Read the February 4 meeting.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, you're live.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. 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. site please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting madam clerk please conduct a roll call councilmember of Sarah

Jennifer L. Hall

councilmember Hernandez present councilmember Lopez councilmember Penalosa your councilmember fan here mayor Pro Tem Vasquez present mayor Meskwa present five members present that is a quorum thank you are there any

Valerie Amezcua

additions or deletions to the closed session there are none do any council Council members need to announce their abstentions. Hearing none, Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers?

Jennifer L. Hall

No, there are no speakers for closed session and no email comments were received either.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. We'll be going into closed session.

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Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, you're live.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. 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

Valerie Amezcua

warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken we appreciate your cooperation for everyone's safety per the fire marshal please do not stand or place objects in the aisles in front of the dais along the back wall of the council chamber or in front of entrances and exits. During city council presentations and oaths of office, guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos. Madam Clerk, please conduct the

Jennifer L. Hall

roll call. Council Member Becerra. Here. Council Member Hernandez. Present. Council Member Lopez. Here. Council Member Penalosa. Present. Council Member Phan. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez. Present. Mayor Meskwa. Present. All seven members present. Thank you. Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the pledge of allegiance please make an announcement 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

Jennifer L. Hall

now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence thank you thank you this time

Valerie Amezcua

we're going to have the pledge of allegiance uh commander julian rodriguez would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, sir.

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

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, sir, very much.

Valerie Amezcua

Words of inspiration by Police Chaplain Bob Burnett. Bob, please, sir.

As you know, I have a little word I always share to encourage and inspire. 1,600 years ago, St. Augustine wrote a very simple little phrase. He said, the only essentials are life and friendship. The other night, I had the privilege of being at the swearing-in of our chief. It was a privilege to be there and to listen to all speak, and there was one word used by every single person that spoke that night, and it was the word together. When we're together, things happen. Friendships happen. It's my prayer for the rest of this year that all of us, as we're together,

would benefit from all the times, the gifts, the talents that are all here, that our room is made better, our people are made better, our life is made better. It's a wonderful opportunity. In fact, the scriptures say, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. We bring the best out. So tonight, I'd like to pray a blessing on you, a blessing upon our city. Father, I thank you for the people gathered here. Heavenly Father, be here among us. May your wisdom be displayed. May your power be shown. We pray that, Lord, those to be honored tonight would sense your blessing and your favor upon all that they have done,

as they're recognized and honored. For the things to be discussed, Lord, we ask your wisdom. Your word says that if we lack wisdom, we can ask, and you'll give it generously. We thank you for those that serve our community, those gathered here, our mayor, our city council members, our chief, all those that represent our first responders, Lord God. We ask for safety and health, and most importantly, let this be a night of together, a night of better. In the name of the Lord, amen.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Chapman.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda? No, there are not. Thank you. The first presentation is mine for the modern-day girls volleyball team. It's been rescheduled for another day. So let me go to Councilman Becerra, to the Orange County Fire Authority.

Phil Bacerra

Let's see, who do I have here from the authority tonight?

Phil Bacerra

Nobody.

Phil Bacerra

Well, thank God I'm the chair of the OCFA board, so that'll work out then. So this year, National Burn Awareness Week is February 2nd through 8th. National Burn Awareness Week this year comes after the catastrophic fires that Southern California experienced. Over 38,000 acres burned, over 18,000 structures damaged or destroyed in both the Eaton and Palisades fires up in neighboring LA County. But this evening I would like to speak about an important fire-related issue that affects our community every year. and not just those in wildfire areas and that is burn injuries. So these injuries

Phil Bacerra

are not only physically painful but they can have long lasting consequences so both in terms of health and quality of life. Burn injuries remain one of the top ten leading causes of accidental death and injury in our nation. Every day over 300 children between the ages of 0 and 19 are treated in emergency rooms for for burn-related injuries.

Phil Bacerra

This is a startling reminder of just how critical it is for all of us to address this issue and take the steps necessary to avoid, or to prevent these avoidable accidents. Every 60 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a burn injury, severe enough to require medical attention. What's more, nearly three out of four burn injuries occur right in our homes where many of us feel the most safest. The majority of these burns are preventable, and that's what makes this issue so important. So whether it's from cooking, lighting candles, or using a fireplace, simple steps can be taken to reduce the risk.

Phil Bacerra

So almost half of all burn injuries are caused by direct contact with fire or flame, with scalding water, or contributing to nearly one-third of those injuries. Chemical burns, though less common, still account for a number of serious cases. Non-fatal burns can lead to long hospital stays, disfigurement, and lifelong disabilities, which is why burn prevention is such a critical issue for our community. But fortunately, we know that education and outreach can significantly reduce the number of burn injuries. We have the opportunity to keep our community safe by raising awareness about burn prevention.

Phil Bacerra

So this year's theme for National Burn Awareness Week is Burn Prevention Where You Live, Work and Play, Preventing Burns in the Homes. So this theme serves as a timely reminder for all of us to educate ourselves and those around us on simple actions that we can take to prevent burns in our homes. So this week will be a time for us to raise awareness, encourage burn prevention efforts, and remind our community about the steps we can all take to stay safe. So I encourage everyone to share the message of burn prevention with family, friends, and neighbors throughout our entire city.

Phil Bacerra

So tonight, I, along with my colleagues on the City Council, would like to proclaim the week of February 2 through February 8, 2025, as National Burn Awareness Week here in the city of Santa Ana. So with that, I will accept this on behalf of the Fire Authority. but very importantly please be aware of what's going on out there we talk about fire season no longer being a season but also just things that happen in your homes let's let's try to work to do what we can to prevent those sort of preventable accidents so thank you everybody

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. Council Member Lopez, Lightning Youth Academy. Come on up if you're here, the Lightning Youth Academy.

I'm going to try. I'm going to try. I'm going to try. I'm going to try.

Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over. Scoot over.

Scoot over.

Phil Bacerra

Scoot over.

Thank you.

Can you scoot in and fill in this space right here?

Okay.

Alvaro Nuñez

Hi, everyone.

Alvaro Nuñez

Welcome to the chamber. So today I'm really excited to stand before you to recognize a truly remarkable organization that has become an integral part of our community, the Lightning Youth Academy and Lightning Youth Run Club.

Alvaro Nuñez

And we met a couple years ago at Edna Park. We just ran into each other. I think I was there documenting some issues with the park, taking pictures. And I think you came up to me, right, and introduced yourself and you talked to me all about the club. And since then, they've done so many amazing things. But as I was saying, the club was founded in our city in 2010 by Coach Henry Rivera. Lightning really has grown into a beacon of inspiration and resilience not just for our city, but for youth athletes across the country.

Alvaro Nuñez

Under Coach Henry's leadership, the team achieved incredible national success, including two second place finishes and a national title in 2017. The Lightning team demonstrated the power of teamwork, dedication and perseverance, and those values have continued to thrive, even during the most challenging of times. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought many programs to a halt, Lightning's commitment to our youth remained unwavering. With the leadership of Dr. Jose Cholula, the program made a remarkable recovery, transitioning to a nonprofit organization in 2022.

Alvaro Nuñez

And it is with great pride that I tell you that Lightning now serves not just Santana, but youth from across the region. What began as a small program has blossomed into an empowering force, providing recreational and competitive running opportunities for young people of all backgrounds and skill levels. At Lightning, it is not just about running, it is about creating a family, a community that comes together to support and uplift one another. The program's emphasis on mental health, mindfulness, and well-being, led by Dr. Cholula, is something we should all be proud of. Lightning helps our youth not only excel

Alvaro Nuñez

on the track but also develop the mental and emotional resilience needed to succeed in life. Additionally, Lightning has become a vibrant hub for community engagement. The annual family camping trip to Camp Morning Star, the Santa Ana Cross Invitational at Thornton Park, and the collaboration with local schools and community centers are just a few examples of how Lightning is fostering connection, unity, and a sense of belonging in our city. The recent success of Lightning's athletes is nothing short of extraordinary. In 2024, they brought home 28 national medals from the AAU Cross Country

Alvaro Nuñez

National Meet, with the seven and eight year old girls team finishing second place and the boys team placing third. So we're gonna give a round of applause for the youngsters.

Alvaro Nuñez

And you don't get to play second without being committed to the work, the hard work, and the unwavering support they receive from their coaches and of course our incredible parents who are here with us today. I know I speak for for everyone in this room when I say how proud we are of the achievements of these young athletes and the incredible contributions of the coaches, the parents, and the supporters who make this program possible. It is a privilege to stand before you today to celebrate Lightning Youth Academy and Lightning Youth Run Club for their outstanding achievements and their commitment to building a stronger, healthier,

Alvaro Nuñez

and more connected community. I thank you so, so much for everything that you've done for continuing to move the club forward even during very difficult times and I want to thank all of you for inspiring me to run I need to get out there and do it more and I'm excited to go out there and enjoy your running club yes so come on up

Alvaro Nuñez

and fun fact some of the Lightning Club members were at our 5k race and so if if you have the Cultura magazine, you're going to see a lot of young faces because they were at the very beginning of the start line. Yeah.

Thank you. I just want to take a few minutes really quick and just say a couple of things. First, I'm really proud of all the runners. Really, this running, it really starts from way back. I had a dream that someday I wanted to come back to Santa Ana and use my gifts and talents. Thankfully enough, I actually was an immigrant and I came to the U.S. and then when I came, I got a scholarship to go to college for running and I got a full ride scholarship. And then my goal of living in Irvine, it was a whole different world compared to Santa Ana because I grew up here in Santa Ana.

I always said, I'm going to come back to Santa Ana and make it better. And three years ago, we initially started the program again. We started with about 10 runners. And using my gifts and talents, this is the result. I'm so proud of these kids because one of the goals that I really want them to see is that they can achieve anything that they want in their lives. And I think this was a really good progress. We started with about the first year, we got three medals at nationals. And this year, we've got about, like, over 40 medals and nationals. Just overproud of this kid.

And same progress, like, just not the boys getting third place in nationals or girls getting second place in nationals. It just shows in our third year that anything can be done as long as you work hard for it. And when we started from three years ago, we started getting the help and support from the community. As a nonprofit, we're kind of looking into these options of running is not just for the fast kids. We believe we can develop any runners to be great runners, not just great runners, but one of the best runners in the world. Believe it or not, we actually have a few runners that were ranked number one in the nation.

So, and for that, I don't think we could do it alone. I actually just started this running profit three years ago. I have a clinic in mental health three years ago. But I also got the support of the city, the school, individual council members like Jesse, and we're getting a lot of help and support. So for that reason, you know, I also, I know this recognition is for our Lightning Program, but I also want to take opportunity to give a thank you to the City of Santa Ana. I know they're definitely been promoting the running wellness, and this is something that I really want to thank. I'm not really sure who this belongs to,

but this is a thank you for supporting our running program and all the businesses here in Santa Ana. The work that you guys are doing and the leadership that you guys have, I'm very impressed. So thank you for City of Santa Ana. guys we're gonna do something really quick remember we say welcome to the

Sonia R. Carvalho

lightning family so I'm gonna say what do we say to the city of Santa Ana and

then you say lightning what do we say to the city of Santa Ana

one more one more one more I'm just gonna invite Hawk really quick or parks and Rex I want to give this we were actually very lucky this we just got this last week all runners were part of the cultura so for that reason we want to give this back again to parks and Rex and la cultura and all over the signature of our runners are here that are here today so so thank you parks and Rex for working with us

Alvaro Nuñez

Do you guys want to take a big group picture? Yeah! Okay.

We just got to get real close. We're going to pose together.

Can you ask the gentleman at the back to come? He's kind of hidden back there. The gentleman behind? The señor quizá.

I love it.

I love it.

Nice!

All right, wait a minute. All right, I'll put it right here. One more. Right here, please. Larry, over here. All right. One, two, three. Uno. Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

All righty.

Valerie Amezcua

okay we're going to go on to the next item

Alvaro Nuñez

We're going to wait just one second while they clear out and then we'll get started.

Valerie Amezcua

All righty. That was super cool.

Sonia R. Carvalho

That was a good one.

Valerie Amezcua

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

Sonia R. Carvalho

Mayor, Council Members, and members of the public, we did have two closed session items with many claims listed, but we do not have reportable action on those items.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. Mr. City Manager, we're going to change things up a little bit. You have some comments or announcements you'd like to make, please.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. First, I want to announce formally the appointment of two assistant city managers. We have Min Tai.

Min has over 30 years of experience in urban planning, public administration, and community development. He will serve as our assistant city manager overseeing our community development and economic vitality with the city manager's office. We also have Kat Downs.

Kat has over 30 years of professional experience including auditing cities, commercial lending, and working in senior finance roles. She comes from the finance department and she denotes part of our whole component getting ready for Measure X and how we prepare. So the two appointments, if you will, come from our key aspects as far as the city managers taking a very active role in making sure that we're ready for the sunset of Measure X. And two, then we're sure that when we meet with the business leaders, we are listening to the business leaders. So you see that's a main appointment.

this whole component of making sure that our sales tax, our whole development process gets improved. So we're very focused on that. This is no different than three, four years ago when the city manager's office assumed the homeless kind of concerns component. So that's the focus, that's what we're working for. And I want to make sure that we welcome again, Menti and Cat Downs to the city manager's office.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, congratulations. Congratulations.

Second, one of the key components, and I say that given the, how would I say this, the changes in the current climate, the city wants to announce the formation of the Know Your Rights website. If you notice at the website, it's clearly one of the key items when you point out to to the main City of Santa Ana website, are you gonna have some immigration resources components. And if you look at the website now, and I'm having, so I'm curious to articulate, we offer six, seven key components of nonprofits out there, including the office of Lou Correa, the Congressman with Immigration Components,

the National Immigration Law Center, the OC Rapid Response Network, the Orange County Labor Federation, the Immigration Defenders Law Center, and the Asian American Advancing Justice of Southern California. And we're hoping at this point the signals to our community that we're aware of the situation to the current climate and that we're providing the necessary resources.

Thank you. Then on a happy note, finally, so just we have the calendar, city calendars. So as you know, yeah.

We, yeah, they should have been in the mail now. PEOPLE A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT THEM WE RECEIVED MANY REQUESTS FROM THE COMMUNITY RIGHT SO AND FOR THAT YOU KNOW I ASSUME THE RESPONSIBILITY SO THANK YOU AND IT'S OUT THERE FOR THAT COMMUNITY AND NOW WE KNOW WE'LL MAKE SURE THAT WE BRING THEM OUT IN DECEMBER FOR NEXT YEAR ALL RIGHT THANK YOU

Valerie Amezcua

THANK YOU VERY MUCH MR. CITY MANAGER REALLY APPRECIATE IT ALL RIGHT THIS TIME WE'RE GOING TO GO INTO PUBLIC COMMENTS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO BEN AND KAT THANK YOU FOR FOR ALL THE WORK THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE DOING ALL RIGHT THIS IS THE TIME OF THE MEETING FOR THE CITY COUNCIL TO RECEIVE comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers, please. Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to resolution

Jennifer L. Hall

number 2023-047, speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial epitaphs, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'll report the summary of email comments received. City received a total of 130 e-comments related to today's agenda. 104 of them were on non-agenda topics and 26 were related to item number 21.

Jennifer L. Hall

Those were distributed to the council and posted online for the public to review. We will now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber followed by those on the conference call or Zoom to provide comments. comments. When you come to the podium or speak on Zoom, please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. I'll call three names at a time. If you could please line up in the center aisle behind the podium. First three speakers, Urquidea Soriano, Bulldog Jesse, Tonali, and Carla.

Hello, I'm Orquidea Soriano. I am here today to ask Santa Ana City Council as well as the community to stand up against the unauthorized, uncleared private citizen and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is leading a non-government organization, the DOGE. They have access parts of the US Treasury including sensitive government files, trillions of US dollars in our private information. Three unions representing American federal employees are in the midst of suing the Trump administration, so I ask that the city council and the community support them and in the

50 States 50 Protests movement, because we the people must stand up against these unprecedented, unconstitutional and illegal acts. We are a democracy, not an oligarchy, and much less a dictatorship. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. My name is Bulldog Jesse, the reason they call me that. I retired being a chaplain of the Riverside Cemetery, bearing our military background, 25 years in the Marine Corps, 12 years as a public servant, and private security also. And I worked with Congresswoman Norma Torres, Hilda Solis, and now I'm working with Lou Carrero here in this area. My issue here is junk cars parked in public streets. Where I live at,

on the south and east side of 4th Street, we have cars that are on the street. I have complained with the code enforcement for the last two years. Out of the last two years, the reason I say last two years, because I moved from Phillips Ranch and Ontario area here to the reason I moved here also for the great Hispanic history the city has, the culture. It's very fantastic. But anyway, I've been here. I sat on the city council. I was the commissioner, city council, ran for mayor, ran for state assembly, and also ran for the Senate. Like I said, my issue is public parking here, and junk cars are not running, and I've made complaints.

And in two years, I have called, and they violated the same person three times, and the cars are back. Every Monday four or five other people push these cars for the sweeper to come by and they put it back in the same area. Now I live here and I take care of two veterans who have dementia and sometimes we can't get the nurse to bring the equipment here because there's a block down they have to park. I would like code enforcement to to get on the ball a little bit and get get out there. You can look underneath the car, you see spider webs. You can see parts

of a car hanging, there's no transmission in it. Another car has oil dumped all over hazmat. And then we have another person in front of Patricia at Saddleback Park, and you're aware of that person, has junk cars over the weekend on the yard, a tow truck, and other vehicles are not registered. And, you know, public safety, it's really, even Even homeless people sleep in these cars. And that's a danger to them, especially when it's cold. Like I said, I had dealt with the issue when I was in Pomona, and we worked it out well. So I could get public safety here in code enforcement,

and I have here five weeks of film, I'm pushing it with other neighbors like that. And I'm guilty. First year I was here, I helped them out. Then I hurt my hip. I stopped doing it. So if I could get for the for the port enforcement get out there and help I would really appreciate it for public safety. Thank you. Oh by the way, off the wall, I'm the part of a Lou Carrero and we're doing a Welcome Home Vietnam event. Your time's up sir. I'm sorry. It was something for the public to know. I understand. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

all right next speakers chanali and carla followed by felipe dominguez and nadia jaramillo

hello everyone my name is tonaliun hello my name is carla valencia um we are here to ask for you valerio mescua as well as the wet as well as the rest of you to show up for your people we saw a lack of empathy from you when your community asked for you to call for a ceasefire in gaza so we ask for you to please find your humanity now and show up for us. We all saw the statement you posted yesterday but I do want to ask why it took so long for you to release a statement. Was it because people started to call you out or was it because you really care? As most of you know the students of Santa

Ana organized a walkout in support of our immigrant community. We had some students tell us that the word was going around at their school. Saddleback Saddleback High School administration was upset and would potentially take away their senior activities for simply exercising the first amendment right if you really care for our community like you stated please show up for these kids and our people and to close off we just want to say valeria mesqua i think it is very brave of you to try and shame people in your statement when we all know that the one with shame should be you if you

do things like kick journalists out of public events by sending police on them and roll your eyes at past public comments how do you expect your community to trust you by the way thank you members Vasquez and Lopez for all the work you do thank you

really, that position that he has with this responsibility and to each of his cabildos. With great pleasure, I direct you from the beautiful city of Quiroga, Michoacán, in Mexico. It fills us with joy the opportunity to present ourselves and share a little about our culture and our traditions, as well as the invitation to forge ties of brotherhood between our cities. Quiroga is a magical place known for its impressive geographical beauty, surrounded by mountains and lagoons that give us an unparalleled natural environment. Our economy is based on agriculture and artisan production, especially highlighting our famous carnitas,

a dish that has conquered palates all over the world. We would love for Santa Ana to become an ambassador for our gastronomic traditions, promoting the richness of our cuisine in its community. One of the most emblematic events in Quiroga is the celebration of the Night of the Dead, a festival that honors our loved ones who have left. During this night, the streets are filled with color, music and aroma, inviting everyone to participate in a unique experience that celebrates life and memory. We believe that this tradition could be a fascinating tourist attraction for the visitors of Santa Ana,

promoting an enriching exchange. We would like to explore the possibility of establishing a relationship of brotherhood between our cities, with the objective of detonating tourism and creating a bridge that connects our culture. Together we could organize events, gastronomic fairs and activities that highlight to share the best of Quiroga and Santa Ana, promoting and understanding the friendship between our peoples. Today, I am here with you with the only intention of being able to brother, of course,

Santa Ana with Quiroga Michoacán. Greetings from my Quiroguenses. Thank you.

