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0:05Read the March 3 meeting.
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Madam Clerk, please start the meeting.
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One moment, Mayor. You're good to go, Mayor Pro Tem.
53:38Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order at 5.42 p.m. Madam Clerk.
53:43This 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. Also noting for the record that Mayor Meskwa is participating via teleconference pursuant to Government Code section 54953.8.3c3. This is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. There's an opportunity to call for a recess or break or even to clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to
53:53properly conduct business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken we appreciate your cooperation for everyone's safety per the fire marshal please do not stand or place objects in the aisles in front of the dais along the back wall of the council chamber or in front of entrances and exits during city council presentations guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos madam clerk please conduct the roll call councilmember becerra here councilmember hernandez councilmember lopez councilmember Council Member Phan? Here. Council Member Vazquez?
54:20Present.
54:56Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa?
54:57Present.
54:58Mayor Meskwa? Present. And Mayor Meskwa, if you could please identify any individuals over the age of 18 that are in the room with you along with your relationship?
54:59If any?
55:09Mayor?
55:13Yes, can you hear me?
55:15Yes, I can, thank you. Is there anyone there in the room with you over the age of 18?
55:17Yes.
55:21Okay, if you could please identify them
55:22and their general relationship with you my husband sam moran okay thank you we have five members
55:23present that is a quorum thank you madam clerk before we proceed to the pledge of allegiance
55:30please make an announcement for members of the public on zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction you must dial star 9 or click the button labeled raise hand in zoom now in order to be in the SPEAKER QUEUE ONCE PUBLIC COMMENTS COMMENCE. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO PUBLIC HEARING ITEM NUMBERS 21 AND 22 FOR WHICH COMMENTS WILL BE HEARD DURING THOSE SPECIFIC PUBLIC HEARINGS. PLEASE HOLD YOUR COMMENTS ON THOSE ITEMS UNTIL SPECIFICALLY CALLED UPON. THANK YOU. THANK YOU MADAM CLERK. THE FIRST
55:35ITEM ON OUR AGENDA IS THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. IF YOU COULD ALL PLEASE JOIN ME IN RISING, FACING OUR FLAG, PUTTING YOUR RIGHT HAND OVER YOUR HEART AND JUST FOLLOW ALONG PLEASE. 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. Words of inspiration will be provided by our police chaplain, Rupert Vega. Please come to the podium.
56:02Rupert Vega, Police Chaplain, Rupert Vega, Please bow your heads.
56:31Gracious Heavenly Father, we come before you today, giving you honor, glory, and praise. Lord, you are the source of all that is good, and we are grateful for all the blessings you bestowed upon us. We thank you for our wonderful city of Santa Ana, our Honorable Mayor, City Council, City staff, courageous police officers and first responders. Lord we thank you for our freedom and the opportunity to unite and gather together this day. We ask for your hand of blessings to be upon tonight's meeting and proceedings. We thank you for your grace, unending love and wisdom and
56:36And we ask that you would guide and direct tonight's meeting, that it would be of your sound wisdom, that it be productive with integrity, accountability, and with respect towards one another. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to accomplish our work and our goals this day. City of Santa Ana, I leave you with a scripture found in the book of Numbers, chapter 6. It says, may the Lord bless you and keep you. you. May he protect you and may he sustain you and guard you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you with favor and be gracious to you, surrounding you with his love and
57:14kindness. May the Lord lift up his face and countenance upon you with great divine approval and give you peace, a tranquil heart, and a long and prosperous life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
57:54Thank you for those words of inspiration Mr. Vega. Madam Clerk are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda?
58:10Yes Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council there is one. Consent Calendar item number 12 has been removed from the agenda and is not before you for consideration this evening.
58:18Thank you for that. The first item presentation is mine. if the Saddleback High School women's soccer team could please do me the honors of joining me up here behind the podium here and yeah come on up
58:27Shuffle room. Oh, yeah.
59:02All right.
59:16Thank you. So, good evening, everyone. Good evening, ladies. Thank you for joining us here today. And coach. Yeah. coach thank you for being here thank you for joining us today in honor of Women's History Month we wanted to do the honor of recognizing a lot of various athletic women's teams in our city and I get the honor of recognizing my alma mater Saddleback High School Roadrunner long time ago I won't even say the year but but yes, a long, long time ago.
59:25Good evening, everyone. Tonight we're doing something a little different. Thank you to Councilmember Vasquez for the thoughtful idea of inviting Women's Winter Sports League Champions to this evening's meeting in recognition of Women's History Month. As we celebrate Women's History Month, it is especially important to acknowledge the incredible contributions of women in sports. These are athletes who continue to break barriers, elevate the standard of excellence, and inspire the next generation of leaders both on and off the field.
1:00:03With that, I am especially proud to welcome Saddleback High School and their outstanding women's soccer team. Let's give them a round of applause, guys.
1:00:33This season has been nothing short of historic. The teams are the 2025-2026 Orange League champions, the first girls soccer league championship for the school in 19 years. In addition, they have advanced to the second round of CIF Division 7 competition representing their school and community with pride. We would also like to recognize several outstanding individual achievements. Orange League Defender of the Year Nicole Andrade, where are you? Nicole? Nicole, who anchored a remarkable defense. Join me up here, Nicole. And you can all join me in a second.
1:00:44Who anchored a remarkable defense that allowed only three goals in eight league games, right? Orange League Goalkeeper of the Year, Priscilla Alas. Are you up? Let's go, Priscilla. Who recorded five shout-outs in eight league games. Orange League MVP, Maria Ochoa, who scored.
1:01:25Are you up?
1:01:46Listen to this everyone, who scored 21 goals this season.
1:01:48Round of applause for that. An extraordinary accomplishment that may set a new school record. Congratulations to these exceptional student athletes. If you could all please join me up here. Their coaches, their families. Where are the families? Where are the parents in the house? Let's go.
1:01:56Your hard work, resilience, and dedication truly embodies the spirit of Women's History Month. We are proud to celebrate you this evening. Here along my colleagues, the City Council and the Mayor. Maria Ochoa, please feel free to say a few words representing your team.
1:02:16Or anybody else that would like to volunteer.
1:02:33Come on, one of you has to say something. If not, you guys can all volunteer your coach. Anything, just about what being on this team means to you and what this means to you.
1:02:37I would say that being on this team has given me an immense sense of belonging at my school and has helped me be in a really good community with every single one of these girls. I think that the relationships that we've built here have helped us grow into the program that we are and go as far as we did because I think that every single one of them played a part in helping us win those games or tie or whatever, you know. And I just would like to thank our coach as well because I don't think that we would have gotten there without him and, like, all the support that we have gotten from our families and from every single person
1:02:51who came to our games to support us. But, yeah, that's all I got.
1:03:31Thank you.
1:03:46Okay, give me one second, one second. Ready? One, two, three.
1:04:14Perfect. Okay, thank you.
1:04:20All right. The next presentation is by Councilmember Becerra who's going to be presenting certificates of recognition presented to Valley High School Women's Wrestling Team in honor of Women's history month so if the valley high school women's wrestling team could please join us up here behind the podium we'd be honored to have you all right
1:04:37
lady Falcons let's get up here
1:05:07All right. So, good evening, everybody. So, tonight we are celebrating the hard work, dedication, and achievements of these incredible young women behind me. Now, while Valley High School opened its doors in 1959, its girls wrestling program is still pretty young. The program has only been around for the last four years. Yet, in that short time, these young women have demonstrated that hard work, dedication, and belief in one another can overcome any odds. It all began with the team captain, Jolene Aguilar. Jolene? Where's Jolene? Jolene, right there.
1:05:34So Jolene had just a modest goal as a freshman. She just wanted to have a team around her. So what started as just a roster of three girls has grown now to 22 athletes strong. The culture that these young leaders have built is rooted in grit, discipline, and perseverance. Because of that foundation, they achieved an incredible milestone this year. They captured their league title. Let's give them a round of applause for that.
1:06:15Now in addition to that, they also produced five strong finishes in CIF. Leading the way, no shock to anybody here, is Jolene Aguilar. Jolene placed seventh at CIF, becoming the first three-time master's qualifier in the program's history. She was joined by Hildeliza Lopez. Where's Hildeliza? Hildeliza finished fourth. And then where's Yvette? Yvette finished in fourth as well. and then where's Diana? Diana is busy celebrating sixth place and then we got Kayla Salgado. Where's Kayla?
1:06:46Kayla's here. She finished eighth in CIF as well. So their success reflects countless hours of practice, teamwork, and again, perseverance. These athletes have shown that what can be accomplished when talent meets dedication. Their determination, teamwork, and excellence both on and off the mat exemplify the spirit of Women's History Month, and they serve as an inspiration for our entire community. So please join me one more time, and let's give a round of applause to the Valley Girls Wrestling Team.
1:07:23I'm calling on you. Come on team captain. Come on up here and say a couple words.
1:07:58Just think of it like a wrestling match. You got this.
1:08:04What would you say to your opponent right now?
1:08:14That I'm glad I wrestled all my four years. There you go.
1:08:18That I wish I had more years to wrestle. Yeah. Yeah.
1:08:29Do you mind if I call up your co-captain, Helvaliza?
1:08:37Yeah. No, no, no.
1:08:39You're not going anywhere, Helvaliza. Go over there.
1:08:41Honestly, we just want to really thank our coach, because I don't want to disrespect our school. But they have given us such a hard time to fund money and everything, and get us cars to get here and stuff. And our coach has gone beyond and far for us. He goes crazy for us. He helps us. He's like our dad, our resting dad. And his wife too, so honestly, like, big shout out to him, dude, like, honestly, a lot of love. And the girls too, second family, my sisters. You're going to leave me, bro. But yeah, thank you guys.
1:08:45Thank you.
1:09:22All right. Alright.
1:09:56If I could now have the Santa Ana High School Women's Wrestling Team join me. The next presentation is by Councilmember Lopez. Councilmember Lopez will be honoring Santa Ana High School's wrestling team. Come on down, ladies.
1:10:02And we're not skipping Santiago. We'll have you up in a second.
1:10:43
Okay, good evening everybody. I'm Councilman Jessie Lopez and tonight we are recognizing the Santa Ana High School women's wrestling team and not just in honor of Women's History Month but really for all the work that they've done to you know bring back so much community pride on their campus community into our city as a whole by their commitment their dedication to their sports and so it's truly exciting to stand before you tonight during Women's History Month to recognize an extraordinary group of student athletes from Santa Ana High School, the women's
1:11:13wrestling team. That's right.
1:11:52These young women are not only champions on the mat, they are leaders in our community, role models in their campus, and trailblazers in a sport that continues to grow because of their courage, discipline, and determination. This season the team achieved remarkable success. They finished eighth in the state of California, making the third consecutive year placing in the top stand statewide.
1:12:00It truly is an incredible accomplishment that reflects sustained excellence. They were crowned CIF Division One dual champions. they earned the title of CIF individual team champions individually their achievements are just as impressive CIF champions Angelica Cerratos Eliana Salazar Annabelle Cerratos Tiffany Nguyen and Marlee Nelson master champions Angelica Cerratos state qualifiers Gabby Martinez Angelica Cerratos Eliana
1:12:32Salazar, Tiffany Nguyen, Marlene Nelson. At the state level Tiffany Nguyen and Marlene Nelson placed in the top 12 in the entire state of California. Yes.
1:13:11And we are also incredibly honored to give Angelica Cerratos, you know, a shout out as the state champion so please give everybody a round of applause.
1:13:29These accomplishments don't happen overnight and they don't happen by themselves. They demand early mornings, long practices, sacrifice, resilience and an unbreakable team bond. But beyond medals and titles what stands out the the most is what these young women represent. During Women's History Month, we celebrate women who break barriers, who are unafraid to tell people, watch me and see me win, who redefine expectations and pave the way for the next generation of leaders. This team is doing exactly that, proving their strength,
1:13:45their leadership and excellence, and reminding the world that true excellence knows no barriers. To the coaches, families, and supporters, thank you for investing in the young women of our community. And to the athletes, thank you for representing your hometown, the city of Santa Ana, with pride, grit, and heart. At this time, I would also, you know, like to say to the parents, thank you. Thank you for being involved in your young children's lives and your young adult lives and you know and reflecting about the visit that we
1:14:26did with the women with the young women behind me being in in their wrestling room I can't help but remember you know that some of their parents and the words that they shared with us and so I just want to thank all the parents who work two three jobs to be able to buy your children the necessary gear to be able to play sports or to wrestle that was the experience of my mom when I wanted to be a cheerleader and having her struggle to find money to buy our uniform our shoes our pom-poms to pay for travel and so I know that that experience still is really relevant to a lot of families in the city of Santa Ana
1:15:06and I just want to thank you all for you know not you know showing love showing showing care, showing dedication and commitment, and for being there, right? Whether it's going to an early morning tournament, whether it's coming home late at night, whether it's worrying about how you're going to fund all these sports or after school activities, I know that you do that because you love your kids. And I just wanna remind the young people of our community that you should be very proud that your parents are so involved in your personal lives. And so again, as I said from the beginning, these things don't happen alone.
1:15:47They happen because the students put in the time and the work and the parents also do their part. And as a city of Santa Ana, we are proud to do our part and recognize you, uplift you, and be here to support you as you achieve and pursue your dreams. Thank you so much. And we would also like to hear, you know, from the coach, from any member of the team.
1:16:25Can I say something? Of course. No, you can hold that. Hold on, hold on. Okay, I actually don't like public speaking, but I'm so proud of them I had to put something together. I could not be more proud of this team and how they have represented themselves, Santa Ana High School, and our city. The growth over the past few years has been unimaginable, and I am honored to have been a part of it. Every decision has been intentional and thought through with care and purpose for the benefit of each individual athlete as well as the team as a whole.
