[0:00] if we can stand for the Pledge of

[0:02] Allegiance

[0:04] right hand over your heart

[0:08] Allegiance

[0:12] and to the Republic for which is

[0:16] under God the visible with liberty and

[0:19] for all geez I better start

[0:22] while practicing that

[0:25] oh my God

[0:27] okay we'll go ahead and go with roll

[0:29] call so Roman is not here Amy here and

[0:34] Cecilia

[0:35] so we'll go ahead and move to the

[0:37] approval of certificate of posting for

[0:39] February 6 2023

[0:43] oh we need emotion a second all in favor

[0:48] aye okay

[0:50] um certificate posting for February 6 is

[0:53] approved so we'll go on to Public

[0:56] Communication

[0:58] we like to open that up

[1:02] I see no interest so we'll go ahead and

[1:04] close that

[1:06] and we will go to the report of officers

[1:10] Commissioners or committees

[1:14] we have our

[1:16] manicario

[1:18] check check okay here we go

[1:22] Madam chair if you don't mind we'll move

[1:25] Lunar New Year celebration update to the

[1:29] final one staff member Irma Garcia is on

[1:33] her way and with that being said uh with

[1:37] your approval I will move on to homeless

[1:39] count update like to go ahead and give a

[1:43] brief update uh Armando was invited to

[1:47] attend but he is not feeling well today

[1:50] so he cannot make it with us but we did

[1:53] have a very very robust turnout in

[1:58] regards to the homeless count we had

[1:59] about 40 individuals show up

[2:02] um and I know last year we had our

[2:05] commissioner appear on the front page of

[2:07] the Sanger Valley Tribune we did not get

[2:10] that type of coverage this year but we

[2:13] were out there in force we had the

[2:15] police department we had Public Works

[2:18] and non-profit agencies uh city managers

[2:23] office a Community Development and of

[2:27] course our Recreation and Community

[2:29] Services Department our church uh our

[2:33] faith-based uh volunteers our soccer are

[2:37] coaches that volunteered we had a

[2:40] numerous individuals one person we had

[2:44] was from San Diego Valley Homeless

[2:48] Coalition and that was a a great

[2:51] addition they were supposed to help us

[2:53] ask her but they they also were ill and

[2:56] couldn't make it but they were out this

[2:58] year and we had Lasha something unique

[3:02] this year we utilized uh two elements to

[3:06] count we had the paper element so when

[3:10] you would go out you would you would

[3:13] count but as technology improves they

[3:18] had a uh app that you could download on

[3:22] your cell phone uh regardless if it's

[3:25] the iPhone or the Android phone and that

[3:29] seemed to work out well as as uh as well

[3:33] some individuals uh were a little uh

[3:38] confused and or intimidated on how that

[3:41] was how that worked uh but we had groups

[3:45] of three or four and usually one

[3:48] individual within the group of three or

[3:51] four was able to utilize the app and for

[3:55] some individuals they used both uh they

[3:59] counted on paper and they utilized the

[4:02] app so it is too early to tell what our

[4:06] homeless count is uh but from uh the

[4:09] last few years we have been able to cut

[4:11] it in half uh so we are hoping for uh a

[4:17] very good count in regards to possibly

[4:21] lowering our account

[4:24] count I believe last year was 276. uh so

[4:29] we are hoping for a similar number or a

[4:33] little bit less uh it's uh really hard

[4:37] to tell uh personally when I was out

[4:40] there counting I came across two

[4:43] individuals and I guess my spot was a

[4:48] little popular because I had Yum Yum

[4:50] Donuts uh and there's two individuals

[4:54] usually hanging out in that area and

[4:57] there were other groups that had zero

[4:59] zero zero and there was a few others

[5:02] that counted a handful of individuals so

[5:07] we will hopefully have the count by June

[5:10] and we will go ahead and share that with

[5:14] the commission as well as the community

[5:17] and we are looking forward to a uh

[5:20] hopefully a lower count nonetheless over

