[4:06] The time is 6 p.m., and jams, can you give us the translational services?

[4:19] Information. Absolutely.

[4:23] If you would like to listen to the Spanish portions of this meeting,

[4:27] usually at public comment, please use interpretation feature located at the bottom of your screen by

[4:32] selecting the global icon and selecting English as your preferred language. There will be

[4:38] I would like to say that you would like to hear this content in Spanish, please

[4:42] use the word of interpretation, localize your screen, press the icon of the

[4:48] button, and select the two pages as a language preferred, I would like to

[4:53] interpret this as a Spanish. Also before we start, I would like to make a brief announcement

[5:00] And that Council Member Bonaghan will up here remotely to a just cause under the exemption

[5:15] contagious illness that prevents the member from attending the meeting in person.

[5:20] And so before we start, I would like to ask a couple of questions to Council Member Bonaghan.

[5:26] the first being, um, are there any 18 year older participants in the room with you at this time?

[5:35] No.

[5:38] And just a reminder that the video and audio must remain on in that any disruption causes a cease of counsel action.

[5:44] With that being said, um, you may proceed with your meeting mayor.

[5:49] Okay. Thank you. Um, so can we get a roll call?

[5:55] Mayor Lincoln, wasn't Vice Mayor Abriko here, Councilmember Barraghan,

[6:04] here, Councilmember Dynan, here, and Councilmember Romero.

[6:08] And just our reminder that all of the votes being taken place and I will need to be

[6:13] taken in a roll call, because Councilmember Barraghan won't be at any remote.

[6:20] Thank you. So before we get started, I have a brief statement that I would like

[6:25] to read. So this is a public meeting being conducted under the Brown Act. The council looks forward to

[6:34] hearing from members of the public. We are aware that people have strong views on some of these

[6:42] topics that are on the agenda. Everyone has the right to attend whether in person or remotely

[6:48] and to criticize the council, but no one has the right to disrupt the meeting.

[6:55] We encourage people to avoid using loud, profound, threatening, or personally abusive language.

[7:02] Each speaker will have an opportunity to speak.

[7:08] Unless the aim will allow sufficient amount of time for everyone, at least as many people as possible, to speak, given our constraints.

[7:18] We will not allow seeding of time to other speakers, so please be respectful of all speakers

[7:23] and their viewpoints.

[7:25] If disruptions occur, I will issue warnings, and if necessary order removals, including

[7:31] muting or moving participants from the platform.

[7:36] If group disruptions make it impossible to proceed, we may have to clear the room, but I ask

[7:40] everyone's cooperation so that we can get through our agenda today.

[7:43] Thank you, so next thing I would like to move forward with is the approval of the agenda and I would like to make a suggestion that following our consent calendar that we proceed with our policy and action.

[8:02] And then proceed with the meeting as, as, as, as, as, as, um, agendaist, um, other than that,

[8:10] that's the only suggestion I would make at this time.

[8:12] So, if we can get a motion, um, to approve the agenda with those, um, suggested modifications.

[8:19] Could you repeat that again?

[8:20] I'm going to make sure I understood your order of the day.

[8:24] I'm requesting that we, um, move with proceed with the agenda, following our consent

[8:31] calendar that we proceed with our policy and action items before we go into

[8:36] closed session.

[8:42] Due to staff capacity and certain constraints.

[8:46] Thank you.

[8:46] I understand now.

[8:49] I would like to make that motion.

[8:52] That we proceed after the consent calendar with the policy and action.

[8:58] All second.

[9:00] Okay, James can we get a roll call vote.

[9:03] Mayor Lincoln.

[9:05] Yes.

[9:05] by Samarabriko. Yes, Councilmember Baraghan. Yes. Councilmember Dynan. Yes. Councilmember Romero.

[9:15] Yes. I should have

[9:16] said this earlier, but might it make more sense to have the close session at the end of the meeting

[9:22] as opposed to broken up now firmly in the middle. Just curious because that close session is indeed

[9:31] something that has done outside of these chambers, so rather than keep people waiting.

[9:38] I would second that motion.

[9:44] So Mr. Chair, Mr. Mayor, would you be willing to accept that as a motion for an amendment

[9:49] again?

[9:50] Second amendment to the agenda where we have the close session at the end.

[9:54] I don't believe we have any consultants for that.

[9:57] I'm fine with that.

[9:59] So we have a motion.

[10:01] We already made a motion second and we already voted on it.

[10:04] week amended again or can we just be a new motion okay all right so we have a

[10:10] motion and marky seconded it I did okay so can we get a roll call about yes

[10:15] Mayor Lincoln yes vice mayor Brico yes councilmember but again yes

[10:22] councilmember Dining yes councilmember Romero yes motion carries so

[10:29] a session will be at the end of the meeting.

[10:31] Would it be right before a German or, yeah, okay.

[10:40] With the consent calendar, are there any items that council members wish to pull from the consent calendar for discussion?

[10:47] I'd like to pull item 3.23.4 and 3.6.

[10:58] Are there any additional items that council members would like to approve?

[11:01] So if there are none, I would like to make a motion that we approve the consent calendar

[11:10] absent items that 3.2, 3.4 and 3.6, can I get a second?

[11:18] That's back in.

[11:18] Romero.

[11:19] Okay.

[11:20] All in favor?

[11:21] Can we to roll call?

[11:22] Very Lincoln?

[11:24] Or wait.

[11:24] Do we have to accept public comment on that other items?

[11:27] Do we have any public comment on any other kind of items on that consent calendar?

[11:32] Other than the items that were pulled, no, they are related to the items that are pulled.

[11:38] Okay, all right, so can we get a roll call?

[11:42] Mayor Lincoln?

[11:43] Yes.

[11:44] Vice Mayor Bricka?

[11:46] Yes.

[11:46] Can't remember what I got?

[11:48] Yes.

[11:49] Can't remember Dining?

[11:51] Can't remember Romero?

[11:52] Suit.

[11:53] Motion carries.

[11:55] Okay, so we're now proceeding to item 3.2 that Jewish Heritage Month Proclamation.

[12:00] You

[12:07] want to read it?

[12:08] Um, you can read it as...

[12:12] I believe, uh, adeeks, noiris here to receive the proclamation for Jewish heritage month.

[12:27] So this is the proclamation of the city of East Palo Alto and recognition of...

[12:32] and recognition celebration of Jewish American heritage month for the month of May.

[12:37] Whereas Jewish Americans have been an important part of the American story

[12:43] have greatly contributed to all areas of American life and culture since our earliest days.

[12:50] And whereas generations of Jewish immigrants have arrived in the United States,

[12:55] fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity and through resilience and determination,

[13:00] they built vibrant communities and have enriched the American social fabric while advocating

[13:06] for silver rights, social justice, and democracy for all. And whereas Jewish Americans were

[13:13] instrumental in historic movements, such as the labor movement, the silver rights movement,

[13:18] and the women's suffrage, and with leaders like Rabbi Abraham Joshua,

[13:23] her show, marching along Dr. Martin Luther King and many others,

[13:28] contributing to the fight for equality. And whereas Jewish Americans have continued to face

[13:34] anti-Semitism, including a dramatic 344% increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past five years,

[13:43] ranging from harassment to vandalism and violence according to organizations that are careful

[13:48] to distinguish anti-Semitism from legitimate criticism of the Israeli government policies,

[13:55] and whereas the city of East Palo Alto recognizes the importance of standing in solidarity with

[14:00] Jewish Americans with the Jewish American community to condemn anti-Sysmatism in all forms

[14:07] in all forms of hate and share inclusive representation, civic life and promote mutual respect

[14:13] and understanding. And whereas we celebrate the rich and diverse heritage of Jewish American

[14:20] of the Jewish American community, including those who live, work and contribute to the life

[14:25] of these Palo Alto and recognize the importance of preserving and sharing their stories as a part

[14:31] of our collective history. And whereas on April 20th, 2006, the federal government proclaimed

[14:39] to May as Jewish American heritage month to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions

[14:44] of Jewish Americans to the United States. Now, therefore, it be it resolved the city council

[14:51] of the city of East Palo Alto State of California, hereby recognizes mate 2025 or 2026.

[15:00] American heritage month in the city of East Palo Alto and encourages all residents to learn and celebrate the diverse contributions of Jewish Americans, confront anti-Semitism and all of its forms, and promote education that depends, deep in understanding of Jewish American history and culture.

[15:24] So do we have any discussion on this item?

[15:28] But I'll make a few comments.

[15:33] So I think over the years, I need to be allowed to, we have accumulated, I think, a good

[15:39] number of proclamations for different communities, different people.

[15:49] So I was mayor in 2022 and I got a request, I forget from whom, about adopting the Jewish

[15:56] heritage events, so I accepted and I think we have one for the Muslim community and I

[16:05] just even tonight we have one for Asian American and Pacific Islander, although we didn't

[16:09] pull it out but I also want to recognize that community and in fact you know all communities

[16:17] who in one where another has suffered and so at the same time contributed to this country

[16:25] And so congratulations to the Jewish community and to the Asian Pacific Islander community since they're included here tonight too.