1:16:51The standards have been set extremely high and these athletes have embraced them, not only meeting those standards but exceeding them. This team has achieved something monumental in becoming both CIF Division I dual champions as well as winning CIF individuals as a team. We have also captured an individual state championship title. the first in over a decade, all while maintaining a 3.46 team GPA. We're here tonight to celebrate those accomplishments, but also to honor Women's History Month. In doing so, it is important to recognize the example put forth by this group of young women.
1:17:26Girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the nation, and while it has made tremendous strides over the years, the history of women's wrestling is still being written, and each and every one of these girls is a part of that. To this team, moments are fleeting, so remember to always cherish the small wins and each other. You have all played a role in this program's success, and your legacies have all been cemented in the history of Santa Ana High School. That is something to be proud of. To Santa Ana High School staff and administration, we appreciate your belief and continued support in us.
1:18:06to all of our other supporters from the school district to city council members, local businesses, sponsors, family and friends, you have all provided us strength with your encouragement and support. We hope that you will continue following this program because this is just the beginning. Our vision for this program holds endless possibilities for the young women and girls in this community. With your continued support, that vision is within reach. Go Saints!
1:18:45First, I would like to thank everybody who has supported us throughout this journey.
1:19:24Our school, families, friends, you know, this team really has brought in so much positivity to the community and I'm very grateful for everybody on this team. It's almost like I've been able to make a second family and you guys have a special place in my heart. So yeah.
1:19:32She's talking fires. The women have said it all. Thank you.
1:20:10I just, you know, I, we're going to take a group picture, but I can clearly see that there are a lot of parents here. And I just want to say, quiero decir en español muchas gracias por apoyar a sus hijos, por todo lo que hacen, para estar involucrados en sus vidas, creo que es muy importante. And again, I want to thank all the parents who are here. You know, that they live in any part of the city. Thank you very much.
1:20:17All right, congratulations Santa Ana High School.
1:21:19Okay, the-
1:21:25Thank you, all of you.
1:21:26Okay, our next student is
1:21:31Okay, our next presentation goes to the Santiago High School Women's Tennis Team presented by Councilmember Hernandez. If the Santiago High School Women's Tennis Team could please make their way behind the podium, we'd be honored to have you.
1:21:34Thank you very much.
1:21:54
If we can please put our hands together for the Santiago High School Women's Tennis Team.
1:21:56team.
1:22:05Well today, March 3rd, 2026, and we are in the beautiful month of March celebrating Women's History Month. Today is a very important day as we are celebrating women all throughout throughout Santa Ana and Orange County. As we celebrate Women's History Month, it is especially meaningful to recognize young women who are breaking barriers and leading the charge here in our beautiful city of Santa Ana. I'm very fortunate that across Ward 5, the district that I represent, there are students who are students to Santa Ana Unified and as well as students to Garden Grove Unified. And today, we are proud to recognize
1:22:18the student athletes of Santiago High School girls tennis team for an extraordinary 2025 season. Under the outstanding leadership of head coach Tony Tran, Santiago's girls tennis team achieved one of the best seasons in their program's history. The Cavaliers advanced to the CIF division eight playoffs and finished as runner-up, making the first CIF title game appearance in in Santiago's tennis history. The championship match was a true testament to this team's dedication, their determination, and resilience. It ended in a tie, with Santiago narrowly
1:22:57losing in the tiebreaker. That kind of finish speaks volumes about their competitive spirit, their grit, and their heart. Their success was not limited to how their team competed. On an individual level, the Cavaliers will always excel. Kimberly Tran and Thuy Vu captured the Grove League Doubles Championship. Tammy Hua and Emily Dua earned an impressive second place finish in the Grove League, all of which we should be proud of. These achievements reflect not only talent, but discipline, teamwork, and perseverance.
1:23:38These are the qualities that embody the very spirit that we are looking to honor during Women's History Month. To the players, you have represented your school, your families, your Santa Ana community. You've done so with pride and with excellence. You have set a new standard for Santiago tennis and women in your beautiful school and your community. you have inspired future generations of young women to pursue their goals with confidence. Congratulations again to the Santiago girls tennis team on a historic season we are incredibly proud of you. Let's put our hands together for them.
1:24:17And at this time I would like to invite team captain Kimberly Tran to come come forward and share a few words on behalf of the Cavaliers. Thank you.
1:25:03First off, I would like to thank my coach, who is unfortunately not here, Mr. Coach Tony Tran, who has stayed from 2 o'clock to 7 o'clock every single day during tennis season coaching us. So can we get a round of applause for that?
1:25:23And also, although this person was not recognized as a team member, I truly believe that they are the team MVP. This person has always been there for our games, and he gives us these snacks. And although they're small, they mean a lot to us. So I would just like to say thank you to my dad who came to every one to one of our games and something from our team
1:25:43Thank you Okay, and I want to leave with a little story It was the story of our game our last game of our season We had nine wins and nine losses a tie and in a in a match where every point mattered, all of our team fought to the very end. We lost by eight points, 71 to 78.
1:26:15And I'll be honest, the loss hurt and many tears were shed, but those tears proved to us that how much we cared and how much tennis really meant to each one of us. So when I look back now, I don't really see a loss, but a team with resilience and a team who made Santiago and GGUSD history. Thank you.
1:26:45Thank you very much and congratulations.
1:27:16We'll be starting in a few minutes. Yeah, we know. There.
1:27:28Ready?
1:27:32.
1:27:35. .
1:27:37Congratulations, ladies.
1:27:55Okay, our next presentation goes to Los Amigos High School Women's Water Polo Team. If you could please join us up here. And this presentation is being presented by Councilmember Phan.
1:28:03
Nice shirts, ladies.
1:28:25Come on up. up. Scooch in, don't stand so far though. I don't bite, I swear. Not really. Scooch in. Come on.
1:28:32Hi. Hello, everyone. My name is Ty Phan, and I went to Los Amigos High School, the best high school, right? You're supposed to say yes! Yes! As we celebrate Women's History Month, we all take pride in recognizing young women who are setting the standard for excellence in competition, in the classroom, and in our community. Today, we proudly honor the outstanding outstanding student athletes of Los Amigos High School's Girls Water Polo Team.
1:28:49The Lobos finished second in the Orange League and followed that accomplishment with an impressive two-game postseason run, truly a testament to their resilience, teamwork, and determination. This season, the team was led offensively by Natalie Almodor,
1:29:28who scored, okay, first of all, if you know anything about water polo, which I don't because I can barely swim and stay afloat, they have to float the whole time with their legs, right? Council Member Penelosa, you did water polo? Okay, so somehow, doing all that, Natalie scored an incredible 44 goals.
1:29:49She was supported by Chelsea Beltran with 23 goals and Lily Alacon with 19 goals.
1:30:13So really they were a very powerful trio that kept the Lobos competitive all season long. So defensively though, because you know you need a goalie, we have goalie Ailyn Garcia
1:30:28who anchored the Lobo defense with an outstanding 72 saves during the 25-26 campaign demonstrating poise and leadership in the cage. That's what they call it? A cage? Man, that's scary. I played volleyball. We don't do that. What makes this group even more remarkable is that many of these athletes were also part of the 2025 Girls Swim Team that captured the first Girls Swim League championship in school history. Their commitment to excellence spans multiple sports and continues to elevate the entire aquatics program. program. But beyond athletics, many members of this team are enrolled in the Early College
1:30:43Academy and AVID programs, proving that they are not only leaders in the pool, but in the classroom as well. Los Amigos is incredibly proud of this group of dedicated, hardworking, and driven young women, and they represent the true spirit of what it means to be a Lobo. And so along with my fellow Lobo, our assistant city clerk, Alcala, and also my chief of staff, Jessie Morales, who couldn't be here today because she's at a Gardner Grove Unified School District meeting in support of the Westside, all Lobo alums, let's congratulate the Los Amigos Girls Asquatics. We're proud to be
1:31:24Villalobos. And so at this time I'd like to invite Natalie Amador to come forward and share a few words on behalf of the team.
1:32:03Hello, good evening everyone. My name is Natalie Amador and I'm a Los Amigos girls water polo co-captain and as captain this year I'm proud to say our aquatics program creates strong and disciplined athletes who represent not not only our school, but our city with integrity. I can honestly say that this team is more than just a sport to me, it's a family. Throughout the years, I got closer to these girls more than I ever thought I would. We push each other to be better versions of ourselves, not only as athletes, but as students, leaders, and young adults. Even when games were so rough, we felt like giving up.
1:32:20We knew we would overcome it with the support of our teammates, coaches, families, and community. So on behalf of the whole Polo team, I want to sincerely thank you for recognizing us tonight. The countless hours of practice, teamwork, and perseverance is truly a group effort. Your recognition not only celebrates our achievements, but also pushes us to continue to represent our city with pride. We're honored and incredibly grateful for the acknowledgement. Thank you again for your support.
1:32:53We have our co-captain, Vicky. Would you like to say a few words? Okay. Hello, everybody. My name is Vicky Ha, and I am also the co-captain I'm the captain of the girls water polo team. I've been a part of the program for 14 years and honestly I can just say it's been a privilege to be able to get to know all these girls and to be able to foster an environment where we're all able to grow together mentally and physically. And this growth has definitely really played in our games as well where the trust and communication is really what allowed us to play so well. and I just want to thank you for having this recognition and I look
1:33:22forward to seeing how great we'll do in the future. Thank you.
1:34:02Not totally prepared but I do want to share with that girls water polo. I'm coach Kristy Montes I'm actually a Los Amigos alum as well. I'm old enough to be be your teacher but it's okay. Girls water polo didn't exist in the Garden Grove School District until about 2002 and I'm proud to say that I was one of the coaches that helped get that going and Los Amigos was the first school to win the first league championship for that league. So these girls have persevered a lot and I took a little bit break from coaching but the last is my fourth year back and for the last three years we have made it to CIF. We made it to semifinals,
1:34:12quarterfinals, and then this time just the second round. So we're due for a win one of these years coming up. But for our school it's really hard just in the sense that we don't have a pool that is regulation play. So we can't play our games at Los Amigos. We always have to either travel to other schools or La Quinta is our home school pool. So for these girls to accomplish what they they do playing in half the size of a facility that our games are twice as big, that they are very dedicated into their conditioning and learning the game. And for a lot of people who grew up in this area, just like me, I didn't know what water
1:34:54polo was at first until I went to high school. And these girls learn how to swim. They want to play, but I got to teach them how to swim first. so for them to accomplish what they have is huge, but none of them are afraid to do it. So I'm so proud of them, and thank you to the parents who have been supporting us. Our parent support has been growing every year, and I truly, truly appreciate it. Thank you.
1:35:34How big is the pool at Santa Anita?
1:36:04Is the pool at Santa Anita gonna be big enough for a girl's water polo? Oh, okay, well, we're gonna fix that.
1:36:08All right, ladies, let's go and get our picture.
1:36:15all right thank you ladies our final presentation of the night is by councilmember Vasquez recognizing the Valley High School women's basketball team so Valley High School basketball basketball team, if you could please join us up here.
1:36:57
Hey, what's up Valley Falcons? Let's start with the chat, you guys, I'm gonna do a call response, but you gotta yell it like you mean it. Que viva la mujer!
1:37:22Que viva la mujer!
1:37:30Que viva!
1:37:32Que viva!
1:37:33Que viva la mujer!
1:37:34Que viva!
1:37:35Que viva la mujer! Que viva la mujer! Que viva la mujer!
1:37:37That's right!
1:37:43Good evening, I'm Benjamin Vasquez, Benjamín Vasquez, and I'm a proud teacher at Valley High School, alumni at Valley High School, teacher of some of these beautiful young ladies, and so honored to be here today as we celebrate Women's History Month. We honor not only the trailblazers who paved the way for women's sports, but also the young athletes who are making history today in our own community. Today we are celebrating teams that have done exactly that. Our last team here is the Valley High School women's basketball team.
1:37:47This season marks the first league championship in eight years for the program as a testament to perseverance and teamwork and unwavering dedication. It's the first time in eight years and Lorraine Perez, Dr. Lorraine, can you come up real quick? Come up, come up, she's my boss.
1:38:22And she's part of this winning tradition that we're going to start here at Valley with the basketball team. Even more impressively is the first time in over 20 years that the team has gone undefeated in league play, an extraordinary accomplishment that reflects their discipline and competitive spirit. Son pelioneras, I know because I'm their teacher. And for the first time in more than two decades, they advanced to the second round of CIF competition, proving that their success extends well beyond league play. These milestones are more than statistics, they represent barriers broken, standards raised, and a new legacy being built.
1:38:42That is exactly what Women's History Month is about. Honoring progress, resilience, and continued pursuit of excellence. We are incredibly proud of all these student athletes for making history and inspiring the next generation of the young women leaders. With that, I also want to thank each coach from every school and from every sport. It means so much that you bring these young ladies together. It's not only a team, you create a family and a place for them to feel safe and a place for them to grow strong. So thank you to all the coaches from the bottom of my heart. With that, I'd like to bring Dr. Lorraine,
1:39:22can you say a few words on behalf?
1:39:59Thank you, thank you, thank you. So just really to all of our students, SAUSD students, I'm so proud of you and you're right, this is the beginning. There are all of these amazing things I'm not going to take away from the accomplishments tonight, but there's more to come. There are things happening right now tonight around some of our sporting events. And so just please watch what's happening in SAUSD. We are so proud of our students and thank you to our parents. We, you know, just a lot of gratitude for your trust in us and the work that we're doing together for our students. So thank you.
1:40:04And I'd also like to bring over the team captain to say a few words. Team captain, yes, she can come with you.
1:40:38That one too.