Good evening, City Council members. The comment will be in Spanish because we have a mayor from a city in Mexico that would like to be heard. Hello, my name is Alma Gonzalez and I'm the mayor from Quiroga, Michoacan, Mexico. And respecting your charges and your positions here, I'm here to speak on behalf of the beautiful city of Quiroga, Michoacan, Mexico. And we, I would like to share a little bit about our culture, our traditions, and more, and to give, to present an invitation to

connect our cities through sister city programs. And we have a beautiful city in Quiroga, Michoacan, Mexico with mountains and lakes, beautiful people, and our main main attractions as well as handicrafts and especially the carnitas which are known the world over and we would like for Santa Ana to be an ambassador for our culinary exports and we would like to propose several events from Quiroga especially something that is known

known far and wide is the Day of the Dead, which honors our dearly departed. And it's a tradition and an event full of culture, music and people, and the smells of life, celebrating life and memories. We would like to promote tourism and to connect our cities to bring this rich exchange change and to establish a sister ship with the city of Santa Ana so that we can promote tourism again, to bridge our cultures for our people, to create events that will promote

both cities, to promote the friendship of our peoples. And so our intention is to become a sister city with the city of Santa Ana and the city of Quiroga, Michoacan. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Nadia Jaramillo. I am from Ward 2. I'm a senior at Santa Ana High School. I have been an activist for three years with organizations such as Latino Health Access, Santa Ana Active Streets, and the People's History of Orange County. Today, I have a question for Mayor Emescu. Is it true that you plan to collaborate with ICE to deport residents of Santa Ana, while knowing that Santa Ana is a sanctuary city and that you yourself come from Hispanic roots. I asked due to the recent editorial that has come out and is floating around social media. Knowing the partnership

between you and the police force, I would like confirmation for myself, my peers, and my community that we are safe in the city we call home. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

The next three speakers, Claudia Morales, Maria Orozco, Ana Charco.

a party the de Santana he even go porque a visto el miedo que I la campana de miedo que se esta metiendo la gente verdaderamente trabajamos fuerte mente el año pasado para que la gente estuviera empoderada verdad yo y veo el miedo que estan viviendo es muy triste me han llamado compañeras de la unión en crisis de de pánico pero sobre todo apoyo el punto 21 porque veo también los How are young people afraid? How are they afraid to support their parents, their family? And I also saw what the mayor of Huntington Beach published, right?

That he wants to participate, that he wants to collaborate and declare us Huntington Beach Sanctuary so that the police can do their job and stop the criminals. For me, it's the message that he's not saying that we are criminals. So that's why I'm here today to support agenda number 21 to tell people to talk more about what the sanctuary city is. Honestly, I didn't know what the sanctuary city was, I don't even know exactly, but I liked to tell people, don't worry, we're in a sanctuary city, in a sanctuary state.

and today that I see what the city of Santuario is, I say, oh, it's almost nothing, it almost doesn't support anything. I remember in December of the year before last that I came here and that we wanted to give our public opinion. A situation arose, which I sometimes tell people. I was very sad because I couldn't give my public opinion, neither me nor the people who came because there were many evictions at that time. I said, how am I going to celebrate my holidays if they are evicting my people? I said, and do you know what happened at the council? They almost took us out of the gun.

They didn't let us vote, not even because we didn't revolt. I told him, so today I want to know that those policemen who are there are not going to work with ICE, they are not going to continue being despots, because I consider them to be community workers and they should be working with us. And I wanted to teach my son that they are our friends, that they take care of us. And today, today that all that fear is getting into them, there is truly a trauma for the next generation. We already had the pandemic. Today it is here.

Please, I appeal to humanity so that they can work consciously with us, migrants. Thank you.

Good evening to all members of the City Council. My name is Claudia Morales, and I'm here representing Tenants United Santa Ana and CES, a community organization. I am in District 4, and I am proud to say that I'm part of Santa Ana. And I'm here to talk about this fear of the campaign of fear that has been going around. We have worked very hard last year to empower our people, but now I see that this fear is coming up, and people have called me. My friends have called me in panic regarding what is happening.

And so I'm here to support item number 21 because the youth, everybody, especially the youth, are fearful that their families and other friends are going to be deported. And even what I heard from or about the mayor of Huntington Beach saying that he's going to work on an anti-sanctuary Huntington Beach, that they're going to be detaining and deporting criminals. criminals so I'm here to so I'm hearing that he's calling us criminals so I'm here to support item

number 21 because I didn't know what a sanctuary city was I didn't know and but I just told people it's okay we're going to be okay we're in a sanctuary city we're in a sanctuary state but now that I know more about what a sanctuary city is I don't think it's that much it doesn't provide a lot of support. And last year I was here to provide comments regarding the situation, and it was sad that I could not provide my comments because there were a lot of people

suffering from evictions. So I didn't feel good celebrating when people were going through that. and the city council almost kicked us out at gunpoint. So we were not able to provide our comments. And I see the police officers here. I just wanna know and make sure that they are not working with ICE, that they're not going to be despots, that they are going to be working for the community. And I want to tell my son that these are our friends, that they care for us. So we have suffered through lots of trauma, first with the pandemic and now with this.

So I want to know that you will be working with us immigrants. Thank you.

Hello, good afternoon. My name is Maria. I'm a fellow community member and a part of World 2. And alongside, I'm a fellow graduate of the University of California, Davis. I'M HERE TODAY TO EXPRESS MY SUPPORT FOR AGENDA NUMBER 21 TO BRING BACK SANCTUARY POLICY AND ADVERSARY GROUP. A POLICY WRITTEN ALONGSIDE THE ORDINANCE TO FACILITATE TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY BETWEEN IMMIGRATION RESIDENTS IN THE CITY OF SAN ANA. IN JANUARY 2017, THE CITY COUNCIL ESTABLISHED A TASK FORM MADE UP OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO ADVISE THE CITY COUNCIL ON POLICIES

and oversee a fund to show a strong commitment to support the immigrant community here in the City of Santa Ana. The advisory group has not met in quite a bit, and with all the uncertainty that has been around in our environment, it's crucial for the City of Santa Ana to affirm its support for immigrant community by reviving the Century Policy Advisory Group. This group can help build trust and transparency between the City of Santa Ana and its immigrant residents.

I fully support Councilmember Lopez and request to the adversary group to reconvene within 30 days to provide updates and recommendations on how to better protect residents. I look forward to the reimplementation of the sanctuary ordinance and advise boards and the control to protecting immigrant rights.

Jennifer L. Hall

thank you next three speakers on a charcoal my dough and Carlo hi all good

evening mayor mesquin honorable council members my name is Anna Chad way I'm here on behalf of Latino health access we have witnessed firsthand the growing fear and uncertainty among immigrants communities due to the current political climate. LHA serves more than 12,500 individuals, primarily in the city of Santa Ana, in which 86.7 of them are foreign-born and disproportionately impacted by anti-immigration rhetoric and policy. Many families live with the constant worry of separation due to the increased immigration enforcement, while others are hesitant to access critical public benefits, fearing the

repercussions under public charge rules. This climate of fear undermines the well-being of our community and the sense of belonging that every residents deserves here in the city for this reason we strongly support council member Lopez requests under agenda item 21 reinstating the sanctuary policy advisory group is essential to fostering trust and transparency between the city and its immigrant residents this advert advisory group plays a critical role in upholding Santa Ana sanctuary city designation and ensuring the immigrants residents feel protected, valued, and supported. Furthermore, its impact extends

beyond undocumented individuals. It also affects mixed immigration status families who are the heart and soul of Santa Ana's right-rank culture and community life. Santa Ana statues as a sanctuary city built on years of community-based struggles fighting for the political, economic, and human rights of our communities. Therefore, we urge your City Council to prioritize and reinstate the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group as a meaningful step toward we're affirming Santa Ana's commitment to its immigrant residents. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Good evening Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Mai Nguyen Do. I'm here today as the Research and Policy Manager for the Harbor Institute for Immigrants and Economic Justice. As always, we're enthusiastic about any efforts to strengthen and build on Santa Ana's sanctuary policy, such as the effort for outlined in item 21. After all years of extensive research and experience shows that sanctuary policies are necessary for any jurisdiction serious about decreasing crime, protecting survivors, and promoting public safety. That being said, we're here today to simply bring to your attention an issue that should be considered

in the course of addressing agenda item 21. In short, we don't recommend attaching Santa Ana's Immigration Legal Defense Fund to the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group. These two matters should be addressed separately. The fund has historically suffered gaps and outreach and services that remain unaddressed, particularly in relation to the city's Southeast Asian refugee community members. This issue has been documented by many, including reporters with Los Angeles Times. So seeing as the fund's current provider was the only bidder for the next fund contract, the fund should first be restructured to increase the scope of services

and expand outreach to communities not currently serviced before advancing any process that would result in granting the current provider the contract again. Our concerns with the Immigration Legal Defense Fund translate into suggestions regarding regarding the proposed reconvening of and updates to the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group. We hope that the advisory group will reflect the diversity of communities impacted by the threat of deportation, including the local Vietnamese community, which remains extremely disproportionately unprotected under state law from ICE transfers. For example, last year, 90% of the community members

in custody of the Sheriff's Department who were born in Vietnam were unprotected from being transferred to ICE compared to about 60% for other community members born in other countries. And so we're optimistic that in working to ensure sanctuary is upheld for everyone in santa ana the council will ensure the advisory group is represented representative of a diverse array of backgrounds and perspectives everyone deserves sanctuary because the more inclusive the sanctuary law the stronger the sanctuary law the safer the city thank you good evening council my name is carlo and today i want to speak to you

but something that I consider myself an expertise on. I'm currently a doctoral candidate at UC Irvine, specifically focusing on local jurisdictional policies with the specifics on hazard mitigation and also sanctuary policies. And I want to speak to you about this because sanctuary, something that I heard earlier today is that sanctuary, it can mean many different things. People were asking us what does it mean? What does it actually mean? Is it a symbolic gesture or not? What I've studied for in the past several years is that sanctuary is a very symbolic thing that a lot of cities just put out there

and don't really follow up with what it means to protect the undocumented immigrants and beyond and this of the of the entire people in the city and so with an image in the 21 you have an opportunity to not only question what sanctuary really means but also to expand its meaning how do we protect undocumented immigrants not only in front of eyes but also how to protect them on everyday acquaintances during everyday lives, but also when they're experiencing things at work, at home, and different other subjects. I think this advisory council is very important, not only because you're able to talk to community

members about what this means, but also because you have the ability to put stakeholders on there that know what it's like, and also to be face-to-face with ICE agents in that experience. I myself know what it's like to be face-to-face with IHS agents and very informed of what might come to the future. And so I ask you to please support Agenda Item 21, but also make sure that it has the people's voice in it and to make sure you hear their concerns and to hear every single experience they've gone to make sure that undocumented immigrants in Santa Ana are protected. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

The next speakers, Kayla Asato and Roberto Herrera.

Jennifer L. Hall

Kayla? Kayla?

Okay.

Hello, my name is Kayla Asato, and I'm the political director of Orange County Environmental Justice. I'm here in enthusiastic support of Agenda Item 21. Orange County Environmental Justice has played a large role in helping to shape environmental justice policies across the city of Santa Ana. We've done this by talking to residents, identifying what issues they care about, taking concerns, and shaping into policy. We've seen through our work across Santa Ana and the entirety of Orange County that the ones most impacted by environmental justice concerns are immigrants.

The neighborhoods across Santa Ana impacted by high concentrations of soil lead are immigrant constituents and communities, including the ones including the ones that council members Penaloza and Becerra have voted against for years. The neighborhoods affected by poor air and water quality are largely immigrant communities, including the ones that council member Penaloza fails to represent. Santa Ana is a sanctuary city because we have a large immigrant population being sacrificed by

oops, sorry, by career politicians like Mayor Emezcua. I'm a proud former resident of Ward 3. an employee in Ward 5 and co-worker of incredible organizers in Wards 2 and 4. We need to fight for immigrants and residents of this beautiful city and that starts by supporting agenda item 21 and bringing back the sanctuary policy advisor group. Thank you.

Thank you. Hi, Mayor and City Council. My name is Roberto. I come before you today as a Santa Ana resident, employee of Resilience Orange County, and a volunteer with the OC Rapid Response Network. It was important for me to show up today to support Councilmember Lopez's item 21, Believe it is necessary for the city of Santana to reaffirm its stance as a sanctuary city Especially with so much uncertainty in the community Most people won't know but I was a founding member of and an active member of the sanctuary policy advisory group I was there in 2016 when we advocated for the sanctuary ordinance

when the sanctuary sanctuary policy advisory group had its first meeting and I was also there when we had to sunset the advisory group I hold a lot of knowledge about what we've worked on our bylaws the data that we collected and the recommendations that we prepared as You consider re-implementing the sanctuary ordinance I can lend my support to the city and city manager in guiding what once was to become what is needed now To be clear our city sanctuary status is already an ordinance What we're asking you to do here tonight is to enforce it. We're asking you to calm the fear and to protect the immigrant community.

Send a strong message to the community that Santa Ana is for everyone. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the in-person speakers. Additionally, there are no speakers on Zoom who are in the queue when comments commenced.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you Madam Clerk. All right. Let's get into the consent calendar items at this time. Consent calendar items 4 through 17 are before us. Councilmember has announced any items that you will be stating from or that you'd like to pull. Councilmember, are there any items you will be stating from or pulling please? I'm sorry? Councilmember Becerra. I'd like to pull items 9 and 12. Thank you. Councilmember Hernandez.

David Penaloza

None Madam Mayor.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. Council Member Penalosa.

David Penaloza

Thank you Mayor. I'd like to pull item 11.

Valerie Amezcua

Council Member Lopez.

Alvaro Nuñez

I will not be pulling any items but I do have a comment for item 8.

Valerie Amezcua

Mayor Pro Tem.

Benjamin Vazquez

I have no items to pull. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Great. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the remainder of the consent calendar please. So moved. Second. Second. I think Councilman Penalosa and Becerra we got that. Madam Clerk.

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes. I have a motion by Councilmember Penalosa seconded by Councilmember Becerra. Let's prepare to vote. Approve consent calendar items number 4 through 17 with the exceptions of items number 9, 11 and 12 pulled for separate discussion and consideration. Perfect. Let's prepare to vote at this time.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

VOTE OF 7 AYES, NO NAYS. MOTION CARRIES.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

THANK YOU. NOW FOR THE APPOINTMENTS TO THE VARIOUS BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. IF YOU'RE HERE, MADAM CLARK,

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

you need to bring them up. Yes, thank you. We do have two commissioners present, Bao Pham and Tracy Law. If you could please come join me in the front.

I, Theresa Law, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign domestic, that will bear true faith and allegiance, Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California. I take this obligation freely. I'm ending mental reservation, sorry. Or purpose of evasion.

And I will voluntarily and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 8

MADAM MAYOR, THE FIRST ITEM FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR IS ITEM 8 FOR A COMMENT BY COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ. NEW SPEAKER LOPEZ, NEW SPEAKER LOPEZ, THANK YOU.

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

NEW SPEAKER LOPEZ, YES, WELL, I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU AND THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERKS AND THE OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT OUR OFFICE BROUGHT FORTH IN EARLY 2022 AND IT'S BEEN A COUPLE YEARS SINCE THEN, SINCE OUR REQUEST FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. AND, YOU KNOW, LIKE WITH THE JAPANESE TEA HOUSE, WE'RE SEEING SOME OF THE ITEMS THAT HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN PREVIOUS, PREVIOUS YEARS COME BACK AND BE FINALIZED. AND SO I REALLY WANT TO APPRECIATE, THANK YOU AND I APPRECIATE YOUR WORK. AND SO I WANTED TO THANK THE CLERK AND HER STAFF FOR

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

MOVING THIS FORWARD BECAUSE THIS WAS, AND IT CONTINUES TO BE REALLY IMPORTANT.

Jennifer L. HallItem 8

mayor the next item is item number nine pulled by councilmember becerra

Phil BacerraItem 8

thank you madam clerk this item is uh the sequa determination for fairview street improvements from 17th street to trask uh mr city manager i believe probably director saba might be best person to answer my questions so the city plans i believe from what i read in the staff staff report that the city plans to acquire four properties, two on Huckleberry Road and two on Strawberry Lane on the west side of Fairview. So has the city made any offers to purchase those properties at this point? No. And what is the intention, I guess, with that? In other words,

Phil BacerraItem 8

are we looking for a proper, I'm sorry, partial acquisition similar to what we did at 17, I'm I'm sorry, at Bristol and Memory, or are we looking at full property acquisition for those four houses?

Male Speaker 1 The objective of this particular item is to adopt the CEQA determination to allow us to apply for right-of-way funding so we could acquire these properties. Female Speaker 1 I'm sorry, could you speak into the mic, please? Male Speaker 1 So we could acquire the properties. So our intention is to do a full acquisition of four properties right now.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Male Speaker 1 So the answer then is, you would be acquiring the full property. So it wouldn't be just a partial, it'd be full.

Male Speaker 2 That's correct.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Male Speaker 2 So then if you acquire it, and again, I'm not an engineer, but just looking at kind of where I would imagine the right-of-way ending, the public right-of-way ending. So in that case, we would have some remnant properties. Has there been any thought given as to what would happen to those properties?

Male Speaker 2 It would be very similar to what we've done with other projects. Those remnant portions of the parcels will be either offered to the next door property owner to acquire or if that's not successful we can leave them as open space for the city okay perfect and then

Phil BacerraItem 8

two other questions so the secret document that was in the staff report states that there'd be a the project will add a six foot dedicated bike lane with no buffer my question is why no buff it's it's the width of right of way

that we have allocated right now within the limits of from curb to curb existing for the existing and Fairview itself. So we are taking some properties to widen Fairview. However, the entire street will not allow for more than six feet on each side unprotected bike lane.

Phil BacerraItem 8

And there's no way to shrink the median in order to accommodate a protected bike lane?

We can take a look at that, Councilmember. The design is not complete. We are 90% designed, so we could take a closer look at that and see if we could provide the protected bike lane in this case, but we have to really look at it. Okay. And then my final question is,

Phil BacerraItem 8

for this project at Fairview and Westminster. This is constantly, constantly being ranked as one of the most dangerous intersections in Orange County, not just Santa Ana, but Orange County. So share with me and share with everybody what, with this project, what sort of improvements will happen at

that intersection. Yeah, we do plan to implement recommendations on that intersection that is is included in the latest Santa Ana Vision Zero plan. Male Speaker 1 Okay. Male Speaker 2 So, we would be looking at that intersection. We would be looking at the recommendation that the Vision Zero plan has, and we'd be implementing those measures in that intersection.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Male Speaker 1 And what are those measures?

Male Speaker 2 We have, right now, we have plans to look at, give me a second if you don't mind, truck aprons, hard and center lines, dual wheel, wheelchair ramps. Those are the initial what we have in the Vision Zero recommendations, but we would look at more.

Phil BacerraItem 8

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch the first two. All I caught was wheelchair ramps, so we can get folks quickly going into the intersection, which is probably not what we want to do, but what are the two other items that you were listing from the plan?

I have listed here truck aprons and hardened center lines.

Phil BacerraItem 8

What is a truck apron?

