Read the July 16 meeting.

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Thai Viet Phan

Recording in progress.

Valerie Amezcua

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Valerie Amezcua

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 Kirk, please conduct a roll call. Council Member Becerra.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Hernandez. Council Member Lopez. Here. Council Member Penaloza. council member vasquez president mayor pro tem fan here mayor mesquith present there are four

Valerie Amezcua

members present that is a quorum thank you madam city clerk are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda no there are not do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items hearing none madam clerk do we have any speakers for closed

Jennifer L. Hall

session we do not have any speakers in the chamber or on zoom and we did not receive any email comments related to closed session thank you at this time

Valerie Amezcua

we'll recess now the portion of the meeting to consider the items listed on closed session thank you

Thai Viet Phan

recording stopped

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Thai Viet Phan

Recording in progress.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, please start the meeting. One moment, Mayor. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. As a reminder this is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. As mayor I'm afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or break or to even clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. For everyone's safety per the fire marshal please do not stand

Valerie Amezcua

or place objects in the aisles in front of the dais along the back wall of the council chambers or in front of the entrances and 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 Paul or PIO guidelines for the media members of the news media anyone else are in the lobby if you need any information madam Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers? I'm sorry, let me go back. I apologize. During City Council presentations and oaths of office,

Valerie Amezcua

guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Becerra?

Phil Bacerra

Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Hernandez? Present. Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Penaloza? Council Member Vasquez? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Fan? Here. Mayor Mesqua? Present. Six members present. That is a quorum.

Valerie Amezcua

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

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, for members of the public on Zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, you must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled Raise Hand from Zoom now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence. This does not apply to Public Hearing Item 27 or the Housing Authority agenda for which comments will be heard during the specified times. Please hold your comments on such items until called upon. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. The first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. I see my friend Mike in the audience. Would you lead us on the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Valerie Amezcua

You thought I just wanted you to wave.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America to the blood for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you so very much. The words of inspiration will be provided by Father Greg Marquez from Immaculate Heart of Mary. Please come to the podium, sir. Father, thank you.

Mayor Amesqua, distinguished council members and city officials and honorable residents of the City of Santa Ana, let us pray. Almighty God, as we gather here today for this important City Council meeting, we acknowledge your presence. We thank you for the hard work of our Mayor, the City Council, all our civil servants and leaders at every level in our city. We thank you for their hard work and sacrifice. Bless them with the grace to bring truth, justice, and stability to our region. Give them the wisdom and strength

to do what is right and to rule in fairness. May our city of Santa Ana be known for its justice and peace. Let it always prosper from the influence and goodwill of men and women. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Father, very much.

Jennifer L. Hall

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Clerk Agenda? Yes, Mayor and City Council. At the request of Mayor Pro Tem Fan, item number five, the nomination and appointment of the Ward 1 Representative to the Parks and Recreation Commission has been continued to August 6, 2024. Additionally, the Planning and Building Agency has requested a continuance of public hearing item number 28 related to the abatement of dangerous and abandoned buildings also to August 6, 2024. Accordingly, those items are removed from your consideration this evening and the public hearing continuance will be posted for public notification.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much. We're going to go to presentations. And the first one is my presentation. And Arturo Alvarez, please join me.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Well, thank you for being here with us, Mr. Alvarez. We'd like to acknowledge Art Alvarez. He's a resident of Santa Ana, a dedicated veteran who enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately after high school. Art served honorably for six years as an artillery cannon crewman with the 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines in Okinawa, Japan, where he participated in joint training exercise with the Japanese Army. His military service provided a foundation for his subsequent achievements. After his honorable discharge, art pursued education at Careers Networks Institute College, earning a certification as a surgical technologist at Mission Hospital.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Utilizing his GI Bill benefits, he also completed barber school, reflecting his commitment to continuous learning and diverse career paths. Currently, Mr. Alvarez serves as a Veteran Peer Outreach Specialist at the U.S. Vets Patriotic Hall. In this role, he is dedicated to facilitating access to housing, employment opportunities, mental health services, and community resources for fellow veterans. Art's advocacy for resilience and transformation is rooted in his personal journey and underscores his dedication to giving back to the community. U.S. Vets is committed to supporting military veterans and their families in successful

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

transitioning to civilian life through comprehensive services, including housing, counseling, career development, and so much more, aimed at restoring independence with dignity. And that's really important, right? Restoring with dignity. In recognition of U.S. Vets' unwavering dedication to veterans, they received the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's Community Service Award in 2023. Founded in 1993 to combat veteran homelessness, US VETS now serves over 5,500 veterans nightly across 18 locations nationwide.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

The Housing First model provides both temporary and permanent housing solutions, ensuring stability for veterans and their families. US VETS offers free counseling and treatment for combat-related trauma and adjustment challenges alongside career centers that assist veterans in translating their military experience into civilian employment. Additional tailored support services include access to food, clothing, legal aid, benefits assistance, transportation, peer-to-peer support, and therapeutic activities. Please join me and us, the City of Santa Ana, in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

expressing gratitude to Mr. Alvarez for his service to our country and to his colleagues at US Vets for their steadfast commitment to supporting veterans as they transition into civilian life. Let's give them a round of applause please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

So today I'm going to present you with a certificate of recognition. And it's from the City of Santa Ana, the mayor and the entire council. But when we met you were at an event that I was at and you were there meeting and talking to people and you shared with me what you do, and it really touched me in a special way. And so that is why I wanted to recognize you today. You know, you're homegrown from Santa Ana. You served our country, and thank you for your service. Not everybody can serve, and so thank you. And you're here now helping vets that return with housing and mental health issues and just so much more.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

But I just wanted to thank you because, you know, those who serve in the military are always near and dear to my heart. But you're also providing a service to those that come back and that need that. And so, and the homeless, you know, we have a lot of veteran homeless, men and women that are homeless that are veterans. And so thank you for all that you do. We really appreciate it. Thank you. You want to make comments?

Thank you for everything. I just want to say I wouldn't be here without my father's support through everything that I went through. And it's a pleasure to be here.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

He's more than welcome to come up with you.

He is disabled. Okay. I will be glad to accept this and give it to my dad.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you for being here with us. Thank you. So we're going to take a picture. Thank you for everything.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 1

If I could have Nicole and let's see who we have with you, Rick and Corrine, come on up.

Phil BacerraItem 1

So while they're coming up, the reason why they're coming up is because we're going to be celebrating 100 years of Goodwill Orange County.

Phil BacerraItem 1

Really, guys? Goodwill? You guys don't know Goodwill? Come on.

Phil BacerraItem 1

I'll insert applause here. Okay, perfect. So, come on over here, guys. So today we're celebrating Goodwill OC's 100th anniversary, as I've already mentioned. So Goodwill Industries started in Boston way back in 1902. 22 years later, in 1924, Reverend John Winterbone, born? Winterbone? Okay. Founded Goodwill Industries of Orange County. At its inception, the Goodwill model focused on repairing damaged goods for resale and hiring individuals with disabilities to do this work.

Phil BacerraItem 2

The first Goodwill clothing repair workshop was located in Reverend Winterborn's personal home, but it was later moved to a rented house on Logan Street here in Santa Ana. Then in 1928, Goodwill opened its first ever store in Orange County, and it was located on West 4th and Van Ness. So if you're wondering where that is, it would essentially be right where Sasser Park is today. In 1946, the first Goodwill As-Is lot in the entire nation opened up next to the organization's main repair workshop here in Santa Ana. The As-Is lot took items that have not been sold in stores and sold them as is by the pound.

Phil BacerraItem 2

This model became a huge revenue generator for Goodwill OC and would be replicated by many other Goodwills throughout the entire country. Then in 1957, Goodwill OC purchased 2.5 acres at the southwest corner of 5th and Fairview and relocated their workshop there. And 67 years later, you guys are still there. Wow. So then 1970, I'm sorry, I jumped ahead. In 1957 as well, Goodwill OC opened its first donation collection booth. Now, why that matters to me is because my grandfather growing up, I would spend time with him over on Bolsa and Magnolia where there was a collection trailer right there.

Phil BacerraItem 2

And so many times watching him interact with the community and donating his time to Goodwill. In 1970, the two-story, 97,000 square foot rehabilitation and evaluation center opened and was dedicated by then Governor Ronald Reagan along with the Santa Ana High School band. The Rehabilitation and Evaluation Center was Goodwill OC's first dedicated workforce development location that provided a place for people with disabilities that they could come to receive evaluation and services that would help them on their individual career journeys.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Then in 1989, Goodwill OC launched ShopGoodwill.com, the first online auction site created and managed by a nonprofit. If you guys get a little bit of a theme here, it's like all these things that you guys do, it's not just simply good for the community, but it's like they've been revolutionizing the entire nonprofit industry, and that's not been happening just by goodwill, but by goodwill of OC. So then in 2004, very importantly, they made it to Ward 4. They opened up their store in Bristol and Warner, where they're still operating today. Then in 2006, Goodwill OC opened the Employment Works program to provide individualized job

Phil BacerraItem 2

placement and job retention services to adults living with mental health challenges. Then in 2008, Goodwill OC opened the Rogers A. Severson Fitness and Technology Center, which was designed specifically for people living with physical disabilities and chronic illnesses, and providing specialized equipment and facilities alongside an inclusive fitness fitness class arrangement and knowledgeable physical therapist and personal training staff.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

That's quite a bit, right?