[5:24] the few years with 50 beds at serenity

[5:28] homes and 25 beds at Esperanza via we

[5:32] have at least 75 people that are

[5:36] unhoused but they have a roof over their

[5:39] head

[5:40] very very proud to to say we have those

[5:44] Services

[5:45] versus a handful of years ago those did

[5:49] not exist

[5:50] I was very happy to say that any

[5:53] questions in regards to the homeless

[5:56] count we had Lasha here San Gabriel

[5:58] Valley and sarsum and we had numerous

[6:02] numerous volunteers probably about 40 uh

[6:07] combination of Staff members and our

[6:10] volunteers and maybe even a little bit

[6:13] more

[6:15] I have a question yes um so on the

[6:18] serenity uh

[6:20] I know we have 50 beds right yes yes so

[6:24] um if those

[6:27] were out in the street last time would

[6:30] you be counting because those those are

[6:32] families correct yes but would you be

[6:34] counting each individual

[6:37] great great question uh that was one of

[6:40] my questions because as we get deeper

[6:42] into the homeless uh worry we are

[6:45] learning as staff members as as well

[6:48] using Serenity and Esperanza via as an

[6:52] example uh they are considered homeless

[6:56] but they are housed so in the past uh we

[7:00] did not we wouldn't have we would have

[7:02] counted those individuals as homeless

[7:06] okay so uh but they are they are housed

[7:11] at least for right right now and

[7:14] hopefully everyone will transition out

[7:17] of both of those facilities facilities

[7:19] and they will find permanent housing so

[7:21] we could get some other folks off the

[7:24] street because we have a waiting list on

[7:26] both sites

[7:29] games uh depending on what day it is we

[7:33] have a lot of adults and then from time

[7:35] to time it's very uh

[7:39] very sad to see the families let me know

[7:42] living in the car or couch surfing or

[7:46] whatever the case is

[7:47] but we have a waiting lists on both of

[7:50] them and both of those facilities are

[7:52] Grant funded so in order for us to

[7:55] receive reimbursement we need to keep

[7:58] both of those sites at 95 percent

[8:01] occupancy and we usually do very rare

[8:05] that we that we don't

[8:11] anything else in regards

[8:14] um the homeless count

[8:17] um I did take the um

[8:19] the video training and it was very well

[8:22] put together because my intentions were

[8:24] to go but then we had the emergency with

[8:26] the Flores family so I wasn't able to

[8:28] attend

[8:30] um who who put that together was that

[8:32] lhasa or was that yes the uh the actual

[8:35] video and all the trainings are from our

[8:38] partner with lhasa okay and they they

[8:41] did a wonderful job they actually sent

[8:43] out two staff members on the day of the

[8:47] training we also had the uh another

[8:50] faith-based group there uh Sangre Valley

[8:55] Valley Homeless Coalition they were on

[8:59] on hand as as well we had Armando Nava

[9:03] uh who who also assisted and uh Eureka

[9:08] Ruiz Esparza assisted with some of the

[9:11] pre-work but she was not available to

[9:13] assist on the night of so we've been uh

[9:17] assisting with the homeless count for

[9:19] probably about eight years now maybe 10

[9:23] years uh so uh it can it seems to be

[9:27] changing from here in and there it's

[9:30] moved on to a app now but uh staff did a

[9:34] fantastic job kudos to Armando in

[9:38] particular he uh really led the charge

[9:41] the night out awesome very good job

[9:45] you have any questions yes well first

[9:47] off I wanted to say I was so sad that I

[9:50] didn't get to participate this year

[9:51] because me and my husband were looking

[9:52] forward to it but the day that you know

[9:55] we had a plan on that day and we're like

[9:56] we can't change that so we hope to

[9:58] participate next year one of the

[10:01] questions I did have was regarding the

[10:03] paper and app was so last year I know we

[10:07] were sticking primarily to the app so

[10:10] how was the paper implemented this year

[10:12] was that something that both of them