1:40:50Hi, my name is Jocelyn Guadalupe. I'm one of the captains of the Varsity basketball team. And I want to say that I'm really proud of this team and everything we accomplished this season. Like we didn't just win league, we went undefeated and that took like a hard, a lot of hard work and sacrifice from us and making it to second round SCF was something that has not been accomplished in like many years and it's something we are very proud of and I mean though it was cut short it was a great season and I will never forget the practices and the feeling accepting on the court together knowing we had each other's backs.
1:40:52Hi my name is Jasleen and I want to say what made this season special isn't just the wins but the way we grew together and became a family we pushed each other supported each other and represented our school with pride no one can take away what we've achieved league champs undefeated and cif competitors that's something we'll always carry with us and i also want to say thank you to our coaches and all our past ones who believed in us pushed us and holding us to a higher standard even when it wasn't easy lastly i want to thank vasquez for giving us the opportunity
1:41:27to stand here and celebrate all the women in sports who have impacted the community.
1:42:01One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.
1:42:42One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.
1:42:58Congratulations, ladies. Again, let's give a round of applause to every women's team that came to join us here tonight.
1:43:14We are now done with presentations. you're more than welcome to stay and see you know government in progress but we are done with the presentations and moving on to the public calendar public comment everyone now this is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non agenda items met sure alright well we'll let the chamber clear out
1:43:24Thank you.
1:43:56Councilmember Pham and Councilmember Hernandez.
1:44:41No, not, not. All right, Madam Clerk, we will now continue. This is the time of the meeting of the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers.
1:44:49Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Pursuant to resolution number 2025-004, speakers are...
1:45:06pursuant to resolution number 2025-004 speakers are requested to address the city council directly and to refrain from profane language racial epitaphs and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting pursuant to the brown act the city council may not enter into discussion at this time speakers will have three minutes for their comments
1:45:24before calling speakers i'll report the summary of emails provided as of today by 3.30 p.m. We received a total of 27 e-comments. 11 were on non-agenda topics, one for item number 9, 14 for item number 16, and one for item number 19. We'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the Council Chamber, followed by those on the conference call or Zoom to provide their comments on agenda or non-agenda items. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. We'll be calling three names at a time. When you hear your name, if you could please line up in the aisle way
1:45:48behind the center podium. First three speakers, Craig Kessler, Claudia Pinedo, and Juby Pinedo.
1:46:18Mayor Emeska, members of the council, my name is Craig Kessler, and I don't reside in a neighborhood in Santa Ana. I'm actually the executive director of an organization called the California Alliance for Golf, which is the organization of the organizations. I'm here tonight for a couple of reasons. The first is the obvious one, really to support item number 16 and to honor the fact that your park director called me a couple of months ago on the advice of another city manager in Orange County and had a very, very ambitious plan to fast-track something. And I'll admit, when I got off the phone, I thought, no way.
1:46:43Well, obviously a way, so I commend. But I'm also here tonight. I woke up in Temecula, and I'll be in Palm Desert early tomorrow morning. And I generally deal with things in Sacramento on a statewide level. But I know that cities like this often think of people like me, and I've been a USGA committee member, I'm on a national PGA committee, as all we care about is the Masters and the US Open and the great golf courses and the great championships. championships. What I'm here to tell you, and maybe the fact that I'm here tonight, is that
1:47:19golf courses like Riverview that are in this city, they're the heart, they're the soul, they're far more important to us than those places and those championships. Because that's, we understand, that's where our game is born, that's where it grows, and that's where it will either live or die. I'll admit, I've looked at Riverview over the years and I've always had my fingers crossed and worried a little bit that it might go the way of the dustbin of history. So this item and looking at the proposal, looking at the contract, looking at sort of the community spirit that suffuses that whole thing,
1:47:49I want to let you know, and I know the Southern California Golf Association is in the house here tonight, call on us. We want to help you more than those championships. We want to assist you. We want to bring value to it. that you've shown a great commitment to the game and to the community in which this golf course is located. And I think the least we can do is, I think the timer's not on, but I'm just about finished. Or maybe I am finished, who knows? So anyway, but thanks for doing that. And I'll get back to, this is important to us.
1:48:23Thank you, yes. While we address the timer on the screen issue, we do have the timer counting down on our side. We are able to see it. So if you're getting close, we can chime in and let you know once until we can get it fixed on the screen. Next speaker, Claudia Pinedo, Juby Pinedo, and Sylvia Pinedo.
1:48:57Hello, council members. My name is Claudia.
1:49:18Excuse me, Claudia. Can you please step closer to the mic and make sure you're speaking directly into it? And you can move it if you. Is that better? Yeah. Okay.
1:49:22Sounds good. Thank you.
1:49:28Of course. Thank you.
1:49:29Again, hello. And my name is Claudia. and I grew up in Santa Ana and I am a Roadrunner alumni. My three daughters, husband and I have been practicing and playing golf at Riverview since 2020. During the pandemic, it was the only place that you can play sports. Riverview means a lot to our family and our community. This is a beautiful and safe golf course that offers the opportunity for inner-city kids especially girls to play
1:49:31golf for the very first time I want to say thank you to Steve and Maggie who have been serving our community for over 30 years and I also want to thank Parks and Recreation for all the hard work and efforts they put in we ask that you can please approve item number 16 thank you for your time
1:50:07Next speaker, Juvie Pinedo.
1:50:33Good evening. Council members, mayor, thank you for your time tonight. And my name is Juvie Pinedo. Currently live in Santa Ana, born and raised in Santa Ana, also a roadrunner, Class of 94. And I am too here also to ask that you guys support Item 16 on the agenda. As an avid golfer myself and a golf girl dad, it's a great way for the kids to get out, and this golf represents so much for the community. What better way
1:50:38to segment it with Women's Sports Month today? And so I ask that you really look at that and approve that contract. It's a great agreement. I've read through it word by word. The course code is such a perfect fit for the community, for the up and coming golfers in the community, the high schools in the community, and we hope that you guys approve item 16. Thank you.
1:51:14Sylvia Pinedo followed by Camila Loren Pinedo and Gilbert Sanchez.
1:51:44Hi, my name is Sylvia Pinedo. I am eight years old, and I've been playing golf since I was two years old. I really like the sport because it's a sport for every age, and anyone can play it. I really like the workers there. They're very nice, and the food is delicious.
1:51:51There's a lot of nature there. there, like pretty much every single time we go there, we see a red-tailed hawk and And...
1:52:15And please support item 16. Thank you for your time.
1:52:57Hello everyone. My name is Camila Loren Pinedo and I am 13 years old and today and I have been a Santa Ana resident for 11 years and have been playing at Riverview Golf Course ever since I was seven years old. I love this golf course because the employees are extremely kind and happy and encouraging and the food is very tasty and it's extremely convenient for my family and I because it's five minutes from our home and it's filled with so much nature and majestic birds. The coaches are very fun and helpful and encouraging which strengthens our golf
1:53:10golf game and please approve this item 16. Thank you for your time everyone.
1:53:51Gilbert Sanchez, Sarah Perez, Martha Molina.
1:54:03Hello everyone. My name is Gilbert Sanchez. I've lived and worked in Santa Ana for most of my life. I love my job. It's always been in retail and customer service. Currently, I am in the cannabis industry and currently I just want to bring to your attention the acquisition of Planet 13 transitioning over to Catalyst and kind of the what happened with that. What ended up happening is that a lot of the workers there were not treated right, without dignity, without respect. People showed up on their last day not knowing if they had a job the very next day. People who had families to feed,
1:54:10mothers, fathers, all kinds of people who ended up losing their job due to the lack of leadership from Planet 13 and also from Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis. I just bring this up because I know that as they look to expand as Catalyst goes and gobbles up more and more dispensaries, creating a monopoly, asking for more smoke lounges and for more outside events, I just want to bring your attention that they have not acted in good faith when bargaining with unions to protect the workers from such actions. They've definitely sidelined and halted negotiations on multiple occasions. And so please, just, I'm here today to ask that you stand
1:54:43with the workers of Santa Ana and that you do everything you can. When they come to you with these requests for lounges and smoking areas, please enforce that they come to the bargaining table with their union so that way workers can have dignity and respect and enough to feed their families. Thank you so much.
1:55:23Sarah Perez, followed by Martha Molina and Gay Olivos.
1:55:45Hello, good evening. My name is Sarah Perez, and although I don't reside in Santa Ana, I do work or have worked in Santa Ana. I have had two cannabis jobs in Santa Ana where I have been exploited as a worker. worker. The first being in a facility called Modern Leaf. I was worked over so many hours and tossed aside afterwards when I reached my breaking point. When I came to Planet 13, I felt like I had found somewhere that I could stay for a while, only to find out that I
1:55:52was hired on six months before they were to be laid off, which was very upsetting for for me and my family. So I just hope that as Gilbert said, you please reach out to these companies and make sure that although they are a company for wellness, make sure that they are also spreading wellness and they are taking care of their employees and serving their city with respect and kindness. Thank you.
1:56:30Martha Molina, followed by Gay Olivos and Dale Helvig.
1:57:00Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Martha Molina. I'm the president of the Riverview Neighborhood Association. I'm here to support item number 16, the agreement with Course Co. Incorporated. You may remember we've been on this for several years now. We fully support a golf course in our neighborhood, but we're much more excited that there will be a new operator there. there. The potential in the agreement that I read certainly shows room for a lot of improvement.
1:57:03Yes, the current operator has put in a lot to it, but we certainly could use help with neighbour concerns. But we fully support a golf course. We're very grateful to city staff and the city manager's office for all the work that's been put into this agreement. agreement. We had asked if the money that's made at the golf course could remain at the golf course to invest in capital improvements and we're very grateful that the staff has worked so hard to develop an enterprise fund that does just that. So making it a revenue generator for the city.
1:57:40We also like the fact that the operator will focus more on youth golf, incorporating the seniors, more community events there at the golf course, which we certainly could benefit from. And so we... And here we also have a board member here. Our other board member is busy. Her daughter is in women's sports and they made CIF for soccer, so that's why she's not here. here, but we strongly, and other neighbourhoods have also supported us from West Floral Park as you could see, Morrison Park, Casa de Santiago as well are very supportive of having this golf course.
1:58:22It's also one of the least expensive golf courses in the general area and so a lot of people come from other areas which help us because then it generates more tax for the city. I know quite a few friends from Tustin, even West Covina, my brother-in-law comes and golfs here, and then they come and eat lunch at the golf course. And so we fully support this very beneficial asset to the full community, not just Riverview neighborhood, to Santa Ana as a whole. And then again, in terms of the golf world, and I'm really grateful to the large organizations
1:59:00that are supportive. I'm certainly not an expert at golf courses, but I'm grateful that the larger or organizations that came today to speak to support us do see it as a benefit as we do. And we all, you know, are going to learn golf. So we're hoping to see you out there. And support item 16. Thank you so much.
1:59:36Gay Olivos, Dale Helvig, Chris Hamm.
1:59:59Is the timer on? Yeah, okay. You're gonna tell me go? Yeah, okay, go. Okay. My name is Gail Levos. I come from Ward 5. And many of you know who I am and how my family is deeply rooted in the city of Santa Ana.
2:00:05And bravo, Vasquez, for recognizing women's athleticism. That is awesome. I am class of 1979. I'm a saint. So I'm not embarrassed to say that. But when I was going to school, we didn't have women wrestlers. So that is terrific. I like to wrestle a few people in my life right now, actually, to be quite honest with you. And then we have the Women's Water Polo, which is just amazing to me. So bravo for all the athletes, female athletes this evening. But I'm not coming to speak to you about the women athletes tonight. I'm coming to speak regarding the One Broadway Plaza.
2:00:21It has surfaced again after 20 some years. And I was part of the original...
2:00:56Oh, I can't find the right adjective to say, but I was part of the original team that kind of was
2:01:03was against the one Broadway Plaza and I've still remained against the one Broadway Plaza. The developer Mike Harrah, also known as Caribou Industries, caused division within the city 20 plus years ago. Many of you are probably barely out of college maybe, maybe not even able to vote for Measure A, I'm not really sure, but a lot of friendships were fragmented and some of those
2:01:08Those friendships to this day are still fragmented for various reasons, for council members accepting
2:01:34PAC money, for members of council members flying to Hawaii on Caribou's jet for condominiums, and the list goes on and on.
2:01:39Mr. Herrod was very smart in doing that. What he did was he divided and conquered. And without a doubt, this is going to occur again. again. At the last Sunshine meeting, he led the audience to believe that this team here in front of me were behind him. He led the audience to believe that it's a done deal, and we know that it's not. So I want to just keep the conversation going, the discussion. I will be visiting more with City Council as we start working more towards when I see them on the agenda and we start getting together with the teams that I'm working with in opposition
2:01:49of this conflict of this building you know that I love Santa Ana I'm not a developer I'm no longer a business owner and I'm not a 501c3 I'm just a mother grandmother and I am a coach I want to leave a better Santa Ana not only for my children but now my grandchildren and all of you should too I meant one day you guys will be grandparents I also wanted to mention before I before my My seconds are coming down. OK, hurry up. Make sure that the developer advises all this community about this development. He didn't do it last time.
2:02:25And a lot of people weren't able to access the Teams platform that he uses. I'm running out of time. So I'll see you soon. Thank you. I'll see you on the golf course as well. Thank you.
2:03:03Good evening. Dale Helvig, Ward 3. Good to see you guys again. I am in support of item 16. Seeing the smile on those kids' faces when they were talking about playing golf is, I think, all you need to see. Golf is important. I think it's a sport that is for all ages, the young, the old. I remember reading just a couple weeks ago this guy, 106, got a hole in one. Well, I'm still waiting for mine, and I've been playing a lot of golf, so maybe I'll get it before I get to 106, I hope.
