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Oh no! There's an inoperable vehicle on my property! Help

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me code Crusaders! Go Crusa. Don't worry

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ma'am, I'll dispose of this eyesore.

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Thank you coding forcer. Happy to help. And remember Citizen.

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Any inoperable vehicle can be ticketed or tow. Vehicles on

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the street driveways or in public view must be in

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running condition and moved after 72 hours in the same

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location. Vehicles can be kept in the driveway for up

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to 72 hours for repairs. Su. Cookie, what happened to

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my car. Danny. Wake up.

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Danny. Da. La. Danny. What are you talking. About.

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Danny. She's overdosing. When no one else knows what to

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do, it's gotta be you Carrying the lock zone You

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could save a life. You need some help? Your toe

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chains are a little loose Could spark a wildfire I

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could show you how to secure them properly if you'd

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like Sure. Thanks a lot. Anytime. You should check out

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SmokyBear. com They've got a bunch of tips on wildfire

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prevention. Only you can prevent wildfires.

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When disaster strikes, staying informed isn't just important. It can

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save lives. That's why the city of Marino Valley created

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Alert Moval, a free notification system designed to keep you

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updated when emergencies happen in our community. Operated by the

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city of Marino Valley alert MoVal delivers critical information to

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resonance and businesses about fires, floods, earthquakes, and other major

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disasters. You choose how you receive alerts via text, email,

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or phone call. Your personal information stays private It's never

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sold or shared. Signing up as fast, free, and one

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of the smartest steps you can take to prepare your

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family for an emergency. Visit moval. org slash alert to

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register today. Live, work, or travel outside city limits, alert

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RIPCO run by the County of Riverside is the perfect

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companion to alert Movel, it's also free, and delivers vital

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alerts countywide. For even broader protection, download Genesis Protect, this

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powerful app connects you to emergency alerts for up to

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5 locations across the state. Genesis protect is available online

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or in your app store. Three tools, one goal. Your

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safety. Don't wait for disaster to find you. Sign up

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for Alert MoVal now, and stay a step ahead. Every

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00:04:21,703 --> 00:04:23,984
day Thousands of Kids start vaping. And I can't let

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this happen to my kid Of course, it's awkward to

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talk to you kids about the dangers of vaping Hey,

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bestie! How sketch is very. Hard to get their attention

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Ready. Go Yes, look at that. Yeah, you turn your

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ears over. So if you want to talk to your

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00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,589
kids about the dangers of vaping. You have to get

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a trending, right back by kid Let's do it. First,

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00:04:45,714 --> 00:04:48,681
invite your kid to do the vape talk. Let's try

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00:04:48,841 --> 00:04:54,590
this. Alright. Why is he here? Yeah, I gotta get

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00:04:54,590 --> 00:05:04,219
it trending, honey. Come on. Let's.

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Go. Allez. Can we talk. Yeah,

52
00:05:14,327 --> 00:05:16,247
what's up? I see a lot of your friends Vehicles

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Visit TalkBoutVaping. org for tips on when and how to

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have debate talk.

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Good evening, and welcome to the special meeting of the

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city council of the city of Moreno Valley. Please know

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that the city council receives a separate stipend from the

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community services district If any CSD business is conducted during

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this meeting. And now call this special meeting to order

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on February 26. At 6 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance.

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Will be led by Mayor Protem Gonzalez. Followed by a

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Rocal. Please Place your right hand of your heart and

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repeat after me I pledge allegiance to the flag of

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the United States of America. And to the Republic for

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which stands. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and

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justice for all. Thank You mayor Pro Tim.

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Next item is C, a roll call Madam Clerk, I'll

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turn it over to you. Thank you Mayor Council Member

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Bernard Here Council Member Delgado Here ma'am Council Member Bakasana

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Cruz. Here, we are pro - Tem Gonzalez Here, and

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Mayor Cabrera. Here Thank you. Thank you Before I move

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on to staff introductions I would like to note that

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we only have relevant staff here. Tonight Uh, uh, the

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mall topic under discussion Typically we have a full... team

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of staff that is here But just wanted to clarify

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for the record Y UC some of these empty seats

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We have only the relevant staff Uh... For this particular

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item here this evening. And so with that I'll turn

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it over to Uh... Our city clerk for staff introductions,

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please. Thank you Mayor Patty Rodriguez City clerk. Sonia Gomez,

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senior deputy city clerk Stephen Kitniya City Attorney Brian Mohan,

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city manager. James Verdugo Billion Official. Edgar Gonzalez Fire Marshal.

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Jesse Park, fire chief. Sarah Mac Chief of police. Thank

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you team. Next we will go to item E, which

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is public comments. And a friendly reminder that public comment

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shall be limited to only those items listed On the

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special meeting agenda pursuant to California Government Code Section 54954..

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3. As many of you know, the city offers language

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translation services through a free app called Wordly The app

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automatically translates a variety of languages into English and vice

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versa. To use this service, please scan the QR code

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at the speakersign - up table by the double doors.

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For the visually impaired, please use your earphones, or earbuds

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to listen to the verbal translation. If you do not

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have any such listening devices, please let the city clerk

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know. And we will gladly let you borrow some for

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this meeting. La ciudad ahora ofrece servicios de traducción de

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idiomas a través de una aplicación gratuita llamada Worldly Si

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gustan usar este servicio avísale Y entregue una tarjeta para

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hablar. Para usar la traducción escanee el código QR que

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está en la mesa junto a las puertas. Before we

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move on to public comment on The only item on

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tonight's special agenda I respectfully request that all comments be

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addressed to the presiding officer Which is myself... And to

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the city council, my four colleagues And I ask that

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all speakers keep their comments respectful And that members of

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the audience be courteous and refrain from disrupting any speakers

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At the podium. Now we'll move into item F, special

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order of business. I now open the special order of

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business regarding the status of the mall's closure. Item F1.

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Report on status of Reynold Valley Mall closure. And we

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will have a staff report. From The Fire Chief Building

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Official And the city Attorney. The fire chief Jesse Park,

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building official James Verdugo and city attorney Steve Quintanilla. Following

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the staff's presentations, the city council will have an opportunity

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to ask questions of staff I will then open the

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matter up for public comment. However, I like to remind

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everyone beforehand that since this is a special meeting Public

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comments must pertain to the subject matter that is under

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consideration. Those wishing to comment are encouraged to complete a

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purple speaker slip and submit that to the city clerk's

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staff Each speaker will have a total of 3 minutes

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to comment, which may be modified Based on the number

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of speakers that are present and submit their speaker slips

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If necessary, I will ask for consensus from my colleagues

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Uh, to reduce the amount of time per speaker In

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order to ensure that we can complete our business this

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evening. Now, let's proceed with the staff's presentations And at

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this time I will turn it over to our city

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staff And first up is our fire chief Jesse Park.

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Good evening. Council and to our attendees My name is

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Jesse Park, and I act as the city's fire chief.

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I'll be presenting information regarding the Moreno Valley Mall This

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presentation is a summary The times, dates, and violations are

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on record And this presentation isn't intended to provide the

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full comprehensive list. It is intended to give you an

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overview of the events leading up to the closure of

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the mall. To start with, I want to provide some

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background information The city does not have its ow municipal

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fire department in the same way our neighbor Riverside city

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does. Moreno Valley contracts with Riverside County to be part

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of regional Cooperative fire protection. This is similar to other

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regional county fire departments in Southern California, like Orange County,

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Los Angeles County, and San Diego County Both Riverside County

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and San Diego County contract with CalFire, the state's fire

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department. For operational staffing, and Cal Fire has many such

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cooperative fire protection agreements throughout the state. Moreno Valley also

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contracts with Riverside County for fire marshal services County Fire

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Marshals are not Cal Fire staff And therefore the patches

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may be different. But the mission is the same to

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protect life and property. Fire codes and laws are initiated

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at the state level. The state issues the current fire

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code, the county then adopts the code, and the city

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in turn adopts the code, and it becomes city policy.

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Each jurisdiction can amend the code However, we have not.

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Made any changes, and we accepted the code as written.

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Your fire marshal then uses the city code to perform

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inspections in the city. I'm providing this background because CAL

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FIRE was not responsible for the mall being temporary closed.

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And Riverside county fire is not responsible for the mall

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being closed. Nor is the city of Moreno Valley responsible

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for the mall being closed. The person responsible for the

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mall's closure is the owner of the mall. And I'll

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tell you why I can say that with full confidence.

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But before I go into the timeline of the current

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mall closure, I want to remind everybody that this is

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the second time in three years That the fire department

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has had to partially close the mall due to serious

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life - safety violations. The first time was in 2023

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at the anchor store location that was formerly Gotchox, which

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is still owned by the current mall owner. Although this

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building was occupied. It did not receive the same amount

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of attention as today. Because it was operating as an

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unpermitted distribution center. And its closure did not affect the

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suites inside the mall. The reason that it was ordered

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closed and vacated were very serious. Unpermitted high pile storage,

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high hazards in a building where fire protection systems had

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been disabled. Doors welded shut. Fire exits blocked, emergency lighting

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removed, and Unrated electrical hanging. These violations are the responsibility

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of the mall owner, and despite having them all owner

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and his team, a meeting here at City Hall, it's

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still took more than a year to make those corrections.

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And the city litigation is still Unresolved in that case.

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This pattern. Of removing fire protection systems, performing unpermitted construction,

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and storing inappropriate material in the mall continues On one

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occasion, our inspectors found the mall owner Illegally storing pallets

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of expired hand sanitizer in a vacant portion of them

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all hand sanitizer is incredibly flammable. And the sprinklers are

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not rated to extinguish that type of fire. We were

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very lucky that our inspectors were so thorough, and we

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had that hazard removed immediately. But our warnings to stop

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this type of practice seemed to go unheard by the

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mall owner. In March of 2025 our inspectors were at

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the mall looking at the tenant improvement plans for four

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new businesses. When they found the sprinkler pipes and alarms

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had been ripped out without getting a permit, or installing

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new ones. If a fire occurred in that location There

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would be nothing to stop it from growing, and the

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results could be catastrophic. That portion of the mall was

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immediately placed on fire watch. And unfortunately counsel to this

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day. They're still on fire watch almost a year later.

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And that's because the mall owner will not replace the

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fire system. Effectively, this makes it impossible for those four

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businesses to open. So now let's get to the timeline.

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Of the current mall closure. On April 3rd of 2024.

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The mall was scheduled for its routine annual inspection The

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mall, just like any other business like it, is required

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by law to provide us with the testing and maintenance

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records for their sprinklers. Alarms, generators. Exit an emergency lighting,

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and smoke control systems. When a business is prepared They

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will hand over these records on our arrival, and our

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walkthrough, an inspection is relatively brief. Unfortunately, the mall did

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not have any of these records, and during the walkthrough

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our inspectors found many other violations that needed to be

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resolved. It's important to note that just because of property

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owner doesn't have a curtain current maintenance records We don't

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shut them down immediately. We only deem a building unsafe

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when there is a true threat to public safety. So

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when we ask them all to provide a record, that

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says their generators are working order. And they tell us

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they don't have one. But they say the generator works,

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we give them the benefit of the doubt. Our inspectors

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are not certified contractors We do not make the owner

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start up the generator to prove that it runs, because

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we would be making ourselves liable if we signed it

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off. That's what the contractor's for. If we ask them

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all staff if their sprinklers are in good working order,

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and they say yes, but we don't have any records

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to prove it We still issue them a notice of

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violation They're still in violation And then we inform them

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in the requirements and schedule another inspection Hoping that upon

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the next inspection, we'll have the proper documents And we

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can sign that violation off. We provided them all the

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notices of the violation. All the violations, how to correct

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them. And we scheduled and rescheduled many return visits. But

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the mall owner refused to correct these violations, and this

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is continued past 2024 through 2025. And right into early

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2026. Over time, despite the mall revitalization plan

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being approved, we suspected that the mall may not comply

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00:24:40,419 --> 00:24:42,419
with the law, and this could really affect all the

241
00:24:42,579 --> 00:24:46,099
businesses in the mall In general, unless there is an

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00:24:46,099 --> 00:24:48,099
obvious life safety violation, we do not close a business

243
00:24:48,659 --> 00:24:51,687
due to outdated documentation. If a business is located in

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00:24:51,687 --> 00:24:54,826
a larger building like them all. And the smaller business

245
00:24:54,986 --> 00:25:00,266
has completed their requirements, but the larger shell has not,

246
00:25:00,186 --> 00:25:03,667
and they have outdated requirements. Our past practice is still

247
00:25:03,747 --> 00:25:08,450
at the new business Open and create revenue. Believing fully

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00:25:08,450 --> 00:25:11,730
that the building owner is indeed making those needed corrections.

249
00:25:13,085 --> 00:25:17,245
However, the continued pattern by the mall owner of refusing

250
00:25:17,405 --> 00:25:21,469
to correct any violations. Became so concerning that it needed

251
00:25:21,629 --> 00:25:23,629
to be brought to the attention of the city manager.

252
00:25:24,173 --> 00:25:30,905
And the council. We requested that the mall owner come

253
00:25:30,905 --> 00:25:33,705
to City Hall, and we reinform him of the violations.

254
00:25:34,891 --> 00:25:38,251
And schedule return inspection in two weeks Where he could

255
00:25:38,251 --> 00:25:42,491
provide us the required testing and maintenance records that had

256
00:25:42,571 --> 00:25:47,522
been due for the last two years. We met with

257
00:25:47,842 --> 00:25:51,922
the mall owner on February 5, 2026. And then we

258
00:25:52,082 --> 00:25:59,403
scheduled our return visit for February 19. On February 19th,

259
00:25:59,323 --> 00:26:02,123
myself, your fire marshal, and your city building official went

260
00:26:02,283 --> 00:26:06,119
to the mall to collect the updated records. Unfortunately, not

261
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,279
only did the mall owner not have the required maintenance

262
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:13,770
records. But the mall staff also freely admitted, and this

263
00:26:13,770 --> 00:26:18,292
is very important. They admitted that the exit doors were

264
00:26:18,292 --> 00:26:22,506
broken, the alarm panel didn't work. And the generators did

265
00:26:22,506 --> 00:26:25,183
not work. We had given them the benefit of the

266
00:26:25,343 --> 00:26:29,183
doubt in the past, but now we knew for a

267
00:26:29,183 --> 00:26:32,383
fact That the mall was unsafe for the public to

268
00:26:32,463 --> 00:26:36,026
be in. I denied on safe, and our city building

269
00:26:36,106 --> 00:26:38,746
official provided them a notice to vacate effectively closing the

270
00:26:38,906 --> 00:26:42,028
mall to the public. While still letting the required security

271
00:26:42,268 --> 00:26:45,148
and contractors Enter to get the work done, and to

272
00:26:45,148 --> 00:26:50,021
get them all back open. That's what we've been doing.

273
00:26:50,429 --> 00:26:53,229
Every day, your farm Russia staff, myself unceded of doing

274
00:26:53,309 --> 00:26:56,815
their daily business, we're going back to them all. Explaining

275
00:26:56,975 --> 00:26:59,375
again and again what is required to get them all

276
00:26:59,455 --> 00:27:02,217
back open. Every day our answer to the mall is

277
00:27:02,217 --> 00:27:06,940
the same, fix the nine life safety violations. The mall

278
00:27:07,020 --> 00:27:11,420
actually has hundreds of FIRE - code violations that need

279
00:27:11,660 --> 00:27:14,991
correcting. But there are nine that we have identified as

280
00:27:15,311 --> 00:27:18,431
true life safety hazards. When those Niner corrected, the Mal

281
00:27:18,511 --> 00:27:24,403
can open. Finally. I want to counter of false narrative

282
00:27:25,363 --> 00:27:28,323
that the mall was ignorant of the violations and caught

283
00:27:28,403 --> 00:27:34,603
off guard. Our inspectors all utilize an iPad. With location

284
00:27:34,683 --> 00:27:40,336
services enabled. Every violation is digitally recorded. It's accompanied by

285
00:27:40,576 --> 00:27:44,335
a picture. And that is timestamped and dated. The notices

286
00:27:44,575 --> 00:27:46,975
are recorded onto our server and provided to the mall's

287
00:27:46,975 --> 00:27:49,935
owner's designated officials. All of this information is stored for

288
00:27:50,095 --> 00:27:54,662
analytics and for billing, and for potential litigation. In no

289
00:27:54,662 --> 00:27:57,062
way was the mall ignorant to the violations or corrections

290
00:27:57,142 --> 00:28:01,103
made. Or needed. The only people that were caught off

291
00:28:01,343 --> 00:28:06,126
guard were the tenants. It would have been highly inappropriate

292
00:28:06,206 --> 00:28:10,046
for the fire department to tell the tenants that the

293
00:28:10,286 --> 00:28:13,758
mall can close. That is the responsibility of the mall

294
00:28:13,758 --> 00:28:18,659
owner to tell them what's going on. However, once it

295
00:28:18,659 --> 00:28:21,699
became clear that the mall was unsafe, your fire martial

296
00:28:21,859 --> 00:28:24,659
staff, along with myself, we went door to door to

297
00:28:24,659 --> 00:28:27,539
every suite, and we handed them oppress release, and we

298
00:28:27,619 --> 00:28:31,683
answered their questions. Again, it was never our intent to

299
00:28:31,683 --> 00:28:34,643
see the mall closed, but it is our responsibility to

300
00:28:34,963 --> 00:28:40,974
ensure that serious public safety violations are resolved. That's why

301
00:28:41,054 --> 00:28:43,454
I can confidently say that the reason the mall is

302
00:28:43,534 --> 00:28:46,654
temporary closed is due to the mall owners in action.

303
00:28:49,010 --> 00:28:51,890
That is the end of my report in presentation, and

304
00:28:51,890 --> 00:28:53,810
before any take any questions I'd like to provide our

305
00:28:54,050 --> 00:28:58,210
city building official And our city attorney, an opportunity to

306
00:28:58,370 --> 00:29:05,204
provide some additional information. Thank you. Good evening. My name

307
00:29:05,204 --> 00:29:07,444
is James Verdugo, and I serve as the billion official

308
00:29:07,524 --> 00:29:10,305
for the city of Marino Valley. In light of the

309
00:29:10,385 --> 00:29:11,665
serious nature of this matter I would like to provide

310
00:29:11,985 --> 00:29:14,625
additional context regarding the role and involvement of the billing

311
00:29:14,705 --> 00:29:18,465
official within the timeline reference by fire chief Jesse Bart.

312
00:29:19,302 --> 00:29:22,102
The core duties and responsibilities of a billing official are

313
00:29:22,182 --> 00:29:26,022
established through certification by the international code council, and through

314
00:29:26,102 --> 00:29:29,142
the enforcement of the California Building Codes, as adopted by

315
00:29:29,222 --> 00:29:33,623
this jurisdiction. Under this authority, the billing officials with authorize

316
00:29:33,943 --> 00:29:37,943
an obligated to administer and enforce the California Building Code,

317
00:29:37,863 --> 00:29:41,225
and all applicable state - adopted standards. The purpose of

318
00:29:41,305 --> 00:29:45,705
these codes is clear to establish minimum requirements that safeguard,

319
00:29:45,625 --> 00:29:49,065
public health, life safety, and the general welfare of the

320
00:29:49,145 --> 00:29:55,204
community. These standards address structural integrity, adequate means of egress,

321
00:29:55,124 --> 00:29:58,644
proper lighting, and ventilation, accessibility, and protection of life and

322
00:29:58,644 --> 00:30:02,324
property from fire, and other hazards associated with the built

323
00:30:02,404 --> 00:30:06,477
environment. They are not aspirational guidelines, they are the minimum

324
00:30:07,037 --> 00:30:11,277
safeguards necessary to ensure that buildings remain safe for occupancy

325
00:30:11,437 --> 00:30:16,243
and enjoyment of the public. Pursuant to section 104. 1

326
00:30:16,323 --> 00:30:18,563
of the California Building Code, the billing official is responsible

327
00:30:18,883 --> 00:30:21,923
for enforcement of the code, and it's authorized to interpret

328
00:30:22,083 --> 00:30:25,763
and apply its provisions While interpretations, policies, and procedures may

329
00:30:25,843 --> 00:30:29,523
be adopted to clarify application They must remain consistent with

330
00:30:29,603 --> 00:30:32,243
the intent and purpose of the code, and may not

331
00:30:32,403 --> 00:30:36,988
waive any explicitly prescribe requirements. Preservation of life safety is

332
00:30:36,988 --> 00:30:39,788
not discretionary, it is a defined boundary of the authority

333
00:30:40,108 --> 00:30:45,231
entrusted to this office. Similarly, the fire code is official

334
00:30:45,631 --> 00:30:48,191
is charged with ensuring that required fire protection and life

335
00:30:48,271 --> 00:30:51,871
safety systems are properly maintained, documented, and brought into compliance.

336
00:30:52,917 --> 00:30:57,237
When conditions are present, when conditions present a clear threat

337
00:30:57,237 --> 00:31:00,437
to life, safety, or health under the California fire code,

338
00:31:00,357 --> 00:31:03,717
those conditions must be addressed Any structure or equipment deem

339
00:31:03,877 --> 00:31:07,317
unsafe due to inadequate means of egress, inefficient lighting, or

340
00:31:07,397 --> 00:31:11,717
ventilation, fire hazards, improper occupancy, or lack of maintenance is

341
00:31:11,717 --> 00:31:14,757
referred to the billing official for appropriate action Which may

342
00:31:14,837 --> 00:31:19,077
include repair alteration or demolition, or notices and orders to

343
00:31:19,157 --> 00:31:24,143
follow procedure. When unsafe conditions are identified, the code requires

344
00:31:24,143 --> 00:31:27,343
that notices be served by the property owner authorized to

345
00:31:27,343 --> 00:31:31,503
the property owner or authorized agents specifying the deficiencies and

346
00:31:31,503 --> 00:31:34,303
the correction of actions necessary to obey the hazard. The

347
00:31:34,543 --> 00:31:37,663
billing official is further authorized to issue required notices or

348
00:31:37,743 --> 00:31:41,583
orders, including written and vacate orders when occupancy is determined

349
00:31:41,663 --> 00:31:48,296
to be unsafe. Unlawful. In order to protect life. These

350
00:31:48,536 --> 00:31:52,216
provisions collectively establish the fundamental life safety obligation of the

351
00:31:52,456 --> 00:31:55,496
code officials to ensure that no occupied condition falls below

352
00:31:55,576 --> 00:31:59,016
the minimum standards established by the California Building and fire

353
00:31:59,096 --> 00:32:03,796
codes. Property owners bear the ongoing responsibility to maintain all

354
00:32:04,036 --> 00:32:06,676
- fire protection and life safety systems and operable condition

355
00:32:07,076 --> 00:32:10,605
at all times. Under the authority granted by the state

356
00:32:10,605 --> 00:32:13,325
of California billion fire codes and undermised certification as a

357
00:32:13,405 --> 00:32:16,045
billing official through the international code council in order to

358
00:32:16,125 --> 00:32:20,125
vacate was issued, as noted by a chief Jessie Park.

359
00:32:20,045 --> 00:32:22,285
That order will remain in effect until all require life

360
00:32:22,365 --> 00:32:25,805
safety systems within the building have been fully repaired, restored

361
00:32:25,805 --> 00:32:29,005
to proper working order, and verify to comply with applicable

362
00:32:29,245 --> 00:32:33,899
life safety codes and regulations. This action is protective. Our

363
00:32:33,899 --> 00:32:36,379
obligation both legal and ethical is to ensure that buildings

364
00:32:36,699 --> 00:32:39,179
occupy by the public meet the minimum life safety standards

365
00:32:39,339 --> 00:32:43,733
established by law. Until these standards are met occupancy will

366
00:32:43,733 --> 00:32:48,337
need to be differed into compliance is achieved. I refer

367
00:32:48,417 --> 00:32:52,679
to Mike over too. City Attorney Steve continue. Thank you

368
00:32:52,999 --> 00:32:56,599
James Good evening everyone, good evening council, and good evening

369
00:32:57,399 --> 00:33:00,839
to everybody who took the time to come out here.