I can refer to my city engineer on those.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Wonderful.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. Council. Truck aprons are concrete pads around the ADA ramps to ensure that trucks don't make too hard of a turn and kind of go over the ramps. The other important elements are high visibility crosswalks. So that's another measure of the Vision Zero Plan that's going going to go into these improvements. So while the intersection won't be receiving as part of this project major improvements, there are a lot of small Vision Zero-type elements like high-visibility crosswalks

that will improve the safety of the intersection.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Male Speaker 1 and I appreciate that. I grew up not too far from that intersection. So I, again, seeing it in various publications ranked as one of the more dangerous intersections, any improvements would be welcomed, I think for everybody over there. I'll go ahead and move the item, but what I'd like to do, and maybe if I can get guidance.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

I have a comment before you, if you don't mind.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Well, just let me throw the motion out there, then as you'd say or else I'll forget. I would like to go ahead and throw a motion out there that we would move this item, but I want to make it possible for our Executive Director of Public Works to be able to explore protected bike lane that segment of Fairview from 17th to Trask. So whatever that needs to be in that document, again, understanding that this is just to provide flexibility for you at this point. So that's my motion.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

I'll second the motion, but I have a question. So when you're talking protected bike lanes, Council Mbezera, we're not talking those red ball bells we have on Main Street that are awful.

No.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

So explain to the community what you're going to do for the the protected bike lanes.

Protected bike lane is class four. Protected bike lane is similar to what we have on Bristol Street, where you have a buffer between the bike lane itself and the flow of traffic. It could be concrete, mostly concrete with planters if there is a potential or there's enough room for us to do some planting. Otherwise, it would be concrete berm to prevent cars from crossing the bike lane itself.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

So like on Bristol, there'll be concrete, and Mr. City Manager will make them look attractive, so when people come into our city, they just don't see concrete and dirt. Similar, like Main Street, those red bulbs out that are absolutely, in my opinion, I know they're supposed to slow traffic down, but everybody hits them. I've almost looked at myself, so we're not putting those in.

I just want to be really clear.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

no no that's not what you described okay all right thank you i second it let's prepare to vote there's

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 8

no other comments councilman hernandez yes thank you madam mayor just a quick comment um thank you director nabil um and for being transparent as well as to what we potentially would look at is is four homes um i hope that in in the pursuit of expanding these streets that we are working with the homeowners um in advance we're being transparent with our communication and we're assisting them in is there going to be assistance with relocation absolutely okay good um in addition to that i am also supportive of protected bike lanes similar to what we have on bristol street

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 8

given that the intersection is 17th and fairview is a intersection where we've had you know pedestrians be hit by vehicles and tragically lose their life and especially people who are using bikes to come from the riverbed whether it be from from artisia pilat on king street or coming from fairview towards civic center it's important that we're protecting and offering the most safety that we can for residents who are using bikes and so i just wanted to make sure that i was communicative that that is a priority to my office as well thank you thank you councilwoman lopez thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

So I don't have an issue with protected bike lanes. I don't have an issue with traffic diverging strategies. I think in fact we've taken some of those strategies from the framework of the Vision Zero Plan and implemented them in certain neighborhoods in the city, which people have been very receptive to. However, I do have concerns about this item specifically because I guess when I think about acquiring property and trying to buy people out of their homes during a housing crisis that obviously automatically raises a flag for me number

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

one number two the issue of a design not being finalized is also another problem for me and I think we've addressed this right where ultimately I don't know what I'm really approving if I don't have a final design in front of me something I CAN TAKE TO THOSE FAMILIES ON STRAWBERRY LANE OFF OF TRASK AND SHARE WITH THEM TOO. BECAUSE WE ALL DID A WALK THROUGH IN THIS SECTION NOT TOO LONG AGO WITH PD, WITH STAFF, PUBLIC WORKS, AND I SHARED WITH ALL OF YOU THE MULTITUDE ISSUES THAT WE EXPERIENCE IN

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

THAT INTERSECTION BECAUSE OF HIGH TRAFFIC LEVELS, BECAUSE OF THE SPEEDING, BUT ALSO A LOT OF RESIDENTS, A LOT OF FAMILIES IN THAT AREA ABSOLUTELY HATE THE TRAFFIC THAT COMES OUT OF THE SCHOOL. AND SO EXTENDING THIS, MAKING IT WIDER IS NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO ADDRESS THAT BECAUSE AS I SHOWED WITH ALL OF YOU, THE CHOKE HOLD THAT EXISTS CURRENTLY THERE IS NOT BEING ADDRESSED BY THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN THAT WE ALL DISCUSSED. AND SO THAT IS ALSO ANOTHER ISSUE FOR ME. me. Additionally, I don't think that we should, you know, moving forward, be planning to buy

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

people out of their homes and say, well, maybe I'm going to leave them as vacant lots. That's not appealing to me. That is not using our best, like, creative abilities to me because look at Bristol, right? How many families did we not buy out of their homes and still have vacant lots and so that is not adding to the solutions that we currently have in my district and in the city and really regionally and so I really don't know if the families have been spoken to if we've had community meetings with the surrounding neighborhoods to present this plan to

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

them to ask them what is it that you think do you have any objections do you have any feedback for us and so again i'm not supportive of using the vision zero framework in fact i'm we talked about vision zero from this position for many years now i'm supportive of the funding of enacting it of taking from the framework but for me right now this is not an item that i'm going to be helping to move forward so thank you are there any other comments council

Phil BacerraItem 8

to say i i actually appreciate councilmember lopez's comments you know i've raised these concerns before that some of these documents that come to us they sound like they're going to do something for the community and they are they're going to help us bring in funds from whether it's state agencies county agencies so that we can build this infrastructure but there's a lot of areas in the city where I think we do really need to take a deeper look at slowing down traffic. Not bring it to a halt, but especially in that area where we're talking about here,

Phil BacerraItem 8

Fairview between 17th and Trask, you have multiple schools in that area. Again, I speak from experience having grown up in that area. I know there's a lot of pedestrian traffic, especially especially during the school peak periods. And so the fact that 17th and Fairview is a dangerous intersection is troubling. So I'm going to support the item tonight, I think, in regards to the issue about the acquisition of the properties and what you're going to do with them. I appreciate that you may be looking at trying to take what isn't used for the project and trying to enhance the open space for the residents that are there.

Phil BacerraItem 8

because those are old homes. I mean you go back though that track was probably developed I'm gonna say I'm guessing 30s 40s somewhere like that. They're smaller lots they're not standard lots and if I was the neighboring homeowner and you said I'm gonna give you an extra couple hundred square feet for my kids to be able to run around in a yard I think that's a wonderful thing for at least those families but I do appreciate the concerns being expressed up here about those folks that are going to be potentially relocated but they are going to be compensated is that correct yes absolutely so they're not just gonna be

Phil BacerraItem 8

kicked out of their homes they will be compensated I just want to make sure that everybody understands we're not kicking people out of homes this is basically saying hey we're doing this for an overall city project that's meant to benefit the city as a whole but we're not just displacing people arbitrarily we're going to be compensating them for their properties.

Absolutely.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Perfect.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

So the last comment I have is that Council Member Becerra really wanted to make it clear that we're purchasing the homes and we're compensating them, but at market value, correct?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

So it's not below market value. We're not saying here's a check for $500,000. It's market value.

Benjamin VazquezItem 8

Absolutely.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

Okay. And so Council Member Lopez brought up a school. I think I'm assuming she was talking about Semwele. i don't want to assume that but i i would hope that's what she's talking about mr city manager i believe we spoke about samwali as well um i don't think nabil we had that conversation yes we did have that conversation actually i believe we talked about the traffic because i know the residents in that area had asked for a traffic light or some sort of ability to control the flow of traffic i didn't give any direction because i can't do that without four votes however the com

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

The response from the city was that it costs a lot of money and we'd have to do a study. And so I would like a study, and I hope that up here I would get the support for a study in that area, especially in front of Samwellie, because I have been there on numerous occasions, and the traffic is terrible there. And so if we're going to be working in that area, we might as well kill two birds with one stone and address that as well. And I'm not giving you the direction on how to exactly do it, because you are the experts, and you're going to bring it back to us to show this is what your study found so councilman

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

becerra if i can just add to your motion that we he would also bring back to us not only the information from this item but also what the study finds from samwell as far as traffic i make that amendment another comment says prepare to vote oh i'm sorry you have to i don't see you

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

here sorry can you raise your thing so i know yeah it's just requested in gray and so anyway i'm

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

sorry you request it but it's not showing up is what i'm trying to tell you so just so you know put up your mic and that way i can call on you thank you um go ahead jennifer so i i really

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

appreciate the council members comments because i think we all agree that when we're having areas of the city that are traffically that are highly traffically impacted pedestrian vehicle it's important for us and we've had these conversations for many years now how do we best address them right not just how do you throw something on the wall to see what sticks but how do you best thoroughly think about the solutions that you're asking me to essentially support you with and so again and this is really the issue for me in terms of how I approach my work from from this

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

position understanding that there's such a that there's everybody here saying it a massive traffic issue right and the plans that i've seen are not addressing that specific issue because it does not address the chokehold that currently exists off of 17th street heading north towards trask and so again i think for me when we're when we're thinking about these items what is the best way to address the current issue that exists on that very high traffic street. Is this to me the best idea? I think aspects of it, yes. As a whole, am I going to be supporting it?

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

No, because I do not believe that what I've seen so far, what I know so far of what is being presented is going to address the actual issue that I hear from my constituents, that you heard from our constituents in that area, and the issue that they want truly resolved. AND SO I SAY THAT WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO YOU, CITY MANAGER, TO OUR PUBLIC WORK STAFF, BECAUSE I DO RESPECT ALL OF THE WORK THAT YOU DO. I RESPECT ALL OF THE WORK THAT PUBLIC WORKS DOES IN ALL ASPECTS OF OUR LIVES. BUT AGAIN, I JUST WANTED TO PROVIDE MORE CLARITY BECAUSE THAT'S REALLY THE ISSUE THAT I'M HAVING WITH THIS ITEM. SO THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

NEW SPEAKER I DON'T SEE ANY OTHER. ANY OTHER? DO YOU WANT TO SPEAK?

David PenalozaItem 8

YES, MAYOR. THANK YOU. I JUST WANT TO ALSO THANK COUNCILMEMBER LOPEZ. I'M GOING TO BE SUPPORTING HER IN VOTING AGAINST THIS ITEM DUE TO THE FACT THAT BECAUSE OF THE DESIGN PHASE IS NOT COMPLETE AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE SEE OFTEN WITH HUNDREDS OF PROJECTS, DIRECTOR SABA, THAT THESE DESIGN PHASES ARE ENDLESS AND THEY GO IN YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS INTO NOT BEING COMPLETED. AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO BE HERE TEN YEARS. WE WON'T BE HERE. I WON'T BE HERE. NONE OF US. So hopefully nobody's here 12 years from now. But 12 years from now, I can see this project still before the council at the time.

David PenalozaItem 8

Ten million dollars in the hole in design fees and payments and nothing to show for it. So I thank you, Council Member Lopez, for those comments. I will be voting no.

Phil BacerraItem 8

Female Speaker 1 I just have one question. I think my colleagues are bringing up something very important, which is, we're considering a CEQA determination. And you mentioned, Director Saba, that the design is at 90%. Is that correct? Yes, sir. So I'm going to look to who I think is probably our CEQA expert, ACM Tai.

Phil BacerraItem 8

So when it comes to CEQA, do we need to have a design that's complete before we can approve the CEQA?

The short answer is yes. Yes, you generally require a full project description that describe the scope of the work. Obviously, the detail remains, but the idea of CEQA is that you study the full impact of a project.

Phil BacerraItem 8

So, let me ask Director Saba, because I'm having these concerns, which I wish I wasn't having in a meeting like this. So, would it be possible to bring this item back in two weeks or a month, and would that jeopardize your application?

I don't believe so.

We'll need to look at the timing, but there is an application process that we need to follow with OCTA to apply for the right-of-way acquisition. But we do have a 90% design for the project. To have a CEQA document prepared and categorical exemption be adopted, you have to have a project. project and we have a project. We have a 90% design. We did walk the location with Councilmember Lopez and others and in the area where we are acquiring those four properties, there

is no sidewalk right now. And it's a choke hole where it's coming going south on Fairview. It goes from three to two and that was one of the major issues that we've had when we were in the field in addition to other things that we were addressing as studying the traffic issues within the neighborhood itself so we were there we looked at it and we implemented some measures but this is a project that will enhance that fair through the the street itself but also it does address pedestrian because right now there is no sidewalk to and i appreciate that director

Phil BacerraItem 8

saw but my concern though is what i just heard from acm thai which is that we would need to have a full design ready to go for sequa again that's what i heard tell me if i'm wrong

what you need is the full scope of the project so there are often time design are still left in place i think the project description here when you look at it is that it's the the ultimate right of way with. It's the improvements to the street. So I don't know of all of that information in the CEQA, but I would imagine that would be the scope of a project. So the ultimate design can be left up to the end in terms of specifications,

but in terms of scope, it should be fully described right at the front.

Phil BacerraItem 8

And that makes sense, because if we approve a development, we approve it with a conceptual design. We don't approve it with building plans. WE DON'T APPROVE IT WITH ENGINEERING, FINAL ENGINEERING, RIGHT? WE DO A TENTIVE BEFORE WE GET TO A FINAL MAP, RIGHT? WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT. I THINK THERE WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT OF MISCOMMUNICATION COMING OUT OF YOU GUYS BECAUSE IT SOUNDED LIKE WE NEEDED SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE THOROUGH, BUT IT'S, I GUESS, THE SCOPE, AND I'LL GO BACK TO WHAT I MADE MY ORIGINAL MOTION, OBVIOUSLY ACCEPTING THE MAYOR'S ITEMS AS WELL, BUT THE

Phil BacerraItem 8

fact that i wanted to add to the scope that flexibility to have that class 4 bike lane as part of the project so as it goes to octa assuming that the funding could become available at some point for that enhancement so i i hope that for my colleagues that i i guess helps with some of the concerns that we don't really need to get all the way to the end with design i think we're mostly there unless there's another concern with the project which is fair i understand that but i'll be supporting the project as is so thank you council member fan thank you mayor um i think your

Thai Viet PhanItem 8

final questions really clarified some of that so so just for everyone out there i just want some clarification right we're looking for a notice of exemption there is in fact a full project the scope is clear we know what environmental review was done and here's a notice of exemption a category exemption so for everyone out there who thinks we don't have a project we have a project it's just we haven't talked about you know the color of the concrete or we're talking about the you know which part of the curb will be painted red and which will be the loading zone or what will you know we

Thai Viet PhanItem 8

haven't talked about the the exact you know the bike lanes there's there are always going to be some parts of the design that is going to be left toward at the end that it will be determined. So I think maybe it's the use of the language, project design versus project scope for purposes of SQL and what we're trying to do here. So I just want to make that clear for everyone. We have a project and that we need the SQL determination in order to accept the funding that we need to complete this project.

Phil BacerraItem 8

To apply, I'm sorry.

Thai Viet PhanItem 8

To apply, so even to apply. So to me, you know, we're constantly talking about the lack of funding for infrastructure projects. We're talking about the lack of funding that's coming from the state and federal government. We're talking about the Santa Ana need for money to do the improvements that are going to improve residents' lives. And here we're looking to get money from OCTA, the very agency that has failed to necessarily step up in times of need. And here we are. We think that they can step up. And so I think that it's important for us to go out there apply wherever we can get whatever free money

Thai Viet PhanItem 8

We can and make those improvements for our residents and as we see, you know other issues crop up We're gonna be responsive to that We're gonna hold Public Works responsible for being responsive to the issues of traffic the issues of congestion the issues of bike lanes and to make sure that Residents are able to use this new and improved Fairview in a way that we envision. So with that, I'm definitely going to support this item. I really want to see us continue to make public improvements in the city and really put our money where our residents expect it. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 8

Thank you. I don't see any other speakers here, so let's prepare to vote. Madam City Clerk.

Jennifer L. HallItem 8

Yes, Mayor and Council. We have a motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by Mayor Himescuwa to approve the recommended action for item number 9 related to the CEQA determination for Fairview Street Improvements Project from 17th to Trask as with direction to explore protected bike lanes and study traffic around the Samoilian Academy.

Jennifer L. HallItem 9

Let's vote please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 9

The vote is 4 ayes, 3 nays. Nays by Council Members Hernandez, Lopez, and Peñalosa. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 9

The next item is item number 11, pulled by Council Member Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem 9

Thank you, Mayor and Madam City Clerk. Item 11 was pulled. It's the First Amendment to Agreement with Focus Media Group for the Placing of Advertisements and Maintenance of Our Bus Shelters. I pulled this item because I have a couple questions on just the to clarify some things and and Mr. City Manager did you want me to direct my questions to you or

In city director polar works is on that oversees this project so he can answer more specifically

David PenalozaItem 9

Thank You mr. City Manager so the first director Saba, thank you for for and I'm very happy to be having this item before us.

Male Speaker 1 You're welcome.

David PenalozaItem 9

Male Speaker 2 The question that I have is that the, and some concerns I guess along with the questions, that the original agreement was approved in January of 2022. Right? So, my question is why did it take three years to identify that the restrictions were not, were overly vague and not workable with the contractor?

contractor? We ran into a request for, from, through our focus media provider, the maintenance company that does the advertisement to us. They were approached to advertise for something that it was kind of, we didn't know too much about it. So we reached out to our city attorney's office for consultation, and we were too restrictive in our allowed advertisement or restriction

in the contract, so we needed to go back and revise those restrictions to comply with the free speech provisions. MR.

David PenalozaItem 9

Right. I understand that, and I understand why this is before us, but why did that take three years is what I'm asking.

MR. It was triggered by someone actually asking us that, hey, why can't we do this? And we told them no, according to the existing agreement. At that point, we went to our attorney's office and we figured that, or we discovered that our restriction is too restrictive and we needed to revise it. So, does that explain it?

David PenalozaItem 9

David M. Yes, it's explaining why you're making amendments, but why did it take three years? That's the question that I can't get, to get an answer to.

I know Sonia may chime in.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 9

So this was initiated by a complaint that we received. So the contract went into effect and it was operating and then a specific advertisement issue came up, which was years after it was put into play. And we were responding to a threat of litigation, a letter that was sent to us. So that letter didn't come in until several years after the agreement was at play. So that was the reason why this happened. We felt when the agreement was first put together, I think that we wanted to control very strictly and tightly messaging that would be under the agreement.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 9

And I think what happened is it turned out that based on this letter, we'd gone a little too far. And so we were responding to the letter and doing the right thing.

David PenalozaItem 9

And thank you for that clarifying information, Madam City Attorney. So, and the reason why I asked that question is because I see some kind of timeline here. These bus shelters were put in over three years ago, and we went into this agreement. And for the last three years, for anyone that's driving around the City of Santa Ana, there were tulips that were put as placeholders with a phone number for someone to call and advertise. About two, three months ago, I brought it up to the city manager and yourself YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO IT YOURSELF AT A PUBLIC COUNCIL MEETING. WHY ARE THOSE TULIPS STILL

David PenalozaItem 9

THERE AND THEY'RE DISCOLORED? AND THE REASON WHY WE WENT WITH THIS AGREEMENT IN THE FIRST PLACE WAS BECAUSE OF OUR NEED TO GENERATE REVENUE FOR THE CITY. GENERATE REVENUE TO FILL OUR COFFERS THAT AREN'T IN ADDITIONAL TAX ON OUR RESIDENTS. SO HOW DO WE DO THAT WITH ADVERTISEMENTS, PRIVATE ADVERTISEMENTS ON OUR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE? YOU SAID SOMETHING, NABIL, THAT you said this was a new venture for us we weren't sure what we were doing but the the the problem with that is that this i mean we've had bus shelter advertisements for decades in the city

David PenalozaItem 9

and drive anywhere else in the country there are bus shelters with advertisements whether that's fast food whether that's electronics coffee whatever it is movies they're advertised and their their cities are generating revenue so i i feel like that comment that i made and those that I posed a couple months ago is what triggered somebody from Public Works to say, hey, why can't we find advertisers for these bus shelters? And then it triggered somebody to look into the contract and look into our provider who we entered into agreement with. And this is concerning because I keep questioning

David PenalozaItem 9

if there's any contract oversight in our Public Works Department, because this isn't the first time this happens with contractors. So, who's overseeing these contracts?

