Read the May 20 meeting.

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Valerie Amezcua

Mayor, you can go ahead. Thank you very much. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the City's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Councilmember Becerra. Councilmember Hernandez.

Benjamin Vazquez

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Councilmember Lopez. Councilmember Penalosa. Councilmember Phan. Present. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez? Present. Mayor Meskawa?

Valerie Amezcua

Present. Four members present. That is a quorum. Thank you. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? There are none. Do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items?

Valerie Amezcua

Hearing none, do we have any speakers for closed session items? Madam Clerk? Yes, Mayor and City Council, we do.

Jennifer L. Hall

Noting for the record, by 2 p.m. today, we did receive 65 e comments, those related to closed session item number three. Those were distributed to the City Council and posted on the City's website for public review. We do have speaker cards here in person as well as on Zoom. We'll start with the in-person speakers. When I call your name, please line up behind the podium. Speakers will have three minutes each. Bumaro Vicente, Autumn Overton, Sandra Deanda. This is related to closed session items one through three only.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Bomaro. I'm the Political and Policy Director for CHISPA. First, I just want to thank you all for finally putting this item on an agenda. It's been nearly three years since this commission was unanimously approved by the Council, but yet we don't have a director yet. That means no investigation into complaints, no independent investigations of police shootings, no accountability. It's incredibly frustrating, not just for me, but for the residents who have been waiting, some of whom may see their complaints expire under state law due to inaction.

This fight for oversight is not just isolated to Santana. It's part of our broader national effort to weaken police over accountability. In Florida, a new state law recently gutted civilian review boards, effectively ending independent oversight in cities like Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. At the federal level, the Trump administration quietly took down the National Police Misconduct Database, a tool meant to track officers with a history of abuse. These actions send a chilling message. Transparency and community oversight are under attack. But Santa Ana doesn't have to follow that path. We can choose a different direction.

We must move forward, not backwards. Our community has waited long enough. Santa Ana residents deserve justice, real accountability, and a police oversight commission that actually functions. We need a director who is grounded in civil rights and civil liberties, someone with deep experience working alongside the community. I urge you to select a director who reflects the visions, the values, and the lived experiences of Santa Ana. Thank you.

Good afternoon, councillors, mayor. My name is Autumn Overton. I'm a faith rooted organizer with CLU, Clergy and Lady United for Economic Justice here in Orange County. I'm here in person to address item number three, the public appointment of the police oversight director. director, it was an incredible honor and privilege to watch the people of Santa Ana come together after many, many, many years and with the council to put together his first ever police oversight commission for the city.

It really marks a moment of real change and a real commitment to making sure that this city is as safe for everybody as possible the issue right now before you as you heard from our brother Balmaro is that this committee cannot start cannot begin its oversight cannot begin protecting the city of Santana until there is a director we're glad to hear that you guys have been working on gathering possible candidates to do that but you know it's been it's been over a

year we we expect action quickly and so in this moment the Commission cannot really fulfill its mandate without this kind of leadership the city is following falling behind on its commitment when folks pass the Santa Ana made a real promise to its residents especially black brown immigrant and working-class communities to implement a real effective civilian oversight this this continued vacancy in the director role sends a really troubling message that the city is not taking this commitment seriously the main thing I want to mention is that you know since you you

all are in the process of looking at candidates it's not just looking at any candidates it's making sure you're looking at candidates who have the qualities uh and the background that this city deserves we need someone who's grounded in civil rights and civil liberties we need someone who is not from law enforcement I want to repeat we need someone who is not from law enforcement police already have their own internal investigation systems the role of the Commission is to provide independent civilian oversight and appointing someone from law enforcement undermines

that independence so and in this moment many of the proposed candidates do not meet the standard for independent oversight one is the JL group another is Integra sure LLC both are problematic and we we encourage you to please look at your other candidates but in a nutshell or in summary on Santa Ana really deserves better if we're serious about building real trust and accountability we have to reject law enforcement aligned firms and choose a director who reflects the values of transparency independent justice right All right, thank you so much.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Sandra De Anda, Rayne Mendoza, Tanya Navarro.

Good afternoon, council. My name is Sandra and I am the network coordinator at the Orange County Rapid Response Network. I'm also the eldest of seven children in Santa Ana. Many of my siblings are young men of color and they have reported different instances where they've had issues with the police, right? One of my brothers a couple of months ago was racially profiled by a police, by SAPD while on a run by the river bank. And it seemed like they just got the wrong suspect, but they basically racially profiled him and attacked him while he was on a run.

And he came to me saying, what can I do to get justice? and I honestly couldn't tell him that he could get justice on this oversight board because we don't have a director that would bring my brother justice, especially now with all these complaints just backlogged and expired, right? I also have another brother. He is a veteran. He has PTSD and schizophrenia, and I got to read the police report when he was having a mental health crisis, and the public defender who represents him was like, I don't understand. He was like, it's really crazy, you know,

reading this police report, you know, as a public defender, I am surprised your brother wasn't shot by SAPD. And so for myself, I am a community leader right now. I'm working to protect my community from ICE enforcement actions here in Orange County, but I'm also trying to protect my family from police brutality and it's something that I mean I would love to have this city give people a semblance of justice when they are you know brutalized attacked dehumanized by this police

department but that's why I'm here today because at least like let's just get the ball rolling like let us hold you accountable as a city you guys should learn from us and the needs that we need in protecting our community so um i just want to reiterate everything um uh autumn and boomer have shared here today and just getting this going making sure we have a director that is grounded in civil rights and civil liberties because we understand that real law enforcement and enforcement reform must be rooted in fairness, transparency, and accountability. So I'm just one of the many families here

who is asking for that today. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Rain Mendoza, followed by Tanya Navarro and David Pulido.

My name is Rain, and I'm part of CSO OC, also born and raised in Santa Ana Ward 4. And I am here today to speak on the delays of hiring an independent oversight director for the Police Oversight Commission. The stalling of hiring an IOD is part of a disturbing trend we are seeing all across the country. State laws and the Trump administration are trying to dismantle and disempower police review boards such as this one. With each day that goes by without an IOD hire, it is attack on police transparency and police accountability. We demand the hiring of Sean Garcia-Leyes for IOD as he is the only candidate with a track

record of fighting for racial justice we reject the hiring of any candidate that has worked in law enforcement as we know no real transparency or justice can come from this we are demanding the hiring of sean garcia leyes for the oversight police commission thank you

hi city council my name is tanya navarro and i'm speaking tonight not only as a resident of santa but as a community organizer at Chiswa. Across the country, civilian oversight of police didn't appear out of thin air. It came out of necessity, out of decades of radicalized violence, abuse, and impunity, especially in black and brown communities. These commissions weren't created to make people feel better. They were created in order to build power and hold people accountable. In 2020, this exact chamber was full of youth, it was full of activists who have been organizing this for years, for decades, and asking for this.

I was here and I was a part of it and I got to witness how full this chamber was, even the overflow area was full, and it was mostly youth activists asking for this. All residents of this city who I know.

This specific commission was born out of years of demands of the residents who are survivors, youth, working class families, who said enough is enough with backroom deals and enough with performative reforms. We're demanding something real.

Many of the proposed candidates do not meet the standards for the Independent Oversight Commission director. Some of the publicly submitted bids for the director role raised significant concerns of our impartiality and philosophy. JL Group has openly supported broken windows policing, a discredited theory that led to unconstitutional stop and frisk practices and widespread racial profiling. This firm is composed of largely of former law enforcement officers and their approach is likely to reflect a law enforcement first mindset, not community first oversight that we need. Integra Sure LLC is similarly problematic.

Its leadership includes retired and active police officers such as former LAPD Chief Bayon Lewis and former Jeff Schengler, a former prosecutor of the Manhattan DA's office. Their team also includes former FBI agents. This is not the profile of a team equipped to deliver independent reform-minded civilian oversight. The current pool of applicants is alarming. internal city staff, former law enforcement, applications with no track records in civilian oversight, community safety, or civil rights. One even worked directly under the city manager, the very office the oversight director must be independent from.

Let's be clear, this is not a neutral delay in the hiring process. It's a direct betrayal of the community that fought to create this commission in the first place. The people who showed up, gave testimony, relived their trauma, and demanded change are now being cut out. Meanwhile, their complaints about police misconduct are going nowhere and are expiring. Cases are going uninvestigated and residents are losing faith.

Jennifer L. Hall

Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

David Pulido.

All right, hello everybody. My name is David Pulido. I'm a resident of Ward 5 and a member of community service organization. I'm here to demand that the City Council hire the only progressive candidate on the slate, and that's Sean Garcia Lays. The demands of families with loved ones have been killed by police are very urgent. We work with those families and every day that this commission isn't functioning is a day they can't pursue justice through this commission. Without a director, it cannot function. It can't carry out its responsibilities such as recommendations for police misconduct and

officer shootings. The movement nationwide as other speakers have mentioned is under attack in states like Florida as it has been mentioned civilian review boards have been gutted and Trump has stated the wish to unleash the police on social movements and nationally oppressed peoples and so now is not the time to choose a middle-of-the-road candidate it's not the time to stall on this. We also reject any IOD candidates that include police on their staff as other speakers have mentioned integrity is staffed by police chiefs jail group is staffed by former police chiefs and swat officers and this makes a mockery of the idea

of independent police oversight if the police were able to investigate themselves and carry out justice all we would need is the department of internal affairs but it's not capable of carrying out that justice and we've seen this as early as or as recently as 2020 in the caliche town incident where officers sexually assaulted a teenage minor and the Department of Internal Affairs wrecked the investigation. We need a truly independent oversight commission that functions to act on the pressing demands of this community. And that's why we're demanding a pro-accountability candidate with a record of fighting for racial justice,

Shangir C. Alays. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the in-person speakers, we'll move to Zoom now. now. Juliana Mushayev, please unmute and make your comments.

Hello. Yes, go ahead please. Thank you. Yes, my name is Juliana. I am here as a Santa Ana resident in Ward 4 and also as a member of the Peace and Freedom Party. I want to echo go the demands and the points that were made before me. Police brutality is a pandemic in this country, and very few people get any kind of justice. These police commissions, even they, although they're such an important step towards justice, are not going to have the hiring and

and firing and disciplinary power, but we do need a forum and a place for communities to bring up these grievances. And if we don't have that, then we're not holding our police officers accountable and that can lead to some ugly, ugly, ugly things. So I wanna just echo all of the sentiments that have already been said as a Santa Ana resident, I would really like to see us move forward with hiring a director as soon as possible. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the public speakers for closed session.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So at this time, we're going to recess into closed session. Thank you very much.

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Valerie Amezcua

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

Valerie Amezcua

Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken and we appreciate your cooperation. For everyone's safety, per the fire marshal, please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, along the back wall of the council chamber, or in front of entrances and exits. During city council presentations, guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos. Madame Clerk, please conduct the roll call. Council Member Becerra? Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Hernandez? Present. Council Member Lopez? Council Member Penalosa? Present. Council Member Phan? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez? Present. Mayor Meskwa? Present. Six members present. That is a quorum.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you so much. Madame Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, can you make an announcement please?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, thank you. For members of the public on Zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, you must dial star nine from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from Zoom now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much. D.C. Henry, are you in the building? Can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, sir?

Valerie Amezcua

I was trying to catch you before you walked to the back of the room.

I was trying to stay out of the aisle. That's a good example, right? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

We'll be all right.

All right. Is this on? Here we go. Please join me in recognizing the most recognized symbol of freedom in the world. Please, your right hand over your heart. Ready? Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, sir. I love doing the Pledge of Allegiance. It's so powerful. Words of inspiration will be provided by Pastor Johnny Denning. Pastor, thank you for joining us.

Good evening, Mayor Meskua, Council Members, several of whom I've gotten to know over the last couple of years. I'm Johnny Dunning, Senior Pastor of Starlight Baptist Church of Santa Ana, where we've just celebrated 58 years as a house of worship. We are the... Thank you.

We recognize everybody as somebody and Jesus Christ is all. Again, to Mayor Meskula, thank you for inviting me to offer a few words as we begin tonight's meeting. Santa Ana is a city rich in history, culture, and resilience. It's a home to families who work hard, children like those seated behind me who dream big, and neighbors who look out for one another. Every time we gather in this chamber, we are reminded that local government is not just about policy. It's about people. It's about building trust, lifting voices, and shaping a future where everyone has a place.

As we carry out this important work, let us be reminded of the words of the Old Testament prophet Micah, who simply asked, what does the Lord require of you? to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. This verse calls us to a higher standard, to lead with fairness, to serve with compassion, and to remain grounded in humility. May that spirit guide the thoughts and actions in this chamber tonight. night. Let us listen with open hearts, debate with respect, and decide with wisdom, always keeping the people of Santa Ana at the center of our mission.

May the work we do here be rooted in justice, mercy, and hope, reflect grace, and there bear the fruit of love. And may we never forget the power we hold to make a difference today and henceforth for generations to come thank you and god bless the city of san anna

Jennifer L. Hall

thank you pastor

Valerie Amezcua

madam clerk are there any additions or deletions to the city council agenda there are none perfect the first presentation is my presentation and we're going to recognize santa anna's annual youth poster contest winners so if you're here come on up

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Can we get you guys in the front here? Over here? Because the water's going to stand behind you. There you go. Come on down.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Where's Cesar and his team? There we go. Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Oh, I feel tall today. All right.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

It's not going to stay. I was going to throw it at Alvidol, but I didn't. I was kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. The lawyer from HR is like, I heard that. Okay, welcome everybody. It's our pleasure to welcome you to tonight's recognition of the talented young artists who participated in the City of Santa Ana's 2025 Youth Water Poster Contest. Let's give them all a round of applause.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

So cool. Each year this contest invites students from across Santa Ana to use their creativity to inspire change and this year's theme captured the spirit, that spirit perfectly, everyone has a role save water. I hope we're going to show their artwork are we? It's a powerful reminder that water conservation depends on all of us and that even small everyday actions can make a meaningful difference whether it's turning off the tap fixing a leak or rethinking how we use water outdoors this successful initiative is led by the city's water resources division as part of their ongoing commitment to water

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

education and sustainability in our community let's give the water resource division a round of applause

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

This year we received an incredible 424 entries from students ages 5 to 18. That's a lot, 424, that's amazing. Each one a unique expression of what it means to protect our most precious resource. Tonight we're proud to honor 12 outstanding students whose posters stood out for their originality, their message, and their artistic execution. Each was selected as a grand prize winner or finalist in their age category. Your artwork helps spark awareness and inspire action, and you made a lasting impact on our city. You're not just talented artists, you are community leaders in the making.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

That's right, yeah, that's right. Take a bow.

Take a bow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

They are our future leaders. To the volunteer judges, families, and teachers who supported these students, thank you so much. Thank you, it means a lot. Your encouragement helps nurture creativity and confidence in the next generation. And to the many SAUSD educators who brought this contest into their classrooms, thank you for using this opportunity to inspire meaningful conversations about water, sustainability, and civic responsibility. Your dedication brings this program to life year after year. And to all the SAUSD teachers, I am grateful for all of you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Congratulations again to all of our winners. We're proud to celebrate your creativity, your voice, and your vision for a more water-wise Santa Ana. As mayor, I always recognize the little ones. And why? I call them the little ones. I know you're not little, but the younger ones. I know you are, sweetie. You said that. You said that? Come up here with me. What's your name?

Mateo.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Mateo, come up here with me, Mateo.

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Okay, so you're going to be the one to speak on behalf of the kids, all right? Because you're going to be the next leader. I bet you're going to be the next mayor, okay?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And why do I say that? This is a perfect example. The future is our children and everything that we do. And thank you to all the city staff, to all the volunteers, to the parents that are here tonight. Because, yes, it's a certificate, but it's just about you being here with us and celebrating them. It means a lot to them. So, all right, Mateo, before they give us a big round of applause for all of you that won, and we have maybe somebody from Water come up. I don't know how to lower this without probably breaking it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

You get to say something. Tell us where you go to school, who you're here with today. Is your mommy and daddy here? And what's your full name? Right here.

What's your name? My name is Mateo Aguilera.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And where do you go to school?

I go to Lincoln Elementary School.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

You go to Lincoln Elementary. What grade are you in?

Second. Ooh, he's a second grader!

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And who's your mommy and daddy?

Over there, the one that have the phone. Oh, they all have phones.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And what's her name? Vicky and Noel. All right. Right. So do you want to say anything on behalf of all the winners and finalists?

Yeah.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Why did you do your project, your art project?

Because I try my best to do it really hard. That's all that matters. Thank you, Mateo. Okay, anybody else? Anybody else want to come up?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Come on, you can come. Anybody else?

I don't know where we're gonna come up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

It's all right, Mattel, you show them all up. It's all right. All right, water. Will you help me up? I don't wanna force anybody. And staffer, water please. Can you use this one, the slow? Yeah.

Again, just like to thank everyone, the parents, the teachers, the volunteers, our community, and our council, right? And Mayor, thank you for acknowledging, we all do have a role to play. And this behind us is our future. This is our community. And we'd just like to congratulate them with the great gifts back there. We'll give them the certificates on the way out. But no, thank you very much for the recognition. Appreciate it. Lower it. Sure.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Cesar's gonna fix it. What is your name, mijo?

Joaquin.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Joaquin what?

Salonia.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Okay, and what school do you go to?

El Sol Academy.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Alright, you go to El Sol Academy. And who are you with here tonight?

My dad, David Salegna, my mom, Claudia Salegna, they're over there. I see your grandma too. And my grandma, my Tia, my...

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

You brought the whole family? Yeah. Alright, okay. And why did you do your artwork?

Because I saw a poster when I was playing basketball at Jerome Center.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Nice! See how we reached them? He was playing basketball at Jerome Center. So, all right, well thank you for participating. Thank you for introducing yourself. All right, with that, let's give a big round of applause.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Can we get a picture? I'm gonna step in with all of you, okay?

Yeah. Okay, can we get up on the campus together here? Little on the front there. Little?

There you go. You don't have to make it shorter than that.

There we go. Look right here at the camera, please. Right here. One, two, three. Everyone look right here. Look at Paul.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Everybody look at Paul.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Okay, council, you want to come down?

Yeah.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Or just stand up behind. Yeah. Because that actually works out fine. Can you see them all? Yeah.

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Everybody look at Paul. Right here.

Okay, look right at the camera.

Jessie LopezItem 1

That looks nice.

One more. Okay.

Alright, let's give another round of applause.

And if you want to take pictures,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

you can go outside as well. Thank you guys. Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Senate Anactive Streets please come up.

Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

I don't know who's with you. You guys are awesome. Ah, man. Yeah. That's awesome. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

I'll let you know when we present it. Yes, us. We're just going to wait a minute for the children

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

and families.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

All right, we'll go. Good evening, everyone. I'm honored to stand before you today to recognize the significance of Bike Month and celebrate the many benefits that bicycling brings to my community. I have a bike right now that's grusting out so I need to get out with you guys. I need to really work out. Throughout the month of May the city of Santa Ana celebrates the freedom, joy, and well-being that bicycling offers the individuals and our entire community. This month Santa Ana residents and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of exciting biking events,

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

everything from group rides and races to community events, educational programs and charity rides. Bicycling has been proven to improve personal health, boost quality of life, and stimulate economic activity across Orange County. Not only does it support local business and attract tourism, but it also helps reduce pollution, ease traffic congestion, and lessen parking demands on our roads, making our community a healthier, cleaner, and more connected place to live.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

We are grateful for the collaboration of many organizations, including Santa Ana Active Streets, the Bicycle Tree, Orange County Bicycle Coalition, and others, who along with local school businesses and civic groups, will be joining in the effort to promote Bike Month throughout the May of 2025. A major goal of Bike Month is to increase safety awareness throughout ongoing outreach and educational programs. WE HOPE TO REDUCE INJURIES AND IMPROVE SAFETY FOR ALL OF THE ROAD USERS, ENSURING THAT BICYCLING REMAINS A SAFE, ACCESSIBLE ACTIVITY FOR EVERYONE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

IN CONCLUSION, THIS MONTH SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE COUNTLESS BENEFITS THAT BICYCLING BRINGS TO OUR PHYSICAL WELL-BEING, BUT ALSO THE HEALTH OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENT. I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO TAKE PART IN BIKE MONTH ACTIVITIES, WHETHER PARTICIPATING IN LOCAL for rides, choosing a bike for transportation, or simply enjoying a leisurely ride through our beautiful city. I'd like to give this proclamation to Santa Ana Active Streets.

Good evening, everybody. I'm going to share a few words, if that's OK. Behind me are some of our community partners and friends and allies. so I thank them for being up here with me. Atrás de mí tengo muchos socios de la comunidad que participan en nuestras actividades y nuestros eventos que les agradezco a ellos que están aquí arriba con nosotros.