370
00:33:00,839 --> 00:33:03,399
I'd like to start out with talking about what we

371
00:33:03,559 --> 00:33:06,968
all have in common in this room. And all we

372
00:33:07,128 --> 00:33:11,128
have in common is that we want the mall to

373
00:33:11,288 --> 00:33:15,756
be open and open as soon as possible. I can

374
00:33:15,756 --> 00:33:19,276
tell everyone in this room that each one of these

375
00:33:19,836 --> 00:33:25,196
council members have come to me and pleaded try to

376
00:33:25,196 --> 00:33:29,718
do whatever you can figure out anything you can. To

377
00:33:29,798 --> 00:33:33,655
get this mall reopen. But at the same time, the

378
00:33:33,975 --> 00:33:37,655
council understands the predicament we're in, and that predicament is

379
00:33:38,455 --> 00:33:41,575
a good predicament, and that is we have a fire

380
00:33:41,655 --> 00:33:45,095
department who has a duty and an obligation to ensure

381
00:33:45,895 --> 00:33:49,575
that whatever business operates within the city is operated in

382
00:33:49,655 --> 00:33:54,075
a matter that protects health and safety. So I'd just

383
00:33:54,075 --> 00:33:55,755
like to start with that, so that's what we all

384
00:33:56,155 --> 00:33:58,795
have in common, that's what our common objective is, is

385
00:33:58,795 --> 00:34:01,595
to ensure that this mall is open as soon as

386
00:34:01,755 --> 00:34:07,970
possible. We are losing tax revenue every day. From the

387
00:34:08,210 --> 00:34:12,050
cells that take place there at the mall. Our retail

388
00:34:12,130 --> 00:34:17,137
businesses are losing income. Their employees are losing, they have

389
00:34:17,217 --> 00:34:23,402
lost their jobs. That affects families in our community. Families

390
00:34:23,402 --> 00:34:26,442
who depend on the income that they earn from these

391
00:34:26,522 --> 00:34:32,011
retail tenants. Who have their businesses in the mall. To

392
00:34:32,011 --> 00:34:36,673
feed their families, to clothe their children. To do everything

393
00:34:36,993 --> 00:34:40,866
that's necessary to take care of their families. Without that

394
00:34:41,106 --> 00:34:46,226
income, they continue to suffer. That's why we all want

395
00:34:46,466 --> 00:34:50,763
this mall to reopen. And in addition to that, it

396
00:34:50,763 --> 00:34:54,597
causes a lot of inconvenience for shoppers and visitors. Of

397
00:34:54,597 --> 00:34:57,157
the mall We not only have shoppers in the mall,

398
00:34:57,077 --> 00:35:00,277
but we have groups of senior citizens who go in

399
00:35:00,277 --> 00:35:04,630
there and get exercised by walking throughout the mall. I

400
00:35:04,630 --> 00:35:06,950
would do that, I'm a senior, but I don't have

401
00:35:06,950 --> 00:35:10,907
time to go for walks. Anyway, so let's begin with

402
00:35:11,067 --> 00:35:13,707
that We all know what the issues are here We

403
00:35:13,707 --> 00:35:17,098
all understand that this council understands it. And it's unfortunate

404
00:35:17,258 --> 00:35:21,498
for them that they have their hands tied here Because

405
00:35:21,498 --> 00:35:23,738
the fire department has to do with the fire department

406
00:35:24,058 --> 00:35:28,048
has to do to protect the life, safety. Of everyone

407
00:35:28,208 --> 00:35:33,715
in this room. So this is all really about life

408
00:35:33,875 --> 00:35:39,645
safety and fire protection deficiencies at the mall. That's simply

409
00:35:39,725 --> 00:35:43,527
what it's all about. When do they have to comply

410
00:35:43,767 --> 00:35:48,422
with all of these violations, and the nine violations. As

411
00:35:48,422 --> 00:35:53,355
soon as possible. Before the mall can be realpen. And

412
00:35:53,355 --> 00:35:56,955
the determination as to when they comply is a determination

413
00:35:57,035 --> 00:35:59,915
that has to be made by our experts, which include

414
00:36:00,795 --> 00:36:04,498
our fire chief and our fire marshal. You know we

415
00:36:04,498 --> 00:36:07,698
all heard about these horrible stories that came out of

416
00:36:07,698 --> 00:36:10,658
the city of Oakland when there was a fire there,

417
00:36:10,578 --> 00:36:15,131
we lost over 30 lives there. When you take a

418
00:36:15,131 --> 00:36:20,571
deep dive into what the result of all that was,

419
00:36:20,491 --> 00:36:23,474
families were destroyed. Because of the lost of loved ones.

420
00:36:26,444 --> 00:36:28,764
But in addition to that, the taxpayers had to cover

421
00:36:28,764 --> 00:36:33,388
the bill. For the damages and the loss of these

422
00:36:33,388 --> 00:36:37,405
loved ones. They had to pay out millions, millions of

423
00:36:37,565 --> 00:36:41,946
dollars. That's not going to restore the lives of the

424
00:36:42,026 --> 00:36:44,975
people who were laws. But that was a direct impact

425
00:36:46,815 --> 00:36:53,410
on the taxpayers in the city of Oakland. In Switzerland,

426
00:36:53,330 --> 00:36:56,130
you I'm sure many of us have read about or

427
00:36:56,210 --> 00:37:00,348
heard about the fire that took place there. And what

428
00:37:00,428 --> 00:37:03,468
was in common in both the Oakland fires and the

429
00:37:03,788 --> 00:37:09,241
fire in Switzerland. Or lack of inspections. Lack of follow

430
00:37:09,241 --> 00:37:17,277
- up. By their respective fire departments. That is not

431
00:37:17,437 --> 00:37:20,544
happening here. And with our fire department I can assure

432
00:37:20,624 --> 00:37:24,248
you it will never happen here. So this is what

433
00:37:24,648 --> 00:37:28,105
this is all about. It's all about a deficiencies that

434
00:37:28,265 --> 00:37:31,945
are fire department has determined exists there with respect to

435
00:37:32,185 --> 00:37:38,150
life, safety, and fire protection. Oh, as an aside, I'd

436
00:37:38,070 --> 00:37:40,630
just like to point out that... Staff has set up

437
00:37:40,790 --> 00:37:44,790
a page on our city's website that provides background information

438
00:37:45,910 --> 00:37:49,877
on this particular situation. Explains how we got there, or

439
00:37:49,877 --> 00:37:52,873
how we got here. It also includes a list of

440
00:37:53,193 --> 00:37:58,153
frequently and frequently ask questions that are be frequently asked

441
00:37:58,313 --> 00:38:02,262
about the situation. And we are also providing a status

442
00:38:03,062 --> 00:38:08,102
update every day at 4. 30 Uh... listing all the

443
00:38:08,262 --> 00:38:13,445
violations that have been resolved, and all depending violations. Now

444
00:38:13,765 --> 00:38:18,405
in this came to my attention Um... In January, so

445
00:38:18,965 --> 00:38:22,165
I was aware that a lot were violations out there.

446
00:38:23,762 --> 00:38:26,722
But when it got to the level of having to

447
00:38:26,802 --> 00:38:30,182
make a determination. That we may have to shut them

448
00:38:30,262 --> 00:38:34,524
all down. The city manager and I immediately dispatched a

449
00:38:34,604 --> 00:38:38,367
joint letter to the mall owner. Informing them all owner

450
00:38:38,767 --> 00:38:42,527
that our fire department has identified That there are various

451
00:38:43,087 --> 00:38:46,687
fire protection systems that were demolished, they were moved or

452
00:38:46,767 --> 00:38:50,367
modified without the knowledge or pre - approval of our

453
00:38:50,447 --> 00:38:55,518
fire department. And this included like basic, very basic life

454
00:38:55,598 --> 00:38:59,438
- saving devices such as fire alarms and fire sprinklers.

455
00:39:00,130 --> 00:39:05,452
I mean that's something we all understand is necessary. We

456
00:39:05,692 --> 00:39:10,492
also pointed out in that joint letter to the owner,

457
00:39:10,412 --> 00:39:14,866
that in addition to these fire violations. We had community

458
00:39:15,346 --> 00:39:19,026
enhancement in our neighborhood services division, which essentially our code

459
00:39:19,026 --> 00:39:24,781
enforcement division. We had learned that they had issued 88

460
00:39:25,181 --> 00:39:30,552
code violations. To the mall for, things such as unpermitted

461
00:39:30,712 --> 00:39:34,381
construction. The lack of certificates of occupancy If you don't

462
00:39:34,381 --> 00:39:37,901
have a certificate of Occam C, that means that that

463
00:39:37,901 --> 00:39:40,781
place, it's not been determined to be safe for anyone

464
00:39:40,781 --> 00:39:49,699
to occupy that facility. That the pavement curbing, adequate and

465
00:39:49,699 --> 00:39:54,945
complete parking and lane striping. There's a long list of

466
00:39:55,345 --> 00:39:58,537
violations. But I just want to point out those are

467
00:39:58,617 --> 00:40:02,057
not the reasons why the mall was ordered to be

468
00:40:02,297 --> 00:40:09,131
shuttered. After I sent this letter I had anticipated that

469
00:40:09,211 --> 00:40:12,411
I would receive an immediate response from the mall owner

470
00:40:12,491 --> 00:40:17,424
or the mall management, and lo and behold, nothing. And

471
00:40:17,344 --> 00:40:21,399
then I was informed by the fire department that. We

472
00:40:21,399 --> 00:40:26,776
had some very, very significant fire safety issues there. Some

473
00:40:26,856 --> 00:40:30,456
of these issues were discovered simply because we have a

474
00:40:30,616 --> 00:40:34,776
contractor there working on the facility that we have leased

475
00:40:35,496 --> 00:40:38,856
for, or immersive museum that the city is planning on

476
00:40:38,936 --> 00:40:42,472
opening up their suit. So our contractor had reported to

477
00:40:43,192 --> 00:40:47,432
staff that they've identified that the issues there that we

478
00:40:47,992 --> 00:40:50,472
should be concerned about with respect not only to the

479
00:40:50,792 --> 00:40:59,005
least premises, but also for the entire mall. The concern

480
00:40:59,085 --> 00:41:02,525
that we have is that, with a concern that I

481
00:41:02,765 --> 00:41:05,725
had is that since I didn't receive a response I

482
00:41:05,645 --> 00:41:11,245
thought, okay Let me give the owner another opportunity to

483
00:41:11,805 --> 00:41:20,045
respond. So on February 26 just coincided with the time,

484
00:41:19,965 --> 00:41:26,045
the fire department had considered issuing an order to vacate.

485
00:41:25,965 --> 00:41:29,325
A dispatched a letter to the mall owner, informing the

486
00:41:29,405 --> 00:41:34,409
mall owner that these issues have not been resolved. And

487
00:41:34,489 --> 00:41:37,950
I included in that letter. Oh, on February, that was

488
00:41:37,950 --> 00:41:41,624
on February 19th, I'm sorry, thank you. Brian So I

489
00:41:41,704 --> 00:41:44,824
sent a letter on February 19 And in that letter

490
00:41:45,384 --> 00:41:48,984
I reiterated the nine violations that had been identified by

491
00:41:49,064 --> 00:41:53,624
the fire department, and those included lack of inspections in

492
00:41:53,624 --> 00:41:57,704
regards to, and testing in regards to the fire sprinklers,

493
00:41:57,624 --> 00:42:01,224
the malls fire sprinkler system, the multi - fire alarm

494
00:42:01,224 --> 00:42:05,824
system. The smoke control system, the malt fire doors, the

495
00:42:05,984 --> 00:42:09,184
malls fire stamp system Which I have no idea what

496
00:42:09,424 --> 00:42:16,064
that is. The fire smoke dampers, emergency generators, emergency lighting,

497
00:42:15,984 --> 00:42:20,439
and emergency exit lighting. Now these are just the categories.

498
00:42:21,162 --> 00:42:25,562
That they were cited for. And within these categories, it

499
00:42:25,562 --> 00:42:30,282
included issues such as locks on certain exit doors that

500
00:42:30,442 --> 00:42:33,642
needed to be either removed because they weren't working, or

501
00:42:33,642 --> 00:42:37,256
needed to be repaired or replaced. There was signage that

502
00:42:37,416 --> 00:42:42,216
was missing, that was... These are, we're talking about emergency

503
00:42:42,616 --> 00:42:46,376
exit sighting, just basic signage like that that needed to

504
00:42:46,376 --> 00:42:50,002
be repaired or replaced. The mall needed to provide updated

505
00:42:50,482 --> 00:42:54,162
key codes for the emergency communications room Can you imagine

506
00:42:54,482 --> 00:42:57,122
having our fire department show up, and they can't get

507
00:42:57,282 --> 00:43:00,861
into that room. You know in the case of an

508
00:43:00,941 --> 00:43:05,341
emergency There are multitude of smoke detectors that needed to

509
00:43:05,261 --> 00:43:08,141
be clean immediately to clear some of the dust build

510
00:43:08,141 --> 00:43:10,701
- up are replaced In fact, my fire alarm was

511
00:43:10,701 --> 00:43:13,021
going off on Sunday, and I couldn't figure out what

512
00:43:13,021 --> 00:43:14,461
was going on, I looked up there, and it was

513
00:43:14,461 --> 00:43:19,470
covered with dust. There are various fire extinguishers throughout the

514
00:43:19,470 --> 00:43:22,670
mall that needed to be tested and inspected to ensure

515
00:43:22,750 --> 00:43:26,782
that they work. There are piles of storage that needed

516
00:43:26,862 --> 00:43:30,302
to be removed, that were placed and stored near certain

517
00:43:30,542 --> 00:43:36,016
emergency exit doors. There were... We have fire rated doors

518
00:43:36,976 --> 00:43:40,576
throughout the mall, and a lot of business establishments that

519
00:43:40,816 --> 00:43:44,869
withstand fire and smoke during an emergency. Many of those

520
00:43:45,029 --> 00:43:49,970
needed to be repaired. The fire rated doors. They had

521
00:43:50,050 --> 00:43:53,330
to have some of the self - closing hardware, and

522
00:43:53,330 --> 00:43:57,730
the smoke seals tested and replaced There are certain repairs

523
00:43:57,970 --> 00:44:01,250
that needed to be made to all the fire resistant

524
00:44:01,570 --> 00:44:06,210
walls to ensure that smoke and fire couldn't go through

525
00:44:06,290 --> 00:44:10,290
these walls to spread throughout the mall They needed to

526
00:44:10,290 --> 00:44:18,240
install Illuminated signs that fire exit doors. The main alarm

527
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,440
control unit and the fire command room needed to be

528
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,560
a diagnosed to ensure that it was functional during a

529
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:28,968
fire emergency. They needed to remove storage that was piled

530
00:44:29,048 --> 00:44:32,726
up in the electrical room. And so the list goes

531
00:44:32,886 --> 00:44:36,966
on and on... So although there's only nine violations that

532
00:44:37,046 --> 00:44:41,606
they've been cited for for reasons which is the justification

533
00:44:41,766 --> 00:44:47,007
for shutting down the mall. Within each of those categories,

534
00:44:47,007 --> 00:44:49,727
a host of violations, and issues that need to be

535
00:44:50,127 --> 00:44:54,447
resolved immediately before the mole is allowed to be open.

536
00:44:56,192 --> 00:45:00,352
So one thing that the good news I have to

537
00:45:00,512 --> 00:45:07,672
report is that the mall retain attorneys. And I have

538
00:45:07,672 --> 00:45:10,872
to say that it was a relief to be talking

539
00:45:11,272 --> 00:45:17,112
to their attorneys, because I believe they understand the law.

540
00:45:18,371 --> 00:45:22,931
With respect to these particular issues They understand the procedures

541
00:45:23,651 --> 00:45:26,211
they must comply with in order to get us through

542
00:45:26,211 --> 00:45:30,975
this. Ordeal. In order to get them all open. So

543
00:45:31,055 --> 00:45:33,677
that's the good thing to report. The other good thing

544
00:45:33,997 --> 00:45:39,117
to report is that the mall has resolved for violations

545
00:45:39,837 --> 00:45:43,492
so far. So now we're down to 5 of them.

546
00:45:46,046 --> 00:45:51,254
And the 5 that have been resolved include. The 4

547
00:45:51,254 --> 00:45:57,001
that have been resolved. Include the inspection and testing and

548
00:45:57,001 --> 00:46:02,133
documentation for the fire sprinkler systems. The fire stampite systems,

549
00:46:02,053 --> 00:46:07,494
the fire smoke dampers, and the emergency generators. So we're

550
00:46:07,574 --> 00:46:10,054
down to 5 now that need to be resolved before

551
00:46:10,134 --> 00:46:13,494
the mall can be reopened, and that includes these very

552
00:46:13,734 --> 00:46:20,036
critical issues. They need to... conduct inspections, testing, and maintenance,

553
00:46:19,956 --> 00:46:23,556
not just inspection, not just testing, but all three with

554
00:46:23,716 --> 00:46:26,676
respect to the fire alarm system, the smoke control system.

555
00:46:27,326 --> 00:46:31,086
The fire doors, the emergency lighting, and the exit lighting.

556
00:46:33,190 --> 00:46:35,350
Now how long that's going to take, I can't tell

557
00:46:35,350 --> 00:46:41,342
you. The mall's attorneys have informed me that they designated

558
00:46:42,942 --> 00:46:48,946
an individual who has some background with fire issues. Who's

559
00:46:48,946 --> 00:46:53,586
been assigned to deal specifically with our fire department and

560
00:46:53,586 --> 00:46:57,906
our building department on how to comply with these various

561
00:46:57,986 --> 00:47:03,719
issues At first. They assign these duties. To a security

562
00:47:04,359 --> 00:47:12,383
person. Which shocked me. Which indicated to me that somehow

563
00:47:13,103 --> 00:47:17,433
somebody was missing the point here. But again I think

564
00:47:17,673 --> 00:47:20,819
we are moving in the right direction. Because we are

565
00:47:20,899 --> 00:47:24,499
getting compliance In fact on my way into city hall

566
00:47:24,739 --> 00:47:27,459
today, by the time I got here, they resolved another

567
00:47:27,699 --> 00:47:31,920
issue. So we are moving in the right direction. In

568
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:37,280
the meantime, unfortunately this city council does not have the

569
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,960
legal authority, I do not have the legal authority Your

570
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:43,530
city manager does not have the legal authority. To order

571
00:47:43,690 --> 00:47:47,290
the mall to be reopened as long as these fire

572
00:47:47,690 --> 00:47:50,890
safety, these life safety and fire protection issues are resolved.

573
00:47:52,953 --> 00:47:56,553
And so I anticipate that, and I should also point

574
00:47:56,713 --> 00:48:01,033
out that in order to expedite matters in this particular

575
00:48:01,193 --> 00:48:05,273
situation are fire department, and they're not required to do

576
00:48:05,353 --> 00:48:09,433
this has promised and committed to show up every single

577
00:48:09,673 --> 00:48:15,513
day during the weekdays at 1 o'clock PM to conduct

578
00:48:15,673 --> 00:48:19,513
inspections, to answer questions, to assist in any way they

579
00:48:19,593 --> 00:48:23,848
can. To get the ball in a condition where they

580
00:48:23,848 --> 00:48:28,488
should be to ensure that the public who visits them

581
00:48:28,488 --> 00:48:32,968
all, the employees who work there, the retail tenants who

582
00:48:33,128 --> 00:48:36,538
rent space there. And anybody else who walks in that

583
00:48:36,618 --> 00:48:41,418
mall is going to be safe and ensured that if

584
00:48:41,818 --> 00:48:46,458
there is a fire emergency, and a fire evacuation That

585
00:48:47,498 --> 00:48:51,898
is most likely they'll survive that situation. Now, so the

586
00:48:52,858 --> 00:48:55,018
bottom line question is when do they have to do

587
00:48:55,178 --> 00:49:01,217
this. And I think that the question should be. And

588
00:49:01,217 --> 00:49:04,019
the answer to that question is. They need to do

589
00:49:04,179 --> 00:49:07,247
it as soon as possible. To get back into business

590
00:49:08,767 --> 00:49:13,887
So these retail businesses can get back and earn money,

591
00:49:13,807 --> 00:49:18,399
pay taxes. The customers can come in there shop. Without

592
00:49:18,479 --> 00:49:23,812
any concern about their safety. And families can earn money

593
00:49:24,212 --> 00:49:27,172
to put food on the table, pay the rent and

594
00:49:27,172 --> 00:49:30,871
mortgages. And live their lives as in a peaceful way

595
00:49:32,631 --> 00:49:39,431
without the stress of not knowing where their next paycheck

596
00:49:39,511 --> 00:49:44,207
is going to come from. So again I'll conclude my

597
00:49:44,367 --> 00:49:49,356
remarks with. We all have in common the objective to

598
00:49:49,436 --> 00:49:52,876
get this mall open as soon as possible in a

599
00:49:52,876 --> 00:49:57,302
matter that's safe for everyone. So I am, that concludes

600
00:49:57,862 --> 00:50:02,842
my statement. If there's available to try to answer them.

601
00:50:04,355 --> 00:50:07,315
Thank you very much to our fire chief, our building

602
00:50:07,395 --> 00:50:12,755
official, and our city attorney for the report Uh, at

603
00:50:12,755 --> 00:50:14,755
this time, we'll bring it back to the dais for

604
00:50:14,995 --> 00:50:17,315
council questions of staff, and it looks like Uh, we

605
00:50:17,555 --> 00:50:22,725
have Question from Council Member Bank of Santa Cruz. Chief

606
00:50:22,965 --> 00:50:26,085
Park Could you explain firewatch and who pays for then?

