term rentals that are on the average advertised in the city on any given day. According to the RENA allocation for the city, we are required between the period of 2021 to 2029 to produce approximately 3,100 housing units to meet the local housing demands. For context, the 1,100 units represent about one-third of the housing units to be produced. Again, this information is to provide as a context for numbers in terms of housing units and what's required by ARENA.

The proposed ordinances tonight are not subject to the requirement of the California Environmental Quality Act. The applicable sections have been provided on the slides here below. If approved, both ordinances, we will file a notice of exemption upon the approval of the ordinances.

The recommendation tonight, again, is for the City Council to adopt an urgent solar ordinance by two-thirds vote, adding Article 21 to Chapter 8 of the Santa Municipal Code prohibiting short-term rentals, as well as conducting a first reading of a regular ordinance, adding the same to the Municipal Code. That concludes my prepared presentation. I'll be happy to ask any questions from the council.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Thank you very much. Up and up to the council members, are there any questions?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

So I have a few. I don't see any here. If I can ask, please, currently do we charge a fee?

No.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Currently, do they pay any type of taxes or any, they pay no type of fees?

Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Okay. So, if there is a noise issue, they call the police department, are they fined? Or they're just given a citation and then that's it. But do we have anything in place to say, first time, police rollout, it's $1,000 for a noise issue, second time, you know, $2,000. I'm just being hypothetical. You know, third time, you lose it.

Absolutely. So the current enforcement process based on our code is we identify and confirm any violations. regulations, we escalate enforcement through notification as well as issuing citations and fines. Right now, because it is a prohibited use, it is considered a misdemeanor offense if we find that the property is out of compliance. And as a misdemeanor, under the California regulations for short-term rental specifically,

specifically, a fine of up to $5,000 could be charged or up to six months in imprisonment, or both actually under our code, if approved tonight in Chapter 8, as well as the existing code, both of those enforcement options are available.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

The $5,000 fine?

Up to $5,000, correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Up to $5,000 fine. So basically we don't have any regulations for them, we don't charge them a tax?

As the use is currently prohibited, there is no regulations allowing for the uses. Again, the proposal tonight is for the council to adopt an urgency ordinance to reaffirm the current code as it is written, as well as ensuring that we are legally defensible on the existing regulatory framework. If the city council desires to make changes in the future or provide us with instructions on how to address this issue throughout the city in the future we certainly would take any directions tonight as well so I would be very supportive of

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

having operational standards process for registering them licensing monitoring of the unit a process for reporting and addressing nuisance concerns so that minimizing the loss of permanent housing of the city which not we can talk about later how it does take up some of our housing issues and so as we heard from some of the speakers they rent out a room so it's not really going to affect the housing issue but we could talk about that and payment of city tax fees and taxes straight than the penalty fines like we just talked about up to 5,000 to make sure that they are in compliance and working with the chamber

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

and travel Santa Ana so that it does bring people into our city we generate revenue but it would be a great working relationship at the chamber and travel Santa Ana so I would I would like to seek out some support for that and to bring it back you would be able to bring that information to us in late May counseling panel oh so you want to speak

David PenalozaItem 21

Thank You mayor I first off want to thank city staff for working on this I know you've been working on this for a couple of years now I remember back and like i think it was november or december of 2020 uh i agendized a similar conversation surrounding group homes and the idea of having the the short-term rentals and how we could expand that and i was told to pump the brakes because staff was working on this so i'm happy to finally see it here to everyone that came out tonight to speak on this thank you so much for coming out and and saying your piece in regards to this this subject I wanna outright say

David PenalozaItem 21

that I am supportive of the ordinance as it currently is because of what it's done to the quality of life of our residents in the five years that I've been an elected official in the city one of the number one concerns that I've heard from our neighborhoods and our residents in this city is the lack of of goodwill, ownership, and good faith in neighbors and residents that live in our city. I know that there's one of our Memorial Park ambassadors, Jesse, who's a 10-year-old boy. One of the first things that he told me when I first met him was he invited me over to his house,

David PenalozaItem 21

and he said, I want you to come and stand on my front lawn and see the number of people that come to the house right next door to him. This is a family that through God's goodwill and their good work and their hard work, they were able to muster up enough money to purchase their single family home in the Memorial Park neighborhood. But they don't have any neighbors. Every week, there's different people coming in and out of their neighborhood every single week. AND IT KEEPS FROM HAVING THEM A PEACEFUL NEIGHBORHOOD AND IT HAS EVERYTHING FROM PARTIES TO RANDOM PEOPLE THAT LIVE NEXT DOOR TO THEM.

David PenalozaItem 21

AND THAT IS NOT A GREAT WAY TO LIVE. WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS IF YOU INVEST SO MUCH IN BEING ABLE TO OWN YOUR HOME AND NOW THERE'S PEOPLE NEXT DOOR TO YOU THAT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHO THEY ARE OR WHAT THEY'RE ABOUT. I know that in the PowerPoint, City Staff, you mentioned that out of the 112 confirmed short-term rental cases that we currently have that you've tried to enforce, there are 84 that involve properties owned by LLCs and absentee owners.

