Went down the wrong pipe.
OK Good evening, everyone, and welcome to City Hall today
is Tuesday, August 18.
It is Seven Oh, it is 7:04 p.m..
I wanted to welcome everyone to a city council meeting.
I like to call the meeting to order.
And Madam City Clerk, if you could please take a Oh no.
Actually, before we do that, Councilmember Andrews,
can you please do the pledge allegiance ? please stand.
If you're able to Thank you Madam City Clerk.
You can please take roll.
Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Good evening, Councilmember Andrews.
Present council member, Virginia Junior.
Present.
Council Member.
Goldstein.
President.
Council Member.
Roach.
Present Council Member.
Sarah.
Present Council Members from Menu.
Mayor Celine present.
Thank you.
Next, I'd like to have our city Attorney
comment on our close session and announcements.
We will be making announcements on June 16th,
July 22 and August 18.
Closed sessions.
Mr. City Attorney.
Thank you, Mayor and Council.
Welcome back from the recess.
It was a busy summer.
So in addition to conferring with the real property
negotiators this evening at which the council took
no reportable action, the council
also concluded the lawsuit called
gali versus City of Hayward.
The council was advised that negotiations are complete.
The court has entered a final order approving
the city's payment of $600,000.
As for settlement, the council also
heard that the lawsuit called Smith versus the City of Hayward
also concluded over the summer with the city's insurance
partners.
The excess carrier agreeing to pay $850,000, as in settlement,
the city is paying no new money in this case.
Finally, as the mayor indicated, the council met July 22nd
in closed session to complete the annual evaluation
of the city Attorney and the council took no reportable
action That concludes the report.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you.
Next item on the agenda is we have a special presentation.
And I am again, very pleased to be able to do this.
We did one a few months ago.
And it's always good to start a new session
with some wonderful news, and particularly
with great acknowledged Mintz.
We are joined here today by our Hayward firefighters
and the Hayward Fire Department.
Ladies and gentlemen, can we please let's give our Hayward
firefighters a great big round of applause Today
we are going to be want to make sure today
we are acknowledging to all of our city's finest firefighters.
Today, we are going to be acknowledging battalion Chief
Ferguson Battalion chief Ferguson Jim Brown, who was
and then firefighter Klimek.
I just saw him.
There he is right in front of me.
What And of course, firefighter Klimek and Battalion Chief
Ferguson are here and our upper our upper badass operator,
Irizarry, is out.
He's out on a fire.
He's out on a call right now.
And so he is not with us.
I believe he is out of the city and he's
on a reporting for duty.
So we will be acknowledging him when he returns.
Nonetheless, I would like to call
battalion Chief Ferguson and firefighter klimek up
to the front.
And also, if I can have Chief Henry join us,
I'm going to read some comments.
We have some letters of accommodation for them,
and then I'll bring them.
And I'm sure you'll have some comments, too.
But let me proceed as you can.
Turn.
Actually, why don't you turn to the camera facing outwards
and first of all, I'll start with firefighter Klimek
on behalf of the city of Hayward and the Hayward City Council,
I would like to extend our appreciation and commendation
for your actions on January 27th, 2026,
during this structure.
Fire at 26761 Bahama Avenue.
Your actions directly resulted in the rescue of a resident
from the home and their safety transfer to medical care.
Your quick read recognition and response
illustrate the important parts of preparation,
clear communication and individual initiative
during rapidly evolving incidents.
The successful outcome.
Also reflected coordination a coordinated team performance
across fire attack primary search support
functions and EMT and EMS.
When seconds mattered, you recognized the life safety
priority and acted without hesitation.
Firefighting is an inherently dangerous profession.
And it takes exceptional individuals
to rise to the occasion when life is are at stake
Your actions reflect the high standards of the Hayward Fire
Department and the deep dedication
to service that our fire fighters exemplify.
You have made a lasting impact on our community,
and we are proud to recognize your service as part
of the Hayward Fire Department, as a symbol of our gratitude.
And we are honored to present you with this letter of comedy
and may st Florian watch over you
as you continue to perform your duties with courage,
professionalism and integrity.
Thank you.
Firefighter Klimek for your decisive action
and continued commitment to readiness, teamwork and service
at your performance reflects the highest traditions
of the Hayward Fire Department and has
made our community safer.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's give firefighter Klimek a big round
of applause Our next recognition, of course,
is Battalion Chief Ferguson.
On behalf of the city of Hayward and the Hayward City Council,
I would like to extend our appreciation and commendation
for your actions On February seven, 2026,
during a residential structure fire at 1181, Buchanan Way.
The incident presented significant access and search
challenges, including security bars and gates on the doors
and windows and heavy water conditions inside the residence.
Your rapid assessment and direct line to search operations
directly contribute to the successful rescue of a resident.
Your situational awareness communication
and decisive action helped focus the rescue effort
under difficult conditions The successful outcome.
Also reflected strong coordination
among the crews performing forcible entry,
ventilation, fire TAC search and EMS functions.
Your leadership and willingness to act
when the Act within seconds mattered.
Contribue added directly to the rescue of a resident
from an immediate, really dangerous environment.
Firefighting is an inherent Dane is inherently
danger is profession.
And it takes exception in all individuals
to rise to the occasion when lives are at stake.
Your actions reflect the high standards of the Hayward Fire
Department and the deep dedication
to service that our firefighters exemplify.
You have made a lasting impact on our community.
And we are proud to recognize your service as part
of the Hayward Fire Department, as a symbol of our gratitude
and we are honored to present to you this letter of commendation.
Furthermore, for May St Florian watch over you.
And as you continue to perform your duties,
encourage professionalism and integrity Thank you.
Battalion Chief Ferguson for your leadership
and your committee to safely to the safety of our community
Your actions exemplify the profession, readiness
and service.
We expect from the Hayward Fire Department
I am so happy that Battalion Chief
Ferguson works for the Hayward Fire Department.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's give Chief a big round
of applause and one more.
So while APA operate as apparatus operator
Irizarry is not here this evening, but his family is here.
Can we have the Irizarry family stand up, please?
With a yes, absolutely right So let me i also
have something to read.
And if you want to, how about the family?
Come up here and in present themselves, we can you know
And welcome to City Hall on behalf of the city of Hayward
and the Hayward City Council.
I would like to extend our appreciation and commendation
for your actions on February 7, 2026,
during a residential structure fire at 1181.
Buchanan Way.
The incident presented significant access and search
challenges, including security bars and gates on the doors
and windows and heavy water conditions inside the residence
Your search, your search efforts directly
result, it in locating and rescuing a locating an arrest
and rescuing a resident from the home.
Your ability to maintain focus in a hazardous and physically
difficult environment was instrumental to the rescue.
Locating the victim amid heavy debris
required strong situational awareness Disciplined search
practices, and decisive action.
Your performance together with the coordinated work of the fire
attack, forceable entry, ventilations search and EMS
teams contributed to a successful life safety outcome
Firefighting is an inherently dangerous profession,
and it takes exceptional individuals
to rise to the occasion when lives are at stake.
Your actions reflect the high standards of the Hayward Fire
Department and the deep dedication
to service that our firefighters exemplify
You have made a lasting impact on our community,
and we are proud to recognize your service
as part of the fire.
The Hayward Fire Department as a symbol of our gratitude,
we are honored to present you with this letter
of commendation.
And may Saint Florian watch over you, especially
tonight as you continue to perform
your duties with courage professionally
Zoom and integrity.
Thank you.
Apparatus Operator Irizarry for your courage
and professional service.
Your actions demonstrate the readiness and commitment
that make the Hayward Fire Department and our community
and commune cities across the state of California stronger.
Thank you.
And congratulations And then Chief Hammer,
you want to make some comments before I go down there
and present the letters?
Yeah, Real quick.
Yeah.
I think it's very fitting.
This is fire season for us and it's a first
for our families over the years have stepped in
for us from root.
And that support system of extended family
you know relatives, kids, wives, husbands stepping in.
And when you're gone for weeks at a time is so important.
But this is the first time I've ever
seen them accept award for us.
So pretty, pretty remarkable.
Good evening, mayors.
Silliness.
Members of city council and residents of Hayward.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity tonight
to recognize these three members of the Hayward Fire Department
for actions worthy of special recognition.
Firefighter Klimek and Battalion Chief Ferguson apparatus topper
Irizarry were nominated for unique citations based
on their actions in two separate structure fires earlier
this year in both incidents Their training
situational awareness and willingness to act
had a direct impact on the people we serve Firefighters
generally do not seek recognition
for doing their jobs, and I think
most would tell you they're simply doing
what they were trained to do.
However, there are moments when individual actions stand out
and deserve to be recognized.
These moments also demonstrate ways
why we invest so much time in training, preparation
and developing our people.
When conditions are at their worst
and decisions need to be made quickly,
that preparation matters.
These rescues were not accomplished
by one person working alone.
Fire Task Force Plant research.
Ventilation DCMs Communications and command all had to occur.
Similar famously and effectively for those incidents
to have successful outcomes.
These incidents also reflect the work
our members have put into strengthening our search
capabilities and preparing our firefighters to make
good decisions under pressure.
That preparation creates the opportunity
for individual actions to take a meaningful difference Tonight,
we recognize these three individuals will also
recognize this, recognizing the crews who worked besides them.
Unfortunately, apparatus operator Irizarry
was unable to join us tonight because he's currently assigned
to the timber fire in Big Sur.
His deployment is part of a broader commitment The Hayward
firefighters this season with our members
responding to incidents in Washington, Oregon
and throughout California, well, we wish he could be here tonight
We are grateful that members of his family
are here to accept the award on his behalf.
His absence is a fit to reminder that our members not only serve
the Hayward, but communities across the country when they're
called firefight or clinic firefighter or battalion chief
Ferguson and apparatus here has already
demonstrated that situational awareness, decisive teamwork
work and commitment to serve that we
expect from the members of the Hayward Fire Department.
More importantly, their actions made a difference
for people experiencing what was like, most likely one
of the worst days of their lives.
I am proud to recognize their performance and their service
to the community.
With that, it is my privilege to present firefighter Mitch
Klimek.
Battalion Chief Darren Ferguson and Operator
as apparatus operator John Irizarry
with the Hayward Fire department Unit Citation for Paul.
So just take a look at this.
Skip address.
Thank you OK.
And why don't we all go down there?
Yeah Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
This is Yeah.
OK Yes Yes Nice.
Okay And in chief.
Henry, if you can, please, please
tell the men and women of the Hayward Fire Department
to please be safe out there.
And particularly the folks that are throughout the state
and throughout the western region of the United States
to be.
Please be safe out there.
Thank you.
Let's give the fire department another big round
of applause Okay.
