Read the May 21 meeting.

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Thai Viet Phan

Recording in progress.

Jennifer L. Hall

Okay, Mayor, you can go ahead.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, please start the meeting. We're good? Yes. I hereby call 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. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Becerra? Council Member Hernandez? Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Penaloza? Present. Council Member Vasquez? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Fan? Here. Mayor Meskwa? Present. We have five members present, that is a quorum.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Noting for the record that for closed session item number two, Daniel Durham will not be present, so Acting Human Resources Director Lori Schneider will represent the city as its designated representative. And on Friday, May 17th, a revised agenda was posted adding closed session items number three and four related to employment and appointment and labor negotiations for the city manager. That concludes my report.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you so much. Do any council members need to announce their abstentions in closed sessions?

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session items? There are none. Oh, my goodness. I apologize. At this time, we'll recess to closed session. Thank you.

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Thai Viet Phan

Recording in progress.

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Valerie Amezcua

please start the meeting yes mayor go ahead everybody here i hereby reconvene the santa ana city council meeting to order this meeting is taking place with in-person attendance 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 am afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or break, or to even 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, along the back of the wall of the Council Chamber, or in 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, if you have any questions, please see the city's PIO. Guidelines for members of the news media and anyone else who wishes to film or photograph the meeting information is available in the lobby.

Valerie Amezcua

During city council presentations and oaths of office, guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos. Madam Clerk please conduct the

Jennifer L. Hall

roll call. Councilmember Becerra. Here. Councilmember Hernandez. Present. Councilmember Lopez. Here. Councilmember Penaleza. Present. Councilmember Vasquez. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Pham. Here. Mayor Emescuah. Present. The records show all seven

Valerie Amezcua

members present. Thank you. Before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance Please make an announcement, Madam Clerk.

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, thank you. For members of the public who are on Zoom or the teleconference, to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, you must dial star 9 or raise hand from Zoom now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence. This does not apply to public hearing item number 28 or the Housing Authority agenda, for which comments will be heard during the specified times and you will be notified accordingly. Please hold your comments on those items until called upon. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Perfect, thank you. First item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Rudy, can you come up and lead us on the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Rudy, very much. At this time, I'd like to call up Reverend Johnny Dunham, Jr. for the words of inspiration. Sir, please come to the podium. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening.

Valerie Amezcua

Good evening.

Giving honor to God and to Honorable Mayor Meskua, thank you for the invitation. Honorable Mayor Pro Tem, the distinguished and honorable members of City Council. I'm Reverend Johnny Dunning, Jr., pastor elect of Starlight Baptist Church, located at 1201 West 2nd Street, Santa Ana, California. and I am the successor of Reverend Anatole Ford Jr., the late Reverend Anatole Ford Jr., who served in this community as pastor and a citizen for over 50 years. And I'm thankful to be here tonight to be able to share with you some words of inspiration and to the public as well, the engaging public that's energetic, that's passionate.

I also am honored to speak before you this evening. And again, it's simple. It's nothing different than what any others who have offered inspiration. is I just want to speak to love. We are in a very precarious and perilous time. We have a very angry and violent and divisive city, county, state, and nation. And the only thing that brings us together is love. For only love can drive out hate, like only light can drive out darkness. And it's love. And it's not just the love that everybody talks about. It's a distinct, distinct, different type of love, a love we call agape. And I'll read you some of the attributes

now. It's love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag and it is not proud. Love is not rude. It is not selfish and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs doing against it. Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the the truth. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting. It never loses hope, and it never quits. With that, I just want to have a brief word of prayer. Eternal God in heaven, we thank you for this day. Your providence and your will brings us to this

place, to this place where we are to discuss the civic matters of the great city of Santa Ana. and right now Lord we just ask that you let love rule and prevail I thank you Lord for those who are here on the dais those who are here to manage the civility and the governance of this great city I thank you Lord for their wisdom but I only not only ask you to give them wisdom for this meeting I accept you give them the lens of love so that their actions that they take not only see love as the means but also the end Lord I also direct this prayer and I

I ask that you govern those who will come up here and speak, that they do it in a respectful and loving manner, respecting the decisions that have to be made by our leaders that you've appointed to sit in these seats, that they be respectful, though passionate, and be honest. Lord, let the love prevail that is selfless, that is purposeful, that it's willing, that it's sacrificial. Lord, I ask that you continue to bless and govern all that happens in this meeting today, each agenda the item that says discussed let love be the rule lord i ask that you also bless those who are in

uniform those who are here in this building out on our streets that are serving us to make sure that we're protected lord i thank you we access all in the name of jesus christ i do pray amen

Valerie Amezcua

amen thank you everybody

Valerie Amezcua

Madam City Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, I have one announcement. For item number 17, which is amendments to on-call cabling services agreements, staff has removed the third listed contractor, Pratt Communications, Inc., from the item as requested by the contractor. And so that was not included any longer in your recommended action. So action on item 17 would exclude Pratt Communications.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 17

Perfect, thank you. Council Member Lopez, why don't you go first? You have two items here, go ahead and go first. FIRST.

Jessie LopezItem 17

YEAH, SO THE PUBLIC WORKS DEMISSION.

THANK YOU.

Jessie LopezItem 17

YOU CAN COMMENT UP.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Oh, hi.

Hi.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Yeah.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Do you want to come on in?

Jessie LopezItem 5

Come on, you've been up here before.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Good evening everyone. I am presenting two proclamations today. One to the, well both to our Public Works Division. One for Public Work Weeks, which we just celebrated this past weekend. And the other one recognizing May as National Bike Month. And we are here gathered to proclaim in honor of our city's Public Works Agency during National Public Work Weeks, which runs May 19th through the 25th. 25th and this year 2024 marks the 64th annual public work week proudly sponsored by the American Public Works Association and the Canadian Public Works Association and the

Jessie LopezItem 5

theme for this year's public works week is advancing quality of life for all resonating deeply with the mission of our city's public works team who consistently stand ready to to serve the Sunana community. And as I have said many, many times before, there is no aspect of our lives that our dedicated team does not touch or help improve in one way or the other. And our city's public works agency is the backbone of the city of Sunana, ensuring the smooth operation and aesthetic appeal of our city, from repairing roadways to maintaining traffic signals, to maintaining water and sewer services,

Jessie LopezItem 5

services, solid waste collection, recycling, graffiti removal, pothole repairs, sidewalk requests, park maintenance, and so much more. They also oversee capital improvements with versatility and dedication that are unparalleled. And I do extend my heartfelt gratitude to our division. They truly are unsung heroes in our community who with unwavering resilience, you know, ever saying we don't have enough money to do this they get to work and so it is really important that they can that the the prosperity of the Public Works

Jessie LopezItem 5

Department and remains at the forefront and I really appreciate all that they do for the well-being of our residents and I've already given the proclamation to our director here and so we'd love to hear a couple works before we move on to the May proclamation thank you councilmember thank you for the mayor

Mayor Potem and council members for the support over the number of years. Public Works Agency, 300 employees strong is happy and proud to serve the residents of the City of Santa Ana and I can't be more proud. Thank you again.

Jessie LopezItem 5

So we are also declaring May as National Bike Month in the City of Santa Ana and And biking serves as an economical, healthy, environmental friendly form of transportation, contributing to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. Benefits of biking include biking friendly environments to foster improved health, well-being, and the quality of life amongst residents. Biking mitigates pollution, congestion, and road wear. And according to census data, about 20,000 of our residents don't own a car. So understanding that our working families

Jessie LopezItem 5

families and students rely on bikes as a form of transportation is critical so that we can also invest in protected bike lanes. And that's why you always hear about the advocacy for the implementation of the Vision Zero Plan which helps reduce fatalities in our city. And what we learned through the last budget workshop is that the Public Works Department is actually working on helping to implement that plan to help reduce those fatalities in our city. And we really encourage all of you to consider about the pedestrians and cyclists when you are in your vehicles.

Jessie LopezItem 5

To be mindful that you are part of a community that also uses the road and they also have the right to feel safe when they are biking our public streets. SO I HOPE THAT YOU'LL HELP US EMBRACE NATIONAL BIKE MONTH AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CELEBRATE THE JOYS OF BIKING, PROMOTE HEALTHY LIVING, AND BUILD MORE SUSTAINABLE AND VIBRANT COMMUNITIES FOR EVERYBODY HERE IN THE CITY OF SAN ANA. AND WE'RE PRESENTING THE BIKE MONTH PROCLAMATION TO ETAC COMMISSIONER MARIA.

Thank you so much Councilmember Lopez and everyone here. I just wanted to remind everyone to take advantage of all the hard work the city has put in making the city safer through infrastructure and if you see anyone riding their bike, make sure to share the link, give them space and try it out especially in honor of bike month and yeah thank you everyone

Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Thank you, guys.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited about this one because I love boxing. All right. We are going to recognize Officer Martin Gutierrez. Where is he? Come on up, Officer Martin Gutierrez.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Let's give him a round of applause.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Daniel, are you ready? Let's roll that video, Daniel.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Come on up here. Let's show the public what you got. Come on. Go ahead, Daniel.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Gentlemen?

Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. How are you? Good to see you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Of course. Wouldn't be the same without you. We know you don't have your uniform on, but that's okay. We will hold it against you. All right, Daniel, when you're ready.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

We're gonna watch him win this right now.

And yeah, it was just like, yeah, he won that round. You know, he won those fights. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah, definitely. John Olsen, a professional officer at Abingdon State Prison. Camp, it was a little rough this year. it would have been definitely fight of the night no no doubt i mean my favorite fighter you know who it is i already told you earlier and ladies and gentlemen we are here for the uca super cruiser weight fight martin gutierrez out of the santa ana pd and chris sanchez to larry county fire chest i want to i want to make sure that i say i say this on his behalf because he wanted to make

sure that we get so martini's coming off a win from max navarro about two years ago 2022 and he He received fight of a night. This is one hell of a fight that we're seeing right now. That was nice. Good jab by Chris Sanchez, but it's being followed up by a left and a right hook. Big shot landed by Gutierrez. Another big shot. Sanchez said bring it on. Last ten seconds. Both fighters give it their all.

We have a winner. Fighting out of the blue corner. Representing the center and the police department. Give it up for Martin Gutierrez!

There it is, Martin Gutierrez, your UCA Super Hoosier Wife winner.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

All right, great video. Come on up here, Officer Gutierrez. He doesn't have shorts on today, he's got a uniform. So Officer Martin Gutierrez embarked on his law enforcement journey journey with the Santa Ana PD in 2019 and in 2022 he was chosen to join the Civic Center patrol team who is behind us here he grew up in Limor did I say that right Limor California and is a proud alumni of Fresno State University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in criminology in addition to his academic achievements Officer Gutierrez has demonstrated his promise in martial arts having wrestled through Junior College and attained a blue belt in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Did I say that right? Yeah, I did. Jiu-jitsu. He took up boxing approximately one year ago, training at the TKO Boxing Club. I love it. Yay, TKO, right? Yes, give him a round of applause. Anybody here from TKO? No TKO? Woo, stand up. TKO's in the house. Stand up. Oh, okay. TKO Boxing Club. Okay. Located at the Jerome Center in the city of Santa Ana. Beyond his combat skills, Officer Gutierrez serves as a trainer in the Santa Ana PD Defensive

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Tactics Arrest and Control, what they call the DTAC unit, and proudly serves as a member of the Santa Ana PD Honor Guard. And I witnessed the Honor Guard when I was in Sacramento with these officers. It was a wonderful experience to watch them proudly protect those officers and the memorial for our fallen officers. So thank you for your service, gentlemen. Civic Center Patrol Officer Martin Gutierrez is the boxer who represented the Santa Ana Police Department winning his bout at the United Combat Association Central Battle of the Badges, which was held on Saturday, April 27th in Visalia, California.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And then we already showed you the video.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I wanted to do the video first to set the whole, like, set up. So, Officer Gutierrez, this is for you. And so I know we recognize Santa Ana PD for a lot of the good things they do and you know They're they get awards for how many years and different teams But the fact that you've taken upon yourself to to box and to represent Santa Ana PD all over and I think when I think You're one of his trainers

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Yes, so I think it's wonderful so congratulations to you so from the city of Santa Ana we are giving you a certificate of recognition to Martin, Officer Martin Gutierrez and recognition of your victory in the United Combat Association Central Battle of the Badges and for your outstanding dedication skill and commitment to duty because I think sometimes the community thinks you guys just work and go home and in reality you work you go home and you represent Santa Ana PD and Baker to Vegas boxing and probably a whole bunch of other things that we don't know about so this is to you from all of us so thank you very

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

much. Can I say a few words?

Just thank you to you, Madam Mayor, and to the council, and a big thank you to the Santa Ana Police Association for the support, and a huge thank you to TKO and the coaches over there and the staff and my sparring partners. So thank you guys, appreciate it.