David PenalozaItem 21

You know, I feel for the few that live on the property and try to make some extra income, but the majority of the ones that are proliferating in our city are causing problems in our neighborhoods. And that is a fact. Not only does it reduce the housing stock, there's over 1,100 of them in our city. that is 1,100 homes that are not being available made available for our families in Santa Ana there's a housing shortage and this is adding to that in our city so definitely supportive of bringing this ordinance forward because

David PenalozaItem 21

of the problems that it's adding to our quality of life in our neighborhoods as well as a housing stock issue that comes with it and as well as the unregulated forms that it takes for all the staff. I'm sure it's lovely people and are compensated, but we don't know what kind of working conditions are being provided at these Airbnbs as well. So thank you, staff. Thank you for bringing this forward. Very supportive of it. I know that the city of Garden Grove has an outright ban. The city of Irvine has an outright ban. And the people

David PenalozaItem 21

here many common people commented their families visiting Disneyland well guess what they're coming here and spending their money in Anaheim and bringing tax revenue to the city of Anaheim not the city of Santa Ana so excuse me I sat here for three hours and listen to you so please sit down and be respectful so with that I will when the time comes mayor I will happily entertain a motion motion to or I will move this item forward as urgency ordinance as it is

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

and if you know may I make an amendment sure that we do not allow them in residential areas and only in the business areas or a multi you know where they're not in residential areas so what would you like downtown downtown area they have a business downstairs they may rent out the top for an Airbnb I guess I

David PenalozaItem 21

would have to see that the map before I could that's great entertain that but at the moment I will make a motion to move forward with staffs recommendation I second as it currently stands okay thank you yes

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

councilman Becerra Thank You madam mayor sorry if you want to speak please push Push your button. I did. No, I know you did, thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Okay.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So as Council Member Pelosa brought up, there's 112 cases of short-term rentals that have received enforcement notices and citations. 36 involved owner occupied, and then the 84 that involve these out of town, absentee owners, these LLCs, right? I have one of those properties in my ward, down in Sandpoint. And what do the neighbors experience over there? Beer bottles being thrown at their houses. And I know from what I heard tonight, I know not every Airbnb is going to operate that way. I get it. Or every short-term rental. I get that.

Phil BacerraItem 21

But I do think while these things are that can be nuisances, I also see the fact that we can allow them in a limited capacity. AND SO WHILE TONIGHT I WILL BE SUPPORTING STAFF'S RECOMMENDATION, WHAT I WILL DO THOUGH IS I'M GOING TO MAKE A SUBMOTION. AND WHAT I'M GOING TO ASK IS THAT WE ADOPT THE URGENCY ORDINANCE TONIGHT. BUT WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE STAFF DO IS COME BACK AT THE MAY 7TH COUNCIL MEETING AND I'D LIKE STAFF AND MEN TELL ME IF THIS IS POSSIBLE, MAY 7TH I'D LIKE YOU TO COME BACK WITH A

Phil BacerraItem 21

PROPOSED ORDINANCE THAT WOULD ALLOW SHORT-TERM RENTALS WITH STANDARDS RELATED TO VERY, VERY LIMITED ZONES WHERE THEY WOULD BE PERMITTED. I THINK THIS IS KIND OF WHERE THE MAYOR WAS GOING AS FAR AS TRYING TO LIMIT THAT. VERY LIMITED WHERE THEY WOULD BE. AND THEN AS FAR AS SOME OF THE CONSERVATIVES ALREADY BROUGHT UP HERE AS FAR AS WHAT TAXES ARE THEY PAYING, WHERE ARE THEY SPENDING THEIR MONEY? WELL, LET'S MAKE SURE THAT THEY PAY THE TOT. SO THAT WOULD BE PART OF WHAT I WOULD ASK for uh that the city that they pay the city's tot that there be a cap on how many short-term rentals

Phil BacerraItem 21

there are in the city we've done that on other uses i think we could do that here as well i think there also needs to be separation requirements we don't need a cluster of them in any one particular part of the city because as we've already seen some of them do not operate as peacefully as we'd like and we need strong enforcement procedures related to these short-term RENTALS SO WHEN IT COMES TO WHAT WAS ALREADY BEING ASKED OF OUR STAFF I WANT TO SEE THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW BEING UH INCORPORATED INTO AN ORDINANCE BROUGHT BACK TO US AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST I WOULD

Phil BacerraItem 21

LIKE A SHORT-TERM RENTAL REGISTRY INTO WHICH A FEE WOULD BE PAID INTO SO THAT WE CAN RECRUIT SOME OF THESE COSTS AS WELL SO THAT WOULD BE MY MOTION IS TO ADOPT THE URGENCY ORDINANCE TONIGHT JUST TO PUT IT ON THE BOOKS BUT THEN COME BACK WITH A UM AN ORDINANCE THAT WOULD ALLOW THEM PER THE STANDARDS that I just stated.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

I'll second that motion. I'll second that motion. Okay, next up, Councilman Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

I want to thank the staff.