Phil BacerraItem 2

And then in 2016, Goodwill OC opened the Thomas and Elizabeth Tierney Center for Veteran Services, a comprehensive resource for all veterans and their family members. The Tierney Center has served more than 4,000 veterans since its opening and is a model for collaborative, holistic veteran care. among the other services that providers across the nation. Then in 2022, Goodwill OC opened its Training Center for Success, a customized work simulation environment designed to provide hands-on process-based training, retaining, or I'm sorry, retraining and upscale training to individuals facing barriers to employment.

Phil BacerraItem 2

So then in 2003, Goodwill OC launched their Career Pathways Program, program, a person first career development program that works with each participant to provide holistic personalized career guidance, plans and support based on their unique goals, abilities and needs. They may come for a job, but Goodwill aims to keep them there for the long term to help them with their career. So that's a lot, right? But you got to remember, we're not talking about a 25 year celebration, a 50 year celebration. We're talking about 100 years here in Orange County. So with that, I just want to say thank you for all that you do.

Phil BacerraItem 2

And on behalf of the Santa Ana City Council, I'd like to present you with this proclamation. Thank you again for all that you do.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Becerra, Mayor Mesquah, and all the other council members. We appreciate this opportunity. I think core to who we are is that, you know, since the beginning is we've been about giving people a hand up versus a hand out, and that is still very much alive and well today. I think one of the things that we're trying to do every single day is give people a chance. We had a young man come to us, this was a couple years ago, drove into our parking lot right off Fairview. He had just went on 11 job interviews and couldn't get a job. And he walked up, saw our head of HR, and said, do you hire people like me?

And he had a visible disability. And Jose said, yes, we do. Come in. Let's get you a job. And he's, you know, almost three years later, been working for us and thriving. And that's really what it's all about. So thank you for this recognition. And that's, we're very happy to be part of the Santa Ana community. This is our home. We're going to celebrate our centennial anniversary on October 5th. We're going to have a big party right there at our main campus in Santa Ana.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Right there, Fifth and Fairview. You got it. Awesome.

So thank you very much. Yeah. And I have our Chief Operating Officer, Corrine Allen. She's been with us now for 25 years, and Rick Adams has been with us for 28 years. So they're part of the history as well. Wow.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Thank you guys for everything.

Thank you. Can we get it? Good on the road.

Amazing work.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Thank you.

ready

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Okay, here we go, Madam City Clerk.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

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

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 2

Mayor, members of the City Council, members of the public, we did go into closed session beginning at 3 p.m. this afternoon. The Council discussed many items. However, it did not discuss item D under conference with legal counsel and existing litigation. that matter will be addressed at the next council meeting and we do not have any reportable action from your discussions today. Thank you Madam City Attorney. This is the time of the meeting for the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items with the exception of public hearing item number 27 and the Housing Authority agenda. Madam City Clerk please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers. Thank you Mayor. Pursuant to resolution

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

number 2023-047. Speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial epithaphs, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'd like to report the following summary of emails provided as of today. There were 18 e-comments related to agenda and non-agenda items one related to item 12 two related to item 26 one related to the continued public hearing item 28 and 14 non-agenda related

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

comments those were distributed to the City Council and posted on the city's website for public review we will now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record I'll be calling three names up to the podium at a time if you could please line up in the center of aisle when your name is called.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

First three speakers, Fernando DeVeras, Dale Helvig, and Pam Hopkirk.

Fernando DeVeras So my name is Fernando DeVeras, and for anyone who wants to hear more about what I'm about to share here today, I encourage you to go on my Instagram page, Fernando de Veras, where we're talking all about it there. So I'm here today to talk about a very popular Facebook page called Neighbors of Santana. I'm sure many people in this room and several people watching at home are members of the group. It currently has over 60,000 members and has served as a sort of virtual town hall for a lot of things in the city. People share goods

there, they promote community events, they talk about city business, and that's all well and good. But over the past few months, over the course of the last year, we've seen that the page has become politically weaponized by the page's administrator, Danny Vega, or Commissioner Vega, as he likes to go by now.

Recently, Danny Vega was appointed by the mayor to serve as the commissioner on the Police Oversight Commission. He's very close with the mayor. And when earlier this year, there were articles circulating from OC Register, Voice of OC, and NACA LA, detailing how the mayor cost the city's taxpayers $600,000 in a settlement to our former city manager, after trying to pull a favor for the former Police Officers Association President Jerry Serrano. Again, I know there's a lot of names and facts that some people might not be familiar with. I encourage you to all read these articles.

When these stories started circulating, I went on the Neighbors of Santa Ana page to share this information with the public. And promptly, Commissioner Vega removed my post and blocked me from the page. And when others tried to do similarly, they were all blocked. When a top contributor was removed and asked Danny Vega why he removed her after posting the article, he responded by saying that the articles were written by people who just hate the mayor and that she was already facing such heavy criticisms that he didn't want to see her get treated that way.

More recently he's used the platform to promote candidates that he supports such as Mario, I am word five Alvarado, and he's also disparaged candidates that he opposes. Commissioner Vega has clearly shifted the tone of the page from this open community space for Santaneros to a political arm used to shield his political allies. And for me, it's really sad because I remember when Danny Vega in 2019 and 2020 was running for city council on a platform of transparency, trying to bring an end to the corruption of the city after seeing how the POA was trying to wrongfully recall Ceci Iglesias. And then fast forward to 2023,

when he's putting his name on mailers sent out by the POA, calling for a recall of Jesse Lopez, which we all know was bullshit. Sorry for the language. Yeah, it's genuinely disappointing to see that character arc. So ultimately, I'm not asking the city council here to do anything. This is more of a PSA for the people listening at home, any people who are members of the group. I encourage you all to question the narratives that are being spun on that page. Ask yourself why Commissioner Riga is choosing to hide certain stories, certain truths from the public. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Del Helvig, Pam Hopkirk, Denora.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members. Hope everybody had a good July 4th and a Bastille Day last Sunday. So hopefully everybody survived that okay.

Although I believe we have a balanced budget for 24-25 calendar year, or fiscal year, I've heard council members mention that we are approaching a financial cliff as measure X sunsets. So it's surprising to me that you will decide tonight whether to put before the voters two ballot measures that will get us to the cliff a little bit sooner. Asking the voters to approve a 655% compensation increase that will bring the payout to the city council and support staff to over a million dollars per year does not sound like a fiscally responsible move.

Likewise, I believe it's irresponsible to ask the voters to approve the non-citizen voting issue when you are unwilling to assess the cost of administrating such a program, ignoring the potential litigation cost, and reluctant to define the term non-citizen. I challenge you to find a local, state, or international jurisdiction that has approved such a measure without first defining a non-citizen. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Pam Hopkirk.

My name is Pam Hopkirk, and I'm here to speak against fireworks. Fourth of July was several days ago, a few weeks ago, actually. And every day since then, including yesterday, fireworks are still going off in my neighborhood. I live on Catalina Street off Tustin Avenue. And I just would like to ask that the city council seriously think about the costs of extra police protection, of fires that have to be suppressed, the danger to our veterans. We had a veteran speak. The PTSD. I'm not a veteran, but I jump every time one of those loud things goes off.

I hope the city will seriously consider it's time to say enough is enough and get rid of the fireworks that we now sell in Santa Ana every year. Thank you very much.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Dinora?

Okay, good evening, everyone. My name is Dinora Echavarria. I'm a unique person because English is my second language. I was brought to this country by U.S. government, federal. And we have corruption, dishonesty in every city in Orange County. And I will fix it because Mexico, we have family. They are discriminating against us from Cuba. And that's a big no-no because we were born in a communist country. brought to this country to have a great life as we have. I am a senior, I don't look at it because I never drink,

done drug, neither smoke. But when government, Americans tell me I qualify for a voucher subsidy, Santa Ana stole it from me, Anaheim, as well other city, and I am working to bring those city to federal court because if I'm protected under federal statute then and still to date, I know it's not Hispanic. They are American. And when the culture is mixed, I don't have to hear people say, it seems like we're driving to Mexico when we go to Santa Ana, when we go to Anaheim.

And it was not like that when the U.S. government, American, federal, brought us 1969. As healthy as I was, I got sick from my digestion. My hearing has been damaged because when government, American that's been great and I still respect American they need to see the problem that they're creating in every city in Norris County that I didn't see when we were growing up the culture was mixed in our repeat federal court we have to bring somebody for Congress to see why my human housing right is being violated when I work almost 40 years and who is taking my money when it comes to

my taxes that I paid. This is the United States of America and we must mix the culture and I want to see more brown people in every city because Hispanic when I sign up in Anaheim and also Santa Ana my social security have been stolen and I've been called from Mexico to call the Mexican authority because my social security was being used there and I never experienced that growing up at At least 10 years or so, if it was at night, until 2017 to the present. It's a problem. American, if you don't speak Spanish, wake up and get this country in order.

Because we should not have to be suffered, born in a communist country, in any city in the United States of America. And this is the United States of America. It's not communist. So I don't have to live or work in any city to get government assistance because American government told me I'm qualified for subsidy in any city that I feel safe. And I'm hoping Santa Ana do the right thing because you're turning Santa Ana into a disaster. DeNora, your time is up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Make sure you fix it. We will see you guys in federal court.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the speakers here in the chamber. Additionally, there is no one on Zoom wishing to speak. so that concludes the public speakers for this evening thank you madam city clerk at this time

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

we're going to go to the consent calendar items number three through 25 are before us are there any council members who need to abstain mayor actually i'd like to go ahead and pull items

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

20 and 24. councilman hernandez just a comment on item 12. thank you councilmember vasquez

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Council Member Panalosa?