What I'm going to do now is I'm going
to move on to the public comments Public comment is
reserved for anybody in the audience or online.
That would like to make a public comment on something that is not
on the agenda The public comment section provides an opportunity
to address the city council on items not listed
on the agenda or information on staff presentation items.
The Council welcomes comments and requests
that speakers present the remarks in a respectful manner
within established time limits and focus
on issues which directly affect the city
or are within the juristic actions of the city
as the City Council is prohibited by state law
from discussing items not listed on the agenda,
items will be taken or will be taken under consideration.
And may be referred to staff.
The city Council welcomes comments, including criticism
about the policies, procedures, programs or services of the city
or of the acts or emissions of the City Council.
Speakers shall not use threatened profane
or abusive language, which disrupts disturbs or otherwise
impedes the orderly conduct of a city council.
The city is committed to maintaining a workplace free
of unlawful harassing and is mindful that city staff
regularly attend city council meetings.
Discriminatory statements or conduct
that is hostile intimidating, oppressive or abusive.
Our per say disruptive to a meeting and will not be
tolerated And in we can and we may refer items
to staff at the conclusion of public comment.
So with that said, I like to move
to our first public commenter is Mala sattar or Sister Safer?
Thank you i wrote this down.
So I don't forget anything.
I have been as a resident of Hayward
for 40 years, more than half my life.
I married a lifelong Hayward man and raised my two sons here.
I was the office manager at Eldridge school for 17 years.
I consider Hayward my home, and I care deeply about her.
But since March of 2025, I have been
focused on what was happening in Washington, D.C.,
and how it was negatively affecting the whole country.
So I started a protest group and we
are here at City Hall by the farmers market every Saturday.
For the past 17 months.
I am embarrassed to admit I was so focused on national issues
that I knew nothing until a month ago
about the SVO three, a data center being
built in my own city.
For the last eight months.
I have been following the growing concerns of people
in every state where data centers were trying
to get built. I have seen these people
find ways to pump information into their communities
and rally people to stop construction
from being approved or finding creative ways to limit water
or electric access.
Critical for the center's operation What I discovered here
is that most residents were like me,
not even aware of the data center here being
approved in March of 25, and construction currently underway.
Like me, thousands of Hayward residents
were shocked to learn only recently, the water
and electricity demands.
This center or would place on our resources
daily, as well as the environment
affect of 28 diesel powered backup generators are
huge proof with no solar collectors
or storage batteries planned.
We know you have agendas for a September meeting,
a ban on future data centers.
However we have grave concerns about this one,
and we would like you to form a committee that
includes community members as soon as possible
to study these issues to determine what amendments
can be negotiated and added to construction requirements.
This cannot wait As construction continues.
And we would also like to know the expected date of completion
of the SB 03A.
I know you can't address the things I'm bringing up today,
but I thank you for giving me the opportunity.
Tunity to speak about them.
And I just want to put one note in here today,
Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
signed the most stringent executive order in the country
to limit data centers, meaning they have to comply,
they have to generate their own electrical power.
And they may not pollute water or air.
I'm not sure that we've made sure
that this data center is going to comply with things like that.
But I certainly think it bears something
that we should look into.
And I welcome the opportunity to see You more about this issue.
Thank you And you are right at three minutes
Cheryl, is that you're doing, you're no.
Hit the button Okay.
Well, you can see from the signs on my shirt
that I'm actually here to speak about savings.
SkyWest has an open space park in Hayward.
Some of you know me from a previous committee meeting.
I want to turn and face the audience that you can also see.
I'm here to speak for the thousands of people in Hayward
who support maintaining SkyWest, the former golf course,
as an open space park.
You can rotate the microphone.
Sure.
Yes.
Yeah, for the podium itself.
OK, good.
That works because we need first of all, excuse me.
The rest of what I'm saying here has yes.
To open space Okay.
Thank.
Perfect.
Thank you.
No, to airport development and parks for people who live here.
That's what we stand for.
And there's an actual campaign to save SkyWest
before I say a little bit more about that,
I want to say I completely support
the comments made by Marla.
I've only learned recently about the air development.
Hayward And I was shocked, surprised and disappointed
and extremely upset.
But I believe we actually have for air centers that
are in process right now and nobody knew about them.
So this is actually related to the topic of SkyWest
because it has to do with land use decisions and resource
making.
How resources are used here in Hayward by the city council.
So sort of lost my train of thought here.
If you don't know about SkyWest, it's
i live right near the Hayward Airport.
And as we speak, there is a proposal by the city council
and by the airport to expand road
into this beautiful piece of open space land that
provides habitat for monarch butterflies, endangered turtles.
And it's just a beautiful piece of land where people can walk.
It's very important for climate change that we keep open space.
So there's a proposal that the airport
would like to expand onto this land,
pave it over, build more hangars and provide more
space for private jet owners.
And there's a lot more of them now
in the were ten years ago because there's
a lot of money in the tech sector
who are landing and basically using
the airport as like their private limousine service.
I don't want any more that and neither do thousands
of people who live in Hayward.
We don't need more diesel fuel.
Jet fuel in our air, polluting the air.
I could go on and on.
So if you're interested in learning more about this,
this proposal is live.
It's probably going to go before the council in the fall.
I don't know for sure.
Please come and talk to me.
We have a petition.
You can sign And I don't know anyone
who in Hayward who wants to yay for airport expansion
or development.
We want open space for our children
for the future It's just amazing to me.
OK.
Thank you.
Thank you Gina.
Pickled up I'm here because i'm full of love for the land,
for the sacred water that we drink each day
And for the beauty that I find here in this place
we call Heart of the Bay.
I'm here to actually ask you to consider this desire posting
cease and desist.
To stop, pause the construction of this data center
I'm not the only one, as I've known this evening,
that recently found out about this data center.
I think you I think it would be wise for everyone
to on your council to be well aware of what you have approved,
because I think even in retrospect, fact,
there's a lot of information.
And that is very dubious.
Question noble and possibly illegal
that hurts me because I understand
that you are public servants.
I understand you have dedicated her life to the city.
So I respect your work and your time
However, deciding on a data center, an eight story data
center, when I am told that it's going to be solar powered.
How can that possibly be true when we know that solar power
all 24 seven, it's going to run 24 seven on solar power
and possible.
I on diesel fuel tons gallons, tons of gallons,
160 some 1000 gallons of diesel fuel.
How can that not create pollution?
How can our water are sacred water
that we drink from the Hetch hetchy not be affected?
We are in a environmental crisis.
I still have buckets in my ballet bucket in my bathroom
because I we still save water.
Okay.
So the fact that our water is so precious to us, our lives,
that the tradeoff doesn't match up
the math does not match up The employees
do the amount of exploitation of our resources.
It does not match up for our future.
So I'm asking you to please consider
taking the measures to pause and reflect and understand
that our actions will have and by our mental impacts
for the future.
Thank you Our next speaker is Tom Wong Any city council
members Mayor Katie.
Yeah.
I'm here to speak about the data center
and hopefully could change your mind.
Maybe it's your emergency meeting
to actually stop future data centers or put a moratorium in.
This is a very important issue to our community.
And I don't think people realize how much power our data centers
using the Four data center combined uses about 160 Mega.
What that's about 220,000 homes running 24 hours.
That's four times what the city of Hayward
to the residents of Hayward are using.
So imagine what the electricity bill will be.
One starts out or two comes online.
When start comes online what Hayward Exchange comes online.
Not only that the water Hayward exchange users will
use a million gallons of water a year stacks
will use 3 million gallons.
That's not including the 200 Amazon data centers.
There's no data on that right now.
So I think there's an existential crisis
in our community I think that this warrants an emergency
session to actually freeze any future data centers
and put a stop on what is currently here and there.
They want addresses that we actually give this data center
type data center, any type of tax credit
for building in our city because if you did, please extend it
to our small business.
They are suffering right now.
And they need tax relief versus an additional burden
of more taxes.
You know, when these data center.
Come online, they have very little
to contribute, very little to our community.
They promise 200 jobs, that over $200,000.
But none of them has ever come to fruition,
that these promises ever come true.
So for that reason, you know, we have
to look at these data centers.
Again, their application is scrutinized
to make sure that they actually performing what they promise.
The little bit of money that we do get to help with services
are not enough.
One of reasons why data centers are in the city
is because they're using our resources.
If they build a data center further out into the valley,
they would have to pull all the resources there,
the sewage, the fresh water, the power, the internet, police
and fire.
It takes longer for them to get there.
That's why they're doing it in the cities
to actually use our using our resources.
So they're not benefiting us.
They're actually they're actually taking advantage of us.
And we're no, we're getting very little in return.
What they do get is that they get to build to their investors,
pre-IPO, they get to tell them that, hey, we
have so many data centers.
We can rent it out.
We could actually do all these things.
That's how they get their money.
So this is all for billionaires and millionaires and tech
companies.
Please put a stop to it Thank you.
Our next speaker is Sheila Is it Cho
or guess what I'm going to talk about Good evening, Mayor
Salinas and council members.
Oh, my name is Sheila, and I'm a Hayward resident I live here.
Most of my life.
Moved back like over five years ago.
I'm here to formally ask mayors Salinas to agenda
is a dedicated council meeting regarding
the current stock as we Y03A that her center on even Landing
Road excuse me in April, the council leadership closed
the loophole that allowed massive hyperscale
say the centers sorry to bypass elected oversight by being
classified in a simple office space
You changed the rules so that projects over 50 megawatt.
It's cool.
Must now face a public council vote.
Unfortunately, the 76.6MW stack project slipped through just
before those rules took effect.
As a result, it's the single largest consumer
of power and water in Hayward's history
was approved by city staff without a single vote
from this elected body a full capacity.
This facility will draw enough energy to power 76,000 homes.
Thank you It places an immense and valid burden on our grid,
sits right next to our shoreline and includes
the to utilize scale diesel generators that
will impact our air quality.
Well, I applaud the upcoming September 15
meeting to discuss banning future data centers
The immediate danger to our local resources
is this one being built right now.
Mayor Salinas you acknowledge the process that allowed
the 3038 to pass was flawed.
Please use your 32 agendas.
A formal item on this specific project.
The community deserves a public hearing
to demand independent environmental monitoring
and strict oversight of this actual resource consumption.
Thank you for your time Thank you.
Next speaker is Joe Ramos Good evening, City Council.
Your for Lopez.
I come to apologize for last week Anyway,
I like to speak on 7 quick points.
The first one is if you notice there's a lot of taco trucks
and vendors that are on all different streets,
especially on the churches.
I don't know if their license or not
but it seems to me like they're not
that needs to be checked out.
The other point I think is very important
is that all city employees or hayward School District
employees.