[16:38] Thank you.

[16:43] Any further comments on this?

[16:46] Otherwise I'd like to...

[16:49] Sorry.

[16:51] We did receive two speaker slips,

[16:53] But I didn't want to just make a clarification because we did receive many speakers

[17:00] so it's for item 3.4 which is a separate item and so I wanted to just clarify

[17:06] for Miriam B. Would you like to speak on item 3.2 or item 3.4 and

[17:15] and astrid rival, astrid,

[17:21] 3.2, okay, so we did receive one speaker so for 3.2.

[17:27] Okay, can we, um, or, um, speaker come up? Yes.

[17:33] So, astrid rival? Yes.

[17:38] All this dude,

[17:43] he's press the button, that's the button.

[17:47] Okay, yes, good afternoon.

[17:49] My name is S. D. three, but I want to thank the mayor and city council, Mayor Lincoln for the leadership in recognizing the history of the Jews and how supportive Jews have been with social justice causes as was mentioned earlier.

[18:05] I'm a bilingual speech and language pathologist. I'm a speech therapist who has worked for the past 15 years supporting the Spanish-speaking families in East Palo Alto and their Spanish-speaking children.

[18:16] two-year-olds, three-year-olds, and their families. I work with children who are language-impaired

[18:23] and it makes me very hopeful and proud that I support these families and East Palo Alto because

[18:30] I have great hope that they are growing up in a city where there is such support for diversity.

[18:38] I think it gives me hope for these language-impaired families that I work with because this is a

[18:42] that it really embraces diversity embraces difference, and so I just want to thank you very much.

[18:48] So thank you.

[18:51] Also, so we have some online speakers.

[18:55] First speaker, Julia Mates.

[18:57] And just to be clear, this is for item 3.2.

[19:02] Yes, that's right.

[19:04] Good evening.

[19:05] And Julia Mates with JCRC Bay Area, the largest collective voice of the Jewish community in the Bay Area,

[19:09] representing over 70 Jewish organizations.

[19:12] Thank you, Mayor Lincoln and members of the City Council for this Proclamation.

[19:15] and Jewish American Heritage Month is an opportunity to honor the many contributions

[19:19] that Jewish community has made to this country across the generations.

[19:23] And we appreciate your city's recognition of that history. Thank you again.

[19:29] Thank you. Next speaker, Kristina.

[19:36] Kristina, if you can please unmute yourself.

[19:41] Hi, I'm Mrs. Garts, too. The, uh, I have an intention. It's a wrong time.

[19:49] Oh, wrong item. Okay.

[19:51] Is it, is it a masking? Is it a wrong time to speak about it?

[19:55] Would you like to speak on item 3.2?

[19:58] Do you wish American heritage month?

[20:05] I'm sorry, your microphone is not functioning properly.

[20:12] Can you come back to me?

[20:15] Yes, so we'll be moving on to the next item.

[20:18] I'm so can we get a motion to, I'm a promotion and I think following the comments that I fully agree with that we're made by Council Member Abbottika.

[20:29] We both have been on the Council and approved a similar proclamation but also have approved other proclamation speaking out against any type of racism or discrimination against anyone within this country.

[20:42] So I moved that to be approved this proclamation.

[20:49] I'll second and I'd also like to add that you know we welcome and you know friends and

[20:57] neighbors are our Jewish and it's a small community in East Palo Alto but has been actively

[21:04] participating both publicly and behind the scenes and all sorts of actions you know to

[21:11] make East Palo Alto better place so welcome this proclamation and congratulations I believe

[21:16] Dito had a statement to make as well and will be receiving the Proclamation.

[21:27] Good evening.

[21:29] My name is Dito and I am proud is fellow alto resident and homeowner and I'm here

[21:35] representing the Jewish residents of this city.

[21:40] Thank you, Mayor Lincoln.

[21:42] Thank you.

[21:43] Thank you, Mark.

[21:45] Thank you to the entire city council members who are here and are listening to what

[21:51] We come to say this month is meant to celebrate Jewish American heritage, but today many of us

[22:00] are simply asking to feel safe as Jewish Americans.

[22:06] We are at a moment in history where staying silent means allowing anti-Semitism to fester.

[22:14] not standing with, or for your Jewish neighbors, opens the door to the kind of hate and

[22:23] horrifying violence that we have been seeing lately.

[22:27] So thank you for standing with us.

[22:30] Last year I came here to accept this proclamation with my family.

[22:34] We came to celebrate it was the first proclamation.

[22:37] We it was an important day for us as members of this community. We felt like we're part of East Palo Alto now

[22:47] When you're later, I am here alone

[22:50] My husband and I felt that this is two

[22:55] Dangerous of a situation to bring our seven year old and therefore I'm standing here alone and my husband and my son are home

[23:04] My son's name is Boez Alexander. Alexander Brieger was my grandfather, my grandmother's father.

[23:14] She loved him. She adored him, and he loved her. He spoiled her. He was smart. He was tall.

[23:22] She loved him so much, and he was murdered in the death marches in Hungary.

[23:28] When my grandmother came to Israel as a child, she finally had her own family, she named her first son Alexander.

[23:38] I started my own family, and I named my first son Alexander.

[23:44] And today, United States, 26, 80 years later, I don't take my son to any public Jewish events.

[23:53] I tell him to speak only English when we go to new places.

[23:56] I didn't bring my son, my little Alexander here to the East Palo Alto City Council meeting

[24:06] because I felt he would not be safe. And that is why this matters because in order for us to fight

[24:16] something evil, we have to define it first. And that is why the IJRA, the

[24:22] Phoenician separates this course and hate. So we can all stand in front of one line

[24:29] together and say, no, never again. And I urge you all to be on the right side of

[24:39] history with us. I thank you so much for this proclamation and for what you're

[24:45] in here today. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

[24:50] Thank you. I think we have a motion in a second. Can we

[24:54] do the roll call that? Yes. Mayor Lincoln? Yes. Vice Mayor Brickham?

[25:00] Yes. Councilmember Buttergun. Councilmember Dining? Yes.

[25:05] Councilmember Romero? Yes. Motion carries?

[25:14] Yeah.

[26:09] Okay, now we'll be proceeding to item on three point four proclamation of the city of the expo to our farming

[26:17] and the city's commitment to combat anti-symmatism. And we'll be presenting the proclamation.

[26:38] So, yeah, I think we can do that. Do you want to take public comment on this first item?

[26:47] Let's take public comment.

[26:51] How many speakers do we have?

[26:56] We have about 35 speakers in

[27:00] person and it looks like the number will be increasing online, but it's currently up six.

[27:10] Okay, so we'll probably keep this to maybe a minute per speaker and we'll probably

[27:17] cap it out maybe even more than like 50 minutes, you know, so if there's any additional comments

[27:25] that's because we have to proceed with agenda. So we can start with our kind of first speaker

[27:31] on this item.

[27:35] First speaker, David Ron, followed by Anna Stupunko and Alina T. I just asked

[27:44] that if you hear your name coming up next, if you can, please line up just to make the process

[27:50] a little faster, you can line up before the carpet starts here, first speaker David Ron and

[27:59] you can adjust the camera,

[28:07] press the press the button, so I can make it yep, thank you.

[28:12] My name is David Ron, thank you for affirming the city's commitment to combat anti-Semitism,

[28:18] and fake of a standing firm against outside pressures that try to intimidate this council

[28:23] to stop this resolution.

[28:26] They are arguing that you're trying to silence free speech.

[28:30] They have it wrong.

[28:32] Criticism of Israel, like criticism of any nation, is entirely legitimate.

[28:38] But when Israel is demonized, denied the right to exist, or judged by standards applied

[28:45] to no other country.

[28:46] That crosses a line from political criticism into anti-Semitism.

[28:51] Your inclusion of the IRA definition sends an important message.

[28:56] He should be recognized clearly with a definition of what it is.

[29:00] It should be confronted honestly and never normalized.

[29:04] Thank you for your leadership and moral clarity.

[29:09] Thank you.

[29:10] Next speaker, Anna Stepanko.

[29:18] my name is Anna Stepanenko, dear mayor and city council members, thank you for your leadership

[29:25] and courage, stand and up against anti-Semitism right now is not easy and it matters

[29:32] deeply.

[29:33] So, if the years ago my family immigrated from Russia because of anti-Semitism,

[29:38] Kindened to the US, it was amazed by how people openly practice religion and celebrate their identity,

[29:46] things changed after October 7th. In multiple rallies and meetings, we now see the old two

[29:52] familiar anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. We will use to such statements in Soviet Union.

[30:00] Organizations and the companies were forced to accept anti-Israel resolutions. If you voted against

[30:07] one, you were kicked out of your job, college or university. So, I feel like I am back in time since

[30:16] the same propaganda and hate. The ire provides a clear way to define and address this hate.

[30:22] It's violently adopted and important step.

[30:27] Thank you.

[30:29] Thank you.

[30:35] The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism should not be adopted as this council standard.