David PenalozaItem 1

Nothing to pull, Mayor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Mayor Pro Tem? Nothing, Mayor. And I have nothing. Can I get a motion to approve the remaining items, please?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

So moved. Second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Prepare to vote, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

A motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by Councilmember Penaloza to approve the consent calendar with the exceptions of items 20 and 24, pulled for separate consideration and discussion. And a comment on item 12.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Yes, is it not coming up?

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

No.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

The vote is six ayes, no nays with a noted absence temporarily by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you Madam Clerk. At this time, if our Youth Commissioner Kat Pham or Nalyn Muniz, if they're here. Two Youth Commissioners. Two Youth Commissioners, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

We have Kat Pham and Nalyn Muniz. Please come forward for your oath of office to the Youth Commission.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you.

Naylan Muñoz. Kat Pham. I do. I do solemnly swear. I do solemnly swear. That I will support and defend. That I will support and defend. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance

to the Constitution of the United States to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion that I will well and faithfully discharge That I will well and faithfully discharge the duty upon which I'm about to enter. The duties upon which I'm about to enter.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

We need those youth commissioner shirts. Don't forget. Get their size.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Oh my god, hilarious.

yes

hold on

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Madam City Clerk, why don't you sit down and we'll get started.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Yes, thank you, Mayor. The first item is a comment by Councilmember Hernandez on item number 12.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you, Madam City Clerk. I just wanted to take a moment to inform the public and residents of Ward 5 that today we approved a conditional grant agreement for $2,200,000 and a density bonus agreement with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County for the development of six affordable ownership units located at 1921 West Washington Avenue, San Ana, California, 92706. I'm very happy about these home ownership opportunities coming to the Articia Pilar neighborhood. Just wanted to inform our members of the public of this great opportunity. I encourage them to reach out to Habitat for Humanity, the City of Santa Ana to learn more

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

information. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Mayor, the next item pulled by Councilmember Becerra, item number 20.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So with this item, we're approving a lease agreement with Walsh Construction Company for office space at the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center. So staff, thank you. It's great. We're actually leasing space at the train station. So the reason why I pulled this item was not because I have any concern with the lease agreement before us, but since we are talking about lease agreements for space at the transportation center i know that when i travel to la and i take the train gosh it'd be nice to go to a starbucks

Phil BacerraItem 3

a pete's something right so what are we doing with the trans or with the train station to lease it with other uses i appreciate the office uses i'm glad that uh state senator umberg is in that um as well he's one of our office tenants but what are we doing to diversify what's being offered in the train station especially because what is it come 2025 we will have streetcar service in addition to amtrak metrolink greyhound crucero service all to that station so if anybody could

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

answer that that'd be great our uh executive director of public works nobil saba will make a

comment good evening mayor mayor potem member of the city council thank you for the question we are actively looking for a firm to actually help us sell or promote the space in the train station as we speak. We have some funding to do so, and this lease agreements will bring us more funding to actually have someone to help us promote the space. We have slowed down that initiative because of the construction that was going on with the streetcar. Now

that the seat car is completed or the improvement is almost complete we are even more actively looking for to promote that that space so we're looking for options this is you know the the spaces here are for lease and we there isn't the space a huge space on the first floor that we're looking at repurposing and finding options where we could maybe have a Starbucks or some type of a eating establishment there. So we're looking actively on activating the space.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Well, that's great to hear because when I go to LA Union Station, now they have beautiful restaurants and whatnot, but they really did a great job when they took a lot of the dead space in the station and brought in Wetzel's Pretzels, Starbucks, Subway. Like they really energized that station, not just with the fine dining options, but also just the quick grab and go stuff that that commuters need when they're rushed into a train and they want to grab a bite to eat or something to drink. So you mentioned that you're looking for somebody to help you attract tenants. What about our economic development team?

Phil BacerraItem 3

Are they not working on this?

We are actually working with Judson and...

We're not gonna do housing at the station, right? The CDA, Mike Garcia's group on the same initiative.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Mike Garcia's team, okay, great. Absolutely. Okay, well I just wanted to bring that up because I think it's important for all of us as we all talk about revenue generation. This is an opportunity. This is a city asset. There's a lot of commuters. I don't know the exact number of folks that go through that station every day, but we should be really pushing to get that going, and especially with TIs and everything that could be done prior to construction being completed on the streetcar in front of the train station. I think right now is the critical time to make sure we attract tenants.

We're going to work. Sorry, I misspoke. It was Mark Morley.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Mark Morley. Perfect.

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

So just quickly, Council Member, so we are working, making sure that economic development does partner with Public Works on the recruitment of a little bit better businesses. And also on the agenda, you saw some of the improvements was actually sprucing up some of the fence and some of the property maintenance in that area also. So we are trying to make it a more attractive location, and obviously now with the construction aspect a little bit more progressive and more in advance, we can start doing more focusing on economic development attractions.

Phil BacerraItem 3

fantastic well with that I'll go ahead I'll move the item but I'll second it I just have a comment

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

Mr. City Manager and Nabil I'm 100% with Councilman Becerra so I used to use that train station on a regular basis my husband and I would go to San Diego Santa Barbara from there I don't go there I go to Fullerton or I go to Anaheim and I'm saying that publicly because

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

it's just I don't feel it's safe and so and I know I've had many conversations with Senator Umberg's office because they've had issues as well with the office and not safety around other things this should definitely be one of the priorities that we add to the list because we do want people to use the train station and I know a lot of people do and I'd love to know the number I know that OSHA students come in there in the morning wouldn't it be great if they had a coffee place to get food from in the morning when they all come during the school year,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

but a safe place, right? And so, and I'm glad that Councilman Becerra pulled this item, and I just will leave it at that, because this should be a priority, and I believe we just brought in, are you bringing in three economic developments, Jeff? Can you talk about that?

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

Right. This is precisely one of the reasons in the last budget for fiscal year 24-25, is to focus specifically on attracting and retaining businesses, right? So we are adding, thank you, Council Member Mayors, three additional economic development personnel, two economic development, two Mark Morley's team, specifically just for attractions like this, right, to attract businesses, to maintain businesses. The Planning and Building Department has already started their Planning and Building Express to facilitate this type of permanent tenant improvement, so we are working in that conjunction at this point.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

Thank you. and with that i also want to bring up the apartments that are across from the zoo it's supposed to be mixed use those are empty those businesses down on the bottom on first floor are completely empty and so as citywide we should be looking at that i know this item does not deal with that but citywide we want people to build mixed use but yet our businesses they remain empty so i just want to make make you aware that make that comment so thank you and there was a

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

motion and there was a second and mayor it appears that the request to speak button is not working

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

properly council member lopez has a comment i'm sorry if it's not then can you just raise your mic so that way i know you want to speak please council member lopez yes thank you i um wanted to

Jessie LopezItem 3

say that i agree with the comment in general and i think it's also a really great opportunity for the economic development team to partner with our local small businesses specifically our micro businesses our cooperatives they are 100 owned by local residents in the city of sanana and I think we want what I hear from my constituents is we just don't want to bring more process and chain businesses right we want something different and so I think the cooperative businesses can offer that to everybody that uses the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

train station thank you any other comments

David PenalozaItem 3

councilman Penelosa I will just add to councilmember Lopez's point there's amazing microbreweries all throughout the city that are owned by Santa Ana residents in santa ana base i could i could see myself going to a brewery at our train station so that's a that'd be a cool little thing to bring there thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

see no other thank you okay there's a motion a second let's prepare to vote please thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

nabiu motion by council member becerra seconded by mayor omescua to approve item number 20 a lease agreement with walsh construction company for office space at the santa ana regional transportation

Center.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

Next item. Councilmember Penelope.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Item 24.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Thank you, Madam Clerk. I want to thank staff. This is the item to a resolution to affect certain changes to the city's basic classification and compensation plan. I want to thank staff for meeting and conferring with all the groups. I mean, we have a variety of bargaining units here in the city, whether it's the POA, SEIU, PMA, etc. And it sounds like, from what I understand, staff has done an exhaustive outreach when it comes to most of the units. But it's been my understanding, though, that SEIU feels that the meet and confer process has not been fully exhausted to their satisfaction.