Amir El- Public Works Agency, my staff, is overseeing the contract. Just to back up a little bit about this particular contract, there is many advertising panels in the city, maybe a little bit too much. However, it is the responsibility of Focus Media Group, which is our contractor, to fill and sell the advertisements of these panels. So it's on them to sell these. Whatever revenue they get pays for the maintenance. They don't pay us for the advertisement.

The revenue for the advertisement goes to them to pay for the service that they provide in terms of cleaning and the maintenance of the bus stops and the shelters. right the city does not directly have a revenue stream from selling the advertisement if they don't sell advertisement then it's on them they lose but after you mentioned that we contacted focus media group and I promise you right now you see less and less of these tulips right now if you drive around you will see a lot less of them but again it's a marketing issue

It's where the location of the panel is and whether they're able to sell that panel or not.

David PenalozaItem 9

David Plylar, So, when I said that it's revenue that comes in, it's something that we don't have to pay for. If someone else is maintaining and power washing these bus shelters, guess what? We don't have to do it. And Lord knows that our bus shelters need power washing every morning. But the question here is the fact that it took three years for us to say WHETHER IT WAS THE CONTRACTOR OR WHETHER IT WAS OUR STAFF IN HERE TO SAY, HEY, THE REASON WHY WE CAN'T ADVERTISE IS BECAUSE THE LANGUAGE IS TOO RESTRICTIVE, THAT'S TROUBLING. AND IT JUST MAKES ME QUESTION THE CITY'S ABILITY TO PROACTIVELY MANAGE AGREEMENTS OF

David PenalozaItem 9

THIS KIND, SOMETHING THAT WOULDN'T BE SO DIFFICULT IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS WHEN YOU LOOK AT ALL THE MUNICIPAL CONTRACTS THAT WE HAVE. BUT But when it's three years later, it's like, I'm either going to question the contractor's ability to do advertising, or I'm going to question our city staff. So which one is it? Was it failure of the contractor to notify us? Because if it is, there should be an RFP before us to look for another media group that could advertise. So is it the contractor or is it city staff that wasn't able to tie in a timely manner?

I think the sale of the panels for advertisement is on the contractor to do. It's their responsibility to sell the advertisement.

David PenalozaItem 9

But if in three years we saw that no advertisements were going up, did anyone question that?

It's hard to say that the language in the contract was a result. Go ahead, Mr. City Manager. If I may, and the question is understood, the messages received. So we are in essence being very assertive in the way we right now just stop reports as we're indicating just moments ago finishing something that was approved three years ago and thank you to Jennifer and us working together and again with the City Attorney Service so there is the focus for us right so so you understand that for us we're trying to do better in making sure that if we have contracts with contractors that that they're fulfilling their responsibility.

To that extent, you will see probably in the upcoming months aspects of that where you probably get approval from the RRSPs or cancellation of contracts for not fulfilling the obligation. Message received and understood.

David PenalozaItem 9

Okay. So, thank you for that. I will, I guess, just implore our staff that we stay on top of these agreements because you look at you, and first of all, the staff report didn't exactly, or the exhibit, the contract didn't really clarify what changes were made from the previous contract to the one that's before us now. That is nowhere to be found in the agenda. I'm not sure why, or maybe we could not only oversee these agreements more closely, but add more information to the staff report so that we know what language was in that other contract that we're changing,

David PenalozaItem 9

because I can't tell you what the change is. I had to go back, you know, three years and look at that contract and see where they differed. So those are my comments, Mr. City Manager. I just hope that we really stay on top of these agreements. And if we go three, four, five years without seeing any action, hey, guess what? We've got to cancel that agreement and move on to someone else that could do the job.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 9

Hopefully we don't wait three, four years.

Well, it's a pattern. Yeah, well. We'll get out of that pattern. We're not moving on those old patterns. I'll say it that way. All right. Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 9

Councilmember Fenn. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, Director Saba. I know that sometimes with these agreements, you know, you don't know it's a problem until it's a problem. And I'm really glad that when someone raised the issue, our staff took the initiative to fix it, to amend the agreement, and we continue to make some money with these advertising at the bus shelters. So thank you for bringing it forward. I look forward to seeing additional advertisements throughout the city. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 9

Is there a motion?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 9

I'll move the item. I'll second. Let's refer to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 11

Motion by Councilmember Lopez, seconded by Mayor Emescua, to approve the recommended action for Item Number 11, approving a First Amendment to Agreement with Focus Media Group, Inc., for placing of advertisement and maintenance of bus shelters.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 11

I'm sorry, I'm laughing because I can't understand you, but I'm sure you said everything you're supposed to. I know, right?

Jennifer L. HallItem 11

VOTE IS SIX AYES, NO NAYS, WITH A TEMPORARY ABSENCE BY COUNCILMEMBER HERNANDEZ. MOTION CARRIES.

Jennifer L. HallItem 11

AND THE NEXT ITEM, MAYOR, IS ITEM NUMBER 12, PULLED BY COUNCILMEMBER Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 11

COUNCILMEMBER BECERRA, GO AHEAD. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. SO THIS IS THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE AGREEMENT WITH OUTFRONT MEDIA FOR THE PROVISION OF DIGITAL billboards and digital banners on city-owned properties. So essentially this amendment is just modifying the termination clause to extend the time period from three to five years. So in looking at the staff report, it was woefully deficient when it came to justification. So sell me on it. Why? Why do we want to go from three to five years? And as you're walking up, Director Saba, I understand that Caltrans is not the easiest agency to work with.

Phil BacerraItem 11

In fact, I think you and I have had a discussion where I've shared with you in other projects that I've worked on where anything sometimes one can do to work around Caltrans is preferable. But having said that, I just want to understand because Caltrans, you know, there isn't total predictability here. And so, if you're coming to us to amend an agreement, and I didn't see anything in the staff report that said based on assurances from caltrans based on something right so in other words i need to feel comfortable and confident that two more years is actually enough

time when it comes to caltrans so sell me on this yeah thank you council member um the the request here came from out front we've been working with out front which is the digital billboard vendor that we've been working with on getting the one location approved by Caltrans. We needed to go through a CEQA process for us to be able to comply with Caltrans requirement and permitting. In the same time, we're working with our own agency to figure out the location of the proper proper location for the digital billboard itself.

Outfront asked for two more years, and we feel that we have done progress with them in terms of permitting and getting the application correct to go to Caltrans for permitting. We have high confidence in Outfront to be able to permit that location and construct it. And we're talking to Outfront. They feel that within two years, the digital billboards should be built.

Phil BacerraItem 11

You're an engineer. You're not allowed to feel. You're an engineer. You're supposed to be telling me hardline numbers.

Again, the timing is the application and the process. There is back and forth with the application of the Caltrans. So we feel, again, we're confident that within two years, we'll be able to build it.

Phil BacerraItem 11

so i'm i'm just frustrated because there's there's not a real concrete sense of assurance here in other words two years just it's a feeling and and i i would hope that and i'm looking at our city manager two years just cuz i mean that's that's not good enough i mean i think our staff's better than that and i think that we should be able to say in a staff report we've either had some assurances with a certain person at caltrans a certain you know caltrans district was 7-12 we've talked to so-and-so we are good to go we've talked to our state legislators i think ovalino valencia

Phil BacerraItem 11

and tom mumberg have been amazing for this city we have they have answered our calls when whatever we've needed them and i didn't see their names in the staff report so i'm just concerned that a feeling from an engineer again i appreciate my engineers but a feeling is not what i'm looking that my engineers for i'm looking for hard line data i want the assurance that when you say two years it's because you've been able to get some sort of assurance from somebody another engineer perhaps at caltrans that could say yes we will process that application in that amount of time

Phil BacerraItem 11

so so that's that the other thing i want to bring up and it's kind of more tangential to this and that is when we talk about our city-owned properties and digital billboards i would like to ask our city manager and and director saba if we could talk to out front since we're already working with them to look at our parking structures in downtown as potential sites for some sort of digital billboards i think you know you've got folks going down fifth street in the afternoons heading towards the five freeway so many folks coming from the capital you know the

Phil BacerraItem 11

county seat they're leaving the governmental buildings they're heading to the freeway there's got to be some sites especially where fifth and main fifth and bush where you've got some potential opportunities on city-owned parking structures i know when this item first came to us we were looking at sites city-owned sites and the idea is that out front would build something on on what is essentially vacant land on most of these but in i would just like us to also look at at those parking structures because a blank wall isn't generating us money. But potentially, a digital billboard with the right contract could.

Phil BacerraItem 11

So I'd like to ask staff to look into that.

So yes, we can do that. But more to your first point regarding the two years. And as you can see in recent times, especially the last six months, you have seen us being more in communication both with our communications and contact with the state and the federal government, and you have seen us meet more with the state senator's office and Assemblyman Avelino Valencia. So for us, when we say two years, as we come into this new helm in the leadership, as Sonia likes to say, the burden of the job, we are confident that we can accomplish it within the next two years.

Phil BacerraItem 11

I would just say going forward, show a little more homework in the staff report.

I understood.

Phil BacerraItem 11

I don't want to have this conversation up here. I want to be able to, if somebody asks me, I want to be able to say to them, go read the staff report before you ask me that question. But right now, I have to ask those questions because it's not in those staff reports.

Understood. Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 11

So with that, I'll go ahead and move the item.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 11

Is there a second? I'll second. Mr. Kerr to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 11

A motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by Councilmember Lopez to approve the recommended action for Item Number 12, First Amendment to Agreement with Out Front Media, LLC. We'll see.

Jennifer L. HallItem 12

Council Member Penalosa. Council Member Penalosa, did you vote?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

These are not working properly.

David PenalozaItem 12

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 12

Thank you. Vote is 6 ayes, no nays with the absence by Council Member Hernandez.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Thank you. At this time that's the end of the Consent Calendar. If the Council up here would allow me, I'd like to move item Councilmember requested items item number 21 up before we go to the Business Calendar only because I believe there might be students here who need to go home for school tomorrow unless there are no more students here. Does that work for everybody? Okay. Okay, so let's go to item number 21. Council Member Lopez, please.

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

Yes, thank you. So I wanna start off by providing everybody in this chamber, everybody watching tonight, a little bit of context, because we've received many questions that tell me clearly that,

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

and totally organically, right, because people come from different spaces and different levels of knowledge and involvement. So in 2017 the Santa Ana City Council adopted ordinance number NS-2908, formerly declaring Santa Ana sanctuary for all residents regardless of immigration status. This ordinance was designed to protect sensitive information, prevent bias based policing and ensure city resources are not used to enforce federal immigration laws while still operating within legal requirements. While the current federal government administration has attempted to withhold funding to jurisdictions who

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

provide services to immigrants similar to past executive orders from the city president's first term the federal government cannot force local governments to enforce federal immigration laws and therefore cannot coerce Santa Ana from supporting our families as part of this commitment the city established a sanctuary policy advisory group to guide city policies related to the sanctuary city ordinance and protecting immigrant residents santa ana's sanctuary policies have always been community driven and trusted organizations have been at the forefront since day one organizations like

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

the orange cap the orange county rapid response network asian americans advancing justice the the Public Law Center, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Vera Institute of Justice, ACLU, UCI Law, Resilience Orange County, and many other organizations that founded the advisory group have worked tirelessly to protect our immigrant families. These organizations are made of trained professionals, have lived experience, and come from our community. They operate within a community-driven, needs based coalition that has been doing the work effectively and

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

inclusively. Last year I had the privilege of meeting various community members who have been negatively impacted by our own internal process in terms of the U visa application. The city's Attorney's Office, the Chief of Police, the City Manager's Office, alongside other organizations, advocates and attorneys came together to discuss the challenges that applicants currently face. And there are many issues with our process, much like when I speak to somebody wanting to apply for a planning permit,

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

when I speak with a small business owner, when I speak with builders, they tell me consistently, your process is not continuous. It is not an easy one. It is not a modern process. process and we understand that that changes must happen right and so this is the same mentality that I believe is fair to apply to our uvisa process as well and because of that because of the stories that I was able to understand and listen to because of the advocates that brought brought those stories to City Hall, that brought those stories to our staff, I was compelled

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

to say what can we do to make sure that families that are going through this process are not meeting roadblocks along the way. What can we do as a city to be better partners with the people that do this work day in and day out in our community? What can the city do with what already exists in our books to make sure that we provide the best quality service to all of our constituents regardless of their status in our community and so I believe that you know and this is why this agenda

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

item was placed forward today from my office I know that there are questions about or comments you know stating that the these efforts have run their course course, but the reality is that this work is more relevant than ever because all of those challenges that have been discussed for years and years and years have not been addressed. And so no one here gets to decide that the work is done, particularly because I continuously hear about ongoing issues. And instead, I believe that we must continue to work with trusted, experienced organizations organizations that have been in this fight from the beginning,

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

organizations that have proven to prioritize the needs of our residents. So what are some of the things that possibly if members of this board say let's revive the board, you know, I believe that they can work and expand on the things on the findings that they have been, that they have really been been highlighting for years to the city under different city managers under different city leadership and I also think that the the scope of the work can be expanded to include other areas of study like education like public health

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

I believe that the group can determine what sensitive information the city is collecting I want to really the core here is can we make sure that we are not inadvertently violating our own language that exists in the code at this moment and I can't answer that right and so this is why I think convene convening this group is going to be so important not just for this body before our staff because you're also an extension of city officials and so I believe that technical expertise can be added to the group and this is one small way that we

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

can directly have a positive impact on our community and I am standing up for my constituents because there are many questions that have not been addressed and I don't think that any member of this body that any staff member that this city loses anything that we lose anything by ensuring that we have access to experts by ensuring that we have technical expertise and real data that that we can rely on to inform our policymaking decisions. Our community does not lose anything by further empowering our families or learning how to co-govern. In fact, I believe it makes us stronger

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

and better prepared to address these issues. And I wanna conclude these remarks by saying this. I am the proud daughter of immigrant parents, parents who have done everything in their power to raise strong and empathetic children who are now adults. I've had the privilege of being raised by loving and resilient parents who did everything so that my siblings and I and many other people in my community that we grew up with feel loved, cared for, and supported. And now it is our turn

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

to protect and defend our parents and the people that we love. And with the same ferociousness that a mother would defend their daughter or their son in the same way that my mother has had to defend me. It is the same way, fearness, it is with the same fearness that now I stand up for my family, my loved ones, and for my community. This council has a duty, a moral and legal responsibility to do everything in its power to protect our community and abide by the language in our ordinance. We don't have to choose between priorities.

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

We are capable, I like to think that we are capable of tackling different issues all at once. And we don't have to let fear dictate our decisions. The reality is that we are already being targeted. Our students are being targeted. Our families are afraid. I've had to speak with residents who have told me that they are not working because they've seen the raids happen in Kern County because there are a lot of whispers of arrests happening in the city, not just under a new administration, but arrests that have been happening in our city for the past decade. And so I've said this from

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

this chair previously, there is no room for me to hide. There is no room for me to be fearful because my constituents have asked me to explore all viable options to affirm our work and to me leadership really is about standing firm in the face of all forms of intimidation and declaring that you will not shake me that you will not shake us and you will not silence us and you cannot bully us and I am here because my community has put their trust in me and I will honor that trust by fighting for you because that is my responsibility. The ordinance already

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

exists. As I said the language is in the ordinance so the question before us is simple. Will this council uphold and implement the law that is already in place?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Okay, so we're going to go on. Before we go on to comments by the council, before we go on to comments by the council and discuss this, Chief, you wanted to show something tonight that we have up, ready to go? Yes, Stone, go ahead. We can alleviate some fear and take care of some things before we start to discuss it.

As your chief of police, our department's role is to ensure the public safety of all individuals regardless of immigration status. We do not ask about or investigate a person's immigration status. We do not detain individuals solely for immigration enforcement. We do not participate in federal immigration raids. We do collaborate with federal agencies on criminal investigations that impact public safety. Our department remains committed to fostering trust and transparency. Public safety is a shared responsibility and together we will continue to make our city a place where all residents feel safe and supported.

Estamos con agencias federales en investigaciones criminales que impactan la seguridad pública. Nuestro departamento sigue comprometido a fomentar la confianza y transparencia. La seguridad pública es una responsabilidad compartida y juntos continuaremos haciendo de nuestra ciudad un lugar donde todos los residentes se sienten seguros y apoyados.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Thank you, Gaston. Thank you, Chief, for that video. I just wanted to share the community so that they can see it firsthand. time comments let me start with councilman hernandez please thank you madam mayor i'm sorry could you raise your mic if you want to speak please i want to begin by thanking my

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

colleague council member jesse lopez um for bringing this item forward thank you this is a topic that is i believe that this is a topic that is important to every single one of us here in the city of santa ana i too like my colleague my family migrated from guadalajara jalisco in the 1950s and we came to santana and as a as a family we know firsthand that our loved ones and our neighbors are at risk we know that children and mothers are are afraid on their routes to school

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and on their routes to work and so it is up to the city council now to to act swiftly during a a time where there is an active attack being waged on our families all throughout this country I want to begin by sharing direction to our city manager's office that we ensure that there is no ICE collaboration at any level or any capacity in this city. I want to ensure that any communication that is being had with the police department through ICE, that there's communication from our police department going to the city manager's office.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

IT'S NOT A BIG ASK, BUT IF THEY ARE REACHING OUT TO YOU AS A CURTISY TO LET YOU KNOW THEY'RE IN OUR CITY, I WOULD HOPE THAT THAT IS BEING REPORTED TO THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE SO THAT WE CAN BE PROACTIVE IN SUPPORTING THE RESOLUTION AND ORDINANCE THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY AS A SANCTUARY CITY. I AM SUPPORTIVE OF THE PROPOSED ADVISORY GROUP COMING BACK TO US AND MEETING REGULARLY.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

I would like to see that this advisory group meet on a 30-day basis and that there is proactive support from our city staff, ensuring that there is support so that we have a safe place for us to meet and discuss the best ways for us to protect our immigrant and refugee communities. I want to ensure that we are addressing some of these issues independently. On the topic of the advisory group, we absolutely need to bring that back. On the topic of the Immigration Defense Fund, that should be its own conversation. I think that that conversation should be led by the community. I think that we

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

need to be inclusive when it comes to the proposed advisory group. We need to include the experts, Orange County Rapid Response Network. We need to include the ACLU. We need to include organizations that are also representing the city's Southeast Asian refugee community members, organizations like VietRise, organizations like the Harbor Institute. I want to ensure that we are working across the table and that we're bringing every single service provider who is vested in protecting immigrant families, whether that be Resilience OC, whether that be ACLU, Orange County Rapid Response Network,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

network, VietRise, the Harbor Institute, the Public Law Center, we need all hands on deck right now. We need to be able to work across the table and share our resources, and the city needs to provide a vehicle so that we can meet and so that we can proactively work to protect our neighbors. In addition to that, I want to ensure that as we are creating this advisory board, that it is fully inclusive so that we can increase the scope of services as to who we are able to reach I want to ensure that we expand outreach to communities who are currently not being serviced before moving forward with any process that

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results in granting the current provider with the full contract amount again I want to make sure that we have a fully inclusive RFP process so that we can encourage immigrant defenders to apply again so that we can encourage the ACLU and organizations to come to the table if there's other experts in the room who want to provide services we would like you to come to the city we would like you guys to to share your rfp we encourage people to apply part of why i bring that up is because we recently had if the city manager's office can confirm how many providers reached out to apply for this rfp

we only receive one response from the immigration providers

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

And can you detail the level of outreach that we had in regards to this RFP process?

