[0:01] Welcome to the city council regular
meeting. Today's Tuesday, February 17th,
[0:06] 2026. The meeting is called to order at
6:31. The pledge of allegiance will be
[0:13] led by Council Member Woo.
>> Thank you. Please stand up
[0:17] and place your hands on your heart and
repeat after me. I pledge allegiance to
[0:22] the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands.
[0:28] One nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
[0:34] » Thank you.
[0:37] » Clerk, roll call, please.
>> Mayor Manaka,
[0:40] » here.
>> Vice Mayor Chan,
[0:42] » here.
>> Council member Ding,
[0:43] » here.
>> Council member Herrera Avula,
[0:46] » present.
>> Council member Woo,
[0:47] » here.
As we begin tonight's meeting, I'd like
[0:51] to wish all of our residents and
families celebrating a very happy Lunar
[0:55] New Year. This year, we welcome the year
of the horse, a symbol of strength,
[1:00] resilience, energy, and forward
momentum. In honor of today's
[1:04] celebration, the council das has been
specially decorated to recognize and
[1:09] celebrate this important holiday. May
the year of the horse inspire us to move
[1:13] boldly toward our goals and continue
building a vibrant and united St.
[1:18] Gabriel, wishing you all health,
happiness, and prosperity in the year
[1:22] ahead. We will now have some
announcements from our chief city clerk.
[1:27] Tonight's meeting is livereamed on the
city's online platforms. If you wish to
[1:31] address the city council during
tonight's meeting, we request that you
[1:35] please complete a speaker card and hand
it to the clerk at this time. When
[1:39] speaking, please state your name for the
record. Please note that interactions
[1:43] between the city council, city staff,
and the public during meetings are
[1:46] subject to the city's rules of decorum.
Approval of agenda order. Are there any
[1:53] objections to the agenda order? Okay.
Hearing none, the agenda order is
[1:58] approved.
Okay. Next item. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah,
[2:03] next item, please.
>> We have no presentations this evening.
[2:06] Our next item is public comment. This is
the time set aside for members of the
[2:11] public to address the city council on
consent calendar items and on items of
[2:15] interest that are not on the agenda but
are within the subject matter
[2:18] jurisdiction of the
[2:26] Good evening. Happy new year. Uh all of
you and I are besiders not outsiders
[2:31] when it comes to the problem of the data
center proposals in Montterrey Park. The
[2:35] 45-day moratorum expires on March 7th
and it will likely be extended. On March
[2:41] 4th, council will discuss next steps to
prevent the construction of the first
[2:45] one on Saturn Street. It will likely be
put to a ballot measure. The city
[2:50] council was ready to vote to approve it
with only a handful of residents knowing
[2:54] anything about it. Well, here we are now
where many of us in the St. Gabriel
[2:59] Valley have been showing up to their
meetings trying to stop it. A ballot
[3:03] measure unfortunately precludes
residents living close to the site in
[3:07] South St. Gabriel, Montabelloo, and
Roseme from being included in a solution
[3:12] to the problem. St. Gabriel is a very
old and beautiful city with significant
[3:16] historic value. No data center should be
built here ever. So, I come asking
[3:22] something of you tonight, that you put
an emergency ordinance on the agenda for
[3:27] your next meeting banning data centers
here. Monttoello did that just last
[3:32] week, passing urgency ordinance 2491
establishing a 45-day moratorium on data
[3:39] centers while the council decides on how
to proceed to prevent them over the long
[3:43] term. An attorney in Montabello spoke at
the meeting and indicated that the
[3:48] language in the ordinance has to be
carefully worded regarding types of data
[3:52] centers under consideration.
Those of us living in the St. Gabriel
[3:56] Valley are grateful to see Montabelloo
City Council taking a proactive stand to
[4:01] protect their residents and their city.
This commitment to action fosters a
[4:06] great sense of trust in and respect for
our local elected representatives. I'm
[4:12] sure you are watching the situation in
Montterrey Park unfold where residents
[4:16] are outraged, angry, and distrustful of
their council who blindsided them with
[4:21] these data centers. and two are
proposed. Data centers don't belong
[4:26] anywhere in the St. Gabriel Valley due
to extreme drought, wildfire risk, air
[4:31] pollution, and an aged power grid. It
was only just a year ago when we
[4:35] witnessed the eaten fire coming for us.
We were just lucky. So, we are asking
[4:40] you to follow Montabelloo's lead. Is it
it is easy to see that keeping them out
[4:45] is a whole lot easier than getting them
out. If the Montterrey Park City Council
[4:50] puts the problem to a ballot measure, we
will be asking for volunteers from every
[4:54] city in the St. Gabriel Valley to join
us to canvas residents and get out the
[4:59] vote. We love living here and will make
every effort to be there for our sister
[5:04] cities. It is truly amazing to see
everybody coming together to support
[5:08] residents of Montterrey Park and
surrounding areas facing this
[5:11] unimaginable situation. Thank you very
much for your time tonight.
[5:18] Our next speaker is Grace Young.
[5:28] » Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and the
members of city council. My name is
[5:34] Gracion, the library manager at the St.
Gabriel Library. I'm here to share some
[5:39] information that the library is bringing
to the community.
[5:43] February brings in the year of the horse
and we are celebrating the Luna New Year
[5:48] with book displays, festive events, and
community gatherings. Please join the
[5:55] celebration and pick up red envelope and
a red bookmark at the library. In honor
[6:01] of AfricanAmerican and Black History
Months, we are hosting a variety of
[6:06] commemorative events, including paint
like Alma Thomas on Saturday, February
[6:12] 21st from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and our place
in the sun. We will be learning the
[6:20] places and the spaces that exist for
African-American families and creating
[6:26] our own black beaches back. It will be
held on Wednesday, February 25th from 3
[6:32] to 4:00 p.m. Thank you. Happy Luna New
Year.
[6:41] » Our next speaker is Denise Gotch.
[6:52] Good evening, Madame Mayor and City
Council. I am here once again to remind
[6:57] all the citizens of San Gabriel that are
watching this on YouTube, if you know
[7:02] anyone that was born or lived in San
Gabriel and served from the Civil War to
[7:09] the current war to please go online to
the San Gabriel Veterans Coalition
[7:15] website, fill out the form and then
submit your discharge paperwork for your
[7:21] relative and so we can get them on the
upcoming
[7:26] uh veterans memorial that the city of
St. Gabriel and the veterans coalition
[7:31] group and the mission are all working
together to make sure that all the
[7:36] veterans of this city are recognized for
the service that they so much sacrificed
[7:42] for all of the citizens of the United
States of America but especially for our
[7:47] city. I have been going for many
businesses to see since most of these
[7:53] veterans are deceased if they have
relatives alive that are willing to tell
[7:58] me their names, where they live to
submit. I got a nice book courtesy of
[8:04] the historical society of this young
gentleman. As you know, all the Japanese
[8:10] were sent to internment camps during
World War II. He was very unusual when
[8:16] he was in the internment camp. He wrote
a diary every single day of what
[8:21] happened to him. His family owned a
florist shop on Valley Boulevard, even
[8:27] before the San Gabriel nursery did. As
he got released from the interment camp,
[8:33] him and his brother both then went and
signed up and served in World War II.
[8:41] And I went to the nursery
and researched there and found their two
[8:47] sons that served in World War II after
the internment camp and found their
[8:53] records too. So that both of the
florists that were in our city for over
[8:58] a hundred years and several years before
that will all be recognized on the
[9:03] memorial.
So once again um the historical society
[9:09] also received several pictures of war
veterans but no name no birth dates or
[9:15] no wars. So I have to research all of
these. So I am begging all the citizens.
[9:22] We would love to have everyone on there.
They so much rightly deserve to be on
[9:27] there. So please submit your relative in
and we will try and help you research
[9:32] their records. Thank you.
The next speaker is Chidity Jennings
[9:39] Nunes.
[9:50] Good evening. I want to start with
wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year.
[9:55] Not only for those in this room, but
also to the residents of St. Gabriel who
[9:59] are listening of which at least 60%
identify as part of the API community.
[10:05] Second, I want to say that the reception
at Blossom Market for the Black History
[10:10] Month exhibit that I invited each of you
to at the last meeting was very
[10:14] successful. Vice Mayor Chen and I have
rarely seen eye to eye since he was
[10:20] elected. Despite that, he accepted the
invitation and attended the event and I
[10:25] believe had a great time with good food
and great people. Thank you, Vice Mayor
[10:29] Chen, for support your support and
willingness to go outside of your
[10:34] comfort zone to attend an event in your
city held by a resident of your city and
[10:39] patronizing several local businesses.
Finally, and my main reason for
[10:44] commenting tonight is to call each one
of you out publicly for your complete
[10:50] lack of of voice and complete silence on
the tactics that the Department of
[10:55] Homeland Security and ICE agents are
using to harass, terrorize, unlawfully
[11:01] detain, and arrest everyone from
children to the elderly in and around
[11:05] our city. Even when we had major ice
raids at Mission Car Wash, Temple City
[11:11] Car Wash, and other local businesses,
there were no statements made by any of
[11:15] you to express your outrage, concern,
empathy, or reassurance to the
[11:20] community. It is not enough to have your
police chief respond at a meeting of
[11:24] five or six residents that the SGPD is
not assisting the federal immigration
[11:29] operations. In the last two months, we
have seen a very vocal and
[11:34] overwhelmingly negative community
response to city councils in Elmont and
[11:39] Elhhamra because local residents have
perceived an alliance between ICE agents
[11:43] and local police departments. And these
are city councils whose members have
[11:48] been outspoken in condemning the brutal
and in many cases illegal pursuit and
[11:53] detention of individuals for no other
reason than the color of their skin or
[11:57] the accent they have when they speak
English. At the recent talk of the town,
[12:02] Chief Alazald said that we have been
fortunate because San Gabriel has not
[12:07] been targeted with the intensity of
surrounding cities in the SGV. Well,
[12:11] it's coming because the quotas that were
put out by this regime haven't changed.
[12:17] So, as we begin this new year, the year
of not only the horse, but the
[12:21] firehorse, I am challenging each of you
to make a bold change and to provide the
[12:26] residents of this city with the
leadership that it needs. Find your
[12:29] moral compass. As Archbish Bishop
Desmond Tutu famously warned us, if you
[12:35] are neutral in situations of injustice,
you have chosen the side of the
[12:39] oppressor. This is your opportunity to
correct that perception or go on the
[12:44] record in support of the tactics that
are leading to the destruction of
[12:47] families and death of immigrants and
American citizens. Thank you.
[12:54] » The next speaker is Mandy Lou.
[13:09] Um,
[13:14] good evening. My name is Mandy Lou and I
have lived in San Gabriel for 40 years.
[13:21] I remember we moved here and bought our
first home in 1986.
[13:26] And um, today is Chinese New Year.
Usually for Chinese people, we do not
[13:33] want to go appear in front of the city
council. Uh but I had to because the
[13:40] last few weeks have been so stressful to
me that I feel if I don't do something I
[13:48] could just like you know have a stroke
because what happened is
[13:55] okay before I go out we get a notice uh
from the city um what's it called co
[14:02] enforcement he said that um my front uh
the sidewalk is uh the the plants are
[14:08] too tall and the front yard is uh messy.
And before I go on, let me speak.
[14:19] When I moved to this house, they was
grass lawn just like a regular every
[14:24] other house. But I am an herbalist. I
love plants. So, uh my sister is the
[14:32] owner and I told her I do not want to
plant grass. they look uh yellow in the
[14:37] summer. So I hire people to take them
out and put in good dirt layer layer and
[14:45] um at that time I did not get any
rebates or my own money over a thousand
[14:50] and I bought native alternative grass
but um they die it's about the tr and we
[14:57] didn't have enough water so they die
anyway so I decided uh I instead of
[15:03] going back alone I will uh grow some
roses
[15:07] But last year I put all the roses into
the ground but I realized it's just too
[15:12] hot that area. So we put took them out
again. So the grow looks uh not even
[15:18] looks bad. I know but I'm planning to
like you know do something. So before I
[15:25] do it I got this violation. So I have
been working with this person his name
[15:32] is outdoor and whatever he said uh he
had tell he been telling me that oh I
[15:38] have to be put in grass put in a
sprinkler system hire a design company a
[15:44] landscape company and some to cut the
grass and I said no I want to plant a
[15:50] native plants so because I already have
grass before and he keep pushing that
[15:57] and I keep objecting that I said the
whole state of California and the city
[16:01] of Los Angeles have been telling us to
take our tough our grass out. Why does
[16:06] San Gabriel do not allow native plants?
So that is when he kind like back off
[16:11] and he said I I I have to speak to the
planner uh Christine. So when I spoke
[16:18] with her, Christine is very nice, very
understanding. She said, "Oh, it's
[16:22] fine." And at that time I realized my
backyard has some problem.
[16:27] » Excuse me. I'm sorry. you you've already
used up your time, but the city manager
[16:30] will direct you where you can express
yourself and and file a report.
[16:36] » Okay. Can I just finish and please can I
can work with anyone else except this
[16:42] out because he's been very rude, very
unprofessional.
[16:46] When I work with uh Christine and uh
John Gonzalez from the public work, they
[16:52] have been so professional, so nice, so
respectful. This person, he talked down
[16:57] to me, he yell at me. Okay. Okay. Thank
you.
[17:00] » So, so just a moment, Mark.
>> Miss Lou, I'm sorry that you've had that
[17:04] experience. Um, I would direct you or
ask you to work with David Sanchez. He's
[17:08] in the back of the room. He'll stand up
when you walk back.
[17:11] » Oh, okay.
>> He is the supervisor over all of the
[17:14] people that you mentioned.
>> We'll work very hard to help you through
[17:17] that process and make sure at the end of
the day, you're able to do what you want
[17:20] to do as long as it meets our codes and
we can help you with the time frames for
[17:23] that.
>> Thank you. appreciate that.
[17:29] » The next speaker is Luis Ayala.
[17:38] Good evening. Obviously, I'm not Luis.
I'm John. Um, esteemed mayor, vice
[17:43] mayor, and honorable council. I'm here
tonight just to introduce a new team.
[17:46] We've had some changes at Athens. I'm
your new senior vice president of
[17:51] government affairs. I'll be representing
city St. Gabriel amongst a lot of other
[17:54] cities. Luis is going to be your main
point of contact. Um and we have two
[17:58] other team members that have been
assigned. It's Brandon Stansel and um
[18:02] Joslyn Korea. So we have a pretty big
team for Sano for such a esteemed city.
[18:07] Just want to let Luis introduce himself,
give a little background.
[18:11] » Uh good evening, mayor and uh city
council. Uh happy Lunar New Year. Just
[18:16] uh by way of introduction, I've probably
been at Athens services now for about
[18:20] six months and uh I've spent about 18
years in healthcare advocacy. So I'm
[18:25] very much in transition from uh learning
how to talk uh healthcare to learning
[18:30] how to talk trash.
And so uh this this community is is a
[18:35] community that I'm very close to. Uh my
wife and I actually got married at the
[18:38] San Gabriel Mission about uh you know 21
22 years ago. And so we very much
[18:43] appreciate uh I've got two uh grown kids
in college and uh my son spent the
[18:49] majority of his time uh practicing in a
lot of this San Gabriel Fields including
[18:53] Gabino High School and behind the
mission here as well. So uh again I I
[18:58] lived in Alhamra for about 16 years. I'm
now in Aladena and so I'm very much
[19:02] looking forward to working with uh each
uh one of you and getting to know each
[19:06] other and uh you know ensuring that we
have the best customer service for your
[19:11] city. Uh because if I don't do that,
John's going to take care of me here.
