Read the April 15 meeting.

Vice Chair Neill.

Jennifer L. Hall

It says it has a low battery, but it looks like it's in the thing, so I'm not quite sure

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Alvaro Nuñez

one moment please thank you you're ready to go mayor i hereby call the santa ana 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

Jennifer L. Hall

conduct roll call council member of a sarah here council member hernandez present council member lopez customer penulosa council member fan here mayor protein vasquez president mayor mesqua present it's five members that is a quorum thank you are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda matter yes mayor council there is one closed session item number three pertaining to the executive management team has been withdrawn i'm sorry can you repeat that yes item number three related to the executive management team has been withdrawn thank you

Alvaro Nuñez

do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items

Alvaro Nuñez

hearing none madam clerk do we have any speakers for closed session

Jennifer L. Hall

there are no in-person speakers no zoom speakers and no emails were received pertaining to closed session thank you at this time we will recess the closed session

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Do it on a pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad pad

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Good night.

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Alvaro Nuñez

All right. All right, lively bunch tonight, we appreciate that. Okay, let's get started.

Alvaro Nuñez

Madam Clerk, can you please start the meeting? Yes, Mayor, you're live.

Alvaro Nuñez

Good evening, I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. As a reminder this is a meeting to conduct the business of the City of Santa Ana. As Mayor I'm afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or a break or to even clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. Warnings will be

Alvaro Nuñez

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 or exits during city council presentations and oaths of office guests of individual individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos madam clerk please conduct the roll

Jennifer L. Hall

call council member becerra here council member hernandez president council member lopez here Here. Council Member Penalosa?

Alvaro Nuñez

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Phan? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez?

Benjamin Vazquez

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor Meskwa? Present. All seven members? Thank you. Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, please make your 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 now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence. This does not apply to public hearing item number 26 for which comments will be heard during this specific public hearing. Please hold your comments on that item until called

Alvaro Nuñez

upon during the public hearing. Thank you. Thank you. Just to be noted during the national anthem the students will come behind the council so that their director can stand in front of us and they'll be singing the national anthem. Pastor Durley please if you can lead us in the, oh I'm sorry this is, I'm off I I guess I should put my glasses on. Pledge of Allegiance, Deputy City Manager Sylvia Vasquez, please.

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

Alvaro Nuñez

Thank you, Deputy City Manager.

Alvaro Nuñez

At this time, we'll have the National Anthem being performed by the Orange County School of the Arts, please.

Do you mind taking a time out? You can shuffle in. Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out?

Alvaro Nuñez

Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out? Do you mind taking a time out?

Do you mind taking a time out? Oooooh

Oooooh

Say, can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

streaming and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night That our flag, that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free, the free

And the home, and the home of the brave, of the brave.

Alvaro Nuñez

Well, when I know when I want to cry, I'm going to invite them. Wow. It was beautiful. Let's give them another round of applause. It was beautiful.

Alvaro Nuñez

It was beautiful.

Alvaro Nuñez

We live in such a wonderful country, so thank you. Pastor Durley, please.

Come on. Thank you. This right here? Yes. Thank you. Got a message early? Hey, thank you.

Guys, you put me in behind that phenomenal.

But I did not hear you sing, though. I thought I heard you say you was going to sing. Try not to cry. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. There you are. To the mayor and your staff and other city officials, I greet you all. Thank you for this opportunity to provide words of inspiration. I pray that I meet your expectation. We have gathered on what is known in the religious community as Holy Week. Nestled between Palm Sunday and Easter or Resurrection Sunday, we have this Tuesday. It is recorded that it was on the Tuesday of the Holy Week, Judas had met with the religious leaders

and have had agreed to betray Jesus. We have come to believe that Judas carried out those acts on Thursday or Good Friday Eve. The point I want to get is that in spite of the outward appearance of Judas and Jesus' relationship, at some point the relationship did not live up to the exterior exhibition. It appears that Jesus and Judas' relationship was pretty as a flower but when tested the relationship withered what I mean by the statement is that Jesus and Judas relationship could have been observed as

being pretty what I mean is that it was pretty but Judas was listed as the money keeper pretty for Judas was always included in the list when the 5,000 was was fed, Judas was there. When Jesus calmed the seas, Judas was there. Palm Sunday, Judas was there. Even at the Last Supper, Judas was there, but he did not stay for the entire meal, but Judas was included. From the outside looking in, one could assume that Jesus and Judas' relationship was pretty as a flower. But it was on the Tuesday of the Holy Week

that the prettiness of their relationship changed. The relationship lacked the tenacity of weeds. It's believed that Judas did not see a future with Jesus, especially since Jesus stated that he was to be crucified. When I refer to the tenacity of weeds, I would venture to say that none of us actually plant weeds, yet they are there and they grow. None of us intentionally water weeds, yet they are there and they grow. Even covered by

concrete, yet they are there and they grow. Weed killer stops growth for seasons, but you know after good rain weeds grow again. When it comes down to building a community of diverse makeup, I don't want us to choose one or the other. I don't want us to choose a pretty flower or having some weeds. I want both. As we try to lean in on one another, we can look pretty with all of the photo ops. We can look pretty with all of the official invitations. But let us collectively cultivate a relationship that will grow with the tenacity of weeds.

even when the concrete layers that are filled with prejudice, bigotry, distress, let our relationship grow with toughness, robust, spirited, resistant, flexible, and being quick to recover. We thank you in Jesus name, amen.

Alvaro Nuñez

Thank you Pastor Joe.

Alvaro Nuñez

All right. Let's get started here. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, there's one. Item number six, the presentation by the Orange County Transportation Authority, is being rescheduled to another date.

Alvaro Nuñez

Thank you. The first presentation is mine, but I can't seem to find my information. Do you have a copy down there? Thank you. All right. All right, first presentation is mine, and it's for the recognizing the 2024 City of Santa Ana Historic Preservation Awards. Come on down, please.

A lot of good work.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

All right, so we're going to do the 2024 City of Santa Ana Historic Preservation Award recipients. So, good evening. It's truly an honor to stand before you today as we recognize the award winners from the 2024 City of Santa Ana Historic Preservation Awards. These awards recognize examples of exemplary restoration and historic infill design efforts throughout the City of Santa Ana. By honoring these projects, we recognize the City's historic value and encourage others to continue being excellent stewards of historic resources.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

In 2024, the Historic Resources Commission formed an ad hoc committee, which consisted of commissioners Irma Haragy, I know I always say that wrong, I'm sorry. And Janelle Hardy, as well as Robert Imodine, who served as the professional architect. The ad hoc committee vetted eight applications and ultimately selected five recipients for the preservation awards. All five projects, along with one special recognition project, were approved by the Historic Resources Commission at the November 2024 meeting. The four categories include award of merit for ongoing efforts to preserve and protect

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

vacant historic resources, rehabilitation award for alterations to historic resources, historic infill design award for new development within a historic district, and special recognition for projects that do not qualify but include a historic component. So drum roll, here we go with the winners. I got a drum roll, please. Here we go. Drum roll, drum roll, drum roll. Okay. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

You know, I have to say city staff should come all the time. I want you always at the meeting. Give us some drum roll back there. Okay. The winners are, number one, an award of merit for the YMCA project at 203, 205 West Civic Center presented to Michael Hatton. of Caribou Industries.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Built in 1923, the Mission slash Spanish Colonial Revival Style YMCA building designed by architect Frederick Elay has been involved in ongoing rehabilitation efforts. Number two, a rehabilitation award for the Thomas House at 621 North Spurgeon Street presented to homeowner Diana Vogel.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

And her husband.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Located, and if you haven't been to the Vogel House, you have to go. It's amazing. I've only been to the outside, but it's so beautiful. Located in the Lacey neighborhood and built in 1898, this Queen Anne-style residence and carriage house underwent rehabilitation improvements between 2016 and 2017, 2017 returning it back to its appropriate architectural design. She'll open her doors for tea just so you know that, okay? A rehabilitation award for the property at 625 South Broadway presented to Xavier Velasco on behalf of property owner 920 North Grand Avenue.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Built in 1917, this craftsman style residence located in Heninger Park was restored in 2022 22 and efforts to repair weathering and damage to the property, which included removing, removing in, no I didn't write this, I want you to know Paul wrote this, okay, but, removing incompatible, incompatible, I think it's supposed to be together, Paul, incompatible alterations, reconstruction and rehabilitation of building features. Number four, a rehabilitation award for the Pomeroy House at 718 South Broadway. It was presented to Ali Murhoshian. I don't think I hear, no? No.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Built in 1912, this Henninger Park Craftsman Bungalow underwent rehabilitation in 2022, focusing on repairing and replacing important architectural details. Number five, a historic infill designed for 826 and 830 North Lacey Street, presented to Valma Della Rosa of Habitat for Humanity.

Where's Valma?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

From 2022 to 2023, Habitat for Humanity developed two single-family affordable housing properties on vacant land in the French Park National Register Historic District. The new residential designs reflect the folk Victorian style at 826 North Lacey and the craftsman bungalow style at 830 North Lacey. Habitat for Humanity constructed the project with donated labor and materials. And they're both beautiful homes. I've been to both of them number six a special recognition is given to the Rafferty project in downtown, Santa Ana Presented to John Hyde of the Toll Brothers developer of the project

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Councilman panelosa should be down here reading this Special recognition is given for the preservation and restoration of the Orange County title company building facade Again, we'd like to thank our Historic Resources Commission and the Ad Hoc Committee for their hard work in reviewing these applications and for promoting the preservation and rehabilitation of these beautiful community resources. And you ask, why is this important? It is important because in the City of Santa Ana, we like to preserve the history that we have here in our city.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

And that is why this commission is so important and these awards because all these projects, and there are others, but these projects were selected, they keep it together. This is the history that you can look back from people who have been here for a really long time to say, that building, wow, look at that. Look at what they did. They were able to keep the history of Santa Ana. And so I really just want to thank them, and that's why I'm honored to give this award. So is there somebody who'd like to come up and speak?

Go ahead, come on. Thank you guys so much. We do want to recognize Dan Weaver. He is the original person who restored our home. We accredit him for a lot of the architecture that was put back in place to preserve the Thomas house, but we do want to take credit for reintroducing it to our neighborhood. We love our neighborhood. We open it for tours, teach the history of the Thomas family and anyone who's ever owned our home since then. So we're grateful. So we're gonna share this with Dan Weaver. Thank you.

First of all, I would like to thank the city for the tremendous partnership that they have provided Habitat and in addition to receiving this award, the city did provide funding to make those homes as beautiful as they are in that wonderful community. I would also like to thank Arlene Edgerian, Katie Floridis, and Eileen Brito, the architectural team that helped make these beautiful homes happen. Thank you.

On behalf of the Commission, I'd like to introduce a few of our commissioners. Commissioner Rincon, Commissioner Irma, Commissioner Janelle Hardy, and myself, I'm Ed Marocci. I just wanted to say congratulations to all the winners, and we're getting ready to announce of nominations for our 2025 so if you know of any historic properties please nominate them and also if you want to learn anything about the Commission historic preservation you can go to Santa Anna dash Santa dash Anna dot org forward slash historic dash preservation thank you very much

Thank you so much, Ms. Mayor and City Manager and especially the City Council for being a great part and a great team of what's going on in our community today. I'm extremely honored. I have been working here in Santa Ana for 33 years and I was, I think, 12 when I got here. or something like that. But it's really a great honor to have such an award after spending a lot of time not only preserving the YMCA building, but several, maybe up to 15 different other buildings that we've built in Utah under the new condition. And we look forward to doing great things with the city

over the next few years and building out the city to be the number one capital city in the United States. We're here to do good things for good people, and we want to give back to those less fortunate. Thank you.

I just wanted to thank Mayor Meskwa and special thanks and gratitude to Saul Delgado, who was the developer on our project. He recently passed, but this project wouldn't have been possible without him. and special thanks to Julie and Cindy and Danny and Pili as well thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

all right we're gonna take a photo and then we'll invite the council down

There we go.

One, two, three, four.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One, two, three, four.

All right, the council on the door. Please stand up. Come down when you're here. That's perfect. That's perfect. That's good. Yeah, that was really nice. Okay.

Phil BacerraItem 1

Can we go closer to the mic? Yeah, be sure to raise this one.

Are you good? Thank you. Maybe you're a little to the right or left.

All right. Thank you guys all very much. Congratulations.

.

. Thank you, guys. Congratulations. .

. . Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 1

So let me ask everybody, who liked the national anthem earlier? Right?

Phil BacerraItem 2

So guess what? I'm going to recognize the school that produced those wonderful talented singers. Taryn, if I could have you come up.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Come on up. Don't be shy. Come on up. I don't think they know how to be shy. Oh, I know.

We don't do shy.

How are you?

Phil BacerraItem 2

All good? We're all good? All right. So tonight, we recognize the remarkable achievements of the Orange County School of the Arts on their 25th anniversary being located right here in Santa Ana. OSHA was founded in 1987 as a small after-school program. Then OSHA moved to Santa Ana in 2020, I'm sorry, 2000, where it grew into a premier public charter school. Today, it is ranked the number one charter high school in all of California, serving over 2,300 students in grades 7 through 12, offering an exceptional blend of arts and academics.

Phil BacerraItem 2

OSHA's impact extends far beyond the classroom. With an outstanding 99% graduation rate and numerous national accolades, OSHA has become a cultural beacon enhancing the vibrancy and diversity of our community. community. Over the past 25 years, OSHA has invested more than $70 million into our local economic development and has created over 1,000 jobs. OSHA's community engagement is equally impressive. Through initiatives like the Gluck Community Service Arts Fellowship, OSHA students have touched the lives of over 500,000 community members. Their, I was going

Phil BacerraItem 2

OSHA Arts, is that what?

CSR.

Phil BacerraItem 2

There we go. Has provided arts education to more than 15,000 local children, including 5,000 Santa Ana students who have benefited from the Camp OSHA Scholarship Program. Additionally, OSHA's Community Arts Festival, now in its second year, which the mayor and I were just at recently, offers free arts experiences to families throughout Orange County and fostering creativity and inclusivity. Tonight, I want to present this certificate of recognition to Taryn on behalf of the City of Santa Ana in recognition of 25 years here in Santa Ana. Congratulations!

Thank you all. Thank you all very much. We appreciate the recognition. Council Member Becerra, Mayor Emezcua, members of the City Council and the incredible Santa Ana community, thank you so much for having us here tonight. On behalf of OSHA, we are deeply appreciative of this humbling recognition. It's truly humbling to stand here and to reflect on what the past 25 years in Santa Ana have meant to our school. 25 years ago, the City of Santa Ana not only welcomed OSHA with open arms, but has since become a true partner in our mission to serve students here and beyond.

The City has played an essential role in our growth and success over the years. Your belief in the transformative power of the arts and your support for our students and our programs have enabled OSHA to flourish over the past 25 years. As a small token of our appreciation, I'd like to present a framed plaque to Councilmember Becerra on behalf of OSHA and we also have one, I know you're jealous, we have one for Mayor Mezcua. I anticipated that. We have one for Mayor Mezcua as well. Thank you so much. I wasn't down.

And this is a heartfelt thank you for your 25 years of support and partnership and belief in the school in Santa Ana. Thank you again for helping us to create a space where young artists can dream big and achieve more. And Phil, on a personal note, thank you so much for your support. You have been a wonderful friend to OSHA, to me, and to our community. I'm deeply grateful for all that you do for all of the residents in Santa Ana. Thank you all and before we wrap up I want to invite one of our wonderful students who sung for you earlier, Isabella, to say a few words if I may.

Hi everyone, my name is Isabella Voth. I'm currently a senior in the musical theater conservatory at OSHA and I am a montage performance ambassador as well. I'd like to start by saying I'm incredibly honored to be here to thank you all on behalf of OSHA students past, present, and future. I'd like to thank Council Member Becerra as well as Mayor Mezcua and the entire City Council for believing in OSHA. OSHA is a place where we are encouraged to take risks, to express ourselves, and pursue both our academic and artistic passions. And for me OSHA is more than just a school, it's a place that I've learned to call a

second home. For many of us it offers life-changing opportunities. Your support gives students a chance to be a part of something truly unique. An experience that doesn't just prepare us for life after high school but helps us discover who we are going into the future. I'm excited to share that I'll be attending USC in pursuit of the popular music and I really truly genuinely believe that OSHA helps me to reach that goal. Thank you for standing behind a school that dares to be different and dares to dream. Because of your continued support students like me get to believe in our futures and make all the difference. Thank you so much.

That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke.

That was a joke. That was a joke. All right, everybody, come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down.

Come on down.

Come on down.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Come on down.

Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Come on down. Here, please. Three, one, two, three. One. Two. Three. Five.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

Ten.