The RFP was sent to nine local community-based legal providers, and of those, only three downloaded the application, and one responded.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

The reason why I wanted to ask that question and thank you City Manager and Deputy City Manager Sylvia Vasquez is because I want the public to be informed that we have a public RFP process and we're encouraging people to apply. Part of why that is so important to my office is because in meeting with impacted groups of community members who are fearful of ICE, I had to take a look at some of the statistics in Orange County. In 2024, over 90% of individuals with immigration detainers in Orange County Sheriff's Department's custody were born in Vietnam and were not protected under California's state law from

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

being referred and or transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Aside from the county agencies, the municipal police departments of Westminster, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana were the top three local arresting agencies of community members who who were then transferred, who were then referred to ICE by Orange County Sheriff Departments. 44 from Westminster, 23 from Garden Grove, and 24 from Santa Ana. I want to ensure that we are not participating in supporting the deportation of our neighbors. We have an Immigration Defense Fund.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 12

I want us to ensure that we're protecting every single one of those neighbors that is at risk to having their family ripped apart. And that is the direction that I wanted to provide to our city manager. I'm supportive of this item and I would like to see this brought back in a very swift timely manner Thank you. Thank you. Mr. City manager

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

So I have a comment so thank you for bringing this item forward councilmember Lopez I Also support this and when spectrum at TV interviewed me about two weeks So I made it very clear the sat out of the sanctuary city and we're welcoming and that is not going to change But you've got to love social media with all the lies and the political whatever you want to call is happening. Everything the mayor says and does that I do, you know, they attack me, right? She doesn't speak loud enough for this community or that community. So do I support ICE coming in here and conducting raids in our community? No, I do not. Am I working with them?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

No, I am not. And I never have. and I've made it very clear so whoever spreading the lies and teaching their children that in their classes and sharing that is incorrect and it's shameful that you're using children and families and creating fear because it causes chaos the other day somebody posted there was a raid in a macula heart of Mary no there was not I confirmed I've been in touch almost on a daily basis just to call like hey have you heard anything mr. city manager There has been no, can you confirm that there has been no raids, you and the chief of police in the city of Santa Ana?

I can tell you that when we get any report from anybody, we can-

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

That's it. I confirm that anytime we hear some type of whisper or indication that ICE has in the city, we check with the chief of police to confirm so that they're aware and so we can notify folks. So to date, nothing yet.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Chief, have you heard of anything?

ANYTHING? WE'VE RECEIVED VARIOUS OBVIOUSLY PEOPLE HEARD ABOUT ICE BEING IN OUR CITY. WE HAVEN'T ACTUALLY CONFIRMED ANY OF THAT. IF THEY WERE IN OUR CITY, THEY DON'T ALWAYS REPORT OR DON'T HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO REPORT TO LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES THAT THEY'RE IN OUR CITY. BUT WE HAVEN'T SEEN THEM CONDUCTING

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

ANY TYPE OF RIDES? I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM, NO.

No, we haven't.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Thank you. Again, Santa Ana is a welcoming city, and hopefully it's focusing just on criminals that have broken the law that they've been looking for possibly for the last 10 years, 15 years, a year, six months. But I personally am not working with them, and again, it's shameful that people are spreading lies. I've been sitting here. This has started my third year, and when we talk about the sanctuary city, Madam City Attorney, can you tell me? because I have not I have all this information about sanctuary city here that was passed in 2017 and 2016 the discussion the council that was sitting

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

here previously it was supervisor so I meant though that was sitting here you know I don't know who else was here Miguel Pulido I mean when the list goes on and on I could not find an advisory group that had been created can somebody please enlighten us was there a group an advisory group consent mr. city manager madam city attorney can somebody answer that question because I was I asked for all this information and I received it all I reviewed it and I have not been able to find anything I want you speak loud and clear so everybody can hear you

please so from us we're still doing a formal research to indicate any type of listing and maybe because it's been a long time since they met we did meet with the councilmember Lopez with some folks that indicated they were part of this commission that actually initiated this formation. Councilmember Vasquez also attended that meeting with us when discussing your visa but as far as a formal established committee or setting no and and to that issue maybe the way we did the policy reports back then I we haven't found any and and I say that because a part of the indication when it comes when we're doing exactly like like the rfp for

example and that's what we know but who who would i got released to how many applications actually downloaded and how many actually applied is because we see something like that obviously we're not getting the response that we need so we may have to go ahead and release the rfp again but as far as that goes specifically to your question we haven't found any specific items and of storage and or committee reports.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 12

Madam City Attorney. Yeah Mayor I can just say that when this item was brought forward to reconvene that word reconvene assumed that it had been called I did some quick research on my own I'm not the city manager's office so things could happen outside of my calendar but I did not find anything to suggest the sanctuary policy advisory group had ever been in existence.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

I don't think any of us are sitting up here. So we can't answer that question. And so that's my concern. I don't want anybody to think that we do not want to have one. There was never a group that I'm aware of and maybe there were meetings with people in the community while it was happening. I think that's what I have found in here. But an actual advisory group, I'm not aware of. I did reach out to the supervisor's office and ask if he can enlighten me. I have not received any information back. I know Councilwoman Lopez, you work for him, so I don't know if you shared any of this information with you about an advisory group,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

any names, the actual advisory group. Do you know of any?

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

Yeah, we had somebody come and speak and said they were part of the advisory group. No, no, no.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

This is not like I was part of there. Was there an actual recognized group that met on a regular basis?

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

Yes, I spoke in with attorneys who also were part of that process. So, you know, I think it's understandable for people to sit up here and say, I'm new to this, but this group existed whether people knew about that or not, right? And I think part of the reason why staff can't find anything is because of all of the turnover in the city manager's office. And so this is a moment in time. This is a moment in time where...

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

And you guys, so we can do this. That's why I moved it forward, so we can get through this.

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

And I think that this is a moment in time that, and I'm not saying anybody here is being combative about my language or the real experience that people in this room have had in being part of the advisory group, but this is why I think that this is so important. Because even when people do this work, we're still hearing, well, did you really do this work? Did you really advise the council and staff?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

So I never said did you really do the work so I just want to clarify I love how things get changed up here But so let me just say this again. Yes. I this is my third year And no I did not sit here when the sanctuary city was voted on But I was on the school board and I do live in the city And similar to councilman Hernandez is my family my father my grandmother immigrated here from Guadalajara So I just want to be clear that it's not that I'm against this at all actually I support it and people seem to to think I don't because you just don't like anything that comes out of my mouth, and that's okay. But I want to share something.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Since the City of Santa Ana's adoption of its sanctuary policies, because you talk about change, the administration here has worked diligently to uphold and fully integrate immigrant protections into city governance. These protections are now embedded within our institutional framework, making them a permanent and effective part of city operations. The goals of the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group have been successfully realized. Inclusivity and immigrant rights are not just initiatives. They are fundamental values ingrained in our policies and in our practices.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

As a result, a separate advisory group is no longer necessary, in my humble opinion. Our current executive leadership administration is not only committed to progressive values, but is also shaped by first-time immigrant experiences. And let me share with you why I say this. Our city manager is the son of a brosero, an immigrant farm worker in the Coachella Valley, a region with historically high poverty rates and significant economic challenges. He himself worked in the fields picking grapes and understands the challenges faced by immigrant communities.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Our assistant city manager, born in Vietnam, came to the U.S. during the boat people exodus and personally navigated the complexities of displacement and resettlement. Our police chief was once undocumented and later earned his U.S. citizenship through military service. Our deputy city manager was born to undocumented parents who adjusted their status through the 1986 amnesty. This administration does not just advocate for immigrant protections. We embody them. Our leadership reflects the very communities we serve, ensuring that cultural competence and lived experience guide our policies and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

our decisions and so I do want to thank councilmember Lopez for bringing this up to the city manager but I really wanted to share with the community that you understand who is at the table now who's sitting here and my concern is and I've shared it with the city attorney and I've shared it with the city manager and one one councilmember up here is that sometimes we have people on our commissions that we're not I'm not sure are they a commissioner are they an activist and it creates a problem for us as a city because you cannot be a commissioner and be an activist you have to pick one or the other you can do both

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

sort of kind of but you have to be very careful so whatever groups mr. city manager that we end up working with the city attorney's office I believe gives gives training if the group is voted on tonight and it is created that whoever is part of that commission understands that advocacy group that you are representing the city and that you can't be both because what happens is that similar to the police oversight you had commissioners on there saying come to me and tell me how the police violated your

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

rights during the riots at UCI but yet I'm a commissioner and I sit up here on the police oversight you cannot do that I think Madam City Attorney want to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 12

elaborate on that a little bit I think that the one thing that we're missing here we want to be careful because under the policy that allows a council member to bring an item forward we're not supposed to have an in-depth discussion it's just hey do we want to move item forward that's one but number two more importantly is if you read the ordinance it referenced the sanctuary policy advisory group and it did nothing more that's right it did not say that they were a formal Commission it did not say they were an ad hoc committee so there's all these assumptions about what this group was maybe it did meet maybe there

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 12

are a bunch of informal attorneys from UCI and the ACLU that all met and called themselves the sanctuary policy advisory group but what I want to caution you against is this if the City Council takes formal action to create a commission or group you are implementing all sorts of legal requirements that are going to apply to that group right your formal Commission's are subject to the Brown Act and the people on those Commission's are subject to the fair political practices economic disclosure requirements under a form 700 so there's a lot of considerations my opinion is in looking at this ordinance that there was a reference to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 12

a sanctuary policy advisory group it was it seemed to me to be an informal group so if this item is moved forward by the council if it is we'll need to work really carefully to balance these interests of having a formal group because if i were someone in the community who was undocumented and i wanted to come to this advisory group for help i'm not sure that i'd want that to be a Brown Act committee because I'm not so sure that I'd want my personal business to be shared in public so I just asked the council if you move this item forward to have some patience and allow us to be very very mindful of who we're

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 12

trying to protect not to politicize this issue but to really think about who we're trying to serve and protect so I will let you move that forward and a reminder that we're not supposed to take you know 30 minutes on these items are

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

really supposed to be direction to us that's correct so thank you City Manager I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT. SO I'M GOING TO END MY COMMENTS THERE. ARE THERE ANY OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS? COUNCILMEMBERS? MAYOR PROTAN VASQUEZ.

Benjamin VazquezItem 12

SO MUCH, MAYOR. I APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU TO COUNCILMEMBER JESSE LOPEZ FOR THE COURAGE OF BRINGING THIS FORWARD AND SO FAST. AND ALSO THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ON THE KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WEBSITE AND ASKING THE CITY MANAGER TO PUT THAT IN. YOU BROUGHT IT ON REALLY QUICK. SO I APPRECIATE BOTH OF YOU WORKING TOGETHER TO MANAGE THAT. That being said, I do want to have an independent informal advisory group, independent of the city with support from the city, to look at the things that we do to collect data of how we could better serve. These are experts and actually the people who are affected with these policies that we have.

Benjamin VazquezItem 12

So we want to be able to gather information on how we can better serve our people. SO I WANT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THAT. I ALSO THINK THAT THE IMMIGRATION DEFENSE FUND SHOULD BE SEPARATE FROM THIS.

Benjamin VazquezItem 12

AND SPEAKING TO MADAM MAYOR, THAT ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT YOU, I WAS ASKED BY MY STUDENTS, I WAS AT LUNCH, AND THEY ASKED ME, IS THIS TRUE, AND THERE WAS FEAR. AND I READ THE ARTICLE, AND THERE WAS NO SPECIFICATION OF ANYTHING. IT WAS A POORLY WRITTEN ARTICLE. and I let them know there's nothing here that says the mayor is working with ICE. And there was a relief because this is a fear-mongering article and that somebody in this position would be working with ICE spread fear amongst all of us. I just want people to know that.

Benjamin VazquezItem 12

If it's anybody, you may like them or not or whoever it may be, we're not going to spread lies or unsubstantiated information across the city that brings fear to us. So the children were relieved to know, and hopefully our families are now relieved to know, that if you actually read that article, there's no author, there's no specific date, there's a date, but there's no specific incident of any kind.

Benjamin VazquezItem 12

UNLESS WE HAVE ALL THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE HOLD IT TO YOURSELF UNTIL YOU GET SOMETHING TRUE NOT TO SPREAD FEAR IN OUR CITY. SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, THOSE ARE MY COMMENTS.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

THANK YOU. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? YES.

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

GO AHEAD. YEAH, I THANK YOU, CITY ATTORNEY. I HEARD YOUR COMMENTS AND PART OF WHY I RAISED MY MIC AGAIN IS BECAUSE I DO THINK THAT WE WERE GETTING OFF TOPIC, RIGHT? THE QUESTION WAS PRETTY SIMPLE. the staff report was written very extensively and so I think in terms of the this RFP process that staff opened up last year that is separate right I hope that we can all be on the same agreement that once it's open once organizations apply we are not allowed to meddle with that process and so I'm very very much very clear about that and so I just want to be also clear that my

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

My language is not asking for a commission for the same reasons that people have mentioned that it would politicize this process. And I think, and I agree with you, city attorney, that and perhaps part of the reasons why people are having a difficult time accessing records is because of the sensitivity of the information being exchanged. And I agree with your recommendation that if this is to move, if the council wants to bring back some sort of advisory group not commission not someone that every member of this council points I don't want that responsibility you know that it would be

Alvaro NuñezItem 12

and it would be up to the advisor group but it would be great for them to recognize the sensitivity of the information again be an exchange and that perhaps is why you're not finding as many records because they would be anyone in our community anyone in the state could request that information and use it in a very very malicious way.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Thank you. Councilmember Fenn. Thank you Mayor. First thank you to everyone who

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

came out today to speak on this issue as well as Councilmember Lopez for bringing this forward. You know I've said it before as the only immigrant on this dais I might have been the only person who's ever faced the concern of being deported myself before I became an American citizen so this is an issue that is important to me growing up there are those who are close to me who are undocumented there are friends and family who have undocumented families who are afraid right fear is the object fear is the goal of this administration and spreading rumors in order to gain political advantage is only going to

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

continue to feed into that fear for our community members so i hope that we're all here to make sure that we provide resources to our residents and neighbors and not to spread additional misinformation and i also want to say that the one thing that i feel has always brought this council together as i've served with everyone here is that we have always been interested and willing and And we've put our funding, our votes, our voices to support our immigrant community. Whether it's to make sure that COVID funding is going to go to undocumented family members.

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

Whether it's to make sure that our vaccines would go to undocumented residents. Whether it's to make sure that we have undocumented commissioners. commissioners, whether it's to make sure that, you know, our, you know, federal ARPA dollars would go to undocumented community members. There are just so many things that this council, these individuals that I have served with, have done to show our community members, whatever your status may be, that we stand with you. And despite the fact that we may disagree on many other items, I believe that this council stands in solidarity with our immigrant communities and with that

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

you know hearing about the Deficiencies relating to our u-visa process is concerning and I expect our city manager's office as well as chief Rodriguez to work with our police oversight commission to ensure that we review that process and That it becomes streamlined easy to access with information on our website and the police website there should be no reason why a resident who has you know been a victim of a crime or witness to a crime is not able to immediately go online and say this is what I can provide to the police department to ensure public safety for

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

all community members as well as get the benefit that is provided to them for coming forward as a witness or as a victim to ensure that everyone stays safe in this community I think we can do that I think the police oversight Commission can handle that that is their job and so I do expect that to come back and I hope that my colleagues agree with that. However, I am concerned with this, you know, this committee or, you know, advisory committee because, one, I don't have enough information about who's doing it, what they're doing,

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

how they're connected to this community, how long it's been, who of these organizations will be involved. But I do want to say that when there are concerns regarding how we're using our data, how data is being collected, how data is being shared, I think that that's something that our staff can actually review. We have an ordinance in place that specifically states that we will not share information that is sensitive, that we will not collaborate in a way that is a violative state law. Chief in your video you state that, and I just want, I'm being picky right now, but

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

you said we only collaborate with federal enforcement agencies for public safety, but but I want to clarify that that is within the parameters of SB 54 as well as the Truth Act and other state sanctuary policies as well as the city's policies, correct?

Thank you, Council Member Fannin. That is correct. That is within the Values Act of Senate Bill 54 which says public safety including drug trafficking, human trafficking, acts of terrorism, and other gun trafficking and other crimes that may be identified in SB 54.

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

Thank you. And so I want to reiterate that that for all of our residents and anyone who's watching, that the city of Santa Ana has an ordinance, has a policy and continues to implement state and local policies that prohibit us from collaborating with enforcement agencies unless there is a judicial subpoena in which every agency is required to comply with that. So my concern is bringing in a lot of outside organizations in a way that we also don't know what their policies are for ensuring you know data collection confidentiality they might not have attorney client privilege with our city attorney's

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

office and things like that if there is information if there's data if there are issues that you want to raise there's I assume nothing stopping anyone from sharing that with our city manager's office and I expect that you will be receptive to this information so that we can ensure our policies and our issues, excuse me, our procedures are reflective of best practices as much as possible. The last thing I will say is that, you know, regarding the Immigration Defense Fund, that is something that I've supported and I supported expanding it because there are so many Southeast

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

Asians, Asian Americans, Vietnamese Americans who are also being deported who are not necessarily being protected by sanctuary ordinances. You know, I understand bringing that as part of this issue because it is part of the, you know, immigration policies in the city. However, I do agree with all my colleagues to separate that out. I would like to see, right? We had reports as to how many cases that were being handled, what the process is. I know they take a long time, but I think that's important for MDEF to come and talk to us and say where are they deficient and how can we work with other

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

groups such as AJ SoCal or other you know Asian Law Caucus or other organizations that might be able to provide that service and so with that I hope my direction is clear I hope that everyone who's here can appreciate or at least hear us when we say we want to ensure that our sanctuary and our our sanctuary policies are upheld and protected and improved but we also have to make sure that when we're talking about specific issues that we can't be handled in-house that we do that and that we do get the update I don't expect it in 30 days but I do expect an update so that everybody knows where they can

Thai Viet PhanItem 12

go if they're facing this issue thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

Thank you. No other comments? Councilman Panalosa?

David PenalozaItem 12

Thank you, Mayor Mezcua. And thank you, Councilmember Lopez, for bringing this item forward, and everyone that came out to speak tonight. I know that the council item language said that it has come to my attention that the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group has not convened since 2020. I, you know, have been elected here since 2018, and I don't recall in those two years leading up to 2020 ever hearing of a sanctuary advisory policy here within the city or under our city's purview. So I'd be supportive of seeing information on that, on trying to dive in on the history of what that was. But I don't recall ever hearing of one meeting.

David PenalozaItem 12

As far as to us being a sanctuary city, whether it's the Philippines, the , or Vietnam, or El Salvador, or Mexico, we all stand on the shoulders of immigrants. We're all one generation away from being,

David PenalozaItem 12

you know, having this possible deportation, right? That everyone is talking about. One thing that I wanna start off by saying is that I am 100% supportive and committed to our city being a sanctuary city. I mean, I think all of us up here have made that pretty clear. I wanna say to our city staff, stay the course. Chief of Police, stay the course. City Manager Nunez, stay the course. Our Chief of Police, who was born in Tijuana, Mexico, by the way, and is an immigrant himself, stay the course. I know that you guys are not working with ICE. We've got to make sure that our community knows

David PenalozaItem 12

that and continues to know that. And it's important that we shame the individuals, spreading lies and fear, just to stroke the flames of something that is not happening to Today, in our city, I know that there was social media posts, and half of you men came here and commented on Mayor Mezcua working with ICE. All lies. People that are posting lies. On January 21st, the first day of the official day of the Trump administration, my neighbor texted me, and she said, there's immigration enforcement on Bristol. I'm scared. I thought this was a sanctuary city. And I'm like, Bristol, okay.

David PenalozaItem 12

Bristol runs from Newport Beach to Orange. I mean, where? And she's, and I drove. I personally, I was on my lunch break. I drove from Bristol and Sunflower all the way up to Bristol and 17th. I think I even called you, Mr. City Manager, while I was doing it. Nothing. Not a sign of immigration enforcement anywhere. We confirmed with our chief of police. Nope. No checkpoint. But it was an immigration checkpoint that was going around on social media that was happening. Lies. today we get notifications of immigration enforcement and a checkpoint at Bristol at Grand and McFadden not true I went out there myself I believe a

David PenalozaItem 12

city manager went out there himself not true people are trying to create this campaign a resident said in Spanish that spoke in Spanish I una campaña yeah this is a campagna to create fear amongst all our residents here so I want to assure that this city is a sanctuary city, it continues to be. Our staff knows that, and they know that we are not to cooperate with ICE. That simple.