Y perdón, pero va a estar en inglés esta página. So, hi, thank you Mayor Pro Tem for proclaiming Maya's Bike Month in Santa Ana and for standing with us to bring safe streets to all of us who may not have access to a vehicle. I want to share a little bit about our organization for anyone listening in the audience and virtually who may not know about our work. We're a fiscally sponsored nonprofit organization that started in 2013 by a group of residents and members of local organizations that sought to create a more walkable and bikeable community in Santa Ana,

where people can feel safe and comfortable getting to their destinations without the dangers of experiencing car violence. It started with a vision to have a thriving, livable environment for Santa Ana residents, and the focus on active transportation was one aspect of it. Our work intertwines with other aspects of a healthy, livable environment, such as having access to green open spaces, access to healthy living conditions and affordable housing, access to better air quality and food options, cleaner neighborhoods, and having our streets be people-oriented instead of car-centric. It began as a coalition of community members

working together to bring a clean and safe home for Santa Neros. Our city has transformed tremendously since the beginnings of SAS. There has been an increase in bike infrastructure throughout the city. We thank Public Works for the hard work put into bringing in more bike infrastructure throughout the city. Bike infrastructure is one way to invite a bikeable community, but we need to tie in the educational components to bike safety. Sometimes when we change the environment, we can't expect people to adapt to it so easily, so that's why we're still here today. day to bring bike and pedestrian safety education out into the community.

Quick shout out to the groups who are supporting how to activate the community like the bicycle tree, Keep Running Santa Ana, SoCal Clunkers, Costa Mesa Alliance for better streets, OC for people oriented places, North OC bikes, Latino health access, and apologies if I missed anybody else. When I think about creating safe streets, I think about the senoras I see walking their kids after school, pushing a stroller, carrying umbrellas for the heat. I think about the crowds of youth that walk to school on sidewalks in the mornings and afternoons. I think about bus riders entering and exiting

their bus at the busiest intersections across the city. I think about the parking lots that transform into parks or gyms or playgrounds on weekday evenings and during the weekends because that's what's available in the neighborhood. Safe streets aren't just about bike lanes or traffic signage though. Real safe streets are about decentering cars and centering people-oriented planning and spaces. We need innovative, safer street designs and we need to stand together to make our communities a place where people can say, I live here and I feel safe here.

Getting home safe is oftentimes influenced by someone's race, gender, sexuality, and immigration status. I want to point out that safe streets aren't just created by having police presence. In fact, many people don't feel safe with the police around. Getting home safe is a human right. We shouldn't let budgets decide if we will get home safe or not. Let's continue to let residents' voices be at the forefront of creating this vision of a livable community. Let's work united instead of working divided. Let's not give so much focus on the budget or construction. instruction, let's remember that real lives are at stake here.

Our work won't be finished until there are zero deaths from traffic violence. I urge city staff and the larger community to think about driving less this month as we proclaim May as bike month. People ask me, and this is the last of it, I promise, hey, when is Santa Ana going to have an open streets event? Hey, when is Santa Ana going to have an open streets event? event. Okay, so again, thank you for this bike proclamation. I encourage anyone out there to bike this month, take the bus, walk somewhere, reduce your car, your reliance on cars, come to our events, and also I challenge the city of Santa Ana to bring regular open

streets events. This is how we show that we are a bikeable and walkable community. Thank Thank you.

Hello everyone, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, city council members, city employees, and members of the public. As we gather to celebrate bike month, we recognize the joy, freedom, and health benefits that cycling brings to our lives. But today, we also acknowledge a sobering reality. Traffic deaths are a choice. They are a choice we make when we fail to prioritize safety on our streets. Let us remember that on Valentine's Day this year, a cyclist was killed on Wright Street. And just last month, five youth lost their lives spitting down Segerstrand Avenue, a fast and windy road. All these preventable deaths in our beloved city.

We wear white today because tomorrow, May 21st, is the International Ride of Silence, where cyclists worldwide honor those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways in a silence slow paced ride. Why the right of silence? To honor those who have been injured or killed, to raise awareness that we are here, and to ask that we all share the road. Every cyclist, pedestrian, and driver deserves to navigate our roads without fear. Yet too often our streets are are designing ways that put lives at risk. This bike month, let's urge our elected officials to make a commitment to safe streets.

We need infrastructure that protects all roads users, dedicated bike lanes, improved crosswalks, and traffic calming measures. We thank Santana Public Works for making these infrastructure improvements like today's Agenda Item 18, and we ask City Council to keep supporting these projects and to project projects that aim to widen streets streets with the pretext of traffic improvement. We need policies that prioritize human life over speed and convenience. Traffic deaths are preventable. By choosing to invest in safety, we choose to save lives. Let's make our streets a place where everyone can travel safely,

whether on two wheels, two feet, or four wheels. Together, we can create a future where traffic deaths are no longer a tragic choice, but a thing of the past. Let's ride towards safer streets for all. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Thank you. Next up is Council Member Becerra and Council Member Fan, please.

Okay, thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 3

all right if I could have Geraldine Larson and Joseph Joseph as well as Tim Wynn and Jian Lai come up here

Phil BacerraItem 3

I have a microphone but no karaoke okay

Phil BacerraItem 3

all right come on in come on in don't be shy Come on in.

Congratulations.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Jump on in.

Jump on in.

Jump on in.

Phil BacerraItem 3

That's good to know. All right. Hello, everybody. So thank you all for joining us tonight as we recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month right here in the city of Santa Ana. This month is an opportunity for us to honor the rich heritage, cultural traditions, and lasting contributions of the AAPI communities both locally and across the United States. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders represent a vibrant tapestry of cultures, languages, and faiths that reflect the incredible diversity of the American experience.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Each community within the AAPI umbrella carries unique histories, challenges, and triumphs that have profoundly shaped our nation's narrative. Santa Ana is proud of its deep historical ties to the AAPI community, from being home to Orange County's first Chinatown to our close proximity and connection to Vietnamese Little Saigon. gone. These roots reflect not just the presence but the ongoing ongoing influence and leadership of AAPI communities in our city's story. Through times of adversity and uncertainty AAPI individuals and families have shown

Phil BacerraItem 3

remarkable strength, compassion, and resilience. Their continued leadership inspires us to keep working toward a future rooted in equity, justice, and and inclusion for all.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

So in our entire history, there have been three Asian Americans elected to Santa Ana and two of them are here, so come a long ways. So today we are also recognizing organizations that uplift and advocate for AAPI communities, including the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

As well,

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

as well as the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

These organizations play a pivotal role in supporting local businesses, empowering leaders, and building bridges across all of our communities. On behalf of the mayor and city council, we proudly proclaim May 2025 as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of of Santa Ana. We encourage all residents, visitors, and businesses to take time out of this month to celebrate, learn, and participate in the cultural events and educational activities that highlight the ongoing impact of the AAPI communities. Congratulations, y'all. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

I guess we're supposed to speak. Hi, I'm Geraldine Larson. I'm the current president of the Filipino American Chamber of Orange County. We have here the incoming president and my past president. So thank you for having us here. And thank you, Phil Becerra. He is half Filipino, if you can't tell.

And no, you do not need to be Filipino to join our chamber. We are very inclusive. We have all different ethnicities in our chamber. And the one thing I do want you to invite you guys to is we are celebrating our Philippine Independence Day. It's actually the 12th, but we're celebrating it June 14th at Irvine Valley College, which is a Saturday, so 9 to 5. If you guys are car lovers, we're going to have a group called Car Salog there early in the morning. They're going to bring all their fabulous, I guess, vintage cars. I don't know what you call old cars.

Classic cars. I'm not a car person, as you can tell. And then we're going to have Filipino food, Filipino food trucks, dancing, martial arts, everything you can think of, and a lot of vendors, so you can buy these nifty blouses. They're called barongs, I think, right?

I was born in the Philippines, but I grew up here in Tustin. I actually joined the Filipino Chamber so I can get back into the roots of my Filipinahood. So I'm still kind of new at it. Anybody else want to speak? Tim? Tim is the president of the Vietnamese American Chamber, and this is their... Oh yeah. Costume. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Thank you. My name is Tim Wing. I'm the current chair for the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce and on behalf of the chamber, I'm honored to stand here today to recognize the AAPI Heritage Month. It's a time to reflect on the rich cultural legacy perseverance contribution of AAPI communities across our nation right here in Santa Ana. For 40 years, VACOC has proudly championed the growth, representation, and empowerment of Vietnamese American and AAPI owned businesses. In Santa Ana, our members have

have not only contributed to economic development through entrepreneurship and job creation, they also helped build bridges across communities through civic engagement, education, cultural change, and yes, we're still arguing about who made the best father.

Right?

As, you know, Vietnamese proverb has the word saying,

which means one tree alone cannot make a hill. Three trees together can build a mountain. In short, teamwork makes the rice work. Got rice?

Last and foremost, this year marks the 50 years of Little Saigon Resilient. What began as a store of refugees seeking hope for one leadership into an innovation and giving back. Starting from refugee tent to thriving on enterprises. The Vietnamese American business community continues to uplift the economic social fabric of Santa Ana. I'd like to invite everyone to to celebrate this event with us on Thursday, June 5th, at Great Wolf Lodge for this historic moment.

And also last, I want to thank former mayor, Pro Tem Tyvett, to rebuild a little Saigon sign. And also, city manager Avalaro, with the help of Vietnamese Business Forum last year. It took the village, the whole city, get together to help out. Thank you for all.

Okay, one, two, three.

Okay, ready? One, two, three.

Perfect. Thank you. One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ready, one, two.

Okay, right here. Perfect. Okay, one more for me, please. One, two, three. One more.

One more.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 3

Next up is Councilmember Lopez, please, with First 5 Orange County. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 3

Hi, so if we can get the folks from First 5 up here, that'd be great.

Jessie LopezItem 3

Yes.

Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Okay, so tonight we are going to be proclaiming the month of May as Early Childhood Month. And it is really a privilege for me to stand before you today in recognition of Early Childhood Month as we celebrate the vital work of First 5 Orange County. This month highlights the importance of investing in our children's future and First 5 OC has has been a cornerstone of support for families in our community for over 25 years. First Five OC has made a profound impact, serving nearly 2.5 million children and families since its inception. Last year alone, the agency reached over 44,000 children

Jessie LopezItem 4

and over 52,000 parents and caregivers, providing crucial resources in health, early learning, and family support. through its partnership with local school districts first 50 see is ensuring that children are prepared for school reaching over 23,000 families with early education and health resources first 50 see uses data to drive change through the early development index also that EDI which tracks which tracks kindergarten readiness as the first county in the the nation with 100% school district participation, this data helps identify where support is needed the most.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Ensuring that children are set up for success from the start. Programs like the child care business incubator and healthy steps are expanding access to quality child care and health services. The child care business incubator has already added 424 new children and families

Jessie LopezItem 4

has already added 424 new childcare slots, including 212 for infants and toddlers. While Healthy Steps ensures children and families receive well child visits and development screenings, FIRST 50C empowers families through resources like KidBuilders, which helps parents engage activities that support their child's growth. Through community events, Since then, First 50C reaches thousands of families, helping build stronger connections and support networks. In Santa Ana, the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative, also known as SAILI, is making

Jessie LopezItem 4

a difference by empowering families in improving early literacy and math skills for children before they enter kindergarten, which is an amazing accomplishment. This initiative, supported by First Five OC, connects families to vital resources and strengthens our community. As we celebrate early childhood month, let's acknowledge the ongoing efforts of the First Five County to ensure every child in our community has the best start in life. Your work is making a lasting impact and I am so proud to support it. And I just want to thank all of the families that are here for all the work that you do for our partners

Jessie LopezItem 4

Like first five OC because together we can continue to build a brighter future for all of our kids Thank you so much

Thank you very much.

esta colaboración que hemos tenido con estas diferentes agencias nosotros como comunidad hemos tenido la oportunidad de trabajar junto con ellos de aprender a hacer padres si y de construir y empezar a construir a un una comunidad mejor si no es no es fácil ser los primeros maestros no es fácil aprender pero hemos

Thank you. They need to have stability, not just physically, but also in nutrition, and also in mental health. We need to have our children so that, as they grow, we have young people who are willing to lead ourselves and reach these positions and be good for the community. Thank you very much.

I'm very thankful to all of the agencies that have been supporting us. with First 5 Orange County. And all the major staff, thank you for, because the kids are the future of our future and we are the parents, we have no manual, so we have to make the difference. We have the opportunity to be able to achieve goals and to build a better community. It's not easy, but thank you to UCI, thank you to all the programs with the parks, and thank you for all the leaders. We have to be leaders as parents and to push education education so we can have a better future for our kids.

Sorry for the interruption. I'm Kim Gall, I'm with First 5 Orange County, and on behalf of the staff that we work with and the partnership, as you just heard so eloquently said by a parent, it takes all of us to create environments where kids have everything they need to reach their optimal potential. First 5 is funded through tobacco tax. Every county has one and we are solely dedicated to improving the health and educational outcomes of children before the age of five So they're ready to start school. But what we know is that

Children can't really advocate for themselves and they're solely dependent on their parents their families their caregivers and their community to create the resources in the Environments that they need to be successful So I think the parent that spoke and the work that we do with UCI the school district and the city's involvement and so many other community partners, nonprofits, to elevate the importance of those first five years of life. It is when 90% of your brain architecture is developed. So good experiences create good and growing brains. Poor experiences in early childhood limit the possibilities of our next generation.

So we really appreciate the city's recognition of this. We thank all of the partners that have continued to work in the city of Santa Ana to ensure that every child reach its optimal potential. So thank you again for the recognition.

Very quickly. Hey, my name is Andres Bustamante and I'm a professor at University of California Irvine and also a proud Santa Ana resident. I just want to express a lot of gratitude and admiration around this early education effort. The city of Santa Ana has been an amazing partner in this work. Director Scott from Parks and Rec, City Manager Nunez, the whole city council and Mayor Mezcua. I just want to say that I've been around the country with Wendy recently in Minneapolis. Our SELI director, Wendy Gomez, is a powerhouse. Sharing the work and innovation that's happening in early education in this city,

and people are floored. They're blown away. I think Santana is becoming a model for organizing around early childhood education and really parent and family engagement and empowerment. And it's really exciting to be a part of and I just, I think this proclamation around early education and the important work that First 5 is doing is very symbolic and just the beginning. I think we're just getting started and so appreciate all the collective energy around early education. I think it's really special. So thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Thank you. Next presentation is Council Member Panellosa, please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Council Member Panellosa will be recognizing Pio Pico.

Thank you, Jennifer.

David PenalozaItem 5

All right, if you could all please join me up here. Anyone who is here, padres, the familia, si quieren acompañarnos, por favor, vengan a acercar.

If you want to join us, please feel free to join us up here.

David PenalozaItem 5

Welcome, everybody.

Come on down, guys. Come on. Come on down.

One, two, three.

Hi, everybody. How's it going? Congratulations.

David PenalozaItem 5

All right, we're going to let every single one of you speak tonight, so we're going to be here for a couple hours, okay? I'm kidding, kidding, kidding, kidding.

David PenalozaItem 5

All right, well, welcome, everybody. I'm Councilmember Peñalosa, and today we honor a remarkable group of student-athletes whose perseverance and dedication has set a new standard at Pio Pico, as well as the mentors whose exceptional leadership has helped launch a bold new chapter in our school's history. As the first student athletes to represent Pio Pico in competitive athletics, and as the mentors who guided them, you didn't just play the game, you made history. You faced the challenge of competing against established programs with heart, grit, and teamwork.

David PenalozaItem 5

And to our mentors, your guidance laid the foundation for an athletic tradition rooted in resilience and unity. Together you built a lasting legacy, one that shows future generations what is possible through commitment, courage, and collaboration.

David PenalozaItem 5

We are incredibly proud of your efforts. What you've achieved is more than wins and stats. You've sparked a cultural shift and created something that will endure. Mentors, through your vision and belief in your students, you helped them rise to the occasion, face pressure with confidence, and grow stronger with every challenge. You didn't just support a team, you helped shape a culture, one that will continue to inspire athletes, leaders, and our entire community for years to come.

David PenalozaItem 5

Round of applause for them. Thank you students and coaches for your trailblazing spirit. You've not only worn the Pio Pico uniform, you've defined what it means to be a Pio Pico athlete. athlete. Your leadership, your example, and your impact will continue to guide this school long into the future. And with that said, we have, I know there's, we're not going to give each one of you the certificate up here because there's many of you, but we're going to, who would like to be the designated certificate holder? I promise there's one for every single one of you,

David PenalozaItem 5

and if there isn't, we'll make sure to correct that. But I verified that list like three times myself so we should be good but thank you all so much um i will turn it over to who you want okay

okay lower for me though because you guys know i'm not tall

good evening mayor amescua council members and community thank you council member pangelosa for this recognition and also for walking alongside me during the marches i'm honored honored to be here tonight as the athletic coordinator for the Pio Pico Middle School Sports Program. This year marks the inaugural season of our athletics program and what a remarkable journey it has been. To our athletes, I am so incredibly proud of how far you've come. From the start, we didn't measure success by wins or trophies, but by growth and heart.

We may have had the smallest teams, often without substitutes, which meant that many of you played for every minute of every game, but you showed up. You played with determination, with passion, and with courage. All I wanted was for you to try something new, maybe a sport you've never played before. Some of you had never even heard of pickleball. And to push yourself beyond what you thought was possible. and you did just that. I asked you to imagine a baseball field where we didn't have a backstop or even a pitching mound.

I asked you to practice soccer on a smaller space, a little bit tinier than the regular regulation size, but not once did you call me crazy. You just laced up, showed up, and gave it your all. And for that, I have deep respect for each and every one of you. You've inspired me to become a better coach and a better leader. We will always have our memories, like when Hannah, I'm sorry, got plowed down at home plate by a much bigger player, even though she was just learning the basics of catching, and still she gave it her all, total bravery.

Or when Daniel gave that final motivating speech before the soccer championship game, he rallied all of us. Scarlett winning third place at track and field. What a proud moment. Gael and Aaliyah making it to the pickleball finals. That energy was unreal. And Joel, well, what didn't Joel do? Somehow, he always had the ball, no matter what sport it was. You all made this season unforgettable. To my fellow coaches, I have Coach Marissa Barrera and Emilia Pedraza here. Thank you for your dedication and resilience.

I know how hard it is to show up with small teams, to coach through tough losses, and to keep spirits high. But you never gave up. You continue to believe in our athletes and in the vision of what this program could become. I am grateful to have worked alongside you and Mr. Lara as well. A los padres, gracias por abogar por este programa en nuestra escuela pequeña pero poderosa.

Gracias por todo su apoyo y por acompañarnos en cada paso del camino. Thank you, Mr. Delamora, for kick-starting this program and helping us to bring sports to Pio Pico and helping us to get recognized as a middle school. and Nicole Fernandez, our school team mom. As you all go on to high school and even into college, I hope you always remember that you've already faced challenges here. You've already stepped into the unknown and succeeded, so never be afraid to try new things even when they seem daunting.

As we celebrate this first year, I want to remind everyone that this is just the beginning. Though I may not be with you next year, know that I believe in you and I always will. You helped build something special. You laid the foundation for what's to come. Thank you for the honor and for letting me be part of something meaningful. Once a Paloma, always a Paloma.

David PenalozaItem 5

Thank you so much, Denise, and for context, everybody. Ms. Reynoso here is unfortunately one of the almost 300 individuals and school educators, along with a couple other mentors, part of this group and coaches that received layoff notices by the Santa Ana School Board and were told, voted on last night, that they will be losing their job so this is the type of community that is being affected our families are being affected our children and you know i'm sure there's a lot more for you to do and the kids are going to persevere but you have a city behind you that won't let you down i want to let every single

David PenalozaItem 5

one of you know so with that said um does a student athlete want to come up and say a few words

David PenalozaItem 5

Come on. One of you. David. Who's David? Jaden. Right here.

Thank you. It's been fun.

It was good.

It was scary too.

Huh? You did it.

Can I go back now? You got it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

You got it.

David PenalozaItem 5

So good and scary, but he did it. That's what he said. Good and scary, but I did it. And that's what we should all live by every single day. So thank you all. Congratulations. And we'll all keep in touch, okay? Let's get a nice group picture.

Thank you.

Okay, ready? One, two, three, smile. Okay, one more.

Right here, please. Alright. One, two, three.

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Congratulations.

Bye bye.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Congratulations.

.

. .

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

. . . . . .

. .