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

And I want to say I support this item. And I think they asked me where I stood on it. But when I came in about a year ago and I was for, I was for, I was against the short-term rentals because it did take away from our families. And I'm in Ward 2, and that's where we have three and four families per single-family home and people living in garages and renting out rooms. I also want to make sure that wherever we live I want to support our neighborhoods to keep it a family environment and not have any cutouts and people in downtown Santa Ana wanna want that too

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

there's the folks in the lodge and the lofts have issues with already being in downtown Santa Ana they complain whenever we brought fiestas patria's over they wanted to be moved out for the week they They wanted a hotel room or they wanted their pets to be moved out for the week. So they also want their family environment in downtown Santa Ana. So I wouldn't support any cutouts. So that's why I'm going to support this tonight.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

Thank you, Mayor Mezcuat. I, too, share very similar concerns with some of my colleagues here. I think that this item does adversely impact our quality of life in Santa Ana. My family has been in Santa Ana since the 1950s, and my father grew up in Artisa Pilar. My mom grew up in Artisa Pilar. It's where my grandparents purchased their home. Both sides of my family. I know firsthand the impacts that Airbnb has, the challenges that it's presented to a lot of neighbors. You have families that were once accustomed to having relationships with their neighbors, having relationships from their kids to their neighbor's kids.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

And unfortunately, that isn't occurring in neighborhoods that are impacted by Airbnb. And we also know that migrant labor is exploited when workers don't have a chance to collectively bargain. This is a new industry. It's not an industry that we want to be hostile toward, but it is an industry that we want to be very calculated about introducing to our city at this moment the time is not now in order for something like this to be reasonable fair and equitable workers have to be at the table stakeholders have to be at the table i'm going to be supporting staff's recommendation

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

because i don't believe san anna is in a position right now for us to support this That'll conclude my comments. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Thank you, Mayor. First, thank you so much to everybody who did come out and speak. We received a lot of correspondences, letters, all of that other stuff. So the first thing I would say is for those who say that they're renting out rooms in their homes, who are individuals living on site, I feel for you. you know we subletted a garage when we came to this country and so we talked about multiple families living in one home I get that but I also get when you know you're empty nesters or your kids are off in college and you want to rent out for eight or nine months out of the year and then have them come home for

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

the summer you can't do that with a long-term tenant or otherwise that room would remain empty so so i hear that too i would say that i am supportive of the ordinance and staff's recommendation um right now however i would like to see um something come back as to what councilmember sarah had mentioned as regarding you know what is the tot you know 11 i think that's viable what are the fees we can charge to regulate the item and whether

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

we can limit it to on-site property owners for example you know with a j80u you have to be you have to be proper you know excuse me owner-occupied to have a j80u you can rent out a j80u or whatever you want to do with that I think it's really important to maintain the character of our neighborhoods but if if you have someone living on site, I really do think that you're not going to have wild parties with beer bottles everywhere. You know, it's the landlords who don't live in state or in the country. It's these LLCs. All they see is a cash cow. And I'm sorry if that is your business,

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

but we don't want that kind of business here. Our residents don't want that kind of business. But I'm not going to take away an opportunity from, you know, a family that's trying to make the mortgage work. I'm not going to take away the opportunity from grandparents who want to have the opportunity to hold on to their house and not going to take the opportunity away from young professionals or young people who are first-time homeowners whose only way to make that mortgage work with these high interest rates is to do an Airbnb in their spare bedroom and so but with all

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

of that I know that we're asking staff to work on so many things I I don't think a May 7th deadline is feasible. So it's just really fast because literally that's in two weeks, right? Because the agenda, you go through the system in two weeks. So can you let me know what is a reasonable, you know, regulatory scheme or

idea to bring back? If it's after the budget, be honest. Please be honest. So given the fact that we are dealing with multiple items, right, and this requires due diligence and we are focusing on the budget first week in

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

July that's 90 days so first week in July I don't think we have a meeting but maybe the second meeting in July and whatever information you have please bring it back to us so we can have the conversations in advance so we can give you our feedback and then as to the enforcement I think it's really important to enforce against these you know LLCs and absentee property owners I know that our city staff works very hard to educate people long before we get as far as we're getting right now whether it comes to nuisances or any other type of enforcement and so I am supportive of staff going after this because I can

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

guarantee you these are very severe cases and they're not somebody with you know two cars parked on the lawn it's it's way worse than that and so i would be supportive of um the motion the sub motion that's on the table thank you uh with if you would be supportive of the amendment of the date thank you and you're good with the date councilman becerra and just to

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

clarify there's only one meeting in july it's july 16th yes council did cancel the first yes thank

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

you okay good madam city clerk I'm sorry council member Lopez yes thank you um so I think like

Jessie LopezItem 21

councilman Typhan this is not a black and white issue for me but right now as staff you know communicated STRs are not generating income because we are not regulating them even though they are not permitted in the city they have flourished right because a truthfully the city just does not have the resources to enforce and whatever STR complaint is flagged for code in my experience is because it is being driven by your neighbors that are seeing or hearing or experiencing something on site and I know that is not the experience for everybody which I think

Jessie LopezItem 21

is good but I do think that at a minimum we should require STRs to require a business license because they are for those that are using the entire homes they are unregulated hotels that's essentially their function in the neighborhoods and so you know the the direction that you are asking me to support is really step one in a much longer process that needs to happen and and bringing people to the table in good faith and figuring out people's individual circumstances to see what can work and what won't work and what can they as a body recommend to this council

Jessie LopezItem 21

that is gonna be inclusive of those special circumstances like people that are renting out their rooms, right? I don't wanna be punitive towards homeowners that need that income to stay housed because that contributes to a much bigger issue. So right now, STRs are not allowed in the city. And I think this is important because as one of the gentlemen came up and said, you know, it's a very confusing process. It's a confusing process because the code is not clear. So we don't have a pathway to give to our residents when there are issues happening on sites.