[19:18] » So, thank you. Good to meet you. I do
have a I can hand out.
[19:24] » Good question.
>> Thank you.
[19:30] The next speaker is Michael Cervantes.
[19:40] » Hello, my name is Michael Cervantes and
I want to speak to you about the silent
[19:44] film event that's held here each year.
Uh I've been to several of them and
[19:51] they've been really a marvelous
experience. Uh I guess the first one I
[19:55] went to was uh a silent film called
Ramona with the Lor Del Rio filmed in uh
[20:02] came out in 1928.
But what I want to speak to you about is
[20:06] to see that event enlarged.
they become instead of an event that's
[20:11] held one like one Saturday uh every
every maybe July, four times a year I
[20:18] guess four times in July, but to expand
it to make it larger and to have um
[20:26] maybe
um a newsletter developed with that
[20:31] um get in contact with people or
organizations or institutions from other
[20:38] cities like colleges,
uh maybe high schools to let them know
[20:43] about the event and that this event
becomes a focal point for the city. We
[20:49] have different events that occur here
during the during the year. We have
[20:54] street celebrations.
We have um an event for Memorial Day,
[20:59] Veterans Day, and other activities here.
But it seems as though if we could
[21:05] expand that particular activity of sun
and films, it would be a really big plus
[21:11] for the for the city and make it better
known and would give an opportunity also
[21:17] for people after they see the the movies
to go and eat and dine or have lunch at
[21:26] one of the eeries in the area there. So
eventually about to see some kind of
[21:32] committee set up to explore this idea
and to see where it could be taken. So
[21:38] this is my thought and I wish everybody
the best.
[21:44] Our next speaker is Sher Lou.
[22:05] Good evening. My name is Sheri Louu and
I am the sister of Mandy Louu. Uh today
[22:14] my issue is the same as Mandy described
earlier. I'm the owner of the property.
[22:20] So I get an
a mail from the city of San Gabriel
[22:28] for violation of the code. And in this
letter it actually spell out that if we
[22:36] don't correct
the um
[22:40] if the violation is not corrected then I
will get a fine like 100 200 500 and
[22:49] 1,000 for each day. So when I receive
the letter I make a call I call Aldo.
[22:58] It's like his name is on the letter. So
I call him and talked to him and I asked
[23:04] him to give us some extension on the um
for the uh cleaning up the backyard and
[23:13] he said no. So I told him that because
of Chinese New Year and also because
[23:19] Mandy she is like the only one who live
there and she will clean up the
[23:25] property. It take time for her to clean
it up. But he refused and he told me
[23:32] that I have to hire people to clean it
up. And if I hire people, it only take
[23:37] like two to three day to finish. And I
told him that I have my son helping
[23:44] Mandy to clean up the property. We just
need more time. And he still refueling
[23:49] it. So he's like been very forceful and
very it's like inflexible to work with
[23:57] somebody like that. And to me his job is
to serve the people uh living in San
[24:04] Gabriel helping us not to give us more
stress. This is like to me it's not a
[24:09] big issue but they he treated is like we
are commit to something that is
[24:15] seriously. So, I'm here to ask the C
council uh mayor and the councilman to
[24:24] grant us like give us an extension for
clean up the property and also like
[24:31] switch like we can work with somebody
beside ADO.
[24:37] Thank you.
[24:47] Madame Mayor, I have no more speaker
cards.
[24:57] » I'll just stay up here,
[25:05] » Mary Garcia. Thank you,
Mayor Machaka and council. I'm here this
[25:11] evening because um as you see I've been
in my walker and I've gone to visit my
[25:16] cousin at 10:26 Ullet and the curb is
rising and so when I'm walking from my
[25:23] car to get into her yard I tripped the
other day. My walker got stuck. So I'd
[25:28] like for someone to look into that. And
I did meet Michael tonight so I'm sure
[25:32] it'll get taken care of. And the other
one is when I walk up my block at 10:36
[25:38] South Pine Street, my neighbor, theirs
is starting to rise also. So, if you
[25:43] could just have Michael look into it,
public works, I appreciate it. Thank
[25:47] you.
[25:53] » Is there anyone else?
>> Okay,
[25:57] next item, please.
>> Consent calendar. All items listed under
[26:02] the consent calendar are considered
routine and recommendations will be
[26:05] approved in one motion unless a member
of the city council requests separate
[26:09] discussion. Okay. Would any council
member like to pull an item for separate
[26:14] discussion?
[26:17] Okay. I see none. Do I have a motion to
approve the consent agenda? Yes,
[26:23] » mayor. I will motion to approve.
>> Do I have a second?
[26:27] » I second. Okay. Let's vote.
[26:35] Motion passes by a vote of 5-0.
[26:39] Next item.
>> We have no public hearing or continued
[26:43] business. Our next item is new business
item A. Review Veterans Memorial
[26:47] Conceptual Designs and provide direction
to staff and landscape architect David
[26:52] Boltz design creative. Community
services director Perez will make the
[26:56] staff presentation.
[27:12] Good evening, mayor and members of the
city council. We are very excited
[27:16] tonight to be bringing you um the
conceptual designs for the Veterans
[27:21] Memorial. Um I know this is an item that
is near and dear to all of your hearts
[27:25] to the point that you all want to be on
the committee. So, I appreciate that and
[27:29] we look forward to presenting these to
you tonight.
[27:34] Uh, just to give you a little bit of
introduction in terms of where we have
[27:38] come this far or thus far, uh, in July
2024, the city council approved the
[27:43] recommended location for the placement
of the Veterans Memorial in Plaza Park.
[27:48] And then then a year later in July 2025,
the city council approved an agreement
[27:54] with landscape architect David Voltz
design creative um DVDC, we'll call them
[27:59] for short, uh for the development of the
conceptual designs, and they will be
[28:04] presenting the designs tonight. So staff
and the team are are pleased to present
[28:09] the two conceptual designs um that will
come before you and tonight we are
[28:15] seeking u council's feedback and
direction on those designs. Uh a few
[28:20] more details. Um so following the the
approval of the uh the agreement with
[28:26] DVDC
um staff met with the team to discuss
[28:31] the planned approach and then in
September 2025 we held a community
[28:36] meeting at Plaza Park. So at the site of
the future memorial uh veterans any
[28:41] community members were open were welcome
to come to that meeting and that was an
[28:45] opportunity to meet with the architect.
um architect presented some designs of
[28:51] former um memorials that they have done
for other agencies and then it provided
[28:58] an opportunity for the veterans and
those attending to speak with the team
[29:02] directly which was good. Uh and then in
mid November um DVDC provided the two
[29:09] draft conceptual designs. Uh at that
time staff met with the mission church
[29:14] and public works to gather any thoughts
or concerns about the designs and I'll
[29:18] let you know that none no concerns were
expressed at that time. Um and then um
[29:26] DVDC presented the concepts to the St.
Gabriel Veterans Memorial Coalition at a
[29:31] separate meeting and that was held in
mid December.
[29:35] And then uh following that meeting, the
the Veterans Memorial Coalition met with
[29:41] their group to discuss their preferred
design and ed any edits that they would
[29:45] like to see. And uh following the
presentation of the conceptual designs
[29:51] tonight, we will um let you know the um
design that the Veterans Memorial
[29:57] Coalition has selected or would like to
see and the kind of edits that they have
[30:03] proposed for those designs as well. Um,
so now I would like to turn it over to
[30:09] Gary Vasquez who is the director of
design from DVDC and he will be
[30:14] presenting the designs and he's also the
designer of the designs. So I'll turn
[30:19] that over to him
[30:24] just right arrow.
>> Okay.
[30:30] Uh, thank you and uh, good evening. Uh I
am uh a landscape architect with DVD
[30:37] Creative. Uh as um
uh Rebecca has mentioned, I'm happy
[30:45] tonight to share with you the two
concepts that we've shared with staff as
[30:50] well as the Veterans Coalition to uh
people in the audience. To the right of
[30:55] me is the first option, option one, and
to the left of me is the uh second
[31:01] option, option two. Uh before I get into
each uh a little more specifically,
[31:07] uh to each of the designs, let's see,
let me get this. There you go. Um
[31:16] uh in meeting with the coalition early,
they gave us uh really kind of uh uh
[31:23] feedback in terms of what were some of
the elements they definitely wanted to
[31:27] see in the memorial. Uh for example, uh
they definitely wanted to obviously have
[31:34] a list of all the veterans of San
Gabriel. uh they wanted to recognize or
[31:41] display the six branches of the military
service, the Army, Marine, uh Air Force,
[31:47] Navy, Coast Guard, and Space Force. Um
they wanted to recognize three gentlemen
[31:53] of the community, uh that were soldiers,
veterans, um Reineer, Mr. Reineer Agiri,
[32:00] I believe, won a Purple Heart or
received a Purple Heart and Mr. Ferman
[32:04] Del Rosa. uh and a person by the name of
Mr. uh General George Patton
[32:11] uh and and uh another element they
wanted to consider rec uh showcasing is
[32:18] maybe a statue of the fallen what they
call the fallen soldier uh battlefield
[32:24] cross statue or sculpture.
Uh and there is also a USS Mission San
[32:31] Gabriel which is a tanker ship that was
used in World War II to transport oil uh
[32:38] to the US soldiers and our allies in
Europe.
[32:43] Um so these are some of the things that
when you look at both concepts, you're
[32:47] going to find these elements in each of
the concepts.
[32:52] Uh the slide that is up right now just
kind of points out the approximate
[32:58] location is where uh it was decided to
put the memorial. Uh to the um up above
[33:04] you can see the mission and then we're
in the building to the left city hall
[33:08] there.
[33:11] So this is our first option.
uh and
[33:17] because of the proximity to the mission
and some of the Spanish colon colonial
[33:22] architecture that you see not just in
the mission but some of the the
[33:26] buildings that uh are clear close by. Uh
we wanted to respect that architecture
[33:33] and some of the details that you see
that are shared in a Spanish colonial um
[33:40] uh structure. This one is our first shot
at providing a memorial that is in the
[33:50] form of a bell tower. And this bell
tower stands approximately
[33:57] uh 20 ft in height. And it would be
tiered in a way where it would be
[34:02] constructed out of stone and tiered up.
And to recognize some of the elements
[34:08] that I had mentioned previously,
um,
[34:12] uh, we would use both the bell tower and
both to the right and left of the bell
[34:17] tower would be would, uh, be two
separate, uh, walls that would recognize
[34:24] the men and women, the veterans of the,
uh, uh, service uh, that provided
[34:31] service. Um, let me It's a little hard
to see in plan view and I'll go to the
[34:37] next slide and you'll kind of see we we
did some modeling to kind of create more
[34:41] of a a vision of what we saw there. But
there are just so you know, there are
[34:46] existing trees, pine tree, uh, palm
trees there, uh, a nice large uh,
[34:51] California pepper tree and all these
existing um, trees on site. we wanted to
[34:58] work around and we wanted to again keep
them uh in the design and um this walk
[35:05] that you see above is the main existing
walk and then the street sidewalk above.
[35:11] And we thought if we could just kind of
link those two together so people can
[35:16] kind of move from the street into the
park would be a nice a nice um feature
[35:23] as as part of this memorial. But the
main feature here is the tower. And I'm
[35:28] going to go to the next slide. So we de
developed a few elevations to kind of
[35:33] give you a better idea. The elevation C
that you see on the lower left is the
[35:38] main tower, bell tower in the middle.
And you can you see how it would kind of
[35:43] terrace up, step up in a way. We'd have
these different terraces where we can
[35:49] incorporate maybe a planter to soften
some of the rock work. In this case, we
[35:54] we were trying to incorporate some of
the mission sandstone rock look. Um the
[36:00] bell tower itself, we see opportunity to
display the uh six branches of the
[36:06] service. And then flanked by the to the
right and left of the bell tower um
[36:13] would be the wall that we would display
and recognize the men and women uh
[36:18] veterans of St. Gabriel. the the there
would be large columns as you can see um
[36:26] uh to the right and left uh where we
would also design in a recess cove um
[36:32] where we could incorporate possibly the
uh fallen soldier battlefield uh cross
[36:39] statue. Um there was some mention about
recognizing nurses also military nurses
[36:46] and that could be incorporated on the
other column as well. Um, and these were
[36:51] designed in a way where there's there's
the main front as you see in elevation
[36:58] C, but there's also a backside so people
can kind of uh take advantage of of both
[37:05] sides and experience some of the
information of the memorial. on the back
[37:10] side as you see elevation A, we would um
possibly incorporate a relief of the USS
[37:19] Mission uh San Gabriel uh on one side.
Um, and if I go back to the tower, uh,
[37:28] if you on your way up, you it would
transition from the rock to a, uh,
[37:36] smooth kind of, uh, mission stucco, if
you will, smooth stucco that would
[37:40] reflect the finish that you see adj on
the mission that's, um, right across the
[37:46] the crosswalk there. So, it goes from a
kind of a a rough rock texture and as
[37:52] you work up to the top of the bell
tower, it transitions to a smooth stucco
[37:58] um where we'd have like a a flag uh not
a flag on top of that, but a a
[38:05] decorative cap. And these caps that you
see on these columns here, uh if you
[38:11] take a close look at the mission St.
Gabriel, these are some of the details
[38:16] of the column caps that you see on the
mission themselves. So, we tried to pick
[38:20] up some of the details uh that were
adjacent to that are on the mission that
[38:26] we can incorporate into this memorial
design. So, we'd have some bench seating
[38:31] as you can see and some of the modeling
that we did to the right
[38:37] and you can kind of get an idea of how
people would maybe move around in this
[38:42] particular design. move around the
column and around the uh memorial walls
[38:48] themselves.
[38:53] So that was the first option. The second
option
[38:57] was really um inspired I think by uh
taking a closer look at the mission San
[39:04] Gabriel. In the gardens of mission St.
Gabriel, they have a uh a pergola, a
[39:11] garden pergola.
And in this 2D in this plan view vision,
[39:17] you we have this pergola that straddles
the the main sidewalk through the park
[39:23] as well as a sidewalk along the street.
And in this case, we were thinking that
[39:29] this pergola could be a very nice
feature um to connect one side of
[39:37] memorial to another. And we wanted
people to kind of walk through this
[39:43] space more as a as you would possibly a
museum, if you will. Obviously, this
[39:49] would be outdoors. Uh but you would be
walking under a pergola structure.
[39:56] And on each side of the pergola, uh,
between the columns, you would have the
[40:01] main towers. You see the dash line in
the middle. That would be the main
[40:06] memorial. And I'll I'll give you a
better idea of what that looks like in a
[40:09] minute. But it also provides space to
display
[40:15] uh statue of the fallen uh soldier
battlecross.
[40:19] Um uh recognizing some of the nurses. We
have some ideas that the coalition
[40:24] provided us with with um to incorporate
um recognizing the nurses uh as well as
[40:33] the USS uh St. Gabriel uh ship.
Uh both concepts I forgot to mention she
[40:41] had two particular had two uh flag
poles. uh after their second meeting
[40:48] with the coalition and staff, it was
decided maybe just one flag pole would
[40:52] be enough. And uh you can't you probably
can't see it's that number six there
[40:58] that u shows the location of the flag
poles. So and I'll go to the next slide.