You said it all. Thank you very much. We appreciate the support. He's a great athlete and he's a pleasure to work with. He's a lot nicer than he looks up there. so I'm very happy with that. A big thank you to my coach here, too. Thank you, TKO Boxing, for sure.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, TKO Boxing. So when's your next fight?

October 6th.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

October 6th where? Ventura. Too far for us. But if you want to go, and if they're providing a bus or a van to transport us, maybe you can take a jail van. We'll go with you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

October 6th in Ventura, right? All right, good luck to that. Let's take some pictures. Thank you.

Let's give it up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I'm going to do one alone and then I'm going to invite the council.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Hi, good afternoon.

I don't have a video, but I'd like to call up Luis Avila. Come on up.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

It's a good day because we're recognizing and celebrating some of the winningest Santa Ana residents, actually. So hi, welcome. Welcome.

Your big stage, now he's in front of the camera

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

instead of behind it or reporting. So, first of all, congratulations Luis, because he was recently awarded the prestigious Mark of Excellence Award for Regional Political Reporting by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Congratulations.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

So for those of you who don't know, the Society of Professional Journalists is the oldest organization in America representing journalists and established in 1909. There are over 6,000 members, hundreds of chapters all across the country, and Luis was recently recognized so we're really excited. So you know this recognition is truly a testament to his exceptional skills, dedication, and integrity in reporting, making sure that our residents are not only informed but they get the right information that's fair I do have to say I'm a little bit I guess biased because I'm not a

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

journalist but he I think I was your first interview as a student at Chapman University and he recently interviewed me again as the last interview that you did but he recently graduated last week from Chapman and where are you headed next? I'm headed to Palm Springs as a reporter. So there you go. And so we really wanted or I wanted to represent you with the certificate of recognition. I look forward to seeing you on the news becoming our next Walter Conkright or Barbara Walters and then coming back and talking about Santa Ana. So thank you so much. Congratulations. Would you like to say a few words?

Hi everyone, thank you so much, council member Phan. I see some familiar faces, Vasquez, Becerra, Lopez, who I've had the opportunity to interview also. I just want to say thank you to the people who are here supporting me. First, my family, this is really a recognition for you just as much as it is for me because of all the work, all the sacrifices you've had to make to raise me, my sisters. One of them is not here. She also has another award, so I guess it runs in the family. I have some teachers here, some Santa Ana teachers here to support me as well. Ms. Tran from Godinez High School and Ms. Whitmire from MacArthur.

They've really helped shape the person who I am today. If it wasn't for Ms. Whitmire's class, I probably wouldn't consider reporting as a career because I used to be very timid, very shy, but her public speaking class really helped me break out of that shell. I have my friends, Sam, and I have a few watching on YouTube. That extra support, we've been on incredible adventures and just people we can talk to. and I just want to say being a reporter has really made me appreciate Santa Ana so much more than I already do you know there's many incredible stories here

you just got to take a little second to look for them and I just want to end with some advice especially for the young people here in Santa Ana my advice would be to stay focused try your hardest and take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way because just like live reporting you only get

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

one take. Thank you. May I please invite your family, your teachers? Come on up, we'll take a picture together. Come on, don't be shy, let's go. You're part of Louisa's success.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 2

So now I can't invite Jade Morales up. I have to invite state champion Jade Morales to come up.

Phil BacerraItem 3

You better get out of her way. She's a state championship wrestler, all right?

Phil BacerraItem 3

So today, we get to celebrate an extraordinary individual and recognize her incredible achievements in the sport of wrestling. Again, state champion Jade Morales.

Phil BacerraItem 3

So we can't be shocked that she won the state championship as a member of the Santa Ana College's women's wrestling team or Las Doñas. At Santa Ana High In high school, Jade was a two-time CIF medalist and a two-time master's qualifier, and she also earned a fourth place finish at the 2021 Statewide Invitational. So when Jade arrived at Santa Ana College, she immediately began to leave an unforgettable mark on Santa Ana College's women's wrestling program. In her freshman year, she secured a remarkable fourth place in the highly competitive 3C2A state championship.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Now it sounds pretty good right? But she wasn't done. Win after win, Jade returned to the 3C2A state tournament this year with her eye on the state championship. And in the championship match, Jade pinned her opponent in what was it two minutes? Ah two minutes 22 seconds. So she gave her a couple of seconds. Alright. So but with that victory, Jade clinched the first ever 3C2A state championship for Santa Ana College in the 123 pound category.

Phil BacerraItem 3

And, and she was also declared the tournament's most outstanding wrestler. So she dominated her opponents, again not shockingly right, but she went on to a 14-0 perfect record on the season for I would say a season that many are gonna remember for years to come. Her performance at the state tournament was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Match after match, Jade showcased not only her technical skills, but also her strong will to succeed. From pivotal victories over tough opponents to her swift conquests in the championship bout, her ability to rise to the occasion

Phil BacerraItem 3

culminated in a well-deserved title and solidified her status as a true champion. So Jade's impact extends far beyond her individual achievements. Jade serves as an inspiration to to aspiring athletes throughout Santa Ana, proving that with hard work, resilience, and a dedicated pursuit of excellence, anything is possible, including that state championship, right? So as we celebrate Jade's accomplishments today, let's also acknowledge the unwavering support of Jade's coaches, teammates, family, and friends. And I don't see Dr. Neary here tonight, but we do have SACS Vice President, Dr. Jeffrey Lamb.

Phil BacerraItem 3

And then do we have Dean Andrea Pici here tonight? Dean, thank you. And then of course Santa Ana College's athletic director Mary Hegarty. Mary, thank you for being here. All of whom have contributed to Jade's success. So today I get the honor on behalf of the Santa Ana City Council, Jade if you can come up here, I'd like to present you with the certificate of recognition to celebrate all of your accomplishments including your state championship and very importantly for bringing prestige not only to uh santa ana college but here to the city of santa ana so jade

Phil BacerraItem 3

congratulations so would you guys like to come up here come on up come on up

Phil BacerraItem 3

all right come on up guys so while they're coming up i'm going to put jade on the spot for a second i'm going to ask so we talked about santa ana high school we talked about santa ana college What's next? What are you going to conquer next?

I'm looking to commit to some colleges. I'm originally a history major, but I'm looking into political science now. Maybe I'll be a mayor.

But for now, that's the plan so I can further my education. That's me the man, bring it.

Phil BacerraItem 3

That'd be a heck of a match.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

ALL RIGHT, LET'S ALL.

There you go.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

I'm not nervous.

It's about teamwork. Thank you.

Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Okay, if we can please give Ms. Morales a big round of applause for making Orange County history. It's not every day you got champions making records like that and so what a tremendous feat. We are honored to be here with our community to celebrate our residents. Today May 21st I have the honor of bringing to the front our neighbors in the Santa Anita community and the artists and volunteers that contributed to the restoration of the Santa Anita mural. If we can please bring up the leaders who helped make this possible please come to the front.

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John, James, Ty, Brianna, Abram, Marina. Marina, your daughter, please. We want all of you all up in the front.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

If we can also please invite Richard Santana with the office of Supervisor Sarmiento as well.

all.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

All right. Today, May 21st, 2024, is a monumental day. We are providing certificates of recognition to these outstanding leaders who not only represent Santa Ana, but Orange County as a whole. the contributions to arts and culture is something that orange county is proud to represent it is proud to bestow stories that are diverse stories that are very much empowering and stories that continue to inspire us in 2022 a group of community members came together to find solutions to augment graffiti in urban neighborhoods.

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We have seen across neighborhoods like Logan, Articia Pilar, Santa Anita, the Delhi community. Many of these communities have murals that tell our stories. But there's also writings on the walls that don't represent our stories, that families oftentimes feel unsafe or unwelcome when they see. And this brave group of people here, and there's a couple of folks that are missing, helped make a mural possible in the Santa Anita community. A community that is predominantly a Chicano community where we have seen a lot of young people fall through the cracks, a community where there has been gang violence

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where some people didn't make it home. A community where young people have fallen through the cracks of the justice system. And those lives are just as valuable as the lives that are in this room here today. because many of these people who fell through the cracks were young children. When this mural was brought to the Santa Anita community, it was a labor of love, an idea that was spawned by the very artists who are here. Abraham Moya and Marina Aguilera are world-renowned muralists from the Orange County community, but they represent us across California, specifically starting in Santa Ana.

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Their advocacy that they did in the Santa Anita community community brought James, it brought Ty, brought Brianna Negrete, it brought our community members together, Jonathan Williams, Marina Aguilera, and Abraham Moya, and they helped tell a story that reflected the very community and the families that live in the Santa Anita neighborhood. When this mural was unveiled in 2022, it brought lots of families together. It told the families stories. It talked about the history of the Santa Anita neighborhood and it

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honored Chicano families like Cesar Chavez, the Victoria Barrios family, and the Gonzalez family. Rest in peace to Big Joe Gonzalez who was a big part of that mural. And after this mural was unveiled and instilled pride in the neighborhood, unfortunately a few months ago that beautiful mural located in the Santa Anita neighborhood off of 5th and Jackson was tagged on. It was defaced with graffiti, an act that saddened many of us who cherish this beautiful artwork. Despite this unfortunate event, it presented an opportunity for the community to come together, show our strength and our solidarity. Immediately

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after the vandalism was discovered, these artists worked hand-in-hand with the residents of Santa Anita. They immediately, after the vandalism was discovered brought numerous individuals together to help restore the mural. The outpouring of support from both artists and volunteers was inspiring and demonstrated how strong the community bonds are. I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the talented artists who dedicated their time and skills to the restoration. These artists worked tirelessly not only to repair the damage but to enhance the mural's original beauty.

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Their creativity and their dedication to uplift impacted voices ensures that murals continue to be a source of pride and inspiration to all of us, no matter what neighborhoods we live in. Our community volunteers were equally essential in this restoration project. From donating funds, to coordinating efforts, to gathering supplies, their behind-the-scenes work was crucial. Volunteers came together, volunteers like Wally Gonzalez from the Santa Anita community. They came together to clean, prepare the site, and support the artists in various ways. The office of supervisor Vicente Sarmiento

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got involved and helped donate toward restoring this mural. Their hard work and commitment reminds us that community efforts can overcome any challenge. In In closing, I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to this restoration. Your efforts have ensured that the Santa Anita mural will continue to be a cherished landmark for years to come. Let this restoration serve as a reminder that the power of the community

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can endure the spirit of adversity. We are a shining example of what happens when we encounter adversity. We're able to work collectively to overcome it. the artists are going to have an opportunity to speak but before we do that I want to recognize each one of them individually because these murals are much more than just art on the walls these are the hours the labor and the love of these very human beings who also have families who also have food to put on their table and who have their own respective stories and so with that I'd want to begin by acknowledging

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Tai Nguyen for helping bridge the gap between the API community and the Chicano community. Thank you for being a shining example, Tai. You inspire me and I just want to say thank you for helping make Chicano history in the Santa Anita community. You are a champion to our people and to the Santa Anita community and we celebrate you. Thank you. I want to also celebrate Briana Negrete, a mother that has helped create murals across the city of Santana. Briana, thank you so much. Thank you.

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I want to acknowledge the next artist that helped make this possible, a man who has been mentored by the very artist here. You can see his work all across Santa Ana. His mentor, Abraham Moya, has been instrumental in ensuring that this individual uses the arts to bring the Santa Ana community closer together. I'd like to bring James Rocha here to the front. And thank you for your service to the community.

Thank you, brother.

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I want to acknowledge the one and only, you know, from Articia Pilar, Santa Ana's own La Artista Marina Aguilera. Thank you so much.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

I would also like to acknowledge a Chicano legend in the mural community, somebody with over 40 years of experience in creating murals all across California and has helped mentor these very artists who are here with us today. It's not often that we get to celebrate our elders, and so this is a special opportunity for us to do that. Abraham Moya Jr. mentored these artists here, worked with Bert Carona, worked with the Mijo Vasquez, worked with Sergio Ocadiz, Chicano legends and we have one in our own backyard. So Abraham Moya if we could bring you here to the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

front. And we have storytellers who didn't write on that wall but helped make sure that it was documented so that these stories are never erased and that they can be replicated in other communities that face similar challenges. I'd like to thank our brother in the struggle, Jonathan Williams.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

Jonathan, thank you. It truly is an honor. You have used your camera to uplift so many stories that have been disenfranchised in the Santa Anita community and the Santa Ana community. Thank you, sir. I also want to thank our brother, Wally Gonzalez. He couldn't be here with us today. but I know Wally was instrumental in uniting all of these artists to serve the community and so I want to give this to you guys if you can please give this to Wally Gonzalez because his family's legacy is respected in a big part of why that mural is there as well as Hardip Singh Ray we also have a certificate of

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recognition for Joe ginger Sonny who was instrumental in helping as well as Ruben Calderon, Ruben Calderon was helpful with restoring the mural. Edward Arriola was as well. So I'll leave this with us here. Edwin Socorro Calles was instrumental in helping as well. It was a labor of love and last but not least we have Big Joe Gonzalez who passed away and although he is deceased he was a big part of why this mural was able to happen in the Santa Anita community. Big Joe is no longer with us but his memory is always going to be celebrated in the Santa Ana community.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

This is a certificate of recognition for him and I'm going to give this to you guys and if you can humbly deliver this to his family.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

And in addition to that, we got to thank our partners who are from the community who worked with these artists hand in hand. They have been in the Santa Anita community for over 50 years, Griffin Hardware Co. They are not with us today, but let's please give them a round of applause, a local business.