Phil BacerraItem 3

So what I'd like to ask my colleagues to entertain tonight would be to move this item with all the units, with the exception of SEIU, and to carve that out and have staff bring that back separately. So that'd be my motion tonight.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

I'll second your motion with a very brief comment, Council Member. Thank you for supporting one of our largest collective bargaining units in the city. many of those members live in the city and so i believe it's important that we as one of the largest cities in california we support our workers abilities to advocate for better wages

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

thank you i also agree with you councilman sarah rena thank you for making the motion and pull the item mr city manager if you have the votes um and then we'll bring it back with the exception of you had mentioned um madam city clerk did you get that with the exception of yes mayor i have a

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

motion by council member becerra seconded by council member hernandez to approve the resolution of the city of santa anna authorizing to affect certain changes to the city's classification and compensation plan with the exception of the classifications related under seiu perfect

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

there are no other comments i don't see any mics raised let's prepare to vote

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

vote is seven ayes no nays motion carries resolution approved as amended

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

thank you at this time we're going to end the consent calendar and go to the business calendar item number 26 is related to the arguments rebuttals and impartial analysis for the ballot measures for the general municipal election madam city clerk may we have a staff report please

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Yes, thank you, Mayor and members of the City Council. The item before you is related to the fact that the City Council, by separate resolutions, has placed four measures on the November 5, 2024 ballot for consideration by the voters of the City of Santa Ana. The four measures are generally categorized as follows. One, a cleanup measure pertaining to obsolete job titles and bonding requirements, at-will department heads addressing definitions of terms, limited purchasing authority for the city clerk and city attorney, and enforcement of the ethics code. 2. amending the council compensation 3. non-citizen voting

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

and 4. rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance In addition to the ballot title and measure that will go before the voters the California Elections Code provides that an impartial analysis prepared by the city attorney arguments in favor of and against each measure and rebuttal arguments may be included in the voter information guide The resolutions before you tonight for consideration provide for the impartial analysis and arguments for each of the measures

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

If approved, I will forward the text of each measure to the city attorney to prepare the impartial analysis, which shall not exceed 500 words, and shall show the effect of the measure on existing law and the operation of the measure. Impartial analyses would be due by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 26th. Additionally, Elections Code Section 9282 states that the legislative body, in this case the city council, may authorize any member or members of the city council to write arguments for or against any measure.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Each of the proposed resolutions provides an opportunity to list those members authorized by the body to write the argument in favor and the argument against as desired.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Arguments may be signed and submitted by up to five people and may not exceed 300 words. Arguments are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 26th. If more than one argument per measure is received by the deadline, the priority shall be given as set forth in Elections Code Section 9287 as follows. One, legislative body or authorized members of that body. Two, individual voter or voters or bona fide associations of citizens or a combination thereof that are sponsors or proponents of the measure, bona fide associations of citizens and individual voters eligible to vote on the measure.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Rebuttal arguments are then limited to 250 words and are due 10 days later by 5 p.m. on Monday, August 5, 2024, and shall be signed by the original authors unless they authorize changes to those signatures in writing. I recommend that you take each resolution separately for discussion and determination of argument writers and take separate votes per resolution for a total of four separate actions. And that concludes my report. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Thank you, Madam City Clerk. So we'll take item number one, which is the resolution relating to the proposed charter amendments for different sections relating to obsolete job titles, et cetera. Can we get a nomination for, well, I guess a motion and nomination?

David PenalozaItem 26

Mayor Pro Tem, quick question. these are just for the impartial analysis correct Madam Clerk and the arguments pro and con?

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

So the first resolution covers the cleanup item if you will and it will include the impartial and the arguments within the same resolution. So at this point in time what I would be seeking is a motion by the council to approve the resolution with names if desired of who you would like to have prepare those arguments.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

And I just want to make a note that on the proposed resolution, although the law allows more than three, we left three lines just because that is less than a quorum. And that way if three of you decide to get together, you designate three people, then the three of you would be able to meet and you'd be able to submit that argument to the city clerk. work. If you wanted more than that, then of course that's the type of thing you might have to do in a Brown Act open session because more than a majority of you would be commenting on item of city business. So that's why there are three. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 26

Mayor Pro Tem, if it's helpful, I'll make a motion to approve items one through four. I don't know if we can do them all together. I'm not interested in making any arguments, so I'll just put it out there for my colleagues. But I'll make that, I'll throw that motion on the floor.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

So I would like to take them one at a time because we want to, if it's the council's desire, to appoint or nominate anyone who would draft our amendment. So for item number one, relating to charter cleanup items, do we have any nominees who would like to author that argument for or against, excuse me, for?

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Anyone? I would nominate Council Member Lopez.

Phil BacerraItem 26

I was going to nominate the mayor since she's not here.

Jessie LopezItem 26

I second the nomination. Okay, so I'll make a motion to approve recommended action item one and I'll nominate the mayor.

Phil BacerraItem 26

I'll second that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Okay. All right, so we have a first and a second for item approval of item one, nominating Mayor Ameska to author the argument for the passage of the ballot measure. Can you get the vote, please? Will she be the only person signing it?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

No. So two, you can have up to three.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Do we have anyone else who would like to sign on to that? We can have up to two other council members. Can I do that?

No. Oh.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Okay. So at this time, the motion is a motion by council member Lopez, seconded by council member.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

May I ask for a friendly amendment? I'll go ahead and sign on to that, too, if that's okay.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

I accept.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Seconded, okay.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Motion by Councilmember Lopez, seconded by Councilmember Becerra, to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana, authorizing written arguments for the ballot measure submitted for the November 5, 2024 general municipal election regarding a proposed charter amendment to amend Charter Sections 401.5, 611, 702, 703, 1002, and 1003, to delete references to obsolete job titles and obsolete bonding requirements. specify that all department heads are at will employees, address definitions of funds and levies for compliance with state law, authorize limited purchasing authority for the city clerk and city attorney,

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

and require the city council to adopt an ordinance to enforce the ethics code with authority for Mayor Mesqua and Mayor Pro Temp Band to author the argument in favor of the measure.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

All right, thank you so much. I will, Madam Mayor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

I'm sorry, I was nominated for something. I was out of the room. I don't do that to anybody here, so I never go to use the restroom. I never do. So this is why I hold it for five hours, people. Luckily it is-I don't want to do anything. I have enough to do. We'll work on it together. No, you can do it. And I'll let you do it. Thank you. All seriousness. I'm a very beautiful woman. For the charter clean up. Great, you're good at this. You're wonderful.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

We did just vote. So if someone wants to motion to-

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Actually, the vote is open. Oh, I would like to mend that motion, that vote. Or make a sound. Let me make a different motion. I would nominate Mayor Pro Tem.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I think it's important that the members of the charter ad hoc sign up to write the argument in favor of the one cleanup item for the charter.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Agreed.

Phil BacerraItem 26

I will volunteer.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Agreed. It sounds like Councilman Becerra and you will be doing it. That's my motion. Second? You will second my motion?

David PenalozaItem 26

Sure.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Thank you. Wait, is there a sub motion? That's fine. Yeah, I'm making a sub motion. the councilman of the Sarah mayor for town will be the ones who will be doing

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

this so can we vote now yay I'm not going to the bathroom ever again I think we could take care of this councilmember Lopez if you accept the friendly amendment to remove the mayor and accept councilmember Becerra in his place yeah for the argument yes okay and councilmember Becerra as a seconder okay so again as read into the record except for the argument the authors of the argument in favor will be mayor pro tem fan and council member becerra the vote is open okay let's

Jessie LopezItem 26

prepare to vote now it's off so my vote is yes okay thank you and the vote is seven eyes no nays

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

motion carries mayor mesqua mayor pro tem fan was taking each of the items separately so now we We would move on to the second recommended action which is related to the council compensation ballot measure item.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Okay, great. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

So number two.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

And I would be seeking the same type of action on this item, a motion to approve the resolution and to state any authors on the legislative body who may wish to author an argument for this measure.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

So I will not be volunteered or voluntold. So if there's anybody who wants to-

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

This measure is the one involving council compensation to be set at the percentage of a superior court judge, just so that you understand the substance. So this is the one where we would have people write the argument for or against as designated by the council.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Thank you. I'll go ahead and move to approve the resolution and nominate Council Member Bacera and I to draft the argument in favor.

Phil BacerraItem 26

And I'll second that because I think as what you said earlier, Mayor Pro Tem, it's important that since we were on the charter ad hoc and we were part of this i'd be happy to help co-draft that um ballot measure argument with you all right let's uh prepare to vote

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

measure motion by mayor potem fan seconded by council member becerra to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana authorizing written arguments for the ballot measure submitted for the November 5, 2024 general municipal election regarding a proposed charter amendment to amend Charter Section 402 to index council compensation at a salary of 33% of that of an Orange County Superior Court judge and authorize Mayor Pro Tem Fan and Council Member Becerra to author the argument in favor of the measure.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

The vote is five ayes, two nays. Nays by Council Member Lopez and Council Member Penaloza. Motion carries.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

The third item is the resolution for the same purpose related to the proposed charter amendment to permit non-citizen voting in city municipal elections.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Is there a motion or anybody volunteering? Council Member Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 26

Thank you very much. I motion that myself and Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

I'll second your motion.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Mayor Patel, does it prefer to vote?