David PenalozaItem 12

I strongly encourage our city manager, I know we're not supposed to vote on anything tonight, and this isn't an item to vote on, this is merely the council discussion item to provide direction, but there's our state legislature, just yesterday voted to approve a $25 million immigration defense fund available to communities. I hope that we're working with our state assembly members office, with our state senator's office, to see how we could tap into those funds and what's the process of doing that.

David PenalozaItem 12

I believe the governor signed it today, if not tomorrow, of those funds being available to immigrant communities for immigration defense. defense. And that's it. That's on my behalf. I think a good way to maybe that we could potentially move forward on this is I know we have a police or public safety committee meeting item later on tonight. Maybe it's something that the public safety committee stays and we give that assignment to the public safety committee. I don't need to be on it.

David PenalozaItem 12

whoever my colleagues want to be on it that's fine but there are ways where we could work with various groups out there in the community doing the good work helping out our immigrant community where we could assure that these resources are going to be known and available um the last thing i want to do is create another layer of of a city attorney painted it beautifully of a commission that's bound to the brown act and and and um made public because that's the last thing that we don't want to do so those are my comments madam mayor and thank you thank

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

you very much thank you for mentioning Sacramento the city manager and I met with our assemblyman Abelena Valencia shared his support and what they're doing in Sacramento we went on our trip to DC for the mayor's conference years conference of mayors we were in breakout sessions and thank you for the top on the city with immigration information all the cities across the country are doing the same thing and so it was great to hear from all the mayors about that and so we're on the right path and so thank you mr city manager i think we have one more comment by councilman

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

becerra and then i will ask you mr city manager if you you got direction that you need thank you

Phil BacerraItem 12

madame mayor i i too want to thank everybody that came out tonight to express themselves about this issue it is in the best interest of everybody in this city regardless of their documentation implementation status to want our police to not work with ICE. And the reason for that is because regardless of your status, crime don't care. Someone robs you, they don't say, hold on, are you an immigrant or not? Crime don't care. And so we need for all of our community, regardless of status, to be able to have confidence in our police. And I have confidence because long before

Phil BacerraItem 12

before any of our predecessors were talking about sanctuary city ordinance, we had Chief Ray Davis, not Paul Walters, who we all revere, but even before him, Chief Ray Davis came up with progressive policies. The LA Times very famously said in a headline, Santa Ana has its own immigration policy. This is back in the 1980s. Santa Ana has always been a welcoming city, and Santa Ana has always been trying to be a safe city. And go about, what, 15, 20 years later, a neighboring city, I don't want to shame them, but they actually said that they wanted to bring ICE into the jails.

Phil BacerraItem 12

And who was the most vocal opponent of that? Their own police chief. Because whether it's Santa Ana police or other Orange County cities' police, police, we all recognize that we all have to feel safe and comfortable going to our police to report crime. Again, crime criminals do not care what your immigration status is. They're going to rob you, they're going to harm you, they're not asking you for your papers, they're just going to harm you. And our police, we need them to be able to help. So with that being said, Section 7 of the ordinance that was adopted back in January

Phil BacerraItem 12

January 2017 states that the City shall establish a commission composed of community members to advise the Council on all policies related to the ordinance. This ordinance from January 2017 primarily focuses on the prohibition of City departments and City employees from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law. In June 2020, Council Member Paloza and I introduced a Council Member-requested item to direct the city manager to research the creation of a police oversight commission. The intention of that item back in June of 2020 was to create a

Phil BacerraItem 12

police oversight commission that would provide a valuable way for residents and businesses to give input on how the Santa Ana Police Department could improve their service to our community in a way that would help strengthen our community's trust and confidence in them, regardless of any community members immigration status. Then in November 2022, our council unanimously adopted an ordinance establishing the Police Oversight Commission. The action that this council took back in November of 2022 fulfilled what was required in Section 7 of the January 2017 ordinance. Now in these very tumultuous times, our

Phil BacerraItem 12

entire community, regardless of their immigration status, needs spaces and and venues to provide meaningful input to our police and to this council. And I'm very proud of the fact that we are providing those. We already are providing those. The item that was brought forth by Councilmember Lopez, which I want to believe was brought forth with good intentions, could be seen as duplicative of what our city already has in place. And I think our city attorney tonight raised some very important issues when it comes to how this committee if it was to be created how it would be commit how it'd be created how it would

Phil BacerraItem 12

function and i think those are some very important issues so uh mr city manager when this item comes back i think and madam city attorney when this item comes back i think it's important that we flush that out we have a full menu of options to look at because we want to make sure that our community feels safe regardless of your immigration status but at the same time i think councilmember lopez said this you know we should be able to demonstrate to everybody that we can take on multiple issues and help them and solve them but at the same time as you saw the discussions tonight

Phil BacerraItem 12

you know we have a lot of things going on here and we want to make sure that for our staff that has so much on their plate there's so much on their plate that we want to make sure that they're able to do do their job effectively and so again i'm very proud of the fact that we did establish a Police Oversight Commission. I think that is one valuable way to provide input as what you've all demonstrated tonight by just coming here to the council and giving it directly to us, not through an intermediary. Just talk to us. As many of you know because many of you have messaged me, many of

Phil BacerraItem 12

you have talked with me, many of you have attended my community office hours, I'm very accessible. And I know that my six colleagues up here are accessible in their own ways. So when it comes to bringing these items to our attention, to making sure that our entire community is safe, I believe that we have provided that access but again I'm looking to our city manager and our city attorney to see what's brought back and what this council ultimately decides thank you thank you mr. city manager you received

direction you're good you captured that right yes I work with the city attorney to make sure when we comply with the with the ordinance as indicated until that we come up with an approach that sticks to, again, not just the actual language of the ordinance, but the spirit of the ordinance also.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

And I want to thank you, thank all the staff for the time and effort that you're going to take to do this. And I just want to be clear that I don't know when the RFP was sent out, but just my last question, were you aware that the RFP was sent out in December or something like that?

Actually, I didn't get a chance to review it, so that's another concern. So we'll probably be out there with it, re-issuing it once we review it. And I want to review with the city attorney's office. I think when we do an RFP requesting legal services, and we're going to include the city attorney's office, I think that's a concern.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 12

That's wonderful. Thank you. All right, next item is item number 18, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 12

Mayor and city council, if I may. May. Item 18 is an item for your consideration related to your standing subcommittees. At this point in time, staff is recommending that you appoint members to serve as your representatives to the Joint School Collaboration City Council Standing Committee, and we request your consideration of a disestablishing, disbanding the other two city standing committees, the legislative and the public safety and homelessness, due to a lack of meeting over the last three years. I'm happy to answer any questions in conjunction with the City Manager's Office.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

I have a question.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

When or how often or did they ever, the Public Safety and Homeless Committee, did they meet?

Well, since I've been at the City Manager's Office, the Legislative Council Committee and the Public Safety have not met. so this is one of the reasons why I propose doing away with the subcommittees in this component in the end if I'm going to take direction I take it from the city council right no that's no that's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

why I know because I know councilman Penalosa and I met twice with the previous staff for legislation and there was only two of us in there and there's but that was a long time ago so yeah Yeah, if there's any recommendations, any other.

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

If I may, Mayor, the legislative subcommittee last met on September 26, 2023, has not met since then. It did previously hold two meetings in 2022. And the Public Safety and Homelessness Subcommittee has only held one meeting, and that was on May 10, 2022, since it was first established.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

And I'm sorry, you said the first, the Public Safety was in September 23?

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

THIS PUBLIC SAFETY WAS ON MAY 10, 2022. IT HAS NOT MET SINCE THEN. OKAY. AND THE LEGISLATIVE MET TWICE IN 2022 AND THEN ON SEPTEMBER 26TH OF 2023. AND NOTHING SINCE.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

SO I'LL MAKE A MOTION, BUT WE NEED TO APPOINT SOME MEMBERS TO THE JOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE IT IN TWO SEPARATE ACTIONS. Let's do that, please. Go ahead, Councilor DeSantis.

Phil BacerraItem 18

Thank you. I'll be supporting disbanding the legislative and the public safety and homeless committees just due to the fact we haven't met. And I think a lot of the items that would normally go through that committee would be duplicative as well because they end up ultimately here. And I'm sure, I know staff's very excited about doing the same report twice, but I'm going to take that away from you. THE OTHER THING, THOUGH, ON THE ITEM OF THE JOINT SCHOOL CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE. SO ACCORDING TO THE STAFF REPORT, IN 2024, SIX MEETINGS WERE HELD AND FIVE WERE COUNCIL. IN 2023, THREE MEETINGS WERE HELD AND EIGHT WERE COUNCIL.

Phil BacerraItem 18

AND I'M GOING TO LOOK TOWARDS OUR DEPUTY CITY MANAGER. WERE THERE ANY ITEMS THAT MADE THEIR WAY TO THE FULL DIAS THAT WENT THROUGH THAT COMMITTEE?

At the moment there hasn't been anything that came to the full dais.

Phil BacerraItem 18

So I mean the only person doing work on this committee is our city clerk posting the agenda and then posting the cancellation notices. So actually that

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

has been through the Parks and Recreation Commission Department.

Phil BacerraItem 18

Well there you go. She pushed off the work all right. But with that being said I would just like to make a motion to disband all three committees rather than go through the pain of appointing three people to find out that they're not going to meet why don't we just go ahead and disband all three that's my motion any other

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

comments is your mic front up councilman mayor pro tempos go ahead yeah we we do meet and we did some

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

work at the joint com joint school city committee we planning out a park hopefully at lowell elementary which is an area that is very much in need of a safe place for youth to be at and play and be safe and and not have to go into an alley or parking lot or empty spaces no library for miles around in that area and it's they need a place to go as you see families are just impacted and you'll have ten people in an apartment and they want to get away from the stress and they want to go outside and

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

play and it's not safe to go into the alley or go into the parking area so to to be away from whatever other things they have. So that's one thing that we did. We did talk about safety when we have a lockdown and we had a lockdown at Valley High School and our policy is run, hide, fight. And unfortunately police came in to an art classroom ceramics and the students were supposed to fight and throw ceramic balls at them, but they froze and luckily they didn't do it. but how do we match a policy where the police know what our policy is as we're

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

taught as teachers right and luckily I was there and we had conversations about having open communications with our police RPD but not the only RPD at the school sites but the teachers and how they're trained and we had various others information on how we work better and there's we've been working well with the with the school district and it's a relationship that's been building and it needs to happen to keep open communication so um even though we meet six times a year it's been fruitful

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

for those times that we do meet so i'm going to say we keep it on and uh and going and make sure

Phil BacerraItem 18

we have people that want to do me join the committee mayor if i may ask councilmember vasquez so if we disband this committee tonight all that work that you described i have to believe that you wouldn't stop i believe you'd keep going correct

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

i don't think i'd have the opportunity to to do some of the work and have a conversation with the superintendent in the room with the city manager and then have their own conversations and discuss on how they better improve and how we better manage and govern the city with the school together so there's relationship building within within all of this with the actual meeting with the account with the trustees with council members so it's it does bear fruit and uh having that relationship and being able to talk and not shutting doors is always always a good thing that

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

has been a good thing for the city of santa and the santa school district my my support of of

Phil BacerraItem 18

of actually going ahead and folding this committee is not any conflict of what you just said. In fact, I would, you just got a promotion, you're Mayor Pro Tem. In fact, you can probably make that ask and it be heard even louder. So I don't think that anything that you've talked about today that you've done, and I appreciate what you've done, I don't think any of it would be hindered by the lack of this committee. In fact, I mean, we've had one of the school board members that actually worked, or works, I'm not sure, for one of our council members. So the relationships are there. I don't know that,

Phil BacerraItem 18

it's not like we don't know who they are and we're building the relationship. You know, we're not, we didn't just meet them. I know you know them very well. So again, I just, I look at the work for our staff. I think there are times if you want to call meetings when it comes to, you know, like you described, having our city manager and our superintendent meet and talk about certain issues. I think you're able to do that without having a formal committee to which we see a lot of staff time spent on when some of what you're talking about is very focused. Like when you talk about a park, I think that's something where you'd want

Phil BacerraItem 18

our director of parks to be there. Like you as a council member right now could call for that meeting. You don't need a committee to do that. So I appreciate what you said. I, unfortunately I was not sold on the notion. So I, my motion still stands. I think we should go ahead and fold all three.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

I want to thank you because I've asked a couple times for an update from the meetings and I've never heard anything in the two years and one and a half months that I've been sitting here so thank you for that I also want to share with you similar accounts of what Sarah said when I was on the school board I actually met with I brought the superintendent her and I came or him and I both on both of two different superintendents and we met with the city manager on a regular basis just because I had asked for it so I think our city manager does talk to the superintendent they're currently addressing the shelter children the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

children at the shelter that the school district will not be picking up or are not picking up and should be picking it so they're working on that but you can call me at any time I think what the reason and I don't want to speak for him but I'm gonna support the motion to disband it because it takes up so much much time of our staff to put this together and it's I think correct me if I'm wrong um Madam Deputy City Manager you said in 2024 that three meetings and eight were canceled is that correct

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

of the joint school

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Sorry, I wrote them down.

Six meetings were held and five were canceled in 2024. In 2023, there was three meetings were held and eight were canceled.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

So in 2023, three were held and eight were canceled. In 2024, six were held and how many were canceled?

Six meetings were held and five were canceled. Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Okay, so I just tell you as the mayor pro tem, you send an email, say I'd like to meet with ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba to discuss this. And that can happen, not a problem. So for me it's about staff. We ask them to do all these things and yet these two groups are not meeting on a regular basis or have met at all with one of them. And so it concerns me as far as their workload. So Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 18

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just wanted to share that I am supportive of keeping the school joint committee part of why it's important to to me is because i've been able to meet with the city manager's office and our superintendent and just for clarification for the public as a member of the school joint use committee i think part of where we had some challenges with meeting more consistently is the transition of our of our city managers at the time it was very difficult to have what we felt was a streamlined process in terms of this subcommittee

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 18

and what was san and unified school district bringing to the table at that time and it wasn't until i think the last meeting that we had where our city manager's office gracefully you know took on the role of giving us the leadership that we should have always been afforded you guys created presentations for us for the first time you guys were able to to really meet and reconvene with the superintendent and identify which were potential sites that were priorities for this joint committee to discuss and i think that you know given the holidays given elections

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 18

there's a opportunity for us to really get on a calendar and to have consistent meetings as a joint use committee and part of why that that emphasis is there for me is because our students are going to be suffering over the next couple of years there was significant layoffs those layoffs are going to affect the quality of education that students are receiving it's going to affect emotional wellness for students and as a council member i am looking to tackle issues like park space joint use you know collaboration for instance in the case of fremont elementary

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 18

opening up the rooftop so that residents in the neighborhood have access to use the rooftop at fremont and so that students at fremont have access to use the park space currently we don't have that relationship and this joint use committee provides us a platform for us to be able to advocate directly for residents in Ward 5 and in Ward 5 we have a number of public schools and charter schools schools that include Lydia Romero Cruz Freed up Fremont Elementary Willard intermediate we have of course OSHA Orange County Educational Arts Academy and Sol these are just a

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 18

number of schools where there's hundreds of children who are depending on both the city and the school district to provide services the need is too strong and and respectfully i won't be supporting the disbanding of the school joint use committee and i will put a motion a sub motion on the floor to keep that committee as a standing committee thank you council member lopez yes thank

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

you um so i think that i can agree that the work has moved very slow and we've had these discussions very publicly with our staff with our park staff that when we are there with the trustees and the things that we are saying and the direction that we are providing it's not just direction to be noted it is direction to be to have some action taken right and so we've had these conversations about what we want to see from our staff in terms of the work that we want to see happen for our students and our families and because of that work we are on the

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

cusp if I'm not mistaken Hawk and you can correct me if I'm wrong of finalizing the master joint use agreement something that for many years right people talked about it's gonna get done it's gonna get done and finally now IT IS ACTUALLY GOING TO GET DONE BECAUSE STAFF KNOWS THEY HAVE TO PRESENT IT TO THE JOINT COMMITTEE. NOT JUST THE MASTER PLAN BUT THE DIFFERENT SCHOOL SIDES THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED THAT WE WANT TO HAVE A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH. AND THE COUNCIL MEMBERS, RIGHT, I THINK THAT AS A CITY MANAGER YOU KIND OF FORMALIZE THAT PROCESS BECAUSE IT WASN'T A FORMAL PROCESS. WE WEREN'T GETTING REALLY ANY UPDATES, ANY AGENDAS.

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

and so I do appreciate the work that has gone into it and Staff knows that if if you're not hearing from me, you can always reach out sometimes we do get cancellation notices I'm not sure why if there's a communication issue from the board members I hope that you feel like you can directly say hey what's going on and perhaps moving forward MAYBE IT IS NOT THE BEST FOR THE COMMITTEE TO BE MEETING EVERY MONTH IF THOSE UPDATES WITH THE JOINT SCHOOL PLANS ARE NOT MOVING AS FAR AS LONG OR AS QUICKLY AS LONG AS WE WANT THEM TO MOVE.