607
00:50:26,005 --> 00:50:29,761
And what's the purpose. You said that the mall's been

608
00:50:29,761 --> 00:50:32,081
on fire watch for a year Yeah, actually I'll defer

609
00:50:32,081 --> 00:50:35,281
to agrees, our expert for firewatch, and exactly how it

610
00:50:35,201 --> 00:50:38,503
works, because he receives the reports. Yeah, so a fire

611
00:50:38,583 --> 00:50:43,383
watch is conducted by a security company, and they're required

612
00:50:43,463 --> 00:50:46,663
to monitor the building 24 - 7 and basically act

613
00:50:46,823 --> 00:50:50,023
as a point of Uh, communication for people that are

614
00:50:50,263 --> 00:50:52,903
Occupying the building in case there is an emergency, you're

615
00:50:52,903 --> 00:50:55,943
a fire They see smoke Uh... To help evacuate people

616
00:50:56,423 --> 00:50:59,943
and call the fire department, some and help Um... Act

617
00:51:00,103 --> 00:51:02,903
as a fire alarm system would traditionally if it was

618
00:51:02,983 --> 00:51:10,123
installed. All covers that, right? That's an additional cost that

619
00:51:10,123 --> 00:51:12,043
the mall has to have, because their systems are not

620
00:51:12,603 --> 00:51:18,971
up - to - date Correct. Council Member Delgado. Thank

621
00:51:19,051 --> 00:51:21,611
you for those presentations, all three of you guys, that

622
00:51:21,611 --> 00:51:24,411
was very helpful for us, very helpful for the public

623
00:51:24,651 --> 00:51:28,571
to understand Uh... What transpired, and we just didn't wake

624
00:51:28,571 --> 00:51:30,651
up one day and decide that this needed to be

625
00:51:30,651 --> 00:51:35,120
done I have two questions for Chief Park. We understand

626
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:38,400
why fire extinguishers are so important, fire sprinklers are so

627
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:44,880
important Doors being... readily available to exit egress... But what's

628
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,680
the importance of having backup generators for the mall? I

629
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:51,760
mean lighting I guess would be the number one, what

630
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:54,160
would be the other, for fire life safety in that

631
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:59,920
regards? Yeah Fabulous question, even without a fire, if the

632
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,400
mall goes dark because of a power outage, like we

633
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:05,139
just recently had with our storms. There would be panic

634
00:52:05,219 --> 00:52:09,219
in the mall Because the generators are there to provide

635
00:52:09,459 --> 00:52:12,979
that emergency lighting, to light up the way to go,

636
00:52:12,899 --> 00:52:16,579
to keep the alarm system running, the PA, and to

637
00:52:16,659 --> 00:52:19,459
highlight where the exits are So even if there wasn't

638
00:52:19,539 --> 00:52:23,619
a fire without any backup generators going, that can create

639
00:52:23,859 --> 00:52:26,979
a hazard all - on - its own. Um... However,

640
00:52:27,139 --> 00:52:29,219
with a fire, we may not be able to have

641
00:52:29,699 --> 00:52:32,899
the doors work, we may not have the smoke control

642
00:52:32,979 --> 00:52:36,179
systems work We may not get alarms There could be

643
00:52:36,819 --> 00:52:41,822
a fire in the mall. Uh... That occurs... After a

644
00:52:41,902 --> 00:52:48,086
power outage. And that could create just pure chaos And

645
00:52:48,086 --> 00:52:51,206
a true catastrophe, so that's why the generators are so

646
00:52:51,206 --> 00:52:53,778
important. Thank you, sir, in my last question for you

647
00:52:54,258 --> 00:52:56,738
Chief Park From your training and experience, would it be

648
00:52:56,978 --> 00:53:00,578
safe or appropriate for this city council, for this body,

649
00:53:00,498 --> 00:53:05,218
or city staff to override any safety issues that were

650
00:53:05,218 --> 00:53:08,726
presented to us regarding the closure of them all. I

651
00:53:08,806 --> 00:53:12,566
would not recommend that I would strongly discourage that, and

652
00:53:12,566 --> 00:53:16,086
one of the reasons being... We're here to be your

653
00:53:16,086 --> 00:53:18,726
experts, experts are here to tell you what happened in

654
00:53:18,646 --> 00:53:21,366
the past We can't, you know, see what's happening in

655
00:53:21,366 --> 00:53:24,326
the future But we know what's happened in the past,

656
00:53:24,246 --> 00:53:26,886
and the rules out there for this... The other reason

657
00:53:27,126 --> 00:53:31,606
is You would be accepting the liability completely, as the

658
00:53:31,846 --> 00:53:34,486
city council, because you would be going against your building

659
00:53:34,726 --> 00:53:37,606
official, your fire marshal, and your fire department, and you

660
00:53:37,686 --> 00:53:40,348
would be taking on all that liability. Yourself So I

661
00:53:40,348 --> 00:53:43,000
would not recommend that. Thank you Chief Parkin, thank you

662
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:48,598
to each of you guys for your presentations. Thank you,

663
00:53:48,518 --> 00:53:53,145
next we'll go to Mayor Pro Tim Gonzalez. Again, thank

664
00:53:53,145 --> 00:53:58,425
you, thank you team for those presentations, and chief Park

665
00:53:58,425 --> 00:54:03,785
of the five remaining violations Are these almost challenging ones

666
00:54:04,105 --> 00:54:09,385
of the... of the nine? Or are they... Are they

667
00:54:09,385 --> 00:54:12,745
all different? Um, what's the kind of challenge of the

668
00:54:12,825 --> 00:54:15,545
last remaining five? Yeah, that's actually a good question So

669
00:54:16,665 --> 00:54:19,705
in our opinion, the mall handled the easier ones first

670
00:54:20,105 --> 00:54:23,385
So for instance, they did not buy new generators They

671
00:54:23,545 --> 00:54:27,065
just rented temporary ones, right? And I will explain that

672
00:54:28,025 --> 00:54:32,825
in a minute, but... So their renting generators that are

673
00:54:32,985 --> 00:54:36,105
in good working order They haven't fixed their generators Um...

674
00:54:36,265 --> 00:54:38,505
So that still needs to occur, but that's an easy

675
00:54:38,665 --> 00:54:42,265
fix, because your renting something that works The sprinklers as

676
00:54:42,265 --> 00:54:45,225
well Uh, are pretty basic I mean it's plumbing, right?

677
00:54:45,705 --> 00:54:48,505
So to get a clean sprinkler report and a standpipe

678
00:54:48,505 --> 00:54:52,626
report is pretty basic However. If you have not maintained

679
00:54:53,346 --> 00:54:56,226
your fire alarm panel, and it has gone completely outdated

680
00:54:56,626 --> 00:54:58,626
You're going to have a hard time, they're not going

681
00:54:58,546 --> 00:55:00,386
to make those parts They're not going to update that

682
00:55:00,626 --> 00:55:04,306
software So you're looking at more challenging Same with your

683
00:55:04,546 --> 00:55:07,059
smoke control systems that are tied into that. Uh... Also

684
00:55:07,619 --> 00:55:09,859
your fire doors, and your exit signs, and your emergency

685
00:55:10,019 --> 00:55:13,459
lighting Those are all more challenging things, because they outdate

686
00:55:13,459 --> 00:55:16,499
themselves, and if you've never kept up on them You

687
00:55:16,579 --> 00:55:19,139
may have to just replace them completely, and that's going

688
00:55:19,059 --> 00:55:20,259
to be a timeline Because you're going to have to

689
00:55:20,259 --> 00:55:24,019
wait for the shipping, right? So I would agree with

690
00:55:24,179 --> 00:55:28,419
you, sir, that Yes, the less challenging things occurred first,

691
00:55:28,339 --> 00:55:30,259
and the 5 remaining are going to be more challenging.

692
00:55:31,591 --> 00:55:37,627
Thank you. Next up, council member Bernard. Thank you, so.

693
00:55:38,348 --> 00:55:43,597
The questions that I have is... So JCPenney's Macy's in

694
00:55:43,677 --> 00:55:46,077
harkens were able to stay open Can you please explain

695
00:55:46,237 --> 00:55:48,957
why they were able to stay open? Yeah, so in

696
00:55:48,877 --> 00:55:51,357
the case of Macy's and Harkins, or excuse me, Macy

697
00:55:51,437 --> 00:55:55,699
and JCPenney's. They own their own building, they own their

698
00:55:55,699 --> 00:55:58,419
own parking lot, they own their own fire protection systems

699
00:55:59,699 --> 00:56:02,339
And one of the crucial things is, is their exit

700
00:56:02,499 --> 00:56:05,539
and evacuation plans, exit outside them all So they have

701
00:56:05,779 --> 00:56:10,390
sufficient exits. With the mall concourse doors being closed, which

702
00:56:10,470 --> 00:56:13,270
is what they're at now And they're all up to

703
00:56:13,350 --> 00:56:17,719
date. And so we have a history in the city

704
00:56:18,039 --> 00:56:21,159
if we are going to issue violations of only Closing

705
00:56:21,239 --> 00:56:24,679
down the offending area, right? We're not going to close

706
00:56:24,679 --> 00:56:27,239
down a whole business if we can just say, hey

707
00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:31,319
your firehood isn't working So you can't cook There, but

708
00:56:31,639 --> 00:56:33,799
we'll slat your business stay open, right? Because we don't

709
00:56:34,039 --> 00:56:36,999
want the full impact to the business Um... And so

710
00:56:37,159 --> 00:56:39,479
that's the case for Macy's and J. C. Penny Harkinson's

711
00:56:39,399 --> 00:56:41,639
a little different We had to go and change their

712
00:56:41,639 --> 00:56:43,719
business practice So we had to work with their management.

713
00:56:45,832 --> 00:56:50,072
Harkins has sufficient exits because of the type of occupancy

714
00:56:50,072 --> 00:56:51,592
It is, you know, with it being a theater They

715
00:56:51,672 --> 00:56:53,032
need to be able to exit a lot of people

716
00:56:53,352 --> 00:56:56,712
very quickly And so they have a lot of exits,

717
00:56:56,632 --> 00:56:59,672
and they actually have like 6 bay doors at the

718
00:57:00,152 --> 00:57:02,392
rear entrance of them all, kind of over there by...

719
00:57:02,952 --> 00:57:06,585
Our GB. And so we were able to identify that

720
00:57:06,745 --> 00:57:08,825
they still had smoke doors, that they could bring down

721
00:57:09,385 --> 00:57:12,505
They could close off their kiosks, they could partition off

722
00:57:14,105 --> 00:57:16,505
those exit doors that normally people would exit into them

723
00:57:16,665 --> 00:57:19,545
all And so we weren't able to do it to

724
00:57:19,625 --> 00:57:22,265
start with councilwoman, but we were after working with them

725
00:57:22,265 --> 00:57:24,505
all We were able to let them open Unfortunately every

726
00:57:24,585 --> 00:57:29,625
other business, they share fire protection, and they share exits,

727
00:57:29,545 --> 00:57:32,745
and hallways... And so Even though we went to all

728
00:57:32,745 --> 00:57:36,985
the businesses that we thought, Okay, maybe the Open This

729
00:57:36,985 --> 00:57:39,545
business They're just already tied in, and so those were

730
00:57:39,545 --> 00:57:45,542
the only three that we could. Thank you. Thank you,

731
00:57:45,542 --> 00:57:49,226
and then one last question, maybe. For our city manager.

732
00:57:50,035 --> 00:57:55,344
Uh, to transition over... Uh, toward the businesses. Uh, the

733
00:57:55,424 --> 00:57:58,544
employees who are without work... And more of the economic

734
00:57:58,624 --> 00:58:01,902
and financial components of this. Can you share Mr. City

735
00:58:01,982 --> 00:58:04,462
Manager, any of our members of our staff... Uh... What

736
00:58:04,622 --> 00:58:06,942
options the city might have to try to provide any

737
00:58:07,022 --> 00:58:11,582
kind of assistance Uh... Economic, financial, or otherwise... For the

738
00:58:11,742 --> 00:58:14,862
businesses, for the workers... Who have been affected by the

739
00:58:15,102 --> 00:58:19,307
closure. Um... Thank you Mayor Council Members, let me go

740
00:58:19,387 --> 00:58:24,427
back to what economic development... Has already done... So the

741
00:58:25,227 --> 00:58:30,027
day of the notice evacuation... As fire was going through...

742
00:58:29,947 --> 00:58:34,827
Uh, the building... Uh... Economic development was also... We had

743
00:58:34,827 --> 00:58:36,987
developed a strike team, in which they were going through

744
00:58:37,387 --> 00:58:41,787
to the businesses, to the employees, providing them information about...

745
00:58:43,547 --> 00:58:47,387
Their respective resources, whether it be an employee or business.

746
00:58:47,387 --> 00:58:52,827
Um... They've also put out additional information... About the Burke

747
00:58:53,147 --> 00:58:56,267
and other resources that are available to the business community,

748
00:58:56,187 --> 00:59:01,467
as well as the employees. Um... Regards to your specific

749
00:59:01,707 --> 00:59:06,667
question... Um... On what does the city do now... Um...

750
00:59:07,147 --> 00:59:14,267
The city does not have anything... Uh... Currently... codified... that

751
00:59:14,267 --> 00:59:18,987
when a situation like this happens, that a particular... fund

752
00:59:19,467 --> 00:59:23,387
or particular reserve... or particular policy kicks in, in which

753
00:59:24,987 --> 00:59:30,667
we deem... an economic package... Give you an example. Recently...

754
00:59:31,067 --> 00:59:36,785
When we had... Federal shutdown. One of the longest ones

755
00:59:36,945 --> 00:59:41,105
in history. Um... This particular body under emergency powers created

756
00:59:41,425 --> 00:59:46,865
a fund......'for a food program. So, although we don't have

757
00:59:48,225 --> 00:59:53,345
a standing codified policy or practice...... this body could make

758
00:59:53,585 --> 00:59:57,985
a decision...... as to...... something of that nature that we

759
00:59:58,065 --> 01:00:01,025
did with the food program, or the food pantry,...... do

760
01:00:01,025 --> 01:00:03,745
something here. Um, but at this particular point in time,

761
01:00:03,745 --> 01:00:06,305
we do not have anything in place. Other than the

762
01:00:06,545 --> 01:00:10,065
economic development, uh, department department going out, and providing resources

763
01:00:10,625 --> 01:00:13,837
for the businesses and the employees. Did that answer your

764
01:00:13,917 --> 01:00:19,457
question? Yes, thank you, Mr. Senior Manager. Mr. Mayor. Yes.

765
01:00:20,472 --> 01:00:23,992
If I could, I'd like to give a progress report

766
01:00:24,072 --> 01:00:26,552
of what occurred today so that you can be fully

767
01:00:26,952 --> 01:00:28,552
up - to - date. I couldn't put it in

768
01:00:28,552 --> 01:00:31,432
the presentation because it occurred today, and you know, we

769
01:00:31,432 --> 01:00:33,112
have a posting time. But I think it would be

770
01:00:33,272 --> 01:00:37,095
beneficial to the council, if you would like. Absolutely, please.

771
01:00:37,255 --> 01:00:39,895
Okay, so today myself in Edgar and the team went

772
01:00:39,895 --> 01:00:42,855
out to meet with the mall owner, and his staff,

773
01:00:42,775 --> 01:00:44,615
and this is what we found. Um... The good news

774
01:00:44,695 --> 01:00:47,015
is the mall owner has hired several people to address

775
01:00:47,095 --> 01:00:50,055
the nine life safety violations, and each day that we

776
01:00:50,055 --> 01:00:53,495
go to the mall, we receive... reports, and we continue

777
01:00:53,735 --> 01:00:56,535
our inspections, and some progress has been made. Some of

778
01:00:56,535 --> 01:00:59,815
that has been explained pretty well by our city attorney.

779
01:00:59,735 --> 01:01:01,175
But I'd like to show you what one of the

780
01:01:01,255 --> 01:01:03,255
reports. This is called a clean report. I know you

781
01:01:03,255 --> 01:01:06,295
can't see it very well, but on the clean report,

782
01:01:06,215 --> 01:01:08,855
what you'll see is there's a spot that says pass,

783
01:01:08,855 --> 01:01:10,855
and then the spot that says fail. This is for

784
01:01:10,855 --> 01:01:13,255
the sprinklers, okay? So this is a clean report, and

785
01:01:13,335 --> 01:01:16,135
that's why it's got everything is itemized, right? It says

786
01:01:16,215 --> 01:01:19,015
all the parameters. Who did it? Where it was? What...

787
01:01:19,095 --> 01:01:21,912
What sprinkler they're looking at? All those things. And then

788
01:01:22,392 --> 01:01:24,712
the opposite is a dirty report. So the Durry report

789
01:01:25,112 --> 01:01:29,746
basically has a box here that says fail. Right? And

790
01:01:30,146 --> 01:01:33,266
so that is also required so that we know what

791
01:01:33,586 --> 01:01:35,426
they're working on, right? So when we go in, we

792
01:01:35,426 --> 01:01:37,746
say, where's your dirty report, and they hand it to

793
01:01:37,746 --> 01:01:39,266
us? And we said, okay, how are you working on

794
01:01:39,346 --> 01:01:42,250
this? And so, so far, we've gotten clean reports from

795
01:01:42,490 --> 01:01:47,825
sprinklers and stamp pipes and smoke dampers. When we asked

796
01:01:49,265 --> 01:01:55,627
for the report. For the emergency lights and exit signs.

797
01:01:58,639 --> 01:02:01,549
We were given this letter. This letter is... this is

798
01:02:01,549 --> 01:02:03,389
when we were there on 221, okay? So a few

799
01:02:03,469 --> 01:02:05,709
days ago on 21, we went there, and they gave

800
01:02:05,709 --> 01:02:07,229
us the layer. We said, where's your report? We want

801
01:02:07,309 --> 01:02:09,869
more information. Do you have a clean report? They said,

802
01:02:09,869 --> 01:02:12,731
yes, this is our clean report. Okay, I'm gonna read

803
01:02:12,811 --> 01:02:15,211
it to you, okay? To whom it may concern, this

804
01:02:15,211 --> 01:02:18,651
letter is to confirm that all emergency lights and exit

805
01:02:18,811 --> 01:02:21,625
signs. At the above reference job site have been inspected

806
01:02:21,945 --> 01:02:25,305
and tested. All units are currently in good working order......

807
01:02:25,225 --> 01:02:30,539
and operating as intended. Testing was performed to verify proper

808
01:02:30,779 --> 01:02:37,261
illumination...... and functionality during emergency power. No deficiencies where it

809
01:02:37,261 --> 01:02:41,629
deserved at the time of this inspection. Of a signature......

810
01:02:42,349 --> 01:02:44,909
it didn't put a name down. It's an electrical services.

811
01:02:45,678 --> 01:02:50,438
Okay, so this is what they presented to us. Except...

812
01:02:51,485 --> 01:02:55,577
That we know it's false. Because it says they tested

813
01:02:55,657 --> 01:02:59,013
it under emergency power. But they didn't have generators. So

814
01:02:59,253 --> 01:03:00,853
how are they going to test something that it's under

815
01:03:01,013 --> 01:03:04,953
emergency power? They can't. Also, we know, because we've done

816
01:03:04,953 --> 01:03:08,153
the inspection that there's several exit signs that are in

817
01:03:08,233 --> 01:03:10,753
violation. So we went out to check them, right? They're

818
01:03:10,753 --> 01:03:14,177
telling us that it's good. Okay? Again, I know you

819
01:03:14,177 --> 01:03:22,224
can't see these, but they're for you. Broken. Broken. Broken.

820
01:03:23,997 --> 01:03:29,729
Broken. And broken. So we cannot sign off anything, right?

821
01:03:29,889 --> 01:03:33,809
That says, an obvious violation. It also makes us very

822
01:03:34,049 --> 01:03:37,351
hard for us to trust who we're talking to. Now,

823
01:03:37,751 --> 01:03:41,431
today, full transparency, they came in at the mall owner

824
01:03:41,831 --> 01:03:44,871
and his representative came in. They gave us some more.

825
01:03:45,816 --> 01:03:50,153
Dirty reports. Okay, so... I just told you that they

826
01:03:50,233 --> 01:03:52,968
told us that this was their clean report. And now

827
01:03:52,968 --> 01:03:55,660
they gave us this report. For fire and exit signs.

828
01:03:56,826 --> 01:03:59,500
Because we told them we cannot accept this. And it's

829
01:03:59,580 --> 01:04:02,831
dirty. Okay, so it means that the failures in this.

830
01:04:03,871 --> 01:04:09,386
In all the additional reports, they had failures. So here's

831
01:04:09,466 --> 01:04:13,294
another report. That we receive from a contractor. And they're

832
01:04:13,294 --> 01:04:16,574
just being honest here, this contractor. They wrote, repairs are

833
01:04:16,574 --> 01:04:20,256
needed. Units turned off at the breaker. And they list

834
01:04:20,256 --> 01:04:23,904
the items. So we know the smoke management system is

835
01:04:23,904 --> 01:04:26,342
not in working order. And even if some of it

836
01:04:26,342 --> 01:04:28,902
did work, it's turned off right at the breakers, because

837
01:04:28,982 --> 01:04:36,157
it's failed. So. We do have additional reports each day.

838
01:04:36,077 --> 01:04:37,437
We will be looking at them. We'll go out there.

839
01:04:38,674 --> 01:04:44,114
But the past history is not helping the situation. And

840
01:04:44,514 --> 01:04:47,634
our goal is for the mall to be safe and

841
01:04:47,634 --> 01:04:50,867
prosperous, right? We all want that, like our city attorney

842
01:04:50,947 --> 01:04:54,328
said. We want to reopen it, but we want it

843
01:04:54,328 --> 01:04:58,635
to stay open. And I say, stay open, because the

844
01:04:59,115 --> 01:05:01,755
mall owner told us that their generators are 30 years

845
01:05:01,835 --> 01:05:04,810
old, and they don't work. And so he asked us,

846
01:05:05,210 --> 01:05:09,551
could we approve a backup to the backup. In other

847
01:05:09,551 --> 01:05:13,049
words, temporary generators, right? One's on wheels. We said, yeah.

848
01:05:13,840 --> 01:05:16,480
Okay. As long as they meet the requirements of the

849
01:05:16,480 --> 01:05:19,200
building, and they're approved by our building official, we'll do

850
01:05:19,200 --> 01:05:21,120
that, because we want you to get the testing done,

851
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:24,315
and we want it up and running. But the law

852
01:05:24,475 --> 01:05:29,858
is very clear. Temporary means 90 days. Okay? So the

853
01:05:29,938 --> 01:05:32,178
mall has pledged that they'll fix these nine life safety

854
01:05:32,338 --> 01:05:35,614
violations. But remember, they have hundreds. The ones that Steve

855
01:05:35,774 --> 01:05:39,725
talks. There's hundreds of those other violations. So, what happens

856
01:05:39,965 --> 01:05:42,045
in 90 days when we go back? They still have

857
01:05:42,125 --> 01:05:48,933
many violations undone. And they didn't get the generators. It's

858
01:05:48,933 --> 01:05:51,893
really a tough question that we're all having to think

859
01:05:51,893 --> 01:05:54,693
about right now, but that's the situation we're in. So

860
01:05:55,013 --> 01:05:57,813
that is today's update. Tomorrow there will be a new

861
01:05:57,893 --> 01:06:01,493
update, but I hope I was able to shed some

862
01:06:01,653 --> 01:06:06,446
clarity on that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Once

863
01:06:06,446 --> 01:06:11,549
again, for the reports and the updates. We'll go ahead

864
01:06:11,549 --> 01:06:14,871
and. Bring it back to the day and sell out

865
01:06:15,031 --> 01:06:16,551
just one last time if there are any further questions

866
01:06:16,791 --> 01:06:20,925
from the council. If there are none. Seeing none, we

867
01:06:21,005 --> 01:06:26,170
will go ahead and move into public. Council Member Broncos

868
01:06:26,250 --> 01:06:29,210
hackers. One more question that has been brought up on

869
01:06:29,290 --> 01:06:31,850
your business card that you're leaving at the mall? Yeah.

870
01:06:32,090 --> 01:06:35,389
Is there a bad contact number on it. It's possible.

871
01:06:35,549 --> 01:06:37,709
It's a city card. It may go to, and it's

872
01:06:37,709 --> 01:06:41,387
supposed to go to the admin, fire admin. I'll have

873
01:06:41,627 --> 01:06:43,787
IT look into it. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for

874
01:06:43,787 --> 01:06:49,495
letting me know. Thank you. We have been directing everybody

875
01:06:49,575 --> 01:06:54,295
to the website and the FAQs, and the call line,

876
01:06:54,295 --> 01:06:56,695
um, that goes to the appropriate person. So if it's

877
01:06:57,975 --> 01:07:00,135
a question that I can answer, I'll call them back.

878
01:07:01,086 --> 01:07:05,285
Thank you. So seeing there are no further questions. We

879
01:07:05,285 --> 01:07:09,365
will go ahead and move into public comment. Madam Clerk,

880
01:07:09,365 --> 01:07:12,374
how many requests do we have to speak. Thank you,

881
01:07:12,454 --> 01:07:18,999
Mayor. We currently have 15. I'd like for them to

882
01:07:19,239 --> 01:07:25,579
have the full three minutes. Okay. Madam Clerk, please go

883
01:07:25,579 --> 01:07:28,539
ahead and call up our first speakers. Thank you, Mayor.