[30:41] Civil rights organizations, constitutional scholars, and even the original author of the definition

[30:46] of the definition himself, have warned that it's being weaponized by the Trump administration

[30:50] to suppress protected political speech and shield the Israeli government from accountability.

[30:56] Actions of anti-Semitism are often used to shut down conversations about Palestinian human rights and Israel's actions in Gaza,

[31:03] which the International Association of Genocide Scholars,

[31:06] Amnesty International and other human rights organizations identified as genocidal

[31:11] before these conversations can even happen.

[31:14] And these conversations need to happen if we're ever going to move towards justice and healing.

[31:17] If this council wants to combat anti-Semitism, I urge you to adopt language that protects Jewish communities without undermining free speech and political dissent.

[31:26] Mayor Lincoln, do not sign this population and needs to be edited. Thank you.

[31:31] Thank you. Next speaker, Robin, followed by Mayor.

[31:41] Oh, sorry.

[31:42] uh... jpe bruno yeah

[31:45] good evening mayor council

[31:47] right now as we sit here

[31:49] is real is under investigation by the i cj

[31:52] for genocide against palestinian people in haza

[31:55] for murdering two hundred thousand plus civilians displacing them starving

[31:59] them and at the thie cleansing them

[32:02] more than two point two million palestinians have had to move

[32:06] in just the past two and a half years

[32:08] and if that wasn't bad enough their prime minister and defense

[32:11] Minister have active ICC warrants out for their arrest for genocide and war crimes.

[32:17] Imagine if we weren't allowed to talk about this.

[32:21] Being Jewish is Rayleigh or Zionist does not pardon you from these type of heinous crimes.

[32:27] Adopting this BS proclamation not only is dangerous, but a deck but a dereliction of duty

[32:34] you took an oath to uphold the Constitution criticizing Israel and its genocidal murdering

[32:40] racist apartheid state or criticizing Zionism, which is a racist political ideology, is not

[32:47] anti-Semitic. It is our God-given right-and-cute, criticized, read Palestine.

[32:54] Next speaker, Robin, followed by my error.

[32:58] This one second, I would just ask that we not applause and do things just so that we can not

[33:04] disrupt the meeting, just want to let give you guys a warning, just we're not going to snap

[33:09] and clap after every speaker. Thank you.

[33:14] Well, Lincoln members of the Council. Thank you for putting forward the adoption of the

[33:19] IHRI definition of anti-semitism. The first step in addressing discrimination is to name it and to clearly define it.

[33:27] I'm an immigrant from England. The British government has refused to name anti-semitism and is refused to call out

[33:34] rising anti-Semitic hate over the past few years and the result if you follow the news

[33:39] is weekly fire bombings of synagogues and stabbing of Jews in the streets of London.

[33:44] Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for taking positive steps to name and combat anti-Semitism

[33:49] where he is found. Thank you.

[33:54] Thank you. Next speaker, Myra, followed by Eric P.

[34:02] Hi. Thank you Mayor Lincoln for your leadership. This definition is nothing to do with

[34:08] Palestine, it has nothing to do with this speech, anti-Semitism is the canary on the

[34:15] coal mine. A student of history will know that it starts with 18 Jews and escalates into

[34:21] 18 LGBTQ people, Muslims and other minorities. So, all of you, please keep in mind, when you

[34:30] support height of Jews, at the end of the day, it will all come back to all of us, so it will

[34:35] a community of hate and division. So think twice about it. It is nothing to do with what's

[34:43] going on in Israel or Palestine. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker Eric P.

[34:53] I would like to

[34:54] second what my wife said that we're talking about Jews in America. We're not talking about Israel.

[35:01] We're not going to start all that debate over here with Palestinians in Israel. So thank you,

[35:06] Mayor Lincoln for your leadership anti-Semitism is rising worldwide is at the end in the U.S.

[35:13] Luckily not so much in this pollout so let's keep it that way and families residents and our

[35:19] students need protection. So the IHRA gives us a clear way to define and address that hate.

[35:25] It is widely adopted untrue to some other people said.

[35:29] Then it is important step to keep our community safe and welcoming. So thank you very much

[35:34] considering, uh, without the IHR. Thank you. Next speaker, Zara Bailo, followed by Sarah.

[35:49] Good evening, Mayor Lincoln. Members of the City Council. My name is Dhara Bilu. I'm the

[35:53] executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area Office of Care, the Council on American

[35:58] Islamic Relations. I urge you to decline the proposed proclamation to endorsing the IHR

[36:04] definition of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is real, serious, and must be confronted. But

[36:13] the IHRA definition is deeply flawed and has been widely criticized by civil rights

[36:17] advocates, scholars, and even its own lead drafter for being used to silence protected

[36:24] political speech. The concern is not theoretical. Across California, we are already seeing

[36:30] educators, students, advocates, and community members,

[36:35] fearing and facing punishment for speaking about Palestine.

[36:39] Criticizing Israeli government actions and advocating for human rights.

[36:44] Local government should not adopt frameworks that chill, speech,

[36:48] or make residents feel that expressing their political views

[36:51] could subject them to censorship or exclusion.

[36:54] EPA has long stood for inclusion, diversity, and justice,

[36:57] And I urge you to reject the IHRA definition tonight, and instead continue combating anti-Semitism in ways that protect civil rights and free expression for all communities.

[37:07] Thank you for your comment.

[37:09] Next speaker, Sarah.

[37:13] I want to sincerely thank me and Lincoln and the City Council for your leadership and your courage.

[37:18] Speaking out against anti-Semitism right now is not easy and it truly matters.

[37:23] Anti-Semitism is rising across the country and locally.

[37:26] According to the FBI, Jews are about 2% of the population yet account for roughly 60% of religion-based hate crimes.

[37:34] Something many experience through harassment and exclusion.

[37:37] To counter this, we need a clear understanding of anti-Semitism.

[37:41] What it is and how it manifests.

[37:43] From overt hate to stereotypes, double standards and forms of exclusion.

[37:48] Especially in a community like East Palo Alto, one of the most diverse in the country, this matters even more.

[37:53] The Jewish community has always stood alongside others, from Rabbi Hechlamatching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Fred Rossignor, who helped build the Latino civil rights movement.

[38:04] We stand with all minorities, and we ask to be included in the same spirits that Jews and Israelis here in the city feel safe and belong.

[38:14] Thank you.

[38:15] Thank you. Next speaker, Likvin Kuh, fought by Musa.

[38:24] My name is Lik Bin Kuh. I want to thank Mayor Linkin and the City Council for your leadership in a man's courage.

[38:32] Standing up against anti-Semitism in today's political environment is not easy, and that's why it matters ever more.

[38:40] I'm not Jewish, but the amount of double standards dressed up as political activism against our Jewish and Israeli-American neighbors are mind-boggling.

[38:50] The kind of harassment, hostility and exclusion would have been totally unacceptable where it

[38:58] directed towards any other group. Yet here we are, as many argue that it is their freedom

[39:05] of speech. Lines have been crossed, left and right. That's why the IRA document is so important.

[39:13] Protection of one group is protection for all groups and we have as my not the vocal, but we are watching closely.

[39:23] Thank you, Mayor Lincoln, and see the council.

[39:26] Thank you.

[39:27] Next speaker, Musa, far by Abuji.

[39:31] Hello Mayor Lincoln and council members.

[39:33] My name is Musa, with care of the council on American Islamic relations and we urge you to amend the

[39:43] framework. The IHRI definition has been widely criticized as flawed by civil rights organizations,

[39:49] scholars, and its own co-author, Kenneth Esterne, who has warned that it has been politicized

[39:54] and misused to silence speech. And this is happening as we speak. Assembly Bill 715, which centers

[40:00] the IHRI definition as its key framework is already silencing and punishing educators for speaking

[40:05] up about the genocide of Huzza and other global justice issues. Under this definition,

[40:10] criticizing these really military for brutally murdering and shooting five-year-old in

[40:14] Raja, 355 times could be considered anti-Semitic. Does that sound right to you?

[40:20] It is possible and necessary to oppose anti-Semitism while opposing genocide. We ask

[40:24] that you uphold this balance and decline to adopt the I-H-R-A definition. Thank you.

[40:30] Thank you. Next speaker, Habibadji. Falled by Batoezoro.

[40:36] Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Habiba and I'm also here with

[40:40] care the Council on American Islamic Relations. I'm here because the I-H-R-A definition of anti-Semitism

[40:47] is one that threatens our civil rights. The current I-H-R-A definition of anti-Semitism seeks

[40:53] to suppress Palestinian voices and labels our Jewish allies anti-Semites for their commitment

[40:59] to Palestinian solidarity and their criticism of Israel or Zionism. We cannot continue to

[41:06] like anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism.

[41:09] This conflation poses a threat to our rights

[41:12] and new city council members affirmed your commitment

[41:14] to our human rights in your ceasefire resolution.

[41:19] You committed to protect all civilians

[41:21] and to oppose systematic oppression,

[41:23] so I urge you to stick to your commitment.

[41:26] Thank you.

[41:28] Thank you, next speaker, but tools are all followed by Ophelia.