Jessie LopezItem 21

And staff doesn't have the legal recourse to further a process because, quote, our municipal code is not clear and so I think that this is important again to begin this process of X you know coming to the realization having the city really you know reconcile what the fact that people are using their homes as businesses for whatever reason and so I agree that this is a very nuanced conversation I think that all of those little details need to be figured out they should not happen here right now I don't know that you're gonna have

Jessie LopezItem 21

everybody here provide you feedback by July right and I really want this to be a good faith effort where people come create a body and at an informal ad hoc where you have STR owners here that say hey this is what's happening right here right now these are the recommendations but again I think that the code needs to be clear so that we provide relief to our residents that are experiencing a lot of issues on site and i understand that that might not be uh the scenario for each str which i think is great

Jessie LopezItem 21

but we can't ignore you know the issues that are happening in the neighborhoods and we do have to act upon that and ensure that there is a process in place that everybody is clear about and can can follow through with it. So thank you, staff.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Thank you. Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So I just, real quick question for you guys. So from what we just heard from Council Member Lopez, it's not that you don't have the ability to enforce short-term rentals now. It's just that this exercise is a clarifying exercise. So we're not operating outside the law. We're not just wild, wild west just picking a position and running with it. Our code is prescriptive. And because this use is not listed in our code, that means it is not allowed. Because I know some folks tonight said, well, it's been allowed. It's been permitted. So just to clarify, it's not allowed, correct?

That is correct.

Phil BacerraItem 21

And so when we have code enforcement actions against the use of short-term rentals, that is a legal exercise, correct?

That is correct.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

But it does present an enforcement problem because what it does is it requires, if we take these cases, and I have one of our assistant city attorneys here today because he actually goes and prosecutes these things, when you have to explain to the judge who's used to seeing no person shall or thou shall not, and then you have to explain this prescriptive idea, it's not only confusing to the people in our community who are saying, is it permitted or not? I think we had a speaker that said, well, I looked at your municipal code. I didn't see anywhere where it's prohibited.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

So because of the way the status quo today is that they're illegal. They're not permitted. What this ordinance does is it affirms the status quo, and it would give us an opportunity, if you adopted it, to go back and to then do some of the regulations and to think about some of the things that you're talking about if you wanted to explore that.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Well, Madam Cetre, that's what I mean. In other words, I'm just trying to confirm that this is more of a clarifying exercise. Like to your point, to your example right now, when your attorneys go into court, it's not that they say, oh, you got me, they're actually allowed. You're basically saying, I'm sorry, judge, I have to explain what a prescriptive code means, et cetera, et cetera. So in other words, we're acting within our lane. We're just, this is a clarifying exercise. That's all this is. except for with my sub-motion I'm saying let's do the clarifying exercise and

Phil BacerraItem 21

then let's have staff come back and per mayor pro tem come back at the second meeting in July with something that we could deliberate on at that time that's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

correct okay thank you there's only one meeting in July just to clarify just one meeting that one meeting okay thank you all right so there is a motion can I

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

clarify to mayor and I'm so sorry because there was a motion but remember Remember you have two items before you. You have an urgency ordinance which would require four votes and you have the first reading of an ordinance that would only require four. So you need one of them requires super majority vote and the other one does not. So just want to make sure you made it, there was a motion and then a substitute motion. Was that as to the urgency ordinance or as to the first reading of the regular ordinance?

Phil BacerraItem 21

My sub-motion was to the urgency ordinance.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

Thank you. I want to clarify. Just make sure that that was a true sub and that the first motion was as to the regular ordinance. Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

So the first motion by was Councilman Petalosa. And it was second by a man.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

So we would take a vote as to the urgency ordinance, and then you would take a vote as to the regular. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Madam Clerk?

Madam Clerk?

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

So this is the sub-motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by the mayor.

Jessie LopezItem 21

So I have a quick clarifying question. Is your sub-motion for the urgency ordinance? Okay. Okay. Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

So the sub-motion is by Council Member Becerra, seconded by Mayor Emezcua, to adopt the urgency ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana, pursuant to Charter Sections 415 and 417, adding Article XXI to Chapter 8 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code prohibiting short-term rentals, making the associated CEQA finding, and directing staff to return on July 16th with a proposal for standards related related to short-term rentals allowed in limited zones, TOT payments, a cap of STRs within the city, enforcement practices, registry with a fee, and a separation requirement.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Okay, let's prepare to vote.

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

We're waiting for .

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

It's not showing. Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

The vote is four ayes, three noes, and one no. Three yeses. I'm sorry, four ayes, three nays. The nays by Council Members Hernandez, Lopez, and Vasquez. Motion fails. That's to the urgency ordinance.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

So the first motion on the floor was by Council Member Penaloza, seconded by Council Member Vasquez, to approve the item as presented by staff, with the urgency ordinance as already stated, and the first reading and introduction of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana, adding Article XXI to Chapter 8 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code to prohibit short-term rentals and the associated CEQA findings for both.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Go ahead. You were going to say something?

Phil BacerraItem 21

I was just going to say, to clarify, I understood Council Member Penalosa's motion just to adopt the urgency ordinance, period.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

That's correct.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Like no subsequent ordinance, no come back with some regulations. You just want it done. And he had a second by Council Member Vassilio.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

Yes, she was only speaking to the first reading. She added in the urgency. The staff recommendation.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

The staff recommendation, there's three items on the staff recommendation. An urgency ordinance, a first reading of a standard ordinance prohibiting short-term rentals and associated CEQA findings. So I understood his motion to be all three. No direction to staff to return with other items.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So yeah, nothing to be returned. Right, exactly. Okay.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Well, it would come back if it's approved, the second reading of the regular ordinance.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Of just a ban with no permission to? Correct. Okay.

Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

So it would come back with a complete ban?