Are they should all live in Hayward.
There should be a rule that if you're going to work in Hayward,
you live in Hayward.
And once you're hired, you got 90 days to come live in Hayward.
So if I think if you're going to be working
for the city or any administration
here or the school district, you need to you need to live in.
Hayward That's my opinion.
I don't know what the rest of the people think.
Number three, no data center.
I just heard about it last week and i'm not sure
where they were hiding it.
Maybe.
Maybe I had my head in the clouds, but I'm opposed to it.
Number four we need to get quality employers
to come in here.
Number five is a transfer parent.
City hall.
You guys got to be transferred.
Parent Like this thing was a data center.
I never heard about it.
And probably numbers of other Hayward community members
probably didn't either.
I don't know, but I never heard about it the last two points.
Number six, fix the Hayward loop.
We've been going in circles cause it was a waste of time.
It's a waste trying to get the other side of the city fixed.
That damn loop.
Excuse my French.
And the last one?
I took this from my friend Tom Wong.
And I won't deny it.
He is my friend.
He said something about putting out zero interest loans
for business owners.
I think that's a hell of a good idea.
So now it's up to you.
Do you think it's a good idea or not?
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time.
For those who don't know me, my name is Joe Ramos,
and I've been living in Hayward for 41 years.
When the Marine Corps brought me up here,
if it sounds familiar, because I was on the school board,
I'm not going anywhere yet.
Anyway, God bless you all.
And I hope you pay attention.
George.
Keep it up.
That's a positive Okay.
Our next speaker is online.
It's Caitlin Is it Kayla?
Yes, Kelly.
Whoops.
I don't know why.
Mike.
Camera is not up or not Not on.
I just wanted to reiterate a lot of the comments
that people mentioned about the data center.
I think we are in danger with this data center.
That was approved without, again,
any kind of public vote or city council vote
I was at the meeting on Tuesday, that town hall that was fully
packed with people outside really just trying
to listen in and hear more about the data center.
And frankly, to protest.
It, as many people there have already heard, many of us,
Hayward residents were unaware.
And I understand at that meeting on Tuesday,
we were told that there were different forums of ways
that people heard about it.
But frankly, one of the first ways that I heard about it
was through the Hayward Herald.
I think if we still had newspapers like The Daily Review
more people would have been hearing about it
on a larger scale.
I'm very grateful to the Hayward Herald
for all of the articles they've written
about the data center and even the newest
One that dropped today.
But what I'm hearing is that many residents are not
only scared, but they're very upset that this was approved
without their knowledge And I think
as another person mentioned, that we were taken advantage
of by a city, people picked Hayward
because maybe they thought they could get away with this.
And frankly, it seems like they are.
And so I just want to reiterate the points that were already
stated that we do need to have some kind of public hearing.
We do need to have some kind of environmental impact report.
And I commend the folks who are currently
organizing to stop stack SB Y03A And I just
want to reiterate the comments that so many of us
are deeply upset that this was approved.
I've been in Hayward all my life.
My father lives about a mile and a half away from
where this data center will be built.
I think just fathoming the kind of environmental impact
is really difficult because we know that these centers are
very difficult. And they're not good for our communities.
So if city council can work together, whether, again, this
is an emergency session as people discussed
a public hearing, we as a community
want to get together here to discuss this,
to see how we can stop it.
And more importantly, how we can understand
further the environmental impact that this kind of center
is going to have.
So I thank you for listening to me.
And again, I appreciate everybody
who's come up ahead of me to say that they
are against this center and want to do what they can to stop it.
So thank you for listening.
Thank you.
Okay.
I don't have any cards left and there
are no more callers online.
So before I close public comment,
I just wanted to make a quick statement.
As all of you know, we cannot comment on items brought to us
from from public comment.
But I do know it's safe to say that myself, along with Mayor
Pro Tem Syrup and Councilmember andrews,
we have co-authored a referral to hear discussion
and to direct staff in the exploring of banning data
centers in the city of Hayward, moving forward.
We will hear that on September 15 of this of next month.
And so just stay tuned for more information.
And if you have not done this already,
I would go online, go to the city's home page scroll
all the way to the bottom and subscribe to our newsletter.
Subscribe to the stack.
And when you're subscribing to the newsletter,
you can even click on, you know, you can subscribe for agendas
to council meetings and planning commission meetings.
And so forth, and you'll get that.
So stay tuned.
And that item is coming in due time.
So with that said, I would like to close
public comment and the city manager's comments.
See manner does not have any comments.
This evening.
So thank you.
So now I'd like to move on to a special presentation
if those who don't know, in the front here
we are real pleased to have AC transit out in the house.
So let's give AC transit a big round of applause
and I'm not going to steal his introductions,
but I wanted to introduce to you the AC Transit director who
is in our district, who represents us,
and that's Director Silva.
So I'll let you introduce your GM and your staff and sir,
take it away.
Fantastic.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Mayor and council members.
My name is Anthony Silva.
I'm on the board of directors for AC Transit.
I represent Ward six, which is Hayward.
I'm today AC Transit, a special district
serving 13 cities in eight incorporated counties
across the Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
3 out of four riders are people of color and nearly two thirds
are low income, making aC transit an essential lifeline
for all the communities we serve 40 million rides every year,
more than 140,000 riders on board a typical weekday each
weekday, more than 9500 riders use our transbay lines At least
30,000 students will depend on us to get safety to and from
class each day.
I will now invite you to our general manager, Sal Yeomans,
to follow up.
Thank you.
Good evening, Mayor Salinas and City Council members.
I'm Salvatore Llamas, the general manager and CEO.
Easy Transit In terms of AC Transit, economic impact,
AC Transit Supports more than 5100 jobs across the East Bay.
More than half of those jobs are created outside of our agency
Together, they generate over 604 million annual wages
and they inject nearly 1 billion into the East Bay economy
every single year.
Every bus we operate creates jobs, supports local businesses
and strengthens our communities.
Is an excellent.
Today, our fleet reflects 58 zero emission buses
and they're eliminating any tailpipe emission
from our streets.
That leadership earned AC transit $40 million
in federal investment to launch the transit industry's
first ever zero emission bus university or as we call it,
Zev, you alongside Chabot College and Union ATU Local 192,
Zab blue will help our employees earn associate degrees
while preparing to clean by preparing
to repair the clean transits of the future and our workforce.
Next line riders recognize our value
because we're making transit more affordable, faster,
and safer.
Easy pass provides unlimited resource,
deep discounts for participating employers, colleges
and communities.
Clipper Start gives income eligible adults
half off every rider we rec we redesigned the 104 bus
lines last summer with our rail line network
cutting travel times and making our lines a lot more
reliable and accessible.
Next line as we mentioned earlier, three out of four AC
transit riders are people of color
and nearly Two thirds are low income.
More than half earn less than $50,000 a year.
Well below the federal poverty level And one of the nation's
most expensive of regions.
Many are already struggling to afford essential essentials
like housing and transportation that
helps explain why 65% of our riders are transit dependent.
So service cuts.
We're not be an inconvenience they
would upend the lives of those who
rely on most, who rely the most on AC transit Excellent.
At AC Transit, we're making every taxpayer dollar count.
We know that when fares go unpaid,
the cost does not disappear.
It creates a funding gap this summer,
we launched the multilingual fare required
for compliance campaign.
The message is simple Pay the fare Protect the bustling,
also comprehensive of a comprehensive California
out of state auditor review found
that AC transit synchronizes has serve as well with other East
Bay Transit bus agencies.
Our collective real challenges are sustainable funding, not
mismanagement.
What's more, an independent review
confirmed average annual savings of 33 millions since 2020.
This commitment to making every taxpayer dollars count
is why we have a top tier double-A plus credit rating when
the costs of running the bus network
rises faster than the revenue.
Supporting the results is a fiscal cliff.
What's behind it?
Fertile pandemic relief funds are gone.
Regional sales tax revenue has flattened and fare
revenue growth has slowed.
Fuel costs are up by 2,028%.
Bus business parts increased by 14%.
The cost of buying new buses has increased by 35%.
You can see it's lopsided and it's not sustainable.
But we're not standing idle.
Instead, we've taken action in the last fiscal year alone,
we tighten our belts by $9 million.
We're hiring only front positions that directly
support delivering service.
We scaled back temporary staffing,
saving roughly $2 million annually.
We brought outside professional services in-house.
We're partnering with other agencies
to purchase goods and services for less.
We're making every taxpayer dollar count.
The dollars must count because AC Transit
faces a projected $200 million deficit over the next four
years.
That translate to an annual funding gap.
At least $50 million beginning in 2027 with our long term
sustainable funding service reductions up
to 16% become unavoidable.
And so what are the human impact potential layoffs affecting
as many as 300 employees.
We've been thrown a lifeline But it's not a permanent solution.
It takes state bridge loan and it's exactly that.
A loan, not a bailout And it must be paid with interest.
AC Transit's share Is 55 million enough
to close this year's budget and avoid service cuts?
Today?
But next summer, the loan is gone.
Reserves are exhausted and the funding challenge
returns That's why hope now rests with a regional transit
measure or formally Connect Bay area Act or Senate Bill 63.
The measure would ask voters in five Bay Area counties
to approve a 14 year, half cent sales
tax, $0.01 in San Francisco.
If approved, it will generate an estimated $980 million
annually for Bay Area buses, trains and ferries.
AC Transit would receive approximately $52 million
each year.
Helping to protect its existing bus service
and prevent layoffs with our long term funding.
Our bus network remains at risk.
To show what that could mean for riders and our communities,
I'd like to invite our planning department
to share an overview Could.
Good evening, Mayor.
Council.
My name is Owen Christofferson and I'm a transportation planner
with AC Transit.
So you've heard from board Director Sylvia
and general manager Yamas about the local and regional
importance of AC Transit as an agency,
as well as the very scene of the financial challenges
that are facing the agency.
So, in these uncertain financial times,
how do you plan for the future?
Well, our approach is simple, which is plan for the worst
and hope for the best.
Which is why we've developed a worst case scenario.
Contingency service plan.
This plan is just that It's a contingency
and it would only take effect if no new long term funding were
available by Know long term funding were
secured by December 2026.
If that happens, our priority is protecting
as much service as possible.
The contingency plan preserves the realigned network
we launched last summer.
Other priorities are to minimize wholesale eliminations
and protect hours of service when possible and maintain
frequent bus service where riders depend on it.
The most Next slide, please.
The proposed contingency service plan
is designed to protect the most service for the greatest
number of riders It does this by preserving our backbone.
Excuse me?
Backbone routes or what we like to call the primary route
network You know, we focus service reductions
where ridership is the lowest, which minimizes impacts
on the greatest number of riders.