[41:06] So the above elevation elevation A is
kind of looking from the grassy area.
[41:13] Um, and this would be what we would
consider the front of the memorial. And
[41:21] the wall spans between the columns, if
you will. And it also offers um there is
[41:29] space where you people can walk under
the pergola and then through the other
[41:33] side towards the open park and be in the
front side of this monument. In the
[41:40] center of the wall there, you see a
space to recognize the men and veterans
[41:46] uh the men and women. Uh on the uh left
side of that wall would be the space
[41:53] where we would uh display the six
branches of the military.
[41:59] And on the right side, uh there's a
column there that would be the space
[42:06] where we would honor the three men. And
I was just I was told this evening that
[42:11] there would be possibly five people,
five men that um would be recognized on
[42:17] that particular column.
So again, this is also uh designed in a
[42:23] way where you could have uh a pergola
structure with vines kind of growing
[42:28] columns that are um pick up the Spanish
colonial architecture as well as the
[42:34] decorative caps that reflect some of the
detailing on the mission itself.
[42:39] Um but it's again something that can be
viewed and experienced uh from both
[42:45] sides. And if you look at the lower
right hand photo, the model that kind of
[42:52] gives you an idea of the feeling that um
we were trying to achieve in that
[42:58] particular uh image uh would be actually
the backside. Um, and the coalition also
[43:07] has some quotes that they would like to
include uh in the memorial itself and we
[43:13] feel like that might be a good spot to
to do that. We'd also have plaques also
[43:18] I forgot to mention to recognize of
course the sponsors and some of the key
[43:23] stakeholders of the memorial that have
um put the hard work in in getting it uh
[43:29] to this point. Anyway,
so uh let's see. It also have benches,
[43:35] places to sit, uh both in front of the
the memorial wall as well as behind the
[43:42] memorial wall. Um the flag poles you can
see in the upper right would be on the
[43:47] right hand side of the column. And we in
both concepts, we wanted a space where
[43:52] people could walk around it, get up to
it close, kind of feel, you know, if
[43:58] they wanted to touch the wall, they
could. Uh we wanted to incorporate
[44:02] materials that reflect the uh Spanish
colonial architecture, which is this
[44:08] kind of the smooth stucco and some of
the mission style rock that you see uh
[44:14] in some of the other missions uh
throughout California.
[44:18] Um,
let's see that. And again, I didn't
[44:22] mention the lights. Of course, both any
concepts we go with, we're going to
[44:26] really design and highlight these
features at night. Um, so it wouldn't be
[44:33] dark. It would be a pretty
uh it is an open space. It's part of a,
[44:39] you know, public park. And um so what we
would you know make sure we do is make
[44:46] sure that the design elements can hold
up to uh some of the abuse that parks
[44:51] generally uh have to have touh deal
with. Um
[44:58] let's see. So with that I'm going to
turn it back over to Rebecca and um
[45:05] after that I'll be happy to answer any
questions.
[45:18] Thank you, Gary. Um, moving forward, we
did want to um tell you, as we
[45:23] indicated, the Veterans Memorial
Coalition met with uh Dave David Volt's
[45:28] team, and we had a meeting with staff
and the um architect team. Um the
[45:34] members of the coalition then met and
decided that they prefer design concept
[45:38] 2 and they have um the following edits
that they've proposed for council's
[45:44] consideration. Um they would like to see
a decrease in the height of the two
[45:48] towers. I will read these and then I'll
go back to the designs. Uh place the
[45:54] benches further back from the memorial
so that there is additional space when
[45:59] events are held. uh have the arch of the
monument be more rounded than pointy.
[46:04] And then on the opposite side of statue
A, the fallen um soldier battlefield
[46:09] cross, as Gary alluded to, they would
like to see a statue of a military nurse
[46:14] with the nursing symbol. Um
some more um edits that they proposed on
[46:20] top of the memorial where the veterans
names will be, it should have the title
[46:24] St. Gabriel Veterans.
um they'd like to add additional
[46:28] information about the three veterans
they would like to highlight. And I I'll
[46:32] say, Gary, that's the first I've heard
of it now being five um individuals that
[46:36] they'd like to recognize. So that's the
first I'm hearing of that. Um and that
[46:40] they would like to add the quotation for
the monument um at some location on the
[46:45] memorial, the soldier above all others
prays for peace, for it is the soldier
[46:50] who must suffer and bear the deepest
wounds and scars of war. And that's from
[46:54] General Douglas MacArthur. Um and then
identified
[46:59] uh this is just for the veterans names.
The uh contact and and this is what
[47:04] Denise provided to the um architect is
that the the veteran's contact for that
[47:10] is Denise Scotch. Um so those those are
the changes. I can go back to the
[47:19] design. So
I think this is the best way to see it.
[47:24] So the the tow the two towers if you
will they're suggesting lower those
[47:30] they're suggesting rounding the design
rather than having it kind of that
[47:34] pointed coming to a point. Um they're
suggesting opposite of a which is the
[47:40] battlefield cross having the nursing um
the nursing statue
[47:46] and and designate there. And then um as
Gary mentioned, possibly on that back
[47:51] side of the wall. So that's at the
bottom lower right on the on the screen
[47:55] that that would be potentially where
they would place a quote.
[47:59] Um
so I think that covers primarily the
[48:03] changes that they're uh requesting, but
they did decide that they prefer design
[48:08] too. So tonight we are looking for
council's direction. We're not looking
[48:12] for approval of either of these designs.
We're looking for council's direction
[48:16] for both for staff and for them the the
architect team so that they can go back
[48:22] and the proposed the plan would be that
if council were to provide direction
[48:28] that is adequate for staff to move
forward and the architect team to move
[48:32] forward. They could then come back with
a proposed design either implementing
[48:39] changes or edits that council has um
implementing the changes that the
[48:43] Veterans Memorial Coalition has and
andor a meld of the two designs if you
[48:48] prefer that and then we would have a
final design for your review at a future
[48:52] date.
So I am happy to answer any questions
[48:56] and as is Gary if you have any questions
of the architect.
[49:00] » Great. Thank you, Rebecca. Um, before we
ask for the public comment, are there
[49:07] any factual questions for staff um from
council? If not, we can proceed. Oh,
[49:14] okay. Council member Ravila.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, for design, the
[49:21] first option one. So, is the I see a
bell there. Is the is the bell can we
[49:27] ring the bell or no?
[49:32] Um,
>> or is it just decorative?
[49:34] » Is that a clarifying question or can I
turn it over to Gary? Okay.
[49:37] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[49:42] » Uh, yeah, I think we could design it so
you can actually ring this bell. So,
[49:49] » yeah. Thank you.
>> Can be designed for that. Yes.
[49:51] » And then for for option two, there's no
bell, right? Is that correct?
[49:57] » Correct. No bell. And then for the
plants that you guys are proposing to
[50:02] have there on the on the pergula, what
what kind of plants are you proposing to
[50:07] have? Plants, vines, things like that.
Um, well, we would want to to probably
[50:13] use a lot of drought tolerant water wise
type plant material on the the pergola
[50:18] itself. Um, I could see, you know, we
haven't specifically
[50:24] chosen a specific plant, but you know, a
California grape vine or wisteria,
[50:30] something like that would work, I think,
really nice and look really nice on this
[50:35] uh pergola. I believe there might be
some it's I might I believe it's the
[50:40] wisteria vine that's growing on the the
uh pergola on the uh mission property.
[50:50] Is there in the last qu clarifying
question on option two I see uh six
[50:57] pillars and is there a reason why six
pillars?
[51:03] » Uh I believe the six let's see two four
>> I'm not sure which pillars you're
[51:09] referring to.
>> There's six branches.
[51:12] » Oh okay. Okay. Okay. There's actually
those are columns and there are columns
[51:17] that support the pergola structure. Um
there's actually you see six in the
[51:23] front and there'd be six in the back as
well. Um again you can walk underneath
[51:29] the structure. Uh the structure I see
would be about 12 feet in width. Uh
[51:36] those columns would be probably spaced
10 feet apart, something like that. Um
[51:44] uh the column heights I see possibly
10 feet 10 and 1/2 ft in height
[51:51] something like that.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[51:54] » Any other clarifying questions? Council
member Whoop.
[51:57] » Thank you mayor. Um you know for for a
person who is more than um you know 50
[52:06] and plus it's really hard for me to read
that but I still able to read the
[52:11] sentence. I just want to make sure one
things. Um, could you please provide a
[52:15] little bit more detail? What do you mean
by memorial sponsors and coalition
[52:20] members? I know coalition members, but
what is memorial sponsor here?
[52:24] » Um, well, it it's just um we wanted to
make sure that there's going to be some
[52:31] plaque to recognize the people that made
this all happen. city council obviously
[52:38] uh the coalition members behind me I
imagine would want to um be recognized
[52:44] um if there's any sponsors uh you know
maybe they would also like to be
[52:49] recognized that's all
>> got it and I'm very drawn to concept too
[52:54] and I really appreciate it you know the
you know the the design and landscape
[52:59] but I um you mentioned there is a
architectural illumination Right. Is
[53:06] there a lighting things during the
nighttime
[53:09] » that will be reflecting the the whole
monument?
[53:11] » Yes. I mean, obviously in these uh where
we're at in the design, we haven't
[53:16] gotten into the lighting design, but
part of part of this would be looking at
[53:21] how this gets lit up at night and
illuminated at night. We just don't want
[53:26] a dark corridor there, obviously. And
and you want you want things lit up.
[53:30] This is a veterans memorial, I imagine.
you want things highlighted. Um, in this
[53:37] case with the pergola, you're underneath
the pergola. There's probably going to
[53:40] be some kind of accent lighting to take
advantage of what we do on the rear side
[53:46] of these walls. So, you you want to
highlight those. You might want to
[53:50] highlight the any kind of sculptures or
uh um statues that get incorporated in
[53:57] this in this designs for So, that's what
I was just trying to get at. It it'll be
[54:02] it'll be we will have to design a
lighting um plan that um I think
[54:09] complements and really highlights these
elements.
[54:14] » Right. I I I realized actually the the
lighting that a a good design on
[54:19] lighting that will be elevate the whole
quality of the whole monument.
[54:24] » Right. So will you provide additional on
top of this plan uh with a lighting
[54:31] plan?
>> Yes. Oh, correct. Yeah. Okay. When we
[54:35] get into the construction drawings for
this lighting, a lighting design will be
[54:39] part of the the plan. I see
>> or part of the design.
[54:43] » So, mayor, today we are just talk about
the design, nothing else, right?
[54:47] » Okay.
>> No vote. This is the first time, just so
[54:50] the public knows, this is the first time
that council is looking at the design
[54:55] and I agree with you. That was my first
comment to Mark is I can't see this very
[54:59] well.
>> You're over 50.
[55:02] » Much over. Yeah.
So, um, so anyway, so I do appreciate
[55:07] it. That's why I kept turning because I
could see it better this way. Right.
[55:10] Yeah. This is the first time, but more
to come because we've already heard
[55:15] eight different changes from these
designs. So,
[55:19] » right,
>> we'll have another round here.
[55:22] » Okay, that's all I have. Thank you,
mayor. Thank you.
[55:24] » And I just had just a couple clarifying
questions because they apply to both. Um
[55:29] the first item is are these designs made
in such a way that it will um it has
[55:36] room for growth? So this is supposed to
be for generations and I can't again you
[55:42] know right
>> my mind here isn't uh it's hard with
[55:46] these designs.
>> Is there an opportunity to continue to
[55:51] add you know for for 50 years 100 years
or we have to add a whole another
[55:58] » there will be room to add names to this
monument uh to this memorial. Um,
[56:06] we're still trying to come up with the
the count. So, we don't really know
[56:10] exactly how many names are going to be
going on here. Uh, once we do, we can we
[56:17] can figure out how many how many names
we can get on each wall or where the
[56:22] where, you know, where we decide these
names will go.
[56:25] » So, there will be empty walls
>> there possibly. Well, you could h you
[56:30] could have empty walls or you could just
have it if if the names go on a bronze
[56:35] kind of uh plaque. Um you could just
have a black a blank plaque there. But
[56:42] so it wouldn't look empty is what I'm
saying.
[56:45] » Yeah. Because we're going to have a you
know this number is going to have to be
[56:49] you know we have to come up with a
number but it's going to continue
[56:52] growing. So, as long as we have empty
walls, we can add,
[56:56] » you know, every year, every two years.
But
[57:00] » we we would design this memorial where
you would be able to add uh additional
[57:05] names to the wall. For sure.
>> Okay. Yeah.
[57:08] » Without having to create another like
wall.
[57:11] » No. Um but again, you want to plan
ahead. So,
[57:16] » Okay. So, as long as there's there's a
plan to Yeah. to add more. I mean, I'm
[57:22] envisioning,
>> you know, a lot more names.
[57:25] » I imagine there will be a lot more names
you'd want to add. How many again? Um,
[57:32] you could, you know, I I don't have a
specific number of
[57:35] » That's okay. I I just want to make sure
there's a some foresight here because
[57:39] all of us,
>> you know, will not be here, you know, in
[57:42] the future. And I want to make sure that
next generation,
[57:46] » you know, uh, treasures this continues
with the work. We don't need to be here.
[57:51] It should kind of stand on its own.
>> And then just one more clarifying
[57:55] question. Um, you know, the lights are
great, but I I get very concerned with
[58:00] security. You know, is there going to be
a security system of some sort? because
[58:05] unfortunately I can see um some kind of
you know uh what do you call it?
[58:12] » Vandalism.
>> Vandalism. Thank you.
[58:14] » I'm not saying I'm saying
>> yeah vandalism taking place.
[58:17] Unfortunately, I mean we see the
graffiti taking place and you know we go
[58:21] out there we have actually a company
dedicated to removing this the graffiti.
[58:27] How can we protect this uh monument if
it's so open? Um and and rightfully so.
[58:35] It should be open because it's for
everybody.
[58:37] » Yeah.
>> Um and it and it has a beautiful feel to
[58:40] it. It does remind me of the mission
with the uh the vines. I mean, it's
[58:45] almost exact, I think, with the vines
that they have. But how do we protect
[58:50] this?
>> Well, a lot of it is the selection of
[58:53] materials that we use to construct it.
Um there are uh anti-graffiti sealers
[58:59] that we would apply to over the finishes
that go on and on onto the memorial, the
[59:07] columns, the rock work, uh even the
benches. Um of course, cameras and um
[59:14] you know, lighting. I think I think uh
uh when things tend to be well lit um
[59:21] and if you see cameras around that
that's a pretty good deterrent also. Um
[59:26] we would discuss this with city staff in
terms of how they
[59:29] » our police in particular because I know
they have a lot of strategies.
[59:33] » Yeah. And the location of this memorial
is
[59:37] » obviously located close to the street.
Um uh and you know, you can just drive
[59:43] by and take a quick glance and see if
there's people someone hanging out
[59:48] there. The way the way it's angled um
you know, you can be driving, you can
[59:54] drive through the park on the main uh uh
sidewalk as well, but it'd be pretty I
[1:00:00] think pretty easily to spot something
going on underneath that. Yeah, because
[1:00:04] initially when you started the
presentation, you mentioned how or I
[1:00:08] think it was Rebecca that you've talked
to staff and no one had any comments.