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Yes. If enacted, the urgency ordinance could go into effect immediately and the first reading would come back again with a ban for a second reading.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So it's duplicative, essentially?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

It's the same ordinance. One takes effect immediately. The other one is a backup ordinance.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

And so with voting for this motion, there's no opportunity, the motion does not include any opportunity to come back with staff research on STRs. Right? Just to clarify. Okay. Thank you.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

As made, the motion does not, correct? Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 21

So, I guess I would like to amend the motion to include, basically redo Council Member Becerra's motion, but not give it a date specific, because I don't believe that by July we will have, and Council Member Lopez had a great point, I don't think that July would give staff adequate time to gather this information of what regulating this would look like.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

so you want to amend your motion mr. city manager what is your timeline what what can you bring it back and please be honest would you say six months I'm always honest six months this way at least we have a date to work with right

so what I don't want to do is what do you hear repeatedly from from the mayor and the council that we were directed six months ago in 2021, 2022. So at least we have six months. That's something to target for. And if we need more time, then we'll make that indicated to the city council. But let's work through it for six months so we can do the due diligence and prepare correctly to present an ordinance.

David PenalozaItem 21

So we could, as staff, collectively shoot for October 2024 deadline? Yes. Whether it's the first or the second meeting in October? Right. Okay. Okay. You're going to amend your motion. I would amend my motion to move forward with-

Phil BacerraItem 21

October 1st?

David PenalozaItem 21

Yes. There you go. With staff's recommended actions, one through three, but also include that staff come back at the first meeting in October.

At the very minimum with an update and information, if not a complete ordinance.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Can I help you with that? I think we want to ditch staff recommended number two, because that would be returning back with an ordinance to-

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

No, we want to. If you're going to do an urgency ordinance, you always want to do the backup ordinance. Always.

Phil BacerraItem 21

It's the staff recommendation plus the item that I asked for. That's correct. Okay.

David PenalozaItem 21

Right. So that would be my amended motion. And I would ask if Councilmember Vask is still seconds.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

I'll second it. I'll second it. And then just for clarification, his amended motion was to come back with fines and regulations and all the whole nine yards okay so there's a motion there's a second let's

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

prepare to vote just out of an abundance of debating my colleagues I'll put a sub motion on the floor to move forward with staffs recommendation that's her

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

okay so let's question madam city attorney I'm so sorry and this is just as to procedure because we're on robert's no we're not on robert's rules anymore i'm i do robert's rules because the there was a motion in a sub motion the sub motion was voted on and then we have the sub motion excuse me the original motion the original maker of the original motion wanted to amend but the second did not agree to the amendment so would i second that the secured one well i guess the question is could you still do that or would you still have to take the original motion that had a first and a second because typically you would have to

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

take that if there's a first and a second but he withdrew or amended well but if the seconder

Phil BacerraItem 21

doesn't amend it then there's no motion but then the original motion stands so then he just brings

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

up another one i think that we have never followed these rules so strictly as we would if we were like you know in congress and so um i accepted uh when when the first motion the substitute motion failed we go back to the original motion that was on the floor and the maker of that motion made an amendment right and so then there was an acceptance a second to that and so then we allowed a second a substitute motion again so you're

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

saying so we're considering that a substitute motion to his original motion

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

correct correct if he had left his original motion alone we would have had to have voted on it but since he decided to amend it he opened the door for

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

another substitute and I wanted to ask that clarification because we are asking for an urgency ordinance we're asking for due process and I want to make sure this is clear that nobody comes to us and says oh well you didn't vote on it correct thank you for raising that now we have a sub motion by councilmember Becerra and the mayor which is we do it's a sub no no no no no yeah Penaloza

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

sorry I looked at him and I said what I have to see on the floor now is that we have a motion on the floor from councilmember Penaloza it was seconded by the mayor and then a substitute motion was made to go back to the staff recommendation and that was made by council member hernandez with a second by council member vasquez and that's

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

where i'm having confusion because council member penalosa made a motion and councilman vasquez

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

seconded right that was the original motion but when council member penalosa attempted to amend make a friendly amendment to his own motion that was seconded by the mayor.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

So that would be a substitute motion?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

It was not a substitute motion. It went back to his regular. So my advice is—

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

So you're saying that's voiding his original motion?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

That's exactly right. Okay.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

I just want to make sure that that's kosher. I don't do Rosenberg's rules. I want to make sure that when we go to court—

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

I think we got it. We're good. Madam City Attorney, we're good. Yes, you're good. And so the clerk would then now take a vote on the substitute motion, which is the staff recommendation. If that fails, it will go back to Councilmember Penalosa's original motion with the amendment as the Mayor seconded.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Thank you. So the vote is on Councilmember Hernandez's motion.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

Seconded by Councilmember Vazquez to go back to the staff recommendation. Got it. Thank you. If you get five votes, the urgency passes. If you get four, it's just the first reading of the ordinance.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

And this says no going back with staff's research. Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

We're good? All right. We're voting on Councilmember Hernandez's sub-motion.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Yes. This is the second substitute motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Councilmember Vasquez to approve the staff recommendation as presented.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

And then afterwards we'll vote on Councilmember Panalosa's.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

The vote is four ayes, three nays. nays by councilmember Becerra mayor Pro Tem Phan and mayor Emescua motion fails as to the urgency ordinance but passes as to the first reading of the regular