2:03:19So anyway, my congratulations to all the student athletes tonight. It was a great night to see all of those people honored. And I'm hoping that one of these days in the future with the new management team that's in there that's supporting youth golf, we see some of the high schools represented in CIF and we can give the other more affluent schools in Tustin a run for their money in golf and bring home a CIF championship in golf one of these days. So thank you very much and have a good night, folks.
2:03:59Next three speakers, Chris Hamm, Jennifer Rice, Morris Thomas.
2:04:37Jennifer Rice, Morris Thomas, Xavier Martinez.
2:04:45Jennifer Rice.
2:04:59Hi everybody. Thank you. I'm here also in support of number 16. I am a homeowner in the Riverview neighborhood and although I don't play golf, I very much enjoy that we have a golf course because it raises my property value and it makes people want to stay in my neighborhood. I mean, houses rarely go for sale in Riverview because people know what a special neighborhood it is and I read through this proposal and it seems that the company that would be taking over management really feels that about their communities and that's what i would like someone who will be a
2:05:06partner with us as a community because we are a special community and i hope that yours you will support and vote yes and make it better for all of us and i agree i also want titles for our first nana's golf teams and as someone who graduated in the 90s seeing all these women's sports amazing no options for that so i just wanted to say thank you for appreciating them too have a great night
2:05:41morris thomas followed by xavier martinez and anthony felix
2:06:10hello mayor council my name is morris thomas and i am the manager of public affairs at the southern california golf association i just wanted to first say thank you so much i worked as a staffer for a while in sacramento for a council member and i appreciate all that you do and i understand all the hard work it takes on the back end as well and i'm here to speak on item 16 i won't make it long i want to just echo everything that craig kessler said earlier he's with the california alliance for golf we are part of that coalition as well and if there's anything that we can help you with
2:06:15we i know i'm not from the area but we do represent about 220 000 members and that includes members facilities and all golfers so if there's anything that we can do to assist with with any questions you have youth programming anything relationships with course go as well we'd be willing to help you out so thank you so much for having here today and just really glad to see all the support here today thank you
2:06:47good evening council my name is Xavier Martinez and I'm a resident of Ward five here in Santa Ana. I'm a member of the Santa Ana Active Streets Youth Club at Santa Ana High School. I am in 10th grade and I walk to get to school and do my daily errands. Throughout the years of walking I have faced an issue of flooded streets and sidewalks despite light rain because of a lack of flood drains. This not only poses as an inconvenience to walkers and bikers but also poses as a risk of injury. Many of these people are families and kids who face the same issue since many people in my neighborhood have to use public
2:07:20public streets, as well as public transportation. I urge the city council to add more flood drains to our cities for the convenience and safeties of families and children who lack access to vehicles. I also ask that you consider improving my neighborhood of Willard neighborhood by adding more recreational facilities and parks to the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. Currently, my neighborhood is a concrete jungle and the lack of green space makes the neighborhood less appealing and environmentally sustainable. Adding these facilities would improve the community and environment of my neighborhood,
2:07:52giving the youth more fun recreational activities and the residents a chance to be outside of the home in beautiful open space. Thank you, council, for your attention. I hope that you will consider my feedback and listen to my concerns about the safety of youth like myself as we get to school. And I ask that you will come to my neighborhood and support local efforts to improve the quality of life of our residents. Thank you very much.
2:08:22Next three speakers, Anthony Felix, followed by Adrian H., and Dorian Romero.
2:08:50Hello, council members. I am Anthony Felix. Currently, I live in Willard Ward 5, and I am a member of Santa Ana Active Streets. I'm an 11th grader at Santa Ana High School. I usually walk or skate to school. I wanted to know if there are any current plans to level the sidewalks, as I have encountered I've been very close to falling or have actually fallen near the street. So I would like to request an expansion of the sidewalk and the leveling of the streets. Furthermore, I wanted to bring to mind an event from two years ago or one where my school
2:08:57personally had a budget cut with a lot of layoffs, around $180 million in layoffs to be exact. while the superintendent Jerry Almendrez had a 3% salary increase. So I would like the council to please make sure that public funds are being properly allocated. That's it. Thank you for your time.
2:09:35Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I am from Ward 2. My name is Adrian Hernandez and I am a Saint from Santa Ana High School.
2:10:08Sorry, I'm nervous.
2:10:21And also part of the Active Streets program at Santa Ana High School for the youth. I'd like to briefly highlight the importance of expanding community art programs for creating neighborhoods. for our neighborhood because investing in creativity helps the youth engage in strength, local identity, and build safer, more connected environments for Santa Ana. Also, I'd like to congratulate the teams that were here today for the different sports and environments they came from. Thank you.
2:10:24Dorian Romero, followed by Scott Hamm and Ana Gallardo.
2:11:01Good evening, Mayor and Council. Oh, the Mayor's not there. My name is Dorian Romero, Project Director at Santa Ana Active Streets, a community-based organization that aims to create safe, sustainable, and accessible mobility options for everyone in Santa Ana. We achieve this through public education, local advocacy, and community activation. And I'm so proud of our youth club members that just braved it out and used their voice to come make public comment. It was great to hear the council vocalize your support at the previous council meeting for the First Street Multimodal Boulevard study.
2:11:07A study for a project that will transform the almost three mile First Street corridor from Bristol Street to Tustin Avenue into a vibrant corridor that prioritizes safety, connectivity and accessibility for all modes of travel, regardless of age or ability.
2:11:43First Street Multimodal Boulevard study is a clear implementation step for Santa Ana's Vision Zero commitment, built on the principle that traffic deaths and serious injuries are are preventable through systemic changes to street design, speed management, and multimodal access. By transforming First Street into a corridor that slows vehicles to safe speeds, improves crossings, and provides comfortable facilities for people walking, biking, using mobility devices, and riding transit, the city is putting Vision Zero into action on one of its major streets. We believe projects like this one
2:12:01will help ensure that residents of all ages and ability can travel safely to schools, jobs, services, and transit without risking their lives. It is shocking to learn that from 2023 to 2025, Santa Ana documented 48 fatalities to bicyclists and pedestrians. We should all be shocked, and we should all be eager to do something about it. We need to see this as an urgent matter because one death is too many deaths. The 55% of your constituents that do not own a vehicle are often the most vulnerable to these incidences of traffic violence. Elderly people, youth, working class individuals traveling at peak hours of the day.
2:12:39I'm here today with our youth club members and SASS participants to urgently ask that you work towards making Santa Ana a healthy, walkable, and bikeable city. We all have a shared responsibility in this and we need to stop blaming the victims. Death and serious injuries are unacceptable. Humans make mistakes and humans are vulnerable. So we all have a responsibility. Stand with us in making Santa Ana that thriving city that is people-oriented versus car-centric. I respectfully ask that you continue to champion this project and future projects and secure the funding needed to bring a safe, walkable,
2:13:21multi-modal first street to reality. Thank you.
2:14:01Before the next speaker continues, just wanted to offer a point of clarification for the public record. The mayor is present. She's participating virtually so that the public's aware. Thank you.
2:14:09Go ahead. Good evening. My name is Scott Hamm. I'm in Ward 6 and I wanted to speak on a non-agenda item, which is the first street multimodal Boulevard study. And I wanted to advocate for moving forward with the safest option as soon as we possibly can on this. And I wanted to illustrate how dangerous the street is. I heard a lot of data and a really good presentation last week and I was really excited about that.
2:14:19So we have had a Vision Zero plan since 2016.
2:14:48And that's awesome. A lot of cities don't have this. It's a commitment to residents that we're not okay with people dying on our streets.
2:14:55But First Street is incredibly dangerous. So since we approved the Vision Zero Plan or adopted our Vision Zero Plan, the Safe Mobility Plan in 2016, there have been 29 people killed walking or biking on First Street in St. Anna. That's horrifying. So again, 29 people have been killed. So, you know, we need to redesign the street to accommodate people safely. And again, there's a ticking clock. You know, if we don't do anything, we should expect
2:15:04the street with the same design to continue to kill people. So I ask you to to please consider concept number two, the enhanced bicycle and pedestrian concept, and try to move forward this project as soon as we can. Thank you.
2:15:46Anna Gallardo, followed by Victor Mendez and Paul Nagel.
2:16:07Anna Gallardo, Vice President, Riverview Neighborhood Association Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Anna, and I am the Vice President of the Riverview Neighborhood Association, Association, and I'm here to discuss and to support item 16, which is the Riverview Golf Course. So, I am a 40 plus year resident of Riverview. I not only grew up there, but I also bought a home in the Riverview Association because my dad said, hey, there's a home there, look at it. And I did and I bought it. So I've seen this community grow and I want to emphasize the positive impacts of keeping keeping the Riverview, keeping the golf course
2:16:13in the Riverview as is. We do look forward to the community events for our neighborhood in regards to the golf course. So we had a lovely presenter come and speak to us and tell us all about the golf course and what they may or may not have. So, and all the great things they're gonna do. So I'm here as a representative of our neighborhood to support the adoption of this item and it's item 16. Thank you everyone.
2:16:49Good evening. Victor Mendez, Ward 3. A couple of comments. I passed out these buttons today to some of the young ladies that were getting rewarded. I had a bunch of them at home. And here's an interesting observation that I caught. Every one of them said thank you. And I think it's something that says a lot about how they're raised and the type of people there are. And And I think the guys can kind of learn from that. But every single one of them said thank you. And I thought it was pretty cool. Not every one of them. That was great, and I wish them well. I think a few of them expressed interest in UCLA.
2:17:24They're going to be applying, which is great. UCLA needs more Santa Ana. And I think Santa Ana needs a little UCLA, which is what I'm working on along that way. Is this fading out? Excuse me. It keeps fading out. Is it okay? Okay. So I've been able to secure a lecture over at Samuel O'Connemy with one of the leading astrophysicists in the country. He's a UCLA professor that I met a couple of weeks ago. And so he's coming out to Santa Ana to give a lecture to an engineering four class. And he seems very enthused about it. There's discussions about bringing some opera out here, some jazz.
2:17:58I met the dean of music who's new here. He's from New York. and he really is interested in coming out here and sampling our food and our culture so I think there'll be some good things coming out here the other thing is I spoke with a gentleman today he's getting his PhD in astrophysics at Brown University and he is a Santa Ana resident and he expressed an interest in coming back to Santa Ana to live and so I said well I think between me and my my good professor friend at UCLA, we're going to do all we can to find him a nice job and hopefully he'll be living here.
2:18:38So all this is very positive. These are the type of things that help us drive economic development. The other thing that drives economic development is good streets and good infrastructure. So once again, I encourage you to approve the first street project that's been carved out and identified by staff under the multimodal project. It's a clear option. ready to go i think it's 90 design um first street from at least from uh grand to tustin is very clean it's presenting it's very stable but it could use some help and there's businesses that
2:19:18are vacant so this is a good time to act and the more you wait the less that's how the opportunity evaporates so things are ready and i can't see a reason why you should delay that um along that way I certainly am going to be circling a petition to kind of remind you of your job in that respect, and also to show you my great love and affection for all of you, so you can look forward to that in the near future. Thank you.
2:19:53Paul Nagel.
2:20:24Good evening. Good evening. My name is Paul Nagel. I'm a project director of the bicycle tree here at 17th and Flower in Santa Ana. I came here to speak with regard to the Full Street Multimodal Plan or options that were presented in the last meeting on the 17th. And I understand you all are still considering the options and how to move forward on that. I just wanted to share that I come here not just as a bicyclist, as someone who's been doing the bicycle tree here in the city for 12 years full time and beyond that with other activities and stuff.
2:20:31And I've lived at different places in Santa Ana and done lots of bike rides through Santa Ana.
2:21:11But I'm also someone who has walked around a lot of places and often prefers to walk. I used to live a mile from the shop and I didn't want to bring my bike up and down the stairs to my apartment, so it's nice to walk through.
2:21:19And I'd have to jaywalk across First Street to go eat tacos across the street late at night. And I know that when you've got wide open streets late at night, it becomes a raceway for vehicles and can feel very unsafe. I think it's just important for the Council to consider while looking at this, and I thank you for your previous comments and for considering the safety of Santa Ana residents as the top guiding principle in this.
2:21:34I just think it's important to think about when prioritizing speed versus safety. that you know who is it fast for who if the speed streets are just for cars moving through quickly you know who's the city for who are the streets for and and who is it quick for it's not not quick when you're on a trying to walk somewhere and it's not safe and you have to you know walk extra distance to get to a crossing it's not safe if you get hit and injured and and have your day a week or life ruined. It's not safe if cars are driving recklessly and they
2:22:08crash and damage our buildings and people get shipped off to the hospital. So think about all these impacts that come up when people are just racing through the streets with these fast vehicles. You know, we want the city to be uplays worth slowing down for and safe to live in. So good to prioritize that. Thank you.
2:22:49Mayor, Mayor Potemkin, City Council, that concludes the public speakers that are present. We have one speaker on Zoom. When unmuted, please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the City of Santa Ana for the record. !
2:23:20is an environmental justice neighborhood. That means our residents already experience limited access to green space and higher environmental impacts. Access to a neighborhood park is not optional. It's a matter of equity. In 2023, we learned about the 10th and Flower Park. While appreciated, it does not adequately serve Washington Square. It is across a busy street, and nearly half of our neighborhood would need to walk more than half a mile to reach it. For seniors, young families, and residents with mobility limitations, that is not truly accessible. Our community asked for something simple, nothing extravagant.