[10:14] were required to complete or how how was

[10:17] that last year it was paper uh and City

[10:21] because we've had some challenges uh in

[10:25] the past with Lasha we didn't

[10:29] necessarily believe our count had

[10:32] doubled right one year to the next they

[10:35] had larger count in Pasadena and

[10:39] Ramona so we we didn't feel the count

[10:42] was was

[10:44] 556 uh but nevertheless we didn't have a

[10:48] say-so uh and uh

[10:51] without number uh but it was paper last

[10:55] year the city utilized an app or we made

[10:59] an app we also counted and it was more

[11:03] for an internal mechanism but at the end

[11:07] of the day lasha's paper was the final

[11:10] say so so we utilize it for hot spots so

[11:15] you you must have played with the you

[11:17] must utilize the app last year yeah last

[11:19] year I I did primarily the app so that's

[11:21] why I was wondering about that because

[11:23] they were giving us such full training

[11:25] on the screen using the app and so when

[11:28] you mentioned the paper I was curious

[11:29] because I didn't see the paper so I

[11:31] wasn't sure how that what what what was

[11:34] different that's why my memory is

[11:36] failing me I thought last year was uh

[11:39] paper and then the city utilized the app

[11:41] but maybe I'm thinking two years ago it

[11:44] might have been maybe two years ago so

[11:46] uh I think last year we had the option

[11:49] of the paper or or the app uh because

[11:53] the even the app for me was a little

[11:57] intimidating I downloaded I took the

[11:59] training I probably spent several hours

[12:02] because I I didn't want to make any

[12:05] errors so I I they needed a driver so I

[12:08] volunteered to to drive and we had

[12:12] another staff

[12:13] for the most part on this time around

[12:16] most of the individuals utilizing that

[12:19] yeah

[12:20] cast members uh or volunteers that we

[12:24] have a very good relationship

[12:27] about it so there was still one or the

[12:29] other yes okay

[12:32] it was a good experience everyone seemed

[12:35] to have a positive experience I was one

[12:38] of the first ones back uh primarily

[12:41] because I'm not a fast driver but my

[12:45] zone was Sarah Vista High School

[12:48] a large portion of my zone

[12:51] was

[12:53] we went driving through all the all the

[12:56] crevices a lot of dead end streets a lot

[13:01] of private roads so very interesting

[13:05] I've gone out for probably over a decade

[13:08] each time I drive out I find a new

[13:11] section

[13:15] pretty pretty home I was looking for

[13:18] landscaping ideas

[13:21] it's very very nice

[13:24] and I think last year we did also ask

[13:26] about the possibility or just to

[13:29] question the possibility of moving the

[13:34] moving the count to like a later month

[13:37] so that maybe we would see more people

[13:40] was that something that was ever that

[13:43] that's something that we we mentioned

[13:46] but Lasha is uh set in firm that they

[13:51] have it on those three or four nights of

[13:54] the week if you watch much TV it was all

[13:58] over the news all over the radio they

[14:01] were out they gave most of the attention

[14:03] to Los Angeles because of of new mayor

[14:07] mayor bass

[14:09] and Pasadena some of the larger cities

[14:12] they were out in force uh on those I

[14:17] think it was a three night the Tuesday

[14:18] Wednesday Thursday so it was uh and then

[14:22] there's other counts that that happened

[14:24] in the riverbed during the day during

[14:27] the day yes special teams that know how

[14:30] to de-escalate uh because we are not

[14:33] able to get out of the vehicle

[14:35] you know some people are well I I want

[14:38] to go put a flash setting back no you

[14:41] cannot

[14:42] you just know the van and that's pretty

[14:45] much it Lasha has a form a formula of

[14:49] how they create the university and then

[14:52] they they follow up with what teams and

[14:55] they'll specifically uh like I was a

[14:57] little nervous personally uh of the