884
01:07:28,699 --> 01:07:31,979
The first three speakers are Sheena McGill, followed by Toni

885
01:07:32,059 --> 01:07:39,048
Hernandez. Followed by John Stevens. And just a friendly reminder,

886
01:07:39,288 --> 01:07:41,448
you couldn't see your names up on the screen just

887
01:07:41,528 --> 01:07:44,728
in case if you're curious in what order you fall

888
01:07:44,888 --> 01:07:47,368
on the list. Um, so you can be prepared. And

889
01:07:47,288 --> 01:07:49,688
then a friendly reminder that every speaker does get three

890
01:07:49,768 --> 01:07:51,848
minutes per speaker. And there is a clock up on

891
01:07:51,768 --> 01:07:53,848
the screen, just in case if you want to reference

892
01:07:53,928 --> 01:07:57,287
that. Thank you. Hi, I'm Sheena McGill. I'm pretty sure

893
01:07:57,527 --> 01:08:00,007
everybody's sitting on the panel has heard for me. I'm

894
01:08:00,167 --> 01:08:02,567
speaking not only on behalf of my business, but in

895
01:08:02,647 --> 01:08:04,807
support of the mall and the many small business owners

896
01:08:04,887 --> 01:08:08,167
who operate within it. I have been overseeing properties of

897
01:08:08,247 --> 01:08:11,927
this magnitude since 2003 over 20 years of experience in

898
01:08:12,087 --> 01:08:15,767
mom management and large - scale property management. In my

899
01:08:15,927 --> 01:08:19,367
space alone, I have 20 staff members, including my 66

900
01:08:19,607 --> 01:08:22,167
- year - old mother and my child. We represent

901
01:08:22,247 --> 01:08:25,127
just a small portion of many individuals currently out of

902
01:08:25,287 --> 01:08:28,407
work and unable to provide for their families due to

903
01:08:28,407 --> 01:08:31,687
this closure. I poured my heart, my soul into this

904
01:08:31,767 --> 01:08:35,127
place, and I've sacrificed so much over 100, 000 dollars

905
01:08:35,527 --> 01:08:38,007
in my 4, 000 square feet. When I've learned that

906
01:08:38,247 --> 01:08:41,607
the mall was closed, closing, I immediately reached out to

907
01:08:41,927 --> 01:08:44,887
ownership who's in the building right now, and I asked,

908
01:08:44,807 --> 01:08:46,727
what's needed to be done, and how could I help?

909
01:08:47,687 --> 01:08:51,927
Within days I worked with ownership, I've secured qualified vendors

910
01:08:52,007 --> 01:08:55,047
to begin addressing the site of corrections, even on the

911
01:08:55,287 --> 01:08:58,727
weekend. I also reached out to my city and county

912
01:08:58,967 --> 01:09:02,327
contacts to ensure I was speaking with the right decision

913
01:09:02,407 --> 01:09:07,127
makers. Matt has acknowledged that mistakes were made. Ball was

914
01:09:07,127 --> 01:09:10,167
dropped. However, we are supposed to also believe in accountability

915
01:09:10,727 --> 01:09:15,047
paired with correction. Jesus teaches us to forgive, right? Neighborhood

916
01:09:15,447 --> 01:09:19,127
fire owner, Steve Miller, who's also in this building, a

917
01:09:19,207 --> 01:09:22,247
former fire chief with dead cake, decades of experience has

918
01:09:22,727 --> 01:09:26,407
evaluated this property. He has continuously stated and certified that

919
01:09:26,647 --> 01:09:30,567
the mall is in no immediate danger and does not

920
01:09:30,967 --> 01:09:33,927
pose a life safety risk at this time. Of the

921
01:09:35,127 --> 01:09:38,807
nine correction cited, the remaining items are, we're talking about

922
01:09:39,127 --> 01:09:41,607
doors and alarm components. We're talking about stuff that we

923
01:09:41,687 --> 01:09:44,247
can't find that you have to source and then buy.

924
01:09:44,327 --> 01:09:46,567
I'm gonna skip through some of this because I got,

925
01:09:46,487 --> 01:09:50,247
you know, just a minute, but your guys'city of Reno

926
01:09:50,327 --> 01:09:55,527
Valleys vision statement speaks about building a strong, safe, and

927
01:09:55,687 --> 01:10:01,127
prosperous community about economic vitality about opportunity and partnership. Keeping

928
01:10:01,207 --> 01:10:03,447
this small clothes as long as you guys are keeping

929
01:10:03,607 --> 01:10:06,727
this mall closed, this doesn't strengthen the community. It weakens

930
01:10:06,887 --> 01:10:10,087
a small businesses, it displaces the workers, it disrupts families

931
01:10:10,887 --> 01:10:15,687
and reopening with oversight. And eerie opening with an oversight

932
01:10:16,087 --> 01:10:19,767
aligns with your vision. You guys have to align with

933
01:10:19,847 --> 01:10:24,247
your vision that's on your website. It allows safety and

934
01:10:24,327 --> 01:10:27,687
economic stability to move forward together. Look at your mission

935
01:10:27,687 --> 01:10:30,487
statement, look at what's happening right now with this mom.

936
01:10:30,407 --> 01:10:32,407
We have so many people that are not able to

937
01:10:32,807 --> 01:10:37,664
go back to work for some doors. And some lighting.

938
01:10:38,642 --> 01:10:41,362
You just admitted that the backup generators are back up

939
01:10:41,522 --> 01:10:46,162
and running temporarily. There can be a fire watch, an

940
01:10:46,162 --> 01:10:48,882
extended fire watch. There's other avenues than to keep this

941
01:10:49,202 --> 01:10:53,869
mall close. Thank you. Our next three speakers are Toni

942
01:10:53,949 --> 01:11:03,901
Hernandez, followed by John Stevens, followed by Ismael Gonzalez. Hey,

943
01:11:04,061 --> 01:11:07,821
my name is Toni Hernandez, and I'm here to represent,

944
01:11:07,741 --> 01:11:09,981
I'll speak on behalf of them all. You know, in

945
01:11:10,061 --> 01:11:12,301
our main concern, I'm always to provide a safe environment

946
01:11:12,541 --> 01:11:15,341
for our tenants and customers. And we try to keep

947
01:11:15,501 --> 01:11:18,061
up as much as possible with our equipment, with our

948
01:11:18,141 --> 01:11:21,581
fire equipment. We have been working diligently with the fire

949
01:11:21,661 --> 01:11:24,701
department in the last week or so, we have been

950
01:11:24,781 --> 01:11:27,421
working 24 hours a day to make sure we take

951
01:11:27,501 --> 01:11:30,701
care of these issues. And basically, uh, we are working

952
01:11:30,941 --> 01:11:37,021
on that, and we are asking basically that, you know,

953
01:11:37,261 --> 01:11:40,381
here you mentioned something of the generators, the generators, we

954
01:11:40,541 --> 01:11:42,541
have ordered their parts, you know, and that's one thing

955
01:11:43,021 --> 01:11:46,781
where you guys are incorrect. You ordered parts and the

956
01:11:46,861 --> 01:11:48,461
parts are due to come in within the next few

957
01:11:48,541 --> 01:11:51,741
days. And, you know, we are working on these repairs.

958
01:11:51,661 --> 01:11:54,621
We are working on these issues, and basically you guys

959
01:11:54,781 --> 01:11:56,781
are being negative that we are not doing anything about

960
01:11:56,941 --> 01:11:59,981
this. We are working really hard, you know, cause this

961
01:12:00,301 --> 01:12:03,181
mall, the people that depend for this mall, you know,

962
01:12:03,501 --> 01:12:06,941
for their, you know, to provide for their families, you

963
01:12:06,861 --> 01:12:09,421
know, for their rents, for their families, you know, we

964
01:12:09,501 --> 01:12:11,341
have a lot of seniors that go in there in

965
01:12:11,261 --> 01:12:14,141
the mall walking. We have two schools that are, you

966
01:12:14,061 --> 01:12:18,701
know, that are backed up by the federal government. We

967
01:12:18,781 --> 01:12:22,541
have, you know, a couple of doctors, you know, dentist

968
01:12:22,621 --> 01:12:25,661
in the mall, you know, and basically this, you guys,

969
01:12:25,581 --> 01:12:29,021
uh, all we're asking for, you know, we will go

970
01:12:29,021 --> 01:12:32,781
ahead and continue to gather, to take care of all

971
01:12:32,781 --> 01:12:35,981
these issues in a timely manner. We just asking for

972
01:12:36,221 --> 01:12:39,581
an extension and let them all go back to work,

973
01:12:39,501 --> 01:12:41,741
you know, all the employees, cause, you know, basically you

974
01:12:41,821 --> 01:12:44,221
are hurting that. And we're supposed to be a city

975
01:12:44,621 --> 01:12:47,181
where we're supposed to be united to work together. We

976
01:12:47,421 --> 01:12:50,381
understand the safety issues. We understand what the fire department

977
01:12:50,381 --> 01:12:52,701
is doing. You know, and, you know, but we need

978
01:12:52,781 --> 01:12:56,141
to work together. And my recommendation is to give them

979
01:12:56,141 --> 01:13:00,061
all an extension and, you know, basically to allow us,

980
01:12:59,981 --> 01:13:03,741
uh, to get these things done while, you know, while,

981
01:13:03,661 --> 01:13:06,461
you know, we have the people back to work and

982
01:13:06,461 --> 01:13:10,301
them all, you know, to creating revenue for everybody else.

983
01:13:10,221 --> 01:13:13,581
So basically that is what I'm recommending the stuff to

984
01:13:13,581 --> 01:13:17,741
do. We're supposed to be a city to work together,

985
01:13:17,661 --> 01:13:19,981
not to destroy, be destroyed by the media. The media

986
01:13:20,221 --> 01:13:22,941
is destroyed, the city, destroying the mall, everywhere. And I

987
01:13:22,941 --> 01:13:26,541
understand we're working for safety. Two and a half years,

988
01:13:26,461 --> 01:13:28,781
we have knocked it a single issue in the mall.

989
01:13:29,101 --> 01:13:32,061
You know what? And basically, but I understand that there's

990
01:13:32,221 --> 01:13:35,181
certain issues, you know, cause you know, the most 30

991
01:13:35,261 --> 01:13:39,101
years old. And we are working on these issues and

992
01:13:39,101 --> 01:13:42,861
with your support, you know, and basically for you to

993
01:13:43,021 --> 01:13:45,581
a loss to do something with them all. I would

994
01:13:45,661 --> 01:13:47,821
appreciate it because we're going to work together and make

995
01:13:47,901 --> 01:13:51,312
this city what it should be. And that's what I

996
01:13:51,232 --> 01:13:58,737
have to say. The next three speakers are John Stevens,

997
01:13:58,657 --> 01:14:03,832
followed by Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Elizabeth Toribio. Hi counsel,

998
01:14:03,752 --> 01:14:05,512
my name's John Stevens and I'm a lawyer and I

999
01:14:05,592 --> 01:14:08,712
represent them all. Um, but I'm also the mayor of

1000
01:14:08,712 --> 01:14:11,032
the city of Costa Mesa. So first thing I want

1001
01:14:10,952 --> 01:14:15,912
to do is say thank you to Mary Cabrera to

1002
01:14:15,912 --> 01:14:19,192
hold this meeting, this special meeting and hold it is

1003
01:14:19,352 --> 01:14:22,312
a very good thing to listen to the public and

1004
01:14:22,552 --> 01:14:25,832
to listen to the mall owner and me. And I

1005
01:14:25,832 --> 01:14:29,752
appreciate it. I also like to commend your city attorney,

1006
01:14:29,672 --> 01:14:32,472
uh, Mr. Keen to knew who since I've been working

1007
01:14:32,552 --> 01:14:36,552
with him has been a model of responsiveness. Um, we

1008
01:14:36,872 --> 01:14:41,112
can disagree on the substance our position, of course, is

1009
01:14:41,112 --> 01:14:43,352
the mall shouldn't have been red tagged as a substantive

1010
01:14:43,592 --> 01:14:47,672
manner because it didn't meet the standard of the health

1011
01:14:47,832 --> 01:14:51,032
and safety code. We also filed an appeal that says

1012
01:14:51,192 --> 01:14:55,512
that the actual documents were procedurally deficient. And you can

1013
01:14:55,592 --> 01:14:59,992
read our appeal. Uh, because there wasn't a reasonable time

1014
01:15:00,072 --> 01:15:03,352
limit for correction based on the nature of the nuisance,

1015
01:15:03,272 --> 01:15:07,432
which is right in your code section. 6. 04. There

1016
01:15:07,752 --> 01:15:10,792
wasn't a reference to the potential consequences of failure to

1017
01:15:11,112 --> 01:15:14,952
abate the nuisance by the specified period. And there wasn't

1018
01:15:15,032 --> 01:15:18,872
a notice of right to appeal in those documents. So

1019
01:15:19,032 --> 01:15:24,152
the documents themselves were deficient. But, but I'm not here

1020
01:15:24,232 --> 01:15:27,037
to litigate that. What I'm here to do is to

1021
01:15:27,117 --> 01:15:30,717
be an agent to fix this problem. And as Mr.

1022
01:15:31,037 --> 01:15:34,157
Keeniya said, he, he and I are on speed dial

1023
01:15:34,157 --> 01:15:36,237
with one another right now. He picks up on the

1024
01:15:36,477 --> 01:15:40,077
second ring and he responds and I appreciate it. One

1025
01:15:40,077 --> 01:15:41,997
thing I would like to do by way of an

1026
01:15:42,157 --> 01:15:46,157
ask is I would love it if other, um, uh,

1027
01:15:46,957 --> 01:15:49,917
I know the fire, uh, fire department and is important

1028
01:15:50,877 --> 01:15:53,917
is busy. But if they could have that level of

1029
01:15:54,317 --> 01:15:57,837
responsiveness to our team, we have Mr. Miller who's working

1030
01:15:58,077 --> 01:16:01,437
around the clock. I'm on this 24 seven to make

1031
01:16:01,837 --> 01:16:06,877
them all open. We want this mall open, please. Please,

1032
01:16:06,797 --> 01:16:10,397
by the weekend. Okay. And, and I, I know the

1033
01:16:10,557 --> 01:16:13,117
position you're in also, because I sit in your chair

1034
01:16:13,677 --> 01:16:15,917
and I know you have to listen to your experts.

1035
01:16:15,837 --> 01:16:18,557
And I know you can't overrule your experts. But please

1036
01:16:18,877 --> 01:16:22,477
ask them to be used their own discretion. When you

1037
01:16:22,637 --> 01:16:25,757
elevate this to a level of a fire chief or

1038
01:16:25,757 --> 01:16:29,117
a fire marshal, they have discretion. Please ask them to

1039
01:16:29,197 --> 01:16:36,397
be creative and collaborative with them all. I understand that

1040
01:16:36,557 --> 01:16:39,117
there's trust issues that have been built up over many

1041
01:16:39,277 --> 01:16:42,797
years. I'm here as an agent to address those trust

1042
01:16:42,957 --> 01:16:45,997
issues. I'm willing to talk to all of you. I'm

1043
01:16:46,077 --> 01:16:48,397
willing to talk to you mayor, mayor to mayor. And

1044
01:16:48,397 --> 01:16:50,797
I know I have the right to do that. Whatever

1045
01:16:50,797 --> 01:16:52,797
we can do to open this mall, let's do it.

1046
01:16:52,797 --> 01:16:55,277
Let's do it together for this community because a lot

1047
01:16:55,277 --> 01:16:57,997
of people need to get back to work and the

1048
01:16:58,077 --> 01:17:02,259
city needs to start running again. Thank you. The next

1049
01:17:02,419 --> 01:17:06,179
three speakers are Ismael Gonzalez followed by Lisbeth Terribio, followed

1050
01:17:06,179 --> 01:17:10,498
by Thomas Smith. Hello and good evening. My name is

1051
01:17:10,738 --> 01:17:13,858
Johan Gonzalez. I'm a member of the Hero Club and,

1052
01:17:13,778 --> 01:17:17,058
uh, Iled Alliance for Environmental Justice as well as Mary

1053
01:17:17,138 --> 01:17:21,138
Novelli historical society. Um, I want to first buy first

1054
01:17:21,618 --> 01:17:25,298
congratulate and applaud your fire staff, uh, your fire staff

1055
01:17:25,378 --> 01:17:28,738
are the true heroes and the circumstance in the story.

1056
01:17:28,658 --> 01:17:33,938
Um, without them, uh, fire chief paints a very, uh,

1057
01:17:34,338 --> 01:17:40,498
unfortunate situation where there was pellets of alcohol sanitizer just

1058
01:17:40,498 --> 01:17:44,898
waiting in the, uh, wrong areas of them all without

1059
01:17:45,058 --> 01:17:50,178
any power generators, right without any sort of, uh, sprinklers.

1060
01:17:50,098 --> 01:17:53,538
Uh, that paint, he's not eating his head. Like that

1061
01:17:53,938 --> 01:17:59,122
paints a gruesome. Idea of one of those crates lighting

1062
01:17:59,202 --> 01:18:03,122
up, exploding possibly with hundreds of people kids in the

1063
01:18:03,282 --> 01:18:07,602
mall. And for the owners who asked for extensions and

1064
01:18:07,842 --> 01:18:10,962
more leniency from the staff and from city council is

1065
01:18:11,042 --> 01:18:15,042
ridiculous because they've even said that they've been contacting, uh,

1066
01:18:15,282 --> 01:18:18,482
the owners for two years since 2024 in that city

1067
01:18:18,962 --> 01:18:23,842
staff report. If he wants more availability with the fire

1068
01:18:24,002 --> 01:18:26,722
staff, I mean, the fire staff has already said they're

1069
01:18:26,802 --> 01:18:29,442
there every day at 1 p. m. Like how much

1070
01:18:29,602 --> 01:18:32,242
more do you need, right? And my heart goes out

1071
01:18:32,322 --> 01:18:36,002
for all the small business owners of the, uh, citizens

1072
01:18:36,082 --> 01:18:38,882
of Miranda Valley because here is an owner who admitted

1073
01:18:39,362 --> 01:18:43,122
that is from Costa Mesa, Orange County. Um, I'm not

1074
01:18:43,202 --> 01:18:46,402
sure why the mall cannot afford its penalties or any

1075
01:18:46,482 --> 01:18:49,842
of, uh, the upgrades that it needs 30 years for

1076
01:18:50,322 --> 01:18:53,842
power generators. The mall was constructed in 1992. That's 34

1077
01:18:53,922 --> 01:18:56,962
years. So that means they've never even thought about replacing

1078
01:18:57,122 --> 01:19:02,242
them, upgrading them, um, as well as the fire emergency,

1079
01:19:02,162 --> 01:19:07,362
uh, technology, right? Uh, that's really unfortunate. And maybe it's

1080
01:19:07,442 --> 01:19:09,522
due to be cut or it's due in part because

1081
01:19:09,922 --> 01:19:13,362
of how much e - commerce has infiltrated or new

1082
01:19:13,442 --> 01:19:17,362
livelihood, right? Every day, um, people order online unceded of

1083
01:19:17,362 --> 01:19:19,602
going to the mall. Maybe the mall needs more money

1084
01:19:19,682 --> 01:19:22,002
to pay for all these repairs. And they're afraid to

1085
01:19:22,322 --> 01:19:24,162
say so, you know? But that goes back to the

1086
01:19:24,242 --> 01:19:27,842
problem of warehouses. You guys have, you guys have caused

1087
01:19:28,162 --> 01:19:30,802
this issue in reality. You know, you guys are in

1088
01:19:30,802 --> 01:19:35,682
part, um, responsible for the lack of, uh, malls, the

1089
01:19:35,762 --> 01:19:39,362
decline of malls. And here are the real, uh, the

1090
01:19:39,362 --> 01:19:43,122
constituents who are hurt by warehouses. You guys failed to

1091
01:19:43,762 --> 01:19:48,002
pass moratorium to, uh, stop incidents like this. And here

1092
01:19:48,162 --> 01:19:52,882
is a real life incident where, um, e - commerce

1093
01:19:53,122 --> 01:19:59,012
is really taking advantage of brick and mortar stores. They're

1094
01:19:59,012 --> 01:20:02,372
being so, uh, competitive that it's, it doesn't really make

1095
01:20:02,372 --> 01:20:05,332
sense to have moss anymore. Across America. This is a

1096
01:20:05,412 --> 01:20:11,092
problem. And, um, yeah, I think unfortunately the more has.

1097
01:20:13,572 --> 01:20:16,452
The next three speakers are Elizabeth Terebio followed by Thomas

1098
01:20:16,532 --> 01:20:21,564
Smith, followed by Stephen Miller. And I would like just

1099
01:20:21,564 --> 01:20:26,204
before the next speaker comes up, Liz bet Toribio. Just

1100
01:20:26,284 --> 01:20:29,084
a friendly reminder for everyone to please keep it respectful.

1101
01:20:29,004 --> 01:20:31,964
Everyone gets equal amount of time. Um, hearing some kind

1102
01:20:31,884 --> 01:20:35,004
of, um, people speaking up while we have a speaker

1103
01:20:35,244 --> 01:20:37,164
at the podium, if you could please just, uh, everybody

1104
01:20:37,324 --> 01:20:40,044
be respectful and allow everybody their three minutes to, uh,

1105
01:20:40,124 --> 01:20:43,484
make their public comments. So next up, Lisbeth Toribio.

1106
01:20:51,167 --> 01:20:56,104
I'm speaking on behalf of Luni Suede Cafe. I understand

1107
01:20:56,424 --> 01:20:59,144
everything that's going on. You know, you guys explained everything

1108
01:20:59,304 --> 01:21:02,184
pretty well. Um, it's good to hear it. Um, good

1109
01:21:02,264 --> 01:21:05,544
to hear positive feedback. It's really just, we really just

1110
01:21:05,624 --> 01:21:07,704
want to be back, you know, uh, we have a

1111
01:21:07,624 --> 01:21:13,040
lot of, um, employees. My whole family works there. It's

1112
01:21:12,960 --> 01:21:17,574
just kind of been a lot on us. Want to

1113
01:21:17,574 --> 01:21:19,334
reopen, you know, just kind of want you guys to

1114
01:21:19,334 --> 01:21:21,334
push us, you know, push it a little bit, even

1115
01:21:21,414 --> 01:21:23,414
if it's, I know it's hard. I know a lot

1116
01:21:23,414 --> 01:21:25,254
of stuff going on, but if there's just any way

1117
01:21:25,254 --> 01:21:28,054
for us to get open as soon as possible next

1118
01:21:28,054 --> 01:21:30,214
week, maybe in two weeks, just not a month. Don't

1119
01:21:30,294 --> 01:21:35,224
let it go for too long, you know. It's affecting

1120
01:21:35,304 --> 01:21:37,999
us a lot, a small businesses. You know, but it's

1121
01:21:38,239 --> 01:21:41,919
really all I have to say. Just try to get

1122
01:21:42,239 --> 01:21:47,292
it reopened pretty quick. Thank you. The next three speakers

1123
01:21:47,612 --> 01:21:50,332
are Thomas Smith, followed by Stephen Miller, followed by Laura

1124
01:21:50,492 --> 01:21:58,976
Vallejo. Is Thomas Smith here. If not, we can come

1125
01:21:58,976 --> 01:22:02,075
back. Okay. We'll go ahead and go to Steven Miller.

1126
01:22:08,286 --> 01:22:12,513
Thank you. Uh, Mayor and Council members. I want to

1127
01:22:12,513 --> 01:22:16,113
compliment you on your fire department. I'm a professional firefighter

1128
01:22:16,273 --> 01:22:19,153
retired with Orange County. And I've been in the fire

1129
01:22:19,233 --> 01:22:23,073
protection industry for 50 years. And I see with your

1130
01:22:23,233 --> 01:22:26,433
professionals that they're doing just an A plus job, their

1131
01:22:26,513 --> 01:22:30,273
knowledge is above base. They're, um, staff, the inspectors are

1132
01:22:30,433 --> 01:22:33,393
there. They've been working with us. I've only been there

1133
01:22:33,553 --> 01:22:35,953
five days. So in those five days, I think we've

1134
01:22:35,953 --> 01:22:40,276
done leaps and bounds. Um, the only. Thing that I

1135
01:22:40,276 --> 01:22:43,316
would like to bring into bear to mind is the

1136
01:22:43,636 --> 01:22:46,196
current owner and manager has only had this building for

1137
01:22:46,436 --> 01:22:50,125
three years. Everybody's talking about 30 years and all these

1138
01:22:50,125 --> 01:22:52,605
things that need to be done. Well, he's moving forward.