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And without further ado, I'd like the artist to bless us with some words. So ladies first, Marina, if you want to take the lead on this, or you and Abram, it would be an honor to hear from you guys as the artist.

You want to take the lead on this? Perfect. Good afternoon. First of all, I'd like to say congratulations to Officer Gutierrez. as being an ex-boxing coach for the Anaheim Boxing Program. I know all the work and a lot of the stuff that they've had to do to train to go to some of these boxing tournaments. And those three minutes that they're up there or for whatever their round is, it is part of the expression hell. But once they get training, that's why they train so much, being an ex-boxing coach for Anaheim Boxing Club. I'd like to talk about these, if I can, and I'll mention each individual real quick in here.

First of all, I'll quote from here. We have James. James started out with us, but due to an illness he had to pull out from working with the Santa Anita mural. But he was a great, great input into putting in with the design what we're going to have. Ty took time off from his school just to be there with us, to work with us. He has shown a lot of the work and a lot of the struggle that was going on in dealing and designing the mural and putting the colors. And he was a great inspiration to all of us to see him come in there. work with us. Brie, I have great respect for Brie. Here was a woman that was

pregnant with her son going up and down a scaffold taking time to work on the Santa Anita mural and make sure that it came out beautifully. Then we have Marina. Marina, La Artista Marina Aguilera. Another one that was right behind me pushing me all the way and one of her things, her statements was you move forward and that's what we did. We have, I'm sorry, this guy Jonathan Williams was living in Glendale and he would drive all the way to Santa Ana or Santa Anita

and take pictures. If you go into YouTube and you look at the video called the Santa Anita mural, he's the one that could help create that. That is a beautiful mural it shows kabc participating in there it shows the workers and it shows all of us planning and working on that beautiful mural on them i think that santa nita has over there is one of the most beautiful murals that you have in san anna and done by some of the best artists i have worked with youth as an activist for over 50 years and that and i have there's only one one other group of young people that I've worked with that are tremendous and these people here are

tremendous. I coordinated this group to do this and work with them. These guys, it's like one artist stated, it takes a village. And yes, we did do it as a village and we worked together. There's only one other artist that isn't here that I wish was and he is coordinating one of the other major murals for Santa Ana. it's called the La Raza mural and that's Roger Reyes. Roger Reyes is one of the other fantastic artists that work with it. All these young people here are some of Santa Ana's and Orange County's future and greatest artists. Please give these people, give these young people a great hand

and a standing ovation if you can. They deserve it. Thank you.

Yes, yes, yes. I just want to say thank you very, very much, everybody, for the inspiration, the community. Thank you very much for being part of this. Like Abe said, it takes a village. I want to thank you, sir. I want to thank Supervisor Sarmiento. I mean the association, the Santa Anita Association, everybody who participated. We thank you very, very much, all of us artists, for keeping on and making it happen. Thank you.

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And this is an important day because murals signify the fact that our stories belong in this city. and for a long time this country was not receptive to the experience of Chicano people. But look at the rainbow coalition that we bring. This isn't just Chicano people creating art in these neighborhoods where people are experiencing hardship. This is a diverse rainbow coalition of people of all backgrounds who are coming together and they're preventing graffiti and they're not doing it with a gun and a badge or a bulletproof vest. They're pouring their hearts onto these walls

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and that is how we're helping public safety in these neighborhoods that are impacted and there is an artist who couldn't be here today Roger Reyes we do have a recognition for him so I want to leave this with you guys if you can respectively give this to mr. Reyes or we can happily mail this to him as well and there was one champion I wanted to bring to the end of this presentation and that is somebody who helped make this mural possible when when he was our mayor, that is Vicente Sarmiento. He was at the mural unveiling when this mural was first brought to the Santa Anita community.

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He was a consummate advocate for the creation of this mural. And it's not often that our leaders get celebrated, but I, as a council member, recognize his efforts beyond being our mayor when he became our supervisor. As soon as this mural was tagged on, he worked on the ground to make sure that we had a response. So I wanna give this to Richard Santana with the office of Supervisor Sarmiento, who represents us here in District 2. Please thank him on behalf of the Santa Ana City Council. Thank you.

I just wanted to say, I just, hello? I just wanted to say thank you with all my heart, you know, for making this happen. It took all of you and Supervisor Sarmiento for, you know, putting it together and repairing the mural and it's a beautiful thing. Thank you. Just very quickly, on behalf of the Supervisor from District 2. We humbly accept your award and as a supervisor couldn't be here this afternoon he just wants to let the city of Santa Ana know that you know he's very invested in arts and culture and really stands behind the Santa Anita Neighbor Association who does amazing things all year long not

just murals but as far as food pantries and celebrations and we're sadly we're gladly to be here today to receive this reward. Thank you so much Councilman Jonathan Hernandez for presenting us the certificate. We'll gladly post this in our building. Thank you.

I'd like to invite everybody on August the 3rd, the first weekend of the Chicano Heritage Month in August, to the art show that's going to be done by the Santa Ana College and myself, which I'm curating. It's called Los Veteranos de Arte. For those who don't know Spanish, the Veterans of Art. And it will be at the Santa Ana College Gallery on August the 3rd. So you're all invited.

There we go. All sides are good.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

All right, thank you. Our presentations are now over, so we're going to go. Madam City of Trane? I'm sorry, yes, sir.

David PenalozaItem 4

If I can, just really quick. Just a comment to the acting city manager. For informational purposes, if you could send out an email. I know that we've had a, I'm not sure if it's an official policy, of how many recognitions each council member could do per meeting. I know that Council Member Becerra had two last meetings and Council Member Lopez had two today. I know that in the interest of time, we want to make sure that we are consistent with how many recognitions each Council Member can make at each meeting, just so that we're not here for two, three hours before making the public wait for city business.

David PenalozaItem 4

So if we could get clarity on that and send it to all of us when you can, I'd appreciate it.

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

Definitely. Thank you, Council Member.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you. At this time, Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

Mayor, Council Members and members of the public, we had several closed session items this evening from conference with Council regarding existing litigation to labor matters, but we do not have any reportable action.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. So before we start the meeting, I'm going to cover something that's really good news and then we're going to go into public comments. First of all, I want to thank our acting city manager who has worked really hard on this. You know, he's been in the city of Santa Ana for 32 years, did I get that right? So after 32 years, you've developed some pretty good relationships. And so I really want to thank him for all the hard work that he's done on the information I'm about to share. And I do have the ability to share this as the chair of this meeting.

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And all of the city staff that helped him, Gaston, Sue, Public Works, Parks and Rec, Water Department, Community Development. So Congressman Correa, he has submitted a request to the House Appropriations Committee. And it's important that we share this because once it's approved, we're looking at, and it can change, but this is what we're looking at today. The Logan Center and Chepas Park redesign, we're looking at $2.5 million. It will be coming our way. PFAS treatment plant, I know this will make Cesar very happy, $5 million.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Euclid Street multi-model safety enhancements 3.5 million the homeless navigation center improvements and rehab 3 million I just want to say thank you to the city staff and especially to our active city manager you moved very quickly on this I know that you had three I believe like three to four days to submit all of these requests into our congressman as soon as you were made active city manager so I really appreciate it I'm sure the community does as well because when we get those millions of dollars millions upon millions of dollars we can do some really good work here so I just want to

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thank you to the city staff thank you to you guest owns to and to all everybody that helped and thank you congressman Korea thank you very very much all right let's go on to public comments it's the time of the meeting for the city council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items madam city clerk please call please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers thank you mayor pursuant to resolution

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

number 2023-047 speakers are requested to address the city council directly and to refrain from profane language racial epitaphs and libelous or slanderous statements that may 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 three minutes for their comments before calling speakers i'll report out on the summary of emails provided as of today at 2 pm we did receive five e-comments two were non-agenda related one on item 19 one on item 26 and one on item 27 those were

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distributed to the city council and posted to the city's website we'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the chamber please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record i'll call three names at a time if you could please line up in the aisle way behind the podium sue palak paul sanford and melissa aberto

Good evening. Council Sue from Ward 4. I see Councilman Hernandez is not there, but I'm going to speak to an empty chair just like I did the last time when I spoke to you in an empty chair. Councilman Hernandez, I have a question for you. I want to know what personal satisfaction you get when you don't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. This act is dividing the city. I've heard us to protest the death of your cousin and want you to think about something. When you leave the dais and refuse to stand for the pledge, you disrespect every mother whose child was killed in war defending freedom everywhere that flag was carried.

You may argue your First Amendment rights, but there are moral issues that produce consequences. What I have seen is that you have dragged your war down into your own personal war against law enforcement, and I want to know, are you using the flag to make that point? May I ask for a resolution that any council member who refuses to stand for the pledge be sanctioned and not be allowed to participate in council business until there is a sincere taking of the pledge? In my opinion, disrespect for the flag shows conflicted bias against our country and community and a violation of the oath of office,

and affects many decisions council members have to make. No one council member can not take the oath. It's not a cart before the horse. Mayor, city attorney, and public, I don't feel Councilman Hernandez should be allowed to vote on any issues involving police because of his blaring personal police conflict of interest in related public conduct. We are about to remember our fallen soldiers on Memorial Day. Councilman, instead of giving you my back when I leave tonight for disrespecting my family and my country, I would rather sit down,

have a conversation with you because we need to start the healing. Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it. That's from an unknown author. So, I'm asking Councilman Jonathan Ryan Hernandez, will you now take the oath of allegiance to the United States of America because freedom is not free. I want you to come home. I want to say may God bless America and comfort the Gold Star mothers and fathers. And I want

to say Brittany Grainer is a female basketball star who went to the United States of America I think it was Russia, and she got caught with drugs, and she was thrown into prison, and the State Department got her back, and when she came back, she stood for the national anthem, realizing what this country means. Thank you, and God bless America.

Good evening, Council. Excuse me. Good evening, Mayor Emesca, and good evening, Councilpersons. My name is Paul Stanford, and I have the pleasure of living in Councilwoman Jessie Lopez's district, and she's done a great job for us in that district. I'm here to speak to you tonight about a couple of issues that don't have to do with my particular residence and such but I want to just tell you a little bit about myself. I've been a resident of Santa Ana with my family for over 20 years and I've been really blessed while I've been here. I've been lucky enough to serve on the Jack

Fisher board, the voluntary board. I've served with the garden, open garden garden center, the open garden day that we do in Floral Park, and along with the Floral Park Homeowners Association and the Home Show. Also been lucky enough to win a Mills Act for the Roebucker House. The Roebucker family was the original contractor on the Bowers Museum and the Segerstam House most recently, and along with Mills Act on that and National No Order Ritey. I don't tell you this to pontificate. What I want you to do is understand how committed I am to Santa Ana and why I'm here today talking to you.

I've been lucky enough to be the CEO of Wincombe Hospitality. We're centralized in Orange County. We have hotels, restaurants, and office buildings throughout. And I've employed about 800 people for the past 30 years in Orange County and really mentored a lot of our residents. We've taken a lot of young people, talented people, out of high school and out of colleges and given them career. Today we just hired Molly Dowdy's grandson, who's graduating school, UC Davis. You know Molly Dowdy, she served on this dais and such. And there's many others.

So I really want you to know that as I come to you to speak to you today, that it's really more just about what I hope for Santa Ana and my commitment is to Santa Ana. because sometimes one of them us middle-aged guys come up here in suits we give a different message this is all about Santa Ana in the community and what we do together and the history and scouts of Councilman Hernandez obviously very impressive today and thank you for doing that for you so I am CEO of one come hospitality and it is a lovely company we have the Avenue of the Arts hotel in South Coast metro areas, Silver Trumpet restaurant, and I'm here to speak

to you about the South Coast metro area because I really believe in what we have in Orange County for the dream of the future. And specifically I'm talking about the related Bristol development. I am a developer, I've built many hotels that and I believe that we have to be able to invest in our communities and and give our young people hope and future for what comes up and give hope to the families and such. I've studied the related Bristol development in detail. I'm not involved with it at all, but I think it's an-

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Paul, your time is up.

Oh, okay. I'm gonna ask you to support bringing the development.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you, sir, your time is up, thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Melissa Alberto, followed by Ken Batiste and Mark Lopez.