Weekday service of every 15 minutes or better
is preserved on key corridors, including telegraph, Broadway,
San Pablo and the Mission Boulevard corridor here
in Hayward Next slide, please.
So let's talk a little bit about what this means for Hayward
and these communities here.
So when Hayward line 9, which serves the Mission Boulevard
corridor, would be maintained at 15 minutes,
with the exception of early morning service and late evening
service, where it would then go to 30 minute service
line 97, which serves the Hesperian Boulevard corridor,
would be reduced to 30 minutes service all day
and terminate at Union landing shopping center instead of going
all the way to Union Union City, Bart Lines 60,
which is a really important line for this community,
serves many key destinations including
Chabot College and Cal State.
East Bay would see its current weekday
service levels maintained, which includes the recently added
trips between Hayward, Bart and Cal State east Bay.
However, weekend service would be reduced to every 60 minutes.
Other local lines, most of which are currently
40 minutes on weekdays and 60 minutes on weekends,
would see reductions to 60 minute service.
Seven days a week.
All lines described here would see small reductions
in hours of operation.
And as I close, I just like to stress one more time
that this plan would only take effect
if no new long term, long term funding is
secured by December 2026.
Next slide, please.
So just like to talk briefly about kind of the time.
So the AC transit board of directors
has set the public hearing for this plan on October 14.
So we invite community members to submit comments and feedback
regarding that.
And we will hold that public hearing
for more public hearing on October 14.
As we all know, the general election is scheduled
for November 3 2026, and if needed,
the AC Transit Board of directors will consider
on November 18 and approve on December 9th, 2026,
this contingency service plan, which would then direct staff
to implement the changes, which would then see on June 13, 2027.
So again, if no new funding is secured by the end of the year,
we would potentially see these service reductions
on June 13, 2027.
And with that, I'll turn the mic back to board Director Silva.
I you again.
Well, AC Transit wants to hear from Hayward resident
and here's how to engage and scan the QR code up
on the screen here to learn how AC transits propose contingency
service plan and fill out the feedback form email planning
at AC transit.org or visit AC transit.org to learn more.
Thank you.
AC Transit is committed to keeping Hayward and East
Bay moving with Ford's million chips a year
and connecting riders to jobs, schools, and essential services.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
Thank you.
Thank you And you know, I just wanted to acknowledge, you know,
the general manager, Yamas and, you know, Mr. Silva.
I have been in other meetings where
I have heard you present your, you know your stories
and your histories in transportation
and in bus manufacturing.
And I just wanted to just tell everyone standing in front of us
there is a lot of years both on the bus manufacturing side
and in the bus, public transportation, but primarily
bus service side.
So I just wanted to acknowledge that.
And there is a tremendous amount of experience and a know how
in front of us this evening.
So thank you very much for being here.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for that.
I, I was going to i have Councilmember Sara first,
but we just got to make a statement or.
Oh, okay.
So Councilmember Syrup.
Go ahead.
Great.
Thank you.
I'm sure Councilmembers Emanuel has something similar to Add,
but just wanted to appreciate the presentation.
I have the pleasure of serving with you
and working with AC Transit staff
as one of the city's two AC Transit Interagency liaison
Committee members, along with Councilmembers Romano
And it's been a wonderful partnership for the few years,
have had to work together.
We've been able to install bus benches
across the city of Hayward, conduct
accessibility assessments on all of our bus stops.
We've been able to make traffic signal upgrades
and improve pavement to ensure that we're improving bus service
frequency reliability.
And I just what I really appreciated
about the presentation tonight is you demonstrating
very strong fiscal stewardship.
And I just wanted to communicate that the deficit that you're in,
in most developed countries have federally funded public transit.
And so it's you're in a very difficult position where
you're trying to recoup fares in order to fund your own system.
But just for anyone listening and that's
interested in our public transit system,
if we had better federal funding for public transit, Bart,
AC Transit would not be in this position.
I also just wanted to add for folks that want to understand
the importance of AC transit in our community,
we have 14,000 bus riders taking AC transit every single day.
And when we talk about climate justice
and environmental justice, which, you know,
when we think about SkyWest or when we think about the data
centers they're all interconnected issues
and we're thinking about climate change.
The majority of CO2 output in the city of Hayward
comes from private passenger vehicles.
And so if we're serious about tackling climate change
public transportation is one of the critical components
of that strategy.
So I really appreciate the work that you're doing.
And I'm proud to be able to support it on this.
And from the city of Hayward side
And I'll turn it over to my colleague,
Councilmember Samantha.
Councilmembers to menu.
Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, my colleague.
Sharp I agree with those comments.
I like working with you, Mr. Silver in our meetings.
So we have a meeting this coming Friday at 10 a.m.
So if anybody would like to provide some input as
to how to improve our transportation
I've been with this committee.
I think we're I think the only city that has this interagency
committee, I believe, of all the other cities in Alameda.
So we're telling people how to do the job.
We have done a lot.
And I really appreciate and I really
like working with you guys your tremendous team.
Mr. Yarmuth, congratulations on becoming
the big cheese of 80 Transit.
And I love the tour.
If you have an opportunity, a tour
of the AC Transit and office here
in Hayward, as a matter of fact.
And thank you again for a good presentation and keep up
and I agree with my colleague Sharpe's point.
Public transportation is something
that's very important to us, especially with climate change,
in that way.
So let's pass.
SB 63.
Please vote yes on it.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
Before I call upon Councillor Roach,
I wanted to ask over this towards the end of the school
year and during the summertime, the, you know,
and I also wanted to acknowledge my colleague on the Alameda
County Transportation Commission Supervisor Marquez over there.
We're both on the we're both the representatives to on C
So Hayward is quite represented on AC DC.
But there's the we were able to get the bus pass program fully
funded through AC.
So all Hayward 6, 7, and or I'm sorry 789 12 students can
have can get a free bus pass that
would basically unlimited across the entire system also
Cal State East Bay also has unlimited public transportation
access on their ID cards and they can get a bus pass.
And in fact, I just read recently
San Jose State just opened up You know, it's good to see that.
Hey, we came in first, but I wanted to, of course,
you know, we have Cal State, but we also have a Shabo college.
And I was just curious, you know,
how can Shabo College get on that, you know, bus pass plan?
And I don't know if there's if it's through acts
or if there's arrangements through agencies or way.
But I just wanted to if that's something that we can look into,
it's Thank you.
Mayor, for the question.
So we do have a staff that work with the colleges
and universities for our Easy Pass program.
Just designed for colleges and universities
and also businesses.
So we will make sure that we double
check that they are communicating
with the board College was excellent to think.
Thank you.
And then the C I'll go to Councilmember Roach.
Thank you.
You.
I want to thank you for being here,
for coming out together and presenting this,
because I know it's tough.
Times are it's tough times for a lot of us.
And this budget deficit is really serious.
When I say that I'm fully in support of.
SB Was.
SB 63 and I, I really hope that you
can get that passed the goal line in November.
I know it's sort of I wanted to make the first one
comment that another realignment you did recently.
I was sort of worried about it.
My son and his friends go all over the Bay Area
on the transit, but they didn't care.
They just they just sort of assimilated Right.
And they just figured out the way to go.
And as I think that even though it
feels daunting to do some of these things,
like I think people that are really good users are the best
they're going to get what they want
to go because that's their freedom
and that's how they are able to get around without us driving
them everywhere.
So I just want to thank you all for being here.
Good luck with all of the other budget work that you're doing.
And I wish you luck for November Thank you.
Thank you.
Councilmember Andrews, thank you for being here.
I just wanted to thank staff are working on this staff report.
I know it's a lot of work to present
to different jurisdictions and we
don't get a lot of presentations from our special districts.
So it's always good to see you all come out
and talk to your partner agencies.
And just the question I had was with this funding,
would you also see improvements to just different types
of infrastructure that the public would actually
see besides making sure we have ridership available
or making sure we have buses for where the ridership?
Yes.
Thank you.
Council member.
So the budget, the funding that we're seeking
is going to preserve what we have today, the infrastructure
reinvestments.
We seek that funding through our federal partners.
So bus and bus facilities from the Federal Transit
Administration and also now they have the law and all,
in law and no emissions programs.
Those are primarily and there's a formula funds
that are called 53 or 7 funds that we apply for funding.
The 5307 is funding that we normally
receive are the long Island bus and bus facilities.
Our grants and those are fund funding that we apply for.
Sometimes we receive the funding.
So that's uncertainty there.
We're going to receive the appropriate amount
that we need to reinvest in the state repair of our facilities
and our vehicles.
OK.
And then has the agency also looked at private partnerships
to offset some of the costs just in terms of shuttles
to industrial areas, apartment buildings?
I've seen that in other jurisdictions.
So we are looking at every and exploring every opportunity.
The P3 private public partnership
is another opportunity that we're looking at.
How do we invest in some of our facilities?
I am happy to announce that here in Hayward we
are going to build.
And we you see part of the $40 million.
I received from the federal government in 23 and 24
is going to be to build a hydrogen fueling station here
in our Star Hayward facility.
So we can all bring clean zero emission buses to the city.
OK.
Thank you.
Well, okay then, I guess clap for that.
I would.
Thank you for again, for coming out.
And I want to thank your external affairs teams.
I see them everywhere.
And they really do come out and engage with the community.
So I just wanted to give them kudos as well.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
See, and no more questions wanted again,
thank you for coming out and i did endorse the transportation
measure that's coming out.
So we are crossing our fingers.
It will benefit all i don't know how
many transits systems you know that are that are connected.
But there's many five that are directly related
to this particular measure.
But public transport's mission is absolutely
important in the Bay Area.
And I think Mayor Pro Tem Sara is absolutely correct if we
really want to clean our air and really stop our carbon emissions
is that we need to start taking more public transportation as it
gets cleaner and greener.
So thank you very much.
And I think that's it Thank you.
By the way, I just wanted to let you know, you know,
I've served 40 years at Gillick.
I know.
And I just retired.
So.
I know.
Yes Well, congratulations.
So I thank you.
Thank you.
And you know, in on a on a sort of a side transportation
note you know, students, and I'm going
to say it only because supervisor Marquez is here.
We made it right before the beginning of school.
But for all those students that tennis and high school who
walk along Whitman or walk along hunt wood and cross the train
tracks to get to tennis in high school yesterday,
they were able to cross through a new railroad crossing section
from Underwood or Hopwood to the school because of moneys
that we were able to pull together with from AC to me.
And so that is a long time in the making.
And that is a a clear and a very good partnership
that we have had with not only Ictsi,
but between the city and the school district.
And so I just wanted to throw a shout out
to the supervisor on that one.