[1:00:13] So, I'd like to our uh first resp
[1:00:19] um to participate and and maybe there's
something they're seeing that will keep
[1:00:24] it safe, especially if you're going to
have those vines. I can I can see fire
[1:00:28] taking place. um you know it's the
extreme I know but you know if there's
[1:00:33] better ways of doing it to prevent that
type of whether it's vandalism or fire
[1:00:38] um you know we should know that upfront
and the security system I mean that
[1:00:42] would be an additional expense that the
city would absorb
[1:00:46] » which is you know I'm comfortable with
but we need to have it as part of the
[1:00:49] plan
>> right
[1:00:50] » so so that's all I had for now I'd
really like to get to public comment so
[1:00:55] thank you so much okay uh city clerk
chief city clerk I I think uh Councilman
[1:01:00] Ding.
>> Oh, you had a question.
[1:01:02] » I have I have a quick
>> Yeah, you you're first.
[1:01:04] » Okay. Okay.
>> So, you didn't
[1:01:06] watch me.
>> I was watching. Nobody said anything.
[1:01:10] » Um no, Ju just quick uh uh clarification
question about the the design. uh uh and
[1:01:15] I don't know if this has been decided
yet, but uh in the designer's mind,
[1:01:21] were we looking at uh having separate
sections per like for a separate section
[1:01:28] for each branch? Is it what I'm saying?
Or are we just putting the seal of each
[1:01:33] branch and then just adding names?
>> Right. I I think I think uh the idea so
[1:01:38] far is that each um a seal that rep that
recognizes each branch of the military
[1:01:44] would be uh displayed. Um how the you
know we still need to work out the
[1:01:50] details with the coalition how they want
the names displayed.
[1:01:54] » Okay.
>> So that hasn't been
[1:01:55] » that has not been decided.
>> Okay. Just curious. I thank you. I
[1:01:59] yield. Council member D.
>> Yeah. So, so the clear question it's
[1:02:03] today just like just two option. Option
one, option two. So for your future
[1:02:09] design direction, right? Right. Right.
So the future design you have to more
[1:02:13] detail you uh provide us or just pro uh
also will be discuss Gabriel
[1:02:21] the the their organization and uh I saw
you also consult with the mission
[1:02:29] church of mission.
>> Yes. Yes I believe
[1:02:32] » so staff has talked to them
>> and clarify it's not go through the the
[1:02:37] planning commission right. It's just
uh the cooperate with the the memorial
[1:02:45] corion and and the and the mission the
church of mission that's my
[1:02:50] understanding is that correct then
finally come to our the city council to
[1:02:57] see the more detailed information design
mean
[1:03:02] » thank you councilman ding uh you're
correct it does not need to go to any of
[1:03:05] the commissions the council could opt to
send it to one of the commissions if you
[1:03:09] like, but ultimately it's up to the city
council.
[1:03:12] » We don't even have to accept the
veterans coalition input if you don't
[1:03:15] want. I'm not suggesting that, but
ultimately it's this um body's decision
[1:03:20] on what that looks like.
>> I think the coalition's been extremely
[1:03:24] helpful and I think they have good
ideas. So, I I can't see that happening.
[1:03:28] » Um what we're looking for tonight is
exactly what you said, some um input on
[1:03:33] the designs. if there was a possibility
that we all um meaning you all liked one
[1:03:39] design over the other and we had that
direction that would be helpful and the
[1:03:45] design team would then come back with
different modifications depending on
[1:03:49] what they hear. So for example um they
would come back with a with what it
[1:03:53] might look like to have shorter columns
with rounded tops versus what's in there
[1:03:58] now allowing you all to make that
decision of which one you like better.
[1:04:02] And I'd say that as an example for any
of the other changes you might be asking
[1:04:06] for.
>> So today we don't need a vote but uh we
[1:04:09] it looks like uh later on we discuss
which one option we want like currently
[1:04:14] I think the corision already suggest the
option two. So for the for the like
[1:04:21] deliberation so we just like maybe we
can consider what what kind of element
[1:04:26] what kind of detail should be for the
future design. Is that correct? That's
[1:04:31] correct. It would be very helpful if we
could get to one of the two options, but
[1:04:34] not necessary.
>> Okay. So, for the the later down the
[1:04:40] deliberation, it's based on the option
one or option two to talking about
[1:04:45] » it. It could be. I mean, that would be
the the fastest method to get to a final
[1:04:51] design, but I don't want to pigeon hole
the council or rush you all.
[1:04:56] » When you hear what the coalition has to
say, okay?
[1:04:58] » And then when you hear what each other's
of you have to say,
[1:05:02] » if there's consensus or it seems like
there's consensus, we can move forward
[1:05:06] with that direction. We wouldn't need to
vote, but we can give
[1:05:09] » the architect that direction. If you
need further refinement on both of these
[1:05:13] to come up with that decision, the
design team is happy to do that as well.
[1:05:18] » Okay. Even just both the design so they
can provide a more detail. Is it is is
[1:05:25] it correct or because you say we don't
need like a vote for which one
[1:05:30] » option we need to go for
>> again unless there is a a consensus if
[1:05:35] everybody feels like option one is the
right option for example or option two
[1:05:40] is the right option that would save time
if we came up with that but again I
[1:05:44] don't want to push you towards that if
that's not where we're ready to go
[1:05:47] tonight but I think if we hear what
everybody has to say from the public and
[1:05:50] the council
>> it might become clear whether we need
[1:05:53] more refinement of both of them or just
one of them.
[1:05:56] » Okay. All right. Thank you, Mark. Thank
you, Mia.
[1:05:59] » Thank you.
>> If if I could just add one one point to
[1:06:02] that, if you'll recall when the
architect uh originally presented um
[1:06:08] when we approved moving forward with the
architect, they indicated that
[1:06:12] oftentimes they have groups that for
example would have some design elements
[1:06:17] from option one, some design elements
from option two, and would like to have
[1:06:21] those blended together. So again, like
Mark said, if it's not either one or
[1:06:28] two, it could be potentially, you know,
we like this element from from option
[1:06:32] one and we'd like to see that as part of
option two. So I think they are very
[1:06:36] familiar with that with all of the
memorials that they've worked on.
[1:06:40] » Thank you.
That's that's good. More flexible to
[1:06:44] Yeah. Sometime some maybe element it's
from option one. It's a really good fit
[1:06:49] in out option two. So I I like this
idea, you know. Yeah. Maybe cooperate
[1:06:55] with the our like uh
>> it would be better if we can narrow it
[1:06:59] down. I think that's my opinion because
if we keep going back and forth, we're
[1:07:03] never going to get it done. So Okay.
Hopefully
[1:07:06] » for the by by the end we can kind of go
one
[1:07:09] » deliberation we can. Yep. Right. Okay.
Absolutely. All right. Thank you, Mayor.
[1:07:13] » Thank you.
>> Okay. Now we'll go to public comments.
[1:07:16] Chief city clerk, do we have any public
comment?
[1:07:18] » We do, madame mayor. Our first speaker
is Teresa Olivas Justiniani.
[1:07:32] Good evening madame mayor, city council
members and staff. My name is Terresa
[1:07:36] Levasani and I am one of the founding
directors of the San Gabriel Veterans
[1:07:40] Memorial Coalition and I'm here tonight
to share what this monument truly means
[1:07:45] to my family and me. One of the honores
whose name will be placed on this
[1:07:50] monument is Ferman Delar Roa Jr. To many
he may be a name etched in stone but to
[1:07:56] us he was such much more. Ferman was a
son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a
[1:08:02] father, a grandfather, and a friend. But
to me, he was my uncle Jr. My uncle Jr.
[1:08:08] volunteered to serve his country during
the Vietnam War. He grew up here
[1:08:13] attending Lincoln school, Sanger High
School, and later worked as a male
[1:08:17] carrier with the United States Post
Service here in North San Gabriel. He
[1:08:21] was a part of this community long before
his service and remained a part of it
[1:08:26] long after. San Gabriel helped shape who
he was and he carried that sense of
[1:08:31] service in everything he did. For my
family, this monument is not just about
[1:08:37] remembering the past. It's about
honoring a life of love, service, and
[1:08:41] sacrifice. It's about giving future
generations a place to learn that the
[1:08:46] people we honor were real people with
families
[1:08:51] who love them and miss them. It's also
special to me that my grandfather, my
[1:08:57] husband, my godfather, my uncle's name
will also be placed on this monument.
[1:09:03] Our family would also like to thank our
former president Daniel Tovar and former
[1:09:09] vice president Lily Groots for the
vision of the Veterans Memorial
[1:09:13] Monument. Although Lily did not live to
see her vision come to life, her heart
[1:09:18] and dedication are present in this
project and her impact will live on
[1:09:23] through this memorial monument. We are
deeply grateful that the city has stood
[1:09:28] behind us with this dream of the
Veterans Monument. a permanent tribute
[1:09:33] to sacrifice bravery and a space for a
reflection, healing, and connections for
[1:09:38] families like mine. This monument means
that our loved ones will never be
[1:09:42] forgotten and that our service will
always be honored. Thank you for
[1:09:47] allowing me to share what this monument
means to my entire family.
[1:09:56] » The next speaker is Michael A.
Cervantes.
[1:10:06] My name is Michael Cervantes and I serve
as the president for the veterans
[1:10:11] coalition.
It has been a long journey for the
[1:10:16] group. Um over six years that they've
been working on this project. Um it's
[1:10:25] not been an easy journey. It has had it
has had its challenges.
[1:10:33] It has had hardships.
We've had members who have worked on
[1:10:39] this
almost day by day trying to see it come
[1:10:47] together as something that was a dream
to something that's concrete. Okay.
[1:10:55] Um we have now almost I believe close to
400 names of veterans.
[1:11:03] And the thing is that as we think that
we are complete with the number of
[1:11:09] veterans, we have more people who state
I served. I was in the armed forces and
[1:11:17] I am now a veteran and I want to see my
name or my family member name who was a
[1:11:26] veteran on that wall. We have people who
have served since before World War I to
[1:11:33] the present.
And
[1:11:38] fortunately or unfortunately,
we'll still have veterans in the future.
[1:11:44] So that means we're going to have more
names
[1:11:48] in years to come.
Ideally, one day
[1:11:54] there won't be any more names. There
won't be any need to have more names.
[1:11:58] But
in reality that's going to still happen.
[1:12:02] Um
we are thinking that
[1:12:08] um
there'll be like a stage area uh by the
[1:12:14] by the monument. So it will serve as a
place for a presentation for such events
[1:12:21] as Veterans Day, Memorial Day or any
other particular event that happens in
[1:12:27] that area where people can gather
together and not only will they be there
[1:12:33] for that event, but they'll be there to
see the monument as well.
[1:12:38] We're also considering that since we
have at least 400 names, um we're
[1:12:44] looking at a at a font that is seraps,
not non nonsense there, but serif fonts.
[1:12:53] We're looking to see them to be anywhere
from 3/4 to an inch in height.
[1:13:01] Um we want them to be recognized and we
don't want the names to be so
[1:13:07] so small that people will say, "Well,
who's that name there?" So, please keep
[1:13:13] those in mind and we only hope for the
best in the future. Thank you,
[1:13:21] » Madame Mayor. I have no more speaker
cards.
[1:13:25] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Oh, we
[1:13:33] » uh Rebecca went over the corrections
that we had, but I wanted to kind of go
[1:13:39] over why we did that. My father's name
will be on there also, and my mother
[1:13:45] unfortunately won't be alive to see it.
So, as we wait here and to decide, I was
[1:13:52] hoping that today you would come to
possibly a conclusion between the two so
[1:13:58] it could go on to the next uh phase
because as you see all these lovely
[1:14:03] gentlemen that are here today, they're
hoping to see their names on the
[1:14:10] monument
before hopefully they do not pass away.
[1:14:15] And I know it's a long project. It takes
a long time when construction, building,
[1:14:20] lighting. Uh I also mentioned I was
worried since it's open skateboarders
[1:14:26] come in that area a lot to go in and out
to. There's a lot of aspects, graffiti,
[1:14:31] lighting. I agree with you on all that.
Um and the reason why Rebecca, we have
[1:14:37] five names. As you research all these
names, you find more heroes
[1:14:42] amongst the veterans that should be
specifically honored that were born in
[1:14:47] San Gabriel and did a lot and maybe got
more medals or stuff that the coalition
[1:14:53] goes through each name and we vote yes
that they need to be separate from the
[1:14:58] whole group name to recognize those
specific. I'm sure you all are aware of
[1:15:03] General Patton is one of them and Teresa
so eloquently mentioned her uncle is
[1:15:09] also one of them. Um, the reason why we
picked uh that we want the monument in
[1:15:17] certain sections to be round, we were
trying to look at that corner and you
[1:15:22] also see the bells that are right there
and it's more round than pointy. And we
[1:15:26] thought that would go
uh with the monument in this area, you
[1:15:31] know, to be close by. You would see the
bells that are already there, the five,
[1:15:36] the six that are there. Um, also the
benches to move a little further as
[1:15:42] Michael so eloquently said because as
you're all there for every Veterans Day
[1:15:47] and Memorial Day and you speak the
council in front of it, you want the
[1:15:51] benches a little further away so you
have room to talk in that specific area
[1:15:57] because that I'm assuming is going to be
the area that you continue to do
[1:16:02] Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Um, and
specifically to say San Gabriel veterans
[1:16:10] on top of the memorial so everyone knows
that if your name is on there, you did
[1:16:16] live and were born in St. Gabriel. As to
separating the veterans,
[1:16:22] you would have more of them for World
War II than you would have for World War
[1:16:27] I or Civil War or Korea and Vietnam. And
that probably wouldn't look appropriate
[1:16:33] that you have a whole bunch of names
here and only two or three there and
[1:16:37] four or five, excuse me. So, we thought
we combine them all together to give the
[1:16:43] respect and put them in alphabetical
order all together except those five
[1:16:49] specific uh veterans that deserve the
special recognition.
[1:16:55] Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:17:01] Okay. Are there any other public
comments?
[1:17:07] No. Okay. So, I'll close the public
comment and we will now start with
[1:17:13] council u deliberation. Who would like
to start?
[1:17:20] » Vice Mayor Chan.
>> Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um okay. So um
[1:17:26] thank you for the presentation first of
all and then second of all um just to
[1:17:31] start with a disclaimer I have many
talents but uh visual artistry is not
[1:17:37] one of them. So so I trust people who
are much more talented than I am at
[1:17:42] this. Um but uh just
just kind of just off the top of my head
[1:17:48] my gut feel I do like option two better.
just just the gut feel I have in terms
[1:17:55] of the aesthetics. Uh I tend to prefer
that one. And um let's see what else.
[1:18:02] Oh, I guess in terms of uh placement and
and I know we were just kind of
[1:18:07] discussing the basic uh art I mean the
the basic aesthetics right now. But just
[1:18:15] something that popped in my mind when
Miss Goch was was talking just now that
[1:18:19] in terms of uh placing the names
um in I think I would prefer uh a method
[1:18:28] uh by date rather than alphabetical
because as time goes by you know we're
[1:18:33] going to the the the lettering yeah all
the alphabetical is going to get all
[1:18:38] mixed up. So I I would go time order if
you want to choose date of birth first
[1:18:43] or date of death or you know that some
some date timeline uh to be the main
[1:18:49] guide of how we're going to put the
names in order you know for the next
[1:18:54] hundred years or whatever it is. So
that's just my my comments at the
[1:18:58] moment. So thank you. I yield.