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Okay, we're done with presentations at this time.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 5

Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session? Mayor, Council Members, and members of the public, we do not have any reportable action this evening.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

I'm sorry, I want to make sure everybody heard that, Madam City Attorney.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 5

Yeah, we do not have any reportable action this evening.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Great, thank you. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public. On agenda, non-agenda items, Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to Resolution No. 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 two minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'll make the summary of emails. As of 2 p.m. today, we received nine e-comments. Five were on non-agenda topics, three on agenda item 27, and one on agenda item number 28.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Those were distributed to the council and posted online. We'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber, followed by those on the Zoom call, to provide their 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 be calling three speakers at a time. If when you hear your name, you could please line up in the aisle way behind the podium. The first three speakers, Sandra Deanda, Natalia Perez, and Sue Palak.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Sandra and I'm a resident of Ward 4. I also serve as the coordinator of the Orange County Rapid Response Network. We are one of the many rapid response networks that remained after the first Trump administration. I'm here tonight to express strong support for item 26. Our network is made up of over a hundred trained ice watchers and directly impacted families. Some currently fighting deportations, others with loved ones already detained in ice custody. We operate a 24-7 community hotline where residents can report ICE, DHS, or suspicious

immigration activity. This hotline isn't just a tool, it's a shield, a warning system, and an act of collective care. It brings visibility to what's happening on the ground and honors the fear and urgency that our communities face every day. But we don't just answer calls, we analyze them. We identify patterns, we track trends, and other legal empowerment strategies to help families protect themselves and stay together. Earlier this year, we grew concerned that the city was withholding critical information.

Our hotline received credible reports of confirmed ice and HSI activity, but there was silence from city leadership, including Mayor Mesquite and Chief Rodriguez. On February 4th, the same day that the mayor and the chief shared they had not heard about ice activity, a community member was detained by ice at the McDonald's on McFadden and Standard and deported within hours through an expedited removal. One of the families affected by that arrest came to our space and was able to grieve with our ice watch team. Our immigrant and refugee communities deserve more. They deserve the truth. They deserve safety.

They deserve bold, transparent leadership, not the passive avoidance we've seen from Mayor Omezcua. And they deserve policies rooted in family unity, not silence or separation.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Sandra, your time is up.

We will continue watching. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Natalia Perez, Sue Palak, Alex Hernandez.

deshabilitada. Lo y mi total en pagar son mil quinientos cincuenta y nueve en el al mes de renta. En el 20, 22 septiembre, mi hijo tuvo un ataque de corazón y se accidentó manejando la moto en el freeway cinco viniendo de San Diego. Estuvo en coma cinco meses en La Joya y por ese motivo está en su discapacidad mental. He's 35, but he's 19 years old.

My granddaughter, his daughter, lives with me. And unfortunately, my granddaughter is 13 years old and she would also suffer eviction as a consequence of this problem. I have been living in that location for 12 years, so I request your help to find a affordable housing that I can pay with my budget, puesto ya que veo que hay mucha necesidad de viviendas de ese tipo en esta ciudad de santana y muchas gracias por escucharme muchas gracias por su apoyo

my name is natalie hi to the council members and hi to the mayor i live in the city of san anna i've been living there for 16 years the reason i am here is because i will be be homeless soon because I didn't pay my rent. In June 9th, I didn't pay it. My son has been disabled. He's 35 years old. He has a mental disability. And my earnings is $2,500 a month, and I am disabled too. In 2022, my son had a heart attack. He had an accident. He was in a coma in the city of La Jolla. Due to this, he's been disabled.

disabled. My granddaughter lives with me too, his daughter, and she's 13 years old and she will be suffering the same issue without having a place to live. I've been living in that place for 12 years, so I just need an affordable housing. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

you I'm here tonight because I want to give kudos to a lot of people here and I

have done this for a long time but you know what councilman Pissarro I want to really thank you for all the work you've done in South Coast Metro you and I worked together for the past five years and the the the improvements that have happened down there is I wish we had a before and after picture. You know what those are. I don't have enough time to go through them all. And I want to tell you, I worked with five commanders now in the past five years. And I can tell you these commanders have been so wonderful to me. They have taught me, been patient with me, put up with me. And I am

just, have so much gratitude, not just to them, but to our patrol officers and our Colt team and our you know our sergeants and our corporals I can't tell you how much I have learned in the last five years this really changed my whole attitude towards the police because I didn't know anything before I started this I had never met a commander in my life until I met commander Hernandez so to me he was a rock star I mean I was so pleased I want to thank you because I'm whatever chief Rodriguez whatever you're doing out there South Coast Metro is so so different than what it was just six months ago.

And I don't know what it is you're doing in the city, but a lot of the traffic that we would get in South Coast Metro would be coming down Bristol and down Alton and the railroad tracks and all that whole area there. And you know what? The other day I went through Bristol Plaza around 5.30 at night and I always see traffic going to the railroad tracks over by Alton. I saw one guy on a skateboard and I saw another guy on a bike. And they went over there and they're looking and looking and they're on the phone but they didn't find anybody over there because there were no drug dealers over there and they were just totally

bewildered so now I'm working with commander Lopez and I'm enjoying the entire situation and I can tell you there's been a lot of improvement down there and thank you very much to everybody we we I'm so proud of your

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

department thank you Alex Hernandez followed by Kanan Durham and Ray Diaz

Mayor, members of the City Council, this is Alex Fernandez. I'm president of Brandywine Homes. We own the property and development at Cabrillo Crossings, which is located in Ward 3 at 1818 East First Street. Normally, I don't approach communities during this type of communication, but we felt it was necessary for me to come down and hopefully seek some help and assistance for our project. project we have made big investment in the city rebuilding new communities there but unfortunately we've just been bombarded with um homeless drugs and the the it's really been a detriment to our

operations and trying to sell we've literally had to spend over two hundred thousand dollars in private security to secure our property from theft loitering Etc uh we've made numerous OUTREACH TO THE POLICE UNFORTUNATELY TO I REMEMBER WE WERE NOT HITTING THE RIGHT PERSON BUT WE'VE REACHED OUT AND ASKED FOR ASSISTANCE IT JUST HASN'T HAPPENED MY SALES PEOPLE ARE AFRAID THEY'RE HAVING TO YOU KNOW PROTECT THEMSELVES WITH PEPPER SPRAY AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE WE'RE YOU CAN GO BY THE COMMUNITY I THINK IT'S BEEN A GRAMMATIC IMPROVEMENT TO THE SITE TO THE AREA

WE MADE A BIG INVESTMENT WE'RE TRYING TO SELL THE REMAINDER OF THE HOMES BUT THE NUMBER ONE OBJECTION IS NOT THE PRODUCT IT'S NOT THE PRICE IT'S A SENSE OF SAFETY AND WE'RE HERE TO SEEK your assistance in that. You could drive up and down that street between the 5 and the 55 on 1st. It's inundated and really because there's a Methodist treatment center there at 2101 East 1st. It's a magnet. You guys got to do something about that because it's hurting all those businesses in that area. Thank you.

NEW SPEAKERS.

Hi, so my name is Kanan Durham. I'm here speaking on behalf of Pride at the Pier. We're a queer political advocacy nonprofit that covers all of Orange County. And I'm here tonight speaking regarding the comments that Mayor Emezcua made at the last meeting. The voice of OC quoted you as, let's see, Emezcua also warned Tuesday of landing on Trump's radar amid his immigration crackdown. down, quote, I want the council members up here that are banging their chest really loud about we're gonna stand up to him and take away... And he takes away millions of dollars and he'll start with HUD money and

then we'll have to lay off city staff. I want you to keep pounding your chest because I'll look at you and say, you caused this, Emesco said, adding that a loss of funding could impact city services. And that was from the voice of OC. I know that prior to the pier on Blue Sky, we reported one of... Somebody on on our team had personally witnessed an ICE kidnapping here in Santa Ana and we reported that out to the community trying to make sure that that person's family got connected which is how we now know the OC Rapid Response Network. I do also wanna quote Timothy Snyder who you probably have heard this quote,

"'Do not obey in advance. "'Most of the power and authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do. Mayor Mezcua, you have a responsibility for the safety and dignity of your community. And if you are more concerned about complying with a repressive government than those things, that is concerning. I'll also say this is the first time I've spoken at Santa Ana City Council meetings. I'm normally off more often in Huntington Beach

It's very concerning to me that you I've seen you look at your constituents with the same level of contempt as I've seen from Mayor Pat Burns the MAGA mayor in Huntington Beach. I hope you improve. Thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Ray Diaz, Mia Verdine, Diego Sarmiento

Good evening, my name is Ray Diaz, Mayor and members of the City Council. I come today serving as the Executive Director of the Francisco Torres Center for Racial Justice, and I'm here tonight to speak in support and strong support of item number 27, demanding for more transparency, not secrecy in the City of Santa Ana, in regards to ICE and Department of Homeland Security courtesy notices and alerts. Francisco Torres was denied due process and lynched in the City of Santa Ana in 1892. He was an immigrant farm laborer being denied his wages. The only ask that I have for y'all today

is to not allow another lynching to happen under your watch. Thank you very much for your time.

Good evening, Marin City Council. My name is Mia Verdine and I'm a Ward 3 resident. I'm here in support of item 27, directing the city to implement a policy that would require the immediate disclosure of all I to C curse notifications received by sapd according to the us census bureau 41 of the city of Santa Ana are immigrants and according to the Vera institute 170 I'm sorry 102 000 of our residents are at risk of deportation the city has an obligation to do its due diligence to its residents and ensure that they are notified in a timely manner when ice enforcement is going on my campus UC Berkeley already has a system in place

to warn its residents of when there's any sort of actions, crimes, or certain areas to avoid during campus hours, literally at any point in the day, at night. The university at least has that obligation to send every student an email and a text message saying, hey stay away from this area and I don't see why the city of Santa Ana can't do some sort of similar ordinance or policy to protect its residents. There's no reason that I should be receiving phone calls from my little brother crying because he doesn't know what's going to happen to his friends and his

family because there's ice enforcement going on across the street from his neighbors that's not right and the fact that there's so much confusion there's so many everybody's saying something different there's so much going on and the city has done very little to actually ensure that transparency and that ensure that sanctuary for our residents and we deserve better than that There's no reason my brother's girlfriend should have to fear for going to school because of her parents there's no reason our community members should have that in our hearts and voicing these concerns and

Implementing a policy such as this and directing city staff to do so would greatly improve the quality of life and ensure everyone feels safe And happy. Thank you

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next three speakers Diego Sarmiento rain Mendoza Diego Sanchez

Hello everyone, honorable mayor and city council members. My name is Diego Sarmiento, resident of Santa Ana Ward 3. It's great to see everyone. I want to start by thanking all of you for your support for me personally in my path being a student here, growing up here. I just graduated from college, so thank you guys for your support for me. I want to come up and express my support for item 27. I believe this item would really strengthen trust in our community, especially when there is so much fear right now.

I work and speak with thousands of kids in the city just recently, and we do an exercise, and we ask them what their biggest concern is in the city. and repeatedly over and over again they share that one of their biggest concerns is with the safety of their family themselves their friends in regards to ice activity in our community like Mia was saying it really hurts to hear this from our young people and I strongly believe an item like this would make them feel much safer in a time that that is very scary anecdotally my family who are undocumented are very scared as you guys probably know with your friends and family as well.

They're not going out which limits commerce in the city and of course it limits their well-being. I'm sure there are questions with this policy but I trust that you guys will discuss and make the best decisions with this. So thank you so much. Thank you.

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Rain Mendoza, Diego Sanchez, Abraham Quintana.

Hey, y'all again. Rain with word four. I am a member of CSO OC and I'm here because on December 1st of 2024, two SAPD officers murdered Noe Rodriguez after giving him only three commands in English, although he spoke only in Spanish. Officer Luis Casillas shot Noe 18 times and officer Isaac Ibarra shot him 11 times. We are demanding justice for Noah's family including his two young daughters. He was not holding an arm, he was unarmed by your definition. He was only given commands in English so I can only see

that as like a racially motivated attack and a racially motivated murder. As we know throughout the country there are actual like shooters out there primarily they're usually white and they do not get their lives taken they are not murdered they are just arrested so there's no reason that no we should be dead today so we are demanding that the City Council take action because nobody should be above the law nobody should be above accountability and justice just like if I went out and killed somebody I would be held to that standard I am also here as part of the immigration committee of CSO and it is alarming to

to find out that SAPD hid 42 ice alerts from the public from a 46%, I think, foreign-born city. So we are demanding that they immediately release any ice and DHS alerts. Thank you.

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Diego Sanchez, Abraham Quintana, Matthew Compton.

good evening miss mayor council members uh my name is diego sanchez i am a lifelong resident of ward 2 first generation ucla undergrad and son of undocumented mexican migrants and i'm here to seek greater transparency and empathy from this very capable city council concerning item 27 in the midst of our current political climate shaped by the actions of our current presidential Central Administration, compliance with injustice is not an option. We have bared witness to a plethora of recorded instances of political malfeasance from the executive branch, often masked with arbitrary laws.

Sadly, the same trends are affecting my beloved hometown. Trust in the federal elective and bureaucracy is already eroding. Let us not allow the same to happen within our local community. It is no secret that ICE and adjacent federal agents are acting with total impunity. Let's not give them further opportunities to do the same. Local leaders such as Mayor Pro Tem Benjamin Vasquez and Council Member Jonathan Hernandez, sorry, local leaders such as Mayor Pro Tem Benjamin Vasquez and Council Member Hernandez

should be advocating for more transparency whenever possible as they're doing now, rather than upholding the kind of secrecy that enables authoritarian violence, something that is being heavily propagated by figures on this council. hard-working undocumented migrants like my family helped shape the culture in our country we must do everything in our power to bolster trust and confidence in our local government while it is being actively attacked by federal authorities I'm proud of my Mexican roots and of the significant adversities my mixed status family has overcome struggles that should be alleviated not exasperated in

today's political landscape thank you for your time and attention and free Palestine.

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Abraham Quintana, Matthew Compton, David Pulido.

Good afternoon City Council and staff. My name is Abraham. I live in Ward 3 and like many I'm here to demand that the City take action to ensure the safety of its residents. We are facing a crisis of accountability and transparency in our Police Department. Even now they are actively choosing to not notify the public about communications from ICE, to not release the full report regarding the brutal murder of Nole Rodriguez by officers Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra, and you collectively are allowing this to happen. Since January 20th, we have had dozens of ICE operations conducted in this city, in our city,

and the people of Santa Ana are no longer going to accept that you collectively are standing by and letting this happen. Santa Netos should not have to fear being detained on a grocery trip or when when going to church. We should not have to fear being retaliated against by our police department. Our city is not perfect, but we all want to make it better for working class immigrants and residents. You collectively can help us make this happen. In the last city council session, Mayor Meskwa made it clear that she does not want to pick a fight with federal authorities,

that we have a lot to lose. I don't disagree with that possibility, but choosing to protect our rights and our neighbors means that a fight is coming. And if you are not willing to fight, if people in this chamber are not willing to fight, we ask that you step aside, because we outnumber you and them. El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido. Thank you.

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Matthew Compton, followed by David Pulido and Oscar Torres.

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If you could please line up in the center aisle, please.

Good evening. My name is Matthew Compton. I'm here as a member of Community Service Organization Orange County. I'm here to demand that Santa Ana Police Officers Luis Casilla and Isaac Ibarra be held accountable for the death of Noe Rodriguez on December 1st, 2024. 24. These two officers took the life of a man and a husband and a father. I myself lost my father as a child. Let me tell you it is something that a child should never have to go through but because those two officers failed at their job

they failed to de-escalate and they failed to provide Spanish Spanish translation for a man who does not speak English, those child have to live that reality. Thank you.

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David Pulido, followed by Oscar Torres and Erica Armentha.

All right, hello. Welcome back. I'm David Pulido, a member of a community service organization in Ward 5. I'm also here to demand justice for Nueve Rodriguez who was killed in December 1st of last year. That night he was standing against the wall of a furniture store. He was clearly suffering a mental health crisis. The officers arrived within moments and then issued three commands in English only and then blew him away. Luis Casillas fired 18 rounds every single round from his handgun and then reloaded and he lied about that later in his report. He said it was 14 to 15. It's impossible if he reloaded the weapon and

and dropped the cartridge. Isaac also lied. He said he fought eight rounds, but he fired 11, three of them, as he was falling. Like I said, Noe spoke only Spanish, as others have noted. This is a city where many speak Spanish. It's the second most spoken language.

What else can I say? The family is demanding justice. Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra made no attempt to de-escalate the situation. We demand the release of the police report to the family. We also demand that Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra be fired and held criminally responsible for this killing. We can't allow for other officers, these officers, to kill or harm others in the community again. So that's what we come here tonight to do is to demand that outcome and nothing less. And that is also why I came earlier, of course, to speak on behalf of the Police Oversight Commission and its functioning,

because we have to come to you directly in this way. We can't do it through that. There are independent means. So these are urgent needs and that's why we're here to address you all today. So again, justice for Noe Rodriguez, fire and criminally pursue criminal charges for Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra. Thank you.

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Oscar Torres, followed by Erica Armenta and Emma Gottfried.

as a Hispanic man. Why come and kill a person just by giving him orders in English and shoot and not give him the time to understand what was happening? Why didn't they de-escalate the situation? I know there are many questions and few answers. We have requested a report from the Departamento Policial de Santa Ana, videos sobre las cámaras corporales, toda la información que pudieran tener, pero ellos no han hecho caso. Mis abogados han hecho múltiples solicitudes acerca de esa información, la cual ellos

están guardando, están escondiendo. Los oficiales Isaac Ibarra y Luis Casillas siguen libres, posiblemente siguen patrullando nuestras calles y eso That's not fair because we're in a sanctuary city where a large majority of people speak only Spanish. In these times, it's something very hard that's happening. It's very unfair to die for a toy, a toy gun, with a person who wasn't even looking at them from the front.

They lied. In the few videos we have found, they have said that he shot them. When it is not true, that is why it is very important that this commission is put into operation so that they can investigate what happens to the police department staff. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And you guys know that this is a place that is a sanctuary and Spanish is the language that we speak here. You guys didn't even, they didn't even allow him to understand what was going on. They were just shouting at him. So I have been requesting through my lawyers the videos of what happened and nothing has happened. They are hiding something.

They lied about the shots. They lied about saying that he was shooting them. them, that's a lie. So Isaac Ibarra and Luis Casillas are still free going around in our streets. So I'm asking for a fair decision because this is very unfair that now he's dead and I just got here. They lied. That's not true that they were lying at them. So thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

you Oscar Torres after Oscar will be Emma Gottfried and Basha Jamil hello

mayor and City Council of Santa Ana how are you today you probably remember me from three weeks ago my name is Oscar Torres the reason for my visit today is we have a big problem here where you have a bunch of landlords leeching off your affordable housing and i have discovered that landlords are not paying their fair share and they're charging they're charging exorbitant amounts of money for let's say eighteen hundred dollars studio they are profiting six thousand dollars in daily fees on airbnb and they still don't care about the ns-3060 ordinance i am for your ordinance again my family prepaid a week's

stay in Santa Ana through my mother and we were kicked out today we rented it last night my family and all our belongings are in our car right now as I'm here before you because there is a gap in the ordinance that needs to be fixed I'm here to present the reap program the rapid enforcement access program framework that you will need to battle this and get landlords in line because because they cannot take money from people and put them on the street. The problem is during operating hours, they do this at night, so the only people that come to help are the police and they use them against the tenants, okay,

and push them out of the private property, claiming a trespassing, using your ordinance against you. City, I sit here before you begging you to please look into this issue. I was almost, almost targeted by a landlord Lord for a trespassing and burglary in order to get me off their property for them to take my money because they did not want to come and confront the issue or you tell the truth to Airbnb about why that they're canceling because they're trying to collect the rental payments and then turn you into the street by saying they don't feel safe using their emergency feature this leaves

cops in a very very weird situation and puts people possibly in the line of fire

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of something very serious thank you that's all for your time emma gottfried basha jamil khalid hudson

uh hello council my name is emma and i'm a resident of ward 4 and i'm a member of community service organization orange county i'm here to demand justice for noah rodriguez who was killed by Santa Ana PD on December 1st, 2024.

Noe was simply standing on a wall. And when the police officers arrived onto the scene there, they opened fire in just a few minutes, while only giving commands in English, while he only spoke Spanish. That's unacceptable. That's no effort of de-escalation. The officers, Isaac Ibarra and Luis Casillas, were responsible for this. They fired a huge amount of shots when there was no threat to them or anyone around them. That's unacceptable and the family demands, the family deserves justice. These officers, the family is demanding

that these officers be removed from the police force and be held criminally liable.

And I also wanted to speak on the fact that SAPD has received 42 notifications from IKES about actions in the city since January and withheld that information from the public. I was here in this chamber during the Police Oversight Commission meeting back in February where the commissioners asked the police chief questions about activities related to ICE. And there was extremely bad faith answers from the police chief and that is not okay.