Good afternoon everyone. I'm council member, mayor. This is my third time going up. My name is Melissa. I live on Greenville Street. I did go to a local high school here in Santa Ana. I'm here to talk to you guys about the issues we're having with the fields going up. It is kind of unfortunate that nobody sees the talent and passion that goes into these kids. Just like Jade Morales, we have lots of kids that have gone out and won national titles in different states kids have gone out to different countries to represent your city and it's absurd that um i have spoke to claudia perez on the phone and um she has told me to email

her and cc other people as well and um i also wrote back a follow email to get a meeting with the mayor and we have received nothing yet again it feels like we are talking to a wall it feels like we are unheard, like our youth has nothing and is not important. I want you guys to please pay attention and acknowledge how much this has affected your youth and how much it's impacting

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everybody around them. Thank you for your time. Ken Batiste followed by Mark Lopez and Aaron Leal.

First thing, give an honor to God, those on the diocese that's serving the God of the people.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Our government is in peril, and it's because of, not of our government, it's because of the people in the government and what they're doing or not what they're doing to go ahead head and deal with everyday problems that our residents are going through

homelessness first I was in here I was in judge Carter when we dealt with the homeless we had another mayor I want to say Santa Ana I'm a homeless advocate we feed more people in the city of Santa Ana than any other city in the county Mayor, you have a reputation as being a gun shooter. My point is this right here. There shouldn't be so many homeless in your city. But because of the way that the jail system is, they get released right here.

They go down to San Juan Capistrano, they ride them back up, they get released back up here. They go back, they come back. After a while, what do they say? we stay sue the Board of Supervisors make them take them back they bring them here make them take them back let the host County deal with the problem now let me get to what I'm here for cry to people I'm gonna make this real quick

the cultural Juneteenth it's a cultural thing that would be like me going ahead and accepting for something for single to mile it's a disrespect to give it to another group that is not black especially to give it to another group that is white it's like giving the whip to the slave owner to of the slaves that did not know for all those years that they were free your cultural center Council has been here all the time before there's meeting let me go ahead and put this down i have nothing to do with them i've never been to a meeting i'm not part of the

council i'm just a person for right right is right another county you gave to a person a group in riverside county versus people right here the details should get out the only reason i say that because what happened when the black media picks up on this

Steve Harvey in the morning show, Big Boy, Dr. Rasheed Ritchie, the Joy Reid show, Ralph Abernathy, all of them, what would they be saying? My point is true representation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Can you turn this up?

True love. Thank you very much.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you, sir.

Good evening. I'd just like to make a quick analogy about a serious problem we have here in Santa Ana. Sure.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Can you bring the mic down?

Oh, I'd just like to make a quick analogy about a serious problem we have in Santa Ana. Well, a few months ago, some of the council members made a resolution to have a ceasefire to a conflict overseas. Well, I think based on the problem here in Santa Ana, we should have sort of like a resolution to have the ceasefire with the illegal fireworks in Santa Ana because this is what happened last slide is it starts here these are legal fireworks man to be on back in the comments on this like mortars going off and it's almost like a war zone here in satana i mean you want

to have a ceasefire over there let's have a ceasefire of this because this is very bad i've been in the comment zone so we've blown up mortar rocket attacks and this is what it feels like and it starts early every year every year and downtown on the forefront is like a war zone so maybe we can address this i've tried to form a new community advisory team and work in words where i live that a lot of residents feel we're tired of this i know we can't solve the problem is all the cities but maybe focus on war two i think we have a lot of support of

individuals to stop this i think we might have to be more aggressive with guns and badges but hey i carried out foreign policy on behalf of united states for the m16 so it does work so they have to be more kinetic so if you help out water to get on that address this issue because unfortunately certain people lost their way about july 4th tim this is about blowing up stuff you know i mean and this is what i had last night we do have a serious problem hey make a resolution Let's have a ceasefire against our little war in Santa Ana because it's been ironic. You have a ceasefire war overseas over here, it's like a ceasefire.

Yeah, a lot of immigrants come to this country, experience that. They don't want to come here and experience that. And kids should be used to this. I see the cries of kids when I was in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Mr. Help us. And just the fact that, you know, the irony of that, you want a ceasefire there, well, spent over July, July 4th. And I find it very responsible for this council member saying, what's the culture of that thing to make money? Please, let's get this done because we want a new rep for Santa Ana. I'm excited about it, 4th Street. And I think, like I said, come to Ward 2, I got the support there.

I think it could be done. It might have to be a little more aggressive, but that's what it takes. That's what it takes because the old carrot and stick approach didn't work, and now you have to, like diplomacy fell down. It's time to develop the big sticks out there. This could help a lot, ma'am, especially Ward 2. Come there, Ward 2, fix it out there, and see how big the problem is because this shouldn't be like a war zone area, ma'am. I have PTSD from the comments. It's a shame that you can't celebrate being home because of this stuff.

I mean and the fact that these people have the audacity just light in the street and leave no repercussion what happens Now do you want to be the typical story until somebody gets killed then you address the issue? Like I said, maybe a resolution to ceasefire for all these illegal fireworks and focus on war two We do have the support there, man There will be no repercussions no pandering no this and that a lot of people want it done But they want somebody out there make the forefront of the issue now So I really would help that war two this year have the police come out there

we got the support and i do it every year pass off hilarious i'm out there doing it so but i think focus on war two is the fact that we're close to that and it could help a lot because a lot of people are going to say nana they haven't seen this they haven't been around for this so it might turn off a lot of people for coming here thank you ma'am unless you want to keep this check it out so maybe okay thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

aaron lael

Hello Madam Mayor and honorable council members. My name is Aaron Liao. I'm a representative from Alzheimer's Orange County and we're headquartered down in Irvine, California. Alzheimer's Orange County has been working in Orange County since 1982 supporting families coping with all forms of dementia as well as helping to expand the knowledge of professionals and working to fund research until there's a cure. I'm here this evening to let you know how much we appreciate your continued support in combating this difficult condition which which rob patients of their minds and their memories, and devastates families emotionally,

as well as financially. More than 164,000 people in Orange County today have either Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. It's the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, third leading cause of death here in Orange County. And approximately 50% of us who reach the age of 85 will have dementia. Alzheimer's Orange County is your locally governed community-based organization organization that's been helping OC families since 1982. Every dollar we raise here in Orange County stays here in Orange County to provide free and locally responsive services to our constituents,

such as over 40 support groups here in Orange County, of which we served over 2,500 people who attended our groups, as well as education for healthcare professionals, family caregivers, and the community, of which over 10,000 people attended last year in 2023, as well as a telephone phone helpline staffed by clinical social workers who are dementia care specialists for family and professional caregivers. In our helpline last year we also served around 5,000 people. We also operate two adult day health care centers, Health Aid Center Garden Grove or Health Aid Center Acacia and Garden Grove and Health Aid Center Laguna Woods of

which we were able to help 400 participants stay and age at home with their families. Alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia are not normal aging and we must do all that we can to end dementia or it will be the decline disease of the baby boom generation. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Mayor and City Council, there are no Zoom speakers so that concludes the public speakers tonight.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you Madam City Clerk. clerk. At this time, consent calendar items 6 through 26 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 at this time.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Councilman Hernandez. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll make a motion to move the consent calendar.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

Thank you. You have any items to pull, sir? No. Councilman Becerra. Only one. I'm going to be pulling item 14. thank you councilman vasquez thank you councilmember lopez no items and i'll

David PenalozaItem 6

second the motion thank you councilmember penelosa i also wanted to pull item 14 mayor and item 23.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

thank you mayor pro tem nothing to pull in just a recusal on item 15 as the cities of anaheim and irvine are clients of my employer rattan and tucker so if it is pulled i will leave the dais

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

for discussion thank you thank you very much there's been a motion and a second

David PenalozaItem 6

mayor yes excuse me sorry also item um

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

no you had your chance no i had it circled i just don't know where it went um thank you never mind go ahead no i was kidding it oh yeah 20. so we have item 14 item 20 and item 23. Perfect. Madam City Clerk, you have that?

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

Yes. Yes, Mayor. The motion to approve the consent calendar with the exceptions of item 14, 20, and 23 pulled for separate discussion. Noted recusal by Mayor Potem Phan on item number 15. Moved by Council Member Hernandez and seconded by Council Member Lopez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

Let's prepare to vote, please. Council Member Vasquez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

The vote is seven ayes, no nays.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

motion carries madam city clerk it looks like we're appointing corey sams for a full four-year term to the workforce development board yes they take care of those ossoff office directly at the workforce development board great thank you i just want to confirm go ahead madam city clerk

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

so the first item pulled is item number 14 by council member becerra

Phil BacerraItem 6

thank you so this item is to award an agreement with outdoor dimensions for digital marquees and this is coming to us from the revived dollars that we had from COVID first I want to thank staff for getting this to us this was something that because of COVID we we saw as we were exposed as a city when it came to how do we communicate with all of our residents email works for some social media works for others but we saw that sometimes just good old-fashioned and knocking on a door or something out in public and so these marquees you know god willing we're

Phil BacerraItem 7

not going to see another pandemic in our lifetime but for whatever other information that we want to make sure gets out to the community i think these are going to be very helpful having said that though one thing that i think we as a city need to get better at and that is i i appreciate staff's passion and enthusiasm to get things to us right away, but let's get community input on these items. And what I mean by that is, for instance, I want to thank Paul for sitting down with me and walking through the designs of each of these, but you know one thing that was missed, especially on the one in my ward,

Phil BacerraItem 7

is the location was off. And what was described to me was it was more convenient to place it where it's being suggested, but in following up with some of the folks in my community, they're more, I would say, more insistent that it it be closer to Seggershrim and Bear. As far as the design, I would like to get more input from my residents because as Hawk knows very intimately with Parks and Rec, that there's a lot of concern in that community when it comes to activities in the park. And seeing a new sign over there, I think will be very welcome. But I think it's important that we get input. And I would say,

Phil BacerraItem 7

as I'm advocating for Ward 4, I can't believe for one second that my colleagues wouldn't want that same opportunity in their wards for the marquees that thankfully staff was able to distribute evenly throughout each of the wards so i'm in support of the agreement tonight outdoor dimensions is a known entity so i'm happy to support this item but with the caveat or i'm sorry with the condition that the community meetings are held in each of the awards where where the marquee signs are gonna be located. So for instance, in Ward 4, I would want a community meeting that would encompass the adjacent areas

Phil BacerraItem 7

to Thornton Park prior to any installation. So that would be my motion for tonight.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Councilman, I'll second your motion. And then Mr. Akincitti-Battinger, I'd also like to support Councilman Becerra on community engagement. As you know, I believe for all of us up here, not speaking for anybody, so if you disagree, please state. but it's very important to us to engage with the community and to hear from them. And so I support his motion 100%. And could we have a timeline of, like, within the next 90 days, you complete engagement for those locations? I believe there's six locations.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

And so if we could do that within 45 days, is that 90 days? What is your timeline?

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

right yeah let's do this for 30 to 60 days so we can do it sooner even better and so definitely we'll coordinate the um community input so that we can uh effectively i mean we have clear dimensions what we need but maybe location and um that kind of aspect we can have better input from the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

community that's fine yeah his motion was approving the dimensions and what the work it's just the locations of the community engagement and there may be some change to location so so my my motion

Phil BacerraItem 7

motion is just to have the community engagement in which I want input solicited for design and the exact location because in Ward 4 I'm very happy with it being located at Thornton Park I think that's gonna be a great location but I think what was shown to me may not be the ideal location within that park but I want to also have the community give input so that they can share with staff what they think as well understood we can do that okay so

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

So, Councilman Panalosa.

David PenalozaItem 7

Councilman Panalosa Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Councilmember Becerra for those comments. I am 100 percent in agreement. And thank you, Paul, for reaching out to me. I chose not to just because I went through the staff report and I already knew the questions I was going to have that I know weren't in the staff report or taken into consideration, mainly the location of these digital billboards. You know, this goes back to 2020 when we were having an issue getting messages out to the community how can we do that right so we got a whole bunch of money from the federal government and one of the directions was to look into putting

David PenalozaItem 7

these digital marquees why it took four and a half years I don't know but you know it is what it is and we're finally here however the questions I had acting city manager Nunez was on the locations the outreach that was made I know that one of the sites identified was delhi park and this is coming from somebody that you know i i bought a humidifier recently and i put a tape over the off light at night because i can't sleep with that light in the corner of my room so when i look at the location at delhi park it's facing houses Houses on the north and houses on the east.

David PenalozaItem 7

I look at areas like Madison Park, for example, that has more traffic than Doha Park along Eddington Standard. That's facing a gas station, a tire shop, a, that corner, a strip mall. I guess, Mike, I want to get clarity on why, how were these sites identified? Because if we're talking about traffic and high visibility, the corner at Madison Park would make more sense. However, I would... So can you guys answer those questions? Sure. Thank you very much for the question, Councilmember and Mayor and City Council.

So we did a very rigorous process in identifying all the locations, working with Parks and Recreation as well as Public Works to look at what would be the best location within our parks and distributed it throughout the city. as well as looking at the traffic data to have both a good park location as well as the high traffic areas on nearby streets. And then the location specifically within the parks came down to a lot of issues of the engineering needs, the electrical needs. There were some locations where we had looked at one spot within the park originally,

and then once it was looked at more closely with the contractor and with Public Works, we determined that it was more cost-effective within our budget to locate it slightly in a different location because of electrical connections and other issues like that. And then also, as far as your question about the light emanating from the signs from the digital marquees, so it does have the ability at night to be dimmed, so to be still on, but it would be a low light, so it wouldn't be too obtrusive to the community, to residents nearby there.