[15:00] riverbed I want to make sure that they

[15:03] are counting the people correctly but

[15:07] they assured me you know they know the

[15:09] boundary lines if they're in a different

[15:11] city if they're over this line then

[15:13] they're not in Baldwin Park there and

[15:15] right now

[15:17] yeah if if you've ever been on the on

[15:20] the riverbed

[15:22] there's a whole Community down there's

[15:25] actually a lot of different communities

[15:27] in different areas on the on the

[15:30] riverbed I spoke with uh lasa they

[15:33] actually rent from the church so we

[15:36] speak to them all the time you know so

[15:38] we were talking about the how they went

[15:40] out during the day to the riverbed and

[15:42] you know

[15:43] um the different sections that they went

[15:45] to and

[15:47] um and yeah it is real strategic you

[15:49] know and it and it's dangerous you know

[15:51] so

[15:53] um but yeah I didn't very exciting don't

[15:57] see me no how was it thank you

[15:59] thank you very much

[16:01] okay and then next since we have uh

[16:05] Irma Garcia our program supervisor she

[16:08] would go ahead and we will we will move

[16:10] back up to number one Lunar New Year

[16:14] celebration update and it was a

[16:16] beautiful event but I will have Irma

[16:18] chat a little bit about it

[16:20] first time

[16:22] no worries

[16:24] um we did have we had a fan a wonderful

[16:26] wonderful event this is the annual event

[16:28] that has just really grown so much uh so

[16:31] very proud of it this was the year of

[16:33] the rabbit and we did have a wonderful

[16:35] program we had the

[16:39] several dancers they came in and

[16:41] performed for us

[16:44] I like one I think close to like seven

[16:47] dancers they came in to know a Chinese

[16:50] lion dance

[16:52] well and uh this year we had two lions

[16:56] so therefore I would really turned out

[16:57] to be a great great event we kicked it

[17:00] off in the morning early in the morning

[17:01] with some

[17:03] an opportunity

[17:06] oh we have close

[17:09] wow

[17:10] and we provided them with a stem film

[17:13] and also a little dessert

[17:15] it's a white rice and orange slices also

[17:19] provided um

[17:21] pop sticks

[17:23] almond cookie

[17:26] it was just like a really wonderful

[17:27] event

[17:29] we several of the dancers that came in

[17:45] oh yeah they traditionally we give them

[17:48] a red envelope and usually the mayor and

[17:52] whatever of the I think

[17:54] Philadelphia

[17:58] I don't like bait

[18:02] you tease them and then they'll go ahead

[18:03] and they right there they open the big

[18:05] old mouth and it goes oh yeah

[18:09] a red envelope and they continued to

[18:10] dance but this year we did have drums as

[18:13] well

[18:18] all the other dancers

[18:21] it took pretty much the

[18:25] nine o'clock and then

[18:28] by the time we finished with all the

[18:30] serving and everything

[18:34] everybody had an opportunity they had a

[18:36] little plate

[18:40] everybody got a Red Envelope as well

[18:43] candy

[18:47] the dramas were they um from within the

[18:50] city or you

[18:52] it's a a team

[18:54] well this team I hadn't heard from them

[18:57] in a long time I thought they had

[18:58] disbanded but I was able to get a

[19:01] there's an owner and to my

[19:04] I mean it was wonderful opportunity to

[19:08] I hadn't I mean

[19:10] I still bought his whole

[19:23] wow

[19:25] it started with just myself and Sally

[19:26] one of the part time for us

[19:31] well we haven't haven't seen any

[19:36] we did and that program started with

[19:38] just them speaking not Italian USA Today

[19:42] stuff and then we also um hot and nuts

[19:45] and

[19:46] all of us

[19:49] nice

[19:51] following year with bigger and bigger

[19:53] she was uh fired through the adult

[19:56] school

[19:58] old school they made a lot bigger so I

[20:00] think we had coins with something 100

[20:01] people there

[20:06] hmm

[20:07] wow growing

[20:11] so of the 200 is that um seniors or

[20:15] that's including