Eleven. Twelve. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All right.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Next up is Councilmember Hernandez, please. With Dr. Anna Bonnieri for Outstanding Contribution to Education, please. Please.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Hey. All right. How's everybody doing today? If you could hear me, make some noise. All right. We have a beautiful recognition before us today, April 15, 2025. I have the honor of providing a certificate of recognition to Dr. Annabelle Neary, and we are today celebrating her outstanding contributions to education, specifically here in Santa Ana. It is my great honor to stand before you as a council member who lives in the neighborhood where Santa Ana College was founded. As a policymaker that serves Santa Ana on a

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

day-to-day basis, I want to recognize the visionary leader that Dr. Annabelle is. She is a dedicated educator and a true champion for student success and community advancement. To be able to have a champion like Dr. Annabelle Neary who who understands that student success and community advancement are one and the same. That is why our community of Articia-Pilad is starting to see significant investment. It's why we're starting to see more families use this campus as a place for community. Since her appointment as president of Santa Ana College in January 2022, I've had the honor of working with her all throughout that tenure.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Neri has brought bold leadership, unwavering commitment, and transformative results to the region's most vital institutions. And she has also done a fantastic job working with the Rancho Santiago Community College District's Chancellor. She's taken on significant responsibility, overseeing curriculum, development, student support services, budget management, strengthening partnerships across our sectors. Specifically, the relationship between Santa Ana and Santa Ana College and our Board of Trustees could not be any stronger, nor could it be better, and I want to attribute that

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

success to Dr. Annabel Neary and our board members at the Board of Trustees. Under her leadership, Santa Ana College has achieved remarkable milestones. The college has seen multiple terms of double-digit growth in enrollment, making it the fastest-growing college in the state. We've also, yes, please give them a big round of applause for that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

In 2023 and 2024 academic year, she successfully led SAC back to large college status, unlocking an additional $1 million in annual funding. In spring of 2024, she championed the development of comprehensive, of the comprehensive educational plan, a bold and strategic roadmap that defines the college's goals and its vision throughout 2028. Thanks to her advocacy, SAC now proudly offers three bachelor degrees in occupational studies,

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paralegal studies, and automotive technology. This is something that is incredibly important to the Santa Ana community and part of why why it is important is because this is a working class community where many people who've lived in our city have not had access to higher education and when you have a college campus that is working to invite the community onto its campus to learn about the resources while they're also partnering with nonprofit organizations to teach you about what's happening in your community it's only natural that we're gonna see a rise in academic success and also a rise

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in student enrollment. Most of any community colleges in the California system, we are a college campus that is offering students three bachelor degrees. You don't see that in colleges across California and it's very unique that we have that in Santa Ana. These degrees not only help students achieve a living wage, but they also fuel our local workforce and our economy. Please give a big round of applause for Dr. Dr. Annabel Neary.

First of all, I'd like to thank City Councilmember Hernandez for this incredible honor. I'd like to thank the mayor and the members of the City Council. You know, I always like to say I love when people ask me what I do for a living because my favorite thing to say is I am the very, very proud president of Santa Ana College. The vibrant city of Santa Ana and the partnership we have with the city and the city council and the board of trustees will provide countless educational opportunities. As the city council member Hernandez just shared, we are the second largest college

out of 116 California community colleges. When I arrived to Santa Ana, it was in a 25%, 30% deficit. They had multiple early retirements and were facing fiscal issues. We are now the second largest college in the state. Out of 116, we have had the largest growth in about two and a half years in the entire history of the California community college system. And what that means for our community in Santa Ana is we offered hundreds and hundreds of of additional jobs while other educational institutions were letting go of jobs that were living wages and salary.

We increased from serving 30,000 students to 77,000 students. We are now larger than some Cal States and some UCs. In addition to that, we offer the most bachelors in the California community colleges. A bachelor's degree at Santa Ana College is about $10,000 for all four years, and your first two years are typically free if you graduated in Santa Ana. In addition to that, we are also the number one educator in the state of California for online education, and have contributed hundreds of millions to the economy, especially the city of Santa Ana.

And just to share why this is such an honor and why I'm so proud of what we do, we've increased our partnerships. we used to only partner with about five organizations. We now partner with over 50 non-profits, public agencies, corporations, large and small business. And part of our partnership is, again, I wanna thank you for joining us at a very special event at Santa Ana College where we, my team, writes grants and partners, and I'm gonna introduce them in a minute. We worked with AT&T to give hundreds of free laptops

and City Councilmember Hernandez helped me distribute them to our foster youth students, to our veteran students, to our students from underrepresented groups, and to our undocumented students. And that is what Santa Ana College is here for. It's here to be your college, your community college. And again, I want to thank you for joining me in that distribution, which they all got free laptops, and I want to thank my executive director, Christina Romero, who actually wrote the grant, and her team consistently brings millions of dollars for our students to offer them free education, housing costs, emergency funds,

so that there is no barriers here in Santa Ana. Higher education will always be here, and I'd like to introduce Christina to say a few words. Thank you.

On behalf, good evening, on behalf of the Santa Ana College Foundation, I just wanted to reiterate our mission, our non-profit mission is to support Santa Ana College, Santa Ana College is 110 years old, our foundation was a $2 million foundation, 2.9 million, now we're a $15 million foundation. We serve all the students at Santa Ana College. This particular recognition, Council Member Hernandez, really relates to our partnership with AT&T, and in short, I want to thank AT&T for the laptops, for the ability to create digital connection for our students and the tools that it meet that our students need and I want to thank my

fearless team Kristen Ellsworth and Alexandra Mata who are always pushing our foundation to do fearless things so that students have the tools and the resources they need to succeed. Thank you Kristen and Alex.

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And just again, if we can give them a big round of applause, bridging the digital divide looks like this.

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If my colleagues would like to join or to stand there, however you guys are comfortable, we'd love it if we could have you at the picture.

Thank you.

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I'm excited over the baby councilmember Lopez Yes.

Jessie LopezItem 3

Loversonico's, come on up.

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Hey, they brought instruments, they gotta play.

Hi everyone, my name is Moises, I want to introduce Loversónicos Cumbia Band. That's Alan Santillano, drummer, Julio Chavez, bass player, Christian Carreola, widow, and and we're gonna perform a song for you that is very Santa Ana.

Let's go at four to throw a vacillus To be with my people, there is no better place The harana sounds, the marimbol sounds The sound of the center, intoning a sound How beautiful is Santana, how beautiful is Santana, yes sir Que bonita es, que bonita es, que bonita es Santana Que bonita es Santana, si señor Que bonita es, que bonita es En el mes de noviembre a nuestros muertos celebramos

Levantamos altares y su vida recordamos Dicen que solo muere aquel que es olvidado

I'm chasing a paletero And far away I can hear an elotero

Mi gente trying to make ends meet Selling their goods pa' la renta y pa' vivir Que bonita es Santana, que bonita es Santana, si señor Que bonita es, que bonita es, que bonita es Santana Que bonita es Santana, si señor Que bonita es, que bonita es Don't wanna hear about the problems for once Don't wanna hear about the crime I wanna hear about the theater and the music And the beautiful murals on the walls

Beautiful Jack around the trees Green parrots visit us with their song

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Que bonita es, que bonita es, que bonita es Santana.

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This is why we're recognizing them. So I really had the privilege of first meeting Loversónicos at different community events and from that moment I knew that they were something that had to be recognized. They're not just a band, Loversónicos really represents the heart and soul of our community, bringing people together through music, passion, and undeniable spirit. What makes Loversónicos stand out is not just their incredible talent, but the way they give back to the community that has supported them. They are constantly present, whether it's performing at local events, volunteering their

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time, or simply showing up to uplift those around them. Through their music, they showcase our heritage, inspire cultural pride, and ensure that the stories and traditions of our community are honored and passed on to future generations. Music is such a powerful tool for unity and healing, and Loversónicos has truly harnessed that power, creating moments of joy, celebration, and togetherness whenever they perform. It's not just about their performances, it's about who they are as individuals. Loversónicos is a group of people who lead by example, showing kindness, humility, and generosity in everything that they do.

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They're well respected in our community, not only for their musical talent, but for their character, how they interact with others, their commitment to giving back, and the positive influence that they have on everyone that they meet. As a city that prides itself on being a vibrant hub for arts and culture, Loversónicos is is the perfect representation of the power of music and arts bringing people together. Their ability to blend tradition with contemporary influences through their sound adds to the rich cultural landscape of our city, creating a space where everyone, regardless of background, can come together and celebrate.

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They are a shining example of how the arts not only entertains, but builds community, inspires change, and preserves the stories that make our culture unique. Today we recognize Loversónicos not just for their outstanding music but for their immense value that they add to our community through their generosity, cultural contributions, and their ability to spread joy and unity. It's an honor to celebrate them, their achievements, to listen to their music, and the incredible positive impact that they continue to have on our city. So this is Loversónicos.

Thank you, Councilmember Jesse Lopez and the rest of the Council and Mayor. This band was created really to share songs inspired by our community and to play in community gatherings when there was someone in need that needed some kind of benefit. We put together events to help out. and it's been our connection to our community that has opened doors for us to be part of many amazing art projects within the city and Orange County and it's a privilege to receive this recognition and thank you. Please

follow us on Instagram. We will be releasing some music soon so stay tuned. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Councilmember Fann.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

Hi, good evening, everyone. Okay, I don't have any musical instruments. may I please invite up my guest, my special, special guest.

Yeah, that's right. Okay.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

So, well, first, good evening. Thank you so much for being here. My proclamation this month is a little bit, I guess we'd say, bittersweet. Please come on. And my guest tonight is my very dear friend, Kim Bernice Wynn, I guess Benalosa, related to one of them on the dais, but that's not important right now. So today I am issuing a proclamation of the City Council, the City of Santa Ana, is issuing a proclamation to recognize April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, also known as SAM. It's a time when communities across the nation come together to shed light on an issue that

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that affects, frankly, everyone in this room.

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It's a time for us to stand in solidarity with survivors on their journey toward healing, justice, and hope. At its core, SAM is about raising public awareness, educating individuals and communities, and working together to prevent sexual violence in all its forms. This includes sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. These harms can happen anywhere, whether it's at home, in the workplace, in schools, and increasingly online. This year's theme is Together We Act, United We Change.

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And it continues the call with a powerful reminder that real change happens when we come together, when we listen, when we support survivors, and when we create cultures rooted in dignity and mutual respect.

fact. Guys, I cried everything so let's get through this. Here in the city of

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Santa Ana we are proud to join this national movement. We encourage all of you and every member of our community to take meaningful action. Whether this means to how to be an active bystander, supporting a friend or a loved one, or helping shift the culture in your home, your school, your workplace, or online.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

It's not in my notes, but what a lot of people don't know is that one in three women in her lifetime will be a victim of sexual violence. One in ten men will be victims of sexual violence. And so it's someone that you know, it's someone who's your friend, a family member, or just someone you work with. And so it's really important that every step we take, no matter how small, we work to contribute to a larger lasting change. So we can work together to build a future where everyone feels safe, valued, and respected.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

Well in the past, we've issued this proclamation, whether it's with Councilmember Lopez or Councilmember Benalosa, we've issued this proclamation to different organizations in the city, including our very own Family Justice Center. But this year, I wanted to recognize someone who I believe truly embodies what it means to advocate for each other oh my god okay now I'm gonna start crying who has who as a young woman stood up during the me too movement and bravely let others know that she is a survivor and

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instead of hiding she stood up and got every pretty much every city in this county to recognize Sam to stand up and say that we are going to do better and we are going to support survivors to participate in Denim Day which is April 30th this year and I hope you can share a little bit about what Denim Day is and to share her story of survive her story and to help others share theirs so with With that, I'd love to issue this proclamation on behalf of the City of Santa Ana to Kim Renice Nguyen Van Alyssa.

Thank you, Councilmember Phan, for this bittersweet honor. Thank you to the City of Santa Ana and to the Councilmembers for proclaiming April as Sam. Santa Ana was the second city to do so after Garden Grove, and it's been a somewhat friendly competition to see who can outdo who for Denim Day. So now as a new Santa Ana resident, I will be participating with the city of Santa Ana. Many of you know I am council member David Penalosa's wife and a new resident. Better half. And a new resident to Santa Ana. I am a former Garden Grove City council member and I'm a survivor of rape. From the age of 18 to 28, I was lost

and lacked the resources, tools, and was not equipped to deal with my trauma. And like many people my age, my education on sexual abuse came from Law and Order SVU, which paints a very black and white picture of what that looks like. There's not enough room for gray areas. And so finally after the Me Too movement, I was fortunate to be contacted or put into connection with Waymakers and got some resources and more tools in my belt. And with that I decided to use my platform as a councilwoman to draw more attention to Sam and do what I could

And as mentioned I was able to get over 20 of the 34 cities in Orange County to proclaim April as Sam Which is no small feat in my opinion given that sometimes politics can get the better of us But this is a nonpartisan issue And so the fact that all those cities were able to do that was very amazing and many cities participate in Denim Day as well and now we see the state and even at the federal level more and more electeds are posting pictures and participating and it may seem like an insignificant thing to do but I can tell you from personal experience that it means the world to survivors. Denim Day

was born from an incident in Italy where a woman was raped and the Supreme Court overturned a conviction of her rapist because she was wearing tight jeans and and they deemed that because she was wearing tight jeans, she had to have helped her rapist take them off, therefore giving consent. And so after that incident, female legislators wore jeans in support to make a statement, and now we do it worldwide. And so I hope that you will all participate on April 30th by wearing denim. The only other thing I would like to share is that be an active bystander. If you see something, say something.

You know, we all come across sometimes awkward and uncomfortable situations in our life. Say something, check in on the person, make sure they're okay. If you don't feel comfortable doing so, maybe call for help. I can guarantee you, you would rather be safe than sorry. And so intervening and helping those that you may think need it is going to be a huge difference. And that's what you can do to support survivors in your everyday life. They're all around you, whether they choose to share their story or not. for whatever reason, just know that we're here and we work beside you, we are in your families,

we're your cousins, your relatives, your siblings, your parents. And so in order to eradicate this problem, we all have to do our small portion. And I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the city of Santa Ana for doing its small part to help with this issue that's so deeply personal to me. And thank you all so very much. Don't make me cry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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As you all can tell, since Alvarez has been the city manager, our meetings have been a little different. A lot of love, a lot of babies, a lot of music. I think he set us up that way. All right. At this time, Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session?

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Mayor, council members, and members of the public, we did have a number of closed session items this evening. There is one reportable action item on the agenda. The City Council voted 7-0 to approve, in the case of Mendoza v. City of Santa Ana, a settlement of $138,000. And that's all the reportable action that I have.

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Thank you, Madam City. At this time, I'm going to change things up a little bit. I need to read something that I believe is very important to our community and to the Council. Thank you, Madam City Attorney. and the staff, city manager's office and guest stone for presenting this information to me here. In an effort to ensure transparency, accountability and the effectiveness of our public safety initiatives, I convened an ad hoc committee alongside Mayor Pro Tem Ben Vasquez and Council Member Phil Becerra to review the ordinance establishing the Police Oversight Commission. Our goal is to closely examine the framework

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and function of the commission, ensuring that it is operating as originally intended and serving the best interest of our community. We are committed to a thorough and balanced analysis that strengthens oversight, builds public trust, and enhances community safety for all residents. If you have any further questions please feel free to reach out to the City Manager's office. Thank you. At this time we are going to now go to City Council to receive comments from the public on on the agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, can you please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers?

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to resolution number 2023-047, speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial 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. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'll report the summary of emails provided as of today, 2 p.m.

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I have to pause for a moment. Hold on one second, we have to pause. We don't have a quorum. We lost our quorum. I need a council member back, please. I'm sure you all went to the back room there. Just need one more council member. Can you call just one of them, please? Hold on one second, Madam City Clerk, I apologize.

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Police Chief, would you like to step in, sir? You're more than welcome to. So just be mindful as a council, I know you can hear me all throughout this whole building. We need to make sure that we maintain four up here at all times. And thank you, Madam City Attorney and staff, for bringing to my attention. Continue, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mayor.

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As of 2 p.m. today, the city received a total of 10 e-comments, three on non-agenda topics, one on item number 6, five on item number 23, and one on item number 24. Those were distributed to the City Council and made publicly available online.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

We'll 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 on agenda or non-agenda items. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. I'll call three speakers at a time. If you could please line up in the center aisle behind the podium. Dan Escamilla, Sue Palak, Tony Carrillo.

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

Come on up and raise the mic and that way we can hear you. Thank you.

May I wait until the full council reconvenes? It's an important matter.

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

If they don't come back, I can't guarantee that they'll all be here, but you're more than welcome to speak now.