1139
01:22:52,525 --> 01:22:56,845
We've had contractors there day and night working. I, in

1140
01:22:56,845 --> 01:22:59,725
my personal opinion, believe there may be some other options

1141
01:22:59,725 --> 01:23:03,005
to the closure of the mall. But that's just me.

1142
01:23:02,925 --> 01:23:05,725
And every firefighter will fight a fire a different way.

1143
01:23:05,645 --> 01:23:08,925
And they interpret things differently. But again, they're doing their

1144
01:23:09,005 --> 01:23:11,165
job right. And I hope that we can come to

1145
01:23:11,405 --> 01:23:14,605
some understanding. I believe so to move this forward and

1146
01:23:14,605 --> 01:23:17,165
get them open as fast as possible. And again, Matt

1147
01:23:17,325 --> 01:23:20,821
is not the problem. He's the solution. Thank you very

1148
01:23:20,901 --> 01:23:25,299
much. The next three speakers are Laura Vallejo followed by

1149
01:23:26,339 --> 01:23:33,308
surgery Jones followed by Bob Palomares. Is Laura Vallejo here.

1150
01:23:34,384 --> 01:23:34,464
Oh.

1151
01:23:49,516 --> 01:23:52,389
Hello counsel. My name is Laura. I am speaking on

1152
01:23:52,389 --> 01:23:56,557
behalf of Vallejo Western wear. And just wanted the community

1153
01:23:56,717 --> 01:24:02,174
to know. Put a face to our name. That we

1154
01:24:02,254 --> 01:24:04,174
are one of the small family businesses that has been

1155
01:24:04,334 --> 01:24:08,254
deeply affected by the mall closure. It has deeply affected

1156
01:24:08,414 --> 01:24:11,454
our livelihood as we are of small family business. And

1157
01:24:11,614 --> 01:24:13,374
we just want them all to be open as soon

1158
01:24:13,374 --> 01:24:18,554
as possible. Thank you. The next three speakers are surgery

1159
01:24:18,714 --> 01:24:23,679
Jones followed by Bob Palomaris, followed by Seth Cox. Hello.

1160
01:24:24,501 --> 01:24:28,661
I'm surgery Jones. I'm a supermodel and community activist. I

1161
01:24:28,901 --> 01:24:33,061
just moved on July 1st. And my aunt been staying

1162
01:24:33,221 --> 01:24:36,351
in Marino Valley for 25 years. She brought me to

1163
01:24:36,511 --> 01:24:40,105
this mall. When they first opened. I already been helping

1164
01:24:40,665 --> 01:24:43,439
some of the, um, some of the business owners. To

1165
01:24:43,599 --> 01:24:46,319
support them to help bring more revenue to the, um,

1166
01:24:46,719 --> 01:24:48,901
to the stores. And I don't feel like it should

1167
01:24:48,901 --> 01:24:51,701
be closed. I'm going to be honest. It's the hub

1168
01:24:51,941 --> 01:24:54,421
of this neighborhood. They got two schools in this mall.

1169
01:24:55,588 --> 01:24:58,228
Too. That helped the neighborhood. They helped the homeless. They

1170
01:24:58,388 --> 01:25:01,428
have a library. They have several different things. They feed

1171
01:25:01,748 --> 01:25:04,366
the homeless. If this mall closed, a lot of people

1172
01:25:04,686 --> 01:25:06,766
going to lose their jobs. A lot of people going

1173
01:25:06,686 --> 01:25:08,606
to lose their revenue. A lot of people going to

1174
01:25:08,606 --> 01:25:10,046
be out on the street and then it's going to

1175
01:25:10,126 --> 01:25:13,894
be more homeless people. I'm disabled because I got hit

1176
01:25:13,894 --> 01:25:15,574
by a truck last year and I was planning on

1177
01:25:15,734 --> 01:25:17,814
opening a store in this mall. And I feel like

1178
01:25:18,934 --> 01:25:21,414
every day I go in that mom. Them people are

1179
01:25:21,574 --> 01:25:25,254
very nice to me. They're very opening. They respectful. And

1180
01:25:25,414 --> 01:25:27,494
I understand they have issues, but they could be worked

1181
01:25:27,574 --> 01:25:30,200
out. It's not even that bad of the issues. I

1182
01:25:30,360 --> 01:25:32,440
understand they have cool issues. They all could be figured

1183
01:25:32,440 --> 01:25:34,920
out. I also have a plane to help them all

1184
01:25:35,160 --> 01:25:39,167
have a fundraiser to help to raise money. At the

1185
01:25:39,167 --> 01:25:40,527
end of the day, I don't think y'all should close

1186
01:25:40,767 --> 01:25:42,767
this mall because it's going to close moove out. Thank

1187
01:25:42,767 --> 01:25:47,659
you. The next three speakers are ball Palomares followed by

1188
01:25:47,979 --> 01:25:49,739
Seth Cox, followed by Christopher Bacca.

1189
01:26:06,189 --> 01:26:08,829
And Council. Uh, I feel bad for these people that

1190
01:26:09,069 --> 01:26:12,429
have businesses in the mall and all the employees. They're

1191
01:26:12,509 --> 01:26:18,353
the ones that are really hurting. But, uh. My opinion,

1192
01:26:18,433 --> 01:26:20,593
you know, I'm not an attorney or anything, but I

1193
01:26:20,513 --> 01:26:26,673
think the city had and has an obligation going back

1194
01:26:27,073 --> 01:26:34,513
to 2019 when there was violations then up to now,

1195
01:26:34,433 --> 01:26:37,633
uh, apparently the current owner had it for three years

1196
01:26:38,593 --> 01:26:43,534
in the violations have been there. And everybody's talking about,

1197
01:26:43,454 --> 01:26:47,534
you know, what we're going to do. And I got

1198
01:26:47,534 --> 01:26:50,654
to take my hat off to the fire chief for,

1199
01:26:50,574 --> 01:26:52,894
you know, the great job. He did exactly what he

1200
01:26:52,894 --> 01:26:57,167
had to do. Period. But the city has an obligation

1201
01:26:57,247 --> 01:27:00,784
to all the people that go in that mall. And

1202
01:27:00,944 --> 01:27:03,264
the one thing I didn't hear, and I haven't heard

1203
01:27:04,224 --> 01:27:07,664
is that no legal action was taken against the owner.

1204
01:27:09,950 --> 01:27:12,510
Had an incident occurred in that mall where there was

1205
01:27:12,830 --> 01:27:17,737
life lost. Believe me, we would be in court. There's

1206
01:27:17,977 --> 01:27:22,630
probably going to be lawsuits anyway. But we're fortunate that

1207
01:27:22,710 --> 01:27:27,162
we're here talking about correcting these things. But the city

1208
01:27:27,562 --> 01:27:30,682
is obligated to protect the citizens. And because you didn't

1209
01:27:30,762 --> 01:27:36,489
take no legal action. That's no good. You know, you

1210
01:27:36,729 --> 01:27:41,746
had plenty of time, all the violations are there. I

1211
01:27:41,986 --> 01:27:43,826
know maybe you want to smooth it out and make

1212
01:27:43,986 --> 01:27:48,866
a good with a... And even the city has investment

1213
01:27:49,026 --> 01:27:52,202
in that mall. And you would risk. That all these

1214
01:27:52,442 --> 01:27:56,874
violations are here. And you're allowing people to go in

1215
01:27:56,954 --> 01:28:03,064
there that are affiliated with the city. That's negligent. So

1216
01:28:03,224 --> 01:28:06,337
you need to clean it up. You've got to do

1217
01:28:06,337 --> 01:28:08,737
what you've got to do now. The chief told us

1218
01:28:08,817 --> 01:28:12,477
what has to be done. But you, as the city

1219
01:28:12,637 --> 01:28:18,205
council. Need to get this guy in court. Because it's

1220
01:28:18,205 --> 01:28:22,035
been going on for far too long. You know, this

1221
01:28:22,195 --> 01:28:24,435
way at least you can have something to tell him.

1222
01:28:24,355 --> 01:28:26,515
We took you to court. They told you what you

1223
01:28:26,595 --> 01:28:29,315
need to do. Now we're going to take action. But

1224
01:28:29,475 --> 01:28:32,115
right here, it seems like there's a little passing the

1225
01:28:32,275 --> 01:28:36,189
buck going on. Thank you. The next three speakers are

1226
01:28:36,349 --> 01:28:39,309
Seth Cox, followed by Christopher Bacca, followed by Alexander Johnson.

1227
01:28:43,687 --> 01:28:53,097
Good evening, Council Mayor. Staff, first responders gallery. I'm going

1228
01:28:53,017 --> 01:28:57,272
to steal from Ms. Palmerish tonight. All right. Wow. Just

1229
01:28:57,432 --> 01:29:02,657
wow. How did we get here? Uh, thank you fire

1230
01:29:02,737 --> 01:29:05,137
department for telling us how we got here. All right.

1231
01:29:05,617 --> 01:29:09,478
Um. And it's even more disturbing to me after I

1232
01:29:09,638 --> 01:29:13,398
hear how we got here. All right. Uh, I'm a

1233
01:29:13,798 --> 01:29:18,598
data guy and a numbers guy. Back in June of

1234
01:29:18,998 --> 01:29:24,642
2023. There was a notice of determination filed. About the

1235
01:29:25,362 --> 01:29:31,447
marino Valery development. Right. At 11 bullet points that they

1236
01:29:31,527 --> 01:29:35,001
were going to do. I don't believe any one of

1237
01:29:35,001 --> 01:29:42,561
them has been done. Okay. So that's one way. What

1238
01:29:42,561 --> 01:29:49,544
that's one thing. Now comes the most current stuff. Over

1239
01:29:49,624 --> 01:29:54,849
the 15 months. The last 15 months. The city of

1240
01:29:55,089 --> 01:30:02,700
Marino Valley. Has spent 12. 389 million dollars on the

1241
01:30:02,780 --> 01:30:06,830
mall. Would you like to know how they did that.

1242
01:30:09,128 --> 01:30:13,467
The immersion studio has been paid. Seven and a half

1243
01:30:13,787 --> 01:30:16,823
million dollars. The five million dollars they got up front.

1244
01:30:17,874 --> 01:30:23,047
And 250, 000 dollars for the next 10 months. They

1245
01:30:23,047 --> 01:30:29,697
were supposed to open when. This month. What's the condition

1246
01:30:29,777 --> 01:30:32,590
of that contract right now. Is it ever going to

1247
01:30:32,830 --> 01:30:40,427
happen. We also paid VA consult VCA consultants 75, 000

1248
01:30:40,507 --> 01:30:48,139
dollars for structure engineering services for mall museum project. We

1249
01:30:48,539 --> 01:30:56,251
paid electric incorporated. 4. 7 million dollars for the marina

1250
01:30:56,411 --> 01:31:00,651
valley lease facility improvement project phase one two and three.

1251
01:31:01,930 --> 01:31:05,450
Which that line item, I believe is in the development

1252
01:31:05,690 --> 01:31:08,730
thing They were supposed to rehab the series building for

1253
01:31:09,050 --> 01:31:12,719
commercial use. And now we're doing that for them in

1254
01:31:12,719 --> 01:31:18,416
my opinion. Uh, the last one. We have a library

1255
01:31:18,496 --> 01:31:23,118
there over the last year. If anybody doesn't know I

1256
01:31:23,118 --> 01:31:27,598
believe the current monthly rent on that is 6, 874

1257
01:31:27,678 --> 01:31:30,958
dollars in 54 cents. So over the last year we

1258
01:31:31,038 --> 01:31:39,245
paid merino valley. Mall holding LLC 8, 000 82, 500

1259
01:31:39,325 --> 01:31:43,267
dollars worth of rent. So we've been bailing them all

1260
01:31:43,587 --> 01:31:52,707
out for over forever At least the current. The next

1261
01:31:52,787 --> 01:31:56,067
three speakers are Christopher Baka followed by Alexander Johnson followed

1262
01:31:56,067 --> 01:32:05,807
by Krista Hawkins. Hello good evening.

1263
01:32:07,106 --> 01:32:10,306
Again my comments on my own don't reflect anybody else's

1264
01:32:10,386 --> 01:32:13,746
opinion other than myself Um, so I want to start

1265
01:32:13,746 --> 01:32:21,646
with Moreno Valley. The land of economics I mean commercial

1266
01:32:22,126 --> 01:32:28,280
and retail. Development forces. So I'll start with Aqua Bala

1267
01:32:28,440 --> 01:32:32,520
That's the longest that's been BS in the books for

1268
01:32:33,080 --> 01:32:37,080
over 25 years Then you have the WLC that's been

1269
01:32:37,160 --> 01:32:40,120
on the books for 10 years with nothing going on.

1270
01:32:41,535 --> 01:32:44,175
Now you have the Gilmans which is coming up during

1271
01:32:44,255 --> 01:32:49,920
the political season. So you'll vote for it so they

1272
01:32:49,920 --> 01:32:54,320
won't have candidates running against you Um, and then now

1273
01:32:55,040 --> 01:32:58,574
the point to this is. The redevelopment of the mall

1274
01:32:59,774 --> 01:33:05,053
was approved in 2022 I believe. How many years has

1275
01:33:05,293 --> 01:33:08,893
that been 2022 to redevelop the mall? And where are

1276
01:33:08,893 --> 01:33:14,197
we now. Where are we now? Look at this situation

1277
01:33:14,437 --> 01:33:18,277
that we're on now As far as I'm concerned This

1278
01:33:18,437 --> 01:33:20,917
mall should be gutted out I mean I'm sorry for

1279
01:33:21,077 --> 01:33:26,517
the businesses I think I commend the city Uh... Staff

1280
01:33:26,757 --> 01:33:30,597
I believe Uh Santa Cruz and Bernard are proactive in

1281
01:33:30,677 --> 01:33:37,157
helping the retailers in their economic Um... Downfalls They should

1282
01:33:37,157 --> 01:33:42,037
be subsidized and moved Uh, and there's space throughout the

1283
01:33:42,037 --> 01:33:45,237
city for them to be relocated to that mall should

1284
01:33:45,237 --> 01:33:48,917
be gutted down Uh, like one of the other speakers

1285
01:33:49,157 --> 01:33:53,420
said this era is over. It is completely over. And

1286
01:33:53,420 --> 01:33:56,460
you need to rethink the redevelopment of this malt interior

1287
01:33:57,100 --> 01:34:03,580
Including when they do the apartments and so forth Grocery

1288
01:34:03,740 --> 01:34:10,140
stores may be educational facilities Maybe Just other stuff You

1289
01:34:10,060 --> 01:34:14,300
know these trick - in chops And you know Cinnabons

1290
01:34:14,860 --> 01:34:17,100
and all of that stuff is stuff of the past

1291
01:34:18,060 --> 01:34:22,060
So you really need to rethink the redevelopment And as

1292
01:34:22,060 --> 01:34:24,140
far as I'm concerned I was there Last time I

1293
01:34:24,140 --> 01:34:26,940
was at the mall was May And that place is

1294
01:34:27,100 --> 01:34:33,164
borderline indoor swap meet. The escalators don't work Their stores

1295
01:34:33,244 --> 01:34:39,018
there They are plywood and chain link fence. I mean

1296
01:34:39,658 --> 01:34:42,618
it's not You know That's not gonna attract nobody You

1297
01:34:42,618 --> 01:34:44,938
think people are gonna get off the freeway to come

1298
01:34:44,938 --> 01:34:47,898
to that? I don't think so That mall needs to

1299
01:34:47,898 --> 01:34:51,898
be totally gutted out and redevelop And the city should

1300
01:34:52,218 --> 01:34:58,538
take incentive into relocating these businesses elsewhere And those businesses

1301
01:34:58,858 --> 01:35:01,738
can sue the mall for whatever infrastructure They put in

1302
01:35:01,738 --> 01:35:06,698
there But otherwise It's ridiculous for them to pour and

1303
01:35:06,698 --> 01:35:10,631
more money. The next three speakers are Alexander Johnson followed

1304
01:35:10,711 --> 01:35:12,871
by Krista Hawkins Father by James Abaca.

1305
01:35:23,339 --> 01:35:25,659
Good evening my name's Alexander Johnson I'm here just to

1306
01:35:25,739 --> 01:35:27,659
speak on behalf of the city I'm on the city

1307
01:35:27,739 --> 01:35:29,819
resident I've been here for my entire life I just

1308
01:35:29,979 --> 01:35:32,859
want to speak on the behalf of the city and

1309
01:35:32,939 --> 01:35:34,699
their anger and all the small businesses that were closed

1310
01:35:35,099 --> 01:35:40,219
down during the small shutdown Also want to call on

1311
01:35:40,299 --> 01:35:43,259
the council to build a milled touring fund for the

1312
01:35:43,339 --> 01:35:45,739
businesses that were affected These people are going to go

1313
01:35:45,739 --> 01:35:48,379
weeks without revenue We're going to go weeks without being

1314
01:35:48,539 --> 01:35:50,059
their families And they're going to be behind on rent

1315
01:35:50,219 --> 01:35:52,779
And they won't get any city support or support from

1316
01:35:53,259 --> 01:35:58,166
the residencies Electric utilities They won't get any support. I

1317
01:35:58,406 --> 01:36:05,446
Want the city council to put an issue Um... Into

1318
01:36:05,446 --> 01:36:08,246
the... Their next agenda for the next city council meeting

1319
01:36:08,966 --> 01:36:12,966
Also want to applaud the fire department Um... Their hard

1320
01:36:12,966 --> 01:36:15,632
work and everything they've did. To make sure the mall

1321
01:36:15,632 --> 01:36:18,112
is up to date Uh, the mall owner was very

1322
01:36:18,352 --> 01:36:20,992
negligent And, um, he should be held accountable for that

1323
01:36:21,552 --> 01:36:24,592
Um, these businesses are going to be greatly affected Um...

1324
01:36:25,792 --> 01:36:28,512
It's also quite convenient that May season JC pennies and

1325
01:36:28,592 --> 01:36:31,952
Harkins theater Uh, also Big businesses that were affected by

1326
01:36:31,952 --> 01:36:35,872
this shutdown I think that's Totally Unfair for all the

1327
01:36:35,952 --> 01:36:41,051
businesses that were... Affected by this shut down. Also want

1328
01:36:41,051 --> 01:36:48,411
to talk about fire department Uh... When a great lead

1329
01:36:48,651 --> 01:36:50,011
Thank you them for all their service for the past

1330
01:36:50,891 --> 01:36:53,691
couple of weeks Um They gave them all two weak

1331
01:36:53,771 --> 01:36:57,851
notice I was kind of just skimming through the meeting

1332
01:36:57,931 --> 01:37:04,651
agenda February 5 On February 5th They contacted the mall

1333
01:37:04,731 --> 01:37:06,651
owner And then February 19th They shut them all down

1334
01:37:06,891 --> 01:37:08,331
I don't think they should have shut them all down

1335
01:37:08,571 --> 01:37:11,451
On the 19th I think they should have Um... Worked

1336
01:37:11,451 --> 01:37:16,249
with the city council Um... And... Do that. So what

1337
01:37:16,249 --> 01:37:18,489
I want the city council to also as well is

1338
01:37:18,969 --> 01:37:21,609
to work with the fire department and come to agreement

1339
01:37:21,849 --> 01:37:27,529
Uh compromise Um... You know, either be forced to sell

1340
01:37:27,769 --> 01:37:29,849
them all to make sure This doesn't happen again in

1341
01:37:29,849 --> 01:37:33,929
the future Um... Not being able to even restore backup

1342
01:37:34,009 --> 01:37:35,689
generators after you got them all in three years ago

1343
01:37:36,809 --> 01:37:39,929
Is a gross negligence And... And I think there should

1344
01:37:39,929 --> 01:37:42,649
be I just wanted to again speak to the anger

1345
01:37:42,809 --> 01:37:45,529
Of the city And I just want those businesses to

1346
01:37:45,609 --> 01:37:47,849
know that we are all Um... In your prayers Thank

1347
01:37:47,849 --> 01:37:52,847
you so much. The next three speakers are Krista Hawkins

1348
01:37:53,247 --> 01:37:57,410
followed by James Vega followed by Louise Palomares. Hi my

1349
01:37:57,410 --> 01:37:59,890
name is Krista Hawkins I'm just here as a resident

1350
01:38:00,290 --> 01:38:03,250
Been in Renovalle all my life Um My heart goes

1351
01:38:03,330 --> 01:38:06,450
out to the small business owners And wow I just

1352
01:38:06,690 --> 01:38:08,770
I just have to say Wow merino Valley Like you

1353
01:38:09,010 --> 01:38:12,290
guys are just doing an amazing job Showing what merino

1354
01:38:12,530 --> 01:38:15,105
Valley is about. Like the... You guys are gonna go

1355
01:38:15,105 --> 01:38:17,985
home tonight Y'all Y'all gonna Eat I'm sure you're gonna

1356
01:38:17,985 --> 01:38:20,065
be able to pay your bills And these business owners

1357
01:38:20,305 --> 01:38:22,065
These small business on theirs They're gonna have to sit

1358
01:38:22,065 --> 01:38:24,065
up tonight and try to figure out How they're gonna

1359
01:38:24,305 --> 01:38:27,585
make things work How they're gonna pull it together And

1360
01:38:27,665 --> 01:38:30,705
like everyone has been saying It's been negligence Years of

1361
01:38:30,785 --> 01:38:33,505
negligence I don't know all the politics I don't know

1362
01:38:34,145 --> 01:38:36,145
The hierarchies But I don't know You can't work any

1363
01:38:36,385 --> 01:38:39,905
job Where you don't have accountability Everyone has a boss

1364
01:38:40,145 --> 01:38:42,545
Everyone has someone to answer to And it's been years

1365
01:38:42,865 --> 01:38:46,625
of the owner or whoever the city council The city

1366
01:38:47,025 --> 01:38:50,145
Not holding this person accountable To what's been doing And

1367
01:38:50,305 --> 01:38:55,197
now in the end Capitalism The small businesses suffer. They

1368
01:38:55,517 --> 01:38:57,037
suffer And they're the ones that are gonna have to

1369
01:38:57,037 --> 01:38:59,277
figure out what they have to do To feed their

1370
01:38:59,597 --> 01:39:01,437
family and to keep on going with the business The

1371
01:39:01,437 --> 01:39:03,277
young man who just spoke He spoke amazing I didn't

1372
01:39:03,277 --> 01:39:05,117
even think about that They're gonna be behind on their

1373
01:39:05,357 --> 01:39:07,197
bills And I'm sure they're still gonna be expected to

1374
01:39:07,197 --> 01:39:10,667
pay them. And not being in business right now. So

1375
01:39:10,987 --> 01:39:14,347
it's just really sad And also we know that Marino

1376
01:39:14,507 --> 01:39:16,507
Valley Let's be transparent There's not a lot of jobs

1377
01:39:16,507 --> 01:39:19,707
here Moreno Valley is a commuter city Unless you work

1378
01:39:19,787 --> 01:39:22,987
at the hospital Maybe at the college Maybe at some

1379
01:39:23,067 --> 01:39:25,787
schools There's not a lot of jobs here And I

1380
01:39:25,787 --> 01:39:27,867
really blame that on the city And I want you

1381
01:39:27,867 --> 01:39:30,427
guys to think the city council What vision do you

1382
01:39:30,427 --> 01:39:33,420
have for more in a valley. What vision do you

1383
01:39:33,420 --> 01:39:35,740
have? Because the mall is a place where jobs are.