Phil BacerraItem 21

ordinance so just to clarify councilor and panelists that you don't want to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

come back then you voted no you voted for councilman Hernandez you voted for

David PenalozaItem 21

councilman right yeah so you don't want anything come back no okay but are we still going to vote

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

on this on the substitute no right no it did so basically what has happened is the urgency ordinance meaning to take effect immediately did not pass but the regular ordinance is introduced and passed okay so we will come back at the next meeting for a second reading on that regular ordinance and the clarification will go into effect 30 days i'd like to make sure that the public understands that it is our city's official position that short-term rentals are not permitted in our city so they should not feel that they have an extra 30 days to continue to violate the law as

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

we will enforce it as it currently exists and under the new ordinance that you've passed assuming it gets a second reading in two weeks okay got it got it perfect okay mayor pro tem you had a comment

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

I had a question Madam City Attorney. Given our motion because it was a combination of both the all of staffs recommendation and one of them failed is it possible to do a standalone motion only as to the urgency ordinance? I

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 21

suppose you could do that if you wanted to if they're both items were on your agenda under the Brown Act you could take action on both although the urgency ORDINANCE FAILED FOR LACK OF HAVING FIVE VOTES AND YOU WOULD NEED SOMEONE WHO VOTED IN THE MAJORITY TO BRING THE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION. I WOULD SAY THAT IF THERE WERE FURTHER DIRECTION TO STAFF AT SOME LATER DATE IN TERMS OF EXPLORING, THAT IS CERTAINLY UP TO THE COUNCIL TO DECIDE.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

OKAY. SO I WILL MAKE A MOTION SOLELY AS TO THE URGENCY ORDINANCE. TO APPROVE THE URGENCY ORDINANCE.

Jessie LopezItem 21

She can do it, yeah.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Okay, so you want to do the urgency ordinance now?

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Yes. Because? Because staff has pending enforcement and for them to go forward with the most clarification possible, I want them to be able to do that because there are 84 illegal short-term rentals owned by LLCs and absentee property owners who are creating a massive damage to our neighborhoods. And so I would like them to go forward with enforcing those as soon as possible. So is that a motion on the floor? That's a motion to approve the urgency ordinance period.

Okay, second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

So you made a motion to approve the emergency ordinance. And there's a second by Councilmember Vazquez.

Phil BacerraItem 21

I would just real quick comment and just say that I think, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, because I think we all agreed that because of what you just said there are pending enforcement actions we do want to see an urgency ordinance I think the only differing opinion on this council is just what the future looked like some of us wanted something others don't but I think we for the most part I think we heard prevailing comments that we do want something urgently adopted so I'll be supporting the motion that's correct thank you if there are no other further

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

comments let's prepare to vote a motion by mayor pro temp fan seconded by councilmember Vasquez to approve an urgency ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana pursuant to Charter sections 4 1 5 and 4 1 7 adding article XXI to chapter 8 of the Santa Ana municipal code prohibiting short-term rentals and the vote is 7 ayes no nays motion carries on to item number 22 at

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

this time madam city clerk there any questions or comments by the council

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

seeing none is there a motion mayor item item number 22 is a informational report pertaining to the Youth Commission so if the motion is just to accept the report we can take that but otherwise I'll make a motion there's any direction to staff on the options provided just accept the report yes okay and I'm sorry mayor moved to accept the report and there was a second second there's a second by

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

mayor Pro Tem let's prepare to vote to accept we're just accepting the report

Jessie LopezItem 22

Point of inquiry? Yeah, I have a staff. I have a city attorney. I have a question.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Mr. City Attorney, I have a question on the floor. I'm sorry, Mr. City Manager.

Jessie LopezItem 22

yeah before we take the roll call um are are we going to provide direction because the council asked for this item hold on one second can we get the doors closed in the back please

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

can we get the the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

okay go ahead mayor i'm uh councilman lopez yeah so we're talking about item 22 correct

Jessie LopezItem 22

That's correct. So I don't want to just accept the report. I want to know if we're going to take action because this is something that the council has asked for staff to work on and provide options. Are we going to keep the youth commission as is or are we going to address the issues of no quorum? Are we going to make an informal committee? What is this council going to do since this is something that came from the council for us to discuss and take action on?

So at this point we would like to take direction if you have questions of the informational report and so that is the point that you just mentioned. So we would consider do you want to have a commission, do you want to disbar, have a youth committee and just discuss I think in our one on ones with some of the council members perhaps have joint meetings with the school district and form a different type of advisory advisory or ad hoc committee that involves youth, rotate amongst the schools, and in pro intents and purposes, not have a formal aspect like we do with other commissions

because they're youth and they're hard to get volunteers.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

So can we ask Hawk a couple questions, please?

Definitely.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Again, nice suit. So I have a question for you. so is it has a youth commission been meeting like we discussed before no it has not no quorum or

just no no we struggle to get quorum and we currently have two vacancies that still haven't

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

been filled so for the public's knowledge and what is your recommendation my recommendation is to do

like we did with the seniors bring them in and just have one big parks and rec commission that you know has everybody the seniors has done really really great and you know that would be our recommendation plus it you know gets us to where you know we're not always having to rely on you guys to get our youth out there with us so your recommendation would be to add them to the parks

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

and rec commission yes ma'am okay council member lopez your questions um not necessarily questions

Jessie LopezItem 22

but i guess if they're not you know the the issue right is that people have been appointed to the youth commission that are not making the attempt to meet and I think that's really tragic because there are many young people in the city that would love the opportunity to serve on the youth commission and here you have people that have been given that opportunity and are essentially taking that away from somebody else in a small way because they're not meeting so you know I don't know that I'm committed to disbanding the commission now what I would like to propose is that the youth commissioners that are currently on are removed and