2:24:01These requests are documented in the feasibility study submitted on September 16th. And by the way, thank you for pushing that feasibility study through and getting it on the agenda. That item was received and filed on September 16th, last year. and there it has remained. The feasibility study outlines three viable scenarios with cost estimates and conceptual plans. Yes, the asking price is high, but no one has initiated negotiations. No one has explored alternatives. The city of Santa Ana has property that could potentially
2:24:38be part of a land swap with a seller of that piece of land for the desired park. The city has experienced negotiators but yet no conversation has begun we've attempted to work through the appropriate channels our ward 5 representative agreed to speak at our general meeting to to discuss next steps but was unable to attend since then repeated calls and emails to his office have gone unanswered i am here tonight because our residents deserve engagement communication and representation on an issue that directly affects our neighborhood our quality of life Three years is long enough. Washington Square has done its part. We're asking
2:25:14this council collectively to ensure that our neighborhood is not overlooked any longer. Please move this forward when the 2026-27 budget process is instituted and thank you. We look forward to continuing to partner with you.
2:25:55Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council that concludes the public speakers this
2:26:14this evening thank you for that madam clerk now we move on to the consent calendar items consent calendar items number 7 through 19 are before us council members please announce any items that you will be abstaining from due to a conflict and if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion please do so now I would like to personally pull item 16. Make a motion to move the items. I have a motion by Councilmember Hernandez. Second. And a second by Councilmember Vasquez. Madam Clerk, can we
2:26:16please have a roll call? Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Councilmember Vasquez to approve consent calendar items 7 through 19 with the exception of item number 12 which was removed from the agenda and item number 16 which has been pulled for separate discussion and consideration council member becerra yes council member hernandez yes council member lopez yes council member fan yes council member vasquez yes mayor pro tempinoza yes mayor mesqua yes seven eyes no nays motion carries consent calendar items
2:26:54approved thank you madam clerk now we move on to item 16 which was pulled uh this is exciting i I just want to first of all, this is an agreement with for the Riverview Golf Course. Thank every speaker that came in today to speak in support of this item. This is exciting. I know that the last, I want to say, what, five years now, it's this golf course has been, you know, back and forth in regards to just community discussions. And I know we even had a previous mayor who wanted to make it a park in this area, which would have killed this neighborhood to have a park of this size in your neighborhood.
2:27:27but I'm excited to support this excited to bring this forward and and have it before us now I want to thank city staff because what we've seen over the last years and just heard a lot of is the concerns that come with the golf course that's natural concerns and this is gonna provide better oversight this is gonna provide better ability for us as a city to move forward with any any maintenance that's needed. Mr. City Manager, can you talk a little bit about that, just of the ability that it's gonna give us as a city to have greater oversight over the maintenance
2:28:03and potential to have these investments and capital improvements?
2:28:44
So again, thank you for bringing this item up. The objective is to meet with this new company as many of the speakers suggested, Coruscant, Cole who has a very good reputation in the industry as far as having managed and upgraded some of our from the golf courses and has a great experience in municipal golf courses so for us we are bringing a new player for lack of a better way of saying it that allows us to help us find some of the aspects and and opportunities that review can present so we are looking to probably in the future make some level of investment this company has already made some
2:28:50observations. Most of the positive components is it's a great site, it's highly visited, highly accessible. And so for us, we are looking to make some level of investment and take better opportunities for review. Some of the stuff that also I included mentioned that some of the report is not just the golf component, but also taking advantage of the space for items that the community can benefit. Many times we talk about wedding venues, opportunities like gatherings, like that community events maybe even expand and improve our restaurant there so again we're very
2:29:30open-minded we're very fortunate to have an opportunity to make some investment and hopefully
2:30:07generate some benefits for this community thank you for that mr city manager no this is very exciting um i know that just personally my nieces uh were part of the samueli academy golf uh club club that they had over there and they'd travel back and forth to this golf course to to practice and and and and so this is exciting to see it's exciting to see how this sport is growing amongst our community and especially our our youth and and our young ladies like my nieces and the ones who spoke uh here tonight but this is exciting and i'm excited to support um this
2:30:12This, I know that currently, again, the concerns with the netting, if there's possible to, as we move forward with this agreement, we have serious conversations about the improvements that are needed to increase that netting throughout whatever is along the neighborhood perimeter. and also I know currently there's a lot of debris as well along the sides of just trees that have been removed and fallen and that debris has been lingering there for months, so if we could work with that as well as we move, as we transition into this new operator. But with that, I will happily make a motion to approve.
2:30:47And if any of my colleagues have, I have a second by Council Member Vazquez.
2:31:29I second, yes, and comment as well.
2:31:33Perfect. Go ahead, Council Member Vazquez.
2:31:35And thank you to the staff for bringing this back to us. We're going to conserve the neighborhood and we're going to improve the site. That's very visionary and I applaud the staff for bringing this to us and taking this action. Thank you.
2:31:37Absolutely. Council Member Lopez?
2:31:52Yeah, I want to thank Parks Director Huck Scott. Obviously, this is...
2:31:53You know, I know you've met with many of our residents over these past, I would say, four, three years. Our office and the city managers, you know, you guys get the emails that I get about broken windows, golf balls hitting cars. And so the purpose here is that if we're able to have much better oversight, we are able to, you know, hopefully prevent some of those issues from happening. and by investing and better netting the different issues that we've heard throughout the couple years. So I just want to thank the Parks Department, our director, the community, of course,
2:32:02and, of course, the City Manager's Office for making sure that this all happened tonight. And I want to thank our future partners as well. So thank you for your support and thank you for your partnership.
2:32:38Thank you, Council Member Lopez. is i know one of the speakers even mentioned it that when he heard of the the the timeline that hawk presented he was still kind of like i don't think that's but you were able to pull it off so thank you parks and rec uh with that uh any other speakers i know i have mayor amesco who's wanting
2:32:50to comment uh is she on mayor yes mayor part-time i'm on thank you i just want to thank the city staff avril the city manager and his staff for making this happen i don't know if the community is aware and it sounded like most of them are but the city of Santa Ana acquired this property in 1964 and that's a long time for us to have this property so and it's been we've had it there as a golf course the community loves it it's grown it's changed our community has grown and they we have also changed as you had indicated Mayor Pro Temp we have a lot of our youth that are interested in
2:33:07golf and I think it's a wonderful thing as well so I 100 support this and I'm looking forward to the new company coming in expanding making changes that will benefit the community and i loved hearing from the residents tonight and the children and the youth coming up and talking about their golf experiences so i hear i have to take golf lessons soon so i'm looking forward to it but thank you and i will be supporting this item thank you mayor and we're going to make sure you put that and you need a use uh council members we're going to use it mayor pro tem
2:33:43Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I want to thank members of the public for their public comments today. I represent Ward 5, which is border to Riverview. Many of the residents who live in the Santa Anita community are adjacent to Riverview. I have seen mixed results from the public. I've seen residents who love Riverview, and I've seen residents who struggle with golf balls that may hit their windows or their cars. I have also seen an abundance of residents come to my office sharing concerns that this location is not accessible enough. I would implore my colleagues, all of us here want to see that improve.
2:34:17We want to see significant improvements in who has access to Riverview. But I do want to also remind my colleagues in 2023, our congressional representative, Luke Correa, who represents the 46th district here, committed to working with the city on on creating a regional park to protect this property, Riverview, from ever becoming an extension of Route State 57, our freeway. The potential that there could be a toll road that can run through this property, not today, but in the years to come, is a very real fear that residents have. This fear has existed for decades, so much so that there was the Santa Ana River Conservancy
2:34:57as a branch of the state coastal conservancy, which aim to enhance recreational resources along the waterway. Given that there are significant concerns, we are a park port community, and this would allow us to be in alignment with our parks master plan. I am very concerned that having a golf course this size while also not making additional amenities to support residents who may live adjacent to this course who are not golfers.
2:35:37I'm speaking about playground equipment, amenities that can help seniors, people who maybe are not as able-bodied, people who maybe are looking for crochet or programs that can accommodate seniors. We want to see these properties utilize services that are accessible to everybody. I do think that there are some challenges that present themselves here. So out of abundance of caution, I would like to continue this item. I'll put a sub motion on the floor to allow us to to look at to working with our congressmen working with supervisor Vicente Sarmiento to identify Ways this can be a regional park so that we can increase
2:36:07Park access and green space for our residents while also ensuring that there's a golf course for residents to utilize. Thank you
2:36:50Thank You councilman Hernandez councilmember Becerra or fan no Okay. I have a motion by myself and a second by Councilmember Vasquez. Madam Clerk, would you please?
2:36:59Yes. There was the sub-motion made by Councilmember Hernandez to continue the item, but I did not hear a second to that. So, barring a second, we revert to your original motion, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez, to approve the recommended actions for item 16, an agreement with Santa Ana Golf LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Course Co. Inc. for Riverview Golf Course Management Services, and two appropriation adjustments. adjustments? Council Member Becerra? Yes. Council Member Hernandez? No. Council Member Lopez? Yes. Council Member Phan? Yes. Council Member Vasquez? Yes. Mayor Pro Tempino-Losa? Yes. Mayor Meskwa?
2:37:13Yes. Vote is six ayes, one nay. Nay by Council Member Hernandez. Motion carries.
2:37:49Okay, the next item, so that takes care of the consent calendar, now we move on to item number 20, is the fiscal year 25-26 mid-year budget update. Mr. City Manager, may we please have the staff presentation.
2:37:58Yes. Executive Director of Finance and Management Services, Mr. Alex Tridad will help us with that.
2:38:18Okay. Good evening, Mayor and City Council Members. So this is going to be a brief presentation and IT'S INFORMATION FOR OUR MID-YEAR UPDATE REPORT.
2:38:38SO CITY COUNCIL IS ASKED TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING ITEMS, FOLLOWING ACTIONS. RECEIVE IT BY THE MID-YEAR UPDATE STAFF REPORT. APPROVE THE PROPOSED APPROBATION ADJUSTMENTS. ADOPT A RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE AUTHORIZED FULL-TIME HEAD COUNT. APPROVED AMENDMENT TO THE FISCAL YEAR 25-26 SEVEN-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
2:38:54IF THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVES THE MID-YEAR REQUEST, WE ANTICIPATE THE FOLLOWING REMAINING BALANCES FOR THE GENERAL FUND. SO FOR RECURRING FUNDS, WE WOULD HAVE APPROXIMATELY 3,000 REMAINING. SO THAT MEANS THAT BUDGET REMAINS BALANCED ON A RECURRING BASIS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR. For one-time funds, we would have approximately 11.6 million remaining. So these balances reflect the adjustments included in the midyear update. We will continue to monitor revenues and expenditures and provide another update as part of the third quarter budget update report.
2:39:19So this slide summarizes the key general fund revenue adjustments at midyear. So starting with sales tax, our rally burns allocation has been revised downward by approximately $997,000. So the first quarter receipts are down about 0.3% year over year. The decline reflects used car dealership closures, softer consumer spending, and lower construction activity.
2:39:56For local sales tax, or Measure X, revenues have been revised downward by approximately approximately $811,000 or about 1%. So we are seeing slightly lower activity in the general consumer goods, restaurants, gas stations and construction related activity. So in total sales tax have been revised or revised downward by approximately $1.8 million. Offsetting debt reduction and planning permits, plan check revenues are performing better than originally estimated. BASED ON ACTIVITY THROUGH DECEMBER, BOTH PERMIT AND PLANNED CHECK REVENUES ARE TRENDING HIGHER
2:40:22THAN BUDGETED. PLANNING PERMITS ARE UP APPROXIMATELY 824,000 AND PLANNED CHECK REVENUES ARE UP BY 339,000. IN ADDITION, PROPERTY TAX IN LIEU OF BLF IS COMING IN HIGHER THAN EXPECTED BY 646,000. SO OVERALL, WHILE SALES TAX REVENUES ARE LOWER THAN ANTICIPATED, THE INCREASES and development-related revenues and property tax have offset those reductions at this time.
2:40:59So this slide summarizes the proposed general fund expenditures adjustment at mid-year. So for the Ayudacín Fronteras program, total funding to date is $250,000 across two rounds. As of February 20th, approximately $230,000 has been expended assisting 228 households. Staff is requesting an additional $150,000 to continue the program funded from available one-time general fund balance. Next, the proposed Marbury Dog Park project with an estimated cost of $200,000 shared between parks and public works.
2:41:31Because public works will lead the project, $100,000 in existing general fund budget appropriations will be transferred from parks to public works. So this item does not have any general fund impact. The city event sponsorships, an 89,941 appropriation is requested to support contract service costs. This amount is fully offset by sponsorship revenues and does not result in a net general fund impact. Finally, for the Section 115 trust item, it reflects a $130,000 appropriation for investment management costs.
2:42:08These costs are fully offset by investment earnings within the trust and do not result in a general fund impact.
2:42:46These are items for outside of the general fund. So for workers' compensation, staff is recommending a one-time use of approximately $3.8 million in the fund balance to support projected costs in the current fiscal year. So this reflects continued upward trends in claimed and related expenses. expenses. For the cannabis public benefit fund, we are requesting $50,000 appropriation to address unforeseen termite damage at the New Hope Library renovation project. In addition, there are several housekeeping adjustments across other funds, including grant realignments to ensure expenditures are properly aligned with respective funding
2:42:56sources.
2:43:33This summarizes workforce changes included in the major updates. So in total, staff is requesting approval to add two new positions, reallocating two positions and then deleting two vacant positions. For the general fund, we supported positions. There's no fiscal impact in the current year. And no ongoing costs will be fully offset through reductions in Part 10 or contract service budget. Under finance, one customer service representative is proposed to support increased utility billing building activity funded by the Water Enterprise Fund. In the library services, one library technician is proposed.
2:43:37One position is reallocated to a supervising library services assistant. Both are fully offset by reduction in part-time positions. In the planning and building, one code enforcement officer is proposed to be reclassified to a supervisor to address workload demands fully offset through contract service reductions. And then finally in Public Works, two vacant ARPA funded positions were proposed for deletion with no ongoing fiscal impact.