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

BUT IT IS SOMETHING THAT OUR COMMUNITY HAS SAID OVER AND OVER THAT THEY WANT TO SEE BE ESTABLISHED, THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE ACCESS TO SOME OF THOSE FACILITIES AFTER SCHOOL HOURS and also this space provides for our community, for our students, for families to tune in and to ask questions that are relevant to the work that the district does and that the city does and the work that ultimately overlaps and that is why I think it is a valuable space that can offer recommendations to the respective bodies that we all serve in. So I wouldn't be supportive of doing away

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

with the Joint Commission but I am supportive of disbanding the Public Safety and the Legislative because those were appointed again a little bit of context years ago I believe in 2022 and so the members appointed to those subcommittees have not met even though issues were given to the Public Safety Committee like the gun storage ordinance that the council passed right it went to committee and it essentially died the other issue that was given to the Public look safety commission was essentially um tasking them with language to get to our voters about

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

about voters deciding whether they wanted to ban fireworks or not and so all of those things that we've discussed went to committee and died and so i'm happy for those subcommittees to be disbanded because no work is coming out of them and they have not met to address the issues

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

I'm sorry, Mayor, I was going to call you. I'll take it. No, Councilmember Fang. I'm getting, can you move your seat over here? I'll fight you for it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

I'll fight you. I've been working out. Can you move your seat over here?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Councilmember Fang, please.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

Thank you, Mayor. So, I definitely support disbanding the two standing committees that the legislative committee as well as a subcommittee as well as public safety and homelessness regarding the joint school collaboration subcommittee I've watched a few of them just as a member of the public and so I have a few questions for you mr. city manager me it's just a couple one you have a relationship with the superintendent do you talk to him can you call him up yes okay so I asked that because historically or at least in the time that I've been here with our former

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

city manager there was no good relationship in my opinion with the superintendent uh do you have a relationship with the superintendent of garden grove unified school district yes great thank you um because you know ggusd um go lobos so i asked that because a lot of this work that my colleagues have brought up are items that can be worked in between staff that can then be presented to the board or the council for example that the joint lease master joint use agreement right that's something that I think that there was a breakdown in communication and relationship between the between staff

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

between the boards between the council that I hope I believe I has changed in many ways and that this is I don't think the subcommittee is needed anymore I I also think that when there are specific issues that are brought up, for example, the use of whether it's Parkside or other locations, use of school sites for neighborhood association meetings, those are things that we can bring up if we want to do an ad hoc, if we want just to address that one issue, or it's something that we can direct staff to follow through with the various school districts.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

I just don't think that it's the most efficient use of our time to have an ongoing subcommittee that is canceled more often than not. You look like you were about to respond to something I said. Okay. And so with that, I think that when there are particular issues relating to our school districts, whether it's SAUSD, GGUSD, Orange, or our charter schools, that my colleagues can bring the issue up with our city manager and that it could become an agenda item or something that we can bring up to the various school boards i also think that it's possible if my colleagues

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

are interested in the future to have joint meetings i know that in some of my other cities that i serve they have maybe once a year a special joint session with the school district so when you talk about residents being able to come forward and address both the school district and the city Council that would be a right place to do it and I think it would collab foster collaboration and better relationships between the two I would love to see that I think that would be a really fantastic opportunity for us and so with that I would be supporting the original motion thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

council member mayor president Vasquez thank you and thank you guys for the

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

CRITIQUE YOU KNOW THIS COMMITTEE WAS HORRIBLE AND WE WERE LIKE WHAT ARE WE DOING NOTHING'S HAPPENING THAT'S GREAT THAT YOU ADMIT THAT IT WAS AT THE BEGINNING AND WE WE DIDN'T HAVE A LEADERSHIP AND WHEN A CITY MANAGER UH OF AVALONUNES CAME IN THAT CHANGED AND WE STARTED TAKING ACTION AND YOU KNOW THE WORK HE DOES LIKE WE ALL HERE ON THIS COUNCIL KNOW HIS LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND HIS TEAM AND NOW NOW HE'S GOT TWO MORE PEOPLE ON THE TEAM. SO IT HAS BEEN WORKING. SO I'M IN AGREEMENT WITH WHAT YOU SAID AND YOUR CRITIQUE IS POINTING ON, BUT WE'VE BEEN BUILDING UP

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

STEAM SINCE OUR NEW CITY MANAGER, MR. NUNEZ, CAME ON. SO I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU WOULD AGREE WITH US TO HAVE IT, TO KEEP IT. AND WE CAN MEET EVERY OTHER MONTH. WE DON'T HAVE TO MEET EVERY MONTH. WE CAN MEET EVERY OTHER MONTH AND SAVE SOME TIME. and about twice a year about four times a year quarterly quarterly three times a year

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

that's me and we could discuss it within and they want to meet quarterly or three times i'm open to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

it so the mayor and the mayor pro-cham would like to meet with you and discuss that mr senator so

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

yes and the superintendent again this is city council standing subcommittee so it's up to you

but more to, and I was going to say MPT fan again, more to the customer fans commentary, we are working to establish strong relationships with Santa's Unified Superintendent and again with Garden Grove Superintendent. So in that extent you have seen a lot more interaction. Yes, you know, we answer each other, we call each other, and we have actually structured our meetings so we can discuss at least once a month or every two months interactions councilman panalisa

David PenalozaItem 18

thank you mayor um i guess i like the idea of a joint uh council school committee uh the idea sounds great but the whole point of a committee is that you know if when it meets it has constructive dialogue and on on items of interest to both entities and then they report back as a receiving in file as a business item to the respective bodies like councilmember lopez said but that hasn't happened um i know that that uh councilmember fan mentioned that the previous city manager didn't have a relationship with the superintendent but i would disagree because one of the priorities

David PenalozaItem 18

from this city council for the last 10 years was purchasing that water tower land the land that the WATER TOWER SITS ON WHEN THIS BODY FIRST STARTED MEETING UH THAT WAS THAT WASN'T EVEN A TOPIC OF CONVERSATION IT WAS THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE CITY MANAGER CALLING EACH OTHER AND SAYING HEY LET'S GET THE POLITICIANS OUT OF THE ROOM AND WE COULD COME OUT TO AN AGREEMENT TOGETHER AND AND THEY THEY DID THEY WORKED TOGETHER AND THEY WERE ABLE TO PURCHASE THIS AND WE PURCHASED IT IN NOVEMBER I THINK OF 2022 IT WAS FOR LIKE 800 GRAND AND YOU KNOW THAT WAS SOMETHING YEARS AND YEARS IN

David PenalozaItem 18

in the making that the joint committee couldn't even come up with or come to an agreement on. I don't think that unless there's going to be quarterly meetings and reports to this body to see action, I think that would be more beneficial to us if we did have that, because we are spending a lot of a lot of staff time to that point of spending staff time mr. city manager or madam city clerk I'm not sure who's or parks and recs director which item this falls under but it's at the end of the day

David PenalozaItem 18

it's supposed to be a joint collaborative committee and I know that that we're also probably 100% covering the staff the report writing the the expenses of the meeting space. So it doesn't really become joint at that point, because if it was a truly joint collaborative, there would be an equal amount of resources coming from both bodies to make these meetings happen, to produce these agendas, these staff reports. And I don't, is that happening, Mr. City Manager?

No, we take the lead. City of Santa Ana takes the lead.

David PenalozaItem 18

Take the lead, of course, yeah. And I don't think, you know, if it's truly going to be a joint collaborative it should be both the school district and in the city and when this first came up uh i was not supportive of it because it shouldn't just be san anna unified we have garden grove unified that service services half of the city and we have orange unified in the north and and charter schools so we have a lot of schools in the city that aren't part of the senate a unified school district that service a lot of our residents THOUSANDS OF THEM, AND A LOT OF THESE CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT ARE ACTUALLY SUING RECORD ENROLLMENT,

David PenalozaItem 18

UNLIKE THE SAN ANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, BUT WE SHOULD BE INCLUDING THOSE PARTNERS IN THESE CONVERSATIONS. GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED, ORANGE UNIFIED, TUSTON UNIFIED. THERE'S A LOT OF STUDENTS THAT LIVE IN THE CITY THAT GO TO THESE SCHOOL DISTRICTS. SO IF THEY'RE LEFT OUT OF THE EQUATION, IT REALLY ISN'T A JOINT, COLLABORATIVE... I COULD SEE MAYBE LEAVING ORANGE AND TUSTON UNIFIED because it's not as large of a geographical and population-based area that is serviced, as in GG Unified. But GG Unified should have a seat at this committee meeting, at this committee, on the subcommittee.

David PenalozaItem 18

So I would suggest that we call Dr. Amafi and see if there's interest of, and their board of directors, if there's interest in working with,

David PenalozaItem 18

on this part of the subcommittee. And if there is, it should be a joint cost. So it could really be a joint subcommittee. Those are my comments, Mayor, for now.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Is there anybody else who wants to speak? Yes. Go ahead.

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

So just wanted to provide clarity because some of these comments we've heard three, four years ago, right, when we were initially trying to establish this committee and staff did reach out to the different school districts and GG USC said no we don't want to be a part of this effort per staff per hawk and so Santa Ana Unified was the only one that said sure let's explore what we can do to again really minimize the gaps that we hear from our students from our parents in terms of LACK OF SPACE IN TERMS OF LACK OF LIBRARIES IN THE CITY IN TERMS OF LACK OF PROGRAMMING FOR

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CITY IN GENERAL AND IN TERMS OF HOW DO WE BEST SHARE RESOURCES BECAUSE WE'RE BOTH REPRESENTING THE SAME PEOPLE IF THIS COUNCIL WANTS TO UH YOU KNOW SAY I'M NOT GOING TO SUPPORT WITH THIS COMMITTEE MOVING FORWARD THEN THE COUNCIL WILL DO WHAT THEY WANT WITH WITH THEIR DECISION-MAKING power, I do think it's a shame to take that away from the community because as I said, people do watch. Sometimes people call in and people ask questions and they get to see the process unfold transparently as opposed to people up here making a call and saying,

Alvaro NuñezItem 18

hey, can we work on this together? There's no transparency in that. And so I think part of the big issue as i said earlier was why it's been prolonged just because we needed to establish the expectations of our staff in terms of the feedback that we were giving them and what we wanted to see be accomplished again i mean i can go over and over about what is moving forward what is going to come to this council but ultimately if members of this body don't want to see a move move forward then then then that's it so my final comment oh yeah we're gonna

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

vote but I'm just gonna make a final comment here because I can do that so I sat on the school board for eight years nobody else up here did I did and so the best way to do it is a superintendent and the city manager I think council Penalosa or what talked about the water tower it's the best way to do it you We take the politicians out of the room. We tried the joint meeting and we wanted something, they wanted something, it didn't work. So then I get elected mayor and I asked over and over and over and over, can we have an update, can we have an update, can we have an update? Never received it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

So now it's up to vote to, you know, to span it. I'm gonna support it because it really should just be relationship between, in my humble opinion, you and the superintendent or staff and their staff. You'll get a lot more done when nobody else is there in the room with you. as far as you know the school board members that are there or you know what the community wants I'm going to speak for myself on a daily basis and I mean daily basis parents still have my number and they reach out can you help can you help can you help board members don't answer emails can you help can you help

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

you help the city can only do this we cannot do this the city can only do this we cannot do this so if there's an issue it's between you and the superintendent tenant that's what I firmly believe you all have a lot on your plate we ask a lot of all of you whether it's Hawk running parks and rec and all the activities that he does you know all the meetings youth commissioner meetings who are now you have youth commissioners are full right we have a youth commissioner from every ward and the mayor's office so there's all these things that are happening so I'm gonna support disbanding both of them because we have

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

great staff we have a wonderful city manager he's got his whole team now we have a chief in place, we have three deputy chiefs, we have a deputy city manager, we are fully loaded and ready to rock and roll. So you do your job, that's how I feel. And the charter schools, just so you know, they do have a group that meets, because I've been to those meetings, they do meet. If you want the information, I'll give it to you, so if you'd like to reach out to them. And a bunch of charter schools get together monthly, and they meet, and they do meet.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

So I just highly recommend that you also reach out to the charters in OSHA and OSEA and OSOL as well. Because it's not just Santa Ana Unified in this city. There are many other school districts and schools in our city. So let's prepare to vote at this time. There was a motion on the floor. Jennifer, can you read back the motion, please? I'm sorry, Madam Gert.

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

Yes. So the first motion was presented by Councilmember Becerra to disband all three subcommittees. I did not hear a second to that motion. I'll make a second. Okay. But then after that, there was a sub-motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez, to approve the resolution as presented, disbanding two of the subcommittees. So that would be the current motion on the floor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Let's prepare to vote for the sub-motion.

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

So this is the substitute motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez, TO APPROVE A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA, REPEALING RESOLUTION NUMBER 2021-089, ESTABLISHING THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELESSNESS CITY COUNCIL STANDING SUBCOMMITTEE AND THE LEGISLATIVE CITY COUNCIL STANDING SUBCOMMITTEE.

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

THE VOTE IS THREE AYES, FOUR NAYS. nays by council members penulosa fan becerra and mayor mesqua motion fails we would reserve revert back to the original motion on sorry which would be to approve as amended a resolution of the city council of the city of santa ana repealing resolution number 2021-089 establishing the public safety and homelessness city council standing subcommittee and the legislative city council standing subcommittee and repealing resolution number two 2022-028 establishing the joint school collaboration city council standing subcommittee between the city of santa ana and the santa

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

ana unified school district thank you let's vote

Jennifer L. HallItem 18

The vote is four ayes, three nays. Nays by Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez and Council Members Hernandez and Lopez. Motion carries to approve the resolution as amended.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 18

Thank you. Item 19.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

Thank you, Mayor. I WILL BE REQUESTING MYSELF FROM ITEM NUMBER 19 AS I BELIEVE THE PROPERTY OWNER VINEYARD DEVELOPMENT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE 2525 NORTH MAIN STREET PROJECT. AND SO WHILE THIS DISCUSSION IS OCCURRING, I WILL LEAVE THE DIAS. I THINK THAT'S IT. THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

NEW SPEAKER PORTER THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

ITEM 19 AT THIS TIME. COUNCILMAN BESSERA, PLEASE.

Phil BacerraItem 19

NEW SPEAKER BESSERA THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. THIS ITEM IS BEFORE US TONIGHT IS VERY SYMBOLIC. IT IS A TESTAMENT TO THE EFFORT OF A NEIGHBORHOOD WORKING WITH OTHER ADJOINING NEIGHBORHOODS IN REGARDS TO A PROJECT THAT DID NOT WORK, DID NOT FIT IN THE LOCATION THAT IT WAS PROPOSED. SO I TAKE GREAT PLEASURE TONIGHT IN MAKING THE MOTION TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION REPEALING RESOLUTION NUMBER 2019-107.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

I'll second it. Any comments?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Seeing none, let's prepare to vote.

So that motion was made by Councilmember Becerra and seconded by Mayor Meskwa. and now is to adopt a resolution repealing resolution number 2019 107 adopting environmental findings of fact pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act certifying the final environmental impact report SCH 2018 zero two one zero three one adopting a statement of overriding considerations for the proposed project adopting the mitigation monitoring and reporting program and approving the proposed Addington multifamily residential PROJECT LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY OF SAN ANA AT 2525 NORTH MAIN STREET.

AND THAT COUNCIL MEMBER HERNANDEZ? YES. OKAY. CLOSE THAT. THAT MOTION CARRIED. Thank you. Item 20.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

Let me clap with you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

All right. Item 20, please. Item 20 is an ordinance related to prohibiting the award of agreements, contracts, or grants to immediate family members of the mayor, city council members, or city officials. Mr. City Manager, do you have any comments? Do you want to add to it? Does the council need a report from the city manager? If not, we can move forward.

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

Do I have a comment?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

You have a comment? Go ahead.

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

I just want to thank staff for the quick turnaround. I think this is a great example of what good governance looks like, making sure that we have safety guards in place so that people don't abuse the system and to really minimize preferential treatment, to really safeguard the use of taxpayer dollars, and to also curb corruption. So obviously I am in support of this item and thank you for bringing it back. Thank you city manager for the very direct staff report

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

That's your part of oh, please

David PenalozaItem 20

I'll make motion to approve a second

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

I was waiting. I'm sorry. I apologize

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

This is a motion by Councilmember Penalosa, seconded by Councilmember Lopez to conduct a first reading of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana amending Chapter 2 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code by adding a new Section 2-112 concerning the prohibition against awarding of agreements, contracts or grants to any immediate family member of the Mayor, City Councilmembers or City officials.

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

Councilmember Penalosa?

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

vote is seven ayes no nays motion carries ordinance introduced perfect thank you we're

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

going to go into council member comments before we do that i just want to let everybody know that i attended the league of cities policy meeting in sacramento on january 23rd 2025th okay let's go to councilman comments council member hernandez thank you madam city mayor i just wanted to thank

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

the public for tuning in to today's meeting and and for sharing your concerns and your support for today's discussions I also want to thank our city staff for the proactive work that they do to ensure that we have council agendas for the public to to share their input on there there's a lot of concern in the community here and I just want to to be adamant that none of us on any any side should be spreading misinformation, especially during a time where our families are extremely, extremely, you know, worried, they're at risk, and they're fearful.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

And so I just, I want to err on the side of caution in telling the public, please, be responsible in sharing accurate information. This is a time where we need to be working together, regardless of the differences that that we may share, whether it be political ideology or our values, I think one thing that we can acknowledge is that children deserve to be protected. And who's most at risk when ISIS targeting our families is children, children losing their mom or their fathers. We know that that can change the course of a young person's life.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

I also wanted to speak to the need for us to support our children during a time where we may see an increase in mental health conditions. We may see an increase in children suffering from depression or anxiety. And it's important that beyond the support that they have at school, that we also are having those conversations at home. And we're educating our children on how to protect themselves, how to protect their peers, and how to ensure that we're having a safe place for dialogue at home. I think that the responsible part of where we can begin is with ourselves and that's in our own homes

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

And if we can educate each other on on the rights that our neighbors are afforded I think Santa Ana is going to be in a better position I want to thank the city manager's office for his transparency in creating a know your rights Tab and councilmember Lopez for her advocacy to see that done and I want to also thank the the city of Santa Ana for for ensuring that we are standing on those values and making it very clear that immigrants are welcome and they're protected in our city. In addition to the concerns, there have been some very positive things happening in the city. We recently had our first Tet Festival

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

and it was at Centennial Park. And so I wanna thank my colleague, Tyviat Phan, because this was an event that she brought forward. And representation matters, especially during a time where our families are being targeted and attacked and so I want to just say thank you to my colleagues for ensuring that during this time we're uplifting those who are impacted and our neighbors in the API community are certainly impacted I also want to speak to the rise and officer-involved shootings that we are seeing in Orange County the stance that I'm about to take right now

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

is not an anti-police stance it's a pro-justice stance my concern is that we We have seen officer-involved shootings increase in the downtown. We had a man who was fatally shot while holding a toy rifle. And as fearful as our residents were seeing a man walk down the street with a toy rifle, they called police. And this individual was encountered by law enforcement at the intersection of 1st and Broadway, and he was tragically murdered within seconds. There is over 20 bullet holes across the Casa Linda furniture store, but ultimately this man was unarmed.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

He did not have a firearm, but the perception of danger was that he did have a firearm. I am concerned that we are moving away from de-escalating. We saw in the case of Brandon Lopez, a man be murdered and was unarmed and was shot over 20 times by four different Anaheim Police Department officers, Katalin Panov, Paul Delgado, Kenneth Weber. And the concern is it impacts families and loved ones. There's a justice system so that people can be afforded their due process.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

In the case of the individual who was carrying a toy rifle, I would want to see us de-escalate those situations just like we did the case where there was an individual on 17th and Tustin who walked into a salon with a firearm. And our Santa Ana Police Department did a fantastic job containing that perimeter and utilizing the best police practices that they could to de-escalate that situation. It resulted in over eight hours of de-escalating that situation, using choppers, using vehicles. But more importantly, being judicious about the decisions we were making. That person that had a gun that walked into a salon was arrested.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

Nobody was fatally shot. And that person is now incarcerated. And that person saw a due process. And through their crime that they committed, they were afforded a due process. And I pray to God that their life changes and they figure it out. But when we are shooting at people outside of a furniture store that people are shopping in, we've seen in the case of Valentina Orellano Peralta in Los Angeles, a 14-year-old young lady was killed in a Burlington coat factory while she was in a changing room. She was innocent. She was an immigrant who was visiting America to see family.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

And while she was changing in a Burlington coat factory, police had an officer-involved shooting where this young 14-year-old young lady was murdered, and her family lost their loved one, and they were just coming to visit this country. She was trying on clothes at the Burlington Coat Factory. That same tragedy where an unarmed man was shot in front of Casa Linda could have occurred. Over 20 bullets were sprayed across those walls, and if you walk and you look past those, you can see the impact of those bullet holes on the wall. There was an incident that occurred where a suspect was wanted for homicide,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

and this person should be off the street. This person should be arrested. This person should be in front of a judge and charged. But this individual was tragically murdered at the pier while there was a number of civilians that were fishing and the shooting happened in a number of seconds. I don't know the details of it but I can share that residents reached out to my office sharing that they were concerned to see violence rising in our police department in terms of fatal officer involved shootings. My stance is a pro-justice stance in that I want our officers to make it home safely. I want civilians to be afforded their due

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

process no matter how good or how bad they may be. It is not the role of public servants to decide to be the judge, the jury, and the executioner and so my comments are to our city manager that we please emphasize de-escalation practices to the best of our abilities that we consider the standards that are changing in California as evidenced by Assembly Bill 392 which is related to the new deadly force standards as it pertains to Assembly Bill 1506 which investigates fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians it's important that we

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

understand that these shifts affect the racial disparities and use of force and And so I would like to see our police department work closer than we ever have in de-escalation practices and ensuring that we're abiding by state law. And lastly, I would like to see us look into additional bills that we have at the assembly. There was a bill that was recently passed, and it was Senate Bill 1421. It's a bill that helps with transparency as pertains to police records. records. But in addition to that, you have Assembly Bill 118, which creates pilot projects

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

and distributes grants to organizations providing community-based healthcare for those who are having mental health conditions. Oftentimes, people who are suffering from mental health have interactions with the police. Perhaps it's worth us looking into Assembly Bill 118 to see if there's grant funding that can help aid the department in responding to calls related to domestic disturbances where there may be a loved one who is suffering from a mental health crisis. I think in the case of an individual carrying a toy gun that that clearly to me does not speak to somebody who is who

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

is fully operating to the best of their cognitive abilities that may be somebody who is you know either impaired due to substance abuse or may be struggling with with some sort of a mental health crisis but I just wanted to be adamant that the same fear that is happening all throughout the city in terms of ICE, there's also immigrant members of this community who are fearful when they see violence rising in our department. And so this is a call for us to preserve human life and to ensure that our officers, of course, make it home safely and that our residents are also given a due process no matter what stance they're on,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

whether they're innocent or they're guilty and and may god bless us through these these very challenging times that'll those will be my final comments thank you council member lopez

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

uh yes so last week we hosted a santiago park creek cleanup in partnership with caltrans oc habitat and with the help of over 40 dedicated volunteers we successfully removed a total of 253 pounds of waste from the park and creek and I want to thank our Public Works Department for making sure that they also supported our efforts and picked up all those trash bags and to over 200 pounds of trash and 26 pounds of invasive plants that are growing in the creek and so I do want to give a huge shout out to everyone who participated to all of

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

the volunteers to OC Habitats to Caltrans and to our community director for helping coordinate this effort and looking ahead we do invite you to our upcoming office hours um hosted at Mowbray Park this Saturday from 10 a.m to 11 a.m and this is a great opportunity for folks to discuss important city topics we've hosted office hours for many many years now and we hope to see you there and I do want to thank the city manager for your public report out earlier during this meeting advising our residents about the Know Your Tabs, the Know Your Rights Tab on our city's website.