[41:32] Just a quick announcement

[41:33] And if you can please clear the IO, please, and not stand in the middle, thank you.

[41:39] Good evening, Mayor.

[41:40] Members of the council.

[41:41] My name is Patul Zaru.

[41:42] I've been working the city of East Palo Alto for almost five and a half years.

[41:47] When I decided to work for the city of East Palo Alto, I was very intentional.

[41:52] Because the community values aligned with mine as a Palestinian living in diaspora.

[41:57] You pay by itself on Bling the Justice City and historically has aligned itself with actions that you just thought.

[42:06] However, accepting this buckleation as it is with the IHRA's definition is not an alignment with that and it's progression dressed up as advocacy.

[42:16] And so I support any effort to advocate for any group, to support,

[42:21] combating anti-Semitism, but the way that is in the population right now

[42:26] is not reflective of what the community needs or wants.

[42:29] And I urge you all to read until you look as is letter on this subject

[42:33] because I feel like he touches on all the correct points.

[42:36] It aligns with the community. Thank you.

[42:39] Thank you. Next speaker, Ophelia, thought by Luis Rosas.

[42:48] Good evening. My name is Ophelia. I'm here to join the course of voices and honestly, they have said it better than I can myself, but joining the course of voices who are expressing opposition to item 3.4 as it's written, specifically because of the grave danger that the Irish definition poses to the very people you intend to protect and therefore our community at large. This is unconscionable. This definition has been widely criticized for all the reasons you've heard here tonight and more, so please do not put our communities in danger by passing this resolution.

[43:18] in this unaltered way. If you don't understand how this is the case, then please take time to listen

[43:24] to your constituents here. Have the humility to learn and to give equal validity to all

[43:29] of the voices in the room. The least we are community as people who have won the geographic

[43:33] lottery and not living under regimes that do constant bombardment, starvation, genocide of war crimes,

[43:39] is to have these rigorous debates and to actually take into account the voices of all the

[43:43] people, especially the people who are very present in the center to this issue. Thank you for your time.

[43:48] Thank you. Next speaker, Luis Rosas,

[43:51] followed by Hiber M.

[43:56] Luis Rosas.

[43:57] Hiber M.

[44:00] followed by Sarah.

[44:09] Hiber M. Sarah.

[44:16] Good evening.

[44:17] My name is Hiber.

[44:18] I'm a Palestinian constituent in a local community organizer.

[44:22] I'm here tonight to ask you to remove the

[44:24] Proclamation on tonight's agenda that claims to combat

[44:26] antisemitism by using a weaponized censorship

[44:29] definition of antisemitism.

[44:31] If you're not talking about Israel as a previous, if you're not talking about Israel specifically as a previous speaker just stated why are we trying to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism does that make sense to you?

[44:45] Adopting this censorship population means that I would not be able to talk about the Zionist entities war crimes against my people against my family.

[44:52] I wouldn't be able to discuss how there's really occupational forces beat my uncle so bad to the point where he has severe hair.

[45:00] Several surgeries, those back-and-spine, and to this day can't stand up straight. I want to be able to discuss the genocide in Hazza. We're according to the Lancet and upwards of 200,000 in my people were slaughtered by the Zionist entity.

[45:14] Well, crimes are not Judaism. Colonization is not Judaism. Genocide is not Judaism. Zionism is not Judaism. The notes of the definition in the arena take this off your agenda now.

[45:27] thank you. I'll just ask that we've meant I ask that we maintain order in the room if we continue to

[45:36] you know get involved in these celebratory stuff you know we I'm in the beginning of the meeting I remind

[45:45] people that I don't want to have to clear the room if we continue with these disruptions so let's

[45:50] maintain order and be respectful of everybody's time so we can it was the next speaker.

[45:56] Next speaker Sarah followed by Gail Dixon and Stephanie Sarah next speaker Gail Dixon followed by Stephanie

[46:13] Good evening. As you can see I am an African American, okay? Now I wasn't raised

[46:22] I didn't even know what racism it was until like I was 14 and I went to mental afterton high school and

[46:30] My whole world turned upside down

[46:33] I was there doing a civil rights error, wroughts why it's everything, and I was subjected to that.

[46:44] And I just like to say, can we all just get along?

[46:48] My God.

[46:50] And like the man said, there's a difference between Israel over there.

[46:57] I've never been in Israel, and then the Jewish over here.

[47:01] The only thing that comes to my mind is how I was treated at minimal afternoon high school, and then I got on social media, and

[47:12] I talked to those people and they said that if we had a definitive you gale

[47:17] We would have been attacked. Sorry, you're Jewish and I remember the four people who went down to the city, and they were murdered next speaker's death

[47:28] And we all just got to do this on a reto.

[47:37] Good evening.

[47:38] I'm here to express my strong opposition to a proclamation adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

[47:44] The IHRA definition is extremely concerning and dangerous as it completes criticism of a country and an ideology with criticism and hatred of the Jewish people.

[47:53] To be clear, there's no place for anti-Semitism or Jewish hate in any community, but the IHRA definition only perpetuates hate and is dangerous to the Jewish community.

[48:02] Their definition of anti-Semitism even labels Jews who criticize Israel or Zionism as anti-Semitic and cast the dangerous net over the entire Jewish community.

[48:11] The I-H-R-A definition has drawn extreme concern from civil rights orgs and legal scholars across all walks of life.

[48:18] It's extremely oppressive territory to devout to validate the desire to restrict criticism of any country and certainly violates our first amendment rights.

[48:25] All those such a proclamation is not legally binding.

[48:28] It's had some motion concerning ideologies within our community that serve as a basis or backbone for policies and trainings.

[48:33] In addition to the above, this city is a firm that's commitment to human rights, protection of all civilians, and systematic oppression.

[48:39] Thank you.

[48:40] Thank you.

[48:40] Next speaker, Joseph Monoretto, followed by Russ.

[48:46] Good evening, Mayor and Consumant.

[48:48] My name is Joseph Monoretto, and I'm a father of two kids in the Sequoia Union High School District.

[48:52] I am not Jewish, but I am against racial discrimination altogether.

[48:57] I'm here in strong support of adopting the IH IRA definition of anti-Semitism. Why?

[49:04] All I need to do is take a look at this graph of FBI crimes, hate crimes against different groups, which by the highest, I think you know which group that is, this is that way, hate crimes.

[49:19] The IHAA allows the general criticism. It allows you to throw things against Israel. It doesn't allow you to say you want to interfere with the individual of the map.

[49:31] Now, the writing one, why there are so many people here, I'm going to start. They're against the specific part, because the Palestinian movement is inherently against the existence of the state of Israel.

[49:43] These people, Jewish people are tied to it and they're inherently against it.

[49:49] That's why they're here.

[49:49] They don't care about the sacrifice of Jews in America.

[49:53] That's collateral damage to them to their cause.

[49:56] Thank you.

[49:57] Thank you.

[49:57] Next speaker, Adina Epomen, followed by Mario.

[50:04] Good evening, Mayor and Council.

[50:06] My name is Vesa and I'm a grad student in Ethnic Studies Educator and a volunteer with the

[50:11] total tenant association, which is both through an east of Haltel.

[50:15] I'm going to date on what's my opposition to a commission adopting the IHIA's definition

[50:20] of anti-Semitism.

[50:21] Some of the examples of anti-Semitism listed on the website include, applying members' standards

[50:27] by requiring a little bit of behavior and not of specific or demanded of any other democratic

[50:31] mission.

[50:32] Drunk and buttons are contemporary as well as policy to their other Nazis.

[50:36] This definition is problematic as it controls criticism of Israel's policies, as the

[50:40] ICC recognized genocide in Gaza as anti-Jurish, and as a product of the split-through

[50:45] to that system, which emphasized the Nazi genocide of the Jewish realm that LGBTQ and

[50:50] other marginalized communities is only natural to drop in persons to it.

[50:54] Genocide of policies were stive and bond-shagging and families discriminatory,

[50:59] you have to target power sign of families on Nazi genocide of policies, and you should not

[51:03] adopt a resolution between the systems of the censorship market.

[51:06] Thank you.

[51:07] Next speaker, Dina Appelman, followed by Mario and Nielsey.

[51:12] Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council members for your courage and leadership in combating

[51:17] anti-Semitism and adopting the IRA definition. The U.S. is the most diverse democracy and history

[51:23] and we must all work to protect it so that every minority group can live safely and thrive.

[51:30] Anti-Semitism is rising and alarming rates. My children do not feel comfortable being publicly

[51:35] Jewish, they have Israeli-American passport,

[51:38] so I have an Israeli husband, and they

[51:40] hide their identity in public. We live in the time

[51:43] where it can be hard to discern what's true.

[51:47] And repeating falsehoods over and over does not make them true.

[51:51] Iowa does not preclude robust political criticism, and was adopted

[51:54] and is adopted widely and existed long-portrait.

[51:58] As Eric Wood says, safety is not a scarce resource,

[52:02] Combating anti-Semitism goes hand-in-hand with combating all forms of identity-based hate.