May I wait two or three minutes?

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

They can hear you.

Can they? Okay.

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

It's really up to you, but they can hear you.

I prefer to wait. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

We don't do that, sir. So, I mean, you're more than welcome to speak now. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Honorable Mayor Emescoa and honorable council members, I'm here to speak about my pending lawsuit against the city of Santa Ana. My name is Dan Escamilla. I'm a graduate of USC. I'm also a graduate of Chapman School of Law and the Orange County Sheriff's Academy. Until this incident with the dishonest Santa Ana police officer, I ran a successful fugitive recovery business with an office just down the street at Santa Ana and flower in January 2018 at the height of the homeless crisis here in Santa Ana

I intervened to protect a woman who was screaming for help as she was laying in the sidewalk being beaten and kicked by her spouse It was a gang member with two felony strikes When he came back to attack me with a metal object I drew my legally permitted firearm and self-defense The police arrived shortly thereafter and they placed him in handcuffs. Instead of commending my intervention, a trainee police officer, who later resigned from the department, filed a misleading report suggesting that I committed an assault with a deadly weapon.

He did this because he was a friend of the assailant and did not want him to be charged with a third felony strike. Because his wife denied being beaten, he was simply cited for his heroin possession and released. Later, when I submitted my dash cam video, the DA brought the assault charges against him. Chief Craig Hunter, former deputy chief of the Anaheim Police and former chief of investigations of the Orange County DA's office, has provided expert witness testimony on this event. Referring to the Santa Ana police officer's improper opinions about my actions, he testified

that he had never read a paragraph like that in 38 years of law enforcement. Chief Hunter went on to say that I may have saved the woman's life and referred to my actions as heroic. I took meaningful action to end a violent assault on a helpless Santa Ana resident and because of the Santa Ana police officer writing a false report, I lost my CCW permit. Losing my CCW permit precluded me from safely performing my on-call fugitive recovery job. This caused me to have a significant drop in revenue and in 2018, it forced me

to close my Santa Ana office after 17 years of being at that office. Taking meaningful action to help an assault victim destroyed my ability to do my job because of the Santa Ana police officer's false report. Since filing this case against Santa Ana in 2019, the city attorney has consistently attempted to dismiss it through various legal maneuvers. The only significant procedural procedural development has been getting the case remanded from federal court down to state court. I respectfully urge this council to recognize the overwhelming evidence in this case and authorize

a city attorney's office to settle this case with the expert testimony confirming the police officer's misconduct and the substantial damages I've suffered. Future litigation will only increase the city's eventual financial liability. Please give my case the attention it deserves. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. Sue Palak from ward four. Good evening, Mayor and council members. I have some serious things that I want to present to you tonight. This was with regard to the Sigurdstrom accident. Can you speak a little louder, please? Yes. Can you hear me okay? Thank you. What I'm about to say is from a tough love perspective because I care. and we have some really at-risk kids in Santa Ana, as I'm sure you know. Campaign against speeding and under the influence is long overdue for our youth. We need special assemblies in our schools tailored for mothers against drunk drivers,

strong speed warning signs on enticing, treacherous roads like Sigurdström, Alton, MacArthur, and surprise appearances by our motorcycle officers on these deadly stretches. We need no tolerance enforcement for speeding with stiff fines and no exceptions. We need a crackdown on black tinted windows. I call them the stealth windows for racers. We need a ban on modified, loud, revved up mufflers announcing game on. We need to fund the traffic division specifically for more motorcycle officers and whatever they need to save lives.

lives. And we need role models in our community that promote the values of respect and love of country and life. Last year, I sat behind three defiant, giggling teen boys, about 15, who refused to stand for the pledge. Councilman Hernandez, I know you can hear me. You always seem to be absent when I come forward. But in my opinion, you're not a good role model for any of our teens. Your Pledge of Allegiance protest has lost this oomph. I am actually glad you leave the dais before for the pledge now. You have been in the news with anti-police sentiments that have spilled over into council meetings

and all of this I feel has not been a good role model for any of our impressionable young people. I wondered if there's not a conflict of interest when voting on police matters, given your animosity towards the police. Councilman Vasquez, I'm sorry to say, in my opinion, you are not a good role model either and you are a teacher at Valley High. In your no apology speech for having children's marches, as you left out mention of no apology for leading our youngsters to grow up to be the next generation of protesters. I don't know how that's working out for everybody given

what's happening in our universities. The budget. In my opinion, council member votes that smack of subtle ways to defund the police are no longer so subtle. The community wants more traffic police. This is brought home in discussions at the kitchen table because because of the tragic deaths of five beautiful young people. And we need a vibrant PAL more than ever. The uniform means something to these PAL kids. It's a place of fun, help, support, and encouragement, and a safe place for school and reinforcing values to carry them into a healthy teen life and into adulthood. My prayers and my heart go out to all of the families

in the community. Sue, your time is up. Thank you.

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I'll be back. Next three speakers Tony Carrillo, Nancy Robles, Laura Morphin.

Good evening. My name is Tony Carrillo. I'm an employee of the City of Santa Ana and an SEIU member for 14 years and I'm here tonight with a few of my friends that are still here.

to speak to you on a couple of items, but before we do that, I would like to respectfully request that we would have a moment of silence for a dear friend of ours and member and city employee who recently passed away, Cyd Pagano.

Alvaro NuñezItem 6

We sure can. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you again. My name is Tony Carrillo and I am the current bargaining chair. And I come to you tonight with the inspiration that we could have a collaborative team effort of bargaining. We will, that we can come together and have a contract of results and a atmosphere that we can attract the talent and the expertise that we need to

be able to follow the vision that you have set forward, the love that you you have for this community. So I just simply want to ask that while we do this, that it would be a fair process and a process that is mutual for both of us and be able to be able to comprehend what we need to do in order to bring the services that this community really deserves. We know that you love this community as much as we do. We've been here for many years serving this community. It's part of our heart. And as we see how we have You have people from different aspects of life. You have the young ladies from the choir

and the music school, and then you have the young men that are playing from street music. I mean, that's fantastic. This is Santa Ana, and they deserve the best that we can give them. So with that said, I just wanted to say that I'm here to introduce our new president-elect of SEIU Chapter, 721 Chapter, Santa Ana, Nancy Robles. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony. Good evening, Mayor Mezcua, members of the City Council, and City Manager Nunez. My name is Nancy Robles, President-elect of Local 721, Santa Ana Chapter. Thank you for placing your trust in this workforce to help deliver your vision to the residents of this beautiful city, a city we proudly serve. The local 721 bargaining committee is privileged to represent the dedicated employees who work hard every day to help the city thrive. We appreciate the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a fair and sustainable contract.

One that reflects the value of our contributions and the mutual respect we share with each city leadership. Together we are building a stronger community. community, one that supports its workers while continuing to provide exceptional service to the public. Over the years there have been many trials and tribulations, but nothing this workforce cannot endure. Local SEIU 721 employees are resilient, hardworking group, and 43 of your SEIU labor force live right here in the city we serve. I want to thank you once again for your time, your leadership, and your continued commitment

to the people who make this city run. By continuing to work together in good faith, we can ensure a brighter future when built on fairness, dignity, and shared success. We look forward to continuing this journey with you as your allies, as your neighbors, and ultimately as proud public servants. Thank you.

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you next speakers Laura Morphin followed by Mike Tardif good evening mayor Mesqua and city council

members my name is Laura Morphin and today I'm here to personally thank you on the completion of the improvement project along the fo2 garden channel this has taken 12 years to complete and And so thank you to also, especially thank you to my council members, Mr. Phil Becerra, to our city manager, Alvaro Nunez, and director Nabil Saba, and also our city engineer, Rudy Rosas. Thank you, thank you, thank you, because this has been, it seemed like it was never gonna happen and finally did. So I appreciate it, our community appreciates it

on behalf of Santiago Springs Homeowners Association and the entire community, thank you so much. And on a side note, I just want to say, Mayor Mezcua, that thank you personally for all of your hard work, everything that you do to improve our quality of life here in the city. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. And so thank you very much. Thank you. applause

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Mike Tardif.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and staff. My name is Mike Tardif, long time Santa Ana business and property owner and resident. I support what you are considering doing here to eliminate the drug nuisance problems on First Street. Hopefully this means of using a nuisance abatement ordinance will rid the area of the undesirable drug element and have a positive effect on the homeless situation as well.

A similar situation exists in the SD84 transit zoning code area with a few bad actor nuisance businesses causing significant problems there. there. I would suggest that rather than removing the M1 light industrial zone and eliminating hundreds of clean industrial businesses and thousands of jobs, you could use this same nuisance abatement ordinance means to target the three or four bad actor businesses in in the transit zoning area, which degrade both business and residential neighborhoods.

Residents don't want to unnecessarily shut down clean industrial businesses and eliminate jobs. They want quiet, clean, uncrowded neighborhoods. Please give them that and eliminate the nuisance business businesses in SD 84. for. Save the neighborhoods and Santa Ana jobs. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the public speakers that are present. We'll now hear from the Zoom speaker. When unmuted, please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the City of Santa Ana for the record. Nina, please unmute and make your comment.

Nina Jurek Hi, thank you so much. My name is Nina Jurek. I'm a resident of Washington Square in Ward 5. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you once again on a favorite subject, which is to secure a passive park in Washington Square. We know and see all of the hard work you and city officials are doing in Santa Ana, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Roads are being improved, libraries are being updated, new programs for our youth or elderly, the unhoused are being routed to programs to help them, adding more personnel to SAPD, and the list goes on. Thank you. Our community shines through

the many programs and improvements. Adding more green space to Santa Ana has been a directive for the past several years. Our neighborhood is at an environmental justice area and we too would like green space, a passive walkable park. The new park currently under construction on 10th and Flower is an example of a community, a neighborhood desire coming to fruition. This is a wonderful active park and it'll be a great addition to Santa Ana. Our requested park will be a terrific augment to this busy park. We envision trees, walking paths, and a small playground for the littles. A few picnic

Tic-Tac-Table 2. From a cost standpoint, it'll be minimal in comparison. We have been working on bringing this idea to City Council and the Parks Department for over two years. At last count, we have over 600 signatures on a petition in favor of a park. We have a willing seller of this vacant land. When he thought there might be an option for the City of Santa Ana for purchasing the land, he let it sit vacant in hopes of discussion with the City. It has been more than two years now without any contact, and as of today, he has listed it on the open market for sale.

The Parks and Recreation Department toured it the summer before last and all agreed that it is a great location. We respectfully urge the City of Santa Ana to evaluate this property for use of a walkable park. Thank you for your time.

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And Mayor and City Council that concludes the speakers that were in the queue when public comments began.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Thank you Madam City Clerk. At this time we're going to go into the consent calendar items 7 through 25.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 7

That's Councilman Hernandez. No items to pull make a motion to move the consent calendar.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Thank you. Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 7

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm going to pull item 19. I'm going to recuse myself on item 24 due to a potential financial issue. If the item is pulled for discussion and or separate action, I will leave the dais.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Thank you. Council Member Fann.

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

I'd like to recuse myself from item number 19 as charitable ventures as a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. If it is pulled, I'll leave the dais during its discussion. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 7

thank you councilmember Lopez yes actually I'd like to pull item 10 and 24

David PenalozaItem 7

Thank You councilman Penalosa Thank You madam mayor I would like to pull item 23

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

thank you and the items that I was going to pull were already called on councilman Hernandez made a motion I'll second your motion councilman Hernandez oh I apologize I have nothing to pull you're good sorry Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez that's why he should sit over here somewhere I don't know sorry just throw a piece of paper at me not something just alright so you have nothing to pull okay so

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

madam clerk is a motion by councilmember Hernandez seconded by Mayor Emescuwa to approve the consent calendar with the exceptions of items 10 19 23 and 24 which have been pulled for separate discussion and consideration.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Thank you. For item number nine, if we could have the vote first,

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

please. I'm sorry.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Please vote. Trying to move things along here. Sorry.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Voted seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Perfect.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

Ruth Casio Muniz, if you are here, please come forward so you can be sworn in. Congratulations. Congratulations.

Alvaro NuñezItem 7

She'll be joining the Measure X Citizen Oversight Committee.

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

the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Thank you. Applause

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

Thank you for your service and congratulations. Congratulations. Okay, Madam Kirk, it's all yours.

Jennifer L. HallItem 8

Mayor and City Council, the first item pulled is item number 10. Council Member Lopez?

Jessie LopezItem 8

Yes, that's the item I pulled. And I was recently asked why the city is doing this. And I'm supporting this item tonight because part of the responsibility of being in this position is being responsive to the needs of our constituents. And so, you know, East First Street, for a very long time, has had these issues and I believe in when I was first elected in 2021 we brought the different departments together code planning police department and the city manager's office because we understood our departments must be in communication they must be working collaboratively to address the issues

Jessie LopezItem 8

that we're seeing on this corridor and so it's been a really long time it's It's been a place that a lot of people often point to. We've had very open and honest discussions with the department about the activities that happen on East First Street and the, I would also say just like the different regional issues that our city is often burdened with. And so for many years we've seen just a consistent pattern of issues at certain properties that are not getting better unfortunately. And so this really has impacted negatively the safety of our residents and our community Because people mainly see the the quarter

Jessie LopezItem 8

That faces East first and and and fail to understand that there are families Behind many of these businesses on both sides of the street and so these aren't these legal actions are not Are necessary actually to restore confidence and send a message that as a representative of this area where I'm not going to tolerate properties that facilitate criminal activity with the support of course of our city manager's office and the public and the city attorney's office PD you know I see you chief thank you and all the officers that do work there we were often there on site with the

Jessie LopezItem 8

different property owners with different residents and so the work that you're seeing this this agenda that you're seeing be brought forth by our staff is really work that is a result of the collaboration that we've had for a really long time now. And so I really wanna thank our staff for all the work that they've done. Again, starting the East First Task Force, meeting on a quarterly basis, making sure that we are implementing metrics in-house to ensure that we're not just there patrolling,

Jessie LopezItem 8

but that were actually helping to create a little bit of change there and so this action doesn't have to be the end-all be-all I believe in due process which has been an important component of of what you're seeing here and so I sincerely hope that the property owners can work with the city to resolve these issues to become to become better neighbors to my families in the area and And I think part of what I guess we have to also address is you're seeing the most amount of housing built in this area.

Jessie LopezItem 8

And so I think for me in trying to help make the city more affordable, bringing different ownership opportunities there with planning department, rental, at all different income levels, it can't just be that. We have to address the everyday issues because that is ultimately how you help a city grow and how you help retain good talent in our city and so I really again just want to thank our the different departments for the work that you've done and Fine and city attorney. I also just want to ask you to address on the record because I've received emails I've received these questions about why are you doing this?

Jessie LopezItem 8

why have you not reached out to the property owners and I would like for you to clarify you know the work that we have done here again I speak about due process because I believe that it is important and so I want you to address that claim that has been brought against the council and the city and the work of our staff because I do believe that it is disingenuous and I don't appreciated whatsoever and I have been on on properties with PD when they're doing enforcement actions I have seen this firsthand and there is not months that don't go by where we're not

Jessie LopezItem 8

reporting things so can you please address that claim yes before you start Madam City Attorney

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

I want to remind the council that it's three minutes each and then we'll go back around otherwise we'll sit here for a very long time so it's three minutes three minutes each council member three rounds so just i want you all to remember that please so we can get through each

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 8

item madam city attorney thank you mayor and thank you councilmember lopez um yeah i would like to address very briefly the claim that the city is not affording due process in this case i first of all want to say that if you're a property owner in that corridor and you tell us that you had no idea that there have been over 1400 calls for service in a three-year period yes i do find that very disingenuous but actually more concerning to me is i'm very concerned that you're just an absentee landlord how in the world you could be renting or leasing property to someone with the calls

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 8

of service that we've received and the seriousness of those calls we did attach descriptions of those calls to a letter that was sent out with respect to whether we will meet we always meet with people We're asking the City Council for authority to file the lawsuit, but we have already been in contact with the agent for the property owners, and we intend to have a conversation. What we wanted to do is have that complaint in hand, because what we find is sometimes they won't comply. We want to know that we are ready to file that lawsuit if we do not see immediate. We don't want promises for 30 days.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 8

We'll have your authority if you give it to us tonight, and we will use that authority to seek compliance first. Compliance is always our first step. Thank you, Madam City Attorney.