David PenalozaItem 7

I can still see that being an issue, even if it's dimmed. I know that I live up against modern-day parking structure, and we asked them to also turn off the lights on that third floor because it was bothering the neighborhood at night, including myself. So even with the deflectors that they installed, it was still an issue, so they just turn them off completely and I see this being a problem moving forward when these digital marquees do go or are installed I don't I I don't want to be that city that puts in the general marquee and now we have

David PenalozaItem 7

residents in Doha Park asking why there's a digital billboard across the street from their home blaring into their windows because it's all it's off homes all around it not saying that Matt I prefer Madison I'm not saying that I want to put it at Madison Park personally, but I'm just saying if we're looking at traffic and the amount of traffic, it would make more sense to put it at Madison Park and just because it's facing industrial corners. Not that I want that, but I want the communication to be done with the neighborhood before this contract is approved. Okay. The question I had, acting city manager Nunez,

David PenalozaItem 7

when is a deadline to be able to use these revived funds? I know it's, Catherine?

Catherine Fife- Yes, it's December of this year, 2024, to encumber it, and then actually pay out the invoices by December of 26.

David PenalozaItem 7

Male Speaker 1 Okay, because I know that I am starting to see there was a period where I didn't see any revived Santa Ana contracts on our agendas. And now all of a sudden, going into the end of this year, middle of this year, we're seeing these contract approvals, which is, you know, it becomes frustrating because now we rush things with no community engagement. Just as we would ask a developer that's coming in here to build a 7-Eleven or a whatever to reach out to a 1,000-foot radius of this digital billboard, I would want the Doha neighborhood to know before this contract is approved

David PenalozaItem 7

that this digital marquee might come to their location. Is that something that can be done? Thank you, Catherine, for that response.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Yes. So we'll do that. I think that's more to the point that Council Member Becerra was indicating, THE WHOLE ITEM IS TO INCLUDE COMMUNITY INPUT, TRY TO BE AS EFFECTIVE IN INCLUDING COMMUNITY INPUT, LOCATION BEFORE WE GET TO DESIGN. WE DO HAVE A PRETTY GOOD WINDOW, 18 MONTHS TO COMPLETE, BUT WE DO HAVE TO BE SURE THAT WE MEET AT LEAST THIS DECEMBER TYPE OF DESIGN, WHICH WE CAN DO.

David PenalozaItem 7

OKAY. BECAUSE I KNOW I'LL SEE A QR CODE AT THE FIVE MOVIES IN THE PARK THAT WE HAVE THIS SUMMER, AND THEN staff will check the box and say oh we did it we went out in the community but that's not sufficient for me I need a guarantee and if councilmember Sarah could accept this into his motion that we will reach out just like we would within with part of our sunshine ordinance to a thousand foot radius of the of each site that this is coming and and see what kind of other community meetings we could have as part of this because again this is a contract So, that's a contract approval. By approving it tonight, it's happening.

David PenalozaItem 7

So, that community engagement is now really a moot point. Now it's just to tell them, hey, it's coming. Not to gather input, not to, so, how can we do that? Is that something we can do? Male Speaker 2 You're asking me, right? Male Speaker 2 I'm asking the . Or yes, if you would.

Phil BacerraItem 7

Male Speaker 2 Well, so, my question for you though is that, so, you had a concern in your ward about it being at Delhi versus Madison Park, which is fine. My question for you though, so for Ward 4, it's not a question of whether it should be at Thornton Park, it's a matter of maybe whether it should be moved over so many feet left, so many feet right. So my question, because I would be willing to accept your amendment to my motion, but what I want to get clarity on so that staff has clear direction is when we say a thousand feet from something, so for instance, if you were to want to explore

Phil BacerraItem 7

the sign be moved from Delhi to Madison Park, how do we put that into a motion?

David PenalozaItem 7

I'm not asking to move it. I said, what I said is, I don't know what staff considered to identify the sites because per the staff report, it said that you guys looked at traffic. But Standard and Ettinger gets a lot more traffic than Delhi and Holli-I mean, than Warner and Holiday. That is just a reality.

It wasn't entirely traffic. That was definitely a factor, but also looking at the park use there. At that location, for example, where we'll have the, Delhi will have the branch library opening up as well. So there are other factors of, because we wanted to capture both the people going to the park and the traffic going by as well.

David PenalozaItem 7

And the church is there, and I grew up going to that church, so I'm very familiar with the area. But I'm saying is that, and again, I'm not saying I want it at Madison Park, that's not, but i'm just trying to get the logic behind the location identification identifying these locations because at madison park if you were to put it in that corner it faces again a gas station a tire shop a strip mall that's closed at night so if it's on it won't really bother anybody versus at doha park it's towering over people's homes is is the the logic or the question so i don't care

David PenalozaItem 7

where you put it to be honest but i want to make sure that that neighborhood knows that this is coming so so and what they think of it maybe they don't want it maybe residents in madison park

Phil BacerraItem 14

would say hey two other council members want to speak can you so that is the well i would just say if i could kind of contour the motion maybe or your amendment so with a notification within a

Alvaro NuñezItem 14

thousand feet of the proposed location yes so so i would accept that if if the mayor wishes i i can pull the atom so we can have additional discussions we don't have to prove it today and then we can have this kind of this uh dialogue again we can use the money for this as as a considered effective use because of covet right it raises some issues of communication but if this is not the way we want to go we can pull it we can reassign the money elsewhere we decide this is no longer the effective way to use or or or we can come back in 30 days to a little

Alvaro NuñezItem 14

bit more identification a little more explanation so that a staff report is more diligent and and in communicating why it was sourced in this way and the other items not factoring the clearance

Valerie AmezcuaItem 14

that report hold on one second madam city attorney and you were going to say something

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 14

my concern is a consent calendar item with a business with a very specific action and you're talking about policy issues which by the way are very legitimate i've asked the question i'd love the opportunity to talk to staff to see if we actually complied with sequa did we give sequin notices did we do the type of review we needed to do that because of the potential impacts on the environment we're legally required to do that before we take a discretionary action so i do think that this item maybe we need to go back and talk with some of our departments attorney i was

Valerie AmezcuaItem 14

mr city manager let's pull the item please and then we'll bring it back to us and all the issues that our city attorney brought up the council brought up um please if you want there's anything you want to add otherwise we're going to pull the item and then we're looking at 30 to 45 days Yes. Great. Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 14

If I could just say one quick thing, and that is I support the digital marquee at Thornton Park. So I don't want to go somewhere else. Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 14

We heard all that, but I wanted to say we're pulling it. Yes. Okay. Let's move on now, please. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Mayor, next item is item number 20, requested by Council Member Penaliza.

David PenalozaItem 20

May I, Mayor?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

Yes. Okay.

David PenalozaItem 20

Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor and Acting City Manager Nunez. The item 20 is construction contract to Elecnor Belcourt Electric Inc. I just, Acting City Manager Nunez, I know I brought this up in our agenda review and you said you would get answers. I didn't see them before tonight's meeting, but I know that French court butts up against French Park, and especially along Washington Avenue a lot of that French Park historic homes that are along Washington Avenue mainly I want to know what kind of lighting

David PenalozaItem 20

these these are nowhere did I did it identify the type of lighting unless I missed it please point it out but and this is exactly what I did not want which is this type of lighting especially in that neighborhood so is Is there a way that we could look at the lighting design along Washington Avenue or closer to the, specifically the area that's closer to French Park?

Dr. We can certainly take a look at the design or the options for the light itself. However, these are three times the cost, and what staff tries to do is to match what we have in the general area. So, if the decorative design is prevalent in that area, we would go with that. However, we would normally go with the standard street light that we have shared with you. This is what's proposed right now, but we can go back and take a look at what you like to see along Washington and see if that matches with what we have already existing.

David PenalozaItem 20

Okay. I would be okay with that. I was just wanting to make sure that we're aware along Washington Boulevard specifically. I know at least at French Park and I forget what other street, the following one, not Bush, maybe Bush, but there is decorative lighting. They're not all decorative. Some are, but not all of them. But I want to continue where we can installing the decorative lights if possible.

Oh, absolutely. We typically take a look at the entire area and we try to match the theme of the street itself. So if it's decorative and we are adding lights, we would use the decorative lights like Broadway, now South Main. So we do try to match what we have right now. But for this particular stretch on Bush Street, it's mostly regular street lights that we have.

David PenalozaItem 20

Now, do we have a replacement fund as part of this? Because I know that there's many on Main Street now that still need replacing that have been ripped out.

We do have limited replacement funds. And I know what you're talking about on Main Street, we lost about five decks of lights, maybe more. It's a supply chain issue for that right now. So, you would see that what there used to be a light, now it's a concrete pedestal to prevent copper wire theft so once we replenish our supply of decorative lights those will come back

David PenalozaItem 20

okay thank you director saba i will make a motion to approve and i will just say that um i know that you had mentioned that you're going to be working with the city attorney's office to pursue funds from those vehicular accidents we do from the insurance companies perfect thank you please

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

don't go anywhere i have a question for you um so i've had a lot of city staff several meetings with historic French Park and your staff were in those meetings so Rudy I think you were in one of them as well the the lights that that you have sorry can I browse just for a second the lights that you have here those are not the lights that in the Washington area especially council panel those is talking about they had requested Rudy if I'm not mistaken the decorative he's behind you sorry I'm only asking him to both as he was in the meeting and so start to city City Manager, you were there as well. We've been with them several times.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

They're very adamant about the lights. They need to be bright. We talked about locking up, you know, covering the area where copper is getting stolen. So that should be something that we should be doing in all of our new lights. Even the lights we have, the existing lights, we should be going around putting proper covers over them so that we cannot have the copper stolen. But in the historic French Park area specifically, I've met with them along with, actually, City manager yourself and some of your other staff in the police department um among the homeless and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

prostitution it was the lighting um and so can you tell me a little bit about what type of lighting as counseling panelists have brought it up i was going to meet with you separately but

is it going to be the decorative lighting thank you mayor council for the question so yes um as As you mentioned, we have had a lot of outreach with the French Park and the French Court, and the issues they raise with the activity that happens, especially on 12th Street and Bush and those areas. This lighting project specifically was brought in to address some of those concerns. So this adds a lot of lights to the streets where the neighborhood specifically had asked for more lighting. The lighting that we're proposing is the standard marble lighting that you see in 90% of the city, not the decorative.

Having said that, though, and having heard both Council Member Penaloz's and your request on this, what we can do as staff is work with our contractor, who in this case is Eleanor Belcour, and seek a change order for specific street segments where that decorative historical nature you know is prevalent and come back to Council with that added cost as director Saba did indicate those lights typically run two or three times as much so this is what we recommended with the funds at hand but we can come

back with that information and at council's pleasure consider those

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

upgrades and that's fine I think you made a motion to prove it and and there was a second I'll second it but if you can just come back with the information but the decorative lights which is a historic French Park and the French right that we're talking about we've met like again they've come in many many times and so and if we could do it great if we it's out of the ballpark for us and we'll share that with them as well but they're very concerned and the The police department has spent quite a bit of time down there for the prostitution.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

And Commander Andrade, I believe you were in those meetings as well, for the prostitution and the homelessness and them picking up the manholes and living in there. So we talked about securing the manholes as well. So thank you. Whatever we can do. I appreciate it. I don't see any other comments. Oh, you have a comment.

Phil BacerraItem 20

Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So question for you guys. guys. Does Historic French Park have a lighting assessment district?

The answer to the question is no. There are, to my knowledge, no lighting assessment districts in the city. Public Works is performing a street light master plan, which seeks to develop policies and guidelines to the type of street lights that go in the particular neighborhoods that will come forth to the council when ready the current lighting in both French Court and French Park are is very limited and primarily

consists of arms coming off of Edison wooden poles so it's it's a very let's say not the city's preferred version of what a light pole in those areas would be and i appreciate

Phil BacerraItem 20

that when you guys return i'd like some a little bit of historical information on how french park got the decorative lighting i used to live right at 15th and broadway so i know that edison would you know whenever we need lighting let's say along washington they would just attach an arm to an existing poll but obviously french park beautiful lights and i'd like to see our neighborhoods enhanced and so i would like to see consistent lighting but i just want to understand how we got there so that we can understand what's the best path forward so just as part of the information

Phil BacerraItem 20

you bring back i'd like to understand that better thank you mayor thank you thank you very much

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

let's prepare to vote please my machine is not working so if you want to speak please lift your mic again and I apologize.

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

The vote is six ayes and one absence by Mayor Pro Tem Phan. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

I was going to say you look like you're in trouble or something.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

Okay. Item 23 I think was pulled by Councilman Becerra.