So we were able to get that done with Ictsi.
So okay, thank you very much.
And I will close that item and I will proceed.
Need to our concern of calendar.
I do have a couple of items I wanted to get pulled.
I wanted to pull item ten and item 12 of I
do have cards on those two items and so what we'll do
is why don't we proceed with moving and passing the remaining
items one through nine.
I and one through 911 and I'll move those items moved
by Mayor Pro Tem Sara, a second seconded by Council member Roach
and well, actually, before we do that, Madam City Clerk,
I would be remiss if I did not open it up for public comment.
First, is there any public comment for those items?
Not 12 or 10.
I don't see any public comment in the room.
I don't have any cards and I don't see hands raised.
So I will.
Silliness, Yes.
Or something I apologize.
But we have TJ.
Yes, I do.
See I do see that.
Yeah.
So TJ for Hayward concern citizens
i actually it's for item 12.
OK.
So i'll pause on you for a moment.
I will close public comment moved by Mayor pro tem Sara
second by Councilmember Roach, Madam City
Clerk if we can please take roll and I think the unit.
It passes unanimously.
Thank you Item number ten.
And is adopt a resolution and adopt a resolution.
Adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager
to execute a memorandum of understanding
between the city of Hayward and the county of Alameda.
For the administration, Russell City
Redress Fund and phase one payments and related actions.
And so I believe I and before I acknowledge them,
I just wanted to just really publicly think council members.
Andrews and Roach and of course, our legal team
for really keeping this is issue at the forefront and really
making sure that the process is followed.
Families are heard And I'm really pleased to see the point
that we're at today.
So with that said, Councilmember Andrews I thank you, Mayor.
I want to thank the Alameda County Board of Supervisors
and especially the leadership of super
as we we would not be here today to get to this moment.
I also want to thank her staff and in particular, I just
want to thank rodney Loesch as well as Megan Turner and Alex,
her chief of staff and all the other folks that have really
stepped up in assisting us in figuring out this MOU, as well
as the auditor's office and the legal team I want to also thank
the Russell City steering Committee.
Russell City was always a community that
was discussed here and there.
There was talked about here and there.
We would talk about it when we were approved.
Things on planning commission about how this area was formally
Russell City.
And we were you know, approving things in this area.
And we were hearing from the different families
that used to be from this area.
And they maintain their connection and community
through annual picnics and I would say in 2020, 2021,
the conversation start of how we can address what happened here
and how can we continue to respond to restorative justice.
And so we feel that this MOU has created a step
to respond as a city, as a partnership with the county
and partnership also with Alameda County of Education
to respond to what happened.
This is not something that will make total amends,
but this is a step, this is a knowledge of what happened here.
And I want to thank Michael League Councilmember Julie
Roach, who has been with us every step of the way in terms
of providing guidance and and again,
want to thank the supervisor, but also, I
want to thank the city staff when
we made that apology through the recommendations of the Community
Services Commission and it was their job to figure this out.
And I really appreciate all the work and time and commitment
that they have given on a almost daily basis
on trying to figure out how do we give back to this community.
So thank you.
And I look forward to hearing unanimous vote on this item.
Thank you.
Council member Roach thank you.
I wanted to take a moment to recognize what
a historic moment.
This is for Hayward and for the rest of the city community.
With this vote, we are taking a step
that goes beyond acknowledging a painful chapter, chapter
in our city's history.
For decades, the displacement of approximately 1,400 Russell City
residents caused profound economic,
personal and generational harm harm that was never meaningfully
addressed.
And I'm proud that we're moving forward from apology to action,
something tangible by establishing
this redress fund to make payments to those
who were directly harmed.
I want to thank the Russell City Committee
members and the Russell City Reparative justice
Project participants who kept the history alive,
shared their stories and participated in this process
and continued to advocate for justice.
I specifically want to recognize supervised release for Marquez,
who, together with her staff and District two,
have not let this work fall when it
looked controversial or difficult to get approved.
Supervisor marquez not let out.
She kept pushing forward and made this happen.
And here we are today.
I also want to thank her board of supervisors, colleagues,
supervisor smiley Hubbard for to Nabbous
and to them for their contributions
and wholehearted support of the fund.
I want to thank Angels and the Delta family
for keeping the memory of the Russell City community alive
and for I just work on the movie The Apology, which
told the story of Russell City.
And what happened during redevelopment.
If you haven't seen it, keep your eye
out for a local screening of that.
It's really informative I want to thank
my colleague, of course, my fellow member of the Rejoice
Fund, working Group.
Councilmember Andrews has really guided us along the way
and how to show up for this kind of work.
And it's really appreciate her work and compassion in this.
And I also want to thank my colleagues
up here on the Council for your compassion
in moving this work forward, too.
It's really been a team effort.
And I want to thank city attorney Michael
Lawson, who envisioned a way forward for this to happen.
And got us on our way.
And I'm hoping he's going to make some comments afterwards
as well.
Thank you also to the Alameda County office
of Education for finding this to be a meaningful cause
to support.
I also want to thank I look back a little bit
and think our Zoom Mahdavi, who was
the former chair of the Community Services
Commission, that sort of kicked off this work,
and Sara Vindman, who was the city Council
member at the time, that was the liaison to the Community
Services Commission during the apology.
And finally, I want to acknowledge that this does not
undo what happened.
Of course it does not fairly compensate what was lost,
but it is an important step toward making
amends and honoring the people of the community of Russell
City.
I'm grateful to the Russell City community
for their persistence its courage,
and the willingness to participate in the process.
Even when I got hard.
And painful.
And I hope today's action demonstrates
that their history matters, that the losses mattered
and their voices matter.
And yeah, I thank everyone for participating
in the project and them, and I hope our city attorney will also
say a few comments.
Thank you.
Before I defer to our city attorney.
Oh, okay Mr. City Attorney, we just like to make a comment.
Well, thank you, Mayor and council.
I just wanted to acknowledge our staff members
who have been working on this project
and who really started the work and continue that up
over the last couple of years.
Former equity officers Jenny Jackson and Josephine and Koya
and former city men, assistant city manager Regina Youngblood.
Absolutely.
Thank you so before I. Well, what I'll do now
is all before we go through the voting procedure,
I'll go to a public comment and see if there
are any public comment.
And I see And I see T.J. From Hayward Concerned citizens
item 12.
Oh, item 12.
I'm sorry.
OK.
Thank you All right.
Before I hold on a second OK.
Mayor Pro Tem.
Sorry.
Thank you.
I just also want to acknowledge the work of Councilmember
Andrews and Councilmember Roach for helping lead this with city
staff and the supervisor.
And I think a lot of acknowledgment
has been given to the Russell City Steering Committee
and of course, the families that were engaged in that process,
both in the steering committee and outside of it.
There are a number of consultants we've worked with,
as well as the Community Services Commission
and I think I just wanted to put into perspective,
and this was a long arc, not just the historical displacement
of the Russell City families, but from the apology in the wake
of the George Floyd uprisings.
For organizers to come together for the Community Services
Commission to come together, for the council to have the courage
to embark on an apology and try to think, how do we
make these historical wrongs right to the degree
that we can raise really interesting questions
around legality, around history, around, how do
you make something right when I was so far in the past.
But it's still impacting folks today and you know,
some folks have struggled with this project.
Some people think it's not Hayward's fault.
The city did nothing wrong.
But when we look at the industrial park that
was built where Russell City is today,
every day we're extracting tax revenue that
pays for the services, that keeps the city's lights on,
that keeps our roads paved, that pays for our public safety
services.
And so I just want to put into perspective
how important this vote is, because it's our effort
to at least try to attempt to set things straight and make
amends for a decision that harmed a lot of families
to benefit the greater public of hayward.
We benefit from that harm today.
And so I'm just I'm glad that this council has stayed focused.
I mean, it's not easy to move a project
through five years of time, and we've been able to do that.
And get to this point And I think
the design of this redress fund, what I'm most excited about
is it will help serve as a new model for other cities
to explore as well.
I mean, when council wrote to this is a historic decision,
I believe it is because it will demonstrate to other cities
how they can also address racial inequities in historical harms
as well.
So I'm very pleased to be supporting this item tonight,
and I just really commend you all for your work on this.
Thank you.
OK.
And so i'm going to ask for a motion and a second here.
And I'm going to defer to Councilmember
Andrews and Councilmember Roach and councilmember interest.
We're it'll be an honor for me to move this item.
And thank you for the opportunity.
I'd like to second moved by Councilmember Andrews seconded
by Councilmember Roach.
And before I call a vote, I wanted to just briefly
to just tell a very small story.
I'm going to take the privilege of the chair,
my you know, my father moved to Hayward in 1954,
and he moved here because he had an aunt here that had lived here
some years before that.
So probably in the late 40s, early 50s.
And so, you know, we you know, my family has a very, very
long history here in Hayward.
Two years ago when my mother's sister passed away,
my mom and I went back to New Mexico
to for the funeral services.
And after Mass and after the services,
we go back to the church, to the reception hall, to, you know,
have the reception and so we were there.
And there was people there all, you know, milling around.
And I drove.
I said this, but my family's originally
from New Mexico, small town in the southeastern part
of the state, little small town back there.
And as we were there at the church in the in the reception
hall, we're eating this couple walked up to me and they were
probably in their late 80s 90s, an age and the wife,
the woman she asked me, she said,
aren't you the the nephew or the grandson who is from Hayward?
And I said, Yes.
And she goes, You're the mayor of Hayward, aren't you?
And I said, Why, I am.
And she and so she went into this little story
about how she lived in Hayward right off of his esperion
in a little neighborhood and went in.
Right.
You know, over there by Shinola way.
And in those streets over there And she had fond memories
and she said, yes, we used to after school,
we used to go across the street and play with our friends who
lived in that little community right next to the airport.
And I was like, Yeah, yeah.
And I go, It was probably Russell City.
And she says, Yes, absolu lutely.
And she was sitting there as she was standing
there telling the story.
She kind of quietly shook her head
and she said it was a travesty what had been done
to those families, a travesty.
And so here we were, three states away a woman who was
in her 90s, maybe older, had great memories of growing up
in Hayward and living in Hayward.
But the one memory that she wanted to share with me
was her friends who lived in Russell City
and how she remembered and the treatment of that neighborhood
and how it was neglected and, you know, and i
and I was very happy at that time.
I was very happy to say, you know, ma'am,
I think the council, we are about to embark on a process
where we are going to acknowledge those families
and repair for the harm that was done.
And she just, you know she stood there.
And she goes, it's about time.
It's about time.
And so I, I am so glad we are doing this.
I am so pleased to be the mayor of a city
with a council like this, making this vote tonight.