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I do. I'd like to ask for a friendly amendment. I would like to also participate in drafting the argument in support of the ballot measure.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

We accept. We accept.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

Mayor Pro Temer.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

A motion by Councilmember Vasquez, seconded by Councilmember Hernandez, to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana authorizing written arguments for the ballot measure submitted for the November 5, 2024 general municipal election regarding a proposed charter amendment to amend Charter Section 1203 to permit non-citizen voting in all city municipal elections.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

vote is six eyes one nay nay by councilmember Penaloza motion carries and mayor the final resolution is for the same determinations related to the ballot measure for rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance I

Benjamin VazquezItem 26

nominate mayor pro tem fan just because she needs to be on all four yes I will

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

I second that motion and volunteer myself as well.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Madam City Attorney, I do have a question. If we are, or at least if we're nominated, do we have to also add into the motion to authorize up to three or four other organizations to sign on?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Well, see, you would only get priority if it's the legislative body as a whole or a member or members of the legislative body as authorized by the body. So if you decide to join up with someone else, and then I suppose that there was another argument that was comprised solely of legislative body, they could potentially trump you. So the code is giving you the authority as the council since you're sponsoring the measure to be the ones to step up and say, we're going to do it. You don't have to do that. You don't have to designate any of you. You could take the chance and just, you know,

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

they get submitted to the city clerk's office and then she'll go choose based on the elections code

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

so my question is can this legislative body authorize two members of the legislative body right with the majority vote and authorize up to three other organized you know bona fide organizations in support of this item to sign on to the argument the way i read the statute it says

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

member or med members of the legislative body authorized by that body so i think my opinion is in order to get the priority that the elections code gives you, it's my opinion it would have to be members of the council. Again, you don't have to do that. Does it have to be only members of the council? I think to get the priority because it says the legislative body or member or members of the legislative body authorized by that body and it's silent as to individual voters of bona fide associations which come in the second subsection. So I guess the question would be let's say the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

council didn't designate anyone but two council members decided to sign on the question in subsection two would be are you the council the bonafide sponsors or proponents of the measures and sure the ones that put the measure forward as a majority if it was read that way then the city clerk would have to give you

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

priority can the city council authorized two members of the city council and up to three other bona fide organizations to sign on to the argument?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

I think the city council can do that, but I'm just telling you, I don't know that that alone will guarantee you priority.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Even if the city council approved the council members?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Well, because it says, or a member of the body is authorized by that body. I suppose we could read it that way. I've never been asked that question before, and I think the practice has been, if it's the city council, because it's your measure, you will always get priority if you're designated. When you start to add in others, I think it's hard because the council won't know who those others are. So they would be blindly authorizing if they wanted to do that. I suppose they could. But I don't know that I could guarantee the priority.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Thank you, Madam Senate Attorney. Your 30-plus years is great wisdom to have here with us. So, Mayor Pro Tem, where are you going here? Do you have a motion? There's a motion for you and Councilman Hernandez to be on this. Okay, great. Let's move forward with the votes, please.

Phil BacerraItem 26

So it's just the council members?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Yes, that's correct. That's what we're voting on right now. You could vote on that. Mayor Pro Tem.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

All I'm saying is that if council members decided to, you're authorizing them, if they decided not to, and they wanted to, on their own, go affiliate with an individual voter, a bona fide association, or a combination of voters, and there was no other legislative body members then you would get priority under number two so you'll have to make that decision

David PenalozaItem 26

councilman panellosa go ahead madam city attorney so who would be this this organization or council

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

omarie pretend fan do you is there names of organizations so all that you're doing tonight and you don't have to do it hopefully that you understand that you can approve the arguments but you don't have to designate anyone if you chose not to designate anyone and jennifer as our city clerk receives five or six different arguments in favor or five or six arguments against, then she has to come to this code section and choose which of those five ends up in the ballot. And this tells her what she needs to look at. So if you didn't designate anyone and she ends up with five, she'll give priority to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

the legislative body or members that were authorized. They'll get first priority. Oops, there isn't any of that. Okay, so we're going to go back to number two, an individual voter, a bona fide association of citizens, or a combination of voters and associations who are sponsors or proponents of the measure.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Well, I think we can be authorized to do it, but if we choose not to do it, just the two of us, that's appropriate also.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Correct. That was what I was trying to say. Thank you. You could do that, and then if you chose not to, then our city clerk, Ms. Hall, would have to go through that and prioritize in accordance with the statute.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Thank you. Councilman Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 26

I just want to be clear. It's council members, not council member hybrid with other folks. In other words, it's a tiered system. The council members, if the council members alone do not submit arguments, then it goes. In other words, it can't be council member and insert name of organization. I'm sorry. It can't be council member and insert name of organization. It's council member or insert name of organization.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

That's right. That's right. If you guys designate, then the people designated will get the first priority. Even if you designate, if the people designated decide not to submit and they decide to go affiliate with someone else, they can submit an argument and then Ms. Hall will look at this list and will choose the argument based on the list. Does that make sense?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Okay. So we're ready to vote.

David PenalozaItem 26

And I'm sure an organization is still going to write it for them and then just turn it in under their name, as we've seen in the past. I mean, I can write. All right, let's vote. All right.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

It's a motion by Council Member Vasquez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez, to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana authorizing written arguments for the ballot measures submitted for the November 5, 2024 general municipal election regarding whether to adopt a rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance, with authorization to Mayor Pro Tem Fan and Council Member Hernandez to write the argument in favor.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

The vote is six ayes, one nay, nay by Council Member Penaloza. Motion carries. That concludes this item, Mayor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

All right, we're done with that. Let's go to the public hearing. Before the public hearing is item number 27. Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who'd like only to make a comment on this item, excuse me, to make a comment on this item only.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Thank you, Mayor.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Members of the public joining us by way of Zoom or conference call who would like to make a comment for public hearing item number 27 only, please dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Madam Parker, are there anybody on Zoom?

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

Mayor, no. And for this public hearing, there is no one on Zoom to make comments. Additionally, there is nobody in the audience, and we did receive one email that was distributed and posted to the city's website.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Okay, any members of the council have any comments? We opened it to the public. There's no public comments. I'm going to close the public comments at this time. Council members?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

I'll make a motion to move the item.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

I'll second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Go ahead, Councilman Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Yes, I do want to thank the Coddles. We had a lengthy discussion about this project. There were many questions that I had. that were worrying to me but I really again want to thank you for taking time to meet with us and our team and walking us through all of those concerns and again thank you so much I know this is not the first project that you've done in our city in terms of affordable housing and I appreciate your commitment to continue to have that partnership with us and build more affordable housing in the city of Santa Ana so thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

All right, no other comments. Let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

It's a motion by Council Member Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Amesqua,

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

to approve the four recommended actions for public hearing item number 27, including a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana approving the issuance by the California Municipal Finance Authority of Exempt Facility Bonds for the Garden Court Apartments.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

And the vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

All right, we're going to end that one. We are now going into the Housing Authority meeting. I hereby call the Housing Authority meeting. To order, Madam Secretary, please conduct a roll call. Authority Member Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 27

Here.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

Authority Member Hernandez?

Phil BacerraItem 27

Here.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

Authority Member Lopez? Here. Authority Member Penaloza? Present. Authority Member Vasquez? Present. Vice Chair Phan? Here. Chair Mesquah?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Present.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

All seven members present.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Madam Secretary, are there any additions or deletions to the Housing Authority agenda? There are none. Do we have any speakers for the Housing Authority?

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

We do not have any speakers. However, we did have one e-comment that was distributed to the Council and posted online. But there are no speakers in the Chamber or on Zoom.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Does any authority member wish to pull this item for separate discussion or make a motion or a second, please? I'll make a motion to move the agenda.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

I'll second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

There's a motion by Council Member Lopez, a second by Council Member Hernandez, excuse me, by authority member. Madam Secretary, let's do a roll call, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

Have the vote opened?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

So, motion by authority member Lopez, seconded by authority member Hernandez, to approve consent calendar items number one through three of the housing authority.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

We're ready. Authority Member Vasquez?

No, there we go.

Jennifer L. HallItem 27

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

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Great, thank you. At this time, Mr. City Manager, can we please hear from you at this time with your reports?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Can you turn your mic on, please?

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

It's a good idea to turn on the mic, yes. Just quickly, a brief update on the Needle Exchange Program. Just so you know, we continue to dialogue with the Department of Public Health, State Department of Public Health, and we started to coordinate a couple of dates where they can come directly and meet with our community, right? So at this point, we're still engaging in communication. That's a good thing. That's part of the process at our consultation. So we provided some dates. Unfortunately, they could not make those dates, so they offered some other dates.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

So we're trying to see if we can coordinate that and ensure we have community members be able to attend. That's item number one. In addition, we have the Chief of Police here who can provide some updates regarding our Fourth of July enforcement that I think was critical. You saw some of the public comments here today, and I thought it was important that we provide a little bit of an update on that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Chief, welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Potem, and City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to allow me to speak and give an overarching view on our enforcement efforts during the 4th of July deployment. Our 4th of July deployment began June 28th, which was a Friday, and ended on Sunday, July 7th. Before I go into the stats, I just want to cover, I know we had a speaker talk about fireworks, but I want to cover some of the challenges in enforcement, which are two-pronged. Some of the challenges in enforcement is that usually 4th of July is associated with celebrations and large crowds on the street,

So our officers always have to take officer safety into consideration Usually when we address people with fireworks or illegal fireworks, they're more likely to resist or not follow directions So that's one consideration the other consideration that I know I hear a lot about from various callers is the legal constraints when we're dealing with misdemeanors The officer has to see the violation in order to give a citation or it has to come from a residence for the officer to give it an administrative side to a specific residence regarding enforcement so there are some legal

constraints for officers because it does have to happen in their presence or they have to have someone who signs the private person's arrest or complaint form the other part that proposes a challenge is that when you blend safe and sane fireworks with the legal fireworks you have people out on the streets doing safe and sane and for the enforcement efforts to be able to pick out who's actually you know deploying the illegal fireworks also proposes another challenge so those are the two of the main challenges that we have when

we do enforcement for 4th of July that being said taking on to consideration for the entire 4th of July deployment we had I'm sorry I don't have my glasses just yet. We had, during the whole period, we had 4,097 calls for service from July 28 to Sunday, July 7th. 603 of those calls were fireworks related. Total arrests made was 133.