2:44:16And finally these are the exhibits that were included with the staff report. First we included a detailed line item revenue revisions and expenditure adjustments. We included the resolution amending the 2526 budget headcount. A 2526 capital improvement program status update. update, seven-year CIP amendment, estimated spendable fund balance report and lastly the citywide vacancy report as of December.
2:44:46So looking ahead, we have several important budget items coming before City Council over the next meetings. On May 19th, we will return with the third quarter budget update for Fiscal Year 25-26. For Fiscal Year 26-27, the Early Direction Budget Workshop is scheduled for March 17. And then the first reading of the Budget Ordinance CIP Miscellaneous Fees, CLAS, and COMP Resolution is scheduled for June 2. And then lastly, the second reading for the Budget Ordinance and Adoption and the Gantt Limit is scheduled for June 16. So that concludes my presentation. Staff is available for any questions you may have.
2:45:14Thank you so much for the presentation. Are there any comments or questions by my council colleagues? If not, I will entertain a motion.
2:45:52I'll make a motion. I'll second with comment.
2:46:01Okay. Go ahead, Councilmember Becerra.
2:46:04Thank you, Mayor Bertram. I just want to say thank you to staff. That was a great presentation. I appreciate the cautious approach to what's going on, especially with things coming down the pipeline. So I'm happy to see what was before us tonight. I'm happy to support the item. Councilmember Kite.
2:46:08Go ahead, Councilmember Vasquez.
2:46:23Thank you.
2:46:25We've been talking about communication and the way we put out things and I would like to see us expand our communication team. Corona Norco has a Grammy nominated, Corona Norco Unified School District has a Grammy nominated team and I think they have more than five people on the staff. So that's the reason why. So I'd like to see some of that happen in Santa Ana and put support there. Also, as we come into Measure X, I'd like to expand the economic development team. I'd like to see a lot more work coming out of there and more output as our used car lots are closing down.
2:46:27We're losing money there, so how do we support those spaces or how do we fill them in where they've gone missing? So I want to see an increase in the economic development team. also I just want to bring up really quick if we need the money on McFadden between Bristol and Main Street we put in beautiful light posts these beautiful black light posts that are in the middle of the sidewalk so imagine these light posts look at this Phil these light posts are in the middle of the sidewalk I know because you're interested in this you're You're gonna be, the light post is here, the base of the light post is here.
2:47:07The bolts are going through and showing in the sidewalk that cement, there's gravel around stuck on the light post.
2:47:46I'm not into shenanigans.
2:47:53I know, we have a conversation. So can we figure this out down there on McFadden between Bristol and Main Street? Because it doesn't look so good and it's very, it's a hazard. So take a ride, go look at it, and please get that done.
2:47:54Thank you, Council Member Vasquez. Council Member Lopez, please.
2:48:13Yeah, quick question. You know, I'm supportive of the recommendations. Just have a question in terms of using housing dollars to pay for PDs over time. Why isn't that coming from the department?
2:48:15Because you know, I just want to be clear that housing dollars should be used for housing support.
2:48:31Councilmember Lopez can you specify which section of the staff report you're reading?
2:48:42Yeah it is page 10 at the bottom. Just to confirm I think that relates to our homeless services right as far as the added ESG grant money so we've been having problems with some of our housing support and aspects of other drug use so the ability to respond to
2:48:45that we can use that ESG money so that ESG is for like enforcement yes emergency solutions right and housing is for enforcement housing dollars that we get from the federal government from the state government
2:49:08Thank you for your question. That ESG is for emergency solutions grant. So a lot of funding does have certain restrictions on them. And so our police department is using the grant funding for that intended purpose. But if you do have additional questions, we could provide that details for you. But it is for the emergency solutions grant.
2:49:30Right, and I do have questions. So, Mike, can you reach out to my secretary to schedule us within the next two weeks to talk about it? Again, you know, I was supportive of the effort, a duplicative effort, because our staff, you know, talked, right, to not just the council but the community about the work that they were already doing. And so my concern here is not that overtime gets paid. It's that it's coming from the housing assistance fund.
2:49:51Understood. So we can do that. We'll schedule a meeting ASAP. And so I think the key objective that we meet the intended use of the grants and so we are compliant. But we can definitely have that discussion.
2:50:21Okay, thank you. Quick question. Council Member Lopez, I'm genuinely curious. So when you're saying that.
2:50:33Council Member Becerra.
2:50:39When we're using the housing funds for police overtime, I want clarity on that. So are we just talking about the ESG funds? And it's just a matter of whether we're using
2:50:40that correctly yes okay so yes and yes on both yeah it was a little unclear
2:50:51because it wasn't coming I had to look look it up right it wasn't causing opportunity it's ESG is what a federal grant so the emergency solutions grant
2:50:56is one of the community development planning grants that comes along with CDBG and home we get an annual allocation the eligible activities under the emergency solutions grant include homeless management just administration homeless in the city. Also homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, emergency shelter and street outreach. This particular overtime for the police officers is specifically part of that outreach. The officers that are out there doing that outreach trying to connect them to services.
2:51:07Yeah and again that work should be paid. The question is why can't it come from the current PD department? Like why use housing dollars? But we can have an internal conversation.
2:51:34This has been a longstanding cost charge that has been going on for at least 10 years. So it's something that we can review at your request. Thank you.
2:51:46Real quick, the ESG funds, though, I just want to be clear, though, they're not housing funds. They're funds that could be used for housing, but what you guys are prescribing them for here in regards to PD, that's an appropriate use of the funds. I just want to make sure because I don't want to vote for something where we're not using the funds correctly. So I just want clarity though, these aren't housing funds, like as in they're exclusively housing, these are funds that could be applied to a variety of things, which I think.
2:51:56Correct. Sylvia just mentioned. So to put it this way, is it an eligible use? The answer is yes. Okay. Right, and so this approach, despite being raised and we can definitely have the discussion, has been done the least for the last five years that I'm aware of.
2:52:26Okay, well thank you for bringing it up, Council Member Lopez and thank you for the clarification.
2:52:42All right. Council Member Hernandez and then Council Member Phan.
2:52:47Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I fully concur with Council Member Lopez, City Manager Nunez, Deputy City Manager Vasquez. I would like to see us get absolute clarity on that because if we can shift from using the ESG funds to utilizing police funds, perhaps those ESG funds can help us address emergencies that may be out of the scope of the police department where maybe we can help additional people who are experiencing homelessness. So if we are able to be effective in both of those areas, I think that that is good for public safety.
2:52:50Understood. Thank you, sir. That will conclude my comments.
2:53:27Thank you, Council Member Hernandez. Council Member Fann?
2:53:31Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. So just now that we're on this, I just want to clarify, So just to clarify, were the ESG funds received by the city through CDBG?
2:53:34No. There's a CDBG grant that comes in. Along with that comes the Emergency Solutions Grant, which is also formula-based and home program. So they're all kind of bundled in one. Right. But they're separate. They're separate funds. Okay. Emergency Solutions Grant.
2:53:46And I think the part of the problem is that they're bundled together in this staff report, in my opinion, because Community Development Block Grant is really done through our Community Development Commission. that's when we do a lot of nonprofit work, housing, things like that. Whereas, at least when I'm reading the HCD website, though it's a state website, they do talk a lot about ESG, and it says that these ESG funds are used, one, to engage homeless individuals and families living on the street, two, rapidly rehouse homeless individuals
2:53:58and families, three, operate and provide essential services and emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families, and three, prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless. I know our Colt team does a lot of that work. We obviously expanded to two Colt teams. We have to have that funding somewhere. And as we continue to try to hire more officers, have more shorter response times, it makes sense to continue using grants and funds that are available while continuing to fund overtime for our officers. So maybe in the future kind of clarify that a little bit in the staff reports because
2:54:25when you combine them, it just for me or anyone else in the public, it might just be a little confusing.
2:55:00Understood. Great. And again, not to belabor the discussion because definitely it warrants that level of clarity. But other than the items mentioned, when the finance directors report, most of the aspects that we were doing, what has been done for at least the last five years under this current city council.
2:55:07No, that's really helpful. And I think just as we continue to move forward with any of these items, right, I think some years we have emphasis on different topics, different issues. So that's really very appreciated. I also love to see that we did, you are asking to re-up Ayudas Sin Fronteras. I really love to see that it's working. I love to see that we're doing it in a way that's fiscally responsible and we're working with our partners for that. So this is a really great update. I look forward to the next one. Thank you.
2:55:26Thank you, Council Member Phan. Mayor Meskwa, you have a comment?
2:56:02Yeah, I just want to piggyback and thank you, Council Member Phan, for clarifying that, the questions, the comments that you made, because I was about to also make the comment. we wanted to expand colt and that's probably and we'll get more information from the city manager what some of that funding is being used for as we know now and hopefully the community knows they are out seven days a week i believe from 6 a.m to midnight so and i and i know we have some issues with some of the apartment complex and we're talking about housing and i know they took
2:56:07care of those issues as well there were some drug issues um with some of our housing the veterans and where we had a lot of seniors and our police department took care of that. So I'm in support of this item and I'll move to call the vote, please.
2:56:34Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, colleagues, for bringing up those questions for clarity. Madam Clerk, we have a motion by...
2:56:48Yes, motion by Mayor Meskwa, seconded by Council Member Becerra to approve item number 20, inclusive of receiving and filing the fiscal 25-26 mid-year budget update, approving the recommended appropriation adjustments, investments, adopting a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana to amend the current fiscal year 2025-26 annual budget to adjust full-time positions in the Finance and Management Services Agency, Library Services, the Planning and Building Agency, and the Public Works Agency, including additions, reallocations, and or deletions, and approving
2:56:57an amendment to the fiscal 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program for caregiver funding. Councilmember Becerra?
2:57:24Yes.
2:57:31Councilmember Hernandez? Yes. Councilmember Lopez? Yes. Council Member Phan? Yes. Council Member Vasquez? Yes. Mayor Pro Tempagnoliza? Yes. Mayor Meskwa? Yes. Vote of seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries. Thank you colleagues and
2:57:32thank you Madam Clerk for that. The next item is item 21 which is a public hearing.
2:57:49Members of the public joining us by way of zoom or conference call who who would like to make a comment for public hearing, item number 21 only, please dial star nine from your phone or select the raise hand from Zoom now in order to be called once the public hearing is opened. Thank you.
2:57:59Item number 21 is a public hearing relating to smoke shops. Mr. City Manager, may we please have the staff presentation?
2:58:18Definitely. Executive Director Ali Pesashova, the Planning and Building, will make a presentation for the city.
2:58:26Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Good evening, members of the City Council. Up for discussion tonight is a proposed ordinance and fee resolution to regulate smoke shops in the City of Santa Ana. The recommendations before you tonight are to adopt an ordinance approving a zoning ordinance amendment that would establish land use and zoning regulations for smoke shops, as well as an accompanying fee resolution that would establish a fee for an annual code enforcement and police department inspection.
2:58:33For background for the City Council's benefit on December 2, 2025, the City Council unanimously directed staff to draft an ordinance to regulate smoke shop establishments in the interest of protecting public health and safety. Following that, within about two months, staff returned to the Planning Commission with a proposed zoning ordinance amendment for their recommendation and consideration to the City Council. Council. At that Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission did recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance with some minor ordinance amendments. Just for
2:59:00additional context, since January 1st of 2024, the number of smoke shops in the City of Santa Ana has more than doubled. 96% of smoke shops that are existing in our community are in close proximity to the land uses that were of concern to the City Council when direction was provided to draft an ordinance so this proximity includes smoke shops to schools parks and residential land uses a map of existing smoke shops shows that they're distributed throughout the city evenly along commercial corridors and on this image one can see the landscape of the 43 or so existing smoke shops in the
2:59:36city the green dots illustrate those that are operating with valid permits permits, and the red ones illustrate those that are operating without all the requisite permits.
3:00:13As documented through staff's research following City Council's direction on the ordinance, it became evident that enforcement activities are showing a range of illegal activities prevalent at smoke shops throughout the city, and these include storage of banned substances like nitrous oxide, whippets, and flavored tobacco, all of which are already prohibited by separate ordinances. gambling operations, and the sale of unregulated products. It's well documented by other cities as well that many smoke shops sell cannabis products as well.
3:00:25There are documented community health and safety impacts, such as loitering, smoking, littering, and crime, that not only affect the business at hand, but also affect the health of surrounding businesses and properties. So in multi-unit shopping centers, for example, there's a marked decline in the quality of business activity and the quality of the property maintenance as a result of these issues.
3:00:59Staff's research indicated a significant number of calls for service. So in 2025, 989 Santa Ana PD calls for service, nine inspections by code enforcement since August of 2025 alone, and ongoing responses to public complaints and inquiries.