David PenalozaItem 20

No, it was me.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Oh, you, I apologize. Oh, yeah, you got it. Yeah, it's Councilman Penalosa. Okay, good. I'm just kidding.

David PenalozaItem 23

Thank you, Mayor. And yes, Director Saba, you are in trouble. I'm just kidding. Item 23 is agreements with project partners, InterWest Consulting Group, EC&M Associates, DBA, GCAN Associates, Richard Fisher Associates, and Mata U Consulting Group for on-call engineering in the amount of $2.5 million, a three-year contract FROM JULY 15, 2024 TO JULY 2027. I AM JUST GOING TO SAY RIGHT NOW I'M NOT SUPPORTIVE OF THIS ITEM AT THE MOMENT, ACTIVE CITY MANAGER NUNEZ, AND THAT IS BECAUSE OF NOT ONLY THE AMOUNT, BUT WHERE THE AMOUNT IS COMING FROM AND ALSO THE PROVISION FOR

David PenalozaItem 23

ONE TWO-YEAR RENEWAL OPTION EXERCISABLE BY THE CITY MANAGER AND THE CITY ATTORNEY. THAT IS TWO YEARS. THAT'S GOING TO COST PROBABLY ABOUT THE SAME BY THE TIME two years come or that that time comes and that is a lot of money to just allow the city attorney or the city manager to approve three years down the line the issue i have with this uh agreement or item is in the staff report it says that funds are available uh to pay for this 2.5 $25 million, and from the graffiti abatement account, the street trees account, the residential

David PenalozaItem 23

street sweeping account, the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center account, and I have an issue with that because in the last year alone, we've had conversations up here about our graffiti contract going up and the amount of money that it's costing us to remove graffiti, Our street trees program, the trimming, getting reduced because of how expensive it's getting. We've also had conversations here about increasing the street sweeping fees because of the street sweeping time.

David PenalozaItem 23

And don't even get me started on the train station of the mess that it's in, the high levels of crime, the theft, the numerous issues that we have ceilings falling and the the amount of work that that train station needs so for me to now see before me a contract for three years to pay consultants 2.5 million dollars and we're taking money from each of these accounts that we've been fighting over for the last year I just need clarity on this acting city manager because I don't want to see funds redo removed from our graffiti abatement program I don't want to see

David PenalozaItem 23

them removed from our residential street sweeping program our train station so where and then there's a there's an item at the very end that says various other accounts what accounts is that i i have no clue um so a the the option for staff to renew for two years i don't like that and b the number of of accounts that we're now taking money from that we fight over here uh for for for pennies every year in our budget. So can we get some clarity of why, where, how?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

I'm sorry, Councilman Penalosa, would you like that tonight, or would you like to come back the next meeting with a very, very clear information and breakdown for us and itemized?

David PenalozaItem 23

Yeah, I'll make a motion to continue for 30 days if you need this, to gather this information, or if the Acton City Manager wants to provide information now. I'll second your motion.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

We can do that. WE CAN MODIFY IT AND WE'LL BRING IT BACK AND PULL IT.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

I THINK COUNCILMAN PINALOZ WAS VERY CLEAR. I WASN'T GOING TO SPORT THE IDEA WHAT EXACTLY HE WANTS. YOU'RE RIGHT, WHEN YOU SAY VARIOUS OTHER ACCOUNTS, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?

David PenalozaItem 23

THIS IS AN ISSUE BECAUSE WE'RE RAISING FEES FOR STREET SWEEPING. WE'RE CUTTING BACK ON OUR TREE TREMING AND GRAFFITI ABATEMENT, SAME THING. BUT NOW IT'S LIKE, OH, MONEY IS AVAILABLE IN THESE ACCOUNTS. SO WHICH ONE IS IT? Are we, do we need to raise fees for residents for street sweeping? Or is money just sitting there that's going unused, so now we've got to enter into these agreements?

MR. Thank you for the question. This is an on-call engineering services. It is staff augmentation. If we have the need to bring in projects managers, engineering, engineering staff, if we need to include or needs for inspectors to come in and help us execute mostly our capital improvement programs we would bring in these individuals to help our staff to complete these projects it's staff argumentation the reason we list all these four accounts is because we want to have the flexibility to use the

accounts to pay for the services when are needed we must not likely not use the graffiti or the sanitation mostly what we use those services is through or for our construction development plan check and permitting and also design mainly that what these consultants provide us with the 2.5 million dollars is over five years we have the up we the contract is for three years for or with five consultant engineers that can provide this staff augmentation, and we have an option to renew for two years a maximum of $2.5 million.

And it doesn't mean that we are using these accounts to pay, but these accounts are listed, so we work with our finance that we have the approval to use some of these accounts to pay for these services.

David PenalozaItem 23

Male Speaker 1 So that's, thank you for that, Director Saba. That's the part I don't like, where now it's staff discretion to see where they're going to move the money from especially when we're sitting up here uh having those conversations so i guess if we could i'd make that motion the more the motion that i've made to continue the item and when we bring this back let us know how much money from each of these accounts you're considering taking what that means if that means something uh they i need i just i don't like the the full menu available so let's do that okay

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Councilman Hernandez seconded it. And you have a comment? Question and comment.

Phil BacerraItem 23

We're going to bring the item back. That's fine. Thank you, Director Salva, for your explanation. I understand what you're saying. These are on call. You're not definitely going to spend this money. In other words, this isn't money that's absolutely going out the door and you're looking for flexibility. But I do share the concerns of my colleagues in that when you just say other accounts, it leaves ambiguous. You know, these staff reports help us, at least for me, serve as a historical record so I can understand, well, why did we do this? Where is this money going to be coming from?

Phil BacerraItem 23

When you leave it, I don't mind staff having some discretion, but I want to understand where the cookie crumbs are coming from. Do you see what I'm saying? And so when you just leave it ambiguous, it calls into question what's going on. So I would just ask for more information to come back, but what I would also ask staff is, is 30 days enough? Do you need more time? and how sensitive is it to put put these folks under contract we could do the second meeting in July then and that and that works for well it's like you're

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

saying it's within the accounts that the the main objective is one to have a moment calm and it's for a lot for the flexibility if there's concerns we can reevaluate have that better discussion and emphasize one where we taking it why would have asked for the flexibility and if we don't need to list some of the accounts we don't list the accounts right there if they're great concerns that's one again the whole point like consumer sarah said is to allow public works uh the the flexibility to use different accounts based on the needs based on what's required to complete the capital improvement

Phil BacerraItem 23

projects that's it i mean and just real quick i i understand the need for flexibility but i just want the transparency with it so in other words you know if you do list the graffiti abatement account i have a little problem with that but i think that should be something that's open so so that the council can deliberate on that, on whether that should even be an option. But we should see all options in the staff report. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

Understood.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

So thank you. I think we're very clear. I can say to the manager what we want. I just want to say, Councilman Panellosa, you said it twice that we've raised the price of the cost of street cleaning, street sweeping. We have not done that. Is that correct, Bill? I want to be correct. Because we had this conversation. We did not raise the price of street sweeping.

No, we haven't changed it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

No, I thought that was what you talked about.

However, I said we've had the conversation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Oh, I apologize. I apologize. We've had the conversation. Okay. So I was like, wait a minute. We did not raise the cost of street sweeping. Okay. Thank you very much. Let's prepare to vote. I apologize. Thank you. Let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

Motion by Councilmember Penaloza, seconded by Councilmember Hernandez to continue item number 23 to the one meeting scheduled in July, July 16th.

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

Councilmember Lopez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

I guess. Vote of seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Item continued to July 16th.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Thank you. At this time, we're going to end the consent calendar and go into the business calendar. Item number 27 is related to the first reading of an ordinance to comply with the Water Shutoff Protection Act. Mr. City Manager, may we have a report, please?

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

Yes. Secretary Director of Finance and Management Services, Cat Downs, will do the presentation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you.

Hi there. Actually, we're going to have our treasury and customer service manager come up and do it. Her name is Alejandra Gutierrez. We call her Alex. And she is in the weeds on this. So she is very knowledgeable and has a quick presentation for you. And then we can answer your questions.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you. Hello, Alex.

Hi there. Good evening, mayor and city council members. members. Thank you for considering our proposed ordinance to update the municipal code for compliance with state law. There's supposed to be a presentation along. Thank you. We're on slide number two, background. background. To give a quick background, the city provides water services to more than 45,000 residential and commercial customers. There have not been any service shutoffs since

March 2020 when the pandemic started. Our current municipal code is not compliant with state law.

Public assistance slide, please. The city has and continues to participate in public assistance programs. These programs utilized either federal or state funds to provide relief for unpaid bills. However, funding for these public assistance programs have either expired or are set to expire soon.

Next slide, please.

key changes to comply with state law state and local moratoriums and water shutoffs have expired and the city seeks to be compliant with state law and resuming water shut off student on payment in addition to the water shut off policy the requested ordinance changes will define bill due date clarify transfer of responsibility and lay out the procedure for notifying delinquent residential accounts next slide please the recommended action for this evening is to introduce the ordinance with a schedule to adopt at

your next City Council meeting on June 4th if the ordinance is adopted it would go into effect in July July 4th and the city would begin delinquency noticing in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

August thank you stay up the kids we have some questions absolutely that

that concludes the presentation and I'm happy to take any questions

Jessie LopezItem 27

Councilmember Lopez yeah thank you for the presentation and your work so I know that obviously I'm supportive we should be compliant with state law and I think some of the requirements in the policy that is being proposed are good and so I I just wanted to ask if you can confirm for me, we are going to notify residents if they have a delinquent account with the city, correct?

Absolutely. And in fact, the state law requires us to give them quite a bit of time and multiple communications. So this is actually going to make it much more friendly for the public or for the customers to have more time to come current with their bill before a shutoff.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Okay, thank you, perfect. And additionally, can you confirm if we're going to also advertise on social media?

Yes, we can certainly do that. Okay, thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Councilman Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just brief comments. Thank you, staff, for the presentation. The Water Shutoff Protection Act is going to ensure that our residents have further protections, and it will make sure that we're in compliance with state law just want to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

offer my support thank you thank you I don't see any other votes prepared to

David PenalozaItem 27

vote motion um I'll motion mayor I'll second thank you we're done thank you so

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

much motion by councilman Penaloza seconded by councilmember Hernandez to approve the first reading introduction the first reading of an ordinance amending the City of Santa Ana Municipal Code Article 2, Chapter 16, Article 12 of Chapter 18, and Article 2 of Chapter 39 to comply with the Water Shutoff Protection Act. Vote is 7 ayes, no nays. Ordinance is introduced. Motion carries.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Okay, at this time we're going to end the business calendar and go into the public hearing. Before public hearing item number 28, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who'd like to make a comment on this public hearing item only.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

And Mayor and City Council there are no members of the public on zoom currently?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

And there's no public comments here?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Nobody here?

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

No there's not but you will still need to officially open and close the public hearing.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Okay it's related to that that's what I said I'm opening the it's related to the extension of the moratorium. I'M OFFICIALLY OPENING THE MEETING FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS AT THIS TIME.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

MR. CITY MANAGER, IT'S ALL YOURS.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

CHAIRMAN PELANI, BUILDING, I'M IN TIGHT WITH THE PRESENTATION.

THANK YOU, MAYOR, MAYOR PROTEMEN, CITY COUNCIL. I'm going to hand the presentation off to Ms. Margarita Macedonia. But I just want to quickly introduce, I know you all know her. She's been with the city for over 17 years. But she is now our principal community planner heading the NIES neighborhood initiative environmental services section, which is a brand new section that we have as a result of the update of general plan with a focus on ej issues as well as community issues so i just want to quickly introduce her you you know her already and she's always out in the community she's been her and her

team has been working very hard on this this extension as well as the initial moratorium work and all the follow-up that you have to do margarita

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. So tonight we're presenting the Transit Zoning Code Moratorium Extension as a public hearing.

To give a brief overview, what we are asking the City Council recommended action includes includes the adoption of an urgency ordinance moratorium extension for 10 months and 15 days by four-fifths vote pursuant to the California Government Code Section 65858A. and to give some context the purpose is that staff need additional time and resources to comprehensively evaluate the industrial uses and also make a determination whether further permanent action would be necessary to generate

recommendations to the Planning Commission and the City Council such action may entail a zoning map amendment zoning text amendment or both which would address the industrial land uses in the transit zoning code for background the City Council adopted on April 16th a 45-day transit zoning code moratorium that is scheduled to expire on June 1st the moratorium would have no further force and effect 45 days from the date unless the City Council extends extends the moratorium by four-fifths vote.