We we're certainly not going to reverse
everything that had been done.
But at least this here demonstrates our value
as a city.
The value that we focus on is the diversity, inclusion
and justice.
So with that, it was moved by Council member Andrews.
It was seconded by Council member Roach.
Madam City Clerk Can we please take
the role and ladies and gentlemen,
it passes unanimously Thank you.
Supervisor OK our next item is item number 12,
and I want to be sure our next item is item number 12.
And I believe Mayor Pro Tem Seraph wanted to pull item 12.
Correct Yeah.
And there is.
And I do have two public comment cards on that.
So let me before I go to public comment,
let me first referred to councilmember or Mayor Pro tem
and go ahead.
Thank you.
I'll start with questions and give comments
after public comment.
But just for the public's knowledge,
this contract is discussing transitioning off
of flight cameras to Axon.
Given that a flight cameras expiring or trying
a flight contract is expiring from my understanding,
we have two concurrent flight contracts.
How many remaining flight cameras
would there be in the city if this transition goes through
or if we allowed the contract?
The current flight contract to expire?
I had that number last night.
And I just need to look at it or i can also ask Chief Matthews
if that's it.
Yes.
Okay.
If he can get there faster.
Oh 23 2023.
Great.
Thank you.
You.
Yeah, I'll keep the rest.
My comments for public comment after public comment.
OK.
I Councilmember Roach, thank you.
I wasn't going to speak but since we brought it up,
I was hoping that we can comment on the funding
that it's not going to.
I, I specific question is it's not going now,
John, any additional general fund dollars for this item,
is that correct?
That's correct.
Okay.
Thank you.
Great.
Okay.
I'll go to public comment.
I have two public cards First public comment is, is it
a Arianna?
OK Good evening.
Council.
My name is Adriana.
I'm hayward, homeowner and small business owner.
And I'm speaking on this item and urging council
to vote no on this item at this time,
or at least continue this item at least 60 days
minimum to have a full audit completed,
such as those done by Mountain View and Los Altos Hills.
These audits have found out-of-state access
and we don't yet know the vulnerabilities of access
or the user center, which is also on this item.
Well, this technology be similar to the flock AI capability
that journalists are able to see in a video which
shows a man rollerblading with the camera panned out
and then zooming into his phone, playing a video
while he takes a break.
Should I set the expectation that these cameras
can zoom in to what I'm doing?
Drones.
First responders are described as flying LPR cameras,
drones are considered military equipment
and a recent audit of Elk Grove's flock, a LPR system,
shows only 3% of searches involving
data recorded in the city were made by the Acro police
department.
The other 8 million were searches from 3,600 other
cities, counties, states, federal agencies
and governmental organizations This included fusion centers,
which collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security.
It does not appear that police departments can control
who is searching the data, despite saying
certain agencies do not have access
to this police department.
Also has a robust drone as first Responders
program and RTI, RC, which is also a part of this resolution.
Is this what we can expect as an evolution here in Hayward
as well?
Do we have policies in place that
align with the 2017 California Senate Bill
54, which restricts state and local law
enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents?
Does anyone know?
Ice has spent almost $100 million in contracts with Exxon
in the last two decades since it was created
in February of this year.
I signed another contract with Exxon for $220 million,
at least 50 police officers have been charged or accused
of using Floc for unauthorized purposes and over half
of those involved using it on their wives,
girlfriends, exes as exes, new partners
or women they wanted to meet.
According to the Washington post.
How is this technology going to be different?
As a survivor of gender based sexual violence,
who was not able to report to the police
for those same reasons?
I have serious concerns about this.
And representatives could come up here and say anything.
Today in Wisconsin, the city council
had to rescind a floor contract within 24 hours
after Floc representatives lied about the technology's
capability.
So without an audit, how can we, the residents of Hayward,
be expected to trust this decision,
especially after what just happened with the A.I. Data
Center?
Is that the standard that we're setting here for Hayward, Exxon
makes police more than body cameras, which
also have a functionality, according
to Exxon's own website.
Police can ask the general info about facts,
definitions, calculations.
What are common street names for that?
Next?
What is 15% of 198?
These answers are air generated, but the site
encourages verification before critical use.
This item also approves the Exxon Pizza Center
for HPD purchase, which is a real time
platform that unifies public and private video streams and apps.
It also is approval of the full Arctic package.
Does this include Exxon Outpost and Exxon
Light post Both of these have live streaming capabilities.
It does not list any other equipment.
They also have Tasers and vulnerabilities
have been found with the Tasers meaning general public can
tap into the Bluetooth.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Brian Schott Good evening.
Council Mayor.
My name is Brian Shannon the resident
of Hayward's new district one and have been for over 50 years.
And I live in Morse court next to Cal State, East Bay
and I'm here speaking in support of this project and the drones
as a first responder, I had an opportunity to see a demo of it
from Hayward PD to the Chamber of Commerce
and the technology to me is what we need in this city.
It's a necessary investment to meet the number one
issue of Hayward residents, and that is public safety
and the need to feel safe.
I'm sorry.
And I ask, what price do you put on the price?
What price do you put on public safety
Right now we have anywhere from 9 to 15 teams of police
officers, some working solo, some in combinations at any one
time on our street with the drone program they
can get somebody out.
They can get eyes on the scene before an officer arrives.
The officer has more time to be knowledgeable
about the situation.
They don't have to sit and be assessed.
It also protects the safety of our personnel.
So they know what they're up against.
The scene, we saw was a guy pulled out a gun
and pointed it out.
The drone that they showed in the demo, I believe you saw it.
Bottom line, the the five year contract worth of roughly $2.9
million breaks down to about $1,600 a day or around $68
an hour.
I can tell you that if you could reduce police
or if you can get reduced crime at $68 an hour, it's a bargain.
And I would hope that a similar program be
instituted with Hayward fire.
Watching these drones down from the nine
fired district fire stations in the district.
I live in the hills.
I want somebody to see the smoke that's coming out of my canyon,
whether it's a barbecue or a tree on fire.
So I would urge you to pass this consent item.
Thank you very much Thank you.
Our next item, our next speaker, sorry is T.J. Hello.
Now speaking to item 12.
I'm T.J. with Hayward Concerned Citizens
I wanted to pull this item again to extend our organized
and steadfast support, not only for the DIA, for program itself,
but also for the proposed technology
package that comes with it.
We had an opportunity to get all our questions answered
by Captain Dan Olson and were assured this is a great deal.
There will be a force multiplier for our police
and aid greatly in criminal investor ations
and maintaining community safety.
I appreciate Captain Olson's time.
And I urge Council to not only approve the five year agreement,
but to consider it a good investment for our city's
future.
Beyond that, as Brian Schott referred to.
Thank you.
You and have a good night.
Thank you.
Next speaker is Theresa.
Are.
Hi.
Good evening, everyone.
This is Theresa Resentence.
I'm also a member of Hayward, Concerned Citizen.
And just like C.J. I am pleased, supportive
of the deferred program.
And of the passage from exon enterprises.
I'm also not at all alarmed at any recording
by these devices that can be used by the FBI or other law
enforcement agencies in other cities
in order to track criminal behavior.
Here I am much more in favor of safety
even if it is reducing a little bit of our civil liberties
because safety is the number one concern that I have.
Thank you very much Thank you.
OK.
So I'd like to come back to the council
and put a close to public comment and Mayor Pro Tem Ciro.
Thank you, Mayor.
I won't belabor the point, because I
think I've given my position on the expansion of surveillance
tech in the time of Ice.
And so I think I'm going to remain consistent
with that tonight.
I'm really happy to see that we're transitioning away
from Floc.
I do want to say that first and foremost.
So I want to acknowledge the work that's gone
into looking for alternatives.
I do have concerns about the alternatives
as I do research on Axon versus Floc I see this being coming.
A battle of almost two investor camps.
The Wall Street investors and the Silicon Valley investors.
Silicon Valley's interested in flock.
Wall Street's interested in Axon.
Trump is also invested in Axon.
And so, you know, there's push to move away
from flock towards Axon.
I think saves us a bit of money.
Sure.
But I don't think it addresses the underlying
issue of the expansion of mass surveillance infrastructure
in our communities.
And so at this time, when we're seeing really blatant abuse
by Ice agents and contracts being signed with Ice agents,
I just can't get behind the expansion of more NPR cameras
and surveillance infrastructure in our communities.
I understand that is a good investment
to invest in public safety.
I think we spend close to 80% of our general fund
on public safety features as a city,
our largest chunk by far I also would retort,
you know, what price do we put on our own civil liberties
when we have neighbors that are being kidnapped by Ice
and we're not 100% sure if our tools are
being used for these purposes.
So I won't belabor the point any more,
but that's my stance on it.
And, if died and passes, it passes Thank
you, Councilmember Rob O'Neill.
Thank you, Mayor.
I just had a quick question for the police chief.
You know, the domain issue, I think
that I have is not with this particular contract,
but in general, is the inappropriate usage or access
to this data and to this information.
I think we heard examples today of,
you know, how this is how these cameras or this footage
has been used by Ice or it's been in appropriately access
by members of the community.
Can you just talk a little bit about sort
of your level of confidence with data security and access
to this footage and how that's going
to be sort of monitored and audited to make sure that this
is only being accessed, in accordance
with HPD policy and, you know, through your oversight.
Yeah, absolutely I'll start with the audit process
first, because we are doing that with our current program.
So on a monthly basis, Captain Olson and his staff
are mining our LPR data to make sure
that is not being inappropriately accessed
by people who shouldn't have it, including
people who are outside the state of California.
And for people who are from federal agencies
that are responsible for immigration enforcement.
We do comply with SB 34 and SB 54.
And this technology that we're proposing does.
Also, the other audit that we're doing is on the staff side.
So in order to access information,
everybody has an individual user ID
and everybody has to include a reason code for doing a search.
And so that is what we're auditing.
We're making sure that people are accessing
this for legitimate law enforcement purposes
and not for personal reasons, so that work
is ongoing with our current program.
One of the reasons why we selected Axon as a vendor
is because we are confident in their ability to protect data.
We have evidence, all of our digital evidence
is currently uploaded into that system.
This information would be uploaded into that system
as well.
We contract with them for body worn cameras.
We have fleet cameras that already
have their API, our capability.
And so confident in their ability to protect information,
keep it out of the hands of people they shouldn't have it.
Thank you.
And then as it relates to drones,
there's going to be particular use
cases in which those drawings, those drones get deployed.
They're not just going to be kind of roaming around the city
during are doing general surveillance,
like on a regular basis, right?
Correct.
We have very explicit prohibition language
in our policy.
Random surveillance is not allowed.
The DIA far concept is solely based on calls for service.