Alvaro NuñezItem 20

I know that was something I requested during the last council meeting and so I'm very happy with the turnaround time and some of the content on that on that page and I highly encourage all of our constituents to go and check it out if they have any questions. So thank you.

David PenalozaItem 20

council member panalosa please thank you mayor mesquite i just want to thank you mr city manager for the last couple of of almost a year now that you've been at the helm well half unofficially half officially but you've been doing an awesome job and uh you know whatever time one calls you're there and and even when i on a weekend when give you a call and and you're already proactively out there looking at areas that we had discussed over the week thank you for being out there uh yesterday morning uh with with business owners along grand with me as we

David PenalozaItem 20

walk that area to see what's going on and how we could better help and service our our businesses so thank you thank you thank you for that and um aside from that i just want to congratulate my colleague council member phil becerra on being appointed chairman of the orange county fire authority so that is huge for our city to have that that leadership there so just congratulations I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE REPRESENTING SANTA ANA VERY WELL. ASIDE FROM THAT, THAT IS IT. MADAM MAYOR, THANK YOU, CITY STAFF, AND WE'LL SEE YOU ALL IN TWO WEEKS.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

COUNCILMEMBER FAN.

Thai Viet PhanItem 20

THAT SOUNDED WRONG. CAN YOU DO THAT AGAIN, PLEASE?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

COUNCILMEMBER. DID I SAY IT RIGHT, FAN?

Thai Viet PhanItem 20

I MEAN THE COUNCILMEMBER PART, THOUGH. NO, NO, THAT'S ALL YOU DID. First, I wanted to thank staff so much for, Lunar New Year is just a fantastic time. Thank you so much to Parks and Rec, Director Hawk, Director Sternberg with our libraries. It was just really wonderful to see everyone out there, to see staff, to see all of our community members dressed up wearing Aoyais. That was just a really wonderful thing to see. And growing up here in Santa Ana and growing up on the West Side, to really see us celebrate the diversity of cultures here is always something that fills me with joy

Thai Viet PhanItem 20

especially for the second year in a row thank you so much there there is just one big update I do want to give as your representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California met is the America's largest water importer we serve water to 19 million Southern Californians and recently we voted after a very long three-day closed session deliberation to appoint a new general manager it is going to be Devin Upadhyay he has been with MET for many years and we look forward to his leadership in his work as we move forward to investing further in water infrastructure and ensuring that we keep water rates down

Thai Viet PhanItem 20

and also providing water and this crucial resource especially in fighting the fires in LA County so I wanted to assure all of our residents that the water will still be flowing and luckily here in Santa Ana the vast majority of OUR WATER IS FROM THE SAN ANA BASIN THE BEST TASTING WATER IN THE WORLD OBVIOUSLY AND FINALLY I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT YOU KNOW I HOPE THAT EVERYBODY HAS A SAFE SAFE TIME THIS WEEK IT'S GOING TO BE RAINING PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF I KNOW THE STREETS GET REALLY CRAZY AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF YOU AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING HAVE A GOOD NIGHT

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

THANK YOU MAYOR PRO TAN VASQUEZ THANK YOU STAFF THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO THE MEETINGS have been going great you guys have been doing a great job i mean like i appreciate it how smooth we run and now we've even uh now we're a a city uh staff on steroids with two new assistant city managers who are giants amongst us and we i'm glad they're they're coming on to support you for all the help and all all the phone calls you get from us somebody's going to give you the help i really appreciate the work that was done uh for lunar year thank you to the to hawk and his team for for that work. And I want to mention to our young people

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

when you're protesting to continue, please just continue walking and marching and try not to stop. I know for many years I was an activist in the streets. And May Day would come around. And most of the signs in Santa Ana and Anaheim May Day, I'd support the labor fed as well. And they'd have signs that we painted at my house. and we organized we organized but we always make sure and we called it self-defense and some people might call it security but we always organized and said who's in the volunteer and people would volunteer to keep people moving and keep people safe and not stopping more more harm comes when a big group

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

stops and it's important to just keep walking so if thank you for protesting and and doing your voice and it's your first amendment to go out but if you're you're going to march, volunteer if you can, to be that self-defense team as we did. And I was talking to, at another point, I was talking to the district, and as these times, the FACE program is now going to turn, instead of doing rent stabilization workshops, they're going to be doing immigration as it's needed now, but I think the city, we can do both, and we have places to do both. I think rent stabilization is immigrant advocacy as well.

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

Our school district lost 6,000 students and not two charters. They're shrinking as well. If you look up the numbers, there's one that increased as they're increasing their grade levels. But the county lost 40,000 people. I know we know the state's losing people, so of course Santa Ana. And why has Santa Ana hit so hard? It's because the rent is really high. because the rent is really high for the salary that we earned here that our families earn in our area so we need to continue and push out the rent stabilization education for all our people to know where it's at my the

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

state average of McKinney-Vento McKinney-Vento is a housing insecure students and they could be out in the streets and the shelter and a car in a motel renting a garage the state average is 17 and a half at my high school at valley high school we're 29 mckinney-vento a third of all kids are housed insecure and that's why they're leaving i just had two students uh siblings moved to fontana this last week because the house a three bedroom three bath house was what uh was that we were charged for a two bedroom house here or a one-bedroom house here so they they moved to Fontana so it's important to

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

continue for us to push forward rent stabilization workshops wherever we can how we can working with the school district and others including Garden Grove because they're protected as well and do that work across the city so

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

thank you that's all I have for today I apologize councilman Becerra I

Phil BacerraItem 20

I overlooked you, I apologize. No worries. Thank you, Madam Mayor. For the AB 1234 disclosure, the city paid for my travel on January 24 for my participation in the League of California Cities Transportation Policy Committee. They met up in Sacramento, and I was there for one day. While I was there, the committee received a briefing on state transportation funding and the governor's budget from the Legislative Analyst's Office and an update on pending legislation from the Cal City staff. I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours on Saturday, February 8th at 10 a.m. at Sandpoint Park.

Phil BacerraItem 20

Now, the reason why I didn't hold them this last Saturday was because I was out in Westminster celebrating the Lunar New Year and the Tet Parade. It was great because not only was it Santa Ana folks going to Westminster, but you had Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Stanton, Huntington Beach, and Irvine elected officials. And so Mr. City Manager, as we're looking to Fiesas Patrias because we throw a big party and I know our staff's gonna be working on it already, but I would like to make sure that we extend the invitation further out when it comes to the elected officials. And we're the capital of Orange County

Phil BacerraItem 20

and nobody throws a Fiesas Patrias party like we do. So I think it would be a good thing to make sure that we invite our colleagues in other cities to make sure that they have a chance to participate. I really appreciate what Westminster did, and they do a good job every year. As Council Member Penaloza already mentioned, I was selected by my colleagues from throughout Orange County on the OCFA board to serve as the board chair. So I'm looking forward to representing the capital of Orange County on that board. board. Why does it matter? Because that's the agency that provides our fire protection and

Phil BacerraItem 20

medical emergency services. And so with all the things that have been happening in Southern California recently, whether it's fires, just other emergencies, I can assure you right now that OCFA is in great shape and God willing will continue to be. And with that, I also want to just close tonight by thanking both our city manager, because we've had some meetings that I think when people looked at the agenda went, ooh, better bring a sleeping bag. We're gonna be here for a while. And I think that's partially also due to my colleagues. I wanna say thank you to everybody because we tackled some big things

Phil BacerraItem 20

over the last couple of months. And we've been able to not only have productive discussions, but be able to get through them in a reasonable time. So I wanna say thank you to our staff in that. And I also wanna give a specific shout out to our Public Works folks, because you make us all look good up here. You know, I mean we talked about some items up here tonight that are contracts and all the fun stuff But the real fun stuff where constituents are reaching out wanting to see the city Serve them and you know when I first got on this council I really thought I'd be blown up director ties phone then director tied now

Phil BacerraItem 20

You see I'm ties phone on planning and development issues given my background, but it's Public Works that I think probably bears the load of most constituent calls and you guys make us always look good so thank you with that good night everybody thank you very much i disclosed

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

earlier the ab-1234 but i want to share that i sit on the housing community economic development public safety revenue and taxation committee and the meeting the entire meeting was about prop 36 everybody in that room discussed prop 36 and hopefully chief you'll be with me at the next meeting there were chiefs of police in there and council members mayors there's a you know somebody from the Port Authority and it was about prop 36 because every city that was in there wants the same thing they want a very safe community it was about the quality of life of their constituents of the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

cities that they represent so that's what I was there doing and we'll be having our next meeting in Burbank so I won't have to catch a flight at 6 o'clock in the morning so I do want to share really quick there's a couple things I know tonight it was about ice which is really important and I again want to state that there's nothing worse than yelling fire in a movie theater and people getting hurt in the process so it's kind of what's been happening in the last couple days all over social media and it's shameful that you yell the mayor's working with I said MPD or whatever it may be and it causes fear They're here.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

They're at Immaculate Heart of Mary. They're here. They're there. Shame on the people that are doing that. Shame on those that are involved in the politics that are doing that. Shame on teachers that are teaching or having those conversations. Shame on anybody that is doing that because you're causing harm to our families. You are causing harm. People are afraid to leave. I talked to a family yesterday. They don't even want to go to, sad, they're like, we go to Yum Yum Donuts in the morning before we go take our kids to school. we don't even want to do that we're afraid and I long meeting with them please don't be afraid

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

if they're here you should hear about it call the city manager's office call the police department text me I'll text you back I'll call them you can text the council members fear is a terrible thing I think councilman Becerra covered it when he said you know and I'm gonna not say exactly the the way he said it, but if you're involved with crime, you're breaking the law, you're driving under the influence, you're beating up your husband or your wife, police come out, you're undocumented, yeah, you're going to have some problems. Yes. Yes, you will. So what I would

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

say to you is that please encourage people to not fall for the fear. Talk to your children. Talk to your children. Do not let adults who are bad influences on them tell them what to do and how to do it and how to think and what to believe. Have that foundation for your children, whether it's your religion or whatever it may be that drives your family. Carry that right now and be prepared. If you are afraid of that, please be prepared. and have documents printed out, have things signed, have backpacks ready to go. It's kind of like an earthquake bag I used to have with my kids. There's an earthquake, they knew to grab

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

their backpack, it had everything in it that we needed, they needed, they each needed, and we would take shelter. They knew that if we got lost at Angel Stadium, you meet me at the Big A. That's where I'm going to find you. That's what we do. And if you don't find me, you find an adult all to help you that's what we should be teaching our children in our community not creating fear because those that are again I'm gonna say shame on you because you created problems and yeah you can talk about me I don't care but today hundreds of students walked out of Santa and unified hundreds it's awful some

Valerie AmezcuaItem 20

kids didn't even know why they were walking out they just walked out flyers are being passed out of schools the mayor is working with ice so we're going to protest how is that educational and what are we teaching our children that's what i want to know i don't know how that's educational and in san and unified whoever's causing a shame on you it performs at the 48th we are number 48 out of 50 states that school district our school district our kids need to be in class they need to be in class last friday i was at the school board meeting and the school board voted four to one to lay off 300 SAEA members

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teachers counselors social workers one of the council members up here said right now is the time where our children need mental health assistance yes they do but yet sat on unified the majority of the board voted to lay off 300 certificated staff which includes social workers and counselors so shame on them as well and don't blame anybody because if we don't move forward with measure X THIS COUNCIL, WE CAN'T BLAME ANYBODY. WE CAN'T BLAME PEOPLE WHO ARE SITTING HERE BEFORE US. IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY. IF WE CAN'T PASS A BUDGET OR HANDLE A BUDGET, THAT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A COUNCIL, THE MAYOR, AND THE CITY LEADERSHIP.

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IT'S NOT THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND IT'S NOT THE PEOPLE WHO SAT HERE BEFORE US. IT IS OUR ISSUE. SO SHAME ON THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO SAY, WELL, THE PREVIOUS BOARD MEMBERS. NO. IF YOU CAN'T BALANCE YOUR BUDGET IN YOUR HOME, YOU DON'T BLAME YOUR NEIGHBOR. look in the mirror look in the mirror because now we have students that are not going to have enough teachers classes will be full and yeah kids are leaving Santa Ana Unified they are I don't care what anybody says it's not just housing they're leaving for a lot of reasons and I won't go into that tonight but I just want to let the Santa Ana Educators Association know

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that I stand with them and I know Councilor Penalosa you were there with me so thank you I stand with them because there should be more action on their part to fight back and say not on my watch because our children do need them, especially social workers, especially counselors and teachers, all of them. Curriculum specialists, they all need them. So with that, I would just want to say with Santa Ana Educator Association, please reach out to me again. and I do stand with you and I know that Councilman, excuse me, Assemblyman Avalina Valencia had staff there, Congressman Correa had staff there as

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well, so I want to thank them. And the Police Officers Association was there also to support and the Orange County Labor Federation. And so also I want to thank Assemblyman Avalina Valencia and Congressman Correa because they've been working very closely and every time I reach out about immigration issues they're on it, they're answering emails, they're sharing information, they're giving giving guidance, here's what's happening in Sacramento, here's what's happening in DC. And that is so important to have those conversations with them. I know Mr. City Manager, you and the Deputy City Manager, I've been in touch with them as well.

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And Chief, I know you have as well. Because we have to stay informed. Again, we're not going to scream fire in a movie theater. We're going to stay informed and we're going to lead. How do we lead? We be transparent.

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We have empathy. We do it gently. and at the same time we remind people please don't break the law because the moment you enter the system things bad things will happen and we don't want that and please talk to your children homelessness mr. city manager it's also a priority in the city among other things right but I've been watching and seeing how our homeless problem it looks like it's getting worse and then it gets better because the police do a great job and then they go out clean up an hour later because I sat in my car and watched an hour later they come back

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and I go by and I watch at all hours of the day or night and the police go in and Colt goes in they take them out they help them and then they come back again I don't know the answer because it's been a problem for 10 or 15 years except for Santa Ana is just starting to look like there's little pockets that look like people are being dropped off I don't know chief maybe you can do some special surveillance and find out if people are being dropped off and I've asked that a couple times mr. city manager because I keep hearing from the community that people are being dropped off and I can't say that it's true because I have not seen

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it. My grandma always says if you don't see with your own eyes it's a lie. So I'm just going to say I don't know. But the homeless issue down First Street, doing drugs, you know sticking that needle in their arm, smoking that pipe as kids are walking by. I mean we really have to stay on top of that and I know you are and thank you. I can't say it enough thank you, thank you, thank you. But we got got to do it on a regular basis every day more and more please because I hear from our constituents every day or I talk to Phil or I talk to David and it's like did you see this did you see that

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there's a group here there's a group there and it's just it breaks my heart when I hear from families that their children have to walk by while you know some guy's smoking his meth pipe and you know or he's half naked and I'm not even gonna go down that road I'm just saying please please continue to do the work please continue to really push the city manager wherever there's funding that we can work with people and apply for it I can't wait to hear from Cal Optima to see if we did you know that street medicine I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying right so being you know the

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homeless population is still a problem and I hope as as passionate as people are up here about other issues that they are all passionate about homeless issues because it affects our quality of life in Santa Ana it affects our businesses it affects every single one of us I also want to thank the city staff because we've been meeting we've had two meetings now with our businesses and our chamber great turnout Thank You councilman Penalosa and Becerra for joining us hearing from the businesses on what they need why they need it the good the bad and the ugly and how we can work together to continue to bring in

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new businesses generate revenue generate revenue for our city because that's how we provide services to our constituents we generate revenue and so um thank you for attending those meetings with me there was like over 65 businesses that have joined us on both occasions and that is really good so i'm very happy about that the tet festival was wonderful i'm sorry the tet parade and the lunar festival was great um i am looking forward to mr city manager and i hope the council is as well to start the budget discussion very soon where are we going to

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move money to pay here cut there and still provide the best services that we can for our community but it's not about unicorns and babies and butterflies it's about services services to our community that we need to address and being honest about how much money we have and what are we going to do with it and i know you're going to do a good job because i think it's i know it's not a year as council panelists have said but it's almost a year and so um you know with your leadership and now with min and kat here and sylvia's been doing a phenomenal job and all

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your staff we're going to get through the budget and thank you madam city manager city attorney because i know you're in the loop there as well so thank you i'm going to end with this council member earlier mentioned officer involved shootings i'm concerned too i'm concerned that A guy was walking downtown and the phone calls came in about a man carrying a shotgun and he was loading it. And when officers arrived, he was stopped. The community was afraid. And officers have a split second to make a decision. A split second.

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I think Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez said go on a ride along with Colt, see what they do. I encourage you all to go on a ride along with Santa Ana PD late at night and see what they do. They make decisions in a split second. So I'm not gonna Monday, I think it's called, I'm not gonna Monday night quarterback. I want to thank the officers that go out there every day and risk their life. What he didn't talk about was the shooting in I think Floral Park of the north part of Santa Ana where a gentleman had a knife to his mother's throat and guess what

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Santa Ana PD was there to save the day and the community there was very thankful very thankful because he was going to kill his mother and yes people are mentally ill yes we have a lot of need in this community but I'm not going to Monday night quarterback unless a report comes out Mr. city manager that it was a bad shoot then you address it then chief you address it but there has been none of that yet and I don't think you're going to see that and I'm going to pray that we don't because if a guy is walking down the street with what looks like a shotgun

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at night then we have a problem we have a problem and I would hope that our officers will do their job which they do protect and serve because if I had been there on down forestry I would have called and said there's a guy with the gun looks like a shotgun maybe they would ask me the dispatch is it real ma'am i don't know because i'm not going to get close enough to make that decision see police and police police came they did what they do best they protected and served and so i will not sit up here ever a monday night quarterback because you have to make a decision as officers

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in a split second because we want you to go home to your families too. We want you to go home to your children. We want you to go home to your wife. We want you to go home to your parent that you're taking care of. We want you to go home to your pregnant wife that's due any day. That's what we want. At least I could speak for a few of us up here. That's what we want. So I want to apologize to Santa Ana PD if you took any offense to any comments I made earlier and I would ask that you continue to do your job and do it well and chief thank you i was at the swearing

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in and a few of us were there council member fan myself councilman becerra and councilman panalosa it was a great event to watch you get sworn in with the three dc's with deputy chief andrade deputy chief gonzalez and deputy chief elms so congratulations to all three of you city manager new city manager doing a phenomenal job with his team new chief doing a phenomenal job with his team we truly look forward to the changes that are happening in the city and that will continue to happen because things that we've been the city's been waiting on for 20 years you're addressing you're addressing so what

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else can we ask for right other than I will just say I'm sorry what Bristol can you get it done before David's penny gets out of diapers that's what I want to know okay now you can don't listen to her she always gets what she wants okay Okay, so I'm gonna close with this, is that I'm having a coffee with the mayor on the 22nd of February at the Historic French Park. So please come out and join us to share your concerns. And I really wanna thank all the people that came out tonight that gave public comments, whether they were good or bad, comes with the job. I wanna thank the city staff. I wanna thank all of you who wait

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till the very end of this meeting. And with that, thank you and good night.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.