The whole point of that commission is to enhance transparency between the city, the police department and the residents and is another bad faith example of that so that needs to change I'm demanding we're demanding transparency and they your time is up thank you

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Rasha Jamil Khalid Hudson indigo vu good evening council members my name is Basha

Jamil and I'm here on behalf of the Council on American Islamic relations Los Angeles chapter. Our office is based in Anaheim's Little Arabia and we are one of the largest immigrant serving organizations in the state of California. I'm here tonight in strong support of agenda item number 27. This ordinance is about basic government transparency. It would require that the public be notified when ICE or DHS sends courtesy alerts to the Santa Ana Police Police Department. We believe that that's a simple and common step, step, common sense step that helps keep families informed and safe. We're seeing a

dangerous rise in attacks on immigrant communities, especially black, brown, Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab communities. Immigration enforcement isn't just increasing, it's being weaponized and we're especially concerned by how anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim sentiment is driving ICE activity nationwide. Mahmoud Khalil, for example, a Palestinian student and legal permanent resident, has been in ICE detention for months after peacefully protesting against the genocide in Gaza. Temporary protected status, TPS, is being revoked for Afghans, including hundreds of families who

arrived in Orange County, many right here in Santa Ana, after fleeing the Taliban in 2021 when the US withdrew from Afghanistan. These families are now at risk of deportation. So this ordinance doesn't block law enforcement, it simply ensures that the public isn't left in the dark when their safety is on the line. People deserve to know what's happening so they can get support and protect their families. We thank council members Vasquez and Hernandez for their leadership on this item and we urge the council to vote yes in support of transparency and protecting Santa Ana's immigrant community. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Khalid Hudson, Indigo Vu, Carlos Perea.

My name is Khalid Hudson and I am the advocacy manager for CARA LA, a colleague of Basha, and I want to just lend my voice to strongly support item number 27. and sitting here and kind of reflecting on what I've witnessed so far and what the pastor said, talked about the rich history that exists here in Santa Ana. One of the things that I became aware of is that Santa Ana was the very first sanctuary city in Orange County about nine years ago. And I believe that the support of item 27 is to keep up with that legacy of really being a city that that supports its immigrant population. And I believe that the lack of transparency

around the collaboration with the Santa Ana Police Department and ICE is a major departure from that history and that legacy. CAROL A not only serves the local Muslim community, but we are, as Basha said, the largest immigrant-serving organization in this area. And I can attest to the fear of our clients

that have come into our office for themselves and for their families, whether in person or through phone calls. And so again, we ask the city to ask you all to support item number 27 and really make a stand for your immigrant community that we witnessed so many children and community members. It just was a beautiful display of the diversity that exists here in the city. And I ask that you continue to support that diverse community. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Indigo Vu. I'm a resident of Ward 1, and I'm also the Immigration Advocacy Manager at VietRise. I'm here to speak on Agenda Item No. 27. On behalf of VietRise, I urge the Council to direct staff to come back for a first reading of the ordinance, which requires timely disclosure of courtesy notifications from ICE and DHS. Thank you to Councilmember Hernandez and Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez who introduced this item.

Transparency and accountability in how the Santa Ana Police Department communicates with the federal immigration agencies is a matter of public interest and community safety. When residents have access to accurate information, they can better make informed decisions for themselves and their family. Currently, SAPD does not disclose courtesy notifications received from ICE and DHS, despite having received dozens of them in the past year.

Establishing clear reporting requirements would help build public trust in city government and send a message to residents that the city is actively carrying out its commitment to protect immigrant communities and residents. This is particularly urgent for Santa Ana's Vietnamese residents. In 2024, Vietnamese individuals made up 32% of all transfers from Orange County Sheriff's Department to ICE. And alarmingly, of those transferred, 91% were not covered under the state sanctuary laws intended to limit local cooperation with immigration enforcement.

Santa Ana itself ranked third in 2024 among local agencies that referred community members to OCSD for ICE transfer. This year marks 50 years since the end of the war in Vietnam. many Vietnamese residents in Santa Ana have lived here for decades rebuilding their lives after arriving as refugees the increase in ice enforcement activity in local community has increased anxiety and fear of family separation among our community and knowing when ice plans to show up in their neighborhoods helps mitigate these concerns we urge the council to bring back

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the item within 30 days thank you Carlos Perea followed by Diana Toreros and Camila Guzman

I thought you were saying no Carlos, but you just got it.

that are being proposed to bring transparency to the city about the notifications or alerts that the police department is receiving from ICE or the internal security department. The people and organizations that spoke before me spoke a little about why this issue is important. and what I'm here to clarify is some of the bad information that was presented in the previous council about what is happening.

First, Mayor Mezcua, a federal judge has already failed against the Trump administration, which cannot adjunct, cannot take away funds from the city of Sanctuary, simply because of its status. and a federal judge clarified that. Secondly, Republicans in Congress are already trying to withdraw funds for HUD funding, for housing assistance. This is already happening. Republicans already have their plan. They are going to keep going. It is important that here in our sanctuary city,

we simply take steps of courage, no de agachar la cabeza. Nosotros no agachamos la cabeza cuando Trump fue elegido y nos estaban diciendo que no podíamos ser ciudad santuario. En ese momento, ese concilio, en ese momento les dijimos no vamos a agachar la cabeza. Entonces, por favor, muevan con más transparencia, la necesitamos. Gracias.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Diana Charreros, Camila Guzman, .

For Jonathan Hernandez, Benjamin Vasquez, they were advocating for transparency and alerts from ICE through the police department. And organizations that talk about that before me is very important. And why? Because in the previous meeting we had some misunderstandings. First, Major Amezcua, the federal officer, failed. They cannot be taking any of our rights because this city is a sanctuary. So now the Republicans, they have their plan. Everything is happening.

The HUD funding is being taken away. So it's very important for us to keep forward, to keep going. and even when Trump was elected we knew that what that this was going to happen so we will keep our heads up.

Hi I'm Diana I'm a resident of Ward 4 I'm here to speak in support of item 27 we've seen since Trump took office a lot of people in our community the immigrant immigrant community is very scared and many people are not leaving their homes. We've seen school attendance go down, a lot of people just generally staying home, and this lack of transparency is not helping. Our community deserves to know when they're at risk of deportation and detention as these attacks from this administration increase. I also would like to know between when they get notified, SAPD gets notified, when does

ice actually show up because if we're saying they're going to alert the community within 48 hours or however many hours that timeline should be useful to the residents of santa ana so if it needs to be immediate it should be immediate if it allows for 24 hours then so be it but it needs to be useful and not just use used as a report to say oh ice was here because that's useless so please Please implement a system that's actually useful for the immigrant community to try and avoid these racist detentions that are going on across the country. I am also here to speak in support of justice for Noel Rodriguez.

He was killed December 1st of 2024 by SAPD, and that also has lacked a lot of transparency. The family has been asking for a police report for a long time, and they have not received that. I've seen the video, and it's pretty brutal. Nobody deserves to be shot 29 times for doing nothing. Also, it's just ridiculous that one of the officers reloaded after emptying their gun. They obviously knew what they were doing if they were reloading, and the second officer kept shooting as Noe fell to the ground. So that is an unacceptable use of force, and the family deserves justice. So please put these cops in jail, thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Camila Guzman, Andres Bustamante, Johanna Rojas.

Good afternoon, council. My name is Camila Guzman and I'm a resident of ward four. And I'm here tonight to speak to you all in favor of item 27, which would increase transparency for the immigrant community here in Santa Ana. As you all have been hearing, there have been 42 documented entries of ICE and DHS. And luckily the OC rapid response network has been on top of this and doing good work on the ground to, of course, stay on top of this. But I think that the city of Santa Ana and especially our immigrant community that's so vulnerable also deserves the additional support of our elected officials.

And I'm here to ask you for that. And just really quickly, I also want to address some comments that were made by Mayor Emesco in the past meeting. Just to be clear, nobody is asking you to pound your chest. Just to be considerate and transparent of your constituents is all we ask. So thank you.

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Andres?

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Johanna Rojas?

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Tanya Navarro?

Hi, City Council. My name is Tanya Navarro, and I'm speaking as a Santa Ana resident. I'm speaking in support of Agenda Item 27, which would require timely public disclosure of ICE and DHS courtesy alerts received by the Santa Ana Police Department. department. Between January and April, SAPD received at least 42 alerts and these alerts were not shared with the public, council members or oversight bodies, even when directly questioned. This is not a mere lapse of communication. It's a structural transparency failure with real consequences for public safety, trust and integrity of Santa Ana Sanctuary City

commitments. Last week, I along with several other people heard the mayor's remarks about being smart. I think smart leadership is not about political risk avoidance. I think it's about capacity building. It's about recognizing the vulnerabilities of your constituents and taking steps to preemptively inform them and empower them. That includes multilingual public notifications, real-time updates, and clear public-facing documentation at the very least. It means investing in the type of transparent infrastructure that helps residents make informed decisions, decisions, especially at this time of heightened risk and state violence.

Currently, a senora who I consider family is a senior and a monolingual Spanish speaker, and I taught her how to download Instagram so she can use it to check if she can go to church that day, if she can go to the grocery store, if she can go to work, and that's the only communication that she believes in and trusts right now. Not anything coming from the city because the city has nothing set up in order to create this trust and create these types types of relationships with its residents. Smart leadership watches and understands the disturbing national trends of abuse and lack of accountability, and acts locally to anticipate harm

and build systems to keep residents informed and empowered.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the public speakers that are present. We'll now go to the Zoom speakers. When unmuted, please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood you reside in for the record. Erica Gonzalez, please unmute and make your comments.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Erica Gonzalez, you need to unmute.

Yes, hello? Yes, go ahead, please. Yes, hi. My name is Erica Gonzalez, a lifelong Santa Niera from the Dalhais neighborhood in Ward 6, and I'm also a grassroots organizer with Chicanx Lumivex. I'm speaking today in regards to the ice activity that has been happening in our city, and in support of agenda item 27, as well as demanding an unwavering stance as a sanctuary city and justice for Noe Rodriguez. Our mayor has been quoted stating that we're putting a target on our backs by seeking up for our most marginalized community members, who as previous speakers mentioned, make up almost half of this city's residents.

your constituents. But the very same council loves to tout our city's recognitions and awards. It's crickets when our most vulnerable ask for help. It's shocking but honestly no surprise that there were 42 reports of ice activity in our city that were blatantly kept from the community, especially when we already knew that these incidents were happening. This is gaslighting at its finest and at a much larger scale. All around the country we are seeing masked men who are posing as ICE agents, kidnapping our gente, and to say that we're going to stand

idly by while they suffer is simply unacceptable. As a child of migrants, I'm here to say that I will not back down, we will not back down, and we demand that you don't back down either. Santa Ana is a city that is redefining what sanctuary means. The city council didn't make the city what it is, its residents did. Community made Santa Ana a sanctuary city long before it was adopted by city staff and council members or put down on a plaque. It's our commitment to keep us safe because we already know that historically we can't rely on institutions that were built to oppress us to also liberate us. We must

liberate ourselves and we have been doing just that generation after generation of Santañeros and Santañeras and Santañerics from the first wave of migrants who arrived in the 70s to the Chicano movement to the modern-day coalitions and organizations that were birthed from these moments in history. If If we've come to know anything, it's that community will be here for us in these moments. We've come to know that either you stand with us on the right side of history or you stand against us. And like-We are always watching and we know everything that happens in our city.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Mayor and city council, that concludes the public speakers this evening.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We're trying to figure out my computer here. Okay, at this time, instead of going to the consent calendars, I'm gonna move some things around. Mr. City Manager, we're gonna go to item number 28, which is the fiscal year 25-26 budget work study session. Can we have your presentation, please?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Staff is burnt.

I'M GOING TO GO TO THE NEXT

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

THE FLOOR IS ALL YOURS.

GOOD EVENING. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

I APOLOGIZE. CAN YOU RAISE EITHER THE VOLUME BECAUSE ALL NIGHT THERE'S BEEN A PROBLEM WITH THE VOLUME. OR YOU CAN SPEAK LOUDER.

I DON'T THINK YOU ALL RIGHT GOOD EVENING MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS SO THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP FROM YOUR BUDGET WORKSHOP ON MAY 15TH

SO THIS IS TONIGHT'S AGENDA SO WE'LL START WITH THE MAY 15 CHANGES THEN REVIEW THE UPDATED GENERAL FUND RECONCILIATION FOLLOWED BY A SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

FIRST WE'LL REVIEW THE BUDGET CHANGES MADE SINCE MAY 15 MEETING

Funding was added for two park sites to install a play court at Bristol and Tolliver Park. A total of 291,000 in one-time funding was added, 176,000 from the community development grant, CDBG, and 115,000 from acquisition and development funds. At Lilly King Park, we added 200,000 in one-time funding from the acquisition and development funds as well.

Funding was also added for the lighting improvements at Centennial Park. So this includes 1.3 million in one-time general fund support to light court five and six and the playground area. In addition, staffing was adjusted in the parks and recreation budget. Part-time budget was reallocated to create one full-time recreation specialist to help with permit processing.

Additional updates include a 3.5 million one-time general fund allocation for the Cypress Fire Station project, which fully funds the renovation based on recent estimates. For the Section 115 trust, an additional 3 million was deposited during fiscal year 24-25. The proposed $1 million represents an added contribution for fiscal year 25-26. Our staff will continue to explore opportunities for further contributions as additional savings or resources become available throughout the year.

Three hundred thousand in one-time journal funding was added to support the installation of blue lights and cameras. Two hundred fifty thousand was added for a new left-turn traffic signal at McCartan and Flower. additional funding will come from the city of Irvine and project savings.

So this slide summarizes all the proposed additions from the May 15 workshop. The total one-time general fund allocation is approximately 5.4 million. There's also one recurring adjustment to add a full-time position using existing part-time budget with no added cost to the general fund.

Staff will evaluate locations for traffic calming and sidewalk improvements with $1 million in recurring general fund set aside for each. Other items like signage and street lights will be addressed using as existing funding including signs at Park Santiago and gate to be installed at Riverview. Blue light and camera locations will be evaluated using using one-time general fund funding. Staff is also coordinating support for the Friday night lights at Salvador Park, along with benches at Salvador and Centennial Park to be funded with existing resources.

So this is the updated draft general fund budget, which incorporates the changes from the May 15 meeting. So the recurring budget remains balanced with ongoing revenue slightly exceeding ongoing expenditures. So after accounting for the reserve requirement and the one-time adjustments. The estimated available one-time funding is now 1.4 million.

The parking area price fund is balanced in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. So to support this, staff is developing a proposed ordinance that is expected to return to the city council soon. A phased approach is planned over the next three years, which includes changes to the hourly meter rates, parking structure fees and grace periods.

So looking ahead, the first reading for the fiscal year 25-26 budget ordinance will take place on June 3rd. The meeting will also include adoption of the classification and compensation resolution, the updated miscellaneous fee schedule, and the capital improvement program. Then on June 17th, we'll return for second reading for the budget ordinance to be finalized adoption. So that concludes my presentation. Staff is ready to answer your questions.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Thank you very much. So we're gonna do three minutes, three rounds. If there's any comments at all, thank you. We've gone through this a couple times now, so hopefully this would be short and sweet. Again, three comments, three minutes, three rounds. Any comments? Mayor Pro Tem.

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

Thank you, I'll be really short. Thank you for the changes. you you listen to us as we took in words from our residents as they wanted they came to us and we took it in we brought it back here to the dais and I see the changes that they wanted so I'm really appreciative of the work and how you move things around and I just want to say thank you for the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

work done in this budget thank you councilman Hernandez Thank You madam mayor I'll be brief with my comments I just want to thank our city manager and our staff for pretend for giving us a balanced budget and for also uh including the bristol and tolliver park i know that that's shared with ward 5 and ward 2 and so very important to be able to activate those parcels of land just wanted to say thank you to our city manager's office thank you thank you councilman becerra

Phil BacerraItem 5

thank you madam mayor and i just want to also echo the sentiments of my colleagues and say thank you for the adjustments i think they reflect a lot of what you heard up here i know there's a lot OF THINGS THROWN OUT TO YOU BUT I THINK YOU GUYS WERE ABLE TO SEIZE ON WHAT WERE THE PRIORITIES FOR A LOT OF WHAT FOLKS WERE COMMUNICATING TO US AND TO YOU SO THANK YOU FOR THAT

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

NOT SEEING ANYMORE COUNCILMAN PANELOSA YOU GOTTA RAISE UP THAT MIC THANK YOU MAYOR AND THANK YOU

David PenalozaItem 5

CITY STAFF FOR FOR THIS PRESENTATION THE QUESTION I HAD IN THIS PROBLEM WAS PROBABLY ANSWERED AT THE LAST THURSDAY MEETING BUT I WASN'T UH PRESENT THE LEFT TURN SIGNAL TRAFFIC SIGNAL AT MCCARTHURN FLOWER WHICH I'M VERY SUPPORTED OF I'VE HAD FAMILY THAT HAVE HAD ACCIDENTS IN THAT INTERSECTION DOING A LEFT CHURN ONTO ONTO MCCARTHUR SO IT'S VERY MUCH NEEDED AND THIS IS YEARS NOW SINCE MY DAYS AT MCCARTHUR AND TATTLEBACK HIGH SCHOOL ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO UM THE THE WITH THE REMAINDER TO COME FROM THE CITY OF IRVINE IS THAT CAN YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ON THAT I MEAN I KNOW IT'S IT'S A

David PenalozaItem 5

FAR AWAY ENOUGH DISTANCE WHERE IT'S NOT IN THE IRVINE JURISDICTION BUT HOW WOULD THAT SO THERE'S

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

some water mutual water investment components in that area so you know that it says the remaining coming from both Irvine and city projects also so it's very nominal we're gonna get from the city or as far as the water improvements because we're working at joint venture in that area the majority come from some of the city earned savings that we're trying to achieve so more on the water

David PenalozaItem 5

regional side but not not the city of Irvine's general exactly okay I just I just wanted clarity on that from my own peace of mind. The other question I had, and I'm happy to see that the Cypress Fire Station, which we've all supported, is before us, but I wanna, because I know we've allocated funding to it in the past.

David PenalozaItem 5

How much have we spent already towards the Cypress Fire Station?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

I want to have Executive Director of Public Works, Nabil. And again, like in last week's meeting, when did we get approved? How much money was originally allocated? What have we spent? And what this 3.5 actually means?

Right. We initially, Council initially allocated a million dollars for the Cypress Fire Station. About half a million dollars has been spent on the design and the preparation of the plans for reconstruction of the structure.

David PenalozaItem 5

Thank you, Director Saba. Did you say half a million dollars has been spent already? Yes. On design?

On the design and the production of the bidding documents and specifications.

David PenalozaItem 5

Can you please elaborate, because half a million dollars on a, I mean, how many square feet is that building? A little over? 3,500 square feet. Yeah, it's a house. And I'm just trying to think. Right now, my friend, he bought a historic home in Orange, and he wants to make some changes. And the preliminary designs and architecture, and it's about the same size, he said it's about $70,000 to do a full architectural review and design for construction.

David PenalozaItem 5

and and here I'm hearing half a million dollars for a design for for a house

it's a house so can you yes if I can may elaborate that evening madam mayor members of City Council Mike Ortiz deputy public works director when the million dollars was allocated the first thing we did was take the building back and of that million dollars we spent 80,000 to go in there remove all the hazardous materials from the inside clear everything out and make it safe for maintenance to be able to access it our police department to be able to get our tenant that we have at that property we have a a vagrant that keeps entering that property and it's a constant nuisance

after that eighty thousand dollars we looked at what was remaining and we identified that we needed to bring in professional staff to design uh plans so that we can go through the planning and building process uh just like you described and to get the plans to get the where we're at right now we've spent 357 000 and it is different than the residential this adaptive reuse requires a lot of additional triggers that wouldn't be triggered in a residential property like everything is ada compliant where the residential property wouldn't have to be

we also had a seismic retrofit the building so a lot of structural changes so the design of all those things require additional trade so it's not one individual it's considered a team of of specialists that we had to bring in because it's historic, we also had a historian and we had to prepare documents to go through their historic resources commission and get that approved. So there are a lot of things that are unique to a public facility for the community than for a residential property. And yes, it is more costly.

I would expect something in the private sector to be maybe half the price because it doesn't go through the level of scrutiny scrutiny that it would in the public sector, but this is what I would say is the industry standard when we check other municipalities and other projects within the city of Santa Ana.

David PenalozaItem 5

Thank you for that clarity on what exact, and have we received a breakdown of what each

David PenalozaItem 5

price tag, I mean, because we don't just blindly write a 300 and some thousand dollar check to whatever firm is doing this design, right? Absolutely not.