3:01:22So the proposed amendments would establish a definition for smoke shops and related uses. So that is to make sure that the ordinance does not inadvertently target other land uses such as convenience stores and grocery stores that also may have tobacco sales. Where they would be allowed, smoke shops would be subject to a conditional use permit approval by the Planning Commission in the City's commercial zoning districts. districts. Where allowed, they would be required to maintain a 1,000-foot separation between smoke shops, 1,000-foot separation from youth-centered uses, 1,000 feet from alcohol or other drug
3:01:42abuse recovery or treatment facilities, and 500 feet from a residentially zoned or used property. So these standards reflect other standards that the city currently has in its zoning ordinance for other sensitive land uses like massage establishments. The ordinance would also establish development and operating standards meant to protect the public health and safety of the properties that house the smoke shops and surrounding properties. So these would be standards like limiting product displays, restricting age to persons over 21, adding exterior lighting for public safety, requiring removal of litter and graffiti,
3:02:17prohibiting vending machines, signage and visibility standards, prohibiting nuisance and illicit activities, requiring training for staff at smoke shops, adhering to laws, regulations and orders that are already on hand for for these types of businesses limiting hours of operation requiring security and surveillance and requiring inspections so these are standards that hopefully all of our properties in the city of Santa Ana would adhere to but we do already require for other sort of sensitive land uses such as alcohol massage cannabis so these are based on already existing practices that are based on sound
3:02:50sound practices so what would happen to the existing uh smoke shops they'd become legal non-conforming and require conformance following disconfusion discontinuation of a smoke shop use so let's say a smoke shop that's not conforming goes out of business per the new ordinance after a period of six months they would have to fully comply with any new standards that the city council would adopt uh so planning commission recommended as part of their recommendation to city council Council that the definition of a smoke shop be clarified to ensure that there's no confusion that this applies to mobile vending.
3:03:28A smoke shop is a shop with enclosed buildings, so it's not a mobile vending vehicle. And also recommended that the City Council include a prohibition that smoke shops may not be located on major arterials. So where located, they would not be able to be in a storefront or in a multi-unit building building where the space that they occupy has primary frontage or visibility from an arterial.
3:04:03This map for the City Council's benefit illustrates where smoke shops could apply to locate. So in the yellow is basically what would result as a result of the ordinance being eligible for application. So one can see that they're limited to areas still along the major arterial roadways, none that are inner city or in residential neighborhoods. They would be in commercial zoning districts. And they would still be subject to the separation requirements and prohibition on being visible from major arterioles. So this is an overview map, but each CUP application would still be evaluated on a case-by-case
3:04:30basis for conformance to the proposed standards.
3:05:05The ordinance is consistent with numerous policies of the general plan, but to highlight a few, the land use element goals for compatibility of uses and complete communities. communities, community element that promotes active living and well-being, and even economic prosperity that we want a diverse economic base in the city with complementary businesses. So to ensure that where businesses are located together that they're of a complementary nature instead of ones that introduce deleterious land uses that negatively affect the property's health as a commercial center.
3:05:10Staff did also evaluate any environmental impacts of the proposed ordinance and found that it's exempt from further CEQA review.
3:05:41With fiscal impacts, the proposed fees for applications, they would be subject to a conditional use permit. So that would offset any application and staff processing requirements. And then the inspection fees for code enforcement and police department as proposed by the fee resolution would offset any cost for inspections.
3:05:49And based on this presentation and the information in the staff report, staff's recommending that the City Council conduct the first reading and approve the zoning ordinance amendment as well as approve the resolution establishing the inspection fees and I'm happy to answer any questions that the City Council may have this evening thank
3:06:08you for that presentation Ali our director of planning and building are there any questions or comments by members of the City Council councilmember Lopez go ahead
3:06:25yeah no I want to thank you Ali for the presentation I want to thank our entire team for the quick turnaround time on this you know we brought this late last last year, and so I'm very happy with the urgency and the collaboration. I also want to thank Planning Commissioner Chair Izuri Ramos for her, you know, recommendations on the Planning Commission, her two recommendations I'm happy to accept, or the Commission's recommendations I'm happy to accept. And I'm looking forward to seeing this implemented change. So thanks, everybody, and thanks to the community that works with our office to bring this forward,
3:06:35to push it forward and to make sure that it gets implemented, thank you.
3:07:13Thank you for those comments, Council Member Lopez, Council Member Hernandez, and then Council Member Becerra.
3:07:18Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Council Member Lopez for bringing this forward. This is a very important item. This is going to not only protect children and families, but it's gonna keep our businesses in compliance with the city, all of which is good. So those will complete my comments. Thank you, City Manager, for the work that you guys are doing, thank you.
3:07:22Mayor Redekopal, thank you.
3:07:44Go ahead, Councillor Mbassara.
3:07:45Thank you, Mayor Rotem.
3:07:46Mayor Mezcuah, as soon as Councillor Mbassara is done, we'll...
3:07:47Thank you. So real quick, first of all, thank you for bringing this forward and as quickly as you did. My question is more for PD. So as this item was coming through the process, I know PD was addressing some of the existing smoke shops and some of the issues that you guys are facing. Could you share a little bit about some of the enforcement actions that you had to take and how this ordinance will help you going forward?
3:07:53Sure, thank you. In 2025, our staff conducted 12 investigations with subsequent search warrants at various smoke shops throughout the city. Some of the common items that we found was nitrous oxide, outside, illegal tobacco flavored products, illegal gambling machines, other narcotics, mushrooms, stuff like that.
3:08:18»» Well, thank you for that. And I think it's very clear that from what you just described, this isn't just simply a code enforcement issue. This isn't something that's minor in the level of what we're addressing here today. So thank you for sharing that with us. And with that, once the hearing's closed, I'm happy to make a motion to move this forward.
3:08:46I'll be the second.
3:09:05Thank you, Council Member Becerra. Council Member Vasquez, do you have any comments?
3:09:06Yes, thank you. Thank you, staff, for bringing this forward. This is going to make life much better for young people in Santa Ana. We appreciate you, Council Member Lopez, for bringing this forward. forward. Love that you're always thinking forward and a visionary and I will be voting yes on this. Thank you.
3:09:12Anyone else? Oh, Mayor Misqua.
3:09:35Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Yeah, I'm here. Thank you very much. Who did, Ali, you're doing the presentation, correct?
3:09:41Yes.
3:09:48Can you go back and tell me, Ali, because I can't see it on my phone and see it on online at the same time the map where it shows that we have some that are out of compliance can you go back to that slide please thank you mayor i've pulled up that slide i can't see it so i apologize there you go so those that are circled in red or that i could see those are out of compliance is that correct that's correct they may lack a certificate of occupancy or a business license or a tobacco retailer license are any of those i don't know if deputy chief elms could tell
3:09:48are any of those uh any the shops that have been um searched by the police department or had issues with the police department serving you know doing the gambling the drugs whatever it may be
3:10:21do we know so yes mayor i don't have the um the corresponding business name uh up on the map but uh that's something we can look into and get back to you that's fine no i I just want to know, and I'll leave my final question. If this item passes, how soon can we move forward?
3:10:34So if it passes tonight, it would return to the city council for a second reading on March 17th, after which the ordinance would go into effect beginning April 16th. Okay, so April 16th, if it passes tonight, and then the second reading on March 17th, April 16th. That's correct. Okay, that's what I wanted to confirm. And thank you very much for bringing this forward because I know that the majority of the council, I would say all of us have concerns about the smoke shops and we've brought it up because of the knock side, the many issues that are around our schools with our youth. I know when I was at Cal State Fullerton speaking
3:10:55to one of the classes, I had several kids that actually live in Santa Ana that approached me about the smoke shops and I brought it to the city manager's attention. Even while I met Cal State Fullerton speaking and I've been at the other campuses speaking and I've had young people approach me about the smoke shops that we have around our school sites where our children are attending school so thank you very much for bringing this item and forward so that hopefully we can get it approved tonight that's it mayor part-time and i will be supporting this item and i'll call for
3:11:28the vote please thank you mayor ms1 thank you council member lopez for bringing this item forward i will also be supporting it the only question i had um mr city manager or director Director Ali, about the 1,000 foot separation between smoke shops. Is there any room to expand that to more than 1,000 feet? What does that look like? Just because 1,000 feet is still very small.
3:11:55So 1,000 feet, thank you, Mayor Pertama, 1,000 feet is about a quarter mile separation. It's generally a standard used for many sensitive land uses in other parts of the code. So it's not an uncommon number. When one looks at the map that is on slide 8, if we can bring up the PowerPoint again.
3:12:29Thank you. So it wouldn't necessarily affect this map per se because it would basically mean that once the first smoke shop applies, then it establishes a new ring buffer around it. and so whether that's 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet is up to the city council's discretion, but it wouldn't necessarily change the zoning map that would dictate where they would be allowed to apply. It would just affect the sort of domino effect of what comes after the first application.
3:12:48Okay. So in looking to expand that, staff went through this, and you came to the understanding that 1,000 feet is probably the most appropriate?
3:13:16A thousand feet is staff's recommendation because it is consistent with other sensitive land uses in the code. So it's pegged to sort of established practice not just in this city but in other jurisdictions that have separation criteria for other sensitive land uses. But certainly again through the deliberative process if the Council wishes to go forward with a change to 2000 that could be introduced tonight during first reading.
3:13:30Okay. Very well. Those are the questions I have. Colleagues, any other questions?
3:13:54Oh, that's right. Before here, now we move on to the public hearing item, or members of the public that wish to speak. Madam Clerk, are there any?
3:14:03So with the public hearing opened at 8.02, I'll note for the record that there are no No speakers in person on Zoom and no emails were received for this public hearing item.
3:14:15Wonderful. With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Do any Councilmembers have any additional comments? No? Perfect. We have a motion by Councilmember Becerra. Second. Second by Councilmember Lopez. Madam Clerk, can we please have a roll call vote?
3:14:27Motion by Councilmember Becerra, seconded by Councilmember Lopez to introduce for first reading zoning ordinance amendment number 2026-01 ordinance of the city council of santa ana amending portions of chapter 41 zoning and municipal code relating to smoke shop establishments and finding the action to be exempt from the california environmental quality act under state secret guidelines section 15060 c2 section 15060 c3 and section 15061 b3 and adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of santa ana establishing fees for planning and building building agency smoke shop inspections and police department smoke shop inspections.
3:14:44Council Member Becerra? Yes. Council Member Hernandez? Yes. Council Member Lopez? Yes. Council Member Phan? Yes. Council Member Vasquez? Yes. Mayor Pro Tempagnolosa? Yes. Mayor Meskwa?
3:15:18Yes.
3:15:32Vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.
3:15:33Thank you for that, Madam Clerk. Now we move on to item 22, which is another public hearing for a general plan amendment and amendment application for the Santa Ana Zoo overflow parking lot rezone. Are there any questions or comments by the City Council? Mayor Pro Temp. Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead, Madam Clerk. Members of the public joining us by way of Zoom or
3:15:37conference call who would like to comment on public hearing item number 22 only, please dial star 9 from your phone or selected raise hand from Zoom now in order to be called upon once the public hearing is opened. !
3:15:58I just want to defer to the city attorney because it's a public hearing.
3:16:37Do we need – are there any speakers, Madam Clerk?
3:16:42We need to have a public hearing to open the hearing.
3:16:46You would need to open and close the hearing, but you would not have to hear the presentation.
3:16:48Perfect. So we'll forego the presentation. I now open the public hearing for members of the public that would like to provide their comment in person and virtually. Madam City Clerk, do you have any speakers?
3:16:53We do not have any speakers in person on Zoom nor did we receive any emails related to this public hearing.
3:17:05Perfect. With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Do any Councilmembers have additional comments or questions? I'll move the item. Second. Second. Perfect. I have a motion by Councilmember Vasquez and a second by Councilmember Becerra. Madam Clerk, can we please have a roll call vote?
3:17:11Yes. Motion by Councilmember Vasquez, seconded by Councilmember Becerra to approve the items for public hearing item number 22 certifying the final initial study mitigated negative declaration for the project adopting mitigation monitoring reporting program for the project adopting a resolution of the city council of the city of santa ana approving general plan amendment number 2025-01 to change the general plan land use designation for the property located at 1801 east chestnut avenue and recognized as assessor parcel number 402-212-01 from open space
3:17:27to general commercial and conduct first reading of an ordinance of the city council of the city of Santa Ana approving amendment application number 2025-02 to change the zoning designation for the property located at 1801 East Chestnut and recognized as assessor parcel number 402-212-01 from general agricultural to general commercial. Councilmember Becerra? Yes. Councilmember Hernandez? Yes. Councilmember Lopez? Councilmember Phan? Yes. Councilmember Vasquez? Yes. Mayor Mayor Pro Tem, Peña-Lisa? Yes. Mayor Mezcua?
3:17:56Yes.
3:18:30Vote is six ayes, no nays, with an absence by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries.
3:18:30Thank you, Madam Clerk. That is the end of our public hearings. Now, Mr. City Manager, can we please have your comments at this time?
3:18:36Yes, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor and City Councilmembers. I just want to provide a brief update regarding the Coach Royale mobile home park. And as we remember, I remember many of the folks have come to our meetings. I just wanted to ensure and provide a brief update. Our staff has been trying to work with them, has assisted them, has met multiple times with some of the tenants and some of the leadership at the mobile park, home park tenants and residents. I myself went last Friday along with our consumer, Jonathan Hernandez, and spoke to the tenants. So I think it's important to clarify that despite our
3:18:45concerns being presented, the only auspices and authority for us that we can provide assistance is based on the city municipal code sections. So our staff has, again, met multiple times with tenants, has provided information regarding the code. And so for us, it's important that both the public and the tenants understand that we have to have a public health petition in order to be able to enforce our municipal code again we limit it on the assistance we can provide we have to make sure that there's alignment with the concerns and the municipal code
3:19:26and we have to identify the violations there were some comments made regarding this since that our perhaps our processes may be a little bit complicated and then maybe there may be some obvious language barriers what i do want to illustrate and let both the mayor the mayor Pro Tem and the city councils that are our staff working on this issue and mobile vending component especially the rent and stabilization program they are fully bilingual means they speak the language that can be able to assist our members of our community I want to make that clear I'm going
3:20:02to make that type of significant aspect a very point around that our folks are here to help and and they can help once people are available to provide the information. And again, aligning a petition from the public to our municipal code is the only way we can provide a proper evaluation and assist if we can enforce the municipal code. To that end, our staff will be available at the work center located 801 West Civic Center Drive, let me say that again, at the work center located 801 West Civic Center Drive.