Jessie LopezItem 8

I'll come back to you, Council Member Lopez. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the reminder. Thank you for the clarity. And with that, I will move forward to move this item. I'll second your

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

motion. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to come back. Three minutes each, please. Council Member

David PenalozaItem 8

Polinalosa. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to thank the Police Department, Code Enforcement, City Attorney's Office for years and years and years of effort to clean up this area. I, I, Madam City Attorney, if I could single-handedly give you that permission to go file this lawsuit, I would have done that five years ago. I mean, this is years in the making, and I hope that this sends a message loud and clear to every business across this city or absentee landlord that if you allow this blight, drug dens, and crime to exist inside your property and ignore it and do not pay attention to

David PenalozaItem 8

it, we will go down this route because it is a shame that our residents have to deal with this nonsense day after day i like to think of first street when we exit that freeway as a gateway into santa ana and what do we see we see nothing but crime and blight throughout all these properties and shame on you property owner for saying that you didn't know that this was an issue that clearly says you're not doing your job as a landlord and regulating your own property if there's someone that's on my front lawn guess what i'm gonna know because i'm gonna see it

David PenalozaItem 8

SO THANK YOU, MADAM CITY ATTORNEY. THANK YOU, POLICE DEPARTMENT. THANK YOU, CITY STAFF. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. AND LIKE I'VE ALWAYS SAID, THE DUMPING ON SANTA ANA IS OVER. THANK YOU.

Phil BacerraItem 8

COUNCILMAN BESARA. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. SO MY COLLEAGUES, THANK GOD. IT'S BEEN LONG OVERDUE. SO THANK YOU, STAFF, FOR DOING THIS. THANK YOU, MADAM CITY ATTORNEY. AS THE STAFF REPORT INDICATES, THERE ARE OVER 1441, 1,441 calls for service for those three locations over the past three years. So if you do the math, that's an average of 480 calls per year. There are only 365 days in a year. Think about that. There's over a call, two calls per day. If you drive down First Street, you see what a nightmare it looks like right now. This is a great first step. There needs to be a lot more work over there.

Phil BacerraItem 8

I imagine that given the neglect from much more than just these three properties I think madam city attorney might be a little more busy come down the road and and chief I mean just coming in just today you see the The activity and I'll just say that's why the most polite word I can use activity We need to see more enforcement over there because this is these are not the folks over there that are In need of services as in they're willing to accept it. These are the service resistant folks In fact, I'll share one story with you So we on the council get alerts when it comes to crime that happens throughout the city at certain events.

Phil BacerraItem 8

And one of the event emails that I received was for a robbery that happened at a shoe store in my ward. And then within 30 minutes I get an update that says the folks who stole from that shoe store, guess where they found them? On East First Street. They went to East First Street. They were in one of these locations. So staff, I'm very happy to see this action. AND LIKE COUNCILMAN HERNANDEZ, IF I COULD HAVE GIVEN YOU THIS AUTHORITY FIVE YEARS AGO, I TOO WOULD HAVE DONE IT. SO THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS ITEM FORWARD, AND I'M HAPPY TO SUPPORT IT. COUNCILMAN HERNANDEZ.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 8

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I JUST WANT TO THANK MY COLLEAGUES HERE ON THE COUNCIL AS WELL AS OUR CITY STAFF, CODE ENFORCEMENT, POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR WORKING COLLABORATIVELY ON AN ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING RESIDENTS FOR DECADES. Just to share some context, the Royal Roman in August 2024, code enforcement issued a notice and order for five units at the property for various code violations due to fire and water damage. Many of these units remain red tagged as of February 2025. Royal Grand in 2022, code enforcement issued a notice and order for interior and exterior violations.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 8

IN 2023 WE THEN SAW FINES THAT WERE ISSUED AND HERE IN 2025 WE HAVE AN ADMINISTRATIVE CITATION FOR VIOLATION OF SAN ANA MUNICIPAL CODE A LACK OF HOT WATER. THE QUALITY IS SERIOUSLY LACKING AND IT IS IMPACTING OUR COMMUNITY NEGATIVELY. AND THIS IS WHY WE ARE STARTING TO TAKE ACTION AS A CITY TO ENSURE THAT THE BUSINESSES THAT WE HAVE IN OUR CITY ARE GOOD ACTORS THAT ARE GOING TO BE GOOD PARTNERS TO THE CITY AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THAT THEY ARE going to respect the communities that they're in i hope that businesses take note and and they start to work closer with us especially if there's been any concerns that we have related to any

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 8

potential violations this is an opportunity for businesses to work with us to repair those for these three businesses i hope that they improve their practices and that this is a learning lesson for them thank you mayor pro tem thank you mayor um i want to thank my uh

Benjamin VazquezItem 8

Can you speak into your mic, please? Thank you. I want to thank the council members for their words. I was going to ask the staff report to give us the issue, but it's been explained.

We have one if you want to see it. It's good.

Benjamin VazquezItem 8

They've done a great job. They've explained. They've identified the issue and described the gravity of it. So thank you for those words that you shared with us, and it's not necessary anymore.

Benjamin VazquezItem 8

So thank you very much. I'll be supporting this item.

Alvaro NuñezItem 8

Thank you and I believe I'm the last speaker since everybody are you going to speak before I say you sure? Okay all right okay so I want to thank Mr. City Manager thank you to you and your staff when I was first elected in my first term this was one of the first meetings that I had with our previous leadership and with the chief at that time First Street has always been a disaster meeting with Vic Mendez the seniors Jeffrey Katz and a lot of the businesses all down First Street Councilman Becerra and Panellosa on a regular. We started having meetings with city staff. And then you came along with your leadership

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

and Chief, thank you very much. And yes, we can sit up here and say it's been years and years in the making, but I'm gonna be really clear. This has been a problem for a very long time and things did not start turning. The squeaky wheel, right? It did not start turning and things did not start happening until I'll say just recently. And so I call the police department on a regular basis, and I know a lot of other people up here do. That poor watch commander, I call and say, they're naked on First Street, they're doing drugs on First Street, they're sleeping on First Street, they're this, that, and chicken fat on First Street.

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

It's awful, awful. It's, I can't, there's no words that I can say up here without using awful, terrible profanity, and I don't do that, Councilman Penalosa does. does. But I would just say that thank you to the police department. Thank you to the city manager and your staff. And I can't tell you how many meetings we have had discussing this. I don't know why it wasn't addressed years ago. I don't know why somebody didn't pull the trigger or what the fear was to pull the trigger. But the pendulum has swung, the the political pendulum and the pendulum in this city. This city is not looking at people on First Street anymore

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

and saying, oh, poor pobresitos, they need help, they need a place to live. No, they're criminals and they're doing drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, defecating, masturbating, having sex on the street, and the list goes on and on and on. So I could sit up here and say, this started my third year and i am so impressed and so happy to work with the police department and the city manager's office because finally you pulled the trigger you pulled the trigger and you said enough enough is enough and those of us up here that is yeah some of us have been

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

banging the drum lightly and others have taken the chocolate off and said fix it because our constituents in this city deserve better you don't see this in newport you don't see this in south County you don't see this in other cities you see it in Santa Ana why because we've always been treated as a stepchild right just go to Santa Ana over your home just go to Santa Ana well we're not going to do that anymore and as councilman Hernandez said to the other businesses please pay attention and watch pay attention right that's what you got to do because we are not

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

going to sit back anymore and I hope there's four votes up here or more we're We're not gonna sit up here and say, oh, pobrecito, you have a drug problem. Okay, you can slam your heroin on the bus stop. And my grandma can wait over here for the bus. No, you're gonna go to jail, you're gonna get in a program, you're gonna get help, whatever it may be, but you're not gonna do it in Santa Ana. So First Street is just the beginning of where we're going. So I just wanna say thank you to the city manager's office. You were not afraid to pull that trigger. I don't know what happened before, I wasn't here,

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

but I know I've had many, many meetings. Thank you, Chief, you were not afraid to pull the trigger. Thank you to the City Attorney's Office. You're not afraid to pull the trigger. And all of the staff that has been meeting on this issue, DC Andrade, I see you back there, thank you. Thank you to everybody. Because it is time, we are done. And I've been over my three minutes, so I'll be respectful of that time. So if there's no other comments, let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 10

Motion by Councilmember Lopez, seconded by Councilmember Hernandez, to approve the recommended action for item number 10.

Jennifer L. HallItem 10

Vote is seven ayes, no nays, motion carries.

Jennifer L. HallItem 10

This is First Street East of Fairview.

Alvaro NuñezItem 10

Just wanna clarify guys. Let's not talk about harbor. You can't speak, you can't just vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 10

I'm sorry. I will leave the dais while this item is being discussed. Did you call out the vote for item 10? Yes. 7-0. That's okay. 7-0. Motion carried. 7-0. Councilmember Bessara. Councilmember Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

I'm sorry. Did you? I will leave the dais while this item is being discussed. Did you call out the vote for item 10? Yes. 7-0. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. That's okay. 7-0. Motion carried.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

7-0. Councilmember Phan was bothering me up here. 7-0. 7-0. Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. Item 19 you said? Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Tis me. Thank you. Council Member Penalosa?

Phil BacerraItem 19

Council Member Becerra? You woke him up. It's my turn. Sorry, Council Member Becerra. Thank you. So this item is asking us to authorize the City Manager to execute an MOU with SCAG, the Southern California Association of Governments, with Charitable Ventures and the Kennedy Commission to fund supplemental community COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING CODE UPDATE THAT OUR CITY IS NOW UNDERGOING. BACK IN 2023, THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CHARITABLE VENTURES AND THE KENNEDY COMMISSION APPLIED TO SCAG FOR FUNDING. WHAT I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED AND CONFUSED ABOUT IS WHY OUR CITY

Phil BacerraItem 19

WOULD APPLY FOR FUNDING FROM SCAG FOR SUPPLEMENTAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR OUR CITY'S COMPREHENSIVE zoning code update with these particular organizations. So why am I asking that? Well, because according to the Charitable Ventures website, their mission is incubating non-profit solutions for the health and well-being of our communities. Don't hear zoning or land use there. And the Kennedy Commission's website states that their mission is to increase the production of homes affordable to lower income households in Orange County. While a noble goal, still not not anything to do with land use or zoning.

Phil BacerraItem 19

So neither of these organizations have that experience. Now zoning code, for those of you that don't know, we just went through our general plan update. Our zoning code is predominantly comprised of development standards. So what do I mean by that? How tall should a house be? Do you want it to be 35 feet? Do you want it to be 350 feet? How tall do you want a fence to be? Do you want it to be four feet? Do you want it to be 40 feet? What do you want? What kind of standards do you want? That goes into the zoning code. These two organizations do not deal with those types of issues. They would not be

Phil BacerraItem 19

able, in my humble opinion, to understand the input that they would receive or be able to probably get that input regarding these issues. They're advocacy groups. They're not land use oriented. So what we need is genuine input gathered from our community on what the development standards and the zoning code will look like from folks and organizations who actually understand and zoning codes so i'm going to make a motion to not authorize the city manager to execute this

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

proposed mou thank you councilman um but sarah if i can amend the motion just to ask that i'll support your motion but i'd like to ask the city manager come back in 30 days with some additional information on exactly how these two organizations are going to be involved spend them i mean i read the report so nobody up here can say read the report sometimes they say that i read it but i'd like to have because for me i'm concerned because um there's some people in the organization that are very politically involved and so i'm just very careful of that when we start to give funding to

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

organizations that are very politically involved as well so if you don't mind i'd like to amend

Phil BacerraItem 19

the motion madam mayor i appreciate your bluntness because i didn't want to say that but yeah i do have concerns about the political nature of these groups but without even get delving into the politics of it all it does concern me that we would be funding groups who do have a political bent to them and they're doing it under the guise of going out for outreach for our zoning code update i think it's a huge disservice our general plan is as equally important as our budget and the zoning code is the way we implement our general plan from the land use perspective so to just

Phil BacerraItem 19

throw this money out to groups that may or may not be able to understand and comprehend the mammoth task that this means, I have a problem with it. So I don't know that I can support even bringing it back in 30 days. I just don't think these groups are the ones that should be doing it. I'm just going to say I'm a little disappointed that our staff thought these are the two groups that they would go to a regional body and say, yeah, we think these are the ones that could help us get the input that we need. In fact, one last thing I want to add is during the pandemic, I was

Phil BacerraItem 19

so proud of our staff because for the part-timers that we employ that couldn't work on certain things they were able to go out to the community and do the necessary outreach when it came to any sort of pandemic related messaging whether it was vaccines tests all those things for those that we couldn't reach via social media emails phone calls our staff stepped in and filled in that gap so to partner with these two groups where as the mayor wisely said that there is a little bit of concern on the politics i can't support the same mou going forward so i'm going to politely decline

Phil BacerraItem 19

I'm going to decline your amendment and I'm still going to keep my motion to not authorize the city manager to move forward with this MOU. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Any other comments by anybody else up here? Yes. Councilmember Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 19

I'm going to make a sub motion to move the item forward. You know, pulling funding or stopping funding to move work forward because people have beliefs that organizations are politically involved. involved sounds just exactly like what the Trump administration is doing and I don't support that. I don't think that we should be retaliating. I don't think that we should be using our positions here to state that just because an organization is advocating for affordable housing that we should not be supporting or whatever. right we can all have opinions that maybe we want to see more affordable

Jessie LopezItem 19

housing maybe we don't but I don't think that we should be using our positions to do to do this what we're talking about here today so that's why I sub motion and I also just want to say that I've had in going through different events I've been able to meet some of the people that work at these organizations and I have to tell you, they're highly skilled. And so, you know, when you work for an advocacy organization, it's not just that you have to know the umbrella term of the issues that you're discussing. You have to know how these issues are operating on the ground level, especially with housing,

Jessie LopezItem 19

which is such a, as people like to call it, a complex issue, right? How housing is built, who funds housing, housing, how you get credits to fund housing in the city, how you partner with HUD, different organizations, state, federal. So it is a very, very time consuming, I would say, role. And so in speaking with these people, I'm always so impressed because I always feel like I learned something more from a housing provider, from a developer that I didn't know previously. And so I would I think you know one of the questions that I that I did ask was can staff

Jessie LopezItem 19

Clearly explain to the council what type of outreach is gonna happen that I think that's a credible question Something that I'm super supportive in learning more about for our staff for the public to also learn From you in case you're not gonna read this staff report, but again, that is my sub motion on the floor. Thank you

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

I'll second your motion councilmember Lowe

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Thank you. Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think it's ironic for members up here to throw rocks and talk about the Trump administration and political, I don't know, accusations when some of the same members were busy throwing our public safety unions under the bus for their own politics. But that aside, coming back to this item though, in front of us, I'll throw out an analogy that kind of resonates with me when I look at this item. And that is, if you have a water leak in your house, who do you want to come fix it? A plumber or an electrician? Right now, I feel like we're asking electricians to fix the water leak. So there's my issue.

Phil BacerraItem 19

They're not qualified. They may do what they do in their own realms, and that's great. Again, the zoning code is so important and to have folks that are not well versed in it trying to seek input from our community does a disservice to us and more importantly does a disservice to our community. So again, I will not be supporting the sub motion and when it comes time I'll be supporting my motion. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Thank you, Councilman Becerra. I don't see anybody else. So I just want to add very quickly that, you know, everybody sitting up here is a Democrat. so you can throw Trump's name around and because we vote differently I guess that means we're Trump supporters no I too went on to the websites and I saw some quotes from some people who actually came up here and spoke on some issues and we're out walking for campaigns we're out knocking on doors and so I mr. city manager I just want to be really clear so are they going and And they'll say they are. And people up here will say, oh, I've met them at events.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

No, you have a long working relationship with them. So because they campaign for you, and they walk for you, and they knock on doors for you. And I don't need to throw out any names of organizations here. I would like to know, how did you get to this place? How were the two nonprofits selected? So I mean, I understand there's a motion. And then I second Councilman Becerra's motion. there's a sub motion on the floor, but can you just tell me how did you select these two organizations and I want to be very clear that we will be monitoring very closely how that funding is being used and what type of training is being

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

used for. So you have like say vote right the Santa Ana Unified has an MOU with and they go into schools and they teach our kids how to vote they tell them how how to vote. And so we walk that fine line and we can all sit up here and say, we don't put our finger in our cheek cause we're so cute. We do, right? And so people up here are running for office, we're assembly and so we wanna be cute cause we're so supportive and we've been doing great work for years, rah, rah. So as you can tell, I'm a little irritated. But what I also wanna say is that I believe you and I had a conversation about HUD funding.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

HOW MUCH HUD FUNDING DO WE GET FROM OUR GOOD OLD WASHINGTON, D.C.?

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

AROUND 54 MILLION?

YES, THE MILLIONS.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

FUNNY, I KNEW THAT NUMBER, RIGHT? AROUND 54 MILLION. IF WE LOSE THAT 54 MILLION, WHAT HAPPENS, MR. CITY MANAGER?

OUR HUT IMPACTED PROGRAMS GET IMPACTED NEGATIVELY.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

WHICH MEANS STAFF?