I think when we awarded a contract it was for like four hundred and forty thousand because it also includes future services if we choose to use them so as we hit milestones we then pay so we track and approve hourly rates from those hourly rates we verify at every invoice that we're getting what we asked for so for example milestone number one was environmental did we clear environmental did we hit all our all of our historical milestones so that we can present to the Historical Resource Commission so as we hit these milestones we then pay for that portion so that's why where it looks like more money is

earmarked it's not all spent what's been spent is what we did for demo and abatement of the interior and the 357 for the these shelf ready plans that if council was to authorize the construction funding we can move forward

David PenalozaItem 5

right away. So the plans, design, that's all done. Now it's just a matter of funding a contractor or a construct to build it. Exactly. Okay well thank you for that. I think it's just for when we have instances like that can we can we provide that breakdown of information at least to me it'd be important to see just because at the end of the day we all up here have to answer to the public and when the public says hey you know you spent half a million dollars on a design plan for for essentially a house you know we i gotta answer that and and and and back that

David PenalozaItem 5

up so whatever information you guys have um if we need an audit i mean let's do an audit but it'd be nice to see exactly so we could show the public the breakdown of what these expenses are um because i know there's other agencies around this the region that have the huntington park is one that comes from an example and i'm not saying anything salacious is going on here but when there are projects promised three four five years ago and the public sees that we allocate a million dollars here and we don't see movement on it people start to ask questions so i would love

David PenalozaItem 5

uh a a just uh what the designs are do we have them have we been provided let's share that with with the council as soon as possible i'd love to see them what they look like and and what exactly it is we're paying for it um aside from that I am thank you for the work I'm supportive of it and supportive to see that the additional monies on

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

there Thank You mayor Thank You comes our Lopez yes Thank You city manager for

Jessie LopezItem 5

including an up or a follow-up from our conversation last week I don't see some some of the capital projects that my constituents asked me to bring forth and I was just speaking to MPT and some of these things that we're seeing being moved forward. We don't have memory of some of these items receiving

Jessie LopezItem 5

full unanimous support from the members that were here that night. So I would like to go back and review the meeting, obviously, but I would also like to have a meeting with you and your staff about some of the things that are being proposed here because not there's not a whole lot of detail and so I need to understand what capital improvements are going to be not included or included in the upcoming budget and that will determine if you

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

have my support what schedule a meeting customer thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

Councilmember Fan hi first thank you so much to Director of Trinidad as well as acm cat downs I I know that every year when we do the budget it's always so difficult and so far it feels like this year has been the most how do I say well knock on wood yeah smooth sailing so far and I'm really glad to hear that staff has incorporated all of our comments I think in particular I'm very excited to see these large capital improvement projects as well as investments in long-term benefits to our

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

community I guess I just wanted to reiterate that you know the items that were included especially the big-ticket items are ones that have been a long time coming ones that check I think all the policy boxes that we've all up here are advocated for and are going to have I think recurring benefits to the community not just this fiscal year but for many years to come so I do hope that my colleagues support the budget items before us so that we can come back and really celebrate kind of the last big hurrah before we really do have to buckle down and figure out what we need to do with our forthcoming budget so

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

with that I look forward to the vote thank you thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Mr. City Manager, I want to thank you and your staff, Kat, and Director Trinidad for all the work. I know that every time I've asked to meet with the staff, they've explained everything to me. And the budget the last two years that I've been sitting here, it's been good. And this one has been very calm. And it looks like the items that we talked about last week or the last meeting, they're on here. So, you know, we all see things a little differently. Again, I want to ask, Kat, how many number of surveys so far have we received? You know I'm going to ask that.

Last number is around 1,100.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

1,100 surveys? Okay. So I really just want to thank you because, you know, I don't have a ward. I have the entire city, as I always mention. And you have on here traffic calming measures, sidewalks, signage, traffic safety requests, street lights, blue lights, cameras, you know, the lights at the park, at Centennial Park, the Cypress Fire Station. These are things that the 1,100 people have asked for because the number one issue, again,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

I believe, and I commented in this last meeting, is public safety. Is that correct? Is that a yes? That is a yes. Yes. Public safety. And so, and the quality of life. And so we're doing some great things up here. and there are projects up here that have been in play for many years councilman panelosa how long have we been waiting for the cypress fire station i think it was 2022 when we first had a discussion up here yes and the centennial light the lighting how long have we been waiting for that does

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

anybody know is anybody here when it started the conversations before the parks master plan was adopted so over about two years no i've been here it's my third year so i it was already shoulders of giants that we sit up here supposedly right and so you are now bringing forward things that we've that have been in the works for many years sitting on a shelf and so i thank the council for bringing these items forward and you're welcome thank you and um for you know making them happen and so hopefully the next two meetings regarding the budget will go easy and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

because there's some great things on here i won't ask about the cypress fire station but we know it's a an issue for for some of us up here but again i want to thank you for all of the work that you have done and for many of us up here that spend time with staff on a regular basis we know they're always available to ask questions the hard questions the good questions and thank you again Kat and Alex for always having your door open to answer questions about our funding and the budget I really appreciate it I think the whole community does there were people here at

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

the last meeting who talked about the lights and I just want to be sure Mr City Manager that the fence in Riverview it's not in the budget but I know you have the ability to put it up without

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

it being in this budget so many of the items dealing with traffic mitigation including stop signs or traffic control and some of the um park improvements we mentioned like for example the park santiago um sign and and and also the fence or the gate at uh river west or in the park uh our our staff has to look into our own within budget and i think we can do it within our current budget and at least finish it throughout the year and thank you and that is what we had talked about

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

doing some of the items that we requested the last week within the current budget and so we

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

really appreciate that and we keep saying it right and you mentioned it we're trying to balance you know the universe because different prayers different wars but some of the items that that were mentioned as you indicated have been long-standing right so sometimes there's misnomers as far as how we present and do the approval without the proper allocation of the funding the items you're seeing centennial park since we've been coming to city council meetings seven seven, eight year, we talk about centennial park needing lighting. And at least Council Member Tye does have me on record in one of the Arbor days.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Yes, she's on record.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

And same thing in the Cypress, right? We allocated a million dollars when the construction costed four or five million dollars. And the longer we wait, the more the expense goes up. So this is critical time for us as we prepare for our next sales tax sunset. So this is a critical budget for us and we're being very determined in the way we approach it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

And I'll do I can just speak for myself again I appreciate it because I do represent the entire city and I get the calls whether it's on First Street or MacArthur I don't get too many from Euclid But I did get one after the last Council meeting in that area and I get it from all the wards and so I do appreciate it again safety cameras slowing traffic down the lights and Mr. Hawks gonna have the bathrooms open in Centennial Park I know that was part of the discussion last week last meeting so Hopefully yeah, I know you're turning around looking for something

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

So Thank You mr. City manager and all the staff for all the good work that you do And so at the next meeting we'll have the budget one more time then hopefully we'll be able to To approve it on time and we should it's a sign of good good policymakers up here. So with that Yes, councilman Alyssa. Thank you mayor

David PenalozaItem 5

And thank you, finance staff and city manager, for the proposed or this budget workshop. But the other question I had is I know that sidewalks are mentioned on here, which I'm very supportive of. But I know that last year one and maybe another one of my colleagues agreed on branding of the sidewalks. Our city historically has always branded our sidewalks when they're laid out. You know, it proudly says City of Santa Ana and the year it was laid. It's cool when you're walking around and you see, oh, 1930, you know, 1940, 1960.

David PenalozaItem 5

And we get an essence of how our city changes over time. I know we brought it up last budget about incorporating that as part of it, but I haven't, the new sidewalks that have been laid out, i haven't seen that uh implemented and i know that city staff last year had said that was an easy uh in-house um feature that we could add is can is that still part of this conversation as we continue to fund uh our sidewalk improvement program

good evening council member we have revised our standards and going forward any sidewalk sidewalk that will be placed concrete, it will be stamped. Just my city engineer just reported to me that we have it in the standards that it will be stamped with City of Santa Ana and the date of installation.

David PenalozaItem 5

Wonderful. That's beautiful. I know that that's a couple, I heard that from a couple residents of how cool that is, especially when you go through our historic neighborhoods, French Park, where you see the, even the street names of the corner you're at, right, on the sidewalks. I know that can be sometimes you know we change city street names and whatnot but I know that doesn't happen often so down the line eventually if you know funding permits that'd be nice to see but thank you for for including that as the the year in the city the other thing mr. city manager I do want to just ask just a

David PenalozaItem 5

general question about our capital improvements proposed outline I know I I was looking through it and I know in years prior we might have nice printed copies on here where we could skim through and I should have requested a hard copy but shame on me for not doing that. But in just looking at it, I know I see a lot of major street improvements that are, you know, funded to the tune of $390,000, $415,000, $150,000. I mean, it's very nominal amounts that I know that won't even be enough for designs, as we've seen.

David PenalozaItem 5

I just, you know, this is my now eighth budget that I'm going through, seventh. And every year, and I say the same speech every year, we go through these capital improvement projects with excitement, with passion and enthusiasm to see what's coming to our city, but every year we never or rarely see these projects executed. I didn't want to bring up splash pads, but it's one thing where it's like, that was five years ago when we first approved the idea of a splash pad. and then you know a couple years later city staff said oh we're gonna have

David PenalozaItem 5

seven it's like no it's like let's let's do one and I don't see that coming before us anytime soon is that are those splash pads part of this capital improvement project or budget at all can we can we anticipate seeing that in the next year because this is five years now that well so generally speaking

David PenalozaItem 5

I know, but it's every year and we never see them.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Yes, really. So, and I think this is part of the whole discussion and so I'll say from the administrative component, we echo your frustration, at least your sentiments. So there's a difference between the street, as you mentioned, and how we get our funds, right, would be OCTA funds or state funds, federal funds, year marks. And so it's how the projects are approved, and sometimes they're not all fully funded at the same time. So it would probably be a good idea for us to do a presentation on how those funds and that request gets done.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

So we'll program something just on the street so at least we get an idea how that happens, especially as it generates like OCTA type of projects. The other component, you're right. So we are moving faster to do that. So you're right, there was a discussion of Splash Pass. There was a discussion of half six. We were able to fund one, which is the one at Portola. Our intent is to have it already in design.

That one's under design and should be ready to advertise by July.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Okay, great. Right, and when we mentioned it at the last budget, there's certain allocations that were done the capital improvements that we said will be done within 18 to 2 years so we're going into this 18 half period if you if you will and so we were you're gonna be able to gauge a lot more movement and certain capital improvements some of those examples or include the the splash pad you're seeing the bathrooms completed in Salvador Park those are the type of issues that we're moving on same thing on Memorial Park you on the moving on that type of development right we just found some asbestos in the swimming pool that

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

wasn't recognized in the beginning those are the items we're following up the examples on the lights and Centennial which five six seven eight years I've been in discussions Cypress same thing right this is why I was so critical and say or mentioning when we got it approved it was approved for one million dollars for designing and assistance right when the original request was a the $3 million, so now we're at 4, 4.5. This is what we're doing now. We're funding key allocations to ensure that we do follow up within a timely basis. The example at Tolliver Park, right, and the extra request for the basketball courts,

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

it's another example, right? We do this parks and we presented what's gonna be a park with a skate park and a basketball, but we only approve the regular park. We don't approve, for example, the basketball. So I think we should do a better job in knowing what we're asking for and at the same time what we're receiving approval for so there's

David PenalozaItem 5

a clear understanding what that means perfect thank you yeah because i know i know the the splash pad for example i mean that's something when you when you have a project that has unanimous support from seven members of the council i think that should rise to the top i know we for the when it comes to the budget purposes we're usually pretty in line with what we'd like to see but but when you have these big items, Cypress Fire Station, Splash Pad, Lights at Centennial Park, I think those are important enough to at least update the city council of where we're at moving along the process.

David PenalozaItem 5

Because then five years later, you know, we're in the dark and residents ask, hey, what happened to that that you guys funded and approved three times already? And I know it's always peace funding, right, as we move on. and until we but i think the more that we try to focus on completing one instead of you know funding a million things that are not seen don't see the light of day i think that's that's key we are in agreement perfect thank you mr city manager and madam mayor that is it for my comments just for the next meeting if i could please have a printed uh budget and capital improvements uh

David PenalozaItem 5

on the diocese i'd appreciate it thank you mr city manager just a really quick question and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

and then I'll turn it to Council Member Becerra. I think that's the last one here. So since you've come on board, there's projects that have just been on the shelf. And as Council Member Penales always talks about, Bristol's been in the works since he was in diapers. And I'm sure it'll be done before Penny's in college.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

But you're taking those projects off of the shelf, correct? And you're finishing them.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Yes, and again, so someone like I'm repeating myself. No, I want you to because there are projects. I don't want to sound defensive. No, I want you to because there's projects that have been pending. Right, right. And so that's the key. One of the first thing that we work with staff, right, and both Public Works and of course our finance is last year's reallocation of ARPA, right, to ensure that we don't have and I'm just being hypothetical right we'll have 30 projects at you know different levels of percentages funded so we focus on the ones that we know we

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

can complete we know we focus on the ones that we can deliver on so that you can start seeing the level of movement this is why I highlight the the

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

bathrooms that are Salvador Park this is what you see moving in Memorial Park that was being held up for a couple of years this is why we're allocating at this for this fiscal year the cypress component so we know we now we know what is the cost to get it built this is what we're telling us this is what you're going to get and we should be done within less 18 months it goes well right uh same thing with the um lights at um at centennial so because we keep going to the meetings and we keep hearing the same things right and and and so this

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

is the whole point of our us looking at our staff and we're working public works what can we deliver We talked about the, for example, the sign of Park Santiago, right? And the fact that it's been vandalized not once but twice. So we know we have a communication with the contractors union, with, you know, Jimmy, the executive director, who says, give me the material, we'll build it for you. So those are the kind of items that we're looking to do so that you don't have this level of wait and see or level of lack of fulfillment. So that's the focus. That's what we're working on.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

So at least we tell you up front, yes, we have enough for this. No, we don't have enough for this. And so we'll provide them one already plus the presentation on how the developments in the money grants to get your mark if I'm able to get Assistance from the Assemblyman Valencia was and you know who we really requested and I get five hundred thousand or million dollars for the lights of In Centennial, I'll just move it someplace else so we can finish more items. That's the key. Thank you. Mr. Sutter band council Bessera

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Mayor.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to echo real briefly the sentiment that Council Member Paloza brought up. I've always loved to see that, having the street names at the corners in the concrete. That's something that a lot of walkable cities have. That's just something that we should have here. So I just wanted to echo that just so in case you don't think it's just him. I think there's others that would like to see that as well, but on an ongoing basis, not- We said yes already, right?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

We said yes.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Yeah. DON'T GO RIP UP A BUNCH OF CORNERS JUST AS YOU'RE REPAIRING THEM PLEASE ADD THAT AS A PART OF IT

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

THANK YOU THANK YOU COUNCIL PANELIS IS YOUR LAST TIME THIS IS MY LAST TIME GUYS MY FAULT FOR NOT

David PenalozaItem 5

BEING HERE THIS PAST THURSDAY UM SO THE THE OTHER THING AND I KNOW YOU KNOW AND I DON'T ANTICIPATE THIS BEING PART OF THIS BUDGET BUT MAYBE JUST SOMETHING TO PONDER ON AS CITY STAFF AS WE MOVE INTO NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET I KNOW IT'S ALWAYS A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT THE SAN ANAZU UM I KNOW FOR YEARS we've been talking about the way how it operates in the red uh how it hasn't in a while but it's usually the idea of generating revenue right and one of the conversations that i brought up to director hawk scott in the past and city managers the multiple city managers before you mr city

David PenalozaItem 5

manager is why can't we have a zoo it gets dark at 8 30 9 p.m on during the summer months and we close the zoo at 4 p.m there are i know that it would be very nice to have late night hours uh but i know when i brought that up if correct me if i'm wrong there's no nighttime lighting throughout our zoo correct

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

can you come up here please mr mr uh scott i'm sorry mr senator we're good thank you

so the answer to your question there is lighting but it's minimal throughout the zoo so we've been trying to work with public works and our team there to add some additional lighting we already do going to have some extended hours through july for parks and recreation month and we and if i may add one more thing we are selling alcohol now there at the zoo yes i i got a text from many

David PenalozaItem 5

people when they found out that they were able to buy a beer at the zoo which is great because right we're generating revenue look at that um and disappointed in the pricing though i feel like we could raise it up a little if people pay 20 a beer at the oc fair we could pay 20 bucks a beer at the zoo anyways but with the with that said i i know that thank you for that i haven't heard of the extended hours which would be nice if we could push that out and advertise that if since july is a couple weeks away yeah no it is coming soon we're fine so what would be the extended hours uh

we're finalizing that because again we are in a lot of construction mode right now right we have our aza certification coming up so if you guys have been out there lately there's a lot of moving parts right now yeah a lot of cages and that's who our friends at the zoo where we're adding new exhibits we're adding new it's it's great so we will have it out to you probably within the next week or two what the hours will be in july and if july is successful we are going to extend

David PenalozaItem 5

it into august okay wonderful because like take me for example i'm i'm a i'm a i wasn't i'm a young father but I'm pretty old I but I don't want to take my kids to the zoo after work and and I can't because the zoo has been closed for an hour so it'd be nice that that's something that I've been asking for for a couple years and if it's lighting if it's temporary lighting that we could start looking at as we move forward into the future years that'd be great just as a revenue source for our city to be able to have that zoo amenity after hours so I'm at least for

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

the summer right so executive director as we're finishing some of them make me improvements so minimize any type of risk management concerns we're looking at your as a pilot month and it will probably go through August and maybe made up to September because I can we know that it doesn't get dark until after 8 so when we can mitigate that's that's the objective and of course it's gonna take a little bit of time to get used to it and publicize so this is one of those things that we did discuss years past and and you're right because I went to check we do close around 430 so and it's true go get a hot dog we get

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

a beer walk around and it's a lot more um amenities so we're waiting for the otter and so we you know we're waiting to go just one now it was it used to say otters otters it is multiple right it doesn't go with the joke right out of this world so are you done anyway

David PenalozaItem 5

so and and thank you for that i mean i think it's it's exciting the changes that are coming to our zoo the investment people see it and and it's uh it's nice to to to have so thank you DIRECTOR SCOTT, HOC SCOTT. WAIT, NO, WHAT AM I DOING?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

SO WE'RE DONE HERE.

David PenalozaItem 5

THANK YOU FOR THAT.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

AND PLEASE CHARGE HIM $25 FOR A BEER WHEN HE GOES. I'LL PAY IT.

David PenalozaItem 5

IT'S GOING TO HELP OUR REVENUE. I'LL PAY IT. ALL RIGHT, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

GOOD HERE. MR. CITY MANAGER, YOU'RE GOOD. NO QUESTIONS HERE. OKAY. AGAIN, KAT AND ALEX, THANK YOU SO MUCH. REALLY APPRECIATE IT. ALL RIGHT, LET'S GO TO THE CONTENT CALENDAR, PLEASE. items 6 through 24 madam mayor I'll make a motion to move the consent calendar I'll second let me if they're gonna pull council and be Sarah none

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

councilman Hernandez councilmember fan nothing to pull but I'd like to recuse myself from item 20 as so miss is a client of my employer Rattan and Tucker as well as item number 21 as Orange County Water District is a client of my employer rattan and tucker thank you 20 and 21. yes thank you council member penalosa thank you

David PenalozaItem 7

mayor i'd like to know a recusal for item 20 uh under the levine act uh solmus has made a campaign contribution to me and out of an abundance of caution i will recuse myself from that item

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

thank you council member lopez nothing to pull mayor pro tem nothing to pull there's a motion and a second on the floor let's vote

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

A motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Emescuah, to approve Consent Calendar Items 6 through 24 as presented.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Vote is 7 ayes, no nays, with noted recusals on Item Number 20 by Councilmember Spann and Penalosa and on Item 21 by Councilmember Spann. Motion carries.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Chair Stephanie Sharp. Okay. At this time we're going to go to item 27. Ms. Sarah Silver. Here would be item 25 on the business calendar.