>> Okay. I I I agree with that. That was
[1:19:03] one of my questions is does it make
sense to have them inscribed or can you
[1:19:09] have like a fancy like computer or
something where it keeps changing the
[1:19:13] name so you can reorder them, but it
might not have that same wow kind of
[1:19:19] feel to it. But I I agree with you. You
would we need to do something so all
[1:19:25] these additional names don't look so
awkward because they're definitely going
[1:19:28] to be out of alphabet of alphabetical
order.
[1:19:32] That's why I was I think I agree with
you that uh we should consider date
[1:19:37] order or some type of beginning or
ending date and then and then go kind of
[1:19:41] in that order then so we can add more in
the future as they're needed and not
[1:19:47] have to yeah rearrange. You can't
rejigger rocks that you
[1:19:52] » chiseled.
>> Yeah. I mean I know the the the chisel
[1:19:55] is so much nicer and and so much more
respectful but
[1:19:59] » unless we do Yeah. go to digital or
something and you can always rejigger
[1:20:03] like like the the mission playhouse
poster board out there.
[1:20:07] » Yeah, hopefully nicer nicer than that.
But yes,
[1:20:10] » as real real stone, but anyway,
>> thank you. Mark, did you have a comment?
[1:20:15] » I would just say that what I've seen in
other places is it's completely
[1:20:19] randomized. So, you don't have that
problem of date and and coming later on.
[1:20:23] And then what we can do that can kind of
bring the digital into whatever we we
[1:20:28] bring forward is on a website we can
have a location for people to find the
[1:20:32] names similar to what they do
>> at the Exactly. And so as names come on
[1:20:38] we wouldn't have to worry about where
they go. They would just go in the next
[1:20:42] order and then um people would find
their loved ones that way.
[1:20:46] One more thing, I'm sorry. Along those
same lines, I was thinking like with the
[1:20:50] I think it's the Vietnam Memorial where
you know if if loved ones are going to
[1:20:55] go and and and see you know the their
fallen heroes, what kind of momento is
[1:21:01] there um for them? And I know at the
Vietnam Memorial and probably other
[1:21:05] memorials too, they're able to put a P.
Oh, the 911 my sister-in-law, you put
[1:21:10] the paper and you charcoal or like
pencil and then you
[1:21:14] » because it really is because it really
is etched into the stone. So you
[1:21:18] Exactly. But when it's on a digital
board, there's nothing there.
[1:21:20] » Digitals are smart. We can do something.
>> You can have so we can do that or maybe
[1:21:25] print or I don't know. But but something
along those lines like what are people
[1:21:29] going to take back? And I guess they
could take a picture, but it is very
[1:21:34] special um when you're able to do that.
>> And I'm I'm sorry, I don't think I
[1:21:38] explained myself well. We would have
either chiseled in stone or brass
[1:21:43] plaques or some sort of plaques that
would have it etched.
[1:21:46] » Okay.
>> And each name would be individual and
[1:21:48] lined up along there. And if it would
give us that room that um Gary was
[1:21:53] talking about to add more names where I
was talking about the website would be
[1:21:56] if somebody wanted to know where on that
plaque their family member was, you
[1:22:01] could have a directory and unfortunately
bringing my own uh story into it. my
[1:22:05] brother passed away and he's at the
peace officers memorial in Washington DC
[1:22:11] and there is a telephone book
unfortunately sized um book of names and
[1:22:16] so you those names are added all the
time as as um Michael Cervantes was
[1:22:20] talking about hopefully we don't add
names but unfortunately to that it's
[1:22:24] added you know daily and so you go to
the book that's there in the memorial to
[1:22:29] find out it's alphabetical in the book
but your loved one's name might be on
[1:22:34] panel four you spot eight. And so that's
the way that we could have a key or a
[1:22:39] legend for where people's names are, but
you would add them over time as those
[1:22:43] names happen. And then as you both had
pointed out, if you want a momento, you
[1:22:47] bring a piece of paper and a crayon and
or or charcoal or what have you.
[1:22:52] » Okay, great. Thank you. Sorry, Vice
Mayor. Was that
[1:22:56] » Yes, that I yield. Thank you.
>> Okay, thank you. So option two is your
[1:23:00] preference. Who would like to continue?
Council
[1:23:05] member Herrera,
anybody?
[1:23:09] » Okay, so I got a few things here. Um
[1:23:15] I like option two,
but I also like option one. And the the
[1:23:22] thing that I would like to carry from
option one is that significance of
[1:23:27] having this like tower, right? Like when
you go to Washington DC, you have like
[1:23:34] these great memorials. We have these
towers. I see the they're uh shaking
[1:23:39] their head over there. But I would like
to see if we can incorporate
[1:23:44] that tower with the bell tower
as part of option two. and and then also
[1:23:53] have like a stage area there
because we have a lot of events at when
[1:24:00] we're celebrating the the veterans.
Um from option two, I see that if we can
[1:24:06] go back to option two,
[1:24:10] the bottom portion, the bottom portion
of that looks a bit blocky. So, I would
[1:24:16] agree that it needs more of that arch
kind of feeling. Um, it doesn't have
[1:24:23] that arch feeling for the bottom
section. The top section does look like
[1:24:28] something that represents St. Gabriel.
And I would say and I would put this to
[1:24:34] to the to the veterans if assigning each
pillar additionally assigning each
[1:24:39] pillar to each branch that's holding up
that that um that pergula and having a
[1:24:46] big placer on each pillar so that is
visual and is present and that you could
[1:24:53] we could put some lights that that will
like pop out and you look up is going to
[1:24:58] be pretty grand. Um,
[1:25:03] in addition, um, for the benches, I
mean, I would like to see a stage area
[1:25:07] that could at least
fit a canopy in case it rains so that we
[1:25:13] can house
uh, whoever we want to house up there
[1:25:19] and then provide a little bit more space
so that we can have the chairs in the
[1:25:22] bottom. I know we have a few benches
there. I think it would be a interesting
[1:25:28] idea to I see like three benches maybe
having
[1:25:33] four benches
that are going to be concrete in there
[1:25:38] permanently but shaping them as a a
fighter uh plane wings. So you'll be
[1:25:45] sitting on wings that like a plane that
has two wings on the front and two in
[1:25:51] the back. I think it will be kind of an
interesting concept to have. I mean,
[1:25:58] it's something that we could we can
create with the cement and it wouldn't
[1:26:02] be so grand. I think it should be not
that hard to to do.
[1:26:07] Um, other than that,
[1:26:12] I kind of like the idea of having
something digital, too, like a digital
[1:26:16] uh screen or something that could be
playing. I seen that. I went to um
[1:26:23] Guatemala City and they had that like a
digital panel where you can interact
[1:26:28] with it and you can touch it's like
touchscreen. I know there's that
[1:26:32] technology if we can have that embedded
and you can have a few stories and we
[1:26:37] can easily add stories to that. We could
put a name and with technology as it
[1:26:42] advances with AI, I don't know what we
could do but I think that would be an
[1:26:46] interested thing to to add. So that's
just a little bit of the feedback that I
[1:26:52] have, but ultimately I would like I will
side with the veterans and go with the
[1:26:58] option two with those small
modifications.
[1:27:04] » Okay. Thank you,
Council Member Woot.
[1:27:10] » Well, thank you, Mayor. Well, I I I just
want to express that I I'm in favor in
[1:27:17] number two, the project too. But um the
truth is I think no matter how we want
[1:27:22] to express our view as a council members
that uh we should just that our veterans
[1:27:28] to determine that what is truly needed
uh rather than just imposing that what
[1:27:33] we think should be given. Um this is
this memorial monument that represent
[1:27:38] the honor of our city and no one carries
that honor more meaningfully than our
[1:27:44] veterans themselves. Um but I would like
to say that St. Giver Valley Memorial
[1:27:49] Coalition is really honor that to be you
know allow me to be part of this
[1:27:53] projects and all the council member here
is to support you and thank you so much
[1:27:57] for your service. That's my comment.
Thank you.
[1:28:01] » Thank you council member Ding. Yeah,
that's I say now I want to say thank you
[1:28:08] Rebecca and Mark do a good job and and
and sab very okay finally we have the
[1:28:16] same something we can discuss for the
the veteran memorial so actually I I
[1:28:23] remember I have this chance to discuss
that it's back to the 2018
[1:28:30] so uh that's Even I got elected before
that it's 4th of July. Okay. I I have ch
[1:28:40] that have chance but it's it's good
things that the staff to put on the
[1:28:48] veteran war on the on the on the Smith
Park. But for me I say why our city of
[1:28:55] St. Gabri don't have the the the
permanently the memorial war to to
[1:29:04] provide our the city the veteran too. So
I feel if our neighborhood city the all
[1:29:11] they have the just only city of St.
Gabri. So that's I really glad to see
[1:29:18] that this is really happen in our city.
So uh I I also ch it's like option two.
[1:29:29] You know why? Because option two I feel
like more family you you have the kids
[1:29:35] or or or elder people they easy uh use
the I think it's called
[1:29:42] uh purga it's it's really designed it's
even your summertime
[1:29:48] all all winter time it's a good for the
for the for the family to have the rest
[1:29:55] here and the memory they are love person
the better than two. So uh the for the
[1:30:02] option two I really like see that this
is a very good concept and uh
[1:30:10] uh then I wanted to know it's based on
the the plaza park it's a lot of I still
[1:30:17] have a lot of question okay the plaza
park it's based on the so how many
[1:30:23] square footage and how many square
footage you used for the for the uh uh
[1:30:29] memorial monument
So give to us the some vision to see how
[1:30:35] big. Yeah.
>> Um the total square footage that the
[1:30:39] footprint of the memorial
>> um
[1:30:43] » I don't have that total square footage.
I mean, I can get that in terms of
[1:30:49] » of
what space or what area we would be
[1:30:54] » occupying if you're if you take into
account the walkways and the planters
[1:30:58] and all that in terms of uh
uh how how many square feet are we
[1:31:05] actually going to be disturbing of the
existing site? I can probably come up
[1:31:11] with that real
>> quickly because you have the some map.
[1:31:14] It's a park map with the layout the
future memorial. Uh yeah, looks like
[1:31:20] still small corner area, but but based
on your option two. Yeah, I know. Based
[1:31:26] on option two, some looks like it's more
huge. It's a it's a bigger area. Almost
[1:31:32] like a half park, you know. I I feeling
that, you know, almost half park is used
[1:31:38] for the for the memorial.
So
[1:31:45] just want to make sure it's it's enough
space to have the this. Yeah.
[1:31:52] » And then we we also have the like uh we
have the our Christmas tree light the
[1:31:57] tree you we don't want to touch that
too, right? So it's for the field.
[1:32:01] » And I'm just estimating if you were to
go from the left side the sidewalk
[1:32:07] » to the uh walkway on the other side.
Yeah. That length would probably be
[1:32:12] about 80 90 feet.
>> 80 90 feet.
[1:32:16] » Okay. Linear feet distance wise.
>> Okay.
[1:32:19] » Yeah.
>> Okay. So, actually not I a lot of really
[1:32:23] ways looks like it's a huge area, right?
It's okay.
[1:32:28] » Yeah. Yeah.
>> Okay.
[1:32:31] So, so that's why I want the more
detailed design. Do for for the is it
[1:32:36] for the future you have the more
detailed design. Is it possible you can
[1:32:40] do the new technology the 3D give it to
us the more idea?
[1:32:45] » Yeah, three the three dimensional the
modeling really does um I guess tell a
[1:32:51] the story I guess a little easier uh to
make at this scale even at this scale.
[1:32:56] It is it is a big scale in plan view
>> but um it's hard to pick up in this case
[1:33:02] where you have a lot of uh detailing and
detailed elements. It really helps to
[1:33:08] see them in 3D in in a as you model
them. So you
[1:33:14] will we will do that.
>> If you have this this direction, you can
[1:33:16] do the 3D. It's more ideally. Okay.
>> All right. So it's a I like the the
[1:33:26] Sabio the Sabio veteran coration. They
say the pronabio veteran. But uh my
[1:33:33] question is how do we define S Gabriel
the veteran? So it's based on they serve
[1:33:41] the time or that's the question for for
>> Yeah, that's the question for I think
[1:33:45] for the coalition to decide how the
question is is they had to have been
[1:33:50] born in the city of San Gabriel or they
had to
[1:33:55] lived in the city of San Gabriel.
>> So not the bas served the time, right?
[1:34:01] It's a maybe they say are veteran and
then later down move they they retire
[1:34:07] from the the army and come to our city.
>> Most of these most of the veterans there
[1:34:13] are several of them that were born in
San Gabriel.
[1:34:17] » Then they would register in LA County
because this is LA County.
[1:34:23] » Then they would serve in World War I or
World War II or Vietnam or Korea.
[1:34:29] and then they would stay in the city.
>> Other ones have been born in another
[1:34:34] city
>> but have lived in this city for 50, 60,
[1:34:40] 40, 30ome years.
>> Mhm. Okay.
[1:34:44] » So, does that kind of answer your
question? And every single veteran that
[1:34:48] we have,
>> they fill out the application online
[1:34:52] » and then I have to have proof that they
served in the war. So, they have to give
[1:34:55] me what is known as a DD214.
Mhm.
[1:34:59] » That shows you that they honorably
served and were discharged.
[1:35:03] » And on those papers, I'm looking for the
city of San Gabriel.
[1:35:08] » If they say I lived in San Gabriel,
>> then I go look at the 1920 census, 30
[1:35:14] census, 40 census, 50 census is up to
date to see that they lived in St.
[1:35:20] Gabriel.
>> Yeah. the so but the question is
[1:35:27] some serve the the army or navy they
discharge it and uh before they not born
[1:35:35] in the our city before they did not
leaving our city but after then they
[1:35:41] moved to the our city of San Gabriel
still qualified right
[1:35:43] » correct
>> okay good yeah it's a more broad
[1:35:46] » just just like all the veterans that I
explained that were Japanese they were
[1:35:51] all in the internment camps.
>> Okay.
[1:35:53] » Okay. But before those interament camps,
they lived in the city of San Gabriel.
[1:35:58] » Okay.
>> Some of them chose not to live in San
[1:36:00] Gabriel after the interament camps. But
the majority that I have found
[1:36:05] » not only got out of the interament
camps,
[1:36:08] » they served and came back to the city of
San Gabriel.
[1:36:11] » Yeah. Good. So very simple. It's any
veteran. It's relate to the
[1:36:16] » born in San Gabriel or lived in San
Gabriel for many many years. the San
[1:36:21] Gabriel. It's
>> the city of St. Gabriel.
[1:36:23] » All right.
>> If you had nothing to do with St.
[1:36:25] Gabriel, then you cannot be on that
monument.
[1:36:29] » Okay.
>> And in answer to your question on the
[1:36:31] dates when they register, it's the dates
by the war because if you served in
[1:36:37] World War I, that would be 41 to 45. If
you served in Korea, so if we're putting
[1:36:42] the names on there, putting the dates,
that's a long way to go across the way.
[1:36:47] If you go to the Vietnam veteran or you
go to the World War II veteran or the
[1:36:52] World War I veteran or the Korean
veteran, most of them have them in
[1:36:57] alphabetical order. Then you go there
and they'll tell you they're on panel
[1:37:01] one or panel two or panel three or panel
four. It's up to you if you want to make
[1:37:08] the correction when you put the emblems
there and you or or you can make a
[1:37:12] distinction. World War I was this year
to that year. World War II was this year
[1:37:17] to that year. You could do that. Uh but
most of the veterans, there's so many of
[1:37:23] them have so many medals. We even
contemplating on each name putting the
[1:37:27] different medals if they got bronze
star, silver star, but that becomes too
[1:37:32] much. If you go to the city of Arcadia,
they have theirs in their museum and
[1:37:39] it's all digitized. So, they take all
the history like I've been getting, they
[1:37:44] put them online so everybody can see
them
[1:37:48] and and you have the emblem of each war
and the years that they served.