STAFF AND PROGRAMMING AND SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

police right yes our safety our quality of life so i don't want to poke the bear up here and and talk about trump because i don't need him to pay attention to good old little santa anna so i'd like to make sure we don't attract attention to ourselves um but i would just say that i want to know how these two non-profits were selected and did the staff that selected them did they go and look to see really what do they do how deep did we dig to say what did we do How politically involved are they? Are they in the pictures with council members sitting up here or the supervisor or where do they really do?

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

And I work with some of them, I understand some of them are they do some good work but is it what we're looking for? Because one thing I don't want to sit here a year from now and say oh my gosh what they're doing because they're campaigning for this person and that person and then they say well it's all my own time. Well I guess that's where the gray area is right? What is your own own time kind of like with our aides right it's your own time yeah so you know you can't call the kettle black and then when you're sitting here pointing fingers because you always got three

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

back at you so can you talk a little bit about how what was the process for this our acting

executive director of planning and building Ali Pittsburgh he can bring a little bit about background feedback and how the selection was done with us thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and thank you, Council Member Becerra for the questions. The process was initiated in October 2023, more or less, several years ago. The whole funding was put on pause for quite a bit as the state went through its budgetary process. But the city did select these two firms after doing research on their qualifications and on their sort of their skill sets that they could bring to the table. They were not selected necessarily for skills in zoning, development standards, all that. They were selected more for their skills in grassroots engagement strategies and knowing

how to get community members that are in hard to reach populations to the conversation. So these are folks that traditionally don't necessarily know how to interpret like a public hearing notice, or these are business owners, like small business owners that oftentimes don't know about how to engage with City Hall. all. This is not funding that's necessarily from the city. And it's not necessarily funding that would ever come through the city. It's a SCAD grant that goes directly to a consultant that SCAD would hire. And then that consultant would work closely with city staff to make sure that any sort of engagement

and messaging is consistent with the city's messaging and goals in updating the general plan and updating the zoning code I mean and being consistent with the general plan. But that's a little bit of background on how those two were selected, did because of their skill sets in reaching hard to reach populations in our community.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

So I'm just going to piggyback on Councilman Becerra said I was not sitting up here then that I know the city did a phenomenal job reaching out to the hard reach community during COVID and we have phenomenal staff and they know how to reach our community. I think we shouldn't go back to that term anymore because our community our staff know how to reach reach out into the community of Santa Ana. Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, I mean, whatever you wanna say, they knock on doors. They know how to do it. And you talked about SCAG, and yes, and I'm a member of SCAG. I sit there with Councilman, I think Councilman Becerra and myself.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

It says here that they're gonna be paying for a consultant, the Kennedy Commission, Charitable Ventures. So when you say the city of Santa Ana, what role do we need to play, if any? and somebody say well that's a dabble question no it's not I want the community to hear because we're not receiving a penny here so are we taking from staffs time because we're our staff is limited and I know on days on Fridays when we're closed I come in here to work because I'm able to get a lot done with my 2,000 emails or 800 emails or whatever it may be and there are staff here working on their days off so is what type of workload is this going

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

to cost again all of that money is not not one penny here states the city of santa ana so that's where i'm kind of concerned so if you can share a little bit about that absolutely thank you mayor

the city's role in this overall endeavor is to approve the scopes of work for the individual organizations like charitable ventures and kennedy commission again to make sure that their for lack of better term like script their sort of goals and efforts in this zoning code update are consistent consistent with the city's existing goals in updating the zoning code we provide technical guidance to them as well for example as you've mentioned how we already reach our populations how they can leverage our existing skill sets and accomplishing those goals as well as just

providing overall information and making sure that their deliverables like what they have to report back to SCAG are consistent with what we would expect from anyone joining the effort in updating

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

the zoning code as well so you didn't really I mean thank you for the answer I want to know my here's a really direct question what does it look like for our city staff as far as time and how many so thank you this is negligibly I would

say negligible impact on staff resources because again we already have an existing zoning code update underway so this is about just making sure that as they deliver any sort of deliverables or reports on their outreach efforts that we review them for consistency with what we're trying to accomplish already with our zoning code update. And again, just reviewing the final scopes of work at the onset as well. But this isn't resulting in any additional sort of city participation or city overtime or city efforts that are needed to administer this.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

But there will be a city staff working along with them?

Correct. Yeah, it's part of the existing update.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Correct. So it will be a city staff.

Right.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Okay. That's why I just want to be clear. Thank you. Councilman Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 19

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I just want to piggyback off what you just said, which is when you say negligible staff time, I respectfully disagree. Because if you had somebody, you had a consultant that knew what they were doing, right? You just point them in a direction and they go and you kind of check their work, make sure they stay within the lane, right? These folks have no experience in this. You're going to give them questions that you want them to ask the community. Are they really going to be able to understand what you're truly mining for? What you're trying to get back from the community?

Phil BacerraItem 19

Respectfully, I doubt it. I really do. When I read their website, it does not give me any indication that this is something that they understand. In fact, one thing, and you and I have had this conversation as planners, there's a lot of things that are very intuitive, but not so intuitive, right? there are things that people can kind of stumble through but the what the information that you need to be able to put it in a form that this council will vote on whether to codify or not i don't know that these two groups are the ones that should be doing it now i appreciate it that it's not our

Phil BacerraItem 19

money but i think to reiterate what the mayor said i do believe that your time spent having to babysit these two organizations is not going to be negligible i think it's going to be a suck on your time to be very honest with you so that's that's my comment thank you any other council member

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

comments can you raise your mic please so i could call it council member lopez yes um for

Jessie LopezItem 19

clarification these are skag dollars it's not hud dollars that we're discussing here and i do disagree with the notion or the idea that we're a very highly engaged community i think we have engaged residents but we're a city of over 300 000 people that live in the city of sonana and this is the argument that you hear from all of us up here when we discuss the budget survey that we cannot there have been years where we have not surpassed the 2000 survey mark from you know residents filling out the survey i think last year for the first time was the year that we had the

Jessie LopezItem 19

the highest amount of people filling out the budget survey, right, but that comes nowhere near, it wasn't even over 5,000 if I'm not mistaken, it comes nowhere near, again, being fully representative of our city, which has, again, more than 300,000 residents, and so we are a hard community to engage with sometimes and get feedback, and even when I speak to property owners sometimes, even when I speak to people that are very highly educated they will sometimes still ask right questions about why the city do this how do you move forward with this process because

Jessie LopezItem 19

local jurisdictions can be very complex our budget can be very complex right for the everyday person out there to understand what is actually happening you know there are sometimes people will receive a notice in the past people have received notices to come to meetings and they've only been in one one language we we have rectified some of that but they don't necessarily understand why they're receiving that notice what that meeting is about and so to me i think this is an important work to be able to truly go out to the community and explain to them what is happening how a zoning change can impact their neighborhoods

Jessie LopezItem 19

and it should be that everybody wants every voice in our community to be a part of this process And again, I just want to thank our staff for the work that they've done in recommending this These organizations to the council and I would like to call for the vote if there's no other comments mayor proton. Thank you very much

Phil BacerraItem 19

I know these two orgs and that

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

Intimately or they don't walk for me. So I really think they're ready to go and move to the public about building code. We have a nonprofit here that works with women who talk about diabetes and inform people what does that mean to them. And they don't have a PhD. They're not doctors. They don't have any medical training except for how does this affect me in real life and and the information that they're gonna get.

Benjamin VazquezItem 19

So, and this group, Athena Health Access on Diabetes has won multiple awards and documentaries about them and the work that they've done on diabetes. And this is outreach to people and how building code affects them and real life issues. And this is the information they're gonna get back and we're gonna need to get from people as much as we can. That's all I have.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

I don't see any any other mic to go up. I just want to clarify, thank you very much, I just want to clarify because you know the community hears one thing and maybe doesn't hear the other thing but I'm very aware this isn't head money. I'm actually kind of bright, I know sometimes people up here act like I'm not but I mentioned head money because somebody mentioned Trump and so those of us that are watching very closely what's happening in Washington with our new administration we all should be watching very closely what's happening because the moment he pulls the trigger and says

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

you know little Santa Anna I'm gonna take your HUD money away I was using as example and we're gonna lose out on a lot of money and so that is why I don't sit up here and say anything negative about him or beat him up that's not my My job is the mayor is to take care of this community, work with the council, work with the city manager, and to make sure that this community is taken care of as the mayor. My job is not to sit up here and beat up the, he is the president, that's not my job. So I'm very aware that this is not a discussion about HUD money. I'm very aware of it. So at this time, Madam City Clerk, it's on you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

There's a motion and a sub-motion.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Motion on the floor is by Council Member Lopez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez to approve the recommended action for item number 19 the MOU with Skagg charitable ventures and the Kennedy Commission

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

vote is three ayes three nays ayes by council members Hernandez Lopez and Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez nays by Mayor Homesqua council members Becerra and and panel as a motion fails.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

That concludes the actions for this item.

Phil BacerraItem 19

So there's a motion by myself to.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

There was no second? Yeah, I did, I seconded. Okay, I didn't get that because of that was with the amendment and then you declined.

Alvaro NuñezItem 19

Oh yeah, I did it second, I apologize. It dropped, it dies by three, three, so we're good.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

But motion fails on a three, three tied vote. Thank you, we're good. with a noted recusal by council member fan next item out of state court next item is item number 23 just pulled by council member Penalosa thank you madam

David PenalozaItem 19

city clerk madam mayor if I may thank you mr. city manager don't go too far or OR DEPUTY, WHOEVER. OK.

David PenalozaItem 23

MADAM DEPUTY CITY MANAGER, SILVIA, THANK YOU FOR STEPPING IN. THE ONLY COMMENT I HAD IS THIS RESOLUTION DOESN'T TIE US INTO, DOESN'T MARRY US TO EVERY POINT IN THE RESOLUTION, CORRECT? BECAUSE I KNOW THIS IS AN INTENT TO RENEW THE ASSESSMENT AND LOGGING OF THE BUSINESSES?

THAT'S CORRECT. IT WILL COME BEFORE YOU BACK AT THE NEXT MEETING ON JUNE 3.

David PenalozaItem 23

AT THAT TIME WE WILL STILL BE ABLE TO MAKE CHANGES TO ANYTHING FROM LENGTH TO ANY ASSESSMENTS AND WHAT HAVE YOU? YES. OKAY. PERFECT. i just wanted to make sure this wasn't binding us to anything now with that i will make a motion to

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

approve second your motion i have a comment if i may um mayor pro tem do you have your mic up no the only comment i have madam deputy city manager if you can come back uh next time around with an explanation why we're asking for 10 years why they're asking for 10 years states in here THE LOGIC BUSINESS WISH TO RENEW THE SAMTMED FOR AN ADDITIONAL TENURE TERM. IT WAS ORIGINALLY FIVE YEARS. I'M GOING TO SUPPORT THE ITEM BUT I WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON THE TENURE.

OKAY.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

THANK YOU. IF THERE'S NO COMMENTS, I'M PREPARED TO VOTE.

David PenalozaItem 23

I WANT TO SAY I'M ALSO SUPPORTIVE OF OUR WORK WITH TRAVEL SAN ANA AND WHAT THEY'RE DOING. HOWEVER, I JUST NEED MORE INFORMATION ON THE TENURE AND HOW THAT WOULD WORK.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

I AM TOO. I WANT TO MAKE THAT CLEAR.

David PenalozaItem 23

I DON'T WANT TO FREAK TRAVEL SAN ANA OUT.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

I'M GOING TO TAKE IT. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER SAID I APOLOGIZE.

Phil BacerraItem 23

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH WENDY AND THE FOLKS FROM TRAVEL SAN ANA. THE WAY IT WAS EXPLAINED TO ME WAS THAT THE 10 YEARS WAS KIND OF THE INDUSTRY STANDARD. SO I THINK THAT'S WHY 10 YEARS IS BEING THROWN OUT. FOR THOSE OF US UP HERE, WE ALL KNOW THAT WHEN IT COMES TO PROMOTING OUR CITY, WE'VE HAD EFFORTS IN THE PAST THAT, LET'S just say weren't as successful weren't as inclusive and i think that travel san anna has completely gone the extra mile to um right any perceived wrongs of the past when it comes to promoting our city i think they do a great job a very balanced approach and so um i i can see why

Phil BacerraItem 23

the initial blush was for five years and now since travel san anna has got sea legs under it has been doing a great job that we would want to see it be a little more stable and have the 10 years but i i'm okay with my colleagues and having staff bring back information because i know this is not the final item i know we'll be seeing this again at some point soon but i just that was the information that i received from travel san anna and i'm happy to support him at the 10-year mark

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

as well thank you madam city deputy uh sydney you have the information you need um just want

Jessie LopezItem 23

some information go ahead apologies yes thank you i also met with wendy and several representatives with different hotels and i'm going to be supportive and maybe you want to speak to the question of why 10 years now since we're discussing the item but i'm very comfortable with also the organization handling the assessments i think that's it's great we don't have to worry about that they can do that so thank you and I'm gonna be supportive I think the ten

years allows for them to continue to grow that's that's the standard I think we can provide a little more information if you would like regarding the typical aspect but this is kind of the traditional component if you would allow the first five years actually were established to do like a proof of concept this this has shown that they've grown and again it's it's an item where the actual hotels pay into this type of investment and time and community and this structure the 10 years allows for them to monitor a little bit better and continue to grow so they don't have to eat back

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

in five years mayor pro tem can you explain a little more can you thank you can you explain a little more in detail how we how this is paid for travel sunana i can have actually the director

from wendy has and provide a little bit more better details more information um and in all honesty actually the organization actually uh it does more than just monitor the travel center component just with hotels in the restroom please wendy so the tourism marketing good evening Council the tourism marketing district for Santa Ana was formed in January 21 it is an assessment 2% that visitors staying at 17 of the Santa Ana hotels pay that 2% then funds the travel Santa Ana's activities our sales and marketing

efforts 10 years so initially the agreement was for five years as proof of concept as city manager uh nunez has said which made sense um but now we have the value of what travel santa has done travel santa ana has done and we wish to continue the tourism marketing district long term a 10-year agreement is proof of the validity validity of the tourism marketing district and support of travel santa ana there are 21 tourism marketing districts that have a 10-year life just here in southern california including huntington beach marietta oceanside Ontario Los Angeles Pasadena Santa Barbara Lancaster Greater Palm Springs

Burbank and Torrance over and all overall an estimated 90% of all tourism district renew renewals opt for a 10-year term the renewal process is extensive in time and resources and as my hoteliers can attest they would prefer that our revenue is going towards our sales and marketing efforts as well as my leadership time to the destination marketing organization thank you so much i just really wanted

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

the public to know that you're self-sufficient and it's not coming off out of our general dollars but i appreciate your work thank you for for you what you've done for this thank you thank you there's

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

no comments there's a there's a motion a second let's prepare to vote please motion by council

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

member penulosa seconded by councilman member hernandez to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of santa ana declaring its intention to renew the santa ana tourism marketing district satmd and fixing the time and place of a public meeting and a public hearing thereon and giving notice thereof public hearing public meeting to be held on june 3rd 2025 and public hearing to be held on july 1st 2025. vote is seven eyes no nays motion carries

Jennifer L. HallItem 23

thank you are there any other items yes mayor and city council the next item is item number 24 which was pulled by councilmember lopez and councilmember becerra is leaving the dice

Alvaro NuñezItem 24

thank you we'll wait till he leaves the room and then councilmember lopez three minutes and then

Jessie LopezItem 24

we'll come back to you if we need to yes thank you everybody um and i want to thank um the applicants and i want to thank our staff we know we just actually recently had a conversation about the importance of having affordable housing on site these are the type of projects that i love to see and i hope that people are paying attention because we have an affordability issue in the city and so i just really wanted to thank the applicant for doing that at this lot and i wanted to thank our staff and with that i'm happy to move the item forward i'll second your motion

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

uh council member with a very brief comment i'm supportive of this item and uh looking forward

Alvaro NuñezItem 24

to voting in favor there are no other comments council member fan thank you mayor and thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

council member lopez for pulling this item for those out there in the public who are wondering what does it mean or what does it mean to have affordable housing on site right because affordable housing for the county is often different from what it is for santa ana residents so the project would include five units designated for very low income households earning 30 to 50 percent of the area median income that is truly very low income that is something that is actually going to support santa ana families and we're very excited to support this i wish frankly that there were

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

more advocates for housing who came out in support of this project i think that santa ana has done our fair share of building housing at all different levels and in all different densities and i hope that as we see more housing projects come forward that advocates housing you know housing providers and builders come out to support these types of projects. Thank you.

No other comments.