1384
01:39:36,620 --> 01:39:39,733
And now the mall is closed. Not everybody wants to

1385
01:39:39,813 --> 01:39:42,213
work out a warehouse I'm sorry That you guys keep

1386
01:39:42,453 --> 01:39:48,300
putting every other day Every other week. So I'm just

1387
01:39:48,380 --> 01:39:50,220
looking at you guys And I really hope that you

1388
01:39:50,380 --> 01:39:53,500
hold yourself accountable Everyone here Like I said I don't

1389
01:39:53,500 --> 01:39:55,580
know the politics But everyone who has a position to

1390
01:39:55,660 --> 01:39:59,299
do something. I hope you guys hold yourself accountable And

1391
01:39:59,379 --> 01:40:02,099
think come together I don't know if the fun I

1392
01:40:02,019 --> 01:40:03,939
don't know if the budget But I know the money

1393
01:40:04,419 --> 01:40:07,619
somewhere that you guys can help these small businesses while

1394
01:40:07,699 --> 01:40:12,068
they're out of work. And I do I understand that

1395
01:40:12,308 --> 01:40:14,548
the chief that you guys are under a lot of

1396
01:40:14,628 --> 01:40:16,868
pressure The fire department is under a lot of pressure

1397
01:40:17,348 --> 01:40:20,148
Because it's been ongoing problems with the mall Since I've

1398
01:40:20,228 --> 01:40:23,790
been in high school. But like I said once again

1399
01:40:24,670 --> 01:40:26,590
The small business owners are the ones who are affected

1400
01:40:27,150 --> 01:40:30,350
So really sit and think about your vision from Rinavalle

1401
01:40:30,430 --> 01:40:33,470
Because it's just being destroyed And think again before you

1402
01:40:33,550 --> 01:40:40,852
put another Um, warehouse. The next three speakers are James

1403
01:40:41,012 --> 01:40:47,721
Vega followed by Louise Palomares followed by Nikita Wilson. Hi

1404
01:40:47,801 --> 01:40:52,452
everybody Good afternoon. Here on behalf of Robert Garcia Specifically

1405
01:40:52,612 --> 01:40:55,172
he's out of town So Uh So He just wants

1406
01:40:55,172 --> 01:40:58,212
to put on the record Uh based on him coming

1407
01:40:58,212 --> 01:41:00,132
to the city and trying to bring something positive to

1408
01:41:00,292 --> 01:41:04,372
the city that Uh, obviously he's unhappy A big investment

1409
01:41:04,612 --> 01:41:07,332
on his part time effort to try to bring something

1410
01:41:07,652 --> 01:41:09,092
positive to the city But he wants to put on

1411
01:41:09,092 --> 01:41:12,052
the record that the current lease that he's in is

1412
01:41:12,292 --> 01:41:18,001
Unvalid Uh, based on lack of disclosure. Um... About the

1413
01:41:18,081 --> 01:41:22,001
conditions of the mall Okay Uh Two parts The contract

1414
01:41:22,401 --> 01:41:25,921
never stipulates anything in regards to them being any external

1415
01:41:26,241 --> 01:41:29,841
issues with the fire department Uh, that can affect his

1416
01:41:30,241 --> 01:41:34,081
livelihood Over 200 kids that he trains Uh just in

1417
01:41:34,161 --> 01:41:36,721
bad taste Uh, he's not happy about it It's very

1418
01:41:36,801 --> 01:41:41,201
unfortunate Um, second part Uh, we went through Personally I

1419
01:41:41,281 --> 01:41:44,675
went through over a year. Uh... Working to try to

1420
01:41:44,675 --> 01:41:49,955
make this happen And Unfortunately We were never told by

1421
01:41:50,195 --> 01:41:52,595
the fire department outside of the building What the conditions

1422
01:41:52,755 --> 01:41:55,155
were... Or else the investment would have never been made

1423
01:41:55,555 --> 01:41:58,755
So With that said It's unfortunate Uh, but he just

1424
01:41:58,835 --> 01:42:00,355
wants to put on the record that he has no

1425
01:42:00,675 --> 01:42:04,422
ties Uh... To the mall at this point. Uh... Due

1426
01:42:04,342 --> 01:42:07,462
to the contract not stipulating what... And needed to stipulate

1427
01:42:08,182 --> 01:42:11,542
Or anything that can hinder his business He runs a

1428
01:42:11,862 --> 01:42:15,782
multi - million dollar championship boxing Operation that was in

1429
01:42:15,942 --> 01:42:17,675
Reynold Valley. And he can't do it at this point

1430
01:42:18,635 --> 01:42:21,755
with no idea when it can happen again So based

1431
01:42:21,675 --> 01:42:24,555
on that, the lack of communication from Lamar Uh He

1432
01:42:24,555 --> 01:42:25,915
just wants to put that on the record Thank you

1433
01:42:26,235 --> 01:42:32,567
Jim. The next three speakers are Louise Palomar is followed

1434
01:42:32,567 --> 01:42:38,098
by Nikita Wilson. Wow Just swap We're on the Titanic

1435
01:42:38,178 --> 01:42:41,557
here. This is our merit The Titanic Mayor Everything is

1436
01:42:41,637 --> 01:42:44,277
touched turns the crap It's so sad He's the leader

1437
01:42:44,357 --> 01:42:46,837
of the city here He's the one I know He

1438
01:42:46,917 --> 01:42:49,557
was involved with the Garcia boys You know to bring

1439
01:42:49,557 --> 01:42:51,877
it on Hey we can do this Let's do it

1440
01:42:52,197 --> 01:42:55,877
They brought it the poor man Right now He could

1441
01:42:55,877 --> 01:42:58,517
lose his shirt here Because of you that encouraged him.

1442
01:42:59,240 --> 01:43:01,080
You know You should have told him all the red

1443
01:43:01,240 --> 01:43:03,400
tape That was going on behind the scenes You're the

1444
01:43:03,400 --> 01:43:05,880
mayor You should've known This was going on But you're

1445
01:43:05,880 --> 01:43:09,105
too busy on a campaign trail. unceded of doing what

1446
01:43:09,185 --> 01:43:11,185
you gotta do for the city You probably knew a

1447
01:43:11,105 --> 01:43:13,345
lot of these violations Why didn't you get on the

1448
01:43:13,585 --> 01:43:15,585
owner over there? Don't you know the owner also Mr.

1449
01:43:15,745 --> 01:43:18,625
Matt We should be protesting at his house You know

1450
01:43:19,025 --> 01:43:21,025
really It's so sad It's a sad day Amarino Valley

1451
01:43:21,185 --> 01:43:24,065
That we have a mayor with no leadership skills And

1452
01:43:24,385 --> 01:43:27,585
other businesses that are there too also are suffering Because

1453
01:43:28,385 --> 01:43:31,025
the museum We had... It's not even open yet We're

1454
01:43:31,265 --> 01:43:34,225
pouring money there Why did we even Do it there

1455
01:43:34,465 --> 01:43:37,025
When we knew all these violations We're going on Who

1456
01:43:37,105 --> 01:43:39,425
knew what and when did they know it And golly

1457
01:43:39,825 --> 01:43:43,505
really really really Come on You're too busy suing people

1458
01:43:43,905 --> 01:43:47,185
like me that come in speak truth to power And

1459
01:43:47,185 --> 01:43:49,627
the facts. So to shut us up to go away

1460
01:43:50,187 --> 01:43:52,987
You know the Thomas's You suit them You put them

1461
01:43:53,067 --> 01:43:56,107
in court for over a year Violated the First Amendment

1462
01:43:56,427 --> 01:43:59,829
right. The First Amendment Right We the city had to

1463
01:43:59,829 --> 01:44:01,909
pay They took you back to court We the city

1464
01:44:01,989 --> 01:44:06,389
had to pay 2 million dollars on your watch We're

1465
01:44:06,629 --> 01:44:08,949
paying your bill Maybe we could use some of that

1466
01:44:09,349 --> 01:44:11,589
2 million to help these people out It's not their

1467
01:44:11,669 --> 01:44:13,589
fault They went to work one day and didn't have

1468
01:44:14,069 --> 01:44:16,069
a place to go to work at People got up

1469
01:44:16,069 --> 01:44:19,029
in the morning Then know that they were going to

1470
01:44:19,189 --> 01:44:20,949
a job That wasn't going to be there When were

1471
01:44:20,949 --> 01:44:23,349
you going to tell these are the victims These are

1472
01:44:23,429 --> 01:44:26,949
the victims The decisions that our mayor has made And

1473
01:44:27,029 --> 01:44:31,109
a leadership Yes you're too busy suing your company The

1474
01:44:31,509 --> 01:44:34,469
flock cameras The flock camera member You were working for

1475
01:44:34,549 --> 01:44:37,189
them That's a complic adventures But you were working for

1476
01:44:37,269 --> 01:44:40,149
them And you turn them around in student for a

1477
01:44:40,149 --> 01:44:43,749
sexual harassment lawsuit Come on wasn't that a complic of

1478
01:44:43,749 --> 01:44:46,549
interest You suit them got money from them You shouldn't

1479
01:44:46,709 --> 01:44:49,429
have been working for those camera people Really really really

1480
01:44:50,229 --> 01:44:53,669
So it's sad The leadership here is going to pot

1481
01:44:53,749 --> 01:44:56,469
here I just feel sorry for the people here that

1482
01:44:56,709 --> 01:44:59,269
work in those stores And that own the stores rent

1483
01:44:59,269 --> 01:45:01,909
the start And the people that work in those stores

1484
01:45:02,389 --> 01:45:06,069
Wow tell Cabrera give me a break When are you

1485
01:45:06,389 --> 01:45:09,355
going to change it up Cabrera. Man you got us

1486
01:45:09,435 --> 01:45:15,035
on a train wreck slash Um golly I'm upset I'm

1487
01:45:15,115 --> 01:45:18,875
upset because outrageous me How much money do these people

1488
01:45:19,115 --> 01:45:23,355
owe in back taxes Over 7 million? I mean Strike

1489
01:45:23,355 --> 01:45:27,035
that over 700, 000 from 119 One owner to another

1490
01:45:27,675 --> 01:45:29,755
When we're going to collect those black taxes But we

1491
01:45:29,835 --> 01:45:32,847
let it go on and on and on. Everybody's got

1492
01:45:32,847 --> 01:45:36,488
a part to play here Really really. Come on Kaber

1493
01:45:36,808 --> 01:45:38,088
Get with it Do the right thing for the right

1494
01:45:38,328 --> 01:45:43,335
reason It's not just about. The next three speakers are

1495
01:45:43,735 --> 01:45:50,326
Nikita Wilson followed by SI followed by Micah Barrett. Hello

1496
01:45:50,646 --> 01:45:54,886
everyone I'm Nikita Wilson My comments is of my own.

1497
01:45:56,179 --> 01:46:04,544
I just wanted to address Repeated notices. Repeated opportunities. Continued

1498
01:46:05,584 --> 01:46:14,476
non - compliance. Institutional patients. I'll repeat that. Institutional. Patience.

1499
01:46:16,334 --> 01:46:19,719
I Understand that the violations. Are the responsibility of the

1500
01:46:19,959 --> 01:46:24,894
owner. We've heard that. Going forward I'm just curious Are

1501
01:46:24,894 --> 01:46:32,334
there being policy tools implemented to prevent You know make

1502
01:46:32,414 --> 01:46:36,793
shorter enforcements when people are non - compliant. Is there

1503
01:46:36,953 --> 01:46:42,153
been something implemented to once you have this amount of

1504
01:46:42,393 --> 01:46:48,096
non - compliance and institutional patients. Is there a shorter

1505
01:46:48,176 --> 01:46:52,336
limit being implemented to prevent this risk from happening in

1506
01:46:52,416 --> 01:47:00,436
the future. The next three speakers are SI followed by

1507
01:47:00,836 --> 01:47:02,836
Micah Barry followed by Jeslyn McGill.

1508
01:47:11,657 --> 01:47:15,401
This will allow you to under him. Thank you everybody

1509
01:47:15,721 --> 01:47:20,305
here that we want to see some solution today. I'm

1510
01:47:20,705 --> 01:47:23,221
honored up to a story in the mall. And I

1511
01:47:23,461 --> 01:47:25,861
have family and I have to pay the rain I

1512
01:47:25,941 --> 01:47:28,661
have to pay my family Also I have to survive

1513
01:47:28,981 --> 01:47:31,861
I have old mother 85 years old I have to

1514
01:47:32,181 --> 01:47:36,154
feed for heart. And I work every seven days in

1515
01:47:36,394 --> 01:47:39,633
this mall. I'm being here three years. And I didn't

1516
01:47:39,713 --> 01:47:43,157
see any bad things in this model. And all the

1517
01:47:43,237 --> 01:47:46,357
customer was happy And I want to know like the

1518
01:47:46,597 --> 01:47:50,437
fire department and the mall management They both say hyperman

1519
01:47:50,517 --> 01:47:53,853
say nine violation and moral say is fixed. What is

1520
01:47:54,333 --> 01:47:58,333
the who making this decision to solve this problem Party

1521
01:47:58,413 --> 01:48:02,240
permanent state the hundred court can be they counted. How

1522
01:48:02,560 --> 01:48:04,640
they say nine and they let her on and say

1523
01:48:05,440 --> 01:48:08,560
100 point gonna become a later on This is I

1524
01:48:08,800 --> 01:48:12,331
know I understand. We don't understand this point We only

1525
01:48:12,411 --> 01:48:14,891
want to see as soon as possible to mold the

1526
01:48:15,051 --> 01:48:19,094
opinion. Is this decision. What we're going to do we

1527
01:48:19,174 --> 01:48:21,654
now have code I'm hungry and the and the fire

1528
01:48:21,814 --> 01:48:24,214
dependence say close your business Ford We don't know when

1529
01:48:24,374 --> 01:48:26,694
they're going to hop in I invested their 300, 000

1530
01:48:28,054 --> 01:48:30,934
Dollars And I know making money in nothing I staying

1531
01:48:30,934 --> 01:48:35,529
home I get in depression. I Getting so sick. My

1532
01:48:35,689 --> 01:48:40,685
family need the money. The hungry Uh the lion If

1533
01:48:40,685 --> 01:48:44,034
they see any food They're going to grab it. So

1534
01:48:44,274 --> 01:48:48,434
you guys at least do something that the power department

1535
01:48:48,514 --> 01:48:52,914
can work perily as well the mall Open the same

1536
01:48:53,154 --> 01:48:55,874
times So we can do the business and solve the

1537
01:48:56,034 --> 01:48:59,074
problem as well We want to these assault the problem

1538
01:48:59,314 --> 01:49:01,874
We don't want like that Oh the firepan may be

1539
01:49:01,874 --> 01:49:04,354
time Go and say stop it Stop it Is he

1540
01:49:04,594 --> 01:49:06,434
at this point So I know when I open the

1541
01:49:06,434 --> 01:49:10,434
business Party Mind men go and say two problem I

1542
01:49:10,594 --> 01:49:13,634
fixed troops They send the different man and they go

1543
01:49:14,354 --> 01:49:16,674
They say Oh no no no You have two other.

1544
01:49:17,392 --> 01:49:19,952
So when you say the two it should be two

1545
01:49:20,432 --> 01:49:23,421
It's not be like again Oh another two. So same

1546
01:49:23,661 --> 01:49:28,301
thing that small management close That is the 134 restore

1547
01:49:28,861 --> 01:49:32,381
And there is the 3, 000 employee walk I have

1548
01:49:32,461 --> 01:49:35,581
employee They don't have put I ask them What did

1549
01:49:35,581 --> 01:49:38,301
they do not getting any job Monobilly is the best

1550
01:49:38,541 --> 01:49:41,661
city Here we have the good mayor We have good

1551
01:49:41,821 --> 01:49:44,967
to stop. Why the monoville mall going to be close

1552
01:49:45,607 --> 01:49:50,655
for seven days. Why should anybody tell in 10 years

1553
01:49:51,775 --> 01:49:54,791
more and he has the fire. Nobody can say the

1554
01:49:54,791 --> 01:49:57,511
moyle has the fire pole M safety I drive every

1555
01:49:57,591 --> 01:50:00,551
day from here to enter a year And I drive

1556
01:50:00,711 --> 01:50:04,328
my thought I can be accident. But he's I cannot

1557
01:50:04,328 --> 01:50:06,168
say Oh I'm not going to go home because I'm

1558
01:50:06,088 --> 01:50:10,247
going to get accident. I type every day 1000 thousand

1559
01:50:10,247 --> 01:50:13,927
people driving Maul is good place to go there by

1560
01:50:14,007 --> 01:50:17,527
shopping And we make money there And the customer Thanks

1561
01:50:17,607 --> 01:50:19,287
a lot of stuff on that Thank you The next

1562
01:50:19,367 --> 01:50:24,758
three speakers are Micah Barrett followed by Jeslyn McGill. Followed

1563
01:50:24,758 --> 01:50:30,417
by Oliver Olivares. My name is Michael Barrett all comments

1564
01:50:30,657 --> 01:50:32,577
I make her of my own opinion Uh, I've been

1565
01:50:32,737 --> 01:50:34,817
a resident of Reyno Valley for the last two years

1566
01:50:35,537 --> 01:50:39,297
Um, I enjoy living in this city Um, and when

1567
01:50:39,377 --> 01:50:41,857
I listen to everyone that has spoken today The number

1568
01:50:41,857 --> 01:50:43,617
one thing that I see that comes up is the

1569
01:50:43,697 --> 01:50:46,097
communication And I know that you said that the onus

1570
01:50:46,097 --> 01:50:48,097
of the communication is on the mall owner Which I

1571
01:50:48,097 --> 01:50:50,737
do agree with because a lot of these violations should

1572
01:50:50,817 --> 01:50:52,817
have been addressed much sooner They should have also been

1573
01:50:53,377 --> 01:50:56,097
you know made known to the tenets of them all

1574
01:50:56,337 --> 01:50:58,177
so they can understand You know what consistent What type

1575
01:50:58,177 --> 01:51:01,857
of situation they could face in the future Um, and

1576
01:51:02,097 --> 01:51:04,897
one thing that I'll say Mr. Uh mayor Cabrera that

1577
01:51:04,977 --> 01:51:07,697
I appreciated was your social media post yesterday And I'm

1578
01:51:07,697 --> 01:51:10,017
sure it was posted other places as well Um, you

1579
01:51:09,937 --> 01:51:12,497
know addressing the situation with them all Uh, and then

1580
01:51:12,737 --> 01:51:15,377
also You know council members holding this meeting today I

1581
01:51:15,457 --> 01:51:17,457
really do appreciate that And I hope that the city

1582
01:51:17,617 --> 01:51:19,457
does as well Uh, but I think that we need

1583
01:51:19,457 --> 01:51:21,937
more of that communication going forward Um, I speak to

1584
01:51:23,217 --> 01:51:25,457
the mall owner I've spoken to him since I've gotten

1585
01:51:25,617 --> 01:51:28,257
back on Tuesday And you know he told me on

1586
01:51:28,577 --> 01:51:30,977
Tuesday that they expect to be open end of day

1587
01:51:31,057 --> 01:51:33,217
Wednesday I spoke to him today He said he expects

1588
01:51:33,297 --> 01:51:35,457
to be opened by end of day Thursday Which is

1589
01:51:35,457 --> 01:51:40,737
today I understand there was fire marshal Uh inspection Uh,

1590
01:51:40,977 --> 01:51:44,257
done today And we just don't know where we stand.

1591
01:51:44,639 --> 01:51:47,199
And I think that I know again that the onus

1592
01:51:47,199 --> 01:51:50,479
is on the mall owner to provide that communication But

1593
01:51:50,719 --> 01:51:52,479
I think that we also appreciate hearing it from you

1594
01:51:52,479 --> 01:51:54,319
as well And that we feel that we know that

1595
01:51:54,479 --> 01:51:56,079
you guys are handling it and that you're on top

1596
01:51:56,079 --> 01:51:58,719
of it Um, and I also liked in that post

1597
01:51:58,879 --> 01:52:00,559
because I didn't know about this until yesterday was that

1598
01:52:00,879 --> 01:52:04,239
there is the mobile. org slash mall that shows that

1599
01:52:04,479 --> 01:52:08,239
the violations are being addressed Um, and I think just

1600
01:52:08,559 --> 01:52:11,119
maybe as those violations get addressed unceded of just You

1601
01:52:11,039 --> 01:52:13,039
know the update on the website is just kind of

1602
01:52:13,279 --> 01:52:14,399
setting out like hey You know This is where the

1603
01:52:14,479 --> 01:52:17,199
mall is currently and you know they've addressed another two

1604
01:52:17,199 --> 01:52:20,159
violations or another one violation and you know We're expecting

1605
01:52:20,639 --> 01:52:21,919
and you don't have to give a date on when

1606
01:52:21,919 --> 01:52:23,599
you expect them all to be open But just giving

1607
01:52:23,599 --> 01:52:27,039
us that you know that Uh that sense of comfortability

1608
01:52:27,119 --> 01:52:29,439
that you know things are moving ahead because again when

1609
01:52:29,439 --> 01:52:31,679
I talk to them all owner He doesn't know and

1610
01:52:31,759 --> 01:52:33,919
so I'm not saying that you would know or that

1611
01:52:33,999 --> 01:52:35,279
you know the fire chief of no or the fire

1612
01:52:35,359 --> 01:52:36,959
marshal would know Um, but at least we can get

1613
01:52:37,119 --> 01:52:39,599
a sense that you know things are moving ahead and

1614
01:52:39,679 --> 01:52:41,599
You know we are going to be reopened You know

1615
01:52:42,239 --> 01:52:48,164
in a timely manner. Thank you for your time. The

1616
01:52:48,244 --> 01:52:51,444
next two speakers are Jesslyn McGill followed by Oliver Olivares.

1617
01:52:53,104 --> 01:52:56,801
Hello good evening my name is Jessly McGill. I just

1618
01:52:56,881 --> 01:52:59,441
had just a few things just I just wanted to

1619
01:52:59,441 --> 01:53:02,641
say in regards to my daughter Oh she know she

1620
01:53:02,721 --> 01:53:07,792
owns a boutique inside the mall A hair salon. You

1621
01:53:07,712 --> 01:53:11,712
know the fire department comes in they check everything out

1622
01:53:12,352 --> 01:53:14,272
You know but they check them out You know as

1623
01:53:14,272 --> 01:53:15,872
soon before they when they open a business they come

1624
01:53:15,872 --> 01:53:18,752
in So how do them all have all these issues

1625
01:53:19,552 --> 01:53:22,592
When they're checking everyone that moves into the mall We

1626
01:53:22,752 --> 01:53:25,872
have a whole lot of new people that moved into

1627
01:53:26,032 --> 01:53:28,672
the mall But yet they're saying that the mall have

1628
01:53:28,672 --> 01:53:31,232
all these issues How can that be with all these

1629
01:53:31,632 --> 01:53:35,472
issues When you're checking everyone that moves into the mall.

1630
01:53:36,741 --> 01:53:43,510
I don't understand that. Yeah we are including the museum

1631
01:53:43,670 --> 01:53:47,270
The museum is downstairs They're they allowed them all to

1632
01:53:47,270 --> 01:53:49,110
open up that well get ready to open up the

1633
01:53:49,190 --> 01:53:52,493
museum But yet they have all these issues. And I

1634
01:53:52,413 --> 01:53:54,573
don't understand that how can they have all these issues

1635
01:53:55,213 --> 01:53:57,533
all these Reports and all these things that need to

1636
01:53:57,533 --> 01:54:03,373
be done Whenever someone Open up they check them I

1637
01:54:03,293 --> 01:54:08,916
don't understand it That's all I have to say. The

1638
01:54:09,076 --> 01:54:12,676
next two speakers are Oliver Olivares followed by Lorena Calderón.