72 were felonies and the rest were misdemeanors. During that period, that two-week period, it's a little bit over two weeks, eight firearms were recovered. 52 citations were given. Those are not citations as far as parking or traffic related. These are citations that are either arrest or administrative sites. We recovered 3,449 fireworks during the entire deployment period that's from the field perspective of the officers out on the street from the police communication center during the end during just 4th of July we

received for 647 911 calls so dispatch answered 612 of them which is about 95 percent 94 percent of the calls were answered 911 calls and out of all those calls 90 percent of the calls were answered within within 10 seconds that That does not include for that day 1,030 calls for service that were not 911 calls, which brings us close to 1,700 calls for service on just one day. So that's our overall, you know, that we have to face every 4th of July deployment.

And I just want to thank all the officers and police communications for doing an outstanding job.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Are there any questions or comments? Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 27

Thank you, AC, for that presentation. Real quickly, maybe I missed it. How many citations were issued for $1,000 fines?

For the admin sites related to fireworks, there were six issued.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Six?

Yes.

Phil BacerraItem 27

In the entire city during that entire time, we only issued six citations for $1,000.

For fireworks, related directly to fireworks, yes, six.

Phil BacerraItem 27

We have more banners advertising the $1,000 fine than we actually issued in citations for the fine.

Correct.

Phil BacerraItem 27

I'm not going to lie. That's disappointing. I mean, I get it. What you said is absolutely spot on. I mean, the minute you guys get a call about fireworks, it's hard to track. I get it. But in a city of our size and the amount of fireworks going on, there were only six citations for a $1,000 fine.

Related to fireworks, yes. Okay, thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

So, Acting Chief, can you explain why it is so challenging to give these administrative citations? We've had long discussion about this. Yes. So can you explain it so the council understands and the community that is present here and those listening at home?

So, thank you for the questions. So, the officer actually has to see the deployment of the illegal firework. And that is very difficult to see at night in the midst of all safe and sane fireworks. If the officer does not see the actual violation, and then let's say they see the violation, by the time they get to the person committing the violation, it becomes very difficult to enforce and be able to issue a citation to that person, especially if that person is not attached to a residence. Since we have those safe and sane fireworks, a lot of our fireworks are deployed from the streets.

When you go through any residential neighborhood, everyone's out on the street. In other cities where they're illegal, it's easier to issue administrative sites because now you don't have to deter what is safe and sane and what is an illegal firework. The only way we have an idea is when it's up in the air, but we don't see who deployed it.

Thank you, Chief.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you very much for that report. I appreciate it. Any other comments for me? So at the next meeting you'll be giving an update on needle exchange if available and also the homeless, correct?

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

Yes, every part of the agenda.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Great. Thank you so much.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

That way we can donate a presentation. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you. At this time we're going to go to Councilmember Comments. Councilmember Vasquez, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

Yes, thank you. This is where I mentioned we went to Nileo and paid by the city, and thank you for sending me. There's a lot of networking with other cities and the good work they were doing, and we hope to bring it back. Thank you very much. And that being said, there was a Supreme Court ruling that would allow local governments, agencies, to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors, even if there's no shelter space available. We've done in San Ana, we've done a great job with this. We have a quality of life team, we built our shelters, we did the work and other people did it. And there's even some people in San Ana

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

who think this is a great thing. It's a great policy to have PD chasing around homeless all day and every day and put them in jail so they'll be back out the next day.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

Before this ruling, we've already been told there's going to be an influx of homeless coming from the north right there was a city that was gonna suppress homeless and it would be funneled into Santa Ana we had to work we had to get ready for that and we already get South counties bringing homeless to the main jail only to be released into Santa Ana so how are we to manage this we first I say we support Supervisor Sarmiento's houses preventive measure that aims to keep families in their house this is management and not getting people onto to the street before they become houseless.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

First, we do that work and we give them the knowledge and we give them that support. We also tell folks about our own policies and rent control. That is houseless prevention as well. So we have to get that word out of what that means to keep families in their house. We have gone on to state property to manage encampments and we did build cow works and they seem to want to ignore us. So I'm calling for a full press on assembly members and state senators. I've talked to Assemblymember Avellino myself,

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

so now I want to make sure I'm not just here in Santa Ana, but across the county, people that would support us, like Senator Tom Unberg, Dave Mann, Sharon Crook-Silva, to name a few who have been good friends to us in Santa Ana. I want to hopefully we could call for an increase in the quality of life teams from two to three but you know we are short on police officers so maybe after we have an eight net hired of officers I don't want to take away from the men on the street and the work that they're doing because they need the support and the time off so maybe we get a third quality of life team I also want

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

to call on the city and the city council to support me in calling to see the Orange County Sheriff's department who releases their inmates out into Santa Ana and this is how we get many

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

homeless from this South County in here. I've known the city has sued the county before but we didn't sue the sheriff and the sheriff already buses people out of Irvine the music facility. Guess where they bus them to? They bus them out of music facility and they bring them to Santa Ana. So how do we get them to buzz them back to the police department from where they came so I'm hoping this is something we could do this is a managing thing that we need to do there's various ways that we can can work with the houses supporting them as one getting them off the streets and making sure we have the programs and

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

that's that's the number one way and also the preventative measures but then we also have to work with with what we have thank you thank you councilmember

Jessie LopezItem 27

Lopez. Yes, thank you. A couple reminders for the community. We're hosting office hours tomorrow at Riverview Park. I also want to invite the public to the upcoming concerts in the park at Portola Park on Thursday, July 25th. Moreover, we are also hosting movies at the park at Prentice Park on Friday, July 26th. And if you'd like to volunteer with our office, please feel free to reach out. Additionally, the Parks Department, thank you for all the programming parks, is hosting Shakespeare's in the park on Wednesday, July 31st.

Jessie LopezItem 27

And last week I did attend OCFA's Best and Bravest Award Ceremony, and I want to congratulate Chief Henry, who's in the audience, for your recognition. He was awarded a recognition for his work during the Tustin Hanger Fire, and also Khalil Bay for being recognized for his heroic efforts and lastly I just want to wish everyone a joyful and safe summer please be safe and remember that City Hall is

David PenalozaItem 27

closed Friday. Councilmember Penelosa please. Thank You Mayor. Thank You City staff for all the work that you've done the last couple of months with Alvaro. I wanted to just as I was driving around the city you know the 99 cent stores that are now closed. I know that our city team did an incredible job at reaching out to those employees that got laid off and try to find them new jobs. However, I want to know what we're doing about filling those vacant storefronts. Those are huge spaces and I personally don't

David PenalozaItem 27

want to see a Dollar Tree come in. I know Dollar Tree is taking over a lot of the 99 cent assets. The last thing I want to see are Dollar Trees popping up all over the city. Here we have an opportunity to bring some good tax generating, revenue generating stores and commercial spaces into these spaces. So I hope that our economic development team is working hard in addressing that. The other thing I'd like to say is that thank you staff for the attention that you've been giving. The Edinger and Flower Street business corridor, that 7-Eleven that hosts Shrip Mall for years now.

David PenalozaItem 27

members of the community city council members mayors current mayors past mayors have reached out about this issue about this strip mall i i it's the residents are at a wit's end um they're frustrated it's it's it's a nuisance and it ties into what uh councilmember vasquez was talking about a lot of the people that are running around terrorizing our streets our neighbors aren't homeless because they got evicted and the rent's too high the kid Brock with the ID from Maryland that's running around our city terrorizing our neighborhood they didn't get evicted in Santa Ana because the rent was too

David PenalozaItem 27

high there are drug addicts that got sent here from out of state to rehab facilities along the coast then their insurance companies pushed them out because they ran out of money and now they're living in our streets terrorizing our residents so we got to get a handle of this there it's I think it's we need to continue enforcing public intoxication we need to aggressively enforce our encampment our encampment on public properties we do because our residents are asking for that our residents are not safe they don't feel

David PenalozaItem 27

safe and we need to get a better handle of this I would also like to put you on notice city staff that I will be bringing back at the next City Council meeting a potential ordinance or type of ban or City Council requested item about single beer can cells throughout the city we go into Carlos market on and they have the giant cooler with ice, with tall cans ready to go right there at the exit. Those types of cells and businesses is what's causing the problems that we're seeing throughout the city. The public urination, the public intoxication, it's a mess.