On May 7th, the City Council issued and filed a 10-day written report to the public pursuant to section 65858D of the California Government Code, and this was describing the City's measures to alleviate the conditions that led to the adoption of the moratorium. So an extension of the moratorium provides additional time and resources I mentioned before to implement this evaluation comprehensively of the industrial uses in the transit zoning code and the proposed extension is for

10 months and 15 days from June 1st. In terms of our next steps we plan to to continue to monitor, to document, and address violations that we are learning about from the local, regional, and state agencies permits and licenses. We continue to analyze and implement a comprehensive evaluation of these industrial uses using the data collection, data reporting and tracking, research that we need to do on the regulations,

looking at what kind of enforcement reports are available, and having interdepartmental discussions to fully understand the effects of the industrial uses in the transit zoning code. We also continue to address the current and immediate threats to public health, public safety, and welfare, and this is due to growing code enforcement complaints that we've received and they stem from as we mentioned before the irreconcilable land use conflicts in the code if permanent code updates are required the amendment those amendments would follow through the Planning Commission and the City

Council public hearing processes the proposed ordinance is not subject to the the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, specifically guidelines sections 15060C2 because the activity will not result in a direct or reasonable foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Guidelines section 150C3 because the activity is not a project as defined in section 15378 of the CEQA guidelines. And California Code

of regulations title 14 chapter 3 because it has no potential for resulting in a physical change to the environment directly or indirectly and so it is not a project the notice of exemption will be filed upon the adoption of this urgency ordinance ordinance extension and there's no fiscal impact associated with this project and we also are i'd like to clarify that These guidelines are consistent with the public hearing notice that was issued regarding this action item

Daniel I

I'm trying to get to the last slide here and it's moving Okay, so we are here tonight for two recommended actions by the City Council Council. One is to adopt an ordinance extending the moratorium on the approval, commencement, establishment, relocation, or expansion of industrial uses in SD 84, the transit zoning code by four-fifths vote pursuant to California Government Section Code 65858A for an additional 10 months and 15 days. The second recommendation is to find in accordance with CEQA that the

The proposed action is not subject to the requirements of CEQA pursuant to Section 150.60 because the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change to the environment. And Section 150.60 because the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA guidelines. lines.

That concludes the presentation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Thank you very much. Council wants to ask questions. Please put your mic up. I have a question. You repeated it a couple times and I appreciate it. You're asking for an extension for 10 months and 15 days from June 1st of 2024, which would take us into September of 2025. Is that correct? Correct?

It will take us to June 1st of 2025.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I'm sorry, I can't count for too much.

It's the initial 45 days plus the 10 months and 15 days.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

So throughout this 10 months, you're still going to be addressing the issues in the Logan Lacey neighborhood?

The goal of the, or the request for the 10 months so that staff will continue to do our our work in that neighborhood, gathering data, and then looking at what would be potential regulation that could be permanently put in place, and we would make that recommendation. Our goal, if we can, is to move it as fast as we can, but we want to take advantage of the full 10 months and 15 days that the government code allows us to request.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

So I'm supportive of the item. I'm not sure I'm supportive of 10 months, only because on a regular basis, for example, the crematorium is having issues and the families that live there have problems with it.

Understood, Mayor. And as I said, our goal is to move it as fast as we can, but the government could allow us to ask for 10 months and 15 days, and we won't take up the full 10 months and 15 days based on what our goals are for the timing.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

So you will not take the 10 months?

I don't believe we will. Yes. But. Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

We're going to go back and watch this meeting.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Yes. Because you're saying you're not going to take 10 months. Okay. Any questions by the council? Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Thank you, Mayor. So I just want to get a little bit of clarification. So with this action tonight, so as you return to us with some sort of regulations or ordinances, I want to make clear that not only do I want to see potential modifications to development standards for the existing land uses, but I also want to see consideration of outright prohibitions of certain land uses over there. I don't want to say which ones tonight because I want you to do your work and do your due diligence, but I have a couple in mind that should never have been there in the first place.

Phil BacerraItem 28

And thank God that tonight we're going forward with hopefully cleaning up some of the uses that are having such a negative impact on the residents of Logan. So I hope that we're looking at both regulations on existing development, I'm sorry, development standards on existing land uses, but also outright prohibitions of certain uses.

Yes. We're looking at all options.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Great. Thank you. Council Member Vasquez?

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

Thank you so much. Thank you for bringing this up. It's been a long fight for the Logan neighborhood before fighting for a park that they fought a street going through it. They were fighting industrial area coming into their neighborhood. And I'm just happy to see it. We are, you know, I just want to mention my class is studying Logan neighborhood and they're studying Chepa and hopefully they have their eyes on today the work that we're doing. We're going to create a piece of art for Chepa in this neighborhood. and hopefully you create a piece of work by giving them the necessary help to

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

make that a neighborhood that's a clean environment that supports families that's healthy for everybody I appreciate your work thank you Thank You

David PenalozaItem 28

Councilman panelists oh thank you mayor Mesko I just wanted to thank you men and staff and for your continued work on this and obviously Margarita thank you for that presentation and the work that you've been doing to address this you I represent both Logan and Lacey in the city, here on the city council, and it's nice to see this continued effort and desire to improve the quality of life of those neighborhoods. And Councillor Ambassadora took the words right out of my mouth. Complete prohibition is what we're looking for. I don't wanna see uses in these neighborhoods work backwards.

David PenalozaItem 28

And that's all I'll say. you know we the neighborhood has great things and businesses and for one reason or another we start moving backwards and that's what we shouldn't do is try to help them move forward and and remain in in the same fashion that they've existed the last couple of years but continue to improve always improving so thank you for that uh fully supportive of this

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Councilmember Hernandez. Thank you Madam Mayor. Congratulations Margarita Macedonio on your promotion. Well deserved. You've been a consummate champion for our residents in our city of Santa Ana. Just want to celebrate the great promotion here. Director Mentai, I'm fully supportive and I fully concur with my colleagues. I also support a complete prohibition as a council member who formerly represented the Logan neighborhood. I had the honor of working with you hand in hand on addressing a lot of issues that the residents were concerned about and this remains one of the top concerns it's very difficult to raise a family when

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

you have tow trucks crematorium and you know businesses occupying what once used to be your your neighbor's house it really changes the landscape of how we raise our kids it affects our parks and so I'm fully supportive of a prohibition I want this neighborhood to be restored back to a community the way that all of our neighborhoods deserve. And just to share on the record as to why this impact is so significant, this is the oldest Mexican-American neighborhood in Santa Ana and one of the oldest barrios in all of Orange County. It originated as early as 1886.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

It was largely settled by 1900 and before the practice of zoning was enshrined by the village of Euclid v. Ambler Reality Co. in 1926. So just to give some context to the residents as to how a neighborhood like Logan ended up so impacted, I want to celebrate the efforts of a planning department to correct those issues. So thank you, sir. Thank you. And I'll put a motion on the floor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Can I get a second, please? I'll second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Thank you. Thank you, men and all of your staff. I really appreciate it. Mr. Andrade, I see you in the audience. Thank you for being here. and so in councilman her now discovered it a little bit but I'm the oldest one up here and I can tell I'm old I don't know if I like to use that term on the oldest up here but the most mature and age up here I didn't work alongside his mother my father worked alongside his mother I'm gonna hit you with something yeah I am you could take that off later but um I just want to thank you for being here and yes my family has stood by your family for many many years um many years with my

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

grandmother and my father so yeah there's history and we all know your history in Logan those of us that have been around a long time but I'm really happy that we're doing this now and thank you Ben and all the staff and active city manager um you know we've addressed some other issues in Logan and now we're going to address this this as well and I too am not going to mention businesses up here but I'm going to just say that it's about time it's about time and so I appreciate your phone calls I appreciate your text messages your emails please remind your neighbors and your family to not stop and men I'm hoping that it will

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

not take ten months so again the the history of Logan we all know it but many of us walked it and have been part of it and our families have and so thank you FOR BEING HERE ALWAYS AND SUPPORTING US AS WELL. SO THANK YOU. MR. CITY MANAGER, ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD?

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

BEFORE YOU VOTE, I DO WANT TO UNDERSCORE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WHAT THIS TYPE OF REGULATION, THIS LEGISLATION THAT WE'RE PROPOSING DOES, RIGHT? IT IS EXACTLY SAYING THAT WE'RE COMMITTING TO MAKE THOSE COMMITMENTS THAT THE PREVIOUS CITY COUNCIL HAS DONE, THAT WE PROMISED. SO IT'S VERY DECISIVE. OBVIOUSLY, WE'RE TAKING A FORTED 10 MONTHS BECAUSE THE LAW ALLOWS US TO DO THAT. but make no mistake the main tie in the executive director of planning and building a whole agency is very committed to making sure we're successful in the way we look at the properties there be comprehensive be understanding

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

but at the same time make the effective commitments we all say we were gonna do

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

this is the first step thank you very much mr. director and city manager really appreciate it okay no further comments I'm closing the public hearing we may have a motion and a second this time it's fair to vote and just noting

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

for the record there were no public comments in person via zoom or by email thank you man of senate clerk this is a motion by council member hernandez seconded by council member becerra to adopt an uncautified urgency ordinance of the city council of the city of santa ana extending a moratorium on the approval commencement establishment relocation or expansion of industrial uses within specific development number 84 zoning district for an additional 10 months and 15 days pursuant to government code section 65858 and the associated sequa determination

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Urgency ordinance is adopted.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Thank you very much, Madam City Clerk. Yes. Congratulations. We're going to recess the City Council meeting this time convened to the special housing authority meeting.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I hereby call the housing authority meeting to order. Madam Secretary, please conduct a roll call.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

Authority member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Here.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

Authority member Hernandez. Present. authority member Lopez yeah authority member panel is a your authority member Vasquez president vice chair fan here chair meskwa president all seven members

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

present I'm secretary of any additions or deletions to the housing authority agenda there are none do any of the members need to announce abstentions on any housing authority items I'll make a motion to move the calendar thank you sir do we have any speakers for the housing agenda madam

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

City Clerk. We do not have any speakers nor did we receive any emails related to the Housing Authority.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Thank you. There's a motion and a second. Any Council Members need to any comments? Seeing none, let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

A motion by Authority Member Hernandez, seconded by Authority Member Penaloza to approve the consent

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

calendar of the Housing Authority. Thank you, Madam City Clerk. At this time we are going to... Excuse me, Mayor. I apologize. Go ahead. Yes. My vote is yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

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

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I'm sorry. I apologize about that. We're going to recess the special housing authority meeting and convene to the city council meeting at this time. Mr. City Manager, can we please hear your comments?

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

No comments.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

No comments? All right. Council Member's announcements at this time. Council Member Vasquez, please. Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

I teach ethnic studies and many people don't know what it is, but I do invite you to sincerely investigate what it is. Ethnic studies is about building community, building bridges, and not demonizing other races or religions, and accepting and caring for all. It really celebrates diversity, and that's just it. People are okay with tolerance and tolerate others, but many are not ready to let all people shine in their own celebration. OUR FIRST MARIO AT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL SIMPLY THEMED WE ARE BEAUTIFUL WAS CREATED BY STUDENTS. I USED TO TEACH MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AND THIS WAS THE FINAL PROJECT.

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

IT PICTURED AN INDIGENOUS WOMAN WITH A BABY, A DAY LABOR, FRIDA AN ASTIC DANCER, A VENEMESE WOMAN IN TRADITIONAL WEAR AND ONE OF OUR VERY OWN STUDENTS. I ALWAYS TELL OUR CLASS OUR ART NEEDS TO RESEMBLE ALL OF US AND WE HAD A VENEMESE GIRL IN THE CLASS. The images aren't doing anything. There are no words, only a background painted red. Still people were offended. And my students asked me why. It's simple. The art piece is claiming the space and saying we are here. We belong. We are Santa Ana. And some people are not ready for that. So if it's a painting or a children's march and we are no longer staying silent,

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

people will be upset at our shine. and thus celebrating our shine does not take anything away from theirs. As a community member I organized a children's march. The first March was themed immigration is beautiful. We use monarch butterflies to symbolize that migration that those butterflies need to travel from Canada to Michoacan Mexico every year is necessary and beautiful. We decorated butterflies on strings butterflies on sticks and children had butterflies wings made for them to wear. They came along with their parents as it's a community event. The children created a song with their community teacher and made drums out of five

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

gallon water jugs that they decorated. It was a beautiful sight. It was saying we are here and we belong. Yes as yet as we crossed the artist village and came across folks having brunch at a restaurant patio i noticed the pearl clutching it was a beautiful colorful and joyous march and yet people were not ready for that self-love that us santaneros have for ourselves migration is beautiful we are beautiful and i am not giving any apologies for being beautiful and teaching children to acknowledge their beauty good night council Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 28

Yes, I wanted to invite the public to the pride flag raising ceremony that the city is hosting tomorrow in front of City Hall at 4 p.m. I hope to see our community members there. We're really excited. And we're also hosting office hours this Saturday at Marbury Park at 10 a.m. and we're also really excited to share and hopefully many members of our community come out to the soccer night this Saturday with the Orange County Soccer Club. They are the only official soccer club and they reached out and we're working together to host a community night

Jessie LopezItem 28

this Saturday and they're also hosting a beer fest and a graduation fest and today tickets are $10 And so we really invite everybody to come out and show support for your city and for the work that the Orange County Soccer Club does in our city. And finally, you know, I just want to congratulate Valerie Magdaleno, who I think about a year ago answered the call of applying to our opening that we had for a community representative. She's been working full time for the office, and she's also been going to school full time, and she graduates this week with her master's