Alvaro NuñezItem 24

Who's prepared to vote, please?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Motion by Council Member Lopez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez, to approve the recommended actions for item number 24, inclusive of a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana, approving Density Bonus Agreement number 2025-01 to allow an 86-unit multifamily development for the property located at 2020 East First Street, APN 402-191-03, and making a CEQA determination that the action is exempt from further review.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Vote is six ayes, no nays with a recorded recusal by Council Member Becerra, motion carries. That concludes the consent calendar.

Alvaro NuñezItem 24

Thank you, Madam Clerk. This time we're gonna go into the public hearing. Before public hearing, item number 26, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public, excuse me, who would like to make a comment on this public hearing item only.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Yes, thank you. Members of the public joining us by way of Zoom or conference call who would like to make a comment for public hearing item number 26 only, please dial star 9 from your phone or raise hand from Zoom now. Such speakers will be called upon once we open the public hearing. Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Oh, I have a question. Before we start, I'd have to state my recusal from this item, as I did the last time for the transit zoning code, as it may implicate a client of my law firm. So based on the advice of counsel, I will recuse myself and leave the room during the public hearing. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

Thank you, Council Member Fann. We'll wait Madam Clerk until she leaves the room and then we'll start.

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

Council Member Lopez?

Jessie LopezItem 26

Yes, I also have to unfortunately recuse myself. This is, although it's a generic extension, I have not received my FPVC letter back to be able to participate. So I will also be exiting. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 26

Madam City Attorney, when do we expect to receive FEPC letters back?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

We anticipate if they are true to their schedule that we would receive those letters back by April 30th in advance of the date that we discussed with staff for bringing the related item that's related to this moratorium back before you. So if we do go to schedule, we have absolutely asserted how essential it is. they go through the 21-day process and we hope to have that on April 30th May 1st okay yeah I too

David PenalozaItem 26

I have a residential lease just right outside the 2 000 foot radius from this affected area so added the advice from the city attorney and abundance of caution I am recusing myself and will leave the room until we hear from the FB PC mayor I would like to tell you

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

that this item does require a for fifths yeah and therefore you no longer we don't have a required number of people to take action on this item right I was

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

just looking I'm gonna look at you and say we can't we can't hear this item tonight so um but we'll we will not be taking this item thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

so just noting for the record public hearing item number 26 is not being heard or considered by the council due to a lack of qualified voters that is correct so at this time the public

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

public hearing on this item will be closed and so um and again we apologize we have to hear get our letters back correct madam city attorney from the fppc so once we get that then we can have

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

hopefully five votes yes and i just want to briefly explain because we did have some people ask us why some of our council members who voted on on this moratorium item the first round why why they did not choose to vote or participate in the second round. And the reason is that when the item was first brought to the city council, it was very generic in nature. Can you please put a moratorium while we study the issue? The issue has been studied and there is a recommendation from staff that has already gone through the planning commission process. So we know exactly what is going to be proposed to the council.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

So because of the close relation, it is my advice that we take the cautionary step and and that we obtain those FPPC advice letters back for the other council members.

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

Thank you very much. Mr. City Manager, you'll bring it back when,

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

I think this city attorney said the 30th.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Well, I think the mayor and council should also know that because this is a moratorium extension, that means that the moratorium will expire. And so without taking action,

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

the moratorium temporarily expires until the overall ordinance is brought back to the council and I don't know when we plan first meeting in May May 6 I apologize May 6 and then we'll be back

to here this item again and vote on it not this item the specific zoning zoning on right six yes again assuming we have the FPC response if we do not get the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

FPC response by the time that we actually you know consider posting the agenda we'll talk with staff and see what they want to do with that recommendation thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

you got it okay perfect let's call the council members back in then madam city clerk

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

i'll go get them we're going to go to this time now council member requested items

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

so we can't answer your questions the item's already been closed and we're moving on thank you so very much

David PenalozaItem 26

councilmember Paloza Thank You madam mayor and and I didn't hear the explanation madam city attorney but I I participated the first time because at the time I did not have a residential lease and I didn't sign a residential lease so about nine months after the the action was taken so now that's why I'm

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

recuse myself yes and i explained that we had one other council member that it was more generic in nature now we have a specific recommendation that could impact a source of income or a relationship to the client and then the other council member for the same basis just waiting for the fpvc

Alvaro NuñezItem 26

letter thank you we're going to go into the council member requested items at this time the first one is item 27 so i'm closing public hearing madam city clerk first item is number 27 and the topic is sober living regulations submitted by myself, Councilmember Panellosa, and Councilmember Becerra. Councilmember Becerra, Councilmember Panellosa, if you'd like to start off, and I'll make a comment at the end. Well, let me start. So the reason that we brought this forward is that there are sober livings in the City of Santa Ana, and

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

other cities have addressed this and we sit on a task force looking into sober livings and drug and alcohol programs and those of us that live in the city we know that we have them here we cannot monitor them there's no regulations for them I know Senator Umberg and a couple other senators are working on this issue Senator Umberg's bill Senate bill 35 focuses on reinforcing the regulations surrounding the operation of sober living homes and substance abuse, substance use disorder treatment facilities. Assemblyman Valencia's Assembly Bill 492 is a measure aimed at enhancing local oversight and transparency of treatment facilities

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

that would require the Department of Health Care Services to provide written notice to the local agency within which a license will to operate within which a license will, it says to operate, concurrently with the issuance. So we need them to have a license to operate. Why is this important, you're asking? It is about keeping the quality of life in Santa Ana, keeping us safe, having our community not have to deal with a neighbor next door that has a sober living home, and having the many problems that they do have with some of them, the police taking up the calls,

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

taking the calls responding in san anna alone the city estimates based on the data available through the state and our own business license division there are about 89 facilities in our city out of the 89 62 are licensed they're group homes but they include sober living that we know of 12 elderly care and other forms of group living and i say group living because we have very little control over group living I don't know mr. city manager if you or mr. Garcia want to address this and mr. Garcia thank you for sitting on the task force

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

with us if you'd like to come up if that's okay and share the importance of this I mean why as a city we really need to we already are supporting it writing letters to our senators and to I will be testifying again next week on another bill with Senator umberg the work that we do up here is the mayor and council is to really take care again and I said it a couple times tonight the quality of life of our residents we do not want our residents to have to have the neighbors that are destroying our community with sober living homes or drug and alcohol programs where there's overdoses occurring where people run out of

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

insurance so they're basically tying them to leave and just so you know for the record there are some good programs out there and we're not talking about those ones we're talking about the ones that bring people in out of state use up the insurance and then before you know it that young man or that young lady is on our streets homeless and so then we're responsible to deal with them and so is the police department um so

with that Mr. City Manager so if this is us this is a council remember member requested item so we could get majority consensus from city councils staff can pursue a review and uh regarding this SENATE BILL PROPOSAL BY SENATOR UMBERG AND ALSO REVIEW STAFF CAN MAKE RECOMBINATIONS TO ADOPT AN ORDINANCE AND PROVIDE TO THE CITY COUNCIL FOR CONSIDERATION REVIEW THAT IS CORRECT AND IT'S

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

ALSO AROUND ASSEMBLY MEMBER VALENCIA'S BILL 492. COUNCILMAN PANELOSA OR BUSER ANYTHING

Phil BacerraItem 27

DON'T JUMP OUT THERE I WANT TO I WANT TO THANK MY TWO COLLEAGUES BECAUSE THIS IS SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN IN THE WORKS FOR A WHILE I WANT TO ACTUALLY THANK THE CITIES OF MISSION VIEJO COAST MESA NEWPORT BEACH THEY'VE BEEN BATTLING THESE HOMES AND THEY'VE BEEN WORKING WITH VARIOUS STATE LEGISLATORS AND MYSELF MAYOR MEZQUA AND COUNCIL MEMBER PENALOZA HAVE BEEN PARTICIPATING IN THE SOCAL TASK FORCE REGARDING THIS ISSUE AND IT HAS BEEN VERY PRODUCTIVE AND WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF WORK go into finally getting to this point where we as a city have been able to take what they've

Phil BacerraItem 27

already done, something that's been battle tested in court. And so I think what staff will be able to bring back is a tribute to what these other cities have been able to do through the battles that they've endured all the way up to essentially the state Supreme Court. So I want to thank my colleagues for bringing this forward. And I want to thank those cities for their work on this. And we are very fortunate for what they've done and i'm looking forward to supporting this going forward

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

thank you thank you councilman sarah councilman panelosa thank you madam mayor i i want to thank

David PenalozaItem 27

you uh mayor and councilmember becerra for joining on this and bringing this item forward um i also want to do a special thank you to the assembly member of elena valencia as well as senator umberg i know that they've been working at the state level over the last you know four years to try to address this issue to as much as they can, right? And last year I was able to join them in Sacramento to testify before the Health Committee on Assembly Bill 492 by Assemblymember Valencia to help regulate the financial relationships between these different entities. And I'm happy that that bill was passed.

David PenalozaItem 27

And now we're here because of the work, tireless effort and work of the cities like Costa Mesa and Mission Viejo that have been fighting this for years now. I remember back it was December 2020 when I agendized this conversation and at the advice of the city attorney, we because in financial exposure, we're like, let's wait and see what happens in those lawsuits in those other cities being spearheaded by Costa Mesa. And I want to give a thank you to Costa Mesa and in particular then Mayor Katrina Foley and now Mayor John Stevens for continuing that battle and that fight.

David PenalozaItem 27

It wasn't a cheap fight. This was 15 plus million dollars that the city of Costa Mesa invested in fighting this throughout the court system and they have prevailed every single time and won and it gives us now the ability cities like us, cities like Mission Viejo and frankly cities across this the state to be able to regulate these types of homes in our city. They're not all bad but there are a lot of bad ones out there that are are causing harm in our neighborhood so i am uh excited to support this i know that there there's an ordinance out there a mess

David PenalozaItem 27

madam city mr city manager and madam city attorney uh we don't have to reinvent the wheel there's a good ordinance out there that that the that the sober living task force has been working on uh with the mayor and councilmember sarah for years now um that we should we should definitely consider bringing back for adoption um it's a long time coming and i'm happy we're here uh hopefully there's uh an appetite by the city council to address this issue but it's something that we we need to to get done for quality of life and just to accountability really there there's a

David PenalozaItem 27

a lot of these homes that are out there, they're not being held accountable. And they're not, at the end of the day, they, like the mayor said, these insurance payments run out. Guess what? They push out their patients out. They're still addicted to drugs. They're not sober. And now they're on their streets still looking for that fix. And they're going to get it one way or another. And it's impacting us. It's impacting our neighborhoods. So I'm happy to finally be here. Well, hoping to have this conversation and and have this ordinance before us in a couple meetings but um happy that this conversation

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

is before us thank you madam mayor thank you uh councilman if i'm giving one second i just want claire thank you councilman becerra and panalosa for addressing this and bringing up costa mesa so i want to just read something in december 2024 costa mesa's ordinance requiring sober living homes to obtain a special permit from city officials and to be separated from one one another was ruled legal by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. And that's the ordinance that we would be looking at and bringing here to the city. Again, as you had indicated, we don't need to recreate it. It's already there.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

We just need to massage it to fit the city of Santa Ana. And I too wanna thank Supervisor Foley and Mayor John Stevens and Mission Viejo because Coastal Base has been working, what, 15 years on this, 10 years? A long time. And so they are truly leading the way and Supervisor Foley has, this is a passion of hers and the task force that we meet with and we need it in Santa Ana. And I also want to just say this as my last comment is that these facilities are concentrated in some of our neighborhoods facing the most challenges. You know, we talk about our community and some of the challenges. This is a real challenge.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

This is a real one. And they're located in Logan, Lacey and Dalhide. These are the communities that are truly affected by this and they are scattered throughout the city But we're talking Logan Lacey and so with that councilmember fan

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank You mayor, yes, mr. City Manager, I'd love to see an ordinance I would also I'm not totally familiar with them, but I'd love to see any cost recovery and fines associated with it I think that would be really great especially because these types of of shall I say uses may often require code enforcement. And so anything we can do to offset the costs to the city would be fantastic. Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

I think we have support up here. Okay, Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Yeah, I actually appreciate that comment Councilwoman. I think it's pretty smart and I would be supportive as well. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

And just wanted to lend my support as well.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

Thank you, Council Member Hernandez. Mayor Pro Tem.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

Can you turn your mic on?

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

I wanted to lend my support as well. I used to live on Baker and West Floral and we had a lot of crime. And if you look at, I think it's called NeighborhoodScout.com, and the crime in West Floral Park on Baker is a lot more, it's stronger than it is on Townsend. You know, we think there's a lot of crime. And it's a lot even in Sandpoint Park where we have a lot of these houses. so it's it's in Logan and Lacey but it's all over our neighborhoods and they're affecting our quality of life of a bank of how we live and it's gonna give us oversight it's gonna give us transparency and the ability to work

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

with these houses to support them in a better way and making sure we're connected so they're doing the work and when something does happen we're able to react and support the people that live there thank you Thank You mr. city

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

manager I think you have a unanimous support up here from all of us so you know how to move forward understood thank you i'm sorry you had another comment i apologize go ahead no you sure positive okay council member requested item on caltrans council member lopez

Jessie LopezItem 27

you know we often talk about the issues that have been ongoing for years for years for years and this is one of them and this is an issue I inherited when I was first elected because war three has the most amount of state land state property in the district and we've worked for many many months now many years with code with the coded department with the city attorney's office with sorry with public Public Works, yes, thank you. The incredible work that Public Works does and our police department in making sure that we are cleaning up state land,

Jessie LopezItem 28

making sure that we have access to state land, especially when they come back and say, this is our jurisdiction, stay out of it. And so we have really put our best foot forward for many months now. And we did establish a great relationship with our local Caltrans office. But I'm really excited to be supporting this bill because a key part of SB 569 is the creation of an advisory committee in every Caltrans district to ensure that local voices and perspectives are part of the decision making process. And I think that this is ultimately gonna help our city, especially Ward 3 residents, ensure that there is

Jessie LopezItem 28

perhaps representation from the Public Works Department on the advisory committee since they are at the front lines of addressing all of the issues that happen on these state lands. And I know we've talked about a pilot program having access similar to what the city of LA has done. You know, different representatives have thrown back at us like the state is in a deficit, blah, blah, blah. And so I'm very excited about this bill because no one really has been able to solve the issue with Caltrans land here in the city of Santa Ana and so I'm hoping that the public will also write

Jessie LopezItem 28

to their representatives in support of this bill and I'm hoping that all of my colleagues also support this request thank you thank you

Phil BacerraItem 28

Councillor Becerra thank you madam mayor and I I want to thank the council member for agendizing this discussion regarding the maintenance of Caltrans property within our city. We all expect Caltrans to remove individuals that are illegally camping along the freeways and to remove trash and debris as well. Back in 2023, I'm sure many of you remember the 10 freeway in downtown LA was completely shut down. And why? Because of a fire that was caused by individuals who were illegally trespassing onto Caltrans property and camping. Then in early 2024, what happened? Caltrans entered into an agreement with the city of LA that

Phil BacerraItem 28

that allows LA City workers to access Caltrans properties and conduct maintenance. That agreement also provides for the City of LA to receive certain reimbursements for performing those maintenance services. Also in early 2024, Mayor Meskwa, myself, and many members of our city staff met with Caltrans staff and Assemblymember Avalino Valencia at his district office to discuss Caltrans failures to maintain their property in our city. A few months later, Governor Newsom issued an executive order ordering state agencies like Caltrans to address encampments on state property through partnerships with local agencies.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Yet Caltrans so far has refused to enter into an acceptable maintenance reimbursement agreement with the City of Santa Ana. As recently as two months ago, Mayor Meskwa and myself and members of our city staff met with the governor's office to advocate for the state to enter into an acceptable maintenance reimbursement agreement with the city of Santa Ana, similar to what the state has already done with the city of Los Angeles. I'm sharing all of this background. Oops. I'm sharing all of this background because we don't need more discussions about plans to one day possibly maybe kind of sort of perform the maintenance.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Our staff in that meeting with Assemblymember Valencia, they made it very clear. They're ready to go. We don't need to talk about it. We don't need to get consultations. We don't need to do a sounding session. session, we're ready to go now. In fact, our residents, I'm pretty darn sure they're eager for our city staff to get in there and be ready to go. So with that being said, as far as communications with Caltrans, yeah, Caltrans does a great job of communicating with us. They have been very consistent and efficient in telling us no. So I don't know that we

Phil BacerraItem 28

really need more conversations with Caltrans other than for them to say, City of Santa Ana, we know we can't do the job. We're ready to work with you and we're going to go ahead and sign that maintenance agreement so we can reimburse you for all the good work that you're gonna do but in this bill that Senator Blake Spears proposed there's nothing in here that talks about any dedicated funding if now Senator Blake Spears bill if it had proposed language and I think she talks about state government code section 14193 subsection a now if that section had said something like the legislature shall allocate funds to reimburse

Phil BacerraItem 28

maintenance activities by local governments to address homeless encampments on Caltrans property, then I'm in. Then I'm all the way. I'll be the first one to write the letter in support of this bill. But it doesn't. It's a hollow bill. And I don't mean any disrespect to the Senator. And I'm sure she's trying to make some sort of progress here. But I can tell you right now, the city of Santa Ana, we've been there, done that. What we need right now is not a committee, NOT A LISTENING SESSION, NOT SOME MORE INPUT GATHERING. WHAT WE NEED IS WE NEED THE STATE, WE NEED CALTRANS TO ENTER INTO A REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF

Phil BacerraItem 28

SAN ANA SO THAT OUR QUALIFIED WORKERS CAN GET OUT THERE AND GET TO WORK THE SAME WAY THAT THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES AND THEIR WORKERS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO IN CERTAIN PARTS OF L.A. SO I APPRECIATE THE ITEM COMING FORWARD. I APPRECIATE THAT WE'RE ABLE TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION, BUT I WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING THIS ITEM TONIGHT. THANK YOU.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Thank you Mr. City Manager. The last time we met with the governor's staff you and I and the chief and Councillor Becerra, they had indicated they were going to be working with us. What was the last time that we heard from them?