[52:09] Thank you for your leadership in opening the door to deeper understanding and put the inferiority. Thank you.

[52:48] Israel is the one who tries to defend it because they want to eliminate it,

[53:01] and Israel has never said that they want to eliminate Palestine,

[53:09] and the Palestinians are good people,

[53:15] what happens is that they have a group that is called Hamas,

[53:21] That the abusa is minus,

[53:25] and the susa, paquian, en marchando aquí.

[53:31] So, it is, and Ra'el, and Ra'el,

[53:35] and Ra'el, solamente, set off, defend,

[53:38] of a attack that received.

[53:44] The least is happening in the book.

[53:50] The people of the book are good people,

[53:55] but they have a group called Hamas,

[54:00] and they are going to march, and

[54:05] Ra'el,

[54:47] I'm here tonight to urge the council to reject the definition of the law.

[54:51] the I-H-R-A definition anti-Semitism. As someone who was attending UC Merced during

[54:59] who was attending UC Merced, we first had saw how this definition was used against

[55:04] students and educators to prevent them from speaking about Palestine. It has been used to

[55:10] affect the first amendment rights and it has not allowed people to open speak about these issues.

[55:15] We are talking about anti-Semitism and that can be addressed without adopting this definition.

[55:19] And this definition is a slum phobic, and it hurts the people because it does not allow them to freely speak about an issue that matters to them.

[55:26] There are educators, critical race theory educators who cannot say that there's a genocide happening in Palestine due to this definition.

[55:34] It is limiting our speech and it is not okay and it needs to be stopped.

[55:37] Thank you.

[55:39] Thank you.

[55:40] Next speaker.

[55:41] your broncholule, followed by a deep nor.

[55:47] That passed a long start.

[55:51] This approximation is a slap in the face of your Palestinian constituents and allies.

[55:56] Combating anti-Semitism should be a given, but labeling criticism of Israel anti-Semitism,

[56:01] or limiting how that criticism can be put forward is insane, and a blatant violation of our first amendment rights.

[56:07] Council Member Mark earlier you mentioned that this proclamation does not limit criticism of Israel.

[56:12] One of those examples specifically written in the agenda and in that definition is drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

[56:21] After the amount of dead babies and their entrails that I've seen, after how many children's skulls that have been forced into our memories via Israel's genocide.

[56:28] And after the things its contemporary policy has in store for the eradication of Palestinians in Palestine,

[56:34] that is the most mild form of criticism of that entity.

[56:38] This is the entity that is butchered over 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza alone

[56:42] has displaced 2 million of their population, displaced 1.2 million so far

[56:46] or self-relivenance population, and continues this state of bomb Gaza

[56:50] and prevent critical supplies to a population suffering from famine.

[56:53] It should be compared to Nazis all day, every day.

[56:56] And if you saw what we did, you'd say the same thing.

[56:59] This population should go, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

[57:03] Thank you, next speaker, Adit Noor.

[57:06] Excuse me one second.

[57:09] I think Rob Niel, can you give the speakers space when they're coming up to speak your kind of,

[57:13] it's intimidating to be right next to someone.

[57:16] So if you can please give people space when they come up to speak,

[57:20] thank you, this is a warning.

[57:24] Thank you, I actually want to use my minute because I already expressed my opinion.

[57:29] I want to use this minute to explain to you what it feels like for me to stand here

[57:33] Jewish person and why I've had to fight my tears from the moment they started. When I was 20,

[57:40] two Israelis took a wrong turn into Ramallah and I said with my family watching live,

[57:47] how they were being lynched on life TV. At some point, a young man wanted to tell the crowd,

[57:54] we got them, we murdered the Jews, he stood with his palms full of blood, showed it to the crowd and

[58:01] all cheered. I will never forget this moment. And this is what I need to see here in my city.

[58:10] I need to see here something that symbolizes the celebration of the murder of Jews.

[58:18] This is why we need to set a line and say that there are things that are unacceptable. Thank you.

[58:27] Next speaker, Donna Wallach, followed by Miriam Boosie.

[58:51] My name is Donna Wallach.

[58:52] I am Jewish with his many citizenship.

[58:54] You must not use the IHRO definition of anti-Semitism for the population.

[59:00] I lived in Israel for 15 years and witnessed the racist and apartheid policies

[59:04] of Israeli government towards its many citizens.

[59:08] And so, James and for sure Palestinians.

[59:11] Israel has passed more than 50 laws to ensure that Palestinians

[59:15] with Israeli citizenship do not have equal rights to an Jewish person. For example, Palestinians are not allowed to fly on the internal Israeli airlines.

[59:25] For decades, the Israeli government has been committing genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians living in West Bank East Jerusalem and Gaza.

[59:34] The Israeli military, the military, the military and violence groups Palestinians, the Israeli government

[59:40] is called the Palestinians, cockroaches, and human animals.

[59:44] Palestinians teach their children to be kind, gymnasts, and loving.

[59:48] Wherever I have gone in Palestine as it was really June, I was always welcomed and treated

[59:54] dignity and respect, and treated like family.

[59:57] Criticizer Israel is not anti-Semitic.

[1:00:00] We must all criticize Israel for the ongoing genocide.

[1:00:06] Next speaker, uh, Miriam Busy, followed by Adina Denzig.

[1:00:11] Hi. My father was a U.S. Marine and World War II, who spent years fighting the Nazis.

[1:00:19] 80 years later, my grandson, Hides' Jewish starpenning when he goes to certain cities. This isn't right.

[1:00:27] Thank you Mayor Lincoln and the Council for this proclamation and including the definition.

[1:00:35] Thank you for trying to make these Palo Alto place where my grandson can wear his Jewish star without fear.

[1:00:42] Please do not water down the proclamation by removing the international accepted definition of anti-Semitism.

[1:00:50] It provides a framework to recognize and respond to expressions of hate against Jews.

[1:00:55] Freedom of expression is a right. Hate speech is not. Let's respect and protect all our diverse communities. Thank you very much.

[1:01:06] Next speaker, Adina Danzig, followed by David Ryber.

[1:01:13] Next speaker David Ryber, followed by David Ron.

[1:01:31] Hello, my name is David Reaver. I'm from Caracas, Venezuela. I moved to the Bay Area in 1995.

[1:01:38] Thank you, Mayor Lincoln for your courage and leadership.

[1:01:43] On the rise throughout the world, we have seen a number of events of hate, violence,

[1:01:52] feelings, harassment, hatred, including here in the Bay Area, harassment in schools, businesses.

[1:02:02] This sometimes starts with just a hateful speech and it escalates and escalates and

[1:02:09] it's in violence.

[1:02:13] There have been events in Bondi Beach, Australia, Pittsburgh, Washington

[1:02:17] to see Colorado, London, many events, and there were courageous citizens in Australia who helped

[1:02:27] stop one of the assassins. Thank you. Next speaker, Lisa Katz, on Zoom,

[1:02:34] followed by Philly Saragosa.

[1:02:43] Hi, Julia Mates. Hi, can you hear me? This Lisa? Yes.

[1:02:47] Okay. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. I'm Lisa Katz, chief government affairs officer of

[1:02:52] combat anti-Semitism movement and a formal council member and mayor.

[1:02:57] I urge you tonight to pass this proclamation with the IRA definition and it's a

[1:03:02] 11 contemporary examples intact. This definition was promulgated by an international

[1:03:07] body comprised of 35 member countries and has been adopted around the world including

[1:03:12] the U.S. State Department. IRA matters because anti-Semitism is not always easy to recognize.

[1:03:19] It does not always appear as a slur or a swastika.

[1:03:23] Today, it often appears as conspiracy theories about Jewish power, accusations of Jewish

[1:03:29] disloyalty and collective blame.

[1:03:31] Let me be clear.

[1:03:33] It has nothing to do with geopolitics and does not prohibit criticism of Israel.

[1:03:39] What it does do is help identify when criticism crosses the line into demonization, double

[1:03:45] standards, delegint, delegint.

[1:03:47] Thank you.

[1:03:48] The next speaker, Julia Mates, followed by Philly Sadagoza.

[1:03:56] Next speaker, Philly Sadagoza.

[1:04:05] Hello.

[1:04:05] Can you hear me?

[1:04:08] Yes.

[1:04:09] Awesome.

[1:04:10] Good evening, City Council.

[1:04:11] I'm here today to urge the Council to not adopt the IRAs.

[1:04:14] The I-Ruzz definition of anti-Semitism.

[1:04:18] We pass a ceasefire resolution to show our support for the Palestinians who have been suffering

[1:04:21] under their oppressors for decades.

[1:04:23] How can we turn our back on them and pass something that goes against our support?

[1:04:27] The Israeli government has been conducting genocide and they deserve to be criticized.

[1:04:32] For over 70 years, Palestinians have been killed, torture can have been robbed of their own homes.

[1:04:37] We cannot allow this faulty definition to get in the way of exposing all of Israel's crimes,

[1:04:41] which if you haven't seen or all recorded in real time.

[1:04:47] The Irish definition cannot be allowed to pass.