David PenalozaItem 27

So I hope that we could start enforcing some public intoxication laws and aggressively taking care of our community. And with that, I would like to wish my baby girl a happy six months. She's halfway to one. she churned six months on July 4th and she actually had her first solids yesterday two days ago given avocado they didn't really like it but it's kind of funny to see her trying to figure out the texture so happy birthday or happy six month birthday Penelope or as I like to call her pennylicious thank you

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Councilman Palos. Councilman Hernandez. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to take a moment to share with the public that on June 18th to June 20th, 2024, I did have the City of Santa Ana pay for my travel and lodge to the National Association Latino Elected Officials Conference, the 41st Annual. I want to take this moment to thank the members of the public who tuned in to today's meeting and I also want to take a moment to thank our city clerk our city attorney's office and the city manager's office this meeting is concluding you know before nine o'clock at night is showing you that government

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

is being more responsive to our community we're making sure that these meetings are more you know respectful the community's time we're ensuring that these agendas are not super packed and so I want to give our acting city manager Alvaro Nunez credit and thank his department for streamlining these city Council meetings. I also want to thank my colleagues up here at the dais. Today we introduced some ballot measures that are going to help move Santa Ana forward through a democratic process. Voters are going to be able to decide whether they want to enshrine these ballot measures as local law or if they would like to

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

keep things the same. All in all the city of Santa Ana supports democratic processes. That's what we had before us today. There's also an abundance of great things coming before us in the coming days we're going to be entering the month of August city of Santa Ana was the first month first city in the country to declare August as Chicano heritage month for those who are not aware Chicanos is the Mexican American identity many of us have been in the states for many generations many of us are far removed from our ancestors in Mexico and all we know is Santana and for us as a city to be able to tell those stories and to

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

shed light on the importance of figures like Ruben Salazar, Corky Gonzalez, Bert Corona, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and even in our own community people in the Artisa Pilar neighborhood have worked very closely with the city manager's office to introduce the Chicano Heritage Festival which is the largest Chicano moratorium celebration in the country. I am excited that our parks and recreation department has an event August 11th is at Centennial Park it is only there because our city manager fought for it I want to thank our city manager's office for valuing the Chicano community ensuring that they

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

have a park they have art they have car shows they have music and more importantly that their culture and stories are celebrated in Santa Ana thank you to our residents have a blessed day thank you councilman

Phil BacerraItem 27

um Becerra please thank you madam mayor um got a lot going on in board four uh recently so Thursday we've got at 6 p.m a concert in the park over at Carl Thornton Park hope everybody will be there um Saturday we've got zoning code update workshop not quite as fun as the concert in the park but very important we update our general plan back in 2022 this is the next critical step and And so we're seeking, well, staff, planning staff is seeking community input. And so they'll be at MIT over off of Rayton Adams. That's Saturday at 10 a.m. And not in Ward 4, but very impactful for Ward 4 is the home ownership fair that's gonna be

Phil BacerraItem 27

at Santa Ana College on Saturday as well at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, August 3rd, I'll be hosting my office hours at 10 a.m. at Bomo Corral Park. I like to say this, I blame Hawk that we're not doing it at Thornton Park, but for great reasons, because we're getting some great well-deserved improvements to uh george upton all-access parks so thank you hawk and nabeel as well for working on that uh the uh city of santa anna did pay for my travel and lodging for my attendance at the inaugural aapi lead conference so i want to thank the city for that uh and then you know the comments i heard up here just recently about

Phil BacerraItem 27

uh you know the supreme court ruling in regards to grants passed and the idea that you know you don't want to see us chasing homeless folks around the town. Well, you know what? A lot of the folks that you guys call homeless also don't have cars. They also don't have yachts. But the one thing that a lot of the folks out there, the reason why the cops are chasing them isn't because they aren't, or because they want to accept services. They don't. But what the reason why the cops are out there chasing, chasing them, is because they're committing crimes. So when we call the cops, when our community calls the cops,

Phil BacerraItem 27

they're not calling the cops because they don't like the fact that someone doesn't have a home. They don't like the fact that maybe they're passed out, wasted in violation of public intoxication laws. That's why. Maybe they want to use our bus system, but it's kind of awkward when there's a tent covering the entire bus stop. So we're not talking about criminalizing homelessness. We're talking about folks chasing criminals. And the more we keep saying it's homelessness, it's like we're making an excuse for criminality. It's who do you want to protect? Do you want to protect folks that are being

Phil BacerraItem 27

transported to Santa Ana, or do you want to actually protect our residents? That's the question. So let's not get up here and just start getting on our soapboxing campaign. Let's look at the issue truthfully. And the reality is we have a lot of criminals on our streets. We have cops who need at least 48 more, I would say even more than that, to address the problem. We offer plenty of services. The reason why federal court or federal judge Carter was willing to work with us so much was because we have been providing compassionate services. We have been. I mean,

Phil BacerraItem 27

look at what we had to do at El Centro. We had to provide services there because we had an encampment that grew way over its limit, right? We didn't go in there and just arrest everybody. There was lots and lots of time and resources from this city dedicated to cleaning up El Centro because the homeless were allowed to be over there. And what happened? It wasn't a bunch of people saying, gosh, can we all get together and do something about the rent? No. Immediately within, what, 24 hours, you had the local gang graffitiing the four corners of the property. You had drug dealers swoop in. It became chaos.

Phil BacerraItem 27

It became a nightmare to the tune of what? I think, I don't remember the exact number. I'm going to say almost $50,000 the city had to expend cleaning up that mess. So with that being said, and also I like the idea, Council Member Vasquez, what you're talking about with the sheriff. I think it's absolutely important that we coordinate with the sheriff. But before we start lobbying lawsuits at them, let's go have a conversation with the sheriff. Let's go talk to them first. And I think if I in a meeting I had recently with acting chief Rodriguez,

Phil BacerraItem 27

it sounds like we're having those conversations with the sheriff, with our district attorney. So I would prefer that we exhaust the collaborative approach first before we start lobbying lawsuits at them. Acting city manager, I would like to ask at our next meeting for an update on the fencing along the Flower Street bike trail next to the county flood control channel. Another example of not homeless folks hanging out over there, but criminals. Because when our students over at MacArthur Junior High got assaulted, it wasn't because they were homeless. It's because they were criminals that assaulted our children.

Phil BacerraItem 27

And last thing to piggyback off of Council Member Penaloza's concerns about these liquor stores, You know, the reason they're able to even sell liquor to begin with is because the city grants them a conditional use permit, because they are supposed to act responsibly when they sell alcohol. But recently, I was contacted by folks, sorry I'm picking on you, but in your ward, Council Member Vasquez, where they said they reached out to you, they couldn't reach you, and so they ended up reaching out to me. There's a market on Van Ness and Bishop where folks are urinating in the alleys constantly.

Phil BacerraItem 27

I'm sure Acting Chief Rodriguez can pull up the stats on calls for service, but it's a nuisance. And so any action that we take as a council regarding any sort of revocation of a conditional use permit has to be done by the council. So what I'm going to ask our Acting City Manager to do is I would like to have that item come before us. I would like staff to investigate what's going on over there and report back to us whether we need to pursue revocation of that conditional use permit and also as well the 7-eleven at Flower and Endger. At least just three of the council members up here were on a very long email chain regarding

Phil BacerraItem 27

the years of abuse of their privileges of their CUP at Flower and Endger at that 7-eleven. And I might even add Dyer and Segestrom at some point, but at least for now I think maybe two might be just enough to show that we're serious. You know, a conditional use permit is a privilege. It's not a right. It's a discretionary action. And so if we're going to give those, they need to live up to their end of the bargain. And if they're going to create a nuisance for our community, the Van Ness market at Van Ness and Bishop is surrounded by residential properties. It's not along a major thoroughfare.

Phil BacerraItem 27

So if they cannot respect that community, then we need to take action as a council. But again, I would like to have staff bring us something back that we could discuss as a council. And with that, I look forward to seeing everybody in August. Good night.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor. So first I'd like to announce my attendance at the AAPI LEAD conference, paid for by the City of Santa Ana. And I just want to say that it was an incredibly joyful time to be around other AAPI elected officials and appointed officials, and also collaborate with Naleo, our sister organization who is actually helping to create this new organization, national organization, where we learn how to be better and better effective leaders, where we learn and receive ideas from throughout the country that we may be able to implement here.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

So I look forward to it hopefully attending in the future, but it was a really great inaugural event. I just wanted to announce a couple upcoming items. Today, not today, this Friday, we have Movies in the Park. It's going to be at Rosita Park. We have Kung Fu Panda 4, and you're going to see the World 1 team out there. so please come to our booth. There is going to be free juices and snacks, so please get in line. We had a lot of students, our children bum-rushed the booth last time, so poor Jasley had to handle it, but it was a really fun time. It's so incredible to see families coming out, especially

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

in Ward 1, especially in parks like Heritage Park where we had the live-action Aladdin, and you know, we didn't have these parks activated in the past. We didn't invest in Ward 1 in the past, and I'm just so proud that we are now. So thank you to Parks and Rec. Thank you to our city team for doing that. And before I forget, because we don't have another meeting until August 6th, is that August 6th is National Night Out, right, Chief? And so while I am sad that, you know, it's not at Rosita Park this year, because it was at Rosita Park, I believe, last year. It's going to be at Cabrillo Park. I do encourage everyone to come out.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

I think it's a really, you know, wonderful time to get to know our officers and get to know all these different organizations that work in our city and really get to know what we do. A couple other things, we had a few community meetings recently, including on yesterday with Ward 1 Town Hall. We have residents from throughout the west side come out, ask questions. Thank you to our city manager, our police department, code enforcement for all being there. And with that, I just wish that everyone stays safe out there. Wear your sunscreen. Those cooling

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

centers i know that it gets really hot but take care of yourself and make sure you stay hydrated you know we have some of these pools open we have our library use those resources and with that have a wonderful night thank you thank you mayor pro ten councilman panellosa thank you mayor i uh

David PenalozaItem 27

did not mention my ab1234 disclosure this time but i did at the last meeting uh while i was in Las Vegas also at Naleo so a city paid for my travel and airfare and that's it