[20:17] um wow

[20:24] Ah that's great

[20:32] nice nice

[20:37] it was it was a really really nice event

[20:41] you missed it

[20:43] yeah exactly all this new stuff they

[20:46] want to attend everything what is our

[20:48] attendance on a on a regular basis

[20:51] moms we're only serving our hot meals uh

[20:54] twice a week

[20:59] we still have all of our programs uh so

[21:01] I stay for the hot meals we have like

[21:02] close

[21:07] 60 on Wednesday

[21:09] oh and once a month you know we have our

[21:12] senior grab and go program and that

[21:14] one's at 300 oh okay

[21:18] so they come and pick up

[21:21] oh that's awesome

[21:24] the the center's really busy amounts

[21:27] that coming in they provide free

[21:33] and then we have the computer classes we

[21:37] have the weight lift

[21:39] oh ping pong ping pong is out the door

[21:42] they are busy and then we have the

[21:44] Billiards uh needless to say they also

[21:46] have um

[21:48] of the international defense team

[21:52] aside from having those activities I

[21:54] want to make sure we have other events

[21:56] that are going to ever take to that

[21:58] particular

[22:01] it's great I did bring along a couple of

[22:03] things that were going to be um

[22:06] in this class and has a couple of other

[22:08] items

[22:10] are going to be happy

[22:14] next week

[22:16] that's once a month right the birthday

[22:18] celebration

[22:23] and so that way the other items that we

[22:25] have going on aside from our trip

[22:34] coming up and they are so excited oh I

[22:36] bet I think I filled up so fast

[22:41] do we have a

[22:43] program for

[22:45] seniors that

[22:48] that need food like hot meals or

[22:53] that that are delivered but we we um the

[22:57] day that we deliver all of our meals

[22:59] um

[23:01] the ywc fight a home

[23:05] also actually do the or that particular

[23:09] but for hours

[23:12] currently right now since we have a meal

[23:14] program from Monday and Tuesday

[23:18] iwca

[23:20] that hot meal

[23:24] and deliver it

[23:29] okay

[23:31] um so if I want to direct them to the

[23:34] YWCA home delivery program can you send

[23:37] me that contact info

[23:40] yeah because I know of a resident that

[23:42] lives on um

[23:44] on um I forgot the name of the street

[23:47] well with the YWCA they don't just have

[23:49] to be

[23:51] oh okay

[23:52] oh nice

[23:56] sure okay very good all right we're also

[24:00] gonna know we had some interests that

[24:02] were asking us to do like chair

[24:03] volleyball

[24:06] team

[24:07] all right we want to go ahead and

[24:10] we're interested and uh yeah we have a

[24:13] pretty

[24:15] very soon

[24:18] hear me up let's do this

[24:21] exciting that sounds really exciting I

[24:25] just have one little concern with that

[24:26] and the stability of the chair

[24:29] because of the seniors you know we don't

[24:31] want one of them

[24:32] falling over and so it probably would

[24:35] need to be more of those sturdy or are

[24:39] all the ones in the dining room yeah

[24:43] yeah exactly oh that sounds so good how

[24:46] about the other cities like irwindale's

[24:47] doing

[24:48] uh we have reached out to see oh nice

[24:53] sure that we're yeah very good

[24:58] well that's good

[25:00] I had a question regarding the Lunar New

[25:02] Year celebration what day was that on

[25:05] was that on a weekend day or a weekday

[25:08] it was on a week that week that day

[25:10] January the 9th and I got it okay

[25:14] um I was curious to know if it's some

[25:17] type of event that I don't know like

[25:19] Youth and teens within the community

[25:22] would be interested in participating in

[25:25] um to make it more I guess inclusive of

[25:28] all ages too because it would be really

[25:30] cool to see exactly because it is kind

[25:33] of like honoring the seniors as well so

[25:36] it would kind of give them like a space

[25:37] to maybe learn up something from the

[25:40] seniors and like their experience in the

[25:42] culture and the the youth learning and