[1:04:49] This is not about anti-Semitism. It's a direct push for Zionism. We can protect our community from anti-Semitism,

[1:04:55] but this definition is not the way. And while I still can, I'll say it here, free Palestine.

[1:05:02] Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Wendy Fang, followed by Leibachik.

[1:05:07] Leibin. Hi. Thank you so much for having this meeting. I'm calling to urge the council to

[1:05:15] reject the ira definition, and I'd like to quote a letter from Antonio Lopez published in the

[1:05:22] Stanford Daily today. This is not abstract. Eastpullo Alto is the black family subilted before there

[1:05:28] was an EPA to build. The Tonggan and Simone churches, the Mexican Abuela's walking pandal

[1:05:33] say home from Mipueblo, the Yemeni Shopkeeper on University Avenue, the Palestinian family who's

[1:05:39] nightly news is also their family WhatsApp group, the Jewish neighbor who chose this city in part

[1:05:44] because it knows how to hold difference.

[1:05:46] A proclamation that elevates one community's pain

[1:05:49] by chilling another community's speech

[1:05:51] does not represent any of them.

[1:05:53] And contrary to what its proponents claim,

[1:05:55] it does not make Jewish residents safer.

[1:05:57] Hate that goes unnamed in one direction,

[1:05:59] does not stay contained in metastasizes.

[1:06:02] The council must remove the IRA working definition

[1:06:04] from the proclamation.

[1:06:06] We are fully capable of condemning anti-Semitic hate,

[1:06:08] plainly and forcefully,

[1:06:10] in language that does not double as a speech code.

[1:06:12] We must be true to the end of the community.

[1:06:15] Live in Sheek.

[1:06:17] Thank you.

[1:06:31] Live in Sheek.

[1:06:35] Hope, sir, can you hear me?

[1:06:37] Good evening, Council.

[1:06:38] My name is Lee Banshek.

[1:06:39] I'm a resident of East Palo Alto.

[1:06:42] I'm urging the Council to not adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism

[1:06:46] for its use in conflating criticism of the state of Israel with hatred of the Jewish people.

[1:06:52] Such a conflation is itself an example of anti-Semitism

[1:06:55] and the dangerous attempt at tying all members of the Jewish faith with the actions of a state currently perpetrating genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon.

[1:07:06] It is for this reason many Jewish scholars civil rights organizations and legal experts have criticized the IHRI's definition.

[1:07:14] Our community is perfectly capable of condemning bigotry and hatred of any kind and to protect our Jewish brothers and sisters from this rising tide of antisemitism

[1:07:23] without outside influence from political organizations like the combat anti-Semitism movement whose board and senior staff include

[1:07:31] former Israeli government ministers, former IDF spokespeople, and a former chief censor of Israeli military.

[1:07:40] Thank you.

[1:07:41] Thank you.

[1:07:42] Next speaker Julia Mates.

[1:07:54] Julia Mates fought by ASEA Patel.

[1:07:58] Good evening.

[1:07:58] I'm Julia Mates with JCRC Bay Area.

[1:08:01] Thank you Mayor Lincoln and members of the City Council for your clear stance against anti-Semitism.

[1:08:06] It sends a powerful message at a time when it is deeply needed.

[1:08:09] It means a great deal to our community to know that East Palo Alto is a city where Jewish residents are supported, respected, and safe.

[1:08:15] Thank you for your leadership.

[1:08:18] Thank you. Next speaker, Acia Patel,

[1:08:21] and then we'll be going back to in person with Alan Fisher.

[1:08:26] Hello, Council, I just wanted to mention that I am disappointed in this Council for wanting to use the

[1:08:34] Ira definition.

[1:08:36] Please reconsider using it or use a different definition.

[1:08:41] The Council can proclaim being against anti-Semitism without using this definition,

[1:08:46] whose examples protect Zionism and Israel.

[1:08:49] Please focus on the issues that are happening in our community.

[1:08:53] We have enough going on without using inflammatory definitions that suppress free speech and marginalize our Palestinian residents and city employees.

[1:09:02] Thank you.

[1:09:04] Thank you.

[1:09:06] Next speaker.

[1:09:07] Alan Fisher followed by Lick Bynku.

[1:09:13] My name is Alan Fisher, and I want to thank the mayor and the council for the proclamations,

[1:09:19] recognized in Jewish American heritage month, and for affirming the city's commitment to

[1:09:23] combating antisemitism. The first proclamation noted, recalled that Rava Abraham Joshua

[1:09:29] Heshal, a leading rabbi of the time, marched in some alongside Dr. King. As a past president

[1:09:36] of a congregation, Beth J. K. K. I. K. I. Great Pride in recalling that our rabbi of the time,

[1:09:42] at the late David title bomb, also marched in some with Dr. King. In 1979, a far less troubled

[1:09:48] time for Jews than now, our synagogue was burned to the ground, in what remains an unsolved

[1:09:53] hate crime, to our congregation hate is not hypothetical.

[1:09:58] Fighting hatred begins by defining it, an essential tool was provided by the IHRA definition

[1:10:03] and the associated examples.

[1:10:06] The IHRA definition is not a criminal law, it explicitly has no legal force.

[1:10:10] As the proclamation notes, the definition does not contrabeen the first amendment, which allows

[1:10:15] statements of hatred against use as against other groups. It allows

[1:10:19] court, courtesy of Israel, but thank you. I'm sure in this

[1:10:22] press presents a double standard.

[1:10:23] Next speaker, look when cool,

[1:10:28] next speaker, Francisco, followed by

[1:10:32] Zainab, Francisco,

[1:10:41] followed by Zainab. Good evening, Council. My name is

[1:10:44] Francisco. I'm in standing here against the IHRA definition.

[1:10:52] We

[1:10:52] almost all stand for hate, the moment that we look away because quote, they are our allies

[1:10:59] is wrong. It's morally wrong. We can't sit by and not criticize the state of Israel

[1:11:07] for the decimation of the people. I will continue to stand up and shame on those that stand

[1:11:16] behind the anti-Semitism label. When in fact fear has been widespread, we currently have

[1:11:27] a regime in this country that supports the continued genocide of Palestinians. They're settlers.

[1:11:40] They are settlers.

[1:11:43] Thank you.

[1:11:44] Next speaker, Zainab followed by Anita.

[1:11:54] You have passed a button.

[1:11:56] Okay, good evening.

[1:11:57] I'm here to pose the IRA definition of anti-Semitism because it conflates anti-Semitism with anti-Semitism and the criticism of the state of Israel.

[1:12:07] One of the speakers today said that Israel cannot be held to a couple standard.

[1:12:11] of not same language as being used in the IRA definition, as well as an example saying that

[1:12:16] we cannot compare Israeli policy to the Nazis. However, the Israeli policy that is made

[1:12:22] and apartheid against Palestinians committing genocide against Palestinians, the policies that

[1:12:26] are allowed for that is directly comparable to the Nazi Germany did. Currently Israel is committing

[1:12:33] a genocide in Palestine and they have legalized that execution of Palestinian hostage rights

[1:12:39] taken without trial, fair trial to be executed.

[1:12:47] And we should be allowed to speak against that.

[1:12:49] And the definition by, as I said, we're going to be a grave disaster.

[1:12:55] Thank you.

[1:12:56] Next speaker, Nida, followed by Leonel,

[1:12:59] Ankel Santivania's bargas.

[1:13:10] It's problematic.

[1:13:11] Why is this problematic?

[1:13:13] There's definition prohibits criticism of Israel and its policies.

[1:13:17] As an American, you can even criticize a state.

[1:13:21] I see that has committed war crimes for over 70 years.

[1:13:24] I state that the Prime Minister is worth it in the machine,

[1:13:27] it should be arrested for war crimes.

[1:13:30] It's the state that just must be regretty.

[1:13:32] All of the government is doing this, right?

[1:13:34] It's just a lot to do with you.

[1:13:36] I state that has the ability to do this in the government

[1:13:39] to stop by over two years.

[1:13:42] Not slaves are children, fathers and mothers.

[1:13:45] We will be in the second case.

[1:13:47] I'm going to be in the second case.

[1:13:50] Because I'm going to be in the second case.

[1:13:53] I'm going

[1:14:06] to be in the second case.

[1:14:12] Thank you.

[1:14:14] Thank

[1:14:22] you.

[1:14:24] Thank you.

[1:14:25] Thank you.

[1:14:34] Once again, I'm asking us to maintain order in the council chambers.

[1:14:39] If you guys want to talk, you can go out in the hallway.

[1:14:41] If you want to snap, you can go out there.

[1:14:43] But in this room, we want to maintain order.

[1:14:46] So let's try and proceed, I'm else we'll have to, you know, in cup public comment.

[1:14:52] So how many more speakers do we have?

[1:15:02] 9, and then there are 11 on Zoom. So I think we cut it off at 50 minutes, so we only have a time for maybe two or three more.

[1:15:14] Just for the mayor, you've probably taken three minutes in admonition against saying things, maybe we should add a little more time, because people have not been able to speed in that 15 minutes completely, 15 minutes completely.