1639
01:54:20,432 --> 01:54:23,232
Good evening everyone My name is Halo Olivares CEO and

1640
01:54:23,232 --> 01:54:26,466
co - owner of Roy Garcia Box and Academy. And

1641
01:54:26,866 --> 01:54:29,826
the reason why I'm here You know That problem that

1642
01:54:29,906 --> 01:54:34,066
everybody has out here Uh just open up the gym

1643
01:54:34,306 --> 01:54:38,546
last year Uh, thinking all this kid Kids and people

1644
01:54:38,546 --> 01:54:41,666
that we could help And we have over 300 kids

1645
01:54:42,066 --> 01:54:44,786
plus a professionals that we had Um I had the

1646
01:54:44,786 --> 01:54:48,386
opportunity to work with Uh Weed Ulyses and his team

1647
01:54:48,546 --> 01:54:49,986
Do you guys great people I know you guys can

1648
01:54:50,146 --> 01:54:51,986
pull this off I know you guys can make it

1649
01:54:51,986 --> 01:54:54,066
happen I know you guys are smart enough to help

1650
01:54:54,146 --> 01:54:58,466
us out and get this going Um, also I'm a

1651
01:54:58,466 --> 01:55:02,226
general contractor Hajjno And I know what they're calling is

1652
01:55:02,386 --> 01:55:05,770
true. You know it's safe to issues that needs to

1653
01:55:05,690 --> 01:55:09,530
be Um, resolve But we can make it happen guys

1654
01:55:09,690 --> 01:55:11,370
I mean there's a lot of people that they need

1655
01:55:12,090 --> 01:55:15,530
There's been this open And talking to my business and

1656
01:55:15,530 --> 01:55:18,410
my behalf Uh, we just Like I said We just

1657
01:55:18,410 --> 01:55:20,810
open up our business like a year ago And we

1658
01:55:20,810 --> 01:55:23,530
have compliances with everything I mean Everything that you guys

1659
01:55:23,530 --> 01:55:27,530
are looking for We had it We have Umors going

1660
01:55:27,690 --> 01:55:32,410
to the parking lot So I mean I don't want

1661
01:55:32,330 --> 01:55:35,050
to be selfish here But we have hundreds of thousands

1662
01:55:35,290 --> 01:55:38,570
of dollars investing this There's a lot of kids Uh

1663
01:55:39,130 --> 01:55:42,090
They see their future there So I think our business

1664
01:55:42,970 --> 01:55:47,596
to be compliant to be reopened tomorrow. We have everything

1665
01:55:48,236 --> 01:55:50,396
we comply with lighting and everything We just pass that

1666
01:55:51,276 --> 01:55:54,274
I Mean March 8. Last year we opened this gym

1667
01:55:54,674 --> 01:55:57,234
And we complain with everything So we went through the

1668
01:55:57,314 --> 01:55:59,874
whole thing And thank you who listens for putting up

1669
01:55:59,874 --> 01:56:03,554
the team We work with James Verdugo También He help

1670
01:56:03,714 --> 01:56:07,394
us out a lot to went through So please guys

1671
01:56:07,714 --> 01:56:10,594
Let me open my gym tomorrow. We comply not too

1672
01:56:10,594 --> 01:56:14,426
long ago And I know It's good to go. Thank

1673
01:56:14,426 --> 01:56:23,587
you. Our next speaker is Lorena Calderón. Hi my name

1674
01:56:23,587 --> 01:56:26,707
is Lorena I have a sports shop at the Marino

1675
01:56:26,787 --> 01:56:30,169
Valley Mall. I came tonight to see hopefully there was

1676
01:56:30,249 --> 01:56:33,049
a solution Which I don't see any solution Like I

1677
01:56:33,049 --> 01:56:34,809
thought you guys were here to help us attendance or

1678
01:56:34,809 --> 01:56:38,089
anything I don't see anything like that There's stuff that

1679
01:56:38,089 --> 01:56:41,209
have question is like Harkin stayed open But yeah They're

1680
01:56:41,209 --> 01:56:43,609
still using the entrance to go to the mall to

1681
01:56:43,769 --> 01:56:48,179
go into their theaters. The museum It was open So

1682
01:56:48,259 --> 01:56:51,059
with all these violations How did it get approved to

1683
01:56:51,059 --> 01:56:54,584
get open. When I opened my location The fire department

1684
01:56:54,744 --> 01:56:56,504
went in They didn't let him You know about any

1685
01:56:56,664 --> 01:57:00,528
of all this And now like all this. So I

1686
01:57:00,688 --> 01:57:07,574
just asked for please let us. The next speaker is

1687
01:57:07,654 --> 01:57:17,485
Roy Blecker. What

1688
01:57:17,645 --> 01:57:22,004
a great points were just made. Want to say this

1689
01:57:22,324 --> 01:57:23,844
off the beginning I mean I can go back to

1690
01:57:24,484 --> 01:57:28,404
wiser The recently retired cow Fire Chief County chief to

1691
01:57:28,644 --> 01:57:31,444
Jesse I've been crossing these guys for parts of seven

1692
01:57:31,444 --> 01:57:34,908
decades. I can tell you this from my experience If

1693
01:57:35,228 --> 01:57:38,748
it got to this point There is something really radical

1694
01:57:39,388 --> 01:57:42,028
wrong Because those guys will bend over backwards to try

1695
01:57:42,028 --> 01:57:44,668
and help you out So all this maligning of the

1696
01:57:44,908 --> 01:57:48,348
fire department of that I believe in my experience has

1697
01:57:48,348 --> 01:57:51,308
shown that there is no way that could be possible

1698
01:57:51,708 --> 01:57:59,333
going on. So I listen I've heard the reports everything

1699
01:57:59,413 --> 01:58:03,008
in the comments. Now we're going to address the elephant

1700
01:58:03,088 --> 01:58:06,884
in the room. There's a reports I heard the mall

1701
01:58:06,884 --> 01:58:09,524
company owes almost half a million dollars at least from

1702
01:58:09,844 --> 01:58:14,404
press reports I saw for officers services billing hours that

1703
01:58:14,484 --> 01:58:16,404
were provided in the last year that were not paid

1704
01:58:16,564 --> 01:58:20,756
for. If this is the case then how did that

1705
01:58:21,236 --> 01:58:26,388
get to Forition. And is there a provision for that

1706
01:58:26,468 --> 01:58:28,708
to be taken care of? Because that's actual money that's

1707
01:58:28,708 --> 01:58:34,501
been paid out. And what is the contract? Because I

1708
01:58:34,501 --> 01:58:38,021
believe my understanding If I remember correctly back in 89

1709
01:58:38,501 --> 01:58:41,621
The conditions of approval were supposed to be an officer

1710
01:58:41,941 --> 01:58:45,301
for every hour that mall was open was supposed to

1711
01:58:45,221 --> 01:58:49,726
be on site. What are the billing hours today? When

1712
01:58:49,886 --> 01:58:52,686
how are they... How many hours are on there Because

1713
01:58:53,166 --> 01:58:56,526
my understanding Temecula has four cops For every hour that

1714
01:58:56,686 --> 01:59:00,046
mall down there is open Everybody talks about public safety.

1715
01:59:01,388 --> 01:59:04,668
Let's compare merino valley to what everybody else does and

1716
01:59:04,668 --> 01:59:07,468
what this mall is doing Let's get the real Fox

1717
01:59:07,548 --> 01:59:12,820
out on the table. Something is going wrong here. Big

1718
01:59:13,140 --> 01:59:19,050
time. We didn't get to this Position. Out of nowhere.

1719
01:59:20,389 --> 01:59:22,389
And well you can go Central City Mall if you're

1720
01:59:22,469 --> 01:59:25,669
a fossil like me or care somal Disappears to me

1721
01:59:25,749 --> 01:59:29,256
to be going that direction. And if we don't stop

1722
01:59:29,416 --> 01:59:34,724
it or correct it. What the... What you're hearing today

1723
01:59:35,284 --> 01:59:38,197
is going to be tittly Wings to what's coming. And

1724
01:59:38,277 --> 01:59:40,997
you heard the amount of money Everything needs to be

1725
01:59:41,077 --> 01:59:44,037
put on the table We need a full report of

1726
01:59:44,277 --> 01:59:48,357
what the contracts were What's been spent? What's been done?

1727
01:59:48,437 --> 01:59:51,317
We shouldn't have to make FOIA requests It should be

1728
01:59:51,797 --> 01:59:57,875
out there tomorrow. Everything. Any amendments Anything to disagreement Because

1729
01:59:58,195 --> 02:00:00,195
public safety is at stake And I will tell you

1730
02:00:00,515 --> 02:00:04,035
Mr. Costa Mayor Attorney Mayor or anybody Maul All of

1731
02:00:03,955 --> 02:00:06,835
you Again I will put the offer on the table

1732
02:00:07,155 --> 02:00:09,395
You can come on my show And we'll address this

1733
02:00:09,555 --> 02:00:13,455
till the cows come home. Come on have some balls

1734
02:00:13,855 --> 02:00:16,895
and stand up and defend your positions and your actions

1735
02:00:17,455 --> 02:00:21,215
all around That's how we'll solve this anywhere else You're

1736
02:00:21,375 --> 02:00:30,076
all the chicken beliefs that you. Mayor that concludes all

1737
02:00:30,076 --> 02:00:34,065
of public comments for tonight's item. Thank you Madam Clerk

1738
02:00:34,065 --> 02:00:35,585
And thank you to all of our public speakers as

1739
02:00:35,505 --> 02:00:38,465
well for coming out this evening At this time We

1740
02:00:38,705 --> 02:00:41,025
will before we bring it back up to the dais

1741
02:00:41,105 --> 02:00:43,425
I do want to just bring it back to the

1742
02:00:43,745 --> 02:00:47,345
staff level And hand it over back to Uh our

1743
02:00:47,425 --> 02:00:50,625
city staff to respond to any questions that may still

1744
02:00:50,625 --> 02:00:52,865
need to be answered So at this time I'll go

1745
02:00:52,865 --> 02:00:57,707
ahead and turn it over to city staff. Well I

1746
02:00:57,627 --> 02:01:02,107
think some points of clarification Um... As the city and

1747
02:01:02,107 --> 02:01:05,175
attorney and I were listening to some comments. I don't

1748
02:01:05,255 --> 02:01:09,575
know how... People reference that the mall owner has only

1749
02:01:09,575 --> 02:01:11,815
owned it for three years He's owned it since November

1750
02:01:11,975 --> 02:01:17,901
of 2017. So much longer than three years And the

1751
02:01:17,981 --> 02:01:22,301
owner does have the responsibility Uh... To ensure that... Uh...

1752
02:01:22,381 --> 02:01:27,581
The property meets the state building codes Also somebody mentioned

1753
02:01:27,581 --> 02:01:30,941
that the museum is open The museum is not open

1754
02:01:32,781 --> 02:01:36,941
And we were going through tenant improvements and working with

1755
02:01:37,981 --> 02:01:42,061
lighthouse immersive Uh... Which is the consultant Uh... For the

1756
02:01:42,301 --> 02:01:47,021
museum... And designing and building out that all work has

1757
02:01:47,181 --> 02:01:51,661
stopped Um... And... And our library that the city owns

1758
02:01:51,981 --> 02:01:54,941
Uh... The mall doesn't own that It's a city library

1759
02:01:55,501 --> 02:01:59,581
has also seized operations as well Um... Yes, we have

1760
02:01:59,821 --> 02:02:06,941
been... Um... Tenants of that particular mall Um... For some

1761
02:02:07,181 --> 02:02:11,021
time. As it has been an initiative of this particular

1762
02:02:11,421 --> 02:02:16,064
council and councils before this council. That we have libraries

1763
02:02:16,704 --> 02:02:20,704
in every district And so just as we have a

1764
02:02:20,704 --> 02:02:23,824
main library We also have satellite libraries in each of

1765
02:02:23,744 --> 02:02:27,584
the districts And we're currently building one Um... At Lakeshore

1766
02:02:27,584 --> 02:02:32,144
Village And so... Um... That is why we Our tenants

1767
02:02:32,624 --> 02:02:37,264
there I would also say that Um... As far as

1768
02:02:37,744 --> 02:02:44,144
when businesses come in. And there's an inspection what is

1769
02:02:44,384 --> 02:02:47,664
more typically known as a certificate of occupancy That particular

1770
02:02:47,984 --> 02:02:53,344
inspection is inspecting the suite Um... Or the space in

1771
02:02:53,344 --> 02:02:57,424
which the business or tenant is going into All of

1772
02:02:57,424 --> 02:03:01,344
those have sub - panels. All of those have different

1773
02:03:01,664 --> 02:03:07,424
requirements for the tenant to ensure that Um... It is

1774
02:03:07,504 --> 02:03:10,464
safe for that space The sub panels are not the

1775
02:03:10,544 --> 02:03:17,984
issue here It's main pane panels Uh related to fire

1776
02:03:18,064 --> 02:03:23,504
safety life safety Um... Any of the panels in their

1777
02:03:23,584 --> 02:03:27,264
area It is the main panels for the entire mall

1778
02:03:27,904 --> 02:03:33,184
Um... So that takes care of why businesses are able

1779
02:03:33,184 --> 02:03:40,224
to Occupy those spaces when they become new tenants Um

1780
02:03:40,864 --> 02:03:45,824
I do want to also mention that when council Um...

1781
02:03:46,384 --> 02:03:51,184
In early 2025 Uh... Approved Uh... The lease and the

1782
02:03:51,344 --> 02:03:55,264
immersive mall Uh... To go in the bottom Uh... Or

1783
02:03:55,264 --> 02:03:59,424
the first floor of the old Sears building Um... Once

1784
02:03:59,504 --> 02:04:01,984
we started getting in that space and started taking a

1785
02:04:01,904 --> 02:04:07,424
look at Um... Various tenant improvements Uh... We And I

1786
02:04:07,344 --> 02:04:11,504
think Chief alluded to this earlier We started noticing some

1787
02:04:12,144 --> 02:04:17,664
things about Um... How the mall operates and saw some...

1788
02:04:18,144 --> 02:04:21,184
Unpermitted work and so forth Even steel beams that we

1789
02:04:21,264 --> 02:04:25,424
cut out Um... Do a 16, 000 square foot Um...

1790
02:04:27,584 --> 02:04:30,624
Sorry... Um... Floor to ceiling Uh... Section in the second

1791
02:04:30,784 --> 02:04:34,609
floor of the seers building. Those particular beams Uh... That

1792
02:04:34,849 --> 02:04:37,569
were laying on the ground Um... Later that week were

1793
02:04:37,649 --> 02:04:42,689
used by the mall owner Uh... Weld in where they

1794
02:04:42,689 --> 02:04:45,889
were supposed to be closing Uh... The escalators that were

1795
02:04:45,969 --> 02:04:48,209
in the old Sears building Well those are warped Um...

1796
02:04:48,689 --> 02:04:52,929
Steel beams And so Uh... That is against building codes

1797
02:04:53,169 --> 02:04:55,729
and so forth So we did learn a lot over

1798
02:04:56,129 --> 02:05:02,049
2025 Um So I've answered Um... Why tenants are able

1799
02:05:01,969 --> 02:05:07,009
to Occupy certain spaces I've answered the fact that the

1800
02:05:07,409 --> 02:05:10,689
mall owner his own Uh the building since November 2017

1801
02:05:11,649 --> 02:05:15,409
Talked about our museum and our library I think that's

1802
02:05:15,729 --> 02:05:17,729
covered a lot of the things that we were concerned

1803
02:05:17,809 --> 02:05:20,369
about And some of the comments But I know Uh

1804
02:05:20,689 --> 02:05:25,729
the city attorney Uh... Wants to briefly discuss Um... Why

1805
02:05:25,969 --> 02:05:29,249
the city didn't take... Um... Legal Action against them all.

1806
02:05:31,800 --> 02:05:35,640
This may sound very awkward coming from an attorney But

1807
02:05:36,120 --> 02:05:39,640
I believe that litigation should always be the last resort.

1808
02:05:40,843 --> 02:05:45,972
Particularly when alternative remedies exist. In this particular case You

1809
02:05:45,892 --> 02:05:48,132
know we have a relationship with the mall Because we

1810
02:05:48,212 --> 02:05:52,659
have entered into a lease agreement with the mall. And

1811
02:05:53,459 --> 02:05:58,259
with respect to the numerous code violations The violations related

1812
02:05:58,339 --> 02:06:01,139
to our municipal code Which are not the reasons for

1813
02:06:01,299 --> 02:06:04,907
shutting down the mall. We have attempted The staff has

1814
02:06:05,067 --> 02:06:08,107
attempted to resolve these matters or to get them all

1815
02:06:08,267 --> 02:06:12,027
owner to resolve these matters Over the last few years.

1816
02:06:12,027 --> 02:06:16,024
Um... And some of them have been resolved. But because

1817
02:06:17,224 --> 02:06:19,864
as a city manager mentioned We have had contractors in

1818
02:06:19,944 --> 02:06:23,864
there Uh... Working on preparing the premises that we have

1819
02:06:24,264 --> 02:06:28,264
leased for the immersive Museum We're planning on opening there

1820
02:06:29,144 --> 02:06:33,064
And through our contractors That's... I understand that's where our...

1821
02:06:33,144 --> 02:06:36,104
When our fire department discovered That some of these issues

1822
02:06:36,984 --> 02:06:40,584
related to fire protection and life safety issues were a

1823
02:06:40,584 --> 02:06:45,864
lot more severe That we have no we knew or

1824
02:06:46,024 --> 02:06:49,165
in anticipated. In response to that When that came to

1825
02:06:49,885 --> 02:06:52,845
the attention of the city manager in my office That's

1826
02:06:53,005 --> 02:06:55,245
when we made a decision to send out this joint

1827
02:06:55,405 --> 02:06:58,685
letter to the mall owner Advising the moral owner Not

1828
02:06:58,685 --> 02:07:01,725
only of the municipal code violations Which again don't form

1829
02:07:01,805 --> 02:07:04,285
the basis for shutting down the mall But it was

1830
02:07:04,445 --> 02:07:07,165
all the life safety and fire protection issues that turned

1831
02:07:07,165 --> 02:07:11,267
out to be very very serious. And when we didn't

1832
02:07:11,267 --> 02:07:15,027
get a response from that We I sent out another

1833
02:07:15,427 --> 02:07:17,987
letter, a follow - up letter And at the same

1834
02:07:18,147 --> 02:07:22,627
time You know after comparing with fire department We realized

1835
02:07:22,547 --> 02:07:25,587
that we had reached an impasse with the mole owner

1836
02:07:25,827 --> 02:07:28,867
Because I didn't receive any response to the letter that

1837
02:07:29,027 --> 02:07:33,347
I sent to him And the fire department did not

1838
02:07:33,507 --> 02:07:37,987
receive any response with respect to any attempt or any

1839
02:07:38,307 --> 02:07:43,427
planned attempt by the mall owner to remedy These nine...

1840
02:07:43,747 --> 02:07:48,339
Safety issues. So again litigation should always be the last

1841
02:07:48,659 --> 02:07:53,219
resort And also in the context of government Right now

1842
02:07:53,379 --> 02:07:57,139
we're dealing with a property interest and as all of

1843
02:07:57,139 --> 02:08:02,340
us know in this country We protect property interests. We

1844
02:08:02,500 --> 02:08:05,780
cannot take the rights away from a property owner without

1845
02:08:06,020 --> 02:08:10,100
providing them with due process What's that mean? Well we

1846
02:08:10,100 --> 02:08:13,780
have to provide them with an opportunity to appeal our

1847
02:08:13,940 --> 02:08:18,778
decision. And I can inform the council today That as

1848
02:08:18,778 --> 02:08:22,058
of yesterday we did receive an appeal of this determination.

1849
02:08:22,481 --> 02:08:24,721
So we have to go to that process before we

1850
02:08:24,881 --> 02:08:29,269
can initiate any litigation against the mall owner. So I

1851
02:08:29,269 --> 02:08:32,629
just wanted to put, you know Go on record to

1852
02:08:32,869 --> 02:08:36,069
explain why we didn't jump to litigation on this issue.

1853
02:08:38,389 --> 02:08:40,229
And of course this is part of the process as

1854
02:08:40,149 --> 02:08:46,686
well. Thank you very much for that. And for answering

1855
02:08:46,686 --> 02:08:50,206
those additional questions And so at this time we will

1856
02:08:50,446 --> 02:08:53,966
bring it back to the dais for any additional questions

1857
02:08:54,766 --> 02:08:58,126
or comments from the council Before adjourning and then opening

1858
02:08:58,206 --> 02:09:00,766
our closed session meeting We do have a closed session

1859
02:09:01,086 --> 02:09:03,486
immediately after this as well Uh, so at this time

1860
02:09:03,646 --> 02:09:07,511
I would look to my colleagues. For questions comments Uh...

1861
02:09:07,991 --> 02:09:10,311
Primarily comments But if there are more questions that come

1862
02:09:10,311 --> 02:09:13,854
up We can address those as well. Council Member Delgado.

1863
02:09:15,888 --> 02:09:17,328
Yeah First of all I want to thank everybody that

1864
02:09:17,408 --> 02:09:20,928
came out tonight to express their concerns Um... Our hearts

1865
02:09:21,008 --> 02:09:24,208
do go out to the tenants and the employees of

1866
02:09:24,448 --> 02:09:26,928
them all Um... Obviously you guys are part of our

1867
02:09:27,008 --> 02:09:32,208
community I've been in constant contact Uh... Prior to the

1868
02:09:32,368 --> 02:09:37,168
attorneys getting involved with Sheena Um... Yes And we were

1869
02:09:37,168 --> 02:09:42,048
working on solutions Uh... With the employees and how we

1870
02:09:42,048 --> 02:09:44,848
can help them But what I... What I will say

1871
02:09:45,328 --> 02:09:51,296
is on any critical incident. Um. I think Chief Park

1872
02:09:51,296 --> 02:09:55,136
brought up the Oakland Incident over 30 people perished in

1873
02:09:55,136 --> 02:09:59,696
that fire Right They didn't leave there that night Leaf

1874
02:09:59,856 --> 02:10:02,256
home They got ready and they went out And they

1875
02:10:02,256 --> 02:10:04,976
went to an event at that They didn't do that

1876
02:10:05,376 --> 02:10:08,710
knowing they were gonna Lose their life. Critical incidents like

1877
02:10:08,790 --> 02:10:11,670
that Do not tell us that they're going to occur.

1878
02:10:12,902 --> 02:10:17,301
So we have to prepare and plan. For such incidents

1879
02:10:17,701 --> 02:10:20,969
Then that's what Firelife safety is all about. If we

1880
02:10:21,289 --> 02:10:26,329
saved one life By following the law and following our

1881
02:10:27,209 --> 02:10:31,849
fire department's building safety And our attorney If we saved

1882
02:10:32,089 --> 02:10:35,343
one life Because we did that. All of this is

1883
02:10:35,423 --> 02:10:43,096
worth it In my opinion. So again our hearts do

1884
02:10:43,176 --> 02:10:44,936
go out to the employees Because they are part of

1885
02:10:44,936 --> 02:10:48,267
our community Um... We will come up with a solution.

1886
02:10:49,773 --> 02:10:53,453
And get this... This mall that our mall back open.

1887
02:10:55,431 --> 02:11:00,883
Council Member Baka Santa Cruz. Um When we found out

1888
02:11:01,283 --> 02:11:03,683
Tuesday a final inspection was going to happen on Wednesday

1889
02:11:04,083 --> 02:11:06,963
I did You know reach out to the mall owner

1890
02:11:07,283 --> 02:11:09,603
And so he knew that this was coming that day

1891
02:11:10,643 --> 02:11:15,283
And... Once the inspection was failed I also tried to

1892
02:11:15,523 --> 02:11:18,883
warn business owners and the community That you know This

1893
02:11:18,883 --> 02:11:24,643
was happening that day And we've Put out communication We've

1894
02:11:24,723 --> 02:11:28,403
made a webpage We've given it a daily update We've

1895
02:11:28,643 --> 02:11:31,653
sent people out there. The goal is opening the mall.