That was about like Councillor Becerra indicated about two months ago. So we are working with our telson public affairs social coordinate additional meetings and uh and actually request uh their uh willingness to actually meet with the governor's office actually to ensure that we do get a level of commitment and a letter to have the same type of understanding the city of la has with

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

caltrans and and i too have lots of respect for senator blakes for she's a wonderful wonderful woman does a great job um i'm just again i'm going to go back to staff because you know we're budget time looking at positions who's doing what work and so I'm not sure I believe it's kind of like there's almost already a committee but not really a committee we're not calling it a committee because you're meeting with with Townsend you're meeting with the governor's office you and staff and you know so I'm kind of torn because and I and I'd like to support councilmember

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

items I truly do but I just when we use the word committee we're talking about a committee councilwoman lopez is not here so she wouldn't be able to answer are we talking about a committee here in our city where we develop one here you do as a city manager and then and then do

what so the in a review of the sba 569 it's actually the state senator is requiring that the actual caltrans form a deliberate committee to actually communicate in reality the way we have it now is as you indicated we try to get a meeting we have some regional committee this requires a more ongoing type of interaction and so I know assembly member Valencia when we need to meet with

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

them he calls them into his office and then we go in and we meet with them and then the billing issue so so her bill requires that they have a committee but there's no teeth is there teeth in I'm gonna be perfectly honest, I read this and I kinda looked at it, I perused it, but I didn't see any teeth in the bill.

It does require them to engage on a local level.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

But not there?

On a market-continuous basis. No, it doesn't hold any monetary.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

But we're gonna be billing them soon, right?

Well, our objective is to work within the state parameters and legal parameters.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Hopefully they're listening, because we're gonna be billing you soon, Councilman.

If, if.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Okay, all right, are there any other questions?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

yeah councilmember hernandez thank you madam mayor i just wanted to lend my support for this item city manager some key provisions that i am supportive of when it comes to sb569 is that it's going to encourage collaboration with our local government which is us here in santa ana it does comprise of having joint action plans funding for collaborative efforts an advisory committee an annual reporting a dedicated liaison officer as well And so I'm hoping that we're ensuring that each of these respective line items

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

I've listed out that they're a part of you know, this resolution given that this is key language that is included in this bill Thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Mayor Pro Tem

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

Thank you very much mayor. I'm gonna support this item it's a step forward to making sure we institutionalize this relationship and Have those connections with the liaison office from Caltrans having a joint ACTION PLAN THAT WE CREATE TOGETHER REGIONALLY. HOPEFULLY WE WORK WITH OUR SISTER CITIES, THE CALTRANS, THAT ARE WORKING TOGETHER AND SAY THIS IS HOW WE'RE GOING TO WORK TOGETHER AND FORM SOMETHING MAYBE THROUGH SKAG OR ANOTHER PLACE LIKE THAT WOULD BE GREAT WHERE THE LIAISON COMES AND TALKS TO US. AND OF COURSE, BUILD THEM. YOU'RE LIKE, TAKE THEM, GET THEM. LET'S BUILD THEM. SO LET'S BUILD THEM. BUT THIS IS A STEP FORWARD.

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

SO I'M GOING TO SUPPORT THE ITEM. THANK YOU.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

THANK YOU. AND I'M GOING TO SUPPORT IT TOO. I just want to be clear that we look for those teeth right and that we build them and maybe that's how we get their committee's attention once they create a committee to say hi we're Santa Ana and we're billing you and you have 90 days to respond and we're going to bill you again so um we we have to because they pretty much have you know I appreciate Assemblyman Valencia's support he's been amazing but but we got to do more we have to so um Councilmember Fann

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

First, so I'd like to make a recommendation or a request. So it looks like this bill was referred to the Committee on Transportation set for hearing on April 22nd. A resolution would come after April 22nd, so I would love to see us potentially submit a letter in support of this bill with requests for amendments. So, for example, in section 14193, subdivision A, we can, it says the department, comma, upon appropriation by the legislature, comma, shall allocate funds to support collaborative efforts with local governments to address homeless encampments on department property ellipses.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

So, I might recommend that the state shall appropriate, or the legislature shall appropriate funds to the department who shall you know allocate funds to support collaborative efforts we should recommend these amendments to the bill

for hearing at committee so if you know my councilmember in addition to to be more specific right to add resources to the collaborative efforts that includes the maintenance and cleaning and security of Caltrans property that's This way is more expansive and more clear. Is that okay?

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Yeah, because it's for use not included, not limited to for any of the following efforts. One temporary housing and shelter services, outreach and support programs, environmental cleanup and restoration efforts. So I think cleanup and maintenance would be fantastic. The only reason why I'm asking for the letter, I'm supportive of the resolution, but I think that if we're going to try to make any amendments and add some teeth, as my colleagues have mentioned this is the time to do it thank you thank you councilmember fan that's a wonderful

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

item let's get that letter out there mr city manager please a council member um sarah and

Phil BacerraItem 28

then councilman so i'm willing to support with the amendments as i'd already previously mentioned there's nothing in here that talks about any funding you know just saying oh i hope the legislature will appropriate some money not going to get anywhere so if we're going to go that route you know if we're going to express any sort of support we shouldn't just blindly support COMMITTEES, BOND COMMITTEES. LET'S SUPPORT SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY GETS US MONEY TO REIMBURSE US FOR THE WORK THAT WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THEY CAN. SO IF THE WILL OF MY COLLEAGUES IS TO SUPPORT WITH AN AMENDMENT, TO ASK FOR A GUARANTEE FUNDING

Phil BacerraItem 28

STREAM, THEN I'M IN. COUNCILMAN PANELOSO.

David PenalozaItem 28

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR, AND THANK YOU TO MY COLLEAGUE FOR BRINGING THIS SIGN UP FORWARD, AND THANK YOU TO SENATOR BLAKESPEAR FOR THIS BILL. I DO AGREE WITH COUNCILMEMBER fan in that I would prefer because it's just now going into the Transportation Committee, I would prefer a letter maybe of support with those amendments, requests, just because we know that this bill is going to change. It's going to evolve over the course of its, as it makes its way through the legislature and we don't know what that end bill would be, right? What that end bill would look like. So I would offer a support a letter of support but I would also

David PenalozaItem 28

Like to to maybe now this is where we we take the time mr City manager and madam city attorney to look at the broader legislative landscape That is there are hundreds of bills going through the thousands actually but there are a couple hundred going through the legislature right now that that involve the homelessness issue that we're dealing with here in the city and throughout the state. So I would ensure that our city's voice could probably be heard on, or would desire that our city's voice be heard on many of these homeless related bills.

David PenalozaItem 28

But I would, you know, there's a bill, SB 634, by Senator Perez that the League of Cities has taken a strong opposition against, and we should really consider opposing because guess what if 634 passes the state legislature all these other bills mean nothing if we have no ability to enforce laws that carry these penalties if it involves homelessness correct so I would hope that we're looking at all of these bills and I know Gaston does a great job at following a lot of the senate and assembly bills that are

David PenalozaItem 28

going through the state legislature but if we could maybe add some help and and see how we could make sure we're on top of every one of these because that's one bill that i would say we got to oppose uh because if we uh sb 634 throws the senator blakespeare's bill out the window because then guess what we we have to allow whatever is on caltrans to exist without being able to go in and enforce the law because those carry penalties, which is what SB 634, and I would hope that the public looks up SB 634 by Senator Perez and really stays on top of that because these are all bills that we should

David PenalozaItem 28

either be supporting or opposing. So those are my comments, Mayor. Love the idea of a letter of support for Senator Blakespeare's bill, but I want to make sure we're on top of all these homeless related bills. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Thank you, Councilman Panalosa, for your comments and especially around Perez's bill. I actually sent out a letter opposing, as did the chief, as did the city manager, and Gaston sent out a letter from myself to all the mayors that we called upon for the Harm Reduction Institute to also send out a letter opposing as well as our police officers association and don barn sheriff don barnes our d.a todd spitzer so we're calling in the calvary for that bill because that will take away all the work that we're doing and everybody will be all the homeless people will

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

be able to eat sleep and you know what all over again and the police will have no authority i'm not going to say the word but you can and so that bill is critical so i really appreciate you bringing bringing it up. You actually took away my info from my closing comments, but I'm glad that you, and thank you for being on top of this. I know that you and me and council panelists always talk, the Sarah talk about bills. And again, that's why I'm going up to testify next week, because we cannot allow that bill by Perez to pass. We just can't. So Senator Umberg sitting there, as well as Durazo, as well as Steven Choi,

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

and then from Marietta, I don't know her name or his name, but I do have it Kelly hey Haley or something I don't know but thank you mr. city manager because I know your office with guest stone and your staff are on top of all of these bills and letters are going out every day left and right

so I do thank you and just as a reminder mayor because we are looking at this type of bills just to at least address councilor Peña Lozada's concerns we are monitoring most of those bills that impact our local jurisdiction and and ability to act at the local level. And any kind of bills that detract from the mayor and the city council's ability to conduct policy at the local level, we do try to address that. That's number one. Number two, we are working in a very connected way with Cal Cities, right? We are gonna continue, literally, if not once, twice meetings with actual Conner here in Orange County, and we're making sure

that our policymakers are just keenly involved and aware so that we provide the regional leadership at that component.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

Thank you Mr. City Manager. It sounds like you have direction up here.

Benjamin VazquezItem 28

I apologize. May I approach them? Really quick, I want to support the amendments by Council Member Tam. I think we, thank you. And Council Member Becerra as well. So thank you for those words and I appreciate you. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 28

So I think we all are supportive of it with the amendment. We're good. Alright, so let's move to Item Number 29. We are almost done here. And then we're going to go to City Manager comments. Oh no, we have one more. Oh no. After that we're going to go to council comments. All right, item number 29, Councilman Becerra or Penalosa. Councilman Becerra should take the lead on this one, please.

Phil BacerraItem 29

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So tonight we're, myself, Mayor Meskwa, and Councilmember Penalosa are asking our colleagues to support our State Senator Tom Umberg in his efforts to see that the will of the voters is implemented. Proposition 36 passed in November of 2024 with almost 70% support statewide. and 66% support here in Santa Ana. Just a few months prior to that election, the majority of this council adopted a resolution in support of Prop 36. Now Senator Umberg has introduced bills SB 28 and SB 38 that will implement the will of the voters by one requiring that all counties in the state of California

Phil BacerraItem 29

have courts that facilitate the drug treatment programs that were mandated in in Prop 36 and allow treatment programs that meet the requirements of Prop 36 to access grant monies from the BSCC grant program that are awarded to provide mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, and diversion programs to those in the criminal justice system. So together, SB 28 and SB 38 will ensure that every eligible Californian who chooses treatment over incarceration will have that choice regardless of the jurisdiction where

Phil BacerraItem 29

they're being charged while expanding opportunities for more treatment programs to qualify for grant funding so tonight I'm asking that we direct the city manager to draft and bring back a resolution at our May 6th council meeting stating our City Council support of the passage of Senator umberg's Senate bill 28 and Senate bill 38. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 29

Mayor Rubin. I'll support the item.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Thank you Councilman Hernandez. I will as well and the only item I'll add to this is I really appreciate the work by Senator Umberg especially around Prop 36. You know when he talks about the requirement for all counties in the state of California to have courts facilitate the treatment mandated by Prop 36 and It specifies that those courts are consistent with best practices. Back in the day, we had drug court. I'm sure Chief, you remember, and D.C. Andrade, you remember drug court. And I wasn't in that program. I wasn't an officer in there. But I did refer clients there. And drug court was good. You know, it was a great program.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

They had the same officer, same counselor, same drug and alcohol specialist, same judge. And if they successfully completed the program, their record was expunged. And so it put people back on the right path. They helped them with employment, with school. And so I'm hoping that that's what we'll be doing with Prop 36 as well. So I'm also supporting this item. And if there's no other comments. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem.

Benjamin VazquezItem 29

Thank you. I'll be supporting the item. And I understand why the public voted for Prop 36. We were in the middle of a housing crisis and a drug epidemic. epidemic we had a lot of issues in the city and the things that we needed for prop 36 are now being brought back to fix it we need to make sure we support people and keep them out of jail and keep them out of the street and make sure they're turned into the right way so I'm gonna support both of these bills to make sure we are supporting those people so there's not a revolving door for people going to jail and back into our streets.

Benjamin VazquezItem 29

The cities in Orange County have been pushing Prop 36 and bringing people to the main jail here in Santa Ana and released, and we're seeing more people affected, but Santa Ana being affected at the release of Orange County, bringing people into the streets. So we need to make sure we have the tools necessary TO SUPPORT THIS POPULATION AND CLEAN UP OUR STREETS AND SUPPORT THOSE PEOPLE SO THEY DON'T COME IN AND OUT. THANK YOU.

Thai Viet PhanItem 29

ARE THERE ANY OTHER COMMENTS? COUNCILMEMBER FAN? I'M ALSO IN SUPPORT OF THIS ITEM. THANK YOU.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

COUNCILMAN PANELOSA?

David PenalozaItem 29

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I JUST WANT TO THANK MY COLLEAGUES FOR JOINING ON THIS. AND THANKS TO SENATOR UMBERG. THERE'S AN EFFORT TO NOT FUND THE WILL OF THE VOTERS THROUGH PROP 36. SO THIS IS IMPORTANT THAT WE SUPPORT THESE BILLS. BUT BACK TO MY PREVIOUS COMMENT ON THE PREVIOUS ITEM, THIS IS THAT WE SHOULD BE VOTING ON A SUPPORT OPPOSE BILL PACKAGE BECAUSE OF THE NUMBER OF BILLS THAT ARE COMING THROUGH RIGHT NOW THAT ARE HOMELESS RELATED PROP 36. AND SO I WOULD hope that my um all my i hope i would hope that it's unanimous uh uh seven yeses to support this

David PenalozaItem 29

uh because of how important it is uh that this is this is um i just can't thank senator umberg enough um i know that when prop 36 was before us it was a 4-3 vote but i'm happy to now see my colleagues support uh efforts to fund this so thank you so much and uh that that's it madam

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

mayor so thank you councilman put on so and to all the council members that are up here councilman hernandez did say he had to leave so thank you i'm not sure what council member lopez if she already left or not but um it's really important that we're all up here and i think your recommendation to have a package so that we don't have to sit here and go through each one of them we already read them prepared and when you do a gender review you talk to all of us and we don't have to go through every single bill and i think as you do now with guest stone who does a phenomenal job

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

I'm sorry I was talking on to interrupt me in council member Lopez here is that I think I'll lose my train of thought you know I will so I think that mr. city manager that if we bring it together as a package and then I know they cast stone and some of your stuff keep track of all of the bills and deputy city manager so if if there's others as councilman Panalosa vindicated there's a A couple, right, Deputy City Manager? I think you look at them all the time with Guest Stone. So bring them to us as a package, and there's probably going to be a whole bunch of them that deal with Prop 36, homeless.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

I'm testifying next week for Umberg on another bill around Prop 36. Blake Spear did the bill that we talked about two weeks ago, working with Connor and them. And so there's some bills around law enforcement. and also for treatment as mayor Pro Tem had talked about for SP 757 Richardson

also leans with abatements and fines that's a good one too so we are magic we are working again if you see in the last year right we have engaged quite a bit with Cal cities we monitor like like I said our office in the rush literally if not twice a month once a month with Cal cities Connor Medina and so we're making sure we monitor those type of legislation that impacts us or affects our ability to respond to

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

community and there's a cal city league conference coming soon i i think some of the council members next week correct next week no nobody's going some people are going some people are going okay yeah some people are going okay so i think it's great and then like the work you're doing we really appreciate it and just bring it as a package so we can run them through so it sounds like you have SUPPORT UP HERE MR CITY MANAGER FOR THIS COUNCIL MEMBER REQUEST ITEM AS WELL ALL RIGHT LET'S GO TO UH COMMENTS CLOSING COMMENTS UM COUNCIL MEMBER FAN PLEASE DANG I GET TO GO FIRST YOU SURE DO

BECAUSE YOU'RE SPECIAL I WASN'T READY NOT THE CITY MANAGER MAYOR OH I APOLOGIZE MR CITY MANAGER SAVE

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

HER YOU GO FIRST MR CITY MANAGER I HAVE QUITE A BIT YOU GO RIGHT AHEAD THIS SATURDAY APRIL 19 WE ARE

hosting arbor day community tree planting from 10 a.m to 11 at seven park locations so please pay attention santa ago park centennial at carruthers carrillo thornton and salvador and delhi again april 19 tree planting at the parks from 10 to 11. second our senna work center in partner with orange county job fair san anna college on thursday april 24th hosting a job for for 11 to 2 p.m. free event to our community. Also on April 24, our Parks and Recreation is having a second hiring fair from 1 p.m. to 5.30 at Santa Ana City Hall. Stop by and apply in person,

or you can get hired on the spot.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

I'm sorry, did you say job fair?