[1:15:29] Let's proceed.

[1:15:32] Next speaker, Leo Nell, Uncle, some Devonius.

[1:15:37] Uncle, some Devonius.

[1:15:41] Miriam B. Miriam B.

[1:15:48] Yuzra Hussain.

[1:15:51] Thought by Colin Bookman.

[1:16:00] Thank you, Council for being here today.

[1:16:02] I came, I'm a physician, and I'm part of this, but I'll take a community.

[1:16:09] I'm originally from Erwalt and I can tell you honestly silencing of speech can only start slowly and then it progresses.

[1:16:18] And so generally the IHR, the Phoenicians and DiSemitism is flawed and misleading.

[1:16:26] Israel has been committing war crimes and which would be a lot to criticize Israel for what is doing.

[1:16:31] I have seen teachers who are afraid to speak about Israel and Zion of them because of fear of losing their jobs.

[1:16:39] And this has been, you know, seeing examples of the examples of people really being fired from their jobs.

[1:16:46] People, you know, they lay jobs, people being accused of antisemitism in reality.

[1:16:51] They are just pointing out their atrocities that Israeli government has been doing in the West Bank and everywhere else.

[1:16:59] Thank you so much for taking my call.

[1:17:01] Thank you next speaker, Colin Bookman, followed by Mike Sanford.

[1:17:07] My name's Colin Bookman. I'm one of only a handful of Jews I personally know who live in East Palo Alto.

[1:17:13] And some of us are here tonight because this issue affects our daily lives.

[1:17:17] I'm first off grateful for the city council, for the police, and most importantly, the neighbors.

[1:17:24] When I put up my tonic decorations, my family were afraid. They said, you should take them down.

[1:17:30] Someone might hurt your kids. My friends, the broad, they said you should buy a gun.

[1:17:36] My family story has cross borders, Belarus, France, Canada, where I was born, and now my children born here in America.

[1:17:45] Zionism predates Israel.

[1:17:47] You can criticize this really government without being anti-Semitic.

[1:17:51] But to deny Jewish self-determination or Jews, making answer, I mean, I've been Jews answer for what Israel does.

[1:17:57] Cross is a line. This is not abstract. Our local schools. There was a statement made by a teacher. How many Jews fit in an ash tray?

[1:18:08] Thank you. Next speaker Mike Sanford followed by Brian.

[1:18:18] Oh, my name is Mike Sanford. I'm a husband and father of four

[1:18:23] I'm here to have you vote again against the population as it stands today

[1:18:28] I am an American and I find the first amendment, the Crown Jewel of our system, and I don't want to undermine that.

[1:18:37] We have 39 states right now that there are laws against criticizing Israel, and I find that very problematic.

[1:18:46] As a parent, the world that we live in, where our children don't have the freedoms that I did at the child, I find very problematic.

[1:18:55] And I would just tell them that we all don't want our children to live in that same world.

[1:19:01] As he questions, it's not hate.

[1:19:04] Tell him that truth is not hate.

[1:19:09] I'm trying to find a mind who's used to come today because he was afraid to speak up as I am because of the repercussions.

[1:19:16] And that's the role that I think we all agree with.

[1:19:18] We don't want to live in.

[1:19:19] Thank you.

[1:19:20] Thank you.

[1:19:21] Ryan, well, by Sammy and Stuart Ireland,

[1:19:27] instead of fighting anti-Semitism, the I.A.H.R.A. definition

[1:19:30] complays to Judaism with a genocidal settler colony and engages in anti-Palestinian racism.

[1:19:35] Its silences are Palestinian community members from morning, their cousins, uncles, aunts

[1:19:40] and friends, like Mito, Saraj, and many more, may they rest in paradise.

[1:19:44] Its silences them, from naming those who killed them, Israel has carried out genocides since

[1:19:49] In 1948, when it killed 15,000 Palestinians and pushed 75,

[1:19:54] 750,000 Palestinians out of their homes,

[1:19:56] including 85% of those living on land

[1:19:58] that Israel then occupied.

[1:20:00] Instead of a bill that conflates Judaism

[1:20:02] with a genocidal settler colony,

[1:20:04] we should have a bill to fight anti-Palestinian racism

[1:20:06] and denial of the Gaza genocide happening before our eyes.

[1:20:12] Like Speaker Sammy, followed by Stuart Ireland.

[1:20:23] And as someone who grows to me about East Palo Alto,

[1:20:26] I'm here to oppose the adoption of the I-H-R-A definition.

[1:20:30] Definition of anti-Semitism in the city,

[1:20:32] which inflate criticism of his real Buddhism of the Jewish people.

[1:20:36] I have family in Gaza, and the last presence of relatives in Gaza,

[1:20:40] in the fact that I cannot call out the government that kept them,

[1:20:43] but when the label is hate speech is ridiculous.

[1:20:46] I-H-R-A definition was something dangerous.

[1:20:48] It weaponizes the fight against bigotry to silence legitimate criticism of its role in state policies,

[1:20:54] controlling its anti-Zionism or criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism in its definition,

[1:21:01] in its censorship background in safety.

[1:21:05] Instead, it first focus on the work that the Jews and Palestinians, which is racist hate,

[1:21:11] same thing, but in fact, I can bound when communities were, same thing, that's empowered in the life of us right now.

[1:21:20] Thank you, next speaker, Stuart Highland.

[1:21:27] My name is Stuart Highland and I live 124 as a drive.

[1:21:31] I want to speak against accepting this.

[1:21:34] The first proclamation made sense.

[1:21:36] We want to value all the cultures and the values.

[1:21:40] And I very much appreciate the ally ship in the past.

[1:21:42] But just like most people in this room, I'm sure I would not want to be tainted with what my government is doing at this time.

[1:21:52] So we want to be clear about separating.

[1:21:55] I think the IHRA definitely does not provide that.

[1:21:57] There's been credit criticism on both sides about this issue.

[1:22:01] But we've seen it happen as schools like Columbia where folks protest, which is their right to protest,

[1:22:07] and all of a sudden they're being evicted from the United States of America.

[1:22:11] Just for speaking up, you need to recognize your role in this and we've always been for the

[1:22:18] Underdog, we've always represented culture.

[1:22:20] Be thoughtful about how you take your next step.

[1:22:23] Thank you.

[1:22:25] Thank you and those are our last speaker for this item.

[1:22:29] Thank you.

[1:22:30] So, do we have any comments in Council?

[1:22:33] Can

[1:22:39] we get the actually reading the proclamation and get the actual details if somebody from staff actually read it so we can all hear it?

[1:23:02] More precisely the IHRA side of

[1:23:09] it.

[1:23:10] Yeah, if you could, I guess not the proclamation so much as the IHRA.

[1:23:16] It's a short one page.

[1:23:20] Two pages.

[1:23:23] through the chair. So, Councilmember Dunning, you're talking about the attachment to the

[1:23:29] Proclamation. The two measures? Yeah, I mean, yes, the in the spirit of the Stockholm Declaration

[1:23:35] starts with that.

[1:23:39] You have it, you just own it. In the spirit of the Stockholm Declaration

[1:23:44] that states, with humanity still scarred by anti-Semitism and xenophobia, the international

[1:23:51] community share as a solemn responsibility fight those evils. The Committee on Anti-Semitism

[1:23:56] and Holocaust denial called the I-H-R-A plenary and Budapest 2015 to adopt the following working

[1:24:04] definition of anti-Semitism. On May 26,

[1:24:12] 2016, on 2016, the plenary and book arrest decided to

[1:24:17] adopt the following non-legal binding working definition of anti-symmatism. Anti-symmatism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews, rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-symmatism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and or their property.

[1:24:40] towards Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

[1:24:47] To guide IHRA and its work, the following examples may serve as illustrations.

[1:24:52] Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel,

[1:24:55] conceived as a Jewish collectivity.

[1:24:58] However, criticism of Israel, similar to that level against any other country,

[1:25:03] cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.

[1:25:06] Sematic.

[1:25:07] Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for why things go wrong.

[1:25:16] It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employees sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.

[1:25:25] Contemporary examples of anti-Semitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace,

[1:25:31] and in the religious sphere could take into account the overall context include, but are not

[1:25:38] limited to, calling for, hating or justifying and killing or harming of Jews in a name of radical

[1:25:45] ideology or an extremist view of religion, making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing or

[1:25:52] stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective, such as,

[1:25:59] especially, but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling

[1:26:07] the media, economy, government, or other societal institutions.

[1:26:13] Cusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed

[1:26:18] by a single Jewish person or group, or even for ex-committed by non-Jews, denying the fact

[1:26:26] scope mechanisms, for example, gas chambers or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish

[1:26:32] people at the hands of National Socialist Germany, and its supporters and accomplices

[1:26:37] doing World War II the Holocaust, accusing the Jews as a people or Israel as a state of

[1:26:43] inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust, accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel,

[1:26:50] or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide than to the interests of their own nations.