[1:37:53] » But here, being that it's outside, you
can't do the digital ties and have it
[1:37:59] outside unless you place that in maybe
your historical museum, which is close
[1:38:04] by. The San Gabriel Historical Museum
might be one way. Um, Arcadia got theirs
[1:38:09] through the Daughters of American
Revolution. Uh, they donated all that
[1:38:14] computer and the whole setup and you
submit all the stuff to put in there.
[1:38:19] So, that's another option. But being
outside, we can't put that information,
[1:38:24] you know, next to each person, but I do
have a lot of information on each
[1:38:28] person. What
>> I understand. Thank you. Actually, I was
[1:38:32] just at the Arcadia uh community center
a few days ago and I noticed they do
[1:38:37] have
>> well, it's hard for you to see, but I
[1:38:39] took a picture of this. So, there's the
the the monuments outside and you're
[1:38:43] saying there there's another one inside
>> in their in their museum. It's called
[1:38:46] the GLI Museum. I will I can show you
all the stuff that they Yeah, I have
[1:38:50] that and I can show that to Mark how
they digitize and put it together and do
[1:38:54] that.
>> So, they've got an outdoors one and an
[1:38:56] indoors one.
>> Yeah. If you go to most of the cities
[1:38:59] around here, Temple City,
>> Arcadia, they don't have the names on
[1:39:03] the veterans. They just have those four
or five Navy, Army, Marine, Flowers.
[1:39:09] » So, even though St. Gabriel has taken
>> a long time to do this, you'll be a
[1:39:15] unique city
>> by actually adding your citizens on
[1:39:20] there that really serve.
>> I like it. Monterey Park has some in the
[1:39:24] front of their city hall,
>> but this one will be so unique because
[1:39:28] you will have all of them on there.
>> Excellent.
[1:39:31] » And as time goes on, like Denise
mentioned and several of you mentioned,
[1:39:35] you'll be adding on for generations,
>> right? Okay, great. Thank you for that.
[1:39:40] » Any more questions? I keep going.
>> I still not finish.
[1:39:46] » Go ahead.
>> The question is for the designer. Okay.
[1:39:49] Thank you. Thank you to answer the
question. Denise. Okay. Uh the so it's
[1:39:55] we already everybody talking about
digital ties the so can you like uh when
[1:40:03] you do the design so maybe you can think
about it it's use the bigger screen or
[1:40:09] just smaller like iPad to let the let
the people they go to the even outside
[1:40:15] they can then can search the right away.
So that's it's possible and also I think
[1:40:23] this cause our safety pro problem too if
if we put on the screen on that you know
[1:40:29] outside so that's how do we I think I
like the digital the idea so it's easy
[1:40:37] to the people to go there to see the
name they can search right away they
[1:40:42] don't need to like go go to the like our
website something right it's it's if we
[1:40:48] and provide it because it's already new
technology, you know.
[1:40:51] » Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I think that's
that's probably doable. I think you need
[1:40:56] to I personally would need to do some
research on how to incorporate that. I
[1:41:02] think you need to think about that this
will be outdoors in a park
[1:41:06] » and um you know subject to um you know
>> yeah actually the first of all if we
[1:41:14] have big big screen even you can so how
it's even we can put on some with a
[1:41:21] history like sab veteran corision how
they put on this kind movement that's
[1:41:28] part of history we can use the digital
talize to tell the the the the the
[1:41:34] future resident they know that right how
they we can make this happen right and
[1:41:40] by the way it's
>> uh if you talk it's also the technology
[1:41:46] so if you have the name you can like uh
help them to see oh where the plaque the
[1:41:53] their location located so I think they
can do that too
[1:41:58] » yeah in terms of uh uh finding like a
wayfinding uh tool to help find uh a
[1:42:06] specific person. Sure.
>> Um
[1:42:09] » I'm not I' I'd have to understand a
little bit more about this big screen
[1:42:15] thing you're talking about.
>> You know, how big is it? What what's
[1:42:19] what information do you want on there?
That type of thing. I imagine something
[1:42:23] a little bit smaller
>> that that would, you know, probably be a
[1:42:27] little bit more appropriate for this
rather than a large screen with names
[1:42:31] and things on it. That might be, you
know, subject to vandalism. Um
[1:42:36] » Mhm.
>> But even like maybe a QR code so people
[1:42:39] could go on their phone
>> QR code. Yeah.
[1:42:41] » And bingo, we're done.
>> That's true. You know to
[1:42:45] » But I Why you say the bigger screen?
Maybe for the some veteran the senior
[1:42:49] person it's hard to see a like today we
hard to read it to small character
[1:42:55] » be a big QR code
>> we can discuss that with staff and see
[1:43:00] if that's something we can incorporate
into into
[1:43:03] » but yeah we can let them flush that out
um later. Yeah. And the and the question
[1:43:07] is if we already have this direction if
looks like most
[1:43:12] » I still haven't spoken so
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I Yeah. No. I I
[1:43:16] just say I just asking the if we have
this direction. So how long you can
[1:43:21] provide the the the more detailed the
design?
[1:43:25] » Um I think we could probably have
something within two weeks updated uh uh
[1:43:31] design. I know we've we've we again have
these two and we've had the input from
[1:43:38] the coalition. So even back at our
studios, we've been thinking about how
[1:43:42] to
>> to add those into the design. So
[1:43:45] » So
>> I would say two two to three weeks to be
[1:43:47] on the same side.
>> Okay. All right. The the design come
[1:43:50] out. It's it's very important for us
also is how much the cost, right?
[1:43:56] » We'll talk about that later.
>> Yeah. But but I I just I just want to
[1:44:01] like add on this when they design should
be considered about that too, right?
[1:44:06] » Yeah.
>> And uh and uh it's after we approved the
[1:44:10] your detail design.
Yeah. The next go around we will have an
[1:44:14] estimate of what we feel something like
this would cost. Right now because it's
[1:44:19] still, you know, everything's kind of
fluid. Um we haven't taken the time to
[1:44:25] come up with any estimates. But I think
the next go around when we can, you
[1:44:29] know, tighten things up a bit, we can
have an estimate of what we feel
[1:44:33] something like this would cost.
>> Okay. Yeah. It's very important.
[1:44:37] Yes.
>> It's how long we can build this uh the
[1:44:42] the monument.
>> How how long?
[1:44:44] » How long? Yeah, probably as
>> um I' I'd probably say a year out at
[1:44:49] least. Yeah, a year out.
>> It's it's one one year. Six months out.
[1:44:56] construction.
>> Construction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:44:58] » Well, it'll take uh 3 4 months to do
CDs, put together the working drawings,
[1:45:04] the construction drawings. I imagine six
months to construct, you know, anywhere
[1:45:09] from
>> um you know, four months would be, you
[1:45:13] know,
>> pretty pretty fast. I'd say six month.
[1:45:16] » So, roughly estimate like one year.
>> I would say about a year.
[1:45:20] » Okay. All right. I think the the very
courage they want to see ASAP right to
[1:45:25] to get it right.
>> They've they've waited this long. So,
[1:45:31] » okay.
>> Yeah.
[1:45:34] » Okay.
>> If we could speed it up, we'd be happy
[1:45:36] to try to, you know, do what we can, but
>> All right.
[1:45:39] » Yeah.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:45:41] » Thank you.
>> Great. Thank you. So, um I think the
[1:45:45] consensus I'm hearing is modific uh
option two with the modifications. um
[1:45:50] that were uh mentioned earlier. I I I I
can't sign on to those things on the on
[1:45:58] the bench. I like the way it is. I think
it's a solemn place. It's a respectful
[1:46:03] place. Um but I think I think the
consensus is option two with any
[1:46:09] modifications. We we did talk about um
digital which needs to be looked at. Um,
[1:46:15] but I was also just thinking um just in
general just going forward, you know, if
[1:46:20] people have questions, contact
information, you know, who are they
[1:46:24] going to be contacting going forward,
donations. I think once we have a
[1:46:29] design, you know, they will come. I
think you're going to have a lot of
[1:46:35] groups and I, you know, I can already
think about three or four once they see
[1:46:39] the designs, you know, whether it's
businesses here or businesses outside,
[1:46:44] they're want to, they're going to want
to be part of it. So, it's really
[1:46:47] important that we get these designs
done, not necessarily the construction,
[1:46:52] but the designs. And then I think it
would be so helpful in getting more
[1:46:56] people to to sign on. And so, that's
really important. But but we do need to
[1:47:01] think about where are we going to put
that sign. So, you know, just going
[1:47:05] forward and and maybe it's not digital.
I I I think it makes sense to do digital
[1:47:10] because things are going to be changing,
but you know, donations for the future,
[1:47:14] contact information, um you know, if you
want your loved ones to be added, you
[1:47:19] know, where do they go? So, we need to
have somewhere on there um that type of
[1:47:25] information. What that looks like, you
know, I don't know. And then if it makes
[1:47:29] sense to do the names, the 400 names
here and then later on put them over
[1:47:34] here, that's fine too. But uh I I think
those are the kind of questions that
[1:47:39] need to be discussed. Uh the um the
other unique thing about this memorial
[1:47:45] is the fact that I think we're the first
ones to do the space, right? Because
[1:47:49] most of them don't have space.
>> Yeah, that I made that uh recommendation
[1:47:55] when we first decided on this.
>> Oh, you did? Yeah. I forgot.
[1:47:58] » You're welcome. You're welcome.
>> But but yeah, we're the first. So that
[1:48:02] makes us unique also, not just the
names. Um, one question I had and and
[1:48:08] maybe it's already been discussed, but
our indigenous groups, I know there was
[1:48:12] some discussion of maybe having a
separate section for them or um are are
[1:48:19] we just going to merge them together
with everyone else? I mean, I merge
[1:48:23] them. Okay, so it's a merge. That's
okay. Just wanted to confirm that. And
[1:48:29] then um the landscaping um I I do like
it. It is very busy. Um hopefully
[1:48:37] whatever we do pick, you know, I'm I'm
the daughter of a gardener. Um but
[1:48:43] I think about those things. It's just
the the maintenance, the upkeeping. It's
[1:48:48] like I hope our staff is fully equipped
to do that because I don't think we have
[1:48:52] anything like this in any of our
facilities because those seem to be very
[1:48:58] I mean I look at them at the mission and
it just seems like they're sensitive.
[1:49:02] It's not something you just let it grow
and you need to give it that love and
[1:49:06] care and so we're going to have to have
irrigation system of some sort. So those
[1:49:11] are the things you you will be thinking
about. Right. Just another word about
[1:49:15] the landscaping and the plant material.
Someone asked that earlier. Um we do
[1:49:20] work with the city primarily their
maintenance people and if uh we we try
[1:49:26] to identify plants that they see have
worked well that do well um and we'll
[1:49:33] work with them and often they have the
final say uh of plant m the plant
[1:49:38] material that goes in. So, we want to
make sure that um you know they're on
[1:49:43] board as well. So,
>> but you need an irrigation system of
[1:49:47] some sort to make sure it continues to
grow.
[1:49:49] » We would probably modify what's out
there. There's currently an existing
[1:49:53] irrigation system. We would have to
definitely modify it in a way to
[1:49:56] irrigate any any new plant. Sure.
>> Yeah. Because then you have to connect
[1:50:01] it to the main line and goes on and on.
And then um my last comment is um I I do
[1:50:07] kind of like having our commissions
design review and our planning
[1:50:12] commission
um maybe even historical. Remember they
[1:50:16] are advisory. That's their role. It's
not to tell them or us what to do. They
[1:50:22] give advice. And if we want everyone to
kind of buy in, I I think it would be
[1:50:28] respectful to let them at least look at
it and maybe there's things they see
[1:50:32] because we have some amazing commissions
with very qualified people. Maybe
[1:50:37] there's some things that we're not
seeing um and they can give us their
[1:50:41] advice. They can just, you know, provide
any kind of guidance or or just
[1:50:48] suggestions. I know it's additional work
for staff, but I don't think there's any
[1:50:52] harm in doing it unless it's going to,
you know, stop us for another six months
[1:50:57] and we don't want that. But if we kind
of narrow it down to option two, you
[1:51:01] make those modifications,
they they look at it, maybe there's
[1:51:05] something else. But I I just feel it's
important to for everybody to be
[1:51:09] included because I get questions all the
time and I'm definitely not the expert
[1:51:14] and like I said this is the first time
I've seen it but um I I think it would
[1:51:19] start getting that momentum going and
and then hopefully once we get to a
[1:51:24] better place then we can have those
boards out there so people could say hey
[1:51:29] it's coming it's coming you know the
memorial is coming and this is where you
[1:51:33] donate you know this is where I I would
like to see that kind of visual even
[1:51:38] because this is again another year but
having some kind of visual out there so
[1:51:42] people know we we're moving we're moving
forward you know the year of the horse
[1:51:46] right about energy and momentum and all
that good stuff and we're doing that but
[1:51:51] nobody knows you know unless you're a
veteran or you're really involved
[1:51:56] nothing out there telling people that
we're going to have a memorial here so
[1:52:01] you know join in participate so those
are what would be just my suggestions
[1:52:05] questions um for now, but I think staff
has enough to to proceed. Mark, is there
[1:52:11] anything else you need from us?
I I would just suggest if if the
[1:52:17] commissions if if council wants the
commissions to be consulted that
[1:52:22] possibly we would do that
sooner rather than later and would take
[1:52:26] these ideas to them and then DBDC would
be able to pull all of that together
[1:52:31] rather than them having to go back and
make propos the proposed changes that
[1:52:36] they've heard today and from the
Veterans Memorial Coalition and then
[1:52:40] take it to the to the commissions. Does
it do you?
[1:52:43] » Well, I Mark Martin, did you have a
comment? I couldn't understand you. You
[1:52:48] were mumbling.
>> What' you say?
[1:52:59] » It will,
>> right?
[1:53:01] » Well, but but you're saying it won't
delay it. Just take this option two,
[1:53:06] mention the modifications that have been
made and then give them a chance to just
[1:53:10] look at it. That that would be my
suggestion rather than rather than David
[1:53:15] Voltz making these changes and then they
take it to the commissions and the
[1:53:19] commissions then have changes and then
it has to go back again.
[1:53:22] » Well, the commissions would just give us
would be advisory only. So,
[1:53:26] » right, but they may advise, hey, you
really should take a look at this and
[1:53:29] then we would need to bring it back to
council before it goes back to David
[1:53:33] Boltz. I I'm just trying to see how we
can kind of expedite the process, which
[1:53:38] I I I sense the eagerness of council as
well as the eagerness of the veterans.
[1:53:44] » Mark,
>> I'm just going to try to confirm which
[1:53:48] commissions you would want that to go
to. Uh my suggestion would be design
[1:53:51] review and cultural resources and
historic preservation because they both
[1:53:56] deal in this planning commission
although they deal with with uh projects
[1:54:02] may not be as
>> those would be the two
[1:54:04] » that's would be my suggestion.