Ms. Sarah Silver.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

I'm sorry. I don't see it here. I apologize. I'm looking.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Oh, mine's on the stuff. I apologize. Business calendar. Item number 25, resolution supporting California Senate bills. Mr. City Manager, does the council need presentations no no okay all right so this is a resolution supporting California Senate bills 28 and 38 counts Senate bills 569 legs fear and 757 Richardson's 2838 for senator Umberg mayor I'll make a motion

Phil BacerraItem 7

to approve I'll second with comments thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Thank you. Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 7

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Actually, I might withdraw my second, but here's what I'd like to talk about. So real quick, on the resolution for SB 28 and SB 38, I'd actually like to add a whereas, and the whereas I'd like to add, and I hope my colleagues would indulge me, would be whereas Proposition 36 passed with 66% support in Santa Ana and almost 70% support statewide in November 2024. And then as far as the SB 569 resolution, it did not, in my opinion, did not incorporate the concern of the council in regards to there not being language in the Senate bill

Phil BacerraItem 7

requiring funding for the reimbursement of maintenance activities that would be conducted by cities on Caltrans property. The last whereas on page one acknowledges it, but it doesn't, I think in my opinion, express that we would support this bill contingent upon language being inserted that would require funding for reimbursement to cities if they had a delegated maintenance agreement. So I'm not sure why that wasn't reflected in the therefore section, but I would like to ask that section one be amended to include the language if this bill incorporates language requiring funding for reimbursement to cities

Phil BacerraItem 7

per delegated maintenance agreements.

David PenalozaItem 7

Madam Mayor, I'll accept that as a friendly amendment to my motion.

Phil BacerraItem 7

Okay, I'll continue to second. On both of those. Thank you. Perfect.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

All right, any other comments? Yes, Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 7

Yeah, I just wanted to thank Senator Umberg for Senate Bill 28 and 38. I know last year, also during the legislative cycle, he had brought similar efforts forward, forward and these efforts have probably been ongoing since last year but I just want to thank them and I want to thank you staff again for always being incredibly responsive to the request of our office the requests hopefully that you're also making city manager and for the legislation that they're bringing forward and I want to thank our staff and specifically code and planning when

Jessie LopezItem 7

And when we notify our staff about these issues, they do their best to act and enforce within the boundaries of the current laws. So I just want to thank you all for that support. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Seeing no other comments, let's prepare to vote.

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

Motion by Council Member Peñalosa, seconded by Council Member Becerra, to approve three resolutions. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana in support of California Senate Bills 28 and 38 by Senator Thomas J. Umberg to strengthen treatment court standards and reentry opportunities through the Second Chance Program as amended to include a whereas clause regarding to the percentage of support for Prop 36. Resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana supporting California Senate Bill 569 by Senator Catherine Blakes-Speer, the Homeless Encampment Collaboration Act

Jennifer L. HallItem 7

to strengthen local collaboration with the Department of Transportation as amended in Section 1 to include language related to reimbursement to cities. And a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana in support of Senate Bill 757 by Senator Steven Richardson, the local government nuisance abatement to expand and strengthen local authority and control.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

I think we got it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

Voted seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Item number 26. Do you all need a report? No? All right. Item number 26, ordinance regarding enforcement actions. Is there any comments? Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 7

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mayor, I just, I want to say thank you to staff. You know, our city prides itself on transparency, and this ordinance will make sure that those who engage in dirty politics are found to be in, and, I'm sorry, and are found to be in violation of FPPC and FEC laws are called out when they try to conduct business here in Santa Ana. So, again, I want to thank staff for capturing what were the wishes of this council and crafting an ordinance that I believe was very simple and easy to understand and I hope will be an effective tool in advancing transparency and ethical business here in Santa Ana so with that

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

I'd like to move the item I'll second your motion council member fan thank you mayor uh first thank you to council member Becerra for bringing this item forward I think both of us are not um strangers to unethical enforcement actions and or you know dirty politics so by others yes um the one edit The second edit that I would like to, I guess, request with my colleagues for, I guess, consideration is I did talk to Madam City Attorney in section 2-921, so section 2 of the ordinance on page 26-4. Well, I'll read the whole subsection.

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

It says, every party or participant in a proceeding involving a license, permit, or other entitlement for use shall disclose any final enforcement action taken by the Federal Election Commission or the California Fair Political Practices Commission involving the party or participant in the last 10 years and shall, et cetera. I would like to request that involving change to against the party or participant. One of the concerns that I had brought up is that there are, I guess, individuals or people who may be subject to, I guess, an enforcement action or a complaint

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

that might really go nowhere or it might involve participants who ended up not having any action taken against them but there was something against someone else but maybe they were a witness or something like that I think the word involving could be construed to be quite broad so that would be my request if the goal is to ensure that anyone who has been you know has been found to do anything wrong or against the law to you know discuss their their problems or excuse me discuss any enforcement actions against them I think using the word against would be more specific but that would be my request for

Thai Viet PhanItem 7

consideration thank you the maker of the motion yeah that's fine I'll accept it

Jessie LopezItem 7

councilmember Lopez thank you and councilman Pat actually took one of the recommendations I had but I'm happy to read my comments into the record as presented I am hesitant to support this because it well a couple issues right it's a little it's to me redundant because of the federal and state laws already requires certain disclosures and I do have an issue with the 10-year requirement for our staff to do research I do think that that is a lengthy amount amount of time and i think it's going to be very burdensome for our staff

Jessie LopezItem 7

and i wanted to know if the council could receive an analysis and an economic development analysis because the way that it is being presented to the council and it seems like people want to vote on it i feel like it could be discouraging for people from applying to the city because part of the issue that councilman typhan just brought up is some of the definitions can be very broad and so i know that uh per the council's direction you know we have a re renewed sense of economic development in the city and so i want to make sure that it's not impacting people in that way

Jessie LopezItem 7

and so i would like a cost benefit analysis with um i don't know an implementation road map because part of the goal for my office is to reduce bureaucracy and redundancies to existing processes. And so I'm just going to reiterate the issue that Councilman Phan brought forward with the definition of party and participant under the government code. party meaning any person who files an application for or is the subject of a proceeding involving a license permit or other entitlement for use participant

Jessie LopezItem 7

means any person who is not a party but actively supports or opposes a particular decision in a proceeding involving a license permit or other entitlement for use and who has a financial interest in the decision as described in article 1 and people can read the rest of the definition but the The way that it's being presented, the way that it's written now, it would capture consultants, advisors, vendors to a developer who possibly didn't politically attack Councilmember Becerra since that's why this is being brought forth. And I say that again because I think it's very broad.

Jessie LopezItem 7

and the term participants and maybe the city manager the city attorney's office wants to chime in here this term participants can also cover residents or businesses located near project who are either supporting or opposing the project which as I understand it as I read it I would be I am against the definition because the owner of a neighborhood store located near a residential projects who have submitted a letter supporting the project or opposing the project

Jessie LopezItem 7

could now would have to now disclose that he or she is involved with you know an fpc enforcement matter so i think it also could capture residents opposition or support for a project and i certainly have an issue with that thank you councilman becerra thank you madam mayor i i'm

Phil BacerraItem 7

I'm just blown away. I don't know if Council Member Lopez actually read this. Yes, two times. Well, then you didn't understand it then. Oh, I do. That's why I'm asking questions. Can you not interrupt? That would be appreciated. Thank you. So I don't even know where to begin. You act like people are going to get caught up in this thing. If you commit a violation that the FPPC finds you guilty of, now, I don't know many people that have that designation here in our city,

Phil BacerraItem 7

So I don't think it's just going to be someone that shows up at the podium, says they're for or against a project, and then, oh my God, the FPPC is going to find them in violation of their rules. So these are folks that have been investigated by the FEC or the FPPC. They've been found guilty. So this whole idea that you're going to capture a bunch of folks unfairly, first of all, if you're guilty of a violation, I would think the community would want to know who's playing dirty politics. That's what I would think. And this council has consistently demonstrated up until tonight that they're interested in transparency.

Phil BacerraItem 7

They want people to know. As far as an economic analysis, it's not a CIP. This is not, we're not building a building here. Okay? This is not, we're not doing splash pads here or a renovation of a fire station. This is simply saying when folks apply, they will submit that they were guilty of a violation of the FEC or the FPPC. see so this isn't something where staff's got to go back and research ten years it's gonna be on them it's gonna be on them to disclose so this whole idea that we're gonna build a whole new unit that's gonna govern this this ordinance is just insane and ridiculous that is not what's happening here that's why I

Phil BacerraItem 7

asked if you read this because what you're portraying is not what's here thank you staff for making this very simple and easy this is self policing this is self-disclosure this is not meant to capture every person that comes and says they're for or against a project if you commit something that's in violation of the fec or the fppc yes the community and everybody should know that and i don't know why anybody up here would be opposed to that that to me seems insane but please you're free to have your own opinion

Valerie AmezcuaItem 7

thank you thank you also madam city attorney because i know you're a part of this i appreciate

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 7

I just want to say that with respect to the participant, I think the intent here, and we can clarify it up council direction, was when you first brought this item forward, it was the applicant or a participant that was affiliated with that applicant. So it was kind of like if an applicant's going to come forward and apply for a project, and that applicant has closely related consultants that are being paid for the work they're doing for that applicant, we just want disclosure that these are the types of folks that have have been told they're in violation. And so we want to know that.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 7

And we used a reference to the definition of participant that went back to the government code. But we could also, as I just described it, we could change that definition to be that clear so that it doesn't capture a business owner that lives down the street. Because we use the Levine Act definition of that droid participant. We can make it very clear, because that was not our intent. Our intent was I just described an applicant or someone who is affiliated with that applicant because they're getting paid on that project.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

Council Member Fann.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Thank you for that clarification, Madam City Attorney. I do not want to change any definitions here. I think it's better to be consistent with the definitions as contained in the government code in the Levine Act. It's gone through a few rounds of revisions as to what a participant means and whatnot. not so I think it's important to remain consistent and that way the city doesn't have to explain to someone who may have been a participant under you know the FPPC regulations but not in our hours I think just creates too much confusion I do also understand a council member Lopez's concerns right there may be

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

other individuals a you know resident or whatnot but the reality is when you put yourself out there to be involved in the political process when you want to be be involved in the public sphere, you also have responsibilities to the community and to the public. And part of those responsibilities is to ensure that you comply with all state and federal laws relating to political practices, campaign finance reforms, and disclosures. In this case, the reason why I wanted to use the word against, which a community member brought up to me, I thought it was really fair, is that we don't want people who were mixed up in a potential

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

investigation or whatnot but had nothing to do with any type of enforcement action or they may have been cleared of any enforcement action I think that they shouldn't have to disclose anything that they weren't not found in violation of or were not found in violation of however if there was somebody whether you are participant someone who made public comments or donated to a campaign or you know improperly gave someone a gift or accepted a gift maybe you were a former council member who had accepted I don't know bribes whatever it might be

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

the point failed to report you know timely a form 460 the reality is an enforcement action against someone under the by the FPPC can be wide-ranging right failure to comply with reporting failure to state who donated to you because you didn't have an address point is we want to have that transparency i i could see how 10 years might be quite long i would be fine with a five-year time span however given that you know

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

we have three terms here for those who want to have three terms so 12 years i think 10 years would be just fine for most people i don't think anyone who is applying for a project here in the city is going to forget that there was an enforcement action against them and finally i i really like the idea of having the applicant do the disclosure i think that it makes sure that the community members and anyone else who is looking at projects are going to be aware and informed of you know what kind of activities these individuals are doing so with that i will support

the motion on the floor thank you thank you councillor would you have your back yes um i

Jessie LopezItem 26

don't understand why you're being aggressive council member becerra i'm simply laying out the language that i have issues with which is what we all have the prerogative to do up here and so you don't have to take my con the council doesn't have to take my considerations into account that's fine but i'm also not obligated to support this because I believe that it could have issues with not just my constituents but many people involved with the city so I wanted to be mindful about that and I want you to be mindful about how you speak to me again I don't have an issue with transparency and you know as someone who has

Jessie LopezItem 26

been viciously attacked by the SAPOA the California Apartment Association my own colleagues I I definitely sympathize with why somebody would want to create this and essentially seek whatever sort of vengeance people want. But I think again, without clear clarification for the language that I've brought forth that I have issues with, I'm just not comfortable with it. And again, I think that FPPC exists for a reason. Anybody here, any member of the public can submit a complaint. Many complaints in fact, have been made against me. some of my council members have been CC'd in those complaints so they do get investigated

Jessie LopezItem 26

and I'm not opposed to people who want to do business with the city disclosing if they've engaged in unethical behavior because I do think that that is an issue and I think that a broader solution here is actual campaign finance reform for the city because I think that would actually create significant change with how elections are held in within the boundaries

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

of our city so thank you see no other comments is there a motion there's a motion and there's a

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

second yes this is a motion by council member becerra seconded by council hernandez to introduce for first reading an ordinance of the city council of the city of santa ana adding article xii entitled disclosure of certain enforcement actions to chapter two of the santa ana municipal code requiring disclosure of Federal Election Commission and California Fair Political Practices Commission enforcement actions for certain licenses permits or other entitlements for use as amended to for section 2-921a to change the word involving to against

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Council Member Hernandez, Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

I'm a yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 26

Thank you. Voters 6 ayes, no nays. Nays by Council Member Lopez. Motion carries. Ordinance introduced for first reading.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 26

PERFECT. ON TO ITEM 27 AT THIS TIME. ITEM 27 IS REQUESTED BY COUNCIL MEMBER HERNANDEZ, MAYOR PROTAN VASQUEZ. GENTLEMEN, THE FLOOR IS YOURS.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I JUST WANT TO THANK OUR DISCUSSION THAT WE'VE BEEN HAVING HERE AT THE COUNCIL HAS BROUGHT THIS ITEM FORWARD. THE PUBLIC HAS DEMANDED TRANSPARENCY FROM OUR CITY. AND AS A POLICY MAKER, I WANT TO support that. I want to stand with our constituents. In 2017, the California Values Act was passed, which allows for cities to opt out of federal enforcement. The city of Santa Ana became a sanctuary city on the heels of Donald Trump being elected in 2016. As a community member, I stood in front of that public commenting

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

space where I advocated and used my First Amendment rights as a resident to to support a sanctuary ordinance.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Fast forward, our city also invested in protecting immigrants from ICE enforcement by introducing the Immigration Defense Fund. When we were elected to the city council, we were successful in increasing that from 200,000 to 300,000.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

In the city of Santa Ana, when we learned about the ICE notifications, Councilmember Lopez has advocated for a know your rights tab a journalist pra'd the city and was able to identify that our city received over 42 different contacts and our police department could have acted and worked with our city manager's office to build trust but however now we are here in a position where we are able to as a body of governance decide on how are we going to utilize this public information ice ICE has communicated 42 different times as a courtesy to the City of Santa Ana their enforcement in our city.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

The enforcement is provided to us sometimes days in advance and sometimes weeks in advance. What we are looking to propose is that the City should facilitate providing this information on a publicly available website. It is important that we note that the City will be in compliance with both state and federal law and that there is no statutory law prohibiting a city from notifying residents of ice whereabouts nor is there a statutory law that allows for the president to withdraw federal funding like section 8 if a city does so i'm reading that quote directly from our congress

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

member luke korea's office the judiciary committee on immigration council confirmed that there is no statutory law that applies to us being able to do this which means that the direction we're providing today is both legally compliant with state and federal law but in addition to that I want to note that the reason why we have the 48 hour buffer that is in place for this item is to protect the city and to ensure that we are also not obstructing any investigations that do have a judicial warrant and so to protect the city from those liabilities

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

we are placing a 48 hour buffer so that the city can do its due diligence to ensure that the the communication is responsibly provided to the public on a publicly available website. That is the direction that we are providing. It is consistent with public records law. And the thing that I want to note that is most important is that these communications have been communicated to us as a courtesy from ICE. So that means if we take this policy directive, ICE may very well also decide to stop communicating with that information to us.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Part of why I wanted to highlight that is because presently it wasn't because our city brought forward this information. It had to be PR8 by a journalist. And so the information was not given to the public anyway. And this freedom of information will help families. And it will also create a sense of transparency and trust within our city, our residents and our police department. I want to thank the city attorney's office and the city manager's office for their consultation and ensuring that this item was compliant with state and federal law and I will open up the dialogue to my colleagues and I will

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Just be adamant about my support to see this item come back in 30 days

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Thank you. May I just please remind the council as we get into this discussion that this is the first step to give direction To the city manager. It's not a full-on debate of the issues under the Brown Act the purpose of it is to have your comments and direction to the council to the city manager not necessarily a vote but just so that we don't get into a 45 minute debate on the issues because the issue is do you want us to bring this item back to you or not with all the details as recommended I just want that to be a reminder that's our policy thank you I also want to ask that I hope

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

mr. city madam city attorney at the email that you sent to the entire Council about getting in the weeds of what's happening in the city and being policymakers I hope that every council member up here read that because we're getting in the weeds right now so I'll leave it at that I don't know may approach time if you have anything to add since you it was you and Councilman Hernandez and then we'll open up for any comments thank you this Thank You

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

councilmember Hernandez for opening it up I really appreciate I agree with your words and this is about transparency and trust to make sure that we have transparency that we're giving information to the public that it is in record so they know what is happening uh transparency is a core of democratic values residents need to be informed so they can make choices people should be empowered with information necessary to make informed decisions for themselves and for their families. It will make Santa Ana safe. When we have trust in our government and our police department knowing that we're giving information, it will make us safer.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

I really wanna reach out to police and the public to give each other grace. When meeting on the street, people are scared and afraid, and we're trying to make it safer for them. as some folks are not going to want to give up information just because they know their rights and we pushed out know your rights campaign and if the police could give you can give a grace to the public and I asked the public to give grace to the police so we can be all safe out there and this is what this is about it's it's creating that dress and giving up all the information that we do

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

have thank you thank you I just want to add there was more to what congressman Correa said, not just what was said earlier. He also stated that an officer stated should be careful that it isn't leaking law enforcement sensitive information or obstructing ICE from doing its job. If they are leaking sensitive information, putting officers in danger, obstructing ICE, you could get arrested, they could get arrested like the judge that has been arrested. So I just also want to include that on the record. So you know, I don't know if having other comments but again um i have just a question um mr city manager actually miss police

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

chief rodriguez can you uh address this please if you have anything you'd like to add

thank you mayor and and uh thank you for the question and thank you for the conversation and and you know this is a very uh you know complicated conversation we gotta have a balancing act and one of the biggest things from a public safety perspective is I have to ensure the safety of the community of our officers and of any other agency that comes and works in our city and having that ability to balance you know what is within the SP 54 values act which we definitely do not cooperate with ice or any immigration enforcement but at the same time SP 54 does address that we cannot use resources to impede.