So it's 100% in response to somebody calling 911
for something, whether it's on the PD or the fire side.
Those are the cases where we're talking about using
this concept Got it.
And in addition to criminal stuff that will be using these,
you know, this technology for can't it
also be used to help us kind of respond in large scale
fires or natural disasters?
Can you just help us understand the application
of this technology beyond, you know,
crime reduction or crime response?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think, in the example of a wildland fire
getting eyes above it to figure out
which direction is traveling.
Having the fire department have the ability
to take a look at a structure for integrity reasons
before they're sending stuff inside of it.
I mean, there's a total application for it
in emergency response, we set on a major fault line.
I don't have to tell you, I'm sure we all share the you know,
that two, 2, 2, 4 a.m.
window in the middle of the night where we
worry about things like that.
If we are subject to a major earthquake, not
only are we going to have to do damage assessment,
we're going to have to do rescue operations.
You know, this is a situational awareness tool
that's going to help us direct staff
and direct them faster than we can now.
Thank you.
And just because this is approved,
we were looking at this on an annual basis
to ensure conformance with policy is an applicable laws.
And if there's ever a deviation from that,
we would have an ability to stop this, right?
Yes.
So this falls within maybe 41.
We have to get authorized action from the council annually
to continue to use that equipment If there
is an instance of an employee misuse
or a problem with the program or something
that the council says, hey, we're shutting it down,
you absolutely have the ability to do that So this
will be something that we talk about on an annual basis.
We're also happy to talk about it.
You know at the will of the council, Public Safety
Committee, we have that forum as well.
So we're happy to share information and present on it.
We do have a public facing website
that people can take a look at our policies are there.
And this this concept will be integrated into that.
So we will be reporting out on usage people will
be able to look at that stuff.
Appreciate that transparency.
Thank you, Chief.
And thanks for your leadership.
Thank you.
Before before I call on my on the next speaker, what
I'd like to do is I'd like to go ahead and move this item
and moved by Mayor Salinas and seconded by Council member
Bonilla, Councilmember Goldstein, thank you, Chief.
You have daughters.
How would you feel if you found one of your officers using
the surveillance technology to monitor one of your daughters?
The the person misusing the technology
would be subject to discipline up to and including termination.
I knew that would be your answer.
And I know you're a man of integrity
and I absolutely agree with my colleagues
that this technology can be a real lifesaver.
We can also really extend our ability
to reach people who need.
So a responder.
Right away, it's got applicability with police
and fire in rescue operation.
And and also in monitoring, fleeing suspects and fleeing
vehicles in a way that does not jeopardize
our employees or our residents.
So totally understand that, you know,
there's some debate around this, but this is honestly
the most cost effective force multiplier
that we could possibly apply.
And we have, you have put in the place we have as a city
put in place the mechanisms to make sure
that the technology is used responsibly and not abused,
correct?
Absolutely.
Very good.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you Councilmember Andrews.
Thank you.
I wanted to ask another question.
I understand that we have reporting annually.
I wanted to know if we can increase the reporting in terms
if there's any misuse, if there's any reports that
come out on access.
Hayward anything that's been called in that,
you know the residents felt like there was misuse.
I know there's been calls that I've received where people
thought it was a police drone, but it actually
was a private drone.
So just went to see if that was passed.
Yeah.
So anybody can report a suspected case of misuse
either by contacting Internal Affairs,
they can send me an email, you can
go to Access Hayward is a variety of mechanisms
for doing that.
And they will be investigated.
And we do.
And, we do audit the program We have not found a case of misuse
with the drone program or with the license plate reader program
on, you know, on behalf of staff.
I mean, that's something that we've
had in place since about 2022, I believe.
So.
But there is a mechanism for people to report that,
and that's part of what we will report out
during a before anyone if we get a complaint
or if we get a case of misuse.
That's part of what we're responsible for telling you
all as our counsel.
Is it possible.
You can just report that out at every public safety committee
meeting and then we can include that in the standing
presentation slide?
Sure.
OK.
And then also how you all are meeting recommendations
that you found in ACLU's standards
for operating a drone program or license plate reader program.
Is there any kind of cross-reference of that ?
So we did.
In fact, one of the people who helped shaped our policy
was an attorney working for the ACLU at the time.
I was part of the former advisory panel.
So the chief and we did review a lot of material published
by the ACLU on privacy concerns when we built the program
And that was presented to the council and approved.
So we did we did look at all of that.
And can you confirm that he repeatedly
does not coordinate with Ice?
We do not.
And it's under SB 34 and SB 54.
So legal for us to do that.
Our policy has been in place.
Well before the current federal administration.
And since some of the things that we're seeing now,
we've had that policy in place for a long time.
OK.
Thank you.
Yes, a few comments.
Yeah.
Council member Cyrus, thank you for answering my colleague's
questions, Chief.
I appreciate the thoroughness with which you're bringing forth
this proposal.
I have a few requests.
I think you have the support you need here,
but I want to make sure that we're in.
What's the expression?
Dotting the I's and crossing our T's?
So are we able to ensure that we're not
livestreaming to these cameras, but that there are drive
by triggered?
I want to make sure that it's not a constant surveillance
speed.
If this proposal goes through, what is the under.
What is your understanding of how these cameras are
going to operate?
Are you talking about the LPR cameras or the drone technology
?
So my understanding is that they are
they operate the way that the cameras that we have now operate
the Alpers technology is a detection technology.
Does capture images of vehicles with a date
and time and location stamp.
The technology either you know we're
proposing a bring it on board doesn't live
monitor the movement of people.
I think my concern is we were told that about Flock.
We were told a lot of the similar arguments about Flock.
And then there was found that people
could hack into these cameras quite easily.
They were consistently livestreaming and so, you know,
I'm hearing that Axon has better privacy standards,
but I just want to make sure that we're
able to confirm an order that there's not
a live stream happening but rather it's detection based.
So that we're protecting people's privacy.
I see cattle stand behind you.
You might have some something to add.
I want to turn it over to Captain Olson.
Who knows?
That's great All of this stuff.
Great.
Yeah, just a quick clarification on that, councilmember.
Sorry.
So the outpost product, the LPR product does
have the ability to livestream when we are viewing it
in the fuses platform.
And it does not pan, it does not tilt it does not zoom
and it does not record for later.
Recall Great.
Down the road.
Okay.
And then just as a point of housekeeping for the flock
cameras that are expiring, how soon to be able to remove
those poles from the ground.
So they're not in our communities anymore
One of my concerns with them is the way they're installed.
They don't have a break plate, so they
become a risk for drivers.
How soon can we expect to see those six cameras removed?
We haven't discussed that with Flock quite yet.
And my expectation would be is when the contract ends
in December, they're going to come get them in December,
they're going to leave their equipment here
in our town unpaid for.
Okay.
Because sometimes I have canceled their contracts,
have had to put bags over them because Flock refused
to come and remove them.
So I just want us to be prepared to remove them if needed
And then as far as reporting goes for the Public Safety
Committee, I would appreciate reports
similar to what Councilmember Andrews was asking for.
I would like to understand the efficacy of these helpers.
What is this help ability rate currently?
How are the helpers contributing to that?
Which cases have been associated with it?
Not just the highlights.
I know it's fun to tell a story of this particular shot caught
this guy, but I want to understand
in general you know, is this technology truly benefiting
our community and is it worth the cost?
And without that efficacy, it's also hard for me
to approve a budget and out of this caliber, given
that we're in a deficit.
Yeah, we're happy to do that.
On that topic, I'm happy to share two cases in the last 2
or 3 months, we had two infinite auction cases
One was a domestic violence incident where an offender who
had prior attempted murder charges
was involving the mother of his child, physically assaulted her,
took their infant and left.
And we had that person in custody in 20 minutes
without a LPR technology that would
have been a statewide Amber Alert and who knows what
the outcome would have been.
It was safely resolved.
Maybe a month later.
Similar situation in that a mother abducted an infant
that she was not supposed to have.
We were able to locate her vehicle down
in Southern California and with the assistance of a Southern
California law enforcement agency,
we were able to apprehend her as she
was trying to get a passport for the child to take the child out
of country.
So those are just two examples of the effectiveness of this.
I'm really happy to hear those cases resolved.
I think I want to understand on a macro level within the city,
just in general, how much usage are we seeing from this program
and how is it benefiting the city?
I think it's great that those two cases, you know,
these airports may have contributed to them being closed
and those crimes being stopped.
I just want to make sure we understand
what we're buying here in this is having citywide.
And then lastly, just one of the concerns
that came up from a conceptual is
there have been cases of an Alpine misreading, a license
plate maybe registering it as a stolen
vehicle or a vehicle registered in somebody else's name.
And people are having negative altercations
with police officers or law enforcement because of.
So we have not and that's not to say that it can't happen.
I think one of the things that I've read about
and I'm familiar with in talking to chiefs from other agencies
is part of that is human error.
Right ?
If a vehicle is reported stolen and it's recovered,
but it's not taken out of the stolen vehicle system
and it goes under an HPR camera, Yes, it will alert.
OK.
And officers have to you know, make a decision
about how to respond to that.
I think the important thing to understand
is that this is not decision making.
Technology is detection technology.
The decision making rests with the individual officer
who's processing everything at the scene.
Could that happen?
Absolutely.
Am I familiar with that happening to us?
No And again, you know, we are constantly
in conversation with our staff to make sure those things
don't happen.
OK, great.
And then the last question here is,
you said that in order to log into these systems
requires a reason, by the officer logging into it.
This is also includes the future system.
Is that what you're describing?
Correct.
OK.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you I see.
I see.
Councilmember or menu.
Thank you, Mayor.
And thank you for actually moving on the item.
So I thought it.
I you know, one of the main the emails
that the group of emails that I received as public safety,
public safety, public safety.
So in this particular case, I certainly
agree with the majority of my colleagues up here.
And I think that we are going to pass this particular item
on the drone system as can be used by both the firefighters
and by police Our service talk about saving lives is being used
right now up in the mountains, etc..
I've seen it in operation.
I don't it was mentioned that somebody
may be using it to spy on their girlfriend
or whatever the case that they know that happens.
But if that were to happen then there's possible dismissal.
I don't think we have that kind of personnel
in our police or fire fighting force.
I trust the leadership of our two forces.
I trust our all of our officers and in the firefighting
and in the police force, I don't see it at all.
This is not going to come from our general fund.
This is five years.
The change from flag to the other company
I think it's good for the company.
23 cameras, That's fine as far as I'm concerned.
So I will support this because every m mail
that I receive where the police I'm I don't feel safe.
Public safety, please.
And this is going to help us out.
So thank you.
Thank you.