Job fair, April 24, our Parks and Recreation agencies having one.

And again, actually there are, like I said, two. One for Santa work center, Santa Ana College, and the one here in City Hall.

Dia de los Ninos, Dia de los Libros, the celebration in Santa Ana Public Library, and that's on April 26th from 10.30 to 2 here at City Hall, Plaza of the Sun, at the, we got in the Santa Ana Library.

Our Public Works Agency is having its annual free compost giveaway. Again, the free compost giveaway is on Saturday, April 26th from 7 to 12 p.m. at Centennial Park. This is going to be a fun one. Santa Ana Zoo annual fundraiser, Brew at the Zoo, is on Saturday, May 10th, 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now. Let me say that one again. Santa Ana Zoo annual fundraiser, Brew at the Zoo, is on Saturday, May 10th from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale. And for the people that know, that's Mexican Mother's Day. and then tickets yeah it is so send on a fun run 5k taking kiss dash it's on

Saturday May 17 again we encourage people to register and get tickets and that's the key for us and then finally we want to be right restaurant residents that the budget service out please please please complete the survey and provide your community priorities to the city. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Brew at the zoo, you get monkeys and beer. Can't go wrong. All right, thank you for sharing that. That's how we should salad hog, beer and monkeys. All right, Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 29

Yes, hi everybody. So I think the city manager, I walked in when you were in midway of your comments. So I think you talked about Arbor Day, prompt the upcoming event so thank you um in war three we're hosting it at cabrillo park so we really encourage um all of our neighbors and residents to come out and and help us plant trees at cabrillo park um and where the city is again going to be celebrating dia de los ninos here at plaza del sol and it's a really wonderful event that promotes literacy at a very young age and the city does the public library actually i should say hosts a lot of different events for

Jessie LopezItem 29

for small children and really children of all different ages. And so we encourage families to come and support Dia de los Ninos. And also just wishing everybody a joyful Easter. I hope that you get to spend some time with the people that you love and celebrate in whatever way that you celebrate. Thank you so much.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Council Member Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 29

Thank you, Mayor. So before I forget, because I've forgotten a couple meetings in a row, So I want to congratulate our 2024 Employee of the Year, Corey Lance, in Parks and Recreation. She is just so wonderful. I remember when, Hawk, you first brought her on board. And she has just, in my opinion, totally transformed our social media, a lot of the work we do. And I know that she has done so much work with our development, fundraising, and bringing in promoters and collaborators with Parks and Rec. So congratulations to Corey. She's just a wonderful time every time I see her at our fantastic events.

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Brew at the Zoo, I do want to put a plug in for that. I'm not a beer person, but I brought my sister. It's super fun. Go bring your mom, all right? I'm sure she's going to enjoy it. It's just a really great, fun event at our zoo, and I think it's just another way for our community to come together and enjoy it. So thank you to Parks and Rec for making that happen. I guess the last thing I wanted to remind everyone is that April 30th is, I guess, doubly important to me this year. It is the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. We call it Black April in the Vietnamese community.

Thai Viet PhanItem 29

And so there will be many events in Little Saigon as well as throughout the Vietnamese diaspora across the world to commemorate this event. And on April 27th, I'll be in San Diego at the USS Midway to commemorate Vietnamese refugees and the resilience of our community coming to the United States and leaving our homeland. We will be celebrating, excuse me, commemorating this also in Westminster at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park with our community. So I really hope that those of you out there who are not so familiar with Black April, who who are not so familiar with the history of the Vietnamese diaspora

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and how Vietnamese Americans became refugees to this country are able to learn about that. But also, April 30th this year is Denim Day, so I just want to remind everyone, please wear denim on April 30th. Take a selfie, take some photos, and post it, hashtag Sam, S-A-A-M, and show your solidarity with those who are survivors, those who have experienced that trauma and really spread the word and the city yes we will be taking a photo 9 a.m. on April 30th and we'll be posting because we're gonna have all the employees together we will beat the city of Garden

Thai Viet PhanItem 29

Grove all right we got to make sure that happens and finally I just hope everybody have a happy and safe Easter weekend thank you thank you councilman

Phil BacerraItem 29

Bessera please. Thank you Madam Mayor. I wanted to begin tonight by expressing my appreciation to all of our dispatchers at the Santa Ana Police Department and the Orange County Fire Authority as we celebrate National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 13th through 19th. Thank you for all the sacrifices and all that you endure to make our community a safer place. On Saturday May 3rd at 10 a.m. at Lilly King Park I'll be hosting my monthly

Phil BacerraItem 29

I WANT TO THANK THE MAYOR FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN. I KNOW SHE WAS ADVOCATING FOR THIS EVENT TO MOVE FORWARD. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT BECAUSE OF HER EFFORTS, WE'LL BE PLANTING TREES THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE CITY. BUT VERY IMPORTANTLY IN THORN PARK. I WANT TO THANK THE MAYOR FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN. So speaking of Thornton Park, and this is a little more of a somber note, just down the street from Thornton Park on Saturday, April 4th, around 1130 p.m.,

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tragedy struck our community when a car traveling at a very high speed collided with a tree in the median of Sagerstrom Avenue, Avenue, right near South Townsend, just walking distance from the park. I wish I could tell you that the only casualty was the vehicle, but unfortunately that was not the case. We lost five of Santa Ana's youth that day, or that evening, and one young lady survived, thankfully. We're still mourning this terrible loss of life, and I gotta tell you,

Phil BacerraItem 29

I'm really, as much as I'm choked up, I'm really comforted by the outpouring of of love and support that I've encountered and I've seen throughout the community for what had happened. From the many that have visited the crash site, which I've been one, to those that have asked me, and I know some of my colleagues, how they can contribute to help the families through this time. It's a very troubling time. And it's just remarkable how compassionate our community can be in these really challenging moments. So it's something that I believe we can just all

Phil BacerraItem 29

be proud of and i i'm just appreciative so i say thank you um some of those students that passed away as i'm sure mayor pro tempasquez knows they they attended valley high school and i want to thank valley high school principal katie berger for providing resources and support to the students and families that were impacted by this tragedy she's opened up the valley high school counseling center and the wellness center so i hope um you know those folks will take advantage of those resources and I hope you'll join me in sending prayers and positive energy to the survivor of this terrible tragedy and to the family and friends of those

Phil BacerraItem 29

who we lost way too soon and I hate to keep on with the losses but we lost another another legend my opinion just recently and that was a person that not Not only was a legend, but he's probably one of the most kindest, most compassionate people, at least I've ever met. And that was Ed Arnold. And so like many of us here in Santa Ana, if you grew up, you saw Ed Arnold on KTLA as a sportscaster. Later on, I learned that he played football at Santa Ana College, and that he was on the Dons 1961 Eastern Conference championship team.

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So I thought that was wonderful, good for him. But then I learned how much he gave in time, energy, and resources to making San Ana and San Ana College a much better place.

Phil BacerraItem 29

Ed served as a president and chairman of the SAC Foundation, Jesus, and all the work that he did with the Hall of Fame to raise money that provided scholarships for the San Ana College student athletes. athletes. One way that Ed did help was he raised money through the Ed Arnold Golf Classic, which was named after him for all the work that he did to help student athletes at Santa Ana College. He was inducted into the Santa Ana College Hall of Fame for Meredith's service, no shocker there, in 2009. In 2021, I had the honor of actually meeting Ed and presenting him with the certificate

Phil BacerraItem 29

of recognition on behalf of our city for all of his work and contributions to the city. because it was 2021 we didn't get a chance to do like what we did tonight where we had everybody come down to the well um we we came in and we had i think paul was here and we we filmed a presentation with them and you know all of us up here made numerous presentations but i gotta tell you it was it was a little tough because here's a guy who's been a legend in tv and radio since the 1960s and i'm standing next to him trying to make a presentation i'm thinking dear god i'm

Phil BacerraItem 29

next to an expert here he's probably scrutinizing everything i did and honestly he was the most kindest kindest guy that i i could just say that just for all the heart and passion and and just the ease of who he was just made it so much easier to get through that because i really thought oh dear god i hope i i hope i don't blow this right especially next to a legend like him so um i i I would just ask everybody, you know, if you knew Ed or knew of him and would want to really,

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you know, support him and his legacy, I would ask you to support the Santa Ana College Athletic Foundation and to support his golf classic, which will be coming up on Monday, May 5th. I couldn't think of a better way to honor him by supporting his alma mater and the amazing student athletes that they produce. Ed is survived by his wonderful wife Dixie, who he met while at Santa Ana College, and his son Dean, who was born in French Park back when it was Santa Ana Hospital, his daughter-in-law Rachel, and his grandchildren Jacob and Luke.

Phil BacerraItem 29

I would like to ask if we could tonight adjourn our council meeting this evening in the memory of Ed Arnold and in the memories of the victims of that tragic April 4th accident.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Thank you, Councilman Becerra. Councilman Penalosa?

David PenalozaItem 29

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

David PenalozaItem 29

I have no words to follow that. I had many updates, but I don't want to. I'll put them on my social media. But thank you, Councilman Becerra, for those words. And may they rest in peace.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 29

Thank you as well. Thank you Council Member Becerra for those words for Ed and the five children. This has been a rough 12 days. We lost five beautiful souls and my condolences and my love go out to the families and their children's friends. We are with you. Estamos con ustedes. of this throughout this strategy i've never felt so blessed to be a part of the city many people came out to the car wash to the kermes and gave online and these these families have been supported with love i want to thank all my peers on council for reaching out and for

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supporting our families for the work you've done and making sure that we're well taken care of i I wanna thank the first responders, the firemen, the police officers, the paramedics who came to the site and saved our one survivor, and taking all that trauma for us at the site. Thank you for the city staff for supporting the families and the school district for holding onto our students. Thank you, City Manager Alvaro Nunez and Chief Rodriguez for getting resources to the families. We appreciate it. I called you on Saturday and the work was already being done.

Benjamin VazquezItem 29

Thank you to Valley staff, Lisa Solomon who reached out to me, making sure all the teachers were being supported. I had a counselor come and check in for my office from the county. So I appreciate the work that they're doing in making sure we're all being supported. Thank you to our leadership at Valley High School, to our counselors, to our teachers for supporting our students. They need the love and I just wanna let our students know and our families that we are with you and we love you. So this is a beautiful thing about Santana and our kids that they take care of one another and I hope,

Benjamin VazquezItem 29

I'm just so blessed and proud of how we reacted. Thank you, have a good night.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Before I close, I just want to again bring up SB 634. Please reach out to Assemblymember Valencia at assemblymember.valencia at assembly.ca.gov. Mr. City Manager, if we can put this information on the website. Also, Senator Umberg at senator.umberg at senate.ca.gov. we will lose local control if SB 634 passes which means that the bill will allow tents or encampments in any public space without recourse let me say that

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

again any public space without recourse and they'll be able to block sideways businesses I don't know parking our on our sidewalks in front of our homes it's It's all I can say is this bill, you know, there was not enough. Nobody bothered to reach out to us to say, hey, what are you doing, Santa Ana or any other cities? They just thought they'd write up this great bill because it's sexy or it sounds good or, you know, we're attacking homeless people. In the city of Santa Ana, we have two shelters, as we all know. We've spent millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to help.

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our staff have gone above and beyond we have CityNet we have Colt with our police officers we have fire that go out we're gonna start with street medicine at the end of the year if somebody would have came to us that was writing in this bill and said what are you doing Santa Ana what are you doing right Santa Ana we would have said let's have a conversation we'll tell you what we're doing right is it the answer does it fix everything no but we're doing something something is right. And so please take a moment to reach out to your assembly member and your Senator, Senator Umberg, Assembly Member Valencia and write a letter

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

or an email opposing SB 634 written by Senator Perez.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

So Council Member Becerra, thank you for your comments.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

I, there's not much I can say either, I'm not a council panelist. I went out to the site after the accident and I did have a conversation with our city manager and our police department and there's nothing you can say,

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

nothing, it's just awful. I'm a mom and I can't even imagine my office has been in communication with the families and I'm spoken to we've spoken to the one of the moms in particular and and so it was tragic mr. city manager what I would like to say is thank you for putting up the slowdown information out there because people were crossing like i did claudia and i basically you know ran across the street to get to the to lay down our flowers and things and it's dangerous and i would ask that we do a traffic

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

study on that street if it hasn't been done already because it's people fly through there and i don't know the answer because that's not my area of expertise in the bill that is yours but we need to do something because as you turn on that that bend you you can't see and i don't want to know and I don't need to know what the reason all I know is we lost beautiful children that night and families um they're suffering they're suffering um and the council members up here are correct you know when I was there um people stopped and I said do you know the family

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

they said no we're strangers but we had to stop we had to stop we brought flowers and balloons And so everybody has gathered in our community and, you know, some people said, well, why don't you do it for other people? And I don't even respond to that because it's like these are our children. We lost children.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

There's no there's there's nothing we can say or do other than let the families know like we all have that we're here for them. Thank you to the police department for making the referral to waymakers. They have assigned a family and advocate. What I've learned from DC Andrade is that families have advocates from the way makers as, you know, whatever they may need and Santa Unified is also helping out. So tonight we're going to close in honor of, by the way, there are GoFundMe accounts and there are legitimate ones that have been posted that are put together by the families.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

So if you need to know for those watching at home, what are the actual GoFundMe accounts put together by the families? We have that information and we can share it with you if you reach out. So that way the family gets the money directly. Exactly.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

For Natalie and Cynthia and Jacqueline, they are attempting to raise $85,000 because that is the cost for all three funerals. Contact is Alejandra Ochoa. I can give you the number if you need it. For Arely Robles, her family's trying to fundraise 20,000 for funeral expenses. Contact is Jasmine Robles. I have the number if you need it. For Emmanuel Gonzalez Martinez, thankfully the families have funded, fundraised and met their goal of $20,000 that they needed for their expenses.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

I want to thank all the anonymous donors that gave the $5,000, the $7,000, the $5, the $50, the $100, whatever the amount is that people gave. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

you know people are just you know donating which I really appreciate I think we all appreciate up here I also want to thank the first responders you know I was passing the the chief in the hallway and you know he said how are they doing sir and he said you know they they do their job mayor and we give them what they need when they need counseling and things of that nature but just Just before that, before these children passed, our officers responded to the motel where an 11-year-old little boy, his head was almost severed by his mom. How do you respond to that as an officer, right? And then you have fire.

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

And I talked to DC Henry and how are they, sir? And they're giving them whatever they need as well. I would ask that you please don't forget our first responders because at the end of the day, they have to go home to their families or whoever they go home to. And that vision that they carry with them, it doesn't leave, it doesn't ever leave. When they retire and are old, they'll still see that vision in their head. And so please remember to thank our first responders and to be kind to them as well because they also have to deal with this. So tonight we're gonna close in honor of the victims

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

as councilman becerra have indicated all of us have again we are closing in honor of arelia robles natalie vidal zarate

Alvaro NuñezItem 29

cynthia torres that out there jacqueline torres that out there and emmanuel gonzalez martinez and the young lady that is the sole survivor will keep her in our prayers and hopefully that she gets the services that she needs so that she will be okay as well so with that this meeting is adjourned

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