But I'm not a legal expert, just my understanding from when I talk to other chiefs from the surrounding area, they convey the same message. So one thing that I wanna convey is that as a municipal police department, as a chief of police, I get my authority from the state constitution and obviously municipal ordinances and whatnot. So I will not break the law to enforce the law. So I will reiterate we will not be involved in immigration enforcement But at the same time we have to ensure that we don't compromise public safety community safety and ensure that We're in compliance with both state and federal law

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank You madam city attorney. Can you and I'm not gonna debate for 45 minutes. I just have a couple questions I actually just have one Madam city attorney. Can you tell us the difference? I want to be clear that people understand down what is the difference between HSI and ice I don't know that I would

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

necessarily okay but I do know having done a little bit of research here that mostly when we're noted when cities are notified through ice it's through immigration and our Department of Homeland Security may be working on things that are far more complex than just immigration and that they may be looking to enforce very sensitive laws could be protecting children from pornography could be human trafficking could be terrorists and with that I so let me turn it over to the chief sir yes thank you mayor and and yes homeland

security is involved in a lot of various investigations as the madam city attorney mentioned which involves human trafficking drug trafficking instances of national security acts of terrorism and whatnot so not all their investigations are deep are focused on immigration enforcement thank you

Jessie LopezItem 27

councilmember Lopez yes well first city attorney thank you so much for that reminder I hope that tonight and really every other every council session moving forward we can abide by our own policies so thank you for circulating the memo that we've received via email and I do want to thank my peers councilmember Hernandez and Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez for bringing this initiative forth tonight as I understand it this proposal really seeks to increase transparency and I do think that that's important especially in this moment and I do look forward to seeing the legal review of the city attorney's office and the practicalities

Jessie LopezItem 27

of resource allocation because I think that's going to be really a key factors here if this receives support from the council and how it will be implemented and and you know the the success of the policy here so that's all that I have to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

add tonight thank you thank you madam city attorney have you had time to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

review this item I did only my initial consultation did a little bit of research to make sure that I could answer some basic questions but I would need to do some more thorough review i have looked at the public records act which does say that there are exemptions for the release of invested investigation files and all of that i would do if this measure does move forward i would work closely with staff in the police department to make sure that we're complying with all those rules thank you any other comments councilmember

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

fenn thank you mayor um so i have a lot of questions and thank you to my colleagues for bringing this up i think i guess to bring it back we all i think everyone up here cares very much about our immigrant community i think everybody up here has someone in their family their community friends who may be undocumented or immigrants as an immigrant myself i understand that but i have a lot of questions regarding this item i reviewed the memo a few times I know that Councilman Hernandez read some information that we may have received from Congressman Correa's office, but

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

first I'd like to know, you know, what information do we actually get from Homeland Security and ICE when they notify us? I understand that there is a Google Maps website or link that shows the 42 areas where we were notified and it comes down to block and time, but I think getting the details of what information we actually get is important. Number two, I'd like to see do they tell us what kind of activity they're doing? Is it an enforcement action? Is it investigation? Is it, you know, what is it? Is it actually immigration related? If it's not immigration related, you know,

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

then I think we'd be providing a very large scope, essentially, you know, letting people know where there might be surveillance for example I think that's important I want to know what are the risks to the city regarding our funding while there is no statutory law as far as I'm aware either that says that you know the federal government can you know excuse me the executive branch can unilaterally take away funding whether it's section 8 housing voucher funding CDBG grants or other grant funding from the city without you know going through through some type of process. What we've seen is that this administration

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

has been very vindictive, if you will, in pursuing any type of, I guess, any person, any jurisdiction that potentially disagrees with them. And the city of Santa Ana is not the city of Los Angeles, not the state of California. We don't have limitless funds to fight the full force of the federal government. As someone who did grow up on Section 8 housing, as a community that relies on Section 8 housing, I do worry that a number of our community members, many of whom are immigrants, may lose

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

such funding if we go forward with this. I want to know what are the risks to that. Talk to our federal lobbyists, talk to other experts that we have. I want to to know what the administration is doing regarding these other types of funding and how they're addressing, well, how they're interpreting the term interference with immigration enforcement. I think that's really important as many of us are aware a Wisconsin judge was arrested and indicted by the grand jury in Wisconsin for allegedly helping to, allegedly helping an immigrant

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

evade immigration enforcement or immigration arrest. Obviously that's still going through the process. However, I wanna know what the exposure is to individual employees, to individual community members. Is the police chief going to be found to be interfering with immigration enforcement? Is it going to be the PIO who's releasing this information? Is it going to be a council member? I want to know that. I want to know that if that is the case, does the city, can the city protect those individual employees if there is a case against them by the federal government? I want to know that if there are these types of risks,

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

you know, how many people are actually going to benefit from the notification? Because for those who are undocumented in my life, they're already already living under the fear, frankly, that there is ice everywhere. We have a federal courthouse here. We have USCIS here. There are, in fact, immigration officials here in the city at all times. And so that's the reality for those who are facing deportation orders or facing what this

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

administration is doing against our immigrant communities. I want to know if they're going to stop providing courtesy calls. Have they stopped providing courtesy calls? Are there any other cities that we know of whether in California or across the country that is already doing this or looking into doing this? I want to know whether we have, excuse me, I want to know whether the The notification is part of the process for these administrations. What we understand is that federal law enforcement divisions such as FBI, Homeland Security, obviously ICE,

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

and others are already moving resources to work on immigration enforcement. They are collaborating now. That is part of their directive. Fear is the purpose. Fear is their goal. And if we do this type of announcement, will they one, just stop providing courtesy calls? Therefore, we will have nothing to share with anyone and we will be in the dark as a law enforcement agency. Or two, we will just keep getting courtesy calls that may or may not be real.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

They might just say, you know what, the city of Santa Ana is going to do our job for us to scare the community. We will tell them that we will be on every block, every street corner, every other day. Is that going to help our community or is it going to create panic and fear like some of the false notifications or false reports that we saw on social media in the early days of 2025? I want to know all of that. I need to see that the risks to our budget, the risks to this working class community, community, so many of whom rely on federal funding, our budget which relies on federal

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

funding, whether the risk is worth it and whether we are actually going to help people with this notification or we're just going to continue to spread fear and panic. So I hope that staff can look into that, bring it back to us, get us that information, and if we need to do a closed session to discuss potential exposure to litigation, I want to to know that and I want to know whether and if there is that exposure to litigation what are we looking at what is the cost to us I am way over my time so I'm so sorry but a lot of questions thank you you go right ahead are you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

done all right thank you very much for sharing that I have one another question chief can you give what is the definition of a courtesy call and your

line of work a courtesy call all that's exactly what it is it's just a notification that they are in the area whatever agency it is we get them from various federal agencies other outside municipalities and any other law enforcement officers who come into a city they make a notification just as a courtesy to let us know there are in our city to ensure that it's it's more of a but the confliction to ensure that we don't come across each other and compromise each other's investigation.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

So for example, just an example, I'm working in the gang unit and I go into the city of Anaheim and I'm in, I come into San An and I'm an Anaheim officer or a Garden Grove officer and I'm in plain clothes and then I'm in just a different vehicle, I'm not in a police vehicle, right? And so I call dispatch and say, hey Santa Ana PD, we're in your city, you know, blah, blah, blah, we're doing blah, blah, blah. Just an FYI, so if you see us, you don't accidentally engage with us, right? Is that somewhat what a courtesy call is?

That is correct, Mayor. It's just to ensure safety for everybody, not just the officers, but the community to ensure that there is no conflict. And additionally, a lot of agencies do not provide a reason for the courtesy call. They don't provide details of their investigation or their dispositions of their outcomes of their, you know, of them being in our city.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Also from an investigative standpoint, really when does the investigation just, you know, thinking out loud, right? I see you can't release information there's an investigation pending and I'm just I know I see our city attorney look at us when does it start and when does it ever fit there's a timeline or does it ever because even when they go to

court they're sustained it's not over necessarily that is correct mayor it's it's very difficult to be able to put a timeline on that a lot of times because because especially when we don't know the what their activity is and they don't convey that to us so when when a federal agency comes into our city they say they're on a specific hundred block that may not mean they're taking someone in custody that may mean they're doing surveillance which could lead to compromising their investigation and they're not doing surveillance

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

necessarily on someone who's here undocumented they do human trafficking what else do they do

they do human trafficking drug trafficking obviously terrorism fraud

internet crimes against children various other complex investigations okay Thank

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

You councilmember fan for all those questions you covered some really good questions and I'm in agreement with her I'd like all of those answers as well well. And then also sitting at the table with city attorneys is also the police department, right? And there is, she's correct, there's things that have come out that other agencies, Chief, if I'm not mistaken, there's multiple agencies now working together, FBI, DEA, HSI, ICE, to work on the immigration issue. Is that correct?

It is my understanding that there's other federal agencies now working collectively with ICE to work on other immigration issues, yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

And so I don't want to create fear in our community. It's already there and it always has been.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

But you know, we, there's many of us up here who know and not here who know that, you know, this current president was the only one, was not and is not the only president that has deported a large number of immigrants. President Obama did it, President Clinton did it, President Bush did it. The difference is that this president is loud about it and he's a bully right so and he wants to create that fear and on social media and in this community and other communities you know we blast it out there to create fear and I know communities are afraid of families. I

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

have family that's undocumented so I think there's some great points that are made up here tonight. I also would support bringing it back with some answers and some clarity. And Chief, if you were to release information as the Chief of Police and there is an investigation pending, what could happen to you? I see the out of city attorney looks up at me every time she's waiting until I cross that line or she pulled the yellow card from soccer or something. I don't need a definite answer, but you just what could hypothetically happen to you as a law enforcement officer as a chief of this police department if you or any of your officers

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Release information that can cause harm not to the community, but to officers

Based on what I've seen across the nation specifically with the judge in Wisconsin where uh she was arrested for obstructing i would say i can see very similar circumstances for myself

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

thank you for sharing that my final question madam city attorney is that i would also like some information about if the council because the city has some liability i'm i'm assuming you're going to come back and share all that with us councilmember fan had some great questions um maybe there's a way that the City Council themselves we as a council can receive information whatever is legal we can receive it and then on our personal

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

devices not the city because then if it's a city it's still liable right we're still liable as a city and the police agency but then that gives the council members an opportunity from their own personal devices to release information to the community because then they are liable they have the consequences not the city it doesn't cause us to end up in any type of lawsuit or our chief getting arrested or fired or our city manager or any any other maybe any of us losing funding the city losing funding and I'm not saying that's gonna happen but it could right and so I'd also like for you to look

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

into that because if certain council members want to release information um i'd like to know can they release it on their own personal devices their own personal social media send out their own email has nothing to do with the city no city logo no you know this is councilman hernandez or councilman or mayor pro tem or councilman fan or this is the mayor this is just i'm so and so and i'm releasing this information because then they become liable and not the city and i'd like that information because then it rests on them and not the city we have there's a lot going on here in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

the city so i want to make sure that we're following the letter of the law so there's

Jessie LopezItem 27

no council member lopez yes just quickly chief can you um let us know uh how many times the department has responded to courtesy calls

can you uh expand on courtesy calls to the courtesy calls we're talking right now about yeah that we responded to i i have i don't have that information in front of me i don't believe that we respond to any of them because they're not a request for assistance

Jessie LopezItem 27

can you include that information to courtesy calls that the department has responded to in the past and the information that's going to come back to

THE COUNCIL YES HOW FAR BACK WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GO UM 2018 OKAY THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER PANELISTA

David PenalozaItem 27

THANK YOU MAYOR AND THANK YOU CHIEF AND MY COLLEAGUES FOR BRINGING THIS ITEM FORWARD UM THE QUESTION I HAVE SO I GUESS IT'S IMPORTANT FOR ME TO I KNOW THAT THERE WERE A COUPLE DOZEN SPEAKERS TONIGHT AND ALL OF THEM WERE MAJORITY OF THEM WERE INCORRECT ON THE INFORMATION THAT were stating uh 42 times the sapd was notified yes that's true but it was always ice notified ice notified that's not the case it's the department of homeland security that notified the police department correct and and that of how many of those 42 times was it ice related

i don't have that exact number uh in front of me but what i recall currently was approximately about 15 or 16 out of 42 times so less than half were ice related inquiries so

David PenalozaItem 27

I think it's important for the public to know that and to not just react to clickbait and and I'm not here to govern from clickbait either so it's important that that information is is is put out there accurately that that's not the case I know that I know we've talked about federal funding and and and just one that we get we get millions of dollars from the Department of Homeland security from uasi for uasi as part of that shared effort with the cities of anaheim because of this high terrorism area that we live in so i think that those grants we should definitely look at the

David PenalozaItem 27

the criteria for those grants what that means what we have to abide by if if for whatever reason we start interfering with uh federal enforcement uh one thing that i don't want to do and thank you chief for saying i don't want the senate police department to break uh state or federal law that's that's number one i wouldn't want you violating any law or any of our constitutions that we all take a note here to do to uphold the question i had regarding um the the ice

David PenalozaItem 27

enforcements one of one of our community members actually told me that a neighbor of hers got visited by ice and she secretly told me she was like but it wasn't what people think and I was like what do you mean she's like she recently married she's a US citizen somebody that is not a citizen so ice was doing a check because they had gotten some flag somebody had said that it was potential fraud. Turns out it wasn't, but they just wanted to verify that they were actually married and living together as they stated in their in their application and

David PenalozaItem 27

process to become a permanent resident. So I think of instances like that where it's like ICE is making sure that somebody who's marrying someone who's not a US citizen is actually married and and they live together and they have a life together and not committing immigration fraud, right? And to me I was I was like, okay, that's one of the 14 you said approximately. That kid, I don't know what the others are, but I think it's important to understand the complex and wide range of reasons why even, not just DHS and the various departments underneath that, whether it's human trafficking, drugs, I heard even a treasury embezzlement,

David PenalozaItem 27

those related crimes, why even ICE would be, not to go in and deport somebody, somebody but to just verify accuracy of whatever instance that is I'm not saying that's all of them but that's one of them so I think it's very important that we're not interfering I would uh to Councilmember fan and the mayor's point I would hate for now our police department to be in the dark and a 31 unit is driving by and sees a plain clothed officer in an unmarked vehicle or man not

David PenalozaItem 27

an officer a woman and now all they see is a armed person with no markings no no uh officer clothing so it becomes a security issue and a safety concern not just for that officer but for our officers for the public for that neighborhood so i would hope that we tread very carefully here and we really understand what we're doing um there's a lot of questions that i have need answers to and council member fan touched on most of them but i think it's important um madam city attorney that we definitely look into what is possible and what isn't uh under the the guys with this uh

David PenalozaItem 27

uh or item um i guess those are my only comments for now but i i don't um yeah i i definitely want to see what the what the with that information would be um and definitely don't want our police department interfering in anything that might cause our uh harm or or the safety or compromise the safety of our community that's it thank you mayor councilman becerra thank you mad mayor

Phil BacerraItem 27

um i'm not going to ask all the questions that councilmember fan asked but i do want to have answer to answers to those this is a very delicate difficult and sensitive issue and it's It's all around, whether it's the community, whether it's our police, this is not something that we can just throw out there because we wanna score quick political points and be able to say that we're crusaders and we're doing things. Our city has engaged in fights with other levels of government before, but we're not, how do I say it? I guess the way we've done it, we've done it through established processes. Sometimes from this dais,

Phil BacerraItem 27

WE END UP KIND OF TESTING THE LIMITS IN SUCH A WAY. BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR US, WE DON'T HAVE BOUNDLESS AMOUNTS OF RESOURCES. SO WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL IN WHAT BATTLES WE PICK AND HOW WE ENGAGE IN THEM. I'M VERY PROUD OF THE FACT THAT IN SOME OF OUR BATTLES WITH THE STATE WHEN IT COMES TO LOCAL CONTROL AND HOUSING, WE'VE PREVAILED. BUT IT'S TAKEN A LITTLE BIT OF TIME AND EFFORT AND SOME RESOURCES. BUT I THINK ON THIS ONE HERE, COUNCILMEMBER FAN ASKED QUITE A BIT OF QUESTIONS. And I think before we start trying to craft a policy, I think a lot of questions were posed up here tonight. And I think those questions need to be answered

Phil BacerraItem 27

first and foremost before we start talking about any policy. This is too important of an issue to get this wrong in any way. We're talking about people's lives here. We can't just throw something out there, get a social media post up and feel good about ourselves. We will have such an impact on people's lives. We can't screw this up. So I would ask that before we talk about any policy, that we make sure that we vet this through every possible legal question that we can. Again, it is so important that we get this right if this is what we're gonna do. But again, I'm not ready to support anything

Phil BacerraItem 27

other than having you return back with answers to the questions that my colleagues asked. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you. And I think one of the important issues that Council Member Fenn brought up is possibly having Madam City Attorney AND CHIEF AND CITY MANAGER, HAVING A CLOSED SESSION DUE TO THE EXPOSURE OF LITIGATION. MAYBE WE START THERE AND WORK OUR WAY OUT TO THE PUBLIC. SO COUNCILMAN HERNANDEZ.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I WANT TO THANK THE MEMBERS OF THIS COUNCIL FOR THEIR DIALOGUE. IN TERMS OF THE TRANSPARENCY THAT I FEEL THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE AFFORDED, SAN JANE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO THEIR CREDIT REGULARLY PUBLISHES PUBLIC SAFETY DATA AND INFORMATION, I'LL PROVIDE the example on firearm seizures despite having no policy directing it to do so that appear that there appears to be no reason that our city manager's office could not create a similar procedure for ice courtesy alerts when it comes to the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

potential risk of ice no longer communicating these alerts to us I want to remind the public that these community alerts were not given to the the public, although they were communicated to us, members of the public had to fight for them by following state law, PRA law. Upon receiving this information, it was only then that residents started to reach out to us in very large numbers. So I do want to highlight that community members were already without this information in the first place.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

The federal government has already been targeting sanctuary cities. We are the only sanctuary city in Orange County. I want to highlight that it is important that this item will not interfere, nor will it get in any, nor it will not obstruct any investigation that does have a judicial warrant. So in terms of the DHS contacts, in this case where we have an investigation, whether there be a warrant that is produced, we will not obstruct that investigation. We will not be able to post that information online because it is not subject to public records laws. We want to be in compliance with that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

And so I want to make that clear that the ICE contacts that we've received, the courtesy contacts, as long as there is no warrant attached to those courtesy notifications, that is what this item will focus on, is communicating this information to the public. so as long as there is no warrant and we are not obstructing an active investigation. So I want to make that clear to protect the city, and that is why that 48-hour buffer is there, so that way our city attorney's office has enough time to do their due diligence, and I hope that this brings a level of reassurance to the city manager's office and the city attorney's office.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Council Member Fann. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for those additional comments, Council Member Hernandez. I just had some clarifying questions for the chief. or Madam City Attorney, so if you can clarify, under current state law, whether it's SB 54, the Truth Act, or any other prohibitions against collaboration with ICE, if there is a judicial warrant from ICE or Homeland Security, is the Santa Ana Police Department or any local police department required to comply with a judicial warrant?

warrant? If there is a judicial warrant and we take someone into custody for a judicial warrant, we are mandated to make an arrest. ICE has two types of warrants, judicial and administrative. When it's an administrative warrant, those are the ones that are protected under SB 54, but judicial warrants, we shall arrest. Thank you. So just to make it clear,

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

If there is a judicial warrant for any type of arrest, everyone has to comply, otherwise you will be held in contempt of court, and you are yourself committing a crime. However, when we're talking about courtesy calls, my colleague is right that we have to comply with judicial warrants, but as you mentioned earlier, when we receive a courtesy call, we don't know what kind of action they're taking in the city, correct?

That is correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Do they tell you that they have an administrative warrant?

No.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Do they tell you that they have a judicial warrant?

No.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Do they tell you that they're doing an investigation?

No.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Do they tell you that they're doing an immigration check for someone who may or may not be committing marriage fraud?

No, and I'll add to that that we recently received from a different federal agency, not related to HSI, a notification. And based on the dialogue that's happening, we pushed to find out, give us more. They said no.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

out. So those are some of the concerns that I have because when we're saying publish this data, one we don't know what we would be publishing other than to alert anyone as to the location of this federal agency's activity. We don't know if they're doing a sting on terrorism. We don't know if they're doing immigration enforcement. We do not know if they are investigating drug trafficking or or anything else other than that they will be here in the city doing something. The other item I wanted some clarification on, Chief, and first, thank you to Council Member Hernandez

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

for mentioning some of the transparency initiatives that SAPD has undertaken over the years, including talking about the firearm seizures, right? Do we publish in advance that we are gonna conduct firearm seizures in any locations?

No, we don't. We only publish those that do not have an ongoing investigation. And obviously, we're fully aware of those investigations because they're our own investigations.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Right. So a lot of the information is post hoc, right, after we actually seize the firearms.

Correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Right. So I think there's a distinct difference between notifying in advance, which I again completely understand the concerns because we want those who are going to be most affected who are not doing anything other than being members of our community so that they have that information to protect themselves and their family members however the actions that the city of Santa Ana or SAPD has taken is frankly to talk about the hard work that SAPT and the city has been been doing to confiscate illegal firearms and remove them from the streets after we've actually taken them, correct?

That's correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you. So, you know, I think it's really important that when you come back with this information, we get some of the, not just the answers, as best as you can answer all the questions that I have, but I also want to know, you know, all of the things we are currently doing, right, to help inform our community because I think that, you know, there is truly a difference between helping to inform our community so they can make the best decision possible while ensuring that we protect everyone else who may or may not be affected by it because at the end of the day we're all

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

up here talking about risks. We're talking about what-ifs. We're talking about how will someone else that we cannot control, cannot dictate, and cannot influence going to interpret the law, going to interpret an executive order, or going to interpret the actions that we take here today. It is the Wild West.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Immigration and the rule of law is all up in the air right now. That's what we know. And I think that you all have the very difficult job, and I do not envy as a professional in helping to assess what the risks are and what we will be facing because at the end of the day we're all up here trying to make a decision to best protect the community but also ensure that we protect our budget so with that I'll leave you with that information I hope we get that information back as soon as possible I know that is asking a lot but this is you know this is important and you know I do know the ordinance was requested to

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

to be back in 30 days, but as soon as you can, get it for us, even if it's a memo circulated before the next meeting.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Yeah, and I understand the direction from the council is that we will solely initially be working on getting you the information. We will not be working on the policy, as I just want confirming that that is what I'm hearing from the majority of the council. Yes, that's what you're hearing. That you want the information back, whether that information comes in the form of a memo, a confidential memo if it's on legal issues, and whether that comes in closed session, you want to have this information. Yes. and then from that information you will make your next determination that is correct okay because

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

again there is exposure to litigation and thank you councilmember fan and you know it looks like

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

there's are you mayor pro tem um i just want to thank the council for coming up with your dialogue and questions and i do appreciate it i'm looking forward from the memo uh so we could see how we could better form this uh resolution so i do appreciate the conversation we are having

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

today and i hope to move forward with it thank you thank you my last question chief is that um there are no cities anaheim costa mesa orange anybody around us that's that is doing what maybe you have been asked to do is that correct that's correct nobody is releasing information no no the police

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

agencies no my understanding is that the only city that's even come close that i've researched so far is the city of l.a but their resolution or motion asked the businesses to disclose this information

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

los angeles has asked businesses to report eddie the city is not but we will do that research as

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

part of our memo back we will do some more thorough research thank you thank you madam city

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

attorney and city manager and your executive team and chief thank you to you and your team that you you have and I think as council member Phan has stated up here some great questions we all have you know made our comments up here but I just want to remind people and I know you know that we're dealing with people's lives real lives real everyday lives we're not dealing with headlines we're not doing political theater we're not doing this because I hope because you're running for higher office we're doing this for what's best for our community and we are dealing with people's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

lives and with the safety of our officers and with the safety of officers that may coming that may come into our city and as a city a city as a whole because again i would hope none of us that the city does not have any litigation that will we cannot afford to have so this is where you come in madam city attorney with the city manager and the chief because we really want to avoid any type of exposure to litigation because it always costs lots of money so with that um looks like we're done mr city manager you're good so i understand there's a request here to bring it back

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

as soon as possible but i leave i believe madam city attorney and chief and it'll take you a couple weeks to get this information so we have the budget the next two meetings in june we have four ordinances coming and I understand this is critical it's it's it's something that's very important to our community Mr. City Manager Madam City Attorney Chief what's your timeline look like first meeting in July after the budget well we need to see what they have because we also have yeah we have some things going on Mr. City Manager and again I hope that everybody has read

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

the memo that the city attorney put out about being in the weeds and being policy makers

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

so right so we're going into you know finalizing the budget we do have a couple of ordinances going into law i think the question that we're asked today many questions many questions and and like the city attorney said our preliminary research shows that very few cities are actually doing anything like this. So obviously we wanna be thorough.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Actually I wanna correct you, there's no cities.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

No city. No city. Exactly.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

All Los Angeles is doing is they have asked that their businesses report if there are any raids at their places of business.