>> Um madame mayor if I may what about the
[1:54:09] idea of just having the ad hoc wi within
those commissions so that it just goes
[1:54:13] to one body. I think that
>> it Yeah, but it takes it takes a long
[1:54:18] time those ad hocs if we just I mean
they can have it at their next meeting.
[1:54:22] So we're in February, March, they look
at it, we're done, and then we move
[1:54:27] forward.
>> So right now we're looking at two or
[1:54:30] three.
>> My suggestion would be two. As Rebecca
[1:54:33] said, we would bring this design, get
feedback. I don't think we'd have to go
[1:54:37] back to to council. We'll give that
feedback to David Vol's designs and they
[1:54:42] can put that into the final um we bring
to council unless there's something that
[1:54:47] we absolutely don't think council would
want to see and we can have that as
[1:54:50] either a separate design or just input
when we get back to council. So, I think
[1:54:54] we can do it in a way that
>> speeds it up. It's not going to be fast.
[1:54:58] I don't want to oversell this. It's
going to be
[1:55:00] » but but if you just use this one, tell
them about the modifications, it could
[1:55:04] be on the agenda in March. I mean, we're
not talking about additional committees
[1:55:08] or additional work, per se.
>> That's right. So, March or April, it
[1:55:12] would be on those commissions and then
back to the council sometime after that.
[1:55:15] » Yeah, madam.
>> Does that a layer?
[1:55:17] » Yeah.
>> Madame Mayor, I would support that
[1:55:19] because then that way they feel like
they're being part of this um process.
[1:55:24] » You support the two?
>> Yeah.
[1:55:26] » Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[1:55:26] » Two.
>> Two.
[1:55:28] » Yeah. It's it's just just want to like
see the time wise. Okay. the uh even we
[1:55:35] have two how long we can we still need
to bring back to the city council to
[1:55:40] discuss or just uh their result it's
it's a give it to the design the company
[1:55:47] » ultimately the last step is coming to
council to bless the concept design and
[1:55:52] so the the path we're going forward with
now would be David Bol uh and his team
[1:55:57] would go back and start to make the
changes they've heard today
[1:56:00] » we would take a parallel track to the
commissions
[1:56:03] » Mhm. Mhm.
>> And then we would come back to council
[1:56:06] with whatever that end design would be
with with the input. So
[1:56:10] » it has to come back to us anyway.
>> So so come back to us then they are
[1:56:16] company they can do the further design.
Is it correct or it's it's
[1:56:20] simultaneously they still can do the
some design?
[1:56:30] I I would suggest if council is okay
with the recommendations that the
[1:56:35] coalition has made and and we can take
any comments that you guys have made um
[1:56:41] tonight and take that to the commission.
And if the commission is in agreement
[1:56:47] with those if there are additional
changes that the commissions have or
[1:56:51] recommendations that the commissions
have, we could potentially do that
[1:56:55] offline rather than in a public meeting
and and send those to council and then
[1:57:00] David Voltz can can do their I don't
know if Martin's looking concerned by
[1:57:05] that. No.
Yeah, I think that of course you can
[1:57:11] send whatever minutes of the meetings or
whatever suggestions were to the
[1:57:15] commission, but council can't take
action on those in any way, shape or
[1:57:19] form other than bring them back to the
meeting and and uh make decisions on on
[1:57:25] those recommendations.
Um,
[1:57:28] » so I guess we would need to know what
those recommendations are that are given
[1:57:33] and whether or not that's enough for
David Voltz to re kind of do the final
[1:57:37] design based on and then bring that
design back. Right.
[1:57:42] » Want to speak?
>> Yeah. Thank you. Um, well, I I think
[1:57:46] that
since it's the desire of the council to
[1:57:50] have the commissions provide input on
this project and and have those that
[1:57:55] input be meaningful,
um, I think that once that's done, it
[1:58:00] should come back to the council
>> and then go to the consultant because if
[1:58:05] if if it goes straight from the
commissions to the consultant, he may or
[1:58:09] may not incorporate those um, and then
whatever the commissions have done
[1:58:16] may be recognized, may not be recognized
and and they may feel like um they
[1:58:23] looked at it uh without any
reason for them to do that.
[1:58:29] » So would it be safe to say then that
that item could come back to the city
[1:58:33] council? The consultant wouldn't
necessarily have to be here for that and
[1:58:37] then they would be here for the final
design. Does that make sense? Well,
[1:58:41] that's up to the council, but depending
on what those recommendations are from
[1:58:45] commissions. I
>> I think Madame Mayor, I'm sorry to butt
[1:58:48] in. if you'll give uh staff a little
discretion on how this process goes
[1:58:53] depending on what we hear back from the
commissions because I'd hate to set a
[1:58:57] process that we promise to bring back or
not bring back and then it turns out the
[1:59:01] designs are are very minimal changes and
we can just we think the council will
[1:59:05] approve them and we can just have the
architect incorporate them or vice versa
[1:59:09] if the changes are so drastic I'd hate
to waste time on making those changes
[1:59:13] I'd bring it back to council right away
and say you need to be the arbitrator of
[1:59:17] where this goes. So, if I think we have
the idea of what you're looking for and
[1:59:21] if you'll give us some discretion, we'll
try to get it back to the council as
[1:59:25] quickly as possible in a format that you
all will want to move forward on.
[1:59:30] » Okay.
>> So, whole processing probably take how
[1:59:33] long?
>> At least two months. I don't want to
[1:59:36] over promise by the time we get agendas
ready and before the commission and with
[1:59:41] the architect, it's probably two months.
>> Well, it was going to be a month just to
[1:59:46] make those modifications. Anyway,
>> so we're looking at maybe one more month
[1:59:51] » at most. But I think it would be
valuable to have that
[1:59:54] » you not one more month, it's three more
months because the two months later the
[2:00:00] bring back to the city council, then the
designer can go moving forward.
[2:00:04] » Well, no, he he already has
modifications he's got to make. This is
[2:00:08] not the final one. He's going to make
those modifications that were suggested
[2:00:12] and he said it's going to take at least
a month.
[2:00:14] » So So you can simultaneously do the some
modification
[2:00:18] and uh until the two months later so
they will we have the commission come
[2:00:23] back. So if we have the some little
change you still can do it to is it
[2:00:29] correct?
>> I I I think two months. Yeah. If I mean
[2:00:34] the way I understand it is I I have
suggestions from from the coalition
[2:00:40] » and and uh uh the council this evening.
Uh those changes I think can be easily
[2:00:46] incorporated into an updated design
within a month.
[2:00:50] » Um but it sounds like uh I would could
possibly get some additional comments
[2:00:56] from uh other commissions. Um, and you
know, depending on what those
[2:01:03] suggestions are and what the city would
like to move forward with in terms of
[2:01:08] those changes, you know, I would say,
you know, that could be a couple weeks
[2:01:13] to another month to do that. So, um, two
months total.
[2:01:18] » Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's good to
know.
[2:01:23] » Mark, how do we take care of this?
Because we got comments. I know public
[2:01:27] comments already stopped, but we do have
additional comments in the audience. How
[2:01:32] do we suggest?
>> That's totally up to the mayor if you
[2:01:35] want to open the comment period.
>> So then I will open up the public
[2:01:39] comment again, but you need to stand up
and get to the mic. M
[2:01:43] » madame mayor, may I just make one one
more uh recommendation, a clarification
[2:01:48] before that? Um in the bench area, I I
see that there's different kind of stone
[2:01:54] there. Is that that accurate? I just
want to make sure that we avoid people
[2:01:59] that are going to go and skateboard in
that area and have like a particular
[2:02:03] kind of stone that will prevent people
from
[2:02:06] » vandalizing the the benches and skating
around that area, particularly just by
[2:02:11] the benches.
>> And the option too, there is a different
[2:02:13] stone that we're using uh in front of
the memorial. Um it'd be the idea so far
[2:02:20] would be a a flag stone type material.
Um, just keep in mind all this is still
[2:02:26] ADA uh um accessible. So, we have to
make sure that um it it's probably not
[2:02:34] the the easy easiest surface to skate
on, but it's it probably is flat enough
[2:02:39] where someone could skate on it. Yeah.
>> Okay. I just wanted to point that out.
[2:02:45] » Thank you for that.
>> Thank you,
[2:02:46] » Mary.
[2:02:51] » I just wanted to make a suggestion. Um,
Rebecca, like we had our meeting in
[2:02:56] December with him. Is it possible to get
the commissioners with the veterans and
[2:03:03] him all together so that we don't go to
each commission? We have them all
[2:03:08] together if they want to participate in
it. Would that be possible?
[2:03:16] » I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.
>> I'm sorry.
[2:03:18] » I'm sorry. I was looking at Mark. I was
going to suggest that that dual meeting
[2:03:23] like we had with the planning commission
and um the council.
[2:03:28] Is that possible or
>> That's absolutely possible. It's at the
[2:03:32] discretion of the council. Sometimes
that takes longer to set up though than
[2:03:36] the standing meetings that we already
have with both commissions and um we'll
[2:03:40] invite the the coalition to both of
those meetings. Obviously, they'll have
[2:03:44] uh invitations to those. So, I I think
it'd be quicker just to use the standing
[2:03:48] meetings that we have
>> because I think we should be included if
[2:03:50] they're going to make suggestions
because we've already reviewed it with
[2:03:54] him and made our suggestions so we know
what they want to suggest. I mean, cuz
[2:03:59] we're not going for the angels either.
Angel benches. It just
[2:04:05] a ship.
>> Okay. I'm I'm Well, I don't like the
[2:04:08] angels either.
>> It sounds more like a cemetery, you
[2:04:11] know? It sounds like it should be in the
cemetery.
[2:04:13] » It was plain wings. Plain wings. Yeah.
Well,
[2:04:15] » would it be possible to have half of you
go to one meeting and the other half go
[2:04:19] to? Why don't we do something like that?
>> But I I think you would find it I think
[2:04:24] just being more inclusive and including
this is what their
[2:04:28] » their volunteer role is is to give
suggestions and I think it could be some
[2:04:33] really good ones too, things that we're
not seeing.
[2:04:36] » Right.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mary. And then uh
[2:04:40] » back up.
[2:04:44] I'm coming. Oh, who's coming? Debbie.
Sorry, Debbie.
[2:04:48] » Yes, sir.
[2:04:53] » Um,
I just want to thank everybody. Sorry. I
[2:04:58] just want to thank everyone. Um,
I just have one comment in regards to a
[2:05:04] suggestion
um for
[2:05:09] a possible modification.
Um, in keeping to the theme of our
[2:05:15] beautiful mission district,
um,
[2:05:22] digital, I understand, you know, is the
way. um in a lot of different types of
[2:05:30] settings, but this is just me. Um
[2:05:37] you know, um
when I see
[2:05:42] something electronic in front of this
beautiful San Gabriel Mission,
[2:05:48] um it's just hard to see flashing lights
or or the scrolling of names. and you
[2:05:55] know against that backdrop of of the San
Gabriel mission and I understand it's
[2:06:01] it's the way and it's easier to view for
folks but um
[2:06:07] you know just the thought of having like
a billboard or something you know
[2:06:11] illuminated like that I'm thinking of
you know the billboards down the Sunset
[2:06:17] Strip or Vegas you know and I don't want
it to take away from the beautiful San
[2:06:24] Gabriel mission, you know. Um I I
remember everyone said we got to keep
[2:06:29] this veterans memorial in the style of
our San Gabriel mission of the flavor,
[2:06:36] the feeling, the vibe and just having a
digital
[2:06:41] whatever size there I think um
you know kind of takes away from how
[2:06:49] unique our city is you know and um I get
goosebumps just thinking about it. And
[2:06:56] I'm sorry. I I I am passionate about our
veterans and I love this little town,
[2:07:01] St. Cabril, and I'm sorry. Um but
you know um I know the future
[2:07:10] there's a lot of changes
but we we need to embrace this town
[2:07:16] you know and we can't lose the flavor of
what we have at that little plaza park
[2:07:23] in front of that church in front of
where everything happened and everything
[2:07:28] started
you know um so Yeah, just having the
[2:07:33] beautiful little lights um illuminating
the names and the flag I think is great,
[2:07:40] you know. Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Uh Carlos or Michael? Oh,
[2:07:46] okay.
>> I saw Carlos's hand.
[2:07:50] » No, no, go ahead.
Uh since it's
[2:07:56] since it's now going to the planning
commission, it's like one more
[2:08:01] » No, no, we said design review and
historical.
[2:08:04] » Okay.
>> Not the planning.
[2:08:06] » It's just that we want to be kept a
breast of what's going on. you know, uh
[2:08:12] it has been a long long time and there's
been a lot of time where we've come
[2:08:19] together,
try to come up with ideas,
[2:08:25] um come up with plans for fundraisers,
uh time to communicate with different
[2:08:32] council members.
And so we're hoping that we are kept a
[2:08:37] breast of all the steps they're going to
take. Um because
[2:08:44] the group is not exactly teenagers,
okay? And and
[2:08:51] the more that they know, I think the
better that they have that something's
[2:08:56] going to come about and that they can
share that information with others. So
[2:09:00] that's my hope.
I think Rebecca's been very good in
[2:09:04] trying to keep you all informed. I think
we've all done a better job. So, I think
[2:09:09] we can give you assurance that whatever
does take place, it will be
[2:09:13] communicated.
I hope that uh the architects I wish
[2:09:18] them well with their uh proposed concept
drawings and I wish also to thank uh
[2:09:26] Rebecca Pettis for her uh serving as a
liaison between ourselves and the city.
[2:09:34] uh she's been
very very good in her precision and
[2:09:39] always there to offer us the help that
we need. Thank you.
[2:09:44] » Thank you, Michael. Carlos, the real
Carlos.
[2:09:49] » Okay, great. Thank you.
How'd you get in here, Pat?
[2:09:55] » Hello. Hello, uh Mayor Machaka, members
of the city council. Thank you very
[2:10:00] much. My name is Patricia Fulton. F O L
T Y N. And I was born in Pasadena but
[2:10:09] raised in this beautiful city. Um my my
parent my father was not a veteran
[2:10:15] although maybe a civilian veteran of
World War II. I um I remember when this
[2:10:23] idea was first scratched on a napkin for
this Veterans Memorial.
[2:10:30] And I know I uh I know people that were
sitting next to me when they were
[2:10:35] scratching ideas on the napkin along
with the veterans many years ago. So I
[2:10:40] am so happy to see that this is where it
is now. I think it's going to be a
[2:10:46] positive influence for our community. My
one concern is that if this is at the
[2:10:52] turn of the street where where it goes
in front of the Mission Elementary
[2:10:56] School and then turns on down to Mission
Drive, we have to somehow subtly make
[2:11:02] the traffic be, you know, I just don't
want to see somebody go crashing, you
[2:11:07] know, over and unfortunately landing
into the memorial. So unobtrusively
[2:11:14] make the turn make people aware that you
know slow down or maybe put um like slow
[2:11:22] like a slow down sign in this area so
that the safety of the people at the
[2:11:28] memorial as well as the people driving.
I don't know whether there's any
[2:11:32] accidents that have occurred there but
I'm always thinking safety. So that
[2:11:37] smiley concern and I'm sure that um that
the designers, the police department,
[2:11:44] the the city staff will work together to
ensure that the safety. Thank you very
[2:11:49] much.
>> Thank you, Pat. Yeah, that's why it's
[2:11:51] important to have our police officers or
and and fire to be there to give back.