You know, before i call on the roll call here, I
you know, I just want to just say that, you know,
this world is full of cameras.
There's cameras everywhere.
And, you know, everywhere we go, we can go to a grocery store.
Quick, stop, 7-Eleven, anywhere.
We're we're all on camera and no one asks us
whether we want to be on camera, but we're on it.
You know, as a public official, all our or all of us
are often videotaped without our permission.
And it's done in hostile ways.
People are waiting for gotcha moments.
And they pull out their phones and they get us off guard.
They get us unprepared.
And we don't ask for it.
We don't invite it.
But the cameras, phones are in our faces.
They're across tables and and no one, you know,
and often times people monetize all of that when they catch us
off guard as elected officials.
And then they posted and they posted on their platforms.
And and they monetize as all of us, me, it's been done.
It's happened to me.
And that's one way of using cameras in the public.
But in this case, we we're using cameras to protect people.
And I don't know, absolutely.
I know he means well.
And I and I have a great deal of respect for my colleague
Zarrab over there.
And we simply disagree on this issue.
But, you know, and I don't I don't think
he meant this in his tone.
But we need to be very careful on how
we dismiss the victims of crimes in this city.
Victims of child abductions in this city,
that if it weren't for a camera or a license plate reader,
we would still be looking for that baby.
And so I take this i take this issue very, very serious.
I take this vote very, very serious.
I have been observing this issue for a very long time.
I've watched council meetings.
I watched other council meetings in the Bay Area grapple
with cameras with license plate readers and councils
all across the Bay Area from conservative councils
to far left progressive councils to moderate councils.
Every council I have seen across the Bay Area councils
are 100% fully behind this.
Whether you know, you got council members that are for it.
And you got council members that are against it and and,
and, and even in some of the most urban cities
where we have seen kids, city of Richmond
being another example where there was a girl abducted
a purely avoidable case.
It was completely avoidable.
And not only was that little girl abducted,
but the person who abducted her came back to Richmond
to leave again and to be missed because of cameras, because
of the lack of get or the cameras being turned off.
So I hope I hope that in this discussion that we keep front
and center for the victims, the potential victims,
we city appear and we talk about the most vulnerable.
All we talked about protecting the most vulnerable.
Well, this is just one piece.
And you know what?
If it doesn't work out, we can pull it.
We can pull it as the chair of the Public Safety Committee,
we'll pull it We'll stop it.
But I. I, you know, I've said this before
and this will be the last point I make.
You know, as a mayor and as a council.
But as a mayor, I have a lot of responsibilities up here.
And as a mayor But my number one responsibility number one,
is to ensure that we have a safe community full stop,
and while while there is a lot of conversation
and discuss often around this topic,
around cameras and license plate readers and all this,
I still think that this is yet one tool
available to us that will keep people safe
and in particularly keep people that
are arguably some of the most vulnerable
in our community safe.
And those are kids.
So that's a madam City clerk, you know,
please take roll Oops in the item
passes with six eyes and one.
No, thank you.
That's okay.
I'd like to now move on to our one legislative business
item, which is the Cao Cities 2026 Annual Conference Adopt
resolutions.
One designate and a voting designee.
Net an alternate for the conference scheduled
for September 20th 3, 2 25, 2026,
and to directing the city's voting delegate to vote
on a proposed League of California Cities General
Assembly resolution calling for a working group to consider
actions to ensure final local authority over housing and land
use decisions.
And this report will come to us when we and our city manager.
But I think he's going to win on this one.
City Manager.
I win.
Do you want me to do a staff report and presentation or just.
Yeah, just do a how many slides?
3.
Roll the slides.
Okay, So those two actions we're asking you to take,
there's as you may know, the staff report
said there's a the Cal City conference is coming up
in September.
Is is a really important opportunity for the city council
to advocate for the city's local interests
within the state to to understand
what best practices are occurring
and to vote as part of the Cal City's on Cal City actions.
So there's two actions.
One is to essentially designate the delegates.
And alternative alternates for that.
So one delegate and two alternates
and then the second action of someone we go to the next slide
and would be great is that there is a proposed Cal City's
resolution.
The city of Marietta is proposing
to form a working group to develop
strategies for strengthening local housing
and land use authority.
This is consistent with the city's
current legislative program that we're in the process of updating
and that we do want to make sure we
maintain a balance with local control and housing laws.
I will say I think the jury's out in terms of whether
or not the staff would support what ultimately comes
from that working group or not.
But we don't see any reason not to support
the creation of a working group and discussion about that.
And then to be a part of those discussions
So we do support this resolution.
And again, what comes from that working group on
whether or not we ultimately support what comes from that.
I think we'd have to look at that more carefully.
But the formation of that working group makes sense to us.
And so we are recommending even that once you designate it A
or designate person to represent to the city,
that that they also support this resolution.
So those are the two actions and go to the next slide.
Designate a General Assembly representative
and support the proposed Cal Cities resolution OK.
Thank you.
So I'll start up here and I'm going
to nominate Councilmember Bonilla as the delegate
and Councilmember Roach as the alternate
How is that to alternate to alternate?
Oh, okay.
How about.
And then we'll be as your alternate Okay?
Yeah.
OK.
So I guess I just got passed.
I did.
You okay with that?
OK, so I'm going to be the primary and two alternates.
OK, I can do that All right.
I think we have to have public comment first.
Yeah.
So.
So we'll do.
OK.
So we got that covered.
And it was to say, oh, and then the id,
the id, the the resolution.
Can you go back up to the screen with a resolution
so to the slide before we go on the you OK So Councilor Ciro
Mayor pro tem.
Sorry.
Thank you Just a question around this.
The way it's framed gave me the feeling
of like the Nimby movement a little bit
where the state is really pushing for more housing
development in communities that have traditionally blocked
a lot of housing development And I'm
curious if this is a way framed under the guise of local control
to try to take back some of that power where you know,
that I think would lead to worse housing production results.
I guess I just wanted to hear your perspective on this.
I agree.
I think that is what where this is headed a little bit,
that that's some of the tone that I'm kind of gaining.
But I don't think what the action before you
is really the formation of a working group.
I think that might be a good thing
because then you have discussion and there
could be different voices.
So I don't see any reason not to support that.
And having a discussion about it.
I do think we have in our legislative program.
Some concerns about maintaining local control.
So having a robust discussion about that,
I don't see that as you know, something to be concerned about.
But I do think what comes from that working group,
there could be recommendations that when that time comes,
if it comes and we may come to you
and maybe recommend not supporting
some of those specific recommendations
if they turn out to be really focused on anti housing
and/or not promoting housing production Okay, great.
Thank you for that clarification that I'm okay with the staff
recommendation to support.
Great.
And I tried to get out of being a delegate
and I automatically became a delegate Barry back.
So okay.
Okay.
Let's see.
Okay.
So I will close any other comments on the dais?
No.
So we'll open up for public comment.
I don't have any cards.
I would close public comment.
I don't see any public comment online So hold on.
Since I do.
So, I. Oh, Glen Kirby, one public comment This
is Raul Aguilar.
I couldn't resist saying that I would support a working group
to discuss this because I see pros and cons on both sides
and I want to make sure we're fully cognizant of that.
And discuss the impacts.
Thank you Thank you.
Okay.
So I see no more public comment.
I'll come back up here to the day.
As you know, I'll entertain a motion.
I think Councilmember Bonilla already moved it.
Yes, I count on.
OK.
Moved by Councilmember Bonilla Second by Councilmember Roach.
Madam City Clerk, if you please.
Take roll And the item pass passes was six or.
I'm sorry.
It was seven votes.
Yes Thank you.
Before 4, I adjourn, I, absolutely.
I do have an adjournment.
This evening for Mayor silliness.
I believe there's one more.
Oh, informational item.
I think I just heard.
I apologize.
Our next item is item number 14, the fiscal year 2026 EMQQ three
quarter three and quarter four semiannual capital improvement
Progress Report.
This is an information item.
This is one of two.
First of all, there's no staff report,
but I just wanted to well, there is a staff report,
but I just wanted to see if there's
any questions from council regarding this item.
Seeing none.
So I will close that item.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Mr. Merry and next, I'd move on to adjournment.
But before we do that, I do have an item
that we're going to be adjourning.
We have lost a inning Incredible individual here in Hayward.
Judy Harrison passed away on July 19th and had I met Judy
Harrison when I, I when I became a council member back in 2010.
And I was a I was the LIPP, I was the liaison
on to the library, the council liaison to the library.
And of course, this was when we were ramping up
and we were working on the Measure C campaign
and of course, measure C was, you know,
the measure that we were going to do a lot of infrastructure,
a lot of infrastructure building the firehouse roads.
And so forth, but probably the main project
that we were really talking about out of the Measure C
project was or the Measure C, it was Measure C was the library.
Judy Harrison and her friends on the Friends
of the Haverhill Public Library, a group of retirees
single handedly.
And I mean, I you know you know, there
were you know, there were a lot of support on Measure C
and also there were a lot of hands on deck
on Measure C, Judy Harrison and her colleagues in the library
just went out there and knocked on doors,
made the case they walked every single day and, you know,
I there are a lot of people responsible for the passage
of Measure C Judy Harrison and her colleagues arguably
are one of the main in green science in that campaign.
They were key figures in that campaign.
And and, you know, Judy One thing
that she will always be remembered
for, one thing that I will always remember her for
is her work on Measure C campaign.
That library is her legacy in this city, no doubt.
So let me read this.
So that beloved longtime president
of the Friends of the Hayward Library, Judy Harrison,
passed away on July 19 of this year.
Judy was a librarian at eight.
She was d for most of her career,
and she had a huge impact on students in the school district.
Judy also believed strongly in volunteering and uplifting
all those in need of help.
Her impact as a volunteer through her early work
with the Peace Corps at Sere at Sierra Leone
and on local area residents through the American
Association of University Women and her tireless advocacy
for Measure C and of course her work at the library,
to name just a few, is immeasurable.
And through all this Judy was always fun to be around.
Judy's passion for traveling continued
to the very end and nothing could keep her down
She traveled all over the world, spreading joy wherever she went.
Judy's legacy will live on for many generations.
Hayward Public Library is planning a celebration of this
amazing woman's life on Saturday, August 29th,
from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the downtown Hayward Library.
All Who knew Judy Ah, welcome to join us.
You know Judy was always full of smiles.
She was always friendly to talk to.
She was, you know, she collected books.
She sold books.
She convinced people to buy books.
And she just oh, my gosh, just a wonderful, wonderful person.
Not only is the city of Hayward missing
her, but I do know that the Hayward School District is also
missing her So it is.
And Judy Harrison's name that I adjourn tonight's meeting.
Meeting adjourned.
Thank you, God bless you