1896
02:11:34,145 --> 02:11:37,425
In district 1 The mall is the largest employer I

1897
02:11:37,345 --> 02:11:40,065
mean all the businesses are in there And we value

1898
02:11:40,145 --> 02:11:44,145
those businesses I remember being in high school in 1992

1899
02:11:44,545 --> 02:11:47,505
When the mall opened And applying for jobs at the

1900
02:11:47,665 --> 02:11:50,385
trailers And I remember applying You know and thinking This

1901
02:11:50,385 --> 02:11:52,385
is going to be the greatest thing ever A mall

1902
02:11:52,785 --> 02:11:55,505
right in our city And you know My kids grew

1903
02:11:55,505 --> 02:11:58,065
up spending Friday nights going there I dropped them off

1904
02:11:58,145 --> 02:12:01,985
and picked them up And not anymore But the older

1905
02:12:02,705 --> 02:12:05,745
But I have grandson now And you know We go

1906
02:12:05,745 --> 02:12:07,905
to the mall We took pictures at the mall in

1907
02:12:07,825 --> 02:12:10,225
the center Um... Two weeks ago And we haven't been

1908
02:12:10,305 --> 02:12:12,705
able to pick them up Because the mall's been close

1909
02:12:13,345 --> 02:12:18,451
But We have two schools in the mall Um... Schools

1910
02:12:18,451 --> 02:12:21,571
that we work with closely A lot of businesses We

1911
02:12:21,651 --> 02:12:25,491
do food giveaways with nonprofits in the parking lot We

1912
02:12:27,171 --> 02:12:29,411
the mall is a center point of this city And

1913
02:12:29,491 --> 02:12:32,211
it is all of our highest priority to get it

1914
02:12:32,211 --> 02:12:38,211
open That's why we've dedicated staff Um... Updating You to

1915
02:12:38,211 --> 02:12:41,731
going out inspecting And we've said If we inspect and

1916
02:12:41,731 --> 02:12:43,971
the one thing left And you're able to fix it

1917
02:12:44,291 --> 02:12:46,451
We'll come out again that same day The goal is

1918
02:12:46,771 --> 02:12:50,531
to get them all opened But we can't risk your

1919
02:12:50,611 --> 02:12:55,411
lives We can't risk our lives Um... And it's just

1920
02:12:55,411 --> 02:12:58,723
the right thing to do. And when you're up here

1921
02:12:59,443 --> 02:13:03,203
Decisions are hard Because the people affected on both sides

1922
02:13:03,283 --> 02:13:06,963
of your decision And it's hard to shut down a

1923
02:13:06,963 --> 02:13:11,203
business And when we were told All of us went

1924
02:13:11,283 --> 02:13:14,083
home with worry And you know a heavy heart But

1925
02:13:14,403 --> 02:13:16,723
at the end The next day we all came back

1926
02:13:17,283 --> 02:13:20,963
ready to Um... Do whatever it takes to reopen So

1927
02:13:21,603 --> 02:13:24,243
we don't want to Let the mall go We don't

1928
02:13:24,483 --> 02:13:27,843
want it to close down And, um... I plan to

1929
02:13:28,163 --> 02:13:30,803
do everything I can to get it open And even

1930
02:13:30,883 --> 02:13:32,803
if it means You know We do some kind of

1931
02:13:33,123 --> 02:13:36,963
a Bateman Like we did with Keltrans Where the freeway

1932
02:13:37,203 --> 02:13:39,363
accents weren't being cleaned So we went into an agreement

1933
02:13:39,603 --> 02:13:42,003
We made an MOU And we said We'll clean the

1934
02:13:42,163 --> 02:13:45,123
exits and then we'll bill you That's a possibility too

1935
02:13:45,363 --> 02:13:47,843
Maybe we can do the repairs and then Bill The

1936
02:13:48,643 --> 02:13:52,083
something that we'd have to ask resort Um... We don't

1937
02:13:52,243 --> 02:13:54,563
ever want to take property You know We have property

1938
02:13:54,723 --> 02:13:57,043
rights We don't want to do that To business owners

1939
02:13:57,123 --> 02:13:59,283
We wouldn't come into your business We wouldn't come into

1940
02:13:59,363 --> 02:14:04,403
your home We shouldn't Right but... That's where we are

1941
02:14:04,563 --> 02:14:09,023
today. And this meeting You know came up so that

1942
02:14:09,023 --> 02:14:12,223
we could be transparent and stand here and answer your

1943
02:14:12,463 --> 02:14:16,063
questions And presents the information Because you deserve this You

1944
02:14:16,063 --> 02:14:19,023
deserve to know what's going on And we will do

1945
02:14:19,343 --> 02:14:22,647
everything right. And make sure that the mall is safe

1946
02:14:22,727 --> 02:14:24,727
when you come back And the things that can be

1947
02:14:24,887 --> 02:14:27,527
worked on will continue to work on those So that

1948
02:14:27,767 --> 02:14:30,887
they're done Um... So that the mall is entirely safe

1949
02:14:31,527 --> 02:14:34,807
All of the code violations are addressed And even the

1950
02:14:34,887 --> 02:14:40,167
violations When we violate Business owners or residents Or the

1951
02:14:40,727 --> 02:14:44,487
goal is correction We're not looking to make money We're

1952
02:14:44,647 --> 02:14:48,780
looking for correction. So That's where we're at today And

1953
02:14:48,940 --> 02:14:51,420
that's where I stand And I stand with you Unreaopening

1954
02:14:51,500 --> 02:14:58,167
the mall as soon as possible. Council Member Bernard. Um

1955
02:14:58,247 --> 02:15:01,287
So I just Again want to thank everyone for coming

1956
02:15:01,447 --> 02:15:03,927
out This when we found out everything that was going

1957
02:15:04,007 --> 02:15:06,327
on in the mall It was not a decision that

1958
02:15:06,407 --> 02:15:10,327
was taken lightly Um, I think there had to be

1959
02:15:10,407 --> 02:15:15,127
some conversations around the fact that The goal is not

1960
02:15:15,127 --> 02:15:16,567
to close them all I know There are all of

1961
02:15:16,647 --> 02:15:18,407
these rumors that we want to close them all permanently

1962
02:15:18,807 --> 02:15:20,647
That's what this is why we were calling the temporary

1963
02:15:20,967 --> 02:15:24,327
clothes Um, there are Will the city wants to take

1964
02:15:24,327 --> 02:15:26,727
over them all We do not. We actually approved a

1965
02:15:26,807 --> 02:15:30,482
plan for the redevelopment of the mall. And that is

1966
02:15:30,802 --> 02:15:35,602
why we were putting the museum There's why we were

1967
02:15:35,682 --> 02:15:38,162
renovating this ears Because we are trying to invest in

1968
02:15:38,242 --> 02:15:39,362
them all because we are trying to be part of

1969
02:15:39,362 --> 02:15:43,602
the growth And I think... There's no way that we

1970
02:15:43,762 --> 02:15:46,082
can say like Oh, this was an easy decision to

1971
02:15:46,162 --> 02:15:49,602
just shut it down But at some point Um... I

1972
02:15:49,682 --> 02:15:52,562
had to, me personally I had to think of the

1973
02:15:52,642 --> 02:15:54,402
lives in there Because there were two schools in there

1974
02:15:54,962 --> 02:15:57,602
There are dozens of people that have businesses in there

1975
02:15:57,922 --> 02:15:59,282
There are like people are in and out of that

1976
02:15:59,442 --> 02:16:00,802
Maw My own family is in and out of that

1977
02:16:00,962 --> 02:16:05,362
mall Also I mean Lord, thy brow shopping me go

1978
02:16:05,362 --> 02:16:08,722
way back almost 20 years in that mall Um... So

1979
02:16:09,282 --> 02:16:12,242
for me I had to look at At some point

1980
02:16:12,482 --> 02:16:15,842
we were talking about people's lives And the truth is

1981
02:16:16,002 --> 02:16:19,202
really simple Um... We said we would send someone out

1982
02:16:19,202 --> 02:16:21,042
there every day to check to see what's being done

1983
02:16:21,442 --> 02:16:23,602
He's making the corrections that are needed I think for

1984
02:16:23,602 --> 02:16:27,282
me Um This may or may not land well It

1985
02:16:27,442 --> 02:16:30,277
is what it is. I wish that the mall owner

1986
02:16:30,437 --> 02:16:32,997
had just did What was asked of him from jump?

1987
02:16:33,157 --> 02:16:35,877
Because then we wouldn't be in these predicaments V I

1988
02:16:35,877 --> 02:16:36,917
know someone was like Well how do you have all

1989
02:16:36,917 --> 02:16:39,957
these violations? Because those violations were ones that were like

1990
02:16:39,957 --> 02:16:41,717
You can work on those Those are fine That those

1991
02:16:41,717 --> 02:16:44,917
aren't life - threatening violations It's the life - threatening

1992
02:16:45,077 --> 02:16:47,237
ones that got him shut down The rest of them

1993
02:16:48,037 --> 02:16:49,877
We even went as far as to wave What was

1994
02:16:49,877 --> 02:16:53,174
it? 350, 000 dollars worth of fees. To bring it

1995
02:16:53,254 --> 02:16:56,504
down. So it's the life - threatening ones that actually

1996
02:16:57,064 --> 02:16:59,464
were the ones that got him shut down And so

1997
02:17:00,104 --> 02:17:03,864
at some point though Um... I'm actually sad that we

1998
02:17:03,864 --> 02:17:05,544
had to get to a predicament to shut it down

1999
02:17:05,944 --> 02:17:08,104
In order for him to start to address these things

2000
02:17:08,504 --> 02:17:11,384
And I'm hoping Um... Like everyone said to get this

2001
02:17:11,704 --> 02:17:13,704
mall open as soon as possible That he's able to

2002
02:17:15,064 --> 02:17:17,064
continually address him Which by the way The way he's

2003
02:17:17,224 --> 02:17:19,224
lighting the fire to address them I wish he'd had

2004
02:17:19,144 --> 02:17:23,914
had this fire the entire time. Because he is put...

2005
02:17:24,154 --> 02:17:27,514
All of you in these predicaments Of how you're going

2006
02:17:27,434 --> 02:17:29,354
to take care of your families And what are you

2007
02:17:29,354 --> 02:17:32,234
going to do? And so... We are not here to

2008
02:17:32,314 --> 02:17:35,476
be difficult. We are not here to keep you all

2009
02:17:35,716 --> 02:17:39,476
from your businesses If he go out there tomorrow And

2010
02:17:39,476 --> 02:17:43,549
everything is checked off. Then good You guys can open

2011
02:17:43,629 --> 02:17:45,629
up What I also do think is false is that

2012
02:17:45,789 --> 02:17:47,789
He's promising you from day to day Oh no You're

2013
02:17:48,029 --> 02:17:50,669
going to open Wednesday Well Wednesday's here Okay Thursday Well

2014
02:17:50,669 --> 02:17:53,389
Thursday's here He's also not giving you all a realistic

2015
02:17:53,629 --> 02:17:57,299
timeline. And the realistic timeline should be Here are the

2016
02:17:57,299 --> 02:17:59,574
things that I actually have done left. And I understand

2017
02:18:00,054 --> 02:18:01,734
There are parts that we need to get And this

2018
02:18:01,814 --> 02:18:04,054
is that But realistically These are the things that I

2019
02:18:04,134 --> 02:18:06,294
have done left The other thing that I think is

2020
02:18:06,294 --> 02:18:08,374
very important is that they are running on the temporary

2021
02:18:08,694 --> 02:18:10,694
generators that are good for 90 days The goal is

2022
02:18:10,774 --> 02:18:13,014
for us If we are able to get all of

2023
02:18:13,014 --> 02:18:15,174
these Met to not be back here in 90 days

2024
02:18:15,334 --> 02:18:19,094
Because he hasn't gotten the permanent generator into So I

2025
02:18:19,014 --> 02:18:21,254
think that's the other thing That we have to constantly

2026
02:18:21,574 --> 02:18:24,934
keep thinking about Um So again The goal is not

2027
02:18:24,934 --> 02:18:26,294
to keep you all shut down and out of your

2028
02:18:26,374 --> 02:18:28,374
business and unable to take care of your families and

2029
02:18:28,454 --> 02:18:31,174
provide the services that you all provide Um, the goal

2030
02:18:31,254 --> 02:18:33,334
is to get this mall open If we could have

2031
02:18:33,414 --> 02:18:36,374
got that mall open two days later 48 hours later

2032
02:18:36,854 --> 02:18:39,654
Trust me We would have done it Um, so I

2033
02:18:41,574 --> 02:18:43,894
promise you I think all of us up here That

2034
02:18:44,054 --> 02:18:45,974
is our main goal is to get this small open

2035
02:18:46,614 --> 02:18:49,094
Where we can make the compromises at We will As

2036
02:18:49,094 --> 02:18:51,174
you can tell when they said like We have the

2037
02:18:51,414 --> 02:18:55,174
temporary generators And the chief fine We'll take the temporaries

2038
02:18:55,174 --> 02:18:57,654
for now But it's only for 90 days So we're

2039
02:18:57,734 --> 02:19:00,054
taking them But it's only for 90 days And those

2040
02:19:00,054 --> 02:19:01,494
are the things that I think we need to just

2041
02:19:01,494 --> 02:19:03,974
keep in mind That we are trying the best we

2042
02:19:03,974 --> 02:19:05,574
can to get it done And that's why we also

2043
02:19:05,734 --> 02:19:08,454
had this meeting Because we wanted all of us in

2044
02:19:08,374 --> 02:19:10,294
the same room So that we could all talk about

2045
02:19:10,534 --> 02:19:13,094
this And hopefully be able to come to a resolution

2046
02:19:13,574 --> 02:19:17,018
or solution to get this done Thank you Mayor. Thank

2047
02:19:17,018 --> 02:19:20,697
you Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez. Good evening everyone And thank

2048
02:19:20,617 --> 02:19:25,177
you for all the participants that came tonight Um, again

2049
02:19:25,577 --> 02:19:28,217
I'm gonna I don't want to belabor with repeating what

2050
02:19:28,217 --> 02:19:30,857
my colleague said But our goal is to reopen them

2051
02:19:31,017 --> 02:19:34,787
all. Make sure that all the businesses continue thriving Um,

2052
02:19:35,747 --> 02:19:37,347
you know I It's there's a personal connection as well

2053
02:19:37,667 --> 02:19:39,907
You know I have family that Uh owns a business

2054
02:19:39,987 --> 02:19:43,107
there And they're suffering Just like everyone else that is

2055
02:19:43,347 --> 02:19:46,627
a business owner Um, and our goal is to make

2056
02:19:47,027 --> 02:19:50,307
sure that the more reopens And I also want to

2057
02:19:51,267 --> 02:19:54,067
kind of dispel a few things You know That's why

2058
02:19:54,547 --> 02:19:57,267
the checks and balances Right we need our building officials

2059
02:19:57,427 --> 02:20:00,467
or fire officials to give us that objective Um, analysis

2060
02:20:00,627 --> 02:20:04,867
of when there's life threatening issues And it insulates us,

2061
02:20:04,787 --> 02:20:07,907
right? Because if not, we would probably negotiate our way

2062
02:20:08,067 --> 02:20:12,627
out of these issues And we can't do that. We

2063
02:20:13,027 --> 02:20:14,707
want to make sure that the businesses are taken care

2064
02:20:14,627 --> 02:20:17,507
of But at the same time That the owners held

2065
02:20:17,587 --> 02:20:20,787
accountable And that we're able to move forward in a

2066
02:20:20,867 --> 02:20:22,547
safe manner And I know we will I know with

2067
02:20:22,547 --> 02:20:26,947
my colleagues We're going to Hopefully provide some solutions And

2068
02:20:27,347 --> 02:20:29,667
we need to move forward so we can make sure

2069
02:20:29,827 --> 02:20:33,347
that these businesses that are key to our economy Tormenta

2070
02:20:33,507 --> 02:20:37,267
Valley that the reopen again And continuing for their families

2071
02:20:37,667 --> 02:20:44,101
So thank you. And I'll say that I first and

2072
02:20:44,181 --> 02:20:47,061
foremost agree with everything that all four of my colleagues

2073
02:20:47,301 --> 02:20:49,941
have said And to also not repeat everything that they

2074
02:20:50,021 --> 02:20:53,114
have said. At the end of the day This is

2075
02:20:53,194 --> 02:20:57,227
about protecting all of you. Making sure that we protect

2076
02:20:57,387 --> 02:21:00,267
your lives And not only that But your property Imagine

2077
02:21:00,347 --> 02:21:03,179
if there were a fire. And we didn't do anything

2078
02:21:03,419 --> 02:21:05,419
to try to correct and fix that You would not

2079
02:21:05,499 --> 02:21:10,219
only possibly injure yourself or get seriously hurt You would

2080
02:21:10,699 --> 02:21:13,179
possibly lose everything that's in your store And then what

2081
02:21:13,179 --> 02:21:15,259
kind of position does that put you in? That's the

2082
02:21:15,259 --> 02:21:17,819
last thing any of us want The lasting any of

2083
02:21:17,899 --> 02:21:20,779
us wanted was to close down that mall But we

2084
02:21:20,939 --> 02:21:24,433
were left with no choice. And all of us were

2085
02:21:24,673 --> 02:21:29,433
in agreement. To ensure that that mall comes into compliance

2086
02:21:29,833 --> 02:21:33,753
that those life threatening violations are addressed and fixed and

2087
02:21:33,753 --> 02:21:36,393
corrected Not just to reopen the mall in the short

2088
02:21:36,473 --> 02:21:39,753
term But to ensure that that mall is thriving for

2089
02:21:39,913 --> 02:21:43,137
the long - term. That you all continue to scale

2090
02:21:43,377 --> 02:21:45,697
and grow your businesses That we drive as much foot

2091
02:21:45,857 --> 02:21:49,217
traffic as possible into those businesses To ensure that you're

2092
02:21:49,217 --> 02:21:53,917
successful. That is the goal. And like Council Member Bernard

2093
02:21:54,077 --> 02:21:58,477
mentioned That's why we're doing everything that pertains to approving

2094
02:21:58,477 --> 02:22:02,237
the revitalization Back in 2023 We did our part By

2095
02:22:02,477 --> 02:22:05,789
approving the proposal that the mob brought to us. It's

2096
02:22:06,029 --> 02:22:07,949
up to them to build it We can't force them

2097
02:22:08,029 --> 02:22:11,440
to build it. We already did our part. We can

2098
02:22:11,440 --> 02:22:14,480
help them to attract businesses to attract others to come

2099
02:22:14,480 --> 02:22:16,480
to the mall But they're the ones that have to

2100
02:22:16,480 --> 02:22:18,320
sign the contracts They're the ones that have to finish

2101
02:22:18,560 --> 02:22:21,200
the work They're the ones that have to build Hire

2102
02:22:21,200 --> 02:22:25,827
the contractors We want that mall to thrive. And how

2103
02:22:25,827 --> 02:22:28,467
do you think it makes me feel When I spent

2104
02:22:28,787 --> 02:22:33,187
years trying to convince a few Several of those businesses

2105
02:22:33,587 --> 02:22:36,787
Like RGBA To come to Moreno Valley And then for

2106
02:22:36,787 --> 02:22:38,627
this to happen How do you think that makes me

2107
02:22:38,787 --> 02:22:42,061
feel. Because I put my neck out there And told

2108
02:22:42,061 --> 02:22:44,941
them to come here And then this happens It's the

2109
02:22:44,941 --> 02:22:47,501
last thing That I wanted to happen And I have

2110
02:22:47,501 --> 02:22:50,621
to face all of you and just keep it real

2111
02:22:50,861 --> 02:22:53,101
We have to be honest And that's what this meeting

2112
02:22:53,181 --> 02:22:55,581
is all about So that we put the truth out

2113
02:22:55,661 --> 02:22:57,661
there Because from the get - go There was a

2114
02:22:57,581 --> 02:23:00,701
lot of misinformation and rumors and flat out lies that

2115
02:23:00,781 --> 02:23:04,535
were being told. And this was to clarify all of

2116
02:23:04,535 --> 02:23:09,468
that. So that there's no room for misinformation and spewing

2117
02:23:09,548 --> 02:23:12,551
of the facts. And at the end of the day.

2118
02:23:13,491 --> 02:23:17,011
Even as a council Our hands are tied by the

2119
02:23:17,091 --> 02:23:20,638
law We have to abide by the law. And that

2120
02:23:20,638 --> 02:23:23,278
is clear It was stipulated and spelled out by our

2121
02:23:23,438 --> 02:23:27,429
staff Uh... During their staff report. And so I have

2122
02:23:27,989 --> 02:23:31,349
no doubt That we're gonna go into closed session Immediately

2123
02:23:31,589 --> 02:23:35,349
after this We're gonna have a robust conversation To figure

2124
02:23:35,429 --> 02:23:39,287
out a solution to reopen the mall ASAP. And again

2125
02:23:40,007 --> 02:23:41,927
In short not just that we open it for 30

2126
02:23:42,087 --> 02:23:46,487
days 90 days That that mall stays open in perpetuity

2127
02:23:46,887 --> 02:23:49,207
And that we do everything we can to ensure that

2128
02:23:49,367 --> 02:23:52,262
it is successful That is the goal. We have a

2129
02:23:52,422 --> 02:23:55,222
museum That's under construction And it had to pause Because

2130
02:23:55,462 --> 02:24:00,325
of this situation. That museum needs to get open. The

2131
02:24:00,325 --> 02:24:04,362
schools need to get reopened. All of it needs to

2132
02:24:04,362 --> 02:24:07,462
be reopened. And I know that we're gonna go into

2133
02:24:07,862 --> 02:24:10,662
this close session Put our heads together Have a very

2134
02:24:12,182 --> 02:24:16,822
hard difficult thorough conversation And my hope is that The

2135
02:24:16,902 --> 02:24:18,822
five of us After closed session can come out here

2136
02:24:19,382 --> 02:24:22,342
and report out What that solution What that plan looks

2137
02:24:22,342 --> 02:24:25,142
like so we can get that mall reopened in a

2138
02:24:25,142 --> 02:24:30,469
safe Matter. So with that I'll conclude my comments. And

2139
02:24:30,789 --> 02:24:36,236
we'll conclude deliberation. For this particular item. And we will

2140
02:24:36,396 --> 02:24:45,705
adjourn the special open session. At 8 12 PM. And

2141
02:24:45,785 --> 02:24:47,545
at this time We'll go ahead and transition over to

2142
02:24:47,865 --> 02:24:51,757
our special closed session. And again I need to note

2143
02:24:51,837 --> 02:24:54,077
for the record by law that the city Council receives

2144
02:24:54,157 --> 02:24:57,117
a separate stipend from the community services district If any

2145
02:24:57,357 --> 02:25:00,797
CSD business is conducted at this meeting I now call

2146
02:25:00,877 --> 02:25:03,997
the special closed session meeting to order on February 26th

2147
02:25:04,477 --> 02:25:10,030
at 8 12 PM. Item B is public comments on

2148
02:25:10,190 --> 02:25:12,750
matters on the agenda Only And again I would like

2149
02:25:12,750 --> 02:25:15,230
to remind everyone that since this is a special meeting

2150
02:25:16,190 --> 02:25:18,910
All public comments must be limited only to those items

2151
02:25:18,910 --> 02:25:22,670
that are on the special closed session meeting agenda And

2152
02:25:22,910 --> 02:25:25,310
there is a three minute time limit per person unless

2153
02:25:25,470 --> 02:25:27,230
modified based on the number of speakers.

2154
02:25:44,987 --> 02:25:47,802
View to do so if you wish. So Madam Clerk.

2155
02:25:49,554 --> 02:25:54,018
Yes mr. City Manager. Do we need a moment to

2156
02:25:54,258 --> 02:25:57,378
transition over to close session? Yes, maybe. Okay, so we'll

2157
02:25:57,458 --> 02:25:59,458
take a brief five minute recess. We're gonna take a

2158
02:25:59,538 --> 02:26:02,818
break while staff transitions are computers over to close session

2159
02:26:03,218 --> 02:26:05,218
and we'll resume in about five minutes. Thank you.