Jessie LopezItem 22

that each council member appoint a new commissioner if we continue to have these issues then I would be supportive of disbanding the Commission and making something very informal that that is you know driven by parks library or you know adding two seats to the parks and rec commission or having some sort of informal committee under the parks and recs that can have that line of communication with the parks and recs commissioners

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 22

councilman hernandez yes thank you mayor amesqua i'm supportive of what councilmember jesse lopez brought up i want to ensure director hawk scott that we do everything possible on the city side to express that we're doing our due diligence. I know you already are, but I have a very dedicated youth commissioner, and I can't speak to everyone else's availability, but I know my commissioner has been on the youth commission since 2021. I formerly had a different youth commissioner, Ray Diaz, when he was out of age and went to UC Santa Cruz. I appointed a new commissioner.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 22

And so I would like for our commissioners to be given an opportunity to share what their availability is if it is required that the council you know replace our commissioners I think that that gives us an opportunity to really vet out you know why is it not working why is the no quorum when there are so many issues that are that are affecting youth in Santa Ana that having their perspective and dialogue is much needed and I want to just first and foremost thank you for bringing this to us if we do not at that point have a a quorum and we have a you know

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 22

a commission that is essentially non-existent i would be um happy to support your direction but at this time i'm more in alignment with what council member jesse lopez brought sir so at this moment i won't be supporting the the item in front of us council member vasquez thank

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

Thank you, I wanna support Council Member Lopez idea, but here's a second one, just think about it, not to be decided tonight. I like your staff run youth advisory committee, where instead of the format we have now as council or commissioners, throw that out. That's not working for our kids. So not a commissioner that keeps coming, but we get two students from every high school. We have six and then we have Nova and then we have some at Card and Grove area. From Santa Ana though, we have two students and they meet three or four times a year

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

and they advise us on different things and different topics. One might be the budget, parks and recs and library, street safety and safety, and we decide there's gonna be four subjects and there's gonna be youth input into each one where we call different various departments departments to present and then they're able to speak. I just feel the youth might get lost having two people in a bigger room of commissioners of Parks and Rec, but I want them to have their voice together. So I'm thinking, we have two from every high school and divide that in half and that's quorum.

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

We get 10 kids, if it's 10 schools and we have 20 total and 10 show up, but that's quorum. and I think that would work that would work out where we have we've expanded how many youth are participating but then hopefully we cast out a big enough net that we have at least 10 students come 10 youth to speak upon how they feel about their city and there's actually youth voice on specific details every meeting and they get trained in them does that to be the same one or not hat does have to be as council appointed it could be staff goes out and talks to

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

every school or every area and figures out how to get 20 or we could support that as well mayor pro

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

chan thank you mayor um i'm one of the ones who has a vacancy because my youth commissioner i think he's at yale um and so i need to appoint someone new i have we have people in mind um one thing i might i guess i want to bring up is that it's a every the first wednesday of every month

Yes, ma'am.

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

Might it be easier if it's, say, four times a year or, you know, something more limited where, you know, one, it's very specific so they know. Because sometimes, you know, first Wednesdays every month there can be things that come up, family, whatever, but I feel like if it's a little bit of a less of a commitment it might be a little bit easier. parents can more easily you know figure out whether it's childcare or transportation or anything like that or even if frankly the city wants to work with some of our schools to get transportation for those students or

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

that one student or something like that that might be more feasible rather than 12 months or even if it's just during the school year that might be a little little bit easier but I am supportive of keeping the Commission for now and I you know if it doesn't work maybe till the end of the year and we still see a lot of issues then I would love to go back to the idea of a staff run committee and that would be helpful because if you know whether it's we go to every high school or middle school or a combination of both or whatever it is we do you don't because you don't have to comply with the Brown Act it makes it a little

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

bit easier you don't need a quorum all the time for that thank you thank you councilman becerra

Phil BacerraItem 22

thank you madam mayor so hawk how many so of the seven commissioners right now how many vacancies

do we have we have two vacancies uh ward one and ward three okay so two vacancies so we have five

Phil BacerraItem 22

commissioners and of those five we're not getting four of them to show up no we're actually just

getting uh yours has been the one that's only been active lately and um like i said we did reach out to yours mayor and we didn't hear anything so we had to counsel this recent one as well i just he

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

just was appointed last correct okay perfect and we did reach out to try to make quorum great thank

Phil BacerraItem 22

you so so we haven't got quorum yet even though we've got five appointed so i mean they're kids i mean they go to school they take attendance right so there's two factors here one is if the kids aren't showing up maybe there's some sort of mechanism we need to incorporate when it comes to like just like school if you don't show up so many times you get held back or you don't get to participate or something so maybe there's some mechanism that you can come back you know propose to us that would work the other thing is is if we really want to figure out how to do this maybe we all

Phil BacerraItem 22

need to just appoint people and appoint people that can show up I mean you're right there's a bunch of youth in the city the ones that some of the members up here have appointed aren't showing up in some cases the ones that are fighting for this commission aren't even appointing people to the Commission so So number one, appoint people. And then number two, appoint people that'll show up. I think that solves the whole thing.

And there's also, like I said, if you guys can help, you know, let them know there's an initiative. You know, they do get $100 just to come, you know. They do get what you guys, you know, approved.