[25:45] kind of like sharing in that you know

[25:48] um experience with with the seniors so

[25:50] something I was just thinking about

[25:52] because as someone who does celebrate

[25:55] Lunar New Year it's really about like

[25:57] respecting the elders and giving your

[25:59] wishes to the elders and the elders

[26:01] giving you wishes here's to them and so

[26:03] I feel like it could really be an

[26:06] awesome like wide range Community event

[26:08] and like the youth can also youth that

[26:11] are not part of the culture can also

[26:14] learn about it and see how valuable it

[26:18] is to gain wisdom and you know like uh

[26:22] I don't know how to say like yeah learn

[26:24] the culture and like support and you

[26:27] know um like learn from your elders and

[26:31] have that day be like learning about

[26:32] your community and your family and

[26:35] respecting elders and stuff

[26:38] that because of the

[26:41] right questions

[26:46] I'm sure that in the future like for

[26:48] probably

[26:52] that was a possibility we were thinking

[26:53] about moving it that way

[26:57] yeah I went to other communities in

[26:59] Orange County and they do like huge

[27:02] festivals outside right so it would be

[27:05] really interesting to see if we had

[27:07] something like outdoors and I don't know

[27:09] if firecrackers are allowed but like

[27:11] those the ones that are reasonable to

[27:13] add that and just make it something fun

[27:15] or with little Fair things too that

[27:17] would be

[27:19] um another event that community members

[27:20] can participate in

[27:23] about it as well baby

[27:25] right

[27:29] but yes absolutely

[27:32] Amphitheater will probably be the best I

[27:34] always know

[27:36] right yeah thank you thank you Irma

[27:43] you're doing amazing

[27:46] yes she is yes she is

[27:49] and uh Madam chair the last item on the

[27:52] agenda is the annual calendar so if

[27:56] you'd like to take a look at that

[27:58] um we are uh working out some details

[28:01] towards the end of the year in December

[28:03] it looks like the parade will stay on

[28:07] the first Saturday in December who will

[28:09] most likely be adding snow or chipped

[28:12] ice to that Saturday we were thinking

[28:15] about having that the parade in the

[28:17] evening but it just doesn't look like we

[28:19] have an opportunity yet added to the

[28:22] evening so we will proceed with the am

[28:25] uh parade and I think that's that's

[28:28] pretty much it if you have any questions

[28:31] comments

[28:33] regards to the calendar it should be up

[28:35] on our City website as well and

[28:40] um we uh summer months we have our

[28:44] popular six weeks in the concerts part

[28:46] uh concerts in the park and then six

[28:48] weeks out out in the street we're

[28:50] proposing to have Fourth of July on uh

[28:54] the actual fourth oh nice

[28:57] see how that girl seeds

[29:00] no questions I don't have any questions

[29:03] thank you all for what you guys do it's

[29:05] awesome

[29:09] please please let all the staff know you

[29:14] know they did an amazing job I know we

[29:16] haven't been haven't had our meeting so

[29:17] we haven't been able to tell them what

[29:19] an amazing job they did in December we

[29:21] know how crazy it is back to back to

[29:23] back to back

[29:24] um but you know they they always shine

[29:27] they you know the mayor's so proud of

[29:29] them I could hear the chitter chatter of

[29:31] you know the council and so just pass

[29:33] that on to them we really appreciate it

[29:35] say the city scheduled for a Thursday

[29:40] 30th March 30th okay that March 30th

[29:44] not be on your uh list of surely been

[29:47] saying we'll reacted to the

[29:54] video and the venue and

[29:56] some okay with that want to move for

[30:00] adjournment

[30:02] um emotion

[30:04] um I second all in favor

[30:06] aye Nina adjourned at 5 30 33.

[30:12] thank you Irma

Baldwin Park Recreation and Community Services Commission - 02/06/2023

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