[2:11:56] Okay, so that closes public comment.
>> Got one more. Oh,
[2:12:02] » you know, you guys have done a lot and
Rebecca, as he explained, has really
[2:12:08] been helpful the whole way through, but
the veterans would love to see a sign
[2:12:15] there that says future home of the
veteran site because as we're putting on
[2:12:22] Veterans Day and Memorial Day and I'm
calling people asking for their veterans
[2:12:28] information, they keep saying, "Where's
the site? I don't see a sign there. I
[2:12:33] don't know where it is." So, I'm hoping
that the city I know that we have
[2:12:38] submitted, Michael Cervantes had several
designs submitted to Rebecca of what we
[2:12:44] would like it to say because the
veterans cannot go out fundraising until
[2:12:49] we have a final conception design. So,
anything that you do that delays it in
[2:12:56] getting this out there to us, it impedes
the fundraising of getting uh money to
[2:13:03] put, you know, the veterans names on
there and stuff. So I want you also to
[2:13:08] keep that in mind because every no
matter what you do it's just delaying
[2:13:13] along the way whether it's a month, two
months, three months because we cannot
[2:13:17] go out anywhere unless we have the final
and actual design to start fundraising.
[2:13:24] Okay,
>> thank you. Okay, I'm going to close
[2:13:27] public comment and uh staff uh or city
manager, you have everything you need.
[2:13:34] Okay, great. Thank you to everybody for
participating and for their patience.
[2:13:39] Uh, next item,
city manager report.
[2:13:44] » Thank you, Madame Mayor. I have nothing
tonight other than wishing everybody a
[2:13:47] happy uh, new year.
>> Okay. Council comments and conference
[2:13:55] meeting reports. Uh, vice mayor, would
you like to start?
[2:13:59] » Okay. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I'm going
to try to make this quick. Um, I know
[2:14:04] we've had a long day. Um,
on February 6th, uh, I attended the
[2:14:11] grand opening and ribbon cutting for
Guiji Tea Huiji Tea House in the Tawa
[2:14:17] Gateway, which is, uh, the former
formerly known as Focus Plaza Complex,
[2:14:24] and we wish them well. Looks like, uh,
they're going to do really well there.
[2:14:28] On uh February 7th, I attended along
with my some of my colleagues here
[2:14:34] attend the IPAC officers installation
dinner at the San Gabriel Sherin. It was
[2:14:39] a lovely event and thank you Councilman
Ding for the reminder. Um on the 11th I
[2:14:47] attended the a grand opening celebration
of a new restaurant called Milk and
[2:14:51] Company Cafe in Monterey Park and uh
they seem like they're going to do well.
[2:14:56] So, um, on February 13th, I attended,
well, as, uh, as Dr. Chassidy Jennings,
[2:15:06] uh, Nunees mentioned, I attended a
lovely Black History Month art exhibit
[2:15:11] event at the Blossom Market Hall, and it
was hosted by Dr. Jennings Nunees. And,
[2:15:17] uh, yeah, it was it was a great event,
really talented artist that they were fe
[2:15:20] featuring.
On
[2:15:24] February 15th, I attended League of
Women Voters along with a few of my
[2:15:29] colleagues here, uh, League of Women
Voters 90th anniversary Gayla event at
[2:15:33] the Arcadia Community Center. It's a
worthy cause and the music was great.
[2:15:39] And I may or may I not have uh sang
karaoke along with it.
[2:15:44] Maybe that happens. Um,
[2:15:49] and uh, oh, earlier this morning I
attended a public safety summit hosted
[2:15:54] by Temple City Mayor Sternquist at
Temple City's LA County Library. And it
[2:15:59] was mainly regarding how to work
together uh during a mass mass casualty
[2:16:06] emergency event and how to work together
and efficiently among the different
[2:16:10] levels of government and making sure
we're all on the same page and not
[2:16:14] getting in each other's way and and
making the the making the response as uh
[2:16:21] fluid and efficient as possible.
And um last thing, uh I just hope
[2:16:27] everyone had a great President's Day
holiday. I'm wearing my president's tie
[2:16:33] and happy lunar year. Happy Lunar New
Year. All right. Thank you. And I yield
[2:16:38] my time. Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
>> Council member Hera Aila.
[2:16:43] » Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh just one
thing just shiny quail ki fatai wishing
[2:16:48] you all a happy Chinese lunar new year
and uh many blessings to you and your
[2:16:52] families.
Thank you, Council Member Deng.
[2:17:01] » Five minutes to it.
[2:17:06] Okay. February 6 and have a chance to go
to Gu
[2:17:12] Opening. It's really glad our city have
a lot of the different kind of even tea.
[2:17:18] We have the different kind of tea too.
It's uh they are originally uh at Tai
[2:17:23] Taiwan. It's Yeah, it's it's a grand
great uh the grand opening. It's thanks
[2:17:29] to our
the economic development department to
[2:17:34] to host it this great event and our our
our PIO do the good job to to do that.
[2:17:43] Okay. And uh uh that's so uh morning and
evening I have uh attended the arch war
[2:17:50] grant prosperity they do the like a
financial insurance they every year this
[2:17:56] last couple year every year in the our
gabio the sheran so um because the it's
[2:18:06] the same to my career so they invite me
too and the evening I I joined
[2:18:14] choir in the Pasadena, the the
church, the people from the
[2:18:25] uh overseas, they have the good and come
with our uh like a local choir. They
[2:18:32] sing it together. It's it's very good
culture. And February 7, I have chance
[2:18:40] thanks to our rest of council member,
the mayor and the vice mayor to
[2:18:49] join the I have the opportunity got the
awards. Okay. So and that served our
[2:18:58] community and the February 8 it's I
attend Guang Guangdong University they
[2:19:04] are have the event in our Sabia Hilton
it's it's it's a great event too and uh
[2:19:12] then it's February 8 10 it's I have
chance to attend the SGB cog at 2028 the
[2:19:22] the the 2028 became the the committee.
So uh it's uh still continue to discuss
[2:19:30] on the 2020 how can they like uh
especially I I they've used this five
[2:19:38] division and uh I I most joined it's
sane park the division very close to us
[2:19:45] right okay and uh uh we suggest uh like
uh cal
[2:19:53] metro should be they they plan to to
provide the public transportation to let
[2:20:00] our sabio the resident go to the sale
mar the station. So that's I think is
[2:20:07] very important. So you know
we first of all we worry about the trans
[2:20:13] uh traffic but uh second it's it's a lot
of senior people is really want this
[2:20:18] kind of fast service they go to if they
want to go to the uh game to watch the
[2:20:24] game. And by the way we uh the the this
plan also the bring the like the foreign
[2:20:30] the ethnic they have to come to our for
our first of all I will represent for
[2:20:37] our city of St. Gabriel. So hopefully
they can come in to visit our uh the
[2:20:42] mission district to see the uh this uh
the the historic city. By the way, if if
[2:20:50] today we're moving forward, hopefully
that time we can introduce them that
[2:20:54] that we have the veteran memorial park
here too. Okay. So, it's it's a it's a
[2:20:59] good like consistent the uh the meeting.
I I saw the our council member Bu is
[2:21:05] also joined that and the February 12
it's uh council general the chamber of
[2:21:10] commerce uh they they have the luna new
year celebration and uh they currently
[2:21:18] say is in the uh hassai and auroran high
and uh hopefully the the hosting the
[2:21:24] business owner will be sooner have the
business in our city of San Gabriel too.
[2:21:30] All right. And and bring the more
revenue for us. Okay. And and February
[2:21:36] the 14, it's I have the chance with our
council member with Haka at the Tenuan
[2:21:43] day the cultural celebration and uh
evening it's an I have attended Yina
[2:21:51] Association Luna New Year celebration
actually.
[2:21:56] uh this like uh it's for me it's very
amazing they it's most like they are
[2:22:02] like a traditional the pe people are
from the China they're different ancest
[2:22:06] group too they celebrate because China
is it's it's larger when it's haga is
[2:22:13] mostly from the Taiwan and and it's they
in like ch okay it's it's really
[2:22:22] » you're close to your five minutes
>> okay Okay.
[2:22:25] » All right. So, it's really like uh for
me it's it's really it's represent our
[2:22:30] city have the diff different kind of
culture. We have the uh uh Spanish
[2:22:36] culture, indigenous people, the the the
culture. Yeah. Thank you,
[2:22:41] » Council Member Woo.
>> Well, first of all, thank you so much
[2:22:46] for those who still staying here.
Usually after the long reports um that
[2:22:53] saves a lot of my time because I have
attended with them some of the event but
[2:22:57] the negative part is I'll have less
audience stay here but thank you so much
[2:23:03] tonight
no no well but uh um I just want to make
[2:23:07] that brief the last things first that
this morning I joined the lunar new year
[2:23:11] celebration at Shilai Temple in Hienna
Heights. So alongside with a lot of
[2:23:16] distinguished community leaders and
elected official. So more than 3,000
[2:23:20] people gathered to celebrate the year of
horse and reflecting the strength of
[2:23:24] unity of our diverse community. And I
was able to uh uh deliver a short
[2:23:30] message and to wish everyone a happy new
year. And on February 12, I attended the
[2:23:37] Ramona Polar dinners as the member of a
very proud member of Native Sons of the
[2:23:42] Golden West. It was truly inspiring
because I learned how to play bingo.
[2:23:48] And it was also happy to see that so
many dedicated members who care deeply
[2:23:52] about the history of our city and the
state. So I have a privilege to share a
[2:23:57] little updates about our city of St.
Gabriel and expressing my gratitude to
[2:24:01] our city staff for their outstanding
work that makes our community that I'm
[2:24:06] so proud to represent. Uh I also met um
with this uh SGV COG Olympics ad hoc
[2:24:14] committee that representative and uh
with other cities elect official to
[2:24:19] discuss how city of St. Gabriel can
contribute as a nonvalue partners during
[2:24:24] the upcoming games in 2028. I share that
we should expand our indigenous cultural
[2:24:31] programming and enhance our lanterns
display to make our city of St. gave her
[2:24:35] a unique vibrant destination during the
Olympics. So the ideas including
[2:24:41] inviting the indigenous group from our
sister city in Hing County in Taiwan to
[2:24:47] engaged with our local tribal
communities here in St. Gabriel and
[2:24:51] shifting maybe the dumpling and beers
fest from October to July. So and to
[2:24:58] positioning our city as a hub of
Olympics celebration.
[2:25:02] On February 15, I attended inauguration
of chi uh American Chinese cuisine
[2:25:08] association at St. Gary Hilton with
dumplings served that evening. It was a
[2:25:14] feeding celebrations. I was I invited
the president uh Miss Zen to consider
[2:25:20] sponsoring and supporting dumpling for
our city's dumpling beer festival and as
[2:25:26] the way that to further strengthen
community partnership and cultural
[2:25:30] exchange. So that concludes my review.
>> Did they say yes?
[2:25:34] » Not yet. Because
>> not yet. All right.
[2:25:36] » They said they have so many different
kind of a flavor. Okay. I just taste
[2:25:40] maybe one, you know, oneird of them.
>> Okay.
[2:25:43] » I want to make sure that they serve
really all delicious.
[2:25:46] » I trust you on quality control.
>> You should trust me.
[2:25:49] » You you taste test all of it. Invite me
for the taste test next time, too.
[2:25:53] » Yes, you're right. So, happy new year,
everyone. Thank you so much.
[2:25:57] » Thank you. And so, first of all, I
wanted to thank um Eliana Flores and
[2:26:03] Nancy Ramos and Jessica uh for all the
decorating um and uh making this a
[2:26:10] festive day because I know it is as some
of the public comments made. This is a
[2:26:14] very special day and thank you to my
colleagues for all being here um to
[2:26:19] celebrate uh the Lunar New Year. So,
happy new lunar new year to all. Just a
[2:26:25] couple things. Um well, Mary Garcia has
left us, but uh the Grand Parlor del um
[2:26:31] delegate fundraiser that the Rona Parlor
is having um is um they they are having
[2:26:39] this fundraiser where you get lasagna
meal which includes meatballs and
[2:26:44] sausage $15 each or two for 25 and you
get wine red or white for $10. And then
[2:26:51] you make your reservations and you pick
them up at Clar's Italian market in
[2:26:57] their parking lot and all the proceeds
will benefit um the Ramona parlor
[2:27:03] specifically the delegate. So um you can
go online and get that information but
[2:27:08] it's u they do this periodically so keep
an eye out. Um, I was able to meet with
[2:27:13] the new management at the Hilton Hotel
and they are very interested with the
[2:27:17] Olympics and they think that by the end
of this year they're going to be fully
[2:27:22] booked um with those who want to attend
the Olympics. So, that's a really good
[2:27:27] connection and maybe you've already made
it, but I was able to meet with with the
[2:27:30] new uh team that's there and it's um
they have so much experience. they've
[2:27:35] been at other properties and so it's
very exciting and they want to do more
[2:27:39] with our city also. Um and we I had some
staff there too. Um so they're already
[2:27:44] making those connections. So just an
FYI. Um I am also it was on February
[2:27:51] 11th was 211 LA which is a a nonprofit
that I've served on their board for the
[2:27:57] last seven years. They're located here
in St. Gabriel on Lunas. It's um 247
[2:28:04] uh uh free and confidential um services
that they provide. Uh you can call them,
[2:28:10] tax, text them, chat with them, but they
they give out so many vital services
[2:28:15] from um housing, food, utilities,
caregiving, and we had um a nice lunch
[2:28:22] where we brought all these different
partners and prospective partners to
[2:28:25] help our communities. and it's for the
whole of whole LA County, but it's it's
[2:28:31] a wonderful group and um I'm so pr proud
that we had a great turnout for 211 LA
[2:28:37] day. And then um I also attended the uh
NLEO um uh uh e evening. Um it was the
[2:28:48] 50th anniversary of the National
Association of Latino Elected and
[2:28:52] Appointed Officials. Uh, NELO was
founded by Congressman Roal. Um, it was
[2:28:58] happened to be his birthday and we were
celebrating also his legacy and we were
[2:29:02] um at the house that his grandson now
owns and um, Latino civic history
[2:29:09] started there with Congressman Roal and
he got all the na all the elected
[2:29:13] officials, Latinos from the whole
country and it continues to to be a very
[2:29:19] strong organization. uh they deal with
policies uh let with lots of legislators
[2:29:26] and um it was just a really nice
evening. It was just um a reminder how
[2:29:31] far we have come. It's um and then um I
too attended the League of Women Voters
[2:29:37] along with council member um Woo and
Vice Mayor uh Chan. And the League of
[2:29:43] Women Voters, it's a nonpartisan group.
They've been around for 90 years and
[2:29:47] their focus is for civic engagement and
voter empowerment. We are one of the
[2:29:52] cities that they represent. There's 13
cities that they represent. Um and uh it
[2:29:58] was just uh another wonderful evening
just demonstrating that there are so
[2:30:03] many groups out there that are that want
to protect our vote and um they're
[2:30:09] empowering voters and they're trying to
give accurate factual information and um
[2:30:15] so I was very happy to be there to
support them. So that concludes my
[2:30:19] report. The next regularly scheduled
city council meeting will be held on
[2:30:24] Tuesday, March 3rd at 6:30 p.m. and it
is Oh, I changed it to a stopwatch, so
[2:30:34] now I don't have a timer here.
>> Oh, 9:01.
[2:30:37] » 90 at 9:01. Thank you everybody.