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

thank you I think somebody's mentioning your wife's birthday you want to oh well

David PenalozaItem 27

it's not till next week but I guess I should I just want to let you know thank you mayor bro Tim I guess I should wish my wife a very happy 33rd birthday next

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

week so I saved you we saved you all right so let me close out here I also went to tonight's an interesting night very interesting i also went to naleo in june and thank you the city did pay and it was a wonderful conference and i've been going to naleo since i was on the school board and it's great to meet with people and sit down and have conversations and attend breakout sessions and you always get to learn something new and bring it back to the city so i really appreciate it so thank you very much a couple things um state of the city was on June 27th it was wonderful thank you councilmember Becerra and mayor pro

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

town for attending over 400 people and many of you were here were there as well we're funded 400 people attended at modern day and so we changed it up a bit this year it's the first time we've ever had acting city manager our acting chief and men tie and cat present at the state of the city because it's not about just the mayor it's about the whole entire team working together and sharing with everybody what we're doing in the city, how we're doing it, and how again we continue to work for all of you. Summer Night Lights was this past Friday. It's going to end on August 2nd. It's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

every Friday and I really want to thank Neutral Ground for having this in the city. I'm giving them CDBG funding for this. It's been going on for seven years now and it's a great family event and I'm honored to say I've been part of it since the inception and they really do reach a lot of families and so I do appreciate their work that they do. July 4th was a great 4th of July was in a couple parades and at the park and Parks and Rec staff did a great job. All the city staff that were there and so a couple of us were in parades and it was just a great day in the city to celebrate the 4th of July

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

and so I look forward to that every year. Acton City Manager can we get next meeting an update on the police commission what is happening with our police commission where we are and hiring and just give an update so that the public is aware of what we're doing and the council as well um i'm sorry she keeps interrupting me but that's okay because she's the mayor pro 10. mayor pro tem would like it in the beginning of the meeting if we could please which is fine

All right, we got that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Okay, the other thing I wanted to share is that on July 28th, we're having a resource fair at the Alex Lodge in the parking lot. It's a Sunday, I think, like 10 to 2. We've already had over 1,000 people register in backpacks. There'll be another 1,000 there. It's a back-to-school event, so we're super excited about that. The city's also partnering up. If you know families who need backpacks, please ask them to go on and register. If not, I hope to see you all there on the 28th. I know Councilman Becerra and Councilman Panalosa will be there with their booths. So I'm really excited about that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

And many of the city staff will be there. So thank you and community organizations.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

You know, I'm not gonna go on a tangent tonight

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

and campaign from up here about what we should do for the homeless and what we shouldn't do. Because since I've been sitting up here and even before I got up here, quality of life and the safety of our community has always been a priority to me and it will always be it'll continue to be forever and yes we just had grants pass go through our court system and there is conversation and thank you chief and city manager for having those conversations with the DA's office and the sheriff and our city attorney to look at how we can work together as a collaborator of the county I know you also met the supervisor's office and so

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

So there are things that are in motion that we may not know because it's not time for you to share yet what's happening. But when you have relationships with people, I know myself with the county and different law enforcement agencies, I'm able to hear, some of us are able to hear, hey, great work by your city staff, great work by your city manager, great work by your acting chief. We're meeting with them. We're talking about how we can address the homeless issue. And so that's a really good thing. And I have to agree with Councilman Becerra. We do have some homeless people.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

And if you sit down and have a conversation with Colt and with our police department, they will tell you that about 97% of the people that, that's the last number I was given, 97% of the people that are homeless now, and correct me if I'm wrong, Chief, are the resistant population. And he's nodding his head yes. The resistant population that doesn't want to go to our shelter, the resistant population that doesn't want services, the resistant population, and it's not because of affordable housing, it is not because they can't pay their rent, it's because they want to do dope, they want to rob you,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

they want to hurt you, and they want to do this on the streets. They don't want to follow rules of the shelter because we have two shelters in our city. So there's no reason why they can't go to a shelter. And so when I get phone calls, every day emails and phone calls and pictures sent to me, as the council members, a few of them said up here, about people urinating, people defecating. You know, I had a friend, her mom got slapped at the bus station. That's not somebody that, like, I feel sorry for you. That is somebody who should go to jail. When you are a homeless person slapping an 80-year-old woman,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

an 80-year-old woman, she's waiting for the bus. That is a criminal. When you're breaking into people's homes while they're in there sleeping, that's crime. That's a criminal. When you're robbing people in the streets, that's a criminal. When the cops come in contact with you and you've got dope and a gun on you, that's a criminal. yes they may have a drug addiction and yes they may have mental health issues that is completely separate from what is going on their behavior so once we get them into jail hypothetically speaking maybe they will take the services that

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

neutral ground offers or their project kinship offers or the social services offers offers but as the mayor I sit up here and when I go out in the community I have coffees with the mayor and I answer emails and phone calls and I answer them citywide I don't have a ward I hear the same thing mayor we want the homeless gone mayor this crime mayor they broke into my business mayor I don't have business anymore because they're in front of my business how do I get them out I cannot tell you how much time I spend sending people to the cult team please call please call I email the chief and the cult team all the time or

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

I text them or I just call them because I get those calls so yes I would love to help people more but we don't have the ability to carry every single person on our back in the city of Santa Ana but we what we do have a responsibility to do is to make sure our constituents are safe they can walk in the street our children are not being assaulted again at bus stops because if I drive around the city and when I do on a regular basis we have homeless drugged out people sleeping on our bus stops passed out and people waiting for the bus cannot sit there and so acting city manager and I said I have a conversation with OCTA

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

about this already I want us to focus on our bus stops they should not be passed out drugged out half naked on our bus stops because people need to use the bus and they need to sit there and so if we want to have this conversation let's have it but let's be honest if you want them please take them to your home if you're a council member who wants the homeless open your home and invite them all in to sleep in your nice house because they don't want the services that we're offering them because some people up here have you know nice houses multiple bedrooms take them into your home and because our constituents when they

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

respond to us or send us emails it's like help he's urinating in my front yard help he's breaking into my house help he's defecating help he's robbing me. Help, mayor. That's what I hear. So I'm not quite sure what other people hear, but I know what I hear, and I report it on a regular basis. And so, and no, it is not campaigning because people will say, oh, she's campaigning. No, I'm not. If you look back from the day that I sat in this chair, the day that I sat in this chair, and before I sat here, that's what I've always said. The quality

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

of life is so important to us. We have a right to live in this city, not be afraid to walk down the street and not be afraid to get assaulted by a homeless person because they're drugged out of their mind or they need severe mental health. They need to be hospitalized. We have care courts, 75 people only. We have more than that. We can fill that whole courthouse, that whole court program. We can fill ourselves. So I don't want to sit up here every meeting and have to push back and say, we're doing this, we're doing that. I can tell you that we have done a lot for our homeless that want the help. We have a lot of families.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

I think the last we heard, I heard we have 40 people that have families in our shelter. For me, that's painful to know that there are children, over 26 children in our shelter. It breaks my heart to know. Again, council members up here, open your home, take them home with you. But what do we have as a responsibility as a city? Let's find those families homes. Those families. Let's find them homes because I don't want children in the shelter. I have a serious issue with children being in our shelters. That should be a priority, at least in my opinion. And I know that our staff do a wonderful job.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

The Colt team, they work all the time. And I think, Chief, they're on seven days a week now. Colt, two teams, correct? So we're covering seven days. So nobody complain about police overtime because we are covering seven days with Colt. So no, this is not about, oh, God, she's up for office because somebody will come back and say that. No, this is what I've said since day one. So if you want to sit up here and say, let's sue this person, let's sue that person, well, guess what? It's not going to get us anywhere. How about we come up with a good solution, how to get criminals off the street and those

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

people who really want help, we get them help. How about we help families that need homes? How about we do that? And how about we support so that we can hire more law enforcement so that when we do need to call them, they do come. Because they do come. I don't know if everybody was listening to the stats that our chief gave. From June 28th to July 7th, they received 4,997 calls for service. Just on 4th of July alone, 647 911 calls. And 94% of them were answered.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Eight firearms were recovered. So I will leave it at that and just say, Chief, thank you because I know we've had a couple homicides in our city of young people, and I believe that there has been arrests in every single one of them. And so thank you very much to Santa Ana PD and the homicide detectives and all the officers that have worked in those cases and the officers that covered from, like you, I need my glasses, that covered from June 28th to July 7th. There was a lot of overtime involved. And so I thank you very much and to all of our police officers and our fire department because the fire department was out too.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

And they had to risk their lives as well because fireworks were going off everywhere and it was crazy. So they were out too. So I don't want to sit up here and, you know, like, let's sue this person, let's do that. Well, good. Suing people aren't going to get us anywhere. And when I last met with Judge Carter, he said, Mayor Mesquah, your city has done enough. It's time for enforcement. Those were his exact words. It is time for enforcement. So guess what? Judge Carter gave us his blessing. I welcome it. With that, I'm going to close in the memory of former Fire Chief Corey. I'm going to say it wrong, and I apologize.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Corey Comparator. He is the former fire chief that died on July 13th. He was shielding his daughter and his wife when they tried to assassinate former President Trump. And because he was shielding his daughter and his wife, he was shot and killed. And so I don't care what's letters behind your name. when something like that happens, it's sad for our entire country and it's sad for all of us. And so with that, I would just like to adjourn this meeting. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Recording stopped.