Jessie LopezItem 28

in public policy, and so congratulations, Valerie. Thank you for all the work that you do on behalf of our office, with our staff, and with our community members in Ward 3. And congratulations to all of the graduates, whether you're moving on to middle school, high school, you're getting your BA, your AA, your MA, your PhD. please celebrate all the hard work that you did to get there Thank You

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Councilman Hernandez Thank You madam mayor I too want to invite our community out tomorrow we are going to be flying the pride flag it is an opportunity for us to celebrate inclusion and I also want to celebrate the 64th annual Public Works week Public Works Department had a tremendous event right in front of Santa Anna high school brought thousands of Santa Ana residents together they were able to learn hands-on what does Public Works do they were able to see the world-class equipment that we have and I will put our staff up against any major city in California and I can assure you that our residents are getting

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

top-of-the-line services from our Public Works Department as evidenced by their their event on Saturday so just want to applaud you guys and thank you you're a shining example of what Santa Ana is doing day in and day out to improve our city services i also want to celebrate economic development in the downtown santa ana my office recently had the honor of joining the santa ana flea market which is a brand new flea market monthly in the downtown right in front of fourth street market it is put on by patches and pins a local business who has a brick and mortar shop right in front of the fourth street market this

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

event will be taking place monthly and is bringing together local vendors as well as bringing some of our local businesses outside of their their walls and bringing them onto the community sidewalks where they can diversify some of the things that they sell it brought a lot of children and families together a lot of good memories were being made in the downtown and and that's something that is important to us is that downtown you know is a vibrant place where people can enjoy you know food and drinks but it's also a place where families should be able to make memories and so

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

So to that, I want to thank the Santa Ana Flea Market and Patches and Pins for the economic development this weekend. We look forward to seeing your guys' event monthly. Thank you for bringing families and business to our city.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Councillor Mbassara, please.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Thank you, Mayor Mesquite. On Saturday, June 1st, I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours. Stay tuned for the location. Hawks made a mess of our usual location, but for good reason. For good reason, because we're going to be seeing a brand new, improved Upton All Access Park. So all kidding aside, thank you, Hawk. But, yeah, stay tuned. We'll have another location announced soon. I want to ask tonight for the mayor and my colleagues to adjourn tonight's meeting in the memory of former Santa Ana police officer Don Blankenship, who passed away recently.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Don served the residents of Santa Ana as a police officer from 1975 through 1999. He also served as a president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. He later became the chief of the Bureau of Investigation at the Orange County District Attorney's Office until his retirement in 2009. Don had a passion for honoring his fallen brothers and sisters, officers, who died in the line of duty. Don became the California Peace Officers Memorial Foundation's second president and dedicated 20 years of service to the foundation. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and loyal friend to all who knew him, and he will be missed.

Phil BacerraItem 28

And also, as we approach Memorial Day, I would also like us to remember and honor the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It was their sacrifice that provides us with the opportunities that we are afforded in the United States that many other nations do not have. so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as we enjoy the long weekend so with that have a good night Thank You council panel oh so Thank You mayor on

David PenalozaItem 28

that note that comes from a server just mentioned I'd like to invite the community out this Saturday at Memorial Park we'll be having the first inaugural hopefully Memorial Day commemoration this Saturday May 25th at 2 p.m. just just west of the community center, behind, right at the flagpole, we'll be having a small, intimate ceremony. Whoever wants to come, you're welcome to attend to commemorate the fallen service members who have given that ultimate sacrifice serving our country. So please join us.

David PenalozaItem 28

We want to put more of the meaning back to Memorial Park. The park was, when it first was created, it was in a name that in memory of our fallen members of the military so please join us we will be there 2 p.m. small ceremony hope to see you there thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Thank You mayor Bertin. Thank You mayor first I just like to say thank you Public Works I know I've said that a lot this past weekend but we had a really great time at the Family Public Works community event. I know I got a cone hat. I got some pictures. I know some folks out there are upset they didn't get one so we maybe need to have more of them at our events. They're super fun. I also want to just thank you, thank our library department as well as our work center for collaborating for the youth unconference. Councilmember Lopez and I were there and it was really great to see all of their ideas on how to improve

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

the city how they get involved and how they can work and get paid right here in the city of santa ana good paying jobs for our young people to get experience and and also build up their resumes going forward i want to announce that we have we are bringing back it's going to be an annual event as long as i'm here our free legal clinic it is going to be on june 8th from 10 a.m to 1 p.m we We are collaborating with Public Law Center, Advancing Justice SoCal, as well as Community Legal Aid, the Vietnamese American Bar Association of SoCal, Suavecito, and Magnolia Science Academy to bring this to residents.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

We will have translators in Vietnamese and Spanish. So if you know anyone who just has questions or need help with immigration, housing, or family law, drop on by. If you know an employee who has a question about it, drop on by. we will not say no to anyone and if we can't help you that day we will give you a referral or other resources to go to it's just a place for our community to come get some help because I know when you have a legal issue it can be really overwhelming if you don't know where to go and with that I will close out by saying happy birthday to my chief of staff list Beth Rosales whose birthday

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

is coming up this weekend and she has been fantastic as a ward 1 resident CHIEF OF STAFF, A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF THE CITY, AS WELL AS ALUMNI OF LOS AMIGOS HIGH SCHOOL. SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

THANK YOU, MAYOR PROTENT. MR. ACTING CITY MANAGER, FOR EITHER NEXT MEETING OR WE CAN TALK, I'M GOING TO PLACE ON THE AGENDA JUST TO LET YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE, AND WE'LL MEET, I'LL MEET WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

REGARDING OUR SANTA POLICE OFFICERS, HOW MANY OFFICERS ARE ON SCHEDULE, HOW MANY ARE SHORT, because on any given day we're running three three different shifts correct acting chief excuse me Chief Deputy Esparza yes ma'am that's correct and so on any given day you're supposed to be 14 officers technically on duty we're short two to three officers a shift sometimes more and nobody there which makes it difficult to have some a day off and I believe for the 2024 year and in looking at things and reading it we were supposed to have about 138 officers at any given time on patrol and we don't have that because we have numerous

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

officers out on IOD injured on duty and so I would just like to talk to you need to place it on the agenda for a presentation so that the public understands what that means and what that means to me is that when we're short officers it's hard to get and we do do a great job thank you sir for the The response time officers do a phenomenal job, but it's hard for them to cover the whole city when they're short. So if there's 14 on and three are out, or 14 on and two are out, so they're overlapping and I don't want to know that, act like I know everything.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I want the information given to either me here or us here publicly or in a meeting because Because what that tells me is that when the community calls, they do get service, but we have a shortage of officers. And are they getting, they're getting great service, but can we do a better job? And so, Tustin PD, you know, is doing a phenomenal job in recruiting. I'd also like to know, what are we doing for recruitment? Every once in a while we get an update, but I'd love to know, Deputy Sparza, what we are doing for recruitment. How many officers? I know there's a promotion process next week, permission

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

ceremony that we'll be going to, but that's where I believe sergeants or corporals or commander, I'm not quite sure who's getting promoted, but and in my last comment is that if we could also look at the 960s to bring some of them that back, 960s being that are retired that can come back and work 960 hours hours for us. I'm not sure if it's a calendar year or fiscal year, Chief Deputy?

It's 960 per the year. Per the year. Essentially a part-time job.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

It's fiscal year. It's fiscal year. That's what I wanted to know. So there's other agencies that are doing that, so why create the wheel, right? We could just look at what other agencies are doing and they call it the 960s. And so we have to do something for the 39 or 40, I don't know what the number is today. Sir, do you know what the numbers today as of today ma'am the number is 45. we're short 45 officers we have five recent retirements within the last 10 days thank you sir that makes that yeah um so we're short 45 officers

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

instead of we went from 38 to 40 now we're at 45. so eventually we're going to hit 50 and um yeah we We can't do that, not in our city, city our size. And the 960s would help us with overtime. I know some council members up here talk about the overtime use. That would help us not use so much overtime and only use it when we really need to. And I want to make sure our officers that are working, they can have those days off. They need it for their mental health. They need it for their families. And so either we can discuss putting it on as an item and you give a presentation or the chief does.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

But it's really important that our community understands today we're short 45 officers. A month ago it was 38, then it was 39, and now we're at 45. So next month we're going to be, I don't know, maybe 50. So I want to let you know now that I'm going to ask for it to be a presentation. You don't need to do it in June. I'd like it in July because I know June sounds pretty busy for us.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

We're going to be in June, yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

First weekend and first meeting in July. I would like that and I'll meet with you and our city attorney.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Second meeting in July.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

No, I want our first meeting in July. What's a July? Oh.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Right.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Oh, we only have one meeting in July. Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 28

Yes. When you adopted your calendar, you canceled the July 2nd meeting. So the meeting is on July 16th.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

All right, good. Okay, well, second meeting in July. Because this is really important, right? Yes. Because we're now at 45 officers that were short. Understood. So with Tustin giving them a great raise this week and a $40,000 hiring bonus and, and, and, and bringing their 9-6-7. Tustin's right across the way. Right across the way. Some of our officers are going to be like, hey, I'm going over there. And I don't want to lose them. We've got great officers. So I'd like to keep the ones that we have. So if we can do that, please, a presentation. And I want the accurate numbers. I want to see what was the 2024.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

that this council or we passed or what you have with the police department and what are we really working at? I'm sorry, Councilman, you want to say something, sir?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

We need to know for the community. And I know sometimes people up here say, well, you know, blah, blah, blah, and we're talking about the budget and let's take money from police. But I want to paint a picture for you. I want to paint a picture. And I know people are watching at home. The picture. Here's your picture. Santa Ana is the third largest city in Orange County where the county seats. We have over a 310,000 people that live here and we're short 45 officers today. If a big incident occurs in our city, sir answer my question, would we be calling for

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

mutual aid? Ma'am it would depend on the incident. So big crisis, big deal, would we be calling for mutual aid it's possible yes it is possible and i'll guarantee dollars to donants that we will be calling for mutual aid we will be and again we have great officers but they should be able to take time off and you know we can't be running short and i know that some people will probably post that oh my gosh she's a big support i'm a supporter for fire too if we're showing our fire I'm gonna go to the county and say hello we need more firemen more fire

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

women more fire because Saturday needs them I want them to come but today we're short 45 officers that one I'm gonna lose some sleep over tonight so I and I know that the community will email me after this meeting and some will be like uh you're a police supporter yes I am because when I call 911 I want them to come and I want you to know that I personally had to call and thank you to the fire department i personally had to call the fire department in my home and i will tell you that the service was remarkable it was amazing they were professional they stayed at the hospital

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

they made insured and inside they stayed like oh it's special anybody special just it made sure that everybody was okay and so dc henry are you still here sir thank you so much and thank you please thank fire staff thank you thank you for everything they were quick and our police are quick as well but if next month we're at 50 and we're missing 50 officers we're not gonna be as quick and then people are gonna start to even complain more right because oh they don't respond they don't respond because of fireworks they don't respond because of this or they're not

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

responding because we don't have enough we don't have it I'll leave it alone next week next thing I have is my neighborhood association meetings the 28th of this month and active city manager since I've been sitting here there is a mural in Logan like it next to La Chiquita and a veteran named Tom Chavez we've been asking I've been asking for that name to be replaced so the name is the name is missing underneath this picture and so I know councilman Hernandez asked as well one day we were both here but they're family friends and every time I see them where's my name where's my dad's name

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

where's my dad's name it can't take that long mr. city manager it just can't and what I was told was that they have to get permission from the artists and nobody can find the artists I'll go write the name in I mean I don't understand I understand this. You don't need to answer me. I just want you to know it's kind of like the frustration of ... I've been sitting here a year and a half.

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I want that name on the mural.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

45 days. Okay, we're working it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

He's a veteran. He served our country.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Right.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

Jonathan, go paint the name on there, please. Councilor Hernandez, please. Yeah.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Madam Mayor is absolutely right. She and I both met with Christine Ridge. I provided the artist's information to our former city manager almost a year ago.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

I was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was told we don't know who it is yeah carlos aguilar oh it's carlos well okay you want me to find him for you i will yes we can find him for you so please put that name up and then i'm going to close with as councilman becerra said it is memorial day weekend and thank you councilman penelosa for having an event i have a lot of family that has served in the military and my stepfather died passed away because of his service of the military after serving in afghanistan he He became very ill, and he passed.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 28

And so I have a lot of family that has served and passed because of their military service and friends. And so thank you to the men and women that have served this country. Memorial weekend is a very special weekend, and we shouldn't take it for granted as, well, you just get a long weekend. We're celebrating our freedom. We have freedom because people died for us. That flag waves. Sue was right. That flag waves because they fought for us and we have freedom for that. And that is why I proudly stand for that flag and I always will. And so with that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

Recording stopped.