3:20:36this Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and 8, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Again, this is one of our attempts to make sure that we have folks from the Royal Coach and anybody who requires the level of assistance able to be present. We will have staff there. Our staff will be, again, bilingual. They can assist with providing information. But the key component, and I'm going to repeat myself, is that the only way we can assist is that we need to make sure that the concerns presented at the property have to be aligned with clear, identified violations of the municipal code. Otherwise, we don't have the authority to assist. That is critical.
3:21:13This is why the petition and the information provided by staff must align in order for the city to provide assistance. Thank you.
3:21:53Thank you, Mr. City Manager. I now will call on the council members to announce their comments. Council Member Becerra.
3:22:02Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. So in the spirit of Women's History Month, I wanted to do a little bit of bragging about my alma mater, Santiago High School. While it was great to see the girls' tennis team in here today, the first ever girls' basketball CIF championship in the entire county's history came when the Lady Cavaliers, back in 1975, won that first CIF championship. So since we're talking about women's history and I want to talk about some of the great accomplishments and, again, do some not-so-humble bragging about Santiago, I'm proud to say that we were the first ones to bring that home. I also want to
3:22:11congratulate some other successful female athletes here in Santa Ana. First I want to start with modern day. Congratulations to them. Their state championship girls water polo team from South back high school. I want to congratulate the girls flag football team on winning the Orange League championship. The girls soccer team on winning the Orange League championship as well and in girls wrestling the lady Roadrunners I want to congratulate Diana Mateo and Isabel Armijo on qualifying for CIF and finally I'll be having my monthly community office hours this upcoming Saturday on March 7th
3:22:44instead of at 10 a.m. as I usually do I'll be holding them at noon and that will be at George Upton all access Park good night everybody thank you
3:23:20councilmember Sarah councilmember Hernandez please Thank You mayor Pro Tem
3:23:30I want to start by thanking the residents and our city staff for putting together this Council meeting and for residents who came out and participated in public comments. I would like to
3:23:34Respectfully request that we close this meeting in memory of Lucy Pedraza Lucy Pedraza is a resident was a resident of Santa Ana who lived in Ward 5 She owned a mobile home at the Colt Royale for over 20 years She worked very hard to raise her family in Santa Ana and to become a homeowner. She was one of the residents impacted by the evictions at the Coach Royale. And unfortunately, last Friday, it's been a week, this resident lost their life due to suicide.
3:23:47So it was a very difficult time in our district for residents who are in these mobile homes. We are very concerned about what's happening. I want to thank the city manager's office as well as the county supervisor Vicente Sarmiento for working with us. I implore our state senator Tom Umberg and our state assembly member Avelino Valencia to please work with the city of Santa Ana on identifying areas where they can assist. Many of these residents are in crisis every day. I certainly want to thank the residents who have been leading and bringing these neighbors together. So Carla Barragan, thank you very much.
3:24:24And Javier, who is at a different mobile home, thank you both for sharing your concerns with my office. And it does take a village, and that's why I was proud to see our deputy city manager and our city manager join me in visiting these residents. This is our second visit out there now, and we've been making weekly visits in the case of my office to ensure that these residents are seen and heard. although there are limitations in the areas where we can help we ask that residents who have received petitions fill them out so that we can take the next steps to assist I do want to thank the city manager's office and parks and
3:25:03recreation for bringing the support festival to the city of Santa Ana it's bringing six to twelve thousand residents out to the city it's economic development we also have in the month of March two festivals that we're very proud of it it's been a priority for the city to get more economic development going in the Civic Center we're going to have the Isley brothers headlining on March 21st so Gayle leave us in the crowd I better see you there if not you can be my guest but it's gonna be a good event a lot of soul music right here in the heart of Santa Ana and then on March 28th we have guy finance from Mexico
3:25:41City who's performing in Santa Ana both of these events are sold out they will We'll have over 10,000 residents coming to the city, and those residents, too, will be staying in our hotels, paying TOT tax, and then shopping in our downtown. So for our neighbors who live here in the city, let's get out and enjoy these events, and let's spend our money in the city that we love, and that's Santa Ana. And lastly, I want to wish a happy birthday to my beautiful mom, Maria Hernandez. It is Women's History Month, and you are a powerful woman that I'm very lucky to be your son. I am also very proud to have a daughter and to my daughter
3:26:19Continue to change the world and be the strong woman that you are. Thank you
3:26:58Hernandez councilman Lopez. Yeah. Thank you. Um, so first and foremost this Saturday, we're having another park cleanup at 9 a.m So we invite the community to come out be involved help us maintain our public spaces It's a really good opportunity for folks to meet other people to take pride in their neighborhood and their local park and continue to build a strong sense of community that makes Santa Ana so special. The other announcement we have is that Boca de Oro Festival is going to be taking place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown area.
3:27:03So come out, support our amazing school district, our amazing students, our educators, educators, and uplift the work that they're doing, check out the different performances, their showcasing that are happening. And it's going to be a good time full of art, dancers, and performers, and theater. We're also celebrating Read Across America this week, and I had the opportunity to visit Santiago at MIT, so I want to thank the administration at the school sites who have reached out and and have invited us. And I really encourage all of our parents
3:27:43to spend time with their children and to read. I think that there is so much value in being able to spend time with them, whether it's in the morning or at night, really instilling the importance of literacy and why books are so incredibly important now more than ever. And so again, I just wanna thank our school district for all that they're doing in terms of making sure that our students, our very young students, are meeting their goals and that they are also investing in this goal of investing in literacy at a very young age. You know, it is Women's History Month. I want to thank Council Member
3:28:22Vasquez for helping to coordinate all the recognitions that the public got to see earlier today. Thank you so much, Council Member Vasquez. It was a really nice idea. And so, you know, celebrating Women's History Month for me is really about the strength and the resilience of women in my community, the women in my family, the women that have paved the way for me, and the women that continue to do anything and everything, whether it's working two or three jobs, going to PTA meetings, going to the school district, just being highly involved in the lives of their families. And I really appreciate that.
3:28:57So whether it's from classrooms to here in the chamber, we really wanna honor all of our neighbors, all of our friends, all the women in the community that have done so, so much that their work will never be in history books, but that have really changed the way that I govern up here. And so I just really wanna thank them for their work, for their guidance and for their mentorship. And lastly, I do wanna thank you city manager. I wanna thank Council Member Hernandez for really programming the stadium. People are really excited about some of the programs
3:29:34that are coming down, you know, I mean, I've always had to travel outside of the city to see Caifanes. I know, I hope that you are all prepared for that one day, because if you do not know who they are, then you do not, you know, I really invite you to come out and experience it. But I think it's going to be really exciting. And, you know, it's one of the spaces that we We have really thought about how do we maximize its use. And so it's really exciting to see the different programming going on right there, the diversity of programming. And I hope that the city sponsored it because I'm sure that every member of this council
3:30:10would love to be there. So thank you, city manager. Have a good night, everybody.
3:30:51Thank you, Council Member Lopez. Council Member Pham.
3:30:57Hi, everyone. First, I just want to say thank you to staff for working with us and all of my colleagues who were able to attend the Tet Parade in Westminster in Little Saigon. You know, I always talk about how Santa Ana is the home of Little Saigon, and I like to call it the gateway to Little Saigon now. And just seeing all of you out there, those of you who could attend, it was just really wonderful and really seeing how Santa Ana has embraced so many parts of our history and all the different cultures that make our city special. It was a really fun time. It's really exciting to bring in the Year of the Horse. There's
3:31:02going to be a lot of changes, a lot of forward momentum, and I just I'm just so proud of all the stuff that we've been able to do here. For Women's History History Month, I want to thank my colleagues, our team, our staff, and all of those who volunteered, especially the women who take time out of their day to make a difference. As a city attorney, I always say I help public servants serve the public, and I think that that's what we all do here. To be at this space today, it takes a lot of sacrifice from a lot of people.
3:31:41Shout out to my bestie Kim because I ran because she forced me to and it worked out. So I really think that for every successful woman there are, there's a village of women who not only support us but encourage us, validate us and remind us that we can achieve more than we ever believed. And finally, I want to remind everyone that daylight savings time starts this Sunday, March 8th, at 2 a.m. So make sure you, unfortunately, have to spring your clock forward. And please be safe out there. Everybody's tired. Everybody's going to be sleepy on Monday.
3:32:20So with that, have a wonderful night. Thank you.
3:33:02CHAIRMAN BRYANT LIMAGE.
3:33:06Thank you, Council Member Fenn. Council Member Vasquez, please. Council Member Fenn.
3:33:06Thank you very much. and I want to thank the council, each one of you, for bringing on a team and making sure we get to celebrate these young ladies. I don't know, as soon as it was over, they were all outside and they were outside for about an hour. And they were making records and they were so happy to be here. So I appreciate you guys just pouring the love on our students and for bringing them out here tonight and celebrating and giving them their due. I was I was also at the Sahara Fest and it was a beautiful event. The best part of it is the parking lot at the bowl was full. The parking lot here at City Hall was full
3:33:09from the county all the way back over here and our parking structures were full. So that's great. How many nights, is it two or three? Three nights and thank you for the team for leading that and it was a great food festival. It was amazing. I really thoroughly enjoyed it. I am gonna have office hours, books y cafe con Councilmember Vasquez at Libro Mobile. This is my second time. We're doing it from 11 to one. If you happen to be at one of the neighborhoods that doesn't have a neighborhood association meetings, Central City, Mid City, New Horizon, or Bella Vista, please come out.
3:33:49Have a conversation one-on-one with your councilmember. I do try to attend all our neighborhood association meetings or I have a representative there but if you want to talk to me I'll be there to have a conversation we also are looking forward to the Sahuayo expo and I'm very happy I think I have a jacket coming that I ordered and if you see me wearing a fancy nice jacket understand that I got it from Sahuayo and you either cutting up at the festival thank you for making me buy that jacket that I love so much welcome as it's coming WHEN THEY COME TO BRING IT. IT WAS JUST AMAZING TO BE IN SAWAIO AND LOOK AT HOW THEY
3:34:29MAKE ALL THEIR ARTISTS AND WORK AND FROM THEIR CHACLA AND THEIR HATS COME OUT. QUALITY WORK TO THE SAWAIO FESTIVAL. WE'RE ALSO HAVING RESTAURANT WEEK. WE CAN SUPPORT OUR LOCAL RESTAURANTS HERE IN SANTA ANA ESPECIALLY DOWNTOWN SAN ANA OR ALL OF SAN ANA BECAUSE WE ALL NEED TO LOVE. PLEASE COME OUT AND and enjoy. And lastly, as budget season comes to a beginning, I really wanna see us double the police oversight as our police department is coming to growth. And we know we need that growth, but we also need a commitment to transparency and oversight.
3:35:06So I wanna see that budget doubled. And I am with community when I call for justice for Noe Rodriguez. Thank you, have a good night.
3:35:47Thank you. Councillor Vasquez, I just want to reiterate everything that my colleague said.
3:35:57And oh, yeah, Mayor Emescu is still on the line, but I have her going last. She's going to close us out. So just wanted to thank city staff for the work that you've been doing. And yeah, excited for the next couple months with this budget. There's going to be a lot of opportunity to really tighten our belts where we can. and but hopefully make sure that we maintain the same level of service that we are used to providing with that mayor mezcua
3:36:05just along
3:36:39mayor mezcua there you go thank you mayor part-time and it looks like we'll be done by 8 30. um i really want to thank all the young ladies that came out and were recognized today for women's month um i just want to mention because you know i wasn't there tonight in person but you know we look at for example zapata who recorded a pin fill a pinfall what do you call it she pinned somebody and 37 seconds that lifted santa ana girls wrestling team to the cif division i mean imagine that right so kudos to all the young ladies that came out tonight to be recognized
3:36:43thank you councilman vasquez i also want to recognize all the women um in my life because because I wouldn't be where I am today without my village and all the women in my family, from my mother to my grandmothers, to all my cousins and aunts, and actually made me who I am today. I also want to thank Council Member Lopez and Council Member Fannin. Happy Women's Month to you as well. Our Deputy Super, our Deputy City Manager, Sylvia Vasquez, Kat Downs, our Assistant City Manager, our City Attorney, Sonia, thank you so much. As women, and all of the staff at the City of Santa Ana, you know, we have a lot of women who work for us
3:37:15in the background you know we don't we don't really recognize them too much they stay they do the work they do the work that we don't see and so I really want to recognize all of them I also want to recognize Sue Mills who takes good care of me on the eighth floor she's amazing and I want to introduce Cynthia Contreras-Leo who is my new chief of staff working with me effective March 1st so she will be my new chief of staff and she'll be out in the community and you'll all get to meet her if you don't already i believe she's there here at the meeting tonight in person
3:37:49once again thank you for everything i'm also looking forward to the soil expo at the san alex lodge we use the san alex lodge for so many different events and so it's going to be a wonderful three-day event and with that i want to close mr city manager thank you so much to you and your staff for the mid-year budget items that were presented tonight and again to all the women our city our city clerk all the women who do the work i just want to thank you all very much and as the first female mayor in 153 years in our city i'm honored to serve as the first woman as well
3:38:21so with that good night mayor wait you forgot to mention our city clerk i did i said jennifer our
3:38:53city clerk oh she did okay all right my bad yeah jennifer i don't want to clear down not paying that much attention you weren't listening there from time i will be there on march 17th so looking forward to seeing you all in person with a new knee yes bear pro tab we're gonna go golfing okay
3:38:59with that everybody have a good night all right with no further business before the council i hereby adjourn the city council meeting the next regular city council meeting will be held on march 17 2026. st patrick's day so make sure you wear your green
3:39:18Thanks for watching!
3:39:57