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

So obviously we understand the significance of what it means. City Attorney, what do you think? The lease minimum, 45 days.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

So we're talking the first meeting in July?

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

right and with the understanding that of course this is a priority for us too right so I don't want to de-emphasize that I want to make sure that that to the extent that we can do it faster and quicker would do that too

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

councilman Hernandez yes so right if there's opportunity to bring it in June

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

absolutely right but if that doesn't work itself out to even give us to you in pieces where I've broken it down into personnel risks ie grants financial law enforcement impacts and then liability generally if we can do some of this in pieces then we would

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

release that analysis to you in writing i just want to be careful that you know we don't have a discussion every single time right right we want to show that we want a full conversation discussion because i think this is what happens in many of our policy direction right we we get lost even ourselves in what we assume are the direction and misinterpretation and because this is a critical issue for our community and same for staff again like I said give us the 45 days to the extent we can expedite it and and do it faster we will and if the council is okay because you know

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Madam City Attorney you said you know you bring in pieces we don't want that if you want to send us I would hope that if you want to send us a confidential memo you know and update us by all means we would like that anyways right if you have something once a week or every two weeks we want that information and we should get it right now as we're talking that should be something coming but to say you know bring it by one at a time no we don't want that we want we want it all brought back and again either in closed session because of litigation or hear from the dice or

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

start in there and come back out here and finish that's the point right yes so that we don't

Alvaro NuñezItem 27

piecemeal it and we don't have something that very correct yes and last comment councilmember fan and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

then this is this conversation is over please thank you mayor and so first i you know anything

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Anything we can do to get it before the 45 days would be fantastic. I do understand we're asking a lot. There are other ordinances, but given the severity of the issues here and the impact on our community, I would like to make sure that we prioritize this information as much as possible. And again, I do understand the heavy lift that we're asking of you. However, use Hall in a night. use our federal lobbyists, talk to the congressmen, whomever we can speak to to get this information. I also want I guess to clarify that to me this is policy or

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

direction I don't think we need to even do a resolution or ordinance so once we get the information back it should be enough I think for the City Council to provide direction to the city manager to follow through however it is that we we need follow through. So I guess I just want the public to know that we're having spirited debate up here to request this information because we're required to balance so many competing interests and we are trying to protect the most vulnerable while ensuring that we do not harm others. So with that, I look forward to your answers as much as you can and thank you to my colleagues

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

for bringing this up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you, we all look forward to it And again, we're not gonna, I like the comment, we're not gonna break the law to enforce the law. So at this time, we're gonna go, Mr. City Manager, do you have any comments? Thank you, Deputy City Manager, do you have any comments?

I'll take the comments from him. Thank you, City Council and the community for joining us at the Santa Ana Fun Run on Saturday. We had over 3,000 participants, runners, walkers, in the 5K, 10K, and the Kids Dash. We would like to invite the community community to attend two flag raising events we have a pride flag raising ceremony this Thursday May 22nd at 9 15 a.m in front of City Hall we have a Memorial Day flag raising ceremony on Monday May 26th at 10 a.m in Memorial Park additionally recreation swimming opens June 2nd at El Salvador Jerome and Salgado pools the city of Santa Ana is sponsoring a 50 years of Little Saigon's

resilience from refugee to legacy this is a free business event honoring the incredible journey contributions and legacy of the vietnamese american community this event will be held june 5th at the great wolf lodge in garden grove this is in collaboration with the cities of fountain valley westminster and um and uh garden garden grove fountain valley westminster and san

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

ANNA THAT'S IT THANK YOU THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ

Jessie LopezItem 27

UM YES SO THANK YOU FOR THOSE COMMENTS SYLVIA I ALSO WANT TO INVITE THE COMMUNITY TO THE TO HELP US RAISE THE PRIDE FLAG THIS THURSDAY UH MAY 22ND AT 9 AM WE'RE GOING TO HAVE IT AT THE SAME LOCATION THAT WE HAD IT LAST YEAR AND I WANT TO THANK STAFF FOR WORKING ON THAT MEMORIAL DAY IS ALSO COMING UP and I want to thank all the families for their support and really their sacrifice that they've also made and I hope you're able to enjoy with loved ones neighbors friends and of course to our entire community you know please be safe out there don't drink and drive and I hope that you're

Jessie LopezItem 27

able to enjoy the the weekend or the day off on another note I do want to congratulate all of our students whether you're from GGUSD, SAUSD or another institution I know that graduation is coming up for many of you and I really just want to congratulate you on your work ethic your commitment and not giving up on your future I also want to thank our parents when I was at John Anna High School I know my dad had to go almost daily to go talk to my statistics teacher because I was not doing well and yes this is going to be a tool that helps you in the future believe it or not

Jessie LopezItem 27

but my point really is that many of us in our community cannot do this alone and so we need our family members to support us every step of the way so again i want to thank the parents our school counselors the teachers administrators everybody in that ecosystem and i'm just really incredibly sorry for a lot of the pain and grievances that a lot of educators in our community are experiencing in this moment but I do want to congratulate the students and I hope that you don't give up on your educational journeys finally I want to think or not finally but I do want to

Jessie LopezItem 27

thank many of the residents and community leaders who are on a five-day hunger strike in protest of the proposed federal budgets which will undoubtedly have many impacts on our community. I chose to participate in a one-day fast in solidarity with residents and community leaders and you know I think as it was shared the many difficult stories of people that have children with disabilities or really that if you're a veteran dealing with PTSD whatever your experience is the inconvenience of a one-day fast will not compare to um what will

Jessie LopezItem 27

happen not just to our what will happen in our neighborhoods but in general and so i want to thank everybody that's been out there and that has been conveying their concerns because i do think that that is important and lastly i do want to thank the city manager and the chief we heard somebody give public comment about some issues and so i believe you all reached out to the gentleman who was here earlier right who gave public comment so i just want to thank you for your urgency on that issue and i hope that you all are able to enjoy the day off but i will probably

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

see you here monday working yeah i know thank you council member panelists thank you mayor mesqua

David PenalozaItem 27

I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU, SYLVIA, FOR BRINGING UP THE MEMORIAL DAY EVENT THAT'S HAPPENING AT MEMORIAL PARK. IT'S OUR SECOND ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY THAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO. MEMORIAL PARK, FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW, WAS INITIALLY DEDICATED BY GOVERNOR WARREN IN THE 1950S TO THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THAT ULTIMATE SACRIFICE IN OUR CITY FOR OUR FREEDOM, FOR and over the course of our history. So that's been lost over the years. That meaning to that park has been lost over the years. There isn't really anything that symbolizes that.

David PenalozaItem 27

So it was important for me last year to start that event for Memorial Day event, small ceremony, very touching last year, raising the flag and having a couple of our veterans out there telling their stories and and and we're we're bringing it back for this Memorial Day at 10 a.m. so please join us out there and thank you city staff for working on that and thank you to everyone Parks and Rec Public Works and PD for the work that went into the Santa Ana fund run this past weekend saw a lot of our executive team out there running it

David PenalozaItem 27

And my goal is to beat Chief Rodriguez next year. He beat me this year by five whole minutes. So a little, I've been hurting all week.

David PenalozaItem 27

So five minutes is a long time.

David PenalozaItem 27

Yeah, I know. So next year it's on, Chief, it's on. But with that said, that is it. Thank you, Mayor. Good night, everybody.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you, Council Member Fahim.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

The 5K was so fun. Thank you so much to Parks and Rec as well as Public Works for doing the 5K in conjunction with Public Works Week. I had a friend come out from LA and she just thought it was really wonderful. And I thought the route was really great because you know they got to see some of the murals. I just want to say I had a really great time and it was great to see the community out here. Thank you to everyone who came out to speak tonight. I think that you know as local government policymakers and as well as the community we're all grappling with a lot of very fast changes and kind of turbulent well not kind of very

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

turbulent times in our community and what's going on politically at the state state and federal level. So I hope that we all continue to have this respectful dialogue, that we can all continue to work toward a solution to protect our communities and that we are responsible, you know, fiduciaries for the city's budget because we're up here looking to balance so many competing interests and making sure that we uphold the values that the City of Santa Ana stands for. So with that, I hope that we remember, I think that everyone up here, everyone who showed

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

up as well as all of our staff are committed to making santa anna a better place for everyone to live to making sure that our community members feel valued protected and and safe and so that i hope you all have a good night i hope that you have a restful but reflective memorial day weekend

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

thank you thank you councilman hernandez thank you madam mayor i i want to first thank our city staff staff and our city manager's office for preparing a balanced budget. And I would like to thank members of the public for tuning into today's council meeting. I want to highlight that Ward 5, we have a couple of brand new businesses that I'm really excited to talk to you all about. Most notably, we have a brand new barbecue restaurant, Bill's Texas Barbecue, Santa Ana owned at the old original Mike's location on 1st and Main Street. This is food made by Santa Ana

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

residents, their Valley High School alumni, and their brothers, and their food is amazing. And thankfully, we took that restaurant from Huntington Beach, and now they're here in Santa Ana. So there you go. Welcome back home. Please go on out and support them. Their food is outstanding. I took my mother and my daughter for dinner, and we not only got to enjoy some food made by Santa at a residence but we got to enjoy some live music as well it's a family friendly establishment you're not you're not having to worry about being covered by big curtains it's it's ample lighting

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

it's it's open space and great food i also want to highlight los grandes originales opening off of first street in the santanita community they were formerly located off of rate and fifth and the the original recipes that we love can be found at 3522 West First Street. I want to share how important that is because my grandfather, when he migrated here from Jalisco to Santana, of course, is somebody who loves Mexican food. And at the time, Otoniel, who was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, had the dream of opening a restaurant in our city. And in 1976, he opened an establishment known as Mundo's Restaurant on First and Daisy,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

which would later become Los Grandes off of Fifth and Raid. My grandfather loved Los Grandes and loved their food, and specifically their salsa de aceite. And so I just want to encourage the community to go on out and check their new location out on First and Jackson. Very excited about that. I also want to close out in memory of a resident, Madam Mayor Frederick Lee Burrell, a longtime business owner in the city of Santa Ana. He owned a soul food restaurant in Articia, Pilad, and he was a business owner for over 45 years in our city. One of the things I really loved about Burrell was you can go inside and you can order by the rib.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

You can order by the rib. You could order homemade peach cobbler. You would order food in the living room, and you would eat it in the backyard. yard. What was really inspiring to see was that Fred brought a level of warmth and southern hospitality to his restaurant, where he became a beloved figure in the culinary world. He was also, you know, the chef of Burrell's, where for over 45 years, he provided unforgettable meals that drew crowds from near and far. The reason I bring that to the residents' attention is because his soulful dishes became a staple in our community, and they also attracted celebrities

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

celebrities in our city, celebrities like Michael Jackson, Magic Johnson, Tommy Lasorda. These were all pictures of people that you would see on the walls, and they were autographed and signed, and these are folks coming to eat in our backyard, and I just wanted to share my condolences with the family, and we will always remember him, and then lastly, I want to send condolences to the to the wife of Noe Rodriguez. I know that this shooting is being investigated by the Attorney General's office. I hope that the Attorney General's office considers that this man, you know, not only was he unarmed,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

but he was monolingual and only spoke Spanish. And I think that it is important that we remind our police department that we are not the judge, juries, and executioners. We too should allow for those who break the law to see a day in court. I ask for this family, you know, to be strong during tough times and we are in your corner god bless you council member sir

Phil BacerraItem 27

thank you madam mayor and i i also want to thank uh our parks and rec team and public works for the fun run and the kicking off of national public works week so you got to bring out all the equipment all the toys and showcase them over there on um on flowers so thank you for that i I think a lot of people had fun. We had a resident come in tonight to talk about what she was seeing down in the south end of town. I wanna thank you, Chief, and your team because I'm seeing it. I didn't wanna jinx it, but obviously other folks are seeing it, so I appreciate the efforts. While it looks good, there's always those little upticks,

Phil BacerraItem 27

and I just want our officers to be aware that while we're seeing some improvements down there, I mean, we do have folks that, unfortunately, Unfortunately, we see them come in up Bristol, and so just want you all to stay vigilant. But again, I just want to express my appreciation. I'm glad that the community down in Ward 4 is expressing it as well. And I had some folks already ask me tonight what I'm wearing on my lapel, and it's a poppy. And the reason I'm wearing it is for Memorial Day. So for those that don't know that, the inspiration for it is, it was a flower that flourished in the battlefields of Europe after World War I,

Phil BacerraItem 27

and it became a symbol of remembrance and sacrifice, and eventually inspired the poem in Flanders Fields. So with that, I would like us to thank those who are here, but also remember those and honor those who made that ultimate sacrifice fighting for our country. So I want to wish everybody a very safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. But most importantly, before I close, I want to wish my wife, Wendy, a very happy birthday. I wish I could have been there tonight, but, you know, I'm here. So, yeah. So good night, everybody.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Happy birthday to Wendy. Mayor Pro Tem.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

Happy birthday, Wendy. Thank you to the staff for the 5K walk. And while you lost to the chief I lost to the city manager our old Nunez Way ahead of me. Yeah, say it again

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

To Jesse Lopez, okay

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

I don't know what you're talking about

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

There's video

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

I also had a great time last Friday KIDWORKS CAME TO VISIT AND THEY BROUGHT SOME YOUTH THANK YOU TO THE STAFF WHO CAME TO HELP OUT THEY GOT UP HERE ON THE DIETS AND THEY WERE ASKING QUESTIONS THEY WERE GIVING ME ADVICE THEY WERE SAYING WHAT THEY LIKE ABOUT SANTA ANA AND WE HAD A GOOD TIME AND THEY ALL TOOK A ROLL AND IT WAS A GREAT TIME I WANT TO THANK HAWK AND ANNA AND OLLIE AND MIKE AND GASTON CARINA FOR BEING HERE AND supporting that we we got cookies and put them we take them in the back room and had another conversation so they could see what closed sessions all about or what we're doing back there

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

we are going to have a cleanup at integer park if anybody from integer park neighborhood wants to volunteer we do need volunteers reach out to my office this thursday i'm supporting the CAC Resource Fair or the Special Education Parent Community Advisory Committee and we are bringing city resources to the family these are for specialty families so they should we should support the whole person the whole family so we're bringing Parks and Rec the zoo the worksite center it's a beautiful thing we're bringing a few other groups but I'm so happy that we're involved in and helping out this community.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

Congratulations to all the new graduates. I hope you all visit Pica School every day. We have a graduation and hopefully we're all invited. I will be at the Valley graduation. I will be at the Chavez, Lauren Grissett, the Sava and Independent Studies graduation. So congratulations to all the grads. And I wanna take a moment of silence for my good friend Teo Reyes, who was a community advocate who just passed away. And he was beloved and he took me in and taught me so many things at El Centro Cultural de Mexico. He was an administrator as a volunteer.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

He ran El Centro Cultural de Mexico and he went on to be part of the artist coalition. Helping, always had a smile, always brought you in, just give you a big hug. So like 10 seconds of silence, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 27

So we love you, Te Orellas. Thank you for everything and have a good night.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Thank you. Okay, let me close this out. First of all, I want to thank all of the veterans. Monday, May 26th, Memorial Day, Councilman Penalosa covered that already, as well as the Deputy City Manager. But I do want to thank the men and women who have served our country and who currently serve and who actually passed serving our country it's because of them that we have the freedom that we have and all of the men and women that serve in our military and I don't ever forget that one because I'm glad you know I feel so much gratitude towards them and that's why saying the Pledge of Allegiance is

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

so means a lot to me because it should mean a lot to all of us because we live in this beautiful country because of the and we live in freedom because of the the men and women who serve. Mother's Day luncheon was wonderful. My goodness, partying with the seniors is so much fun. Thank you to our Congressman Correa, Assemblyman Valencia, Councilmember David Penalosa, City Manager and Chief, everybody who joined us, the ACC, SCSC, OCTA, the Southwest Senior Center, oh my gosh, the Water Department, it was great. I'm telling you, the seniors are a lot of fun. Alvarez, don't take away their space

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

because they like to party, okay? So feed them, give them music. They love it. Thank you, Council Member Phan and Council Member Becerra for joining me at the Salgado Community Center for a coffee with the mayor. It was really good. We went inside, got out of the heat. It's air-conditioned. Thank you, Hawk, for all of that. You and your staff is wonderful. Coffees with the mayor is so cool because people come out and city staff are there and city staff answer all the questions, the PD, and this is where we have boots on the ground listening to what they want, what are their issues, and sometimes they're very simple issues, they just

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

they just need a quick answer, and sometimes it's a really big deal and the city manager wants no part of it, but he still gets it anyways, and he actually came to coffee with the mayor with the San Diego Padres hat on, and we were all like, oh my gosh, you're in Angel Town or Dodger Town, don't come with that hat but whatever the Santa Ana fun run was great when you come to the state of the city you'll be able to see a video that I was doing that the council members thought they would do some stuff behind me and so we're gonna play that video at the state of the city because as we say council

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

who plays together works well together the seventh annual high school give gratitude high school Inc event was wonderful congratulations to all the scholarship recipients um you know there's some amazing kids that got scholarships and so thank you to high school inc and everyone who sponsored that in the city as well and thank you and i know our police department was there and um my next city excuse me my next coffee with the mayor is with the orange county fire authority so we will have it on june 14th at fire station 79 which is off of Warner Avenue. So you'll love it when you come out,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

they'll give you a tour of the fire station and it would be great. I also want to share with you that we had a press release, I believe it was last Friday, with Senator Blakesphere and Assemblywoman Davies, and we covered the bills that we had gone to Sacramento to testify on, and so I'm honored, and thank you, Mr. City Manager and all of your staff. our police chief joining us out there and talking about these bills and how important they are that we participate we we went after the needle exchange and now we're working on the sober living homes in our city you know Senator

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

Umberg's bill Blakesville's bill and Daviesville and Assemblymember Valencia and that's what it takes it takes all of us working together as a village council members with your staff Calhoun League of Cities and it's bipartisan and that's that's what it's about doing what's best for the city of santa ana and making sure that we have a good quality of life and that our constituents are safe with that i'd like to close in honor of alley county sheriff officer deputy daniel chavira he was 21 years old he'd only been with the police with the sheriff's department for one year very young officer and he passed in a car accident

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

So our prayers go out to his family, not only his family family, but his family at the Sheriff's Department, all law enforcement. Also, I want to also close in honor of our Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sanchez. Their mom passed away. Her name was Maria Socorro Macias Sanchez. And for those of us who know the Sanchez family, her mom was truly an amazing woman. And so in her honor, I'd like to close the meeting tonight as well. And her services, I believe, are next week.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 27

And so she's the, Loretta and Linda are the first sisters to ever serve in Congress together. And I know she was one proud mama. So with that, I'd like to adjourn the speaking in honor of Maria Sanchez and Deputy Daniel Chavarro. Thank you and good night.