Phil BacerraItem 22

No, no, and I appreciate that. But I just, it's like, I feel like we're up here. Sounds good to say we're for the youth. But we're not following through. And it's not on Hawk. It's not on our city manager. It's the seven of us. so i'm going to say why don't we just appoint people and let's appoint people that show up

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

simple thank you thank you hawk is there any other council panelisa

David PenalozaItem 22

thank you mayor and thank you hawk for that um i uh here tend to agree with my colleagues here of what they've said and i agree with what uh councilmember lope has mentioned is at this point i would feel okay just vacating all seven seats uh on the youth commission and putting out a card and and obviously if if we have we will have interest i know we will from youth in our city to apply and reappoint um all seven and just kind of clean slate um i wasn't aware of the of the of the attendance issues with my commissioner but um that's definitely something that i'm

David PenalozaItem 22

supportive of is just vacating the entire slate and appointing new ones so i would not be because

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

mine just was he was just sworn in at the last meeting so um i would not say all seven of them and and i don't know there's council member sarah yours attends on a regular meet so i don't know why mine needs to be reappointed he's right so i would just i would recommend we just put it back on the council that reach out to your youth commissioner get them to attend and and maybe you reach out to them hawk if you have the time or one of your staff to ask them is wednesday is that the day that they meet that would have been my suggestion is wednesday a good

day for them yeah we can put that on the if we do get them all there and meet with them to see if this is the correct time and date they want to meet and you know debate it with them and see what they want to do and then we can bring it back for ordinance change i believe correct or you send

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

them all an email and see what works for all them instead of when bring them trying to get them all in and maybe it's a it's a thursday evening or me i mean whatever day it is and um yeah so i just appointed a commissioner and so i'm hoping that you know he could stay on there so hold up one second please so um i'm again i'm not in support of removing all seven of them Go ahead, Councilman Panellas.

David PenalozaItem 22

Hawk, when your staff has, I imagine, has reached out to each commissioner. Yes. What are the, do you just get no answer, no, or do you get any reasons of why they're not showing up where they can?

Some will say they're out of town. Some we won't hear from. Some will, you know, right before we're going to start, nothing. But the trend as of late is we've only heard, we just hear, I'll be there, and that's about it, from Councilmember Becerra's, to be honest. Okay. and then like i said with uh mayor mesquite we did reach out for this president and we did not hear back to be honest so again i know it's just new but again again you're doing it back to you no i'm gonna call him tomorrow so just saying huh no so again if you guys can reach out some we do want

to have the youth we do want to get them involved you know we are working on things on ourselves too at other centers too to get youth more involved so again again we do ask for all y'all's help to get us you know get them involved get them at the commission because again there's a lot of great

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

things going on councilmember vasquez thank you thank you hawk and just for a future and for the other staff that runs other commissions would it be possible to get attendance for all our commissioners so we could just follow up and making sure that every seat is filled every time we have a meeting and and make sure we're we're on top of it thank you madam city clerk

Jennifer L. HallItem 22

you want to address that please yes thank you um the commissions do prepare biannual reports of the attendance they are brought to you um for receiving file so um the most recent one was done in february for the last six months of 2023 but we can forward those to you again um but for the youth commission for the last for 2023 they met once so all the other ones were canceled thank you madison you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

don't need to forward to me i i read mine for my commissioners and thank you so let's see what we want to do and appreciate it okay so we're going to continue it sounds like with the youth commission um is there a motion to continue with the youth commission or you wanted you you guys want to just

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

take since i made the original motion i'll mend my motion to accept the receiving file and the

direction is to continue with the commission and my bad assistance to you know reach out some and And again, I think wants to get more engaged and they actually come here in person because since I've been here, I have yet to have the youth commission here. The last one we did have was on Zoom. But again, it would be nice to get them here. Maybe that will energize them. You know, they're sitting in y'all's seats, you know.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Or meet at a park or meet at the library or meet somewhere else.

Let's try to get them here first. All right. I'm going to second your motion.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

So I'm going to second Mayor Pro Tem's motion.

Phil BacerraItem 22

Which is to keep it as is.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Keep it as is. Receive and file. Let's prepare to vote, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 22

So motion by Mayor Pro Tem Phan, seconded by Mayor Meskwa, to receive and file the informational report and direct staff to keep the Youth Commission as is for now.

Jennifer L. HallItem 22

Vote is 7 ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you. Item number 23, please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

at this time do any council members need to endorse or expose ex parte communications or any questions or comments by the council

Jessie LopezItem 22

yes um i relayed to the city attorney's office today that i found out that i was disqualified from participating in this vote um due to government code 84308 um and and i won't speak about the item but i do want to say that in past agendas we've seen that um included in items and i did not see that included in this one so i would appreciate some consistency on that end thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

does it i'm sorry i don't see it but permit or license mayor city city manager i mean city attorney yes instead of mayor pro temp answer could you see it it's there yeah i think council

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 22

member lopez had a question yeah she consulted with me earlier and even though this item is pertaining to a zoning code issue it's directly related to a conditional use permit which we've

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

read to be included thank you i now open the public hearing for members of the public that would like to provide their comments in person or virtually madam city clerk do we have any speakers

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

mayor if we could just go back a section and have the staff presentation first

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

Mr. City Attorney?

Actually, it will be Executive Director planning on building out.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Mr. City Manager, I don't know why I'm confusing both of you. I apologize. Because the Mayor is next to me and she's...

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Thank you, I apologize.