[1:26:56] Denying Jewish people that write to self-determination, for example, by claiming that the existence of

[1:27:01] a state of Israel is a racist endeavor, applying double standards by requiring a behavior that

[1:27:07] not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation. Using the symbols and images associated

[1:27:13] with classic anti-Semitism, for example, claims of Jews killing Jesus, or blood, liberal,

[1:27:19] libel, to characterize Israel or Israelis. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy

[1:27:26] to that of the Nazis, holding the Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state

[1:27:32] of Israel. Anti-Semitic acts are criminal when they are so defined by law, for example,

[1:27:38] denial of Holocaust, or distribution of anti-Semitic materials in some countries.

[1:27:43] Criminal acts are anti-Semitic when the targets of attacks, whether they are people, or property, such as buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries, are selected because they are or are perceived to be Jewish or linked to Jews.

[1:28:01] Anti-Semitic discrimination is the denial to Jews of opportunities or services available to others and is illegal in many countries.

[1:28:11] That is the end.

[1:28:15] Thank you.

[1:28:17] I have a question for city attorney John May.

[1:28:21] John, if we pass this, what are the legal?

[1:28:23] It says it's non-binding.

[1:28:25] What does this actually mean for the city?

[1:28:30] Because it's not binding.

[1:28:31] It doesn't have any impact on any particular policy now.

[1:28:35] I think the proclamation makes clear that it is to guide future policy.

[1:28:40] So if there is a future policy that is impacted by this definition,

[1:28:43] that may or may not happen at a future date, but the proclamation in and of itself is not a policy that would be impacted by the definition.

[1:28:53] It is nearly a proclamation.

[1:28:56] Okay, so it's largely symbolic and we're saying as a council, you know, we're making a statement against anti-Semitism.

[1:29:07] I think it's, it's used for all mixed in comments now with the mayor's permission.

[1:29:12] You know, the Jewish community in the United States far predates Israel and anti-Semitism

[1:29:17] far predates, you know, goes back centuries, if not millennia.

[1:29:24] I support this resolution.

[1:29:27] I also support the right of anybody to criticize Israel, I support, I certainly do not support

[1:29:34] the current Israeli government personally.

[1:29:36] And I don't see this resolution in any way stopping people who have legitimate concerns like myself and many of the people I know, including Jewish family members who really could not despise the current Israeli government more.

[1:29:54] This is about Jews in the United States.

[1:29:56] It's not about resolving the Israeli...

[1:30:00] As a conflict, we're not going to do that tonight. I absolutely see both sides of that conflict and it's a tragedy and when October 7th happened, I personally was horrified because I knew it would unleash the absolute worst aspects of Israeli military onto civilian people who were largely not responsible for what happened.

[1:30:29] We've seen anti-Semitism in East Palo Alto.

[1:30:32] I'm happy to support this resolution.

[1:30:37] This was not on my Bingo card or something we were going to be discussing tonight

[1:30:40] or it was going to be an issue in front of Council.

[1:30:44] But it would be remiss at this moment for me not to say that I support a statement against anti-Semitism.

[1:30:50] We are one of many cities who have done this.

[1:30:54] just to read off a few,

[1:31:01] this shouldn't be controversial when you have San Diego, Los Angeles,

[1:31:04] Chula Vista, El Cajón, New York City, and lots of other municipalities, 35 states, Arizona,

[1:31:13] Nevada, New York, Texas, Florida. They've already adopted and recognized this definition

[1:31:17] through legislation or executive action. I don't think adopting this in any way will limit

[1:31:25] people's criticism, criticism of the state of Israel. It's about Jews and America.

[1:31:31] I think a lot of people in this room, because they are explicitly calling for a Palestinian

[1:31:38] from the river to the sea, are upset with this because that is explicitly anti-Semitic to say

[1:31:45] that you're calling for the wiping out of the state of Israel.

[1:31:52] And it's obvious that there's

[1:31:54] lot of debate about that, but I think one of the reasons why people in this room are against

[1:32:01] this is when you've been consistently making anti-Semitic proclamations. When there's something

[1:32:09] like this saying, no, this is the framework of which we're analyzing it. I mean, it's non-binding,

[1:32:15] It's internationally recognized, and what's called, let's call it, let's call it antisemitism.

[1:32:24] And the other point is that having talked to Jewish members of the community, and I do have Jewish family,

[1:32:30] I'm not Jewish myself, but I have, you know, cousin, second cousin, my grandfather was Jewish, my mom's.

[1:32:37] You know, the antisemitism faced in the United States is real, it's increasing, and people rightly feel at risk.

[1:32:43] I'd also say that, you know, we stand against Islamophobia, that's not on the agenda tonight,

[1:32:51] but we're absolutely, as a community tonight, we're saying symbolically, because this does not

[1:32:57] have any real teeth in it, that we are making anti-Semitism proclamation.

[1:33:04] So I support this. I don't see it as infringing on people's first amendment rights.

[1:33:10] And, you know, in a world that's increasingly under-conflict, you know, for tribal,

[1:33:19] and, you know, extremely heated arguments, you know, the, I think we have to be clear about where we stand.

[1:33:28] Only bit with this, I'm not sure how much being on city council on East Palo Alto is going to move to need a lot on any of these things.

[1:33:35] In terms of why I joined council, it was to work on parks, it was to work on issues like getting the streets paved and improving the parking situation and all these other quality of life issues.

[1:33:47] Making East Palo Alto a better place for everybody.

[1:33:50] That being said, I would be remiss if I didn't clearly state where I stand on this issue.

[1:33:55] And I do support the Iowa Anti-Semitism Proclamation.

[1:33:59] Thank you.

[1:34:14] Thank you.

[1:34:15] Do we have any of

[1:34:21] the comments from council members on this?

[1:34:25] Yeah, I guess I'll go next.

[1:34:28] First of all, I want to recognize from my brothers and sisters on both sides,

[1:34:34] that being that this issue brings to all of us and all of you.

[1:34:40] I mean, clearly there's a difference of opinion on this issue.

[1:34:44] I also want to state that I did not hear tonight, anyone on either side, if they are

[1:34:50] denying the existence of Israel, or did I hear folks saying anti-Semitic comments?

[1:34:59] I think the opposition, if you want to say the opposition to this resolution, stated its

[1:35:06] quite clearly, and the very division that we see today that's engendered by the RH, excuse me,

[1:35:16] I, R, H, I, H, N, that's why the cost, R, H, R, A resolution is probably a reason why we should

[1:35:25] notify this resolution that I would be in support of if you removed.

[1:35:34] Pergus 5, 6, 7, and 8, and 9, then indeed directly address what is a contentious

[1:35:44] definition that is not accepted worldwide, and I remind you all that if it's not a political

[1:35:52] definition, why would some like Mike Pompeo attempt to weaponize it against two internationally

[1:36:01] recognized entities, human rights, and amnesty international,

[1:36:06] to say that they are anti-Semitic?

[1:36:10] I don't believe that there are people in this room that are anti-Semitic. I certainly

[1:36:13] am not. I do not deny the existence of the state of Israel. It is a fact. It is there.

[1:36:21] But the right for people to criticize state actions, not the people in Israel, but state actions should be sacrosanct.

[1:36:34] And any definition that potentially puts that right in danger should be rejected.

[1:36:43] Not as a rejection, not as a rejection of Jews around the world, Jews in this country, or for

[1:36:51] that matter, it's a rejection of Israel.

[1:36:55] This date is the one that is staying in this calamity, it is not its inhabitants necessarily.

[1:37:02] So again, I would be in support of this resolution.

[1:37:05] If we removed those references to the I-H-E-R-A definition.

[1:37:18] Thank you.

[1:37:18] Do we have any additional comments?

[1:37:24] Martha, do you have any comments?

[1:37:29] No.

[1:37:30] Okay.

[1:37:30] Yes, Father.

[1:37:36] Yes, so thank you everyone for expressing your views.

[1:37:39] And I was like, there's a lot of passion on both sides, over all I think has been very respectful

[1:37:47] discussion.

[1:37:50] You know, I want to start up by saying that I'm a direct descendant of people on this

[1:37:55] continent who suffer the massive genocide by the Europeans and the name of their gods and

[1:38:05] the name of the religion and their name of their kings and their name of whatever.

[1:38:15] So, you know, I grew up with that sense of, there's one of the speakers said, looking

[1:38:22] up for the underdog, looking out for the people who are most vulnerable at any time,

[1:38:32] in any place under different circumstances because as human beings, I think we're very clever and

[1:38:42] very devious and we always hide.

[1:38:47] We hide behind the suffering that we inflict on others.

[1:38:54] And we act like we're some kind of divine creature that is better than others.

[1:39:01] Now, locally in this Palo Alto,

[1:39:06] you know, I've lived here 46 years and always have been involved in the community and I have learned from those who came before me.

[1:39:16] I'm not pretty old, but I've seen many people here from many backgrounds, particularly from the African American community, from the Latino community, from all communities.

[1:39:28] you know, turns out, you know, all kinds of people have been around you for a long time.

[1:39:34] All kinds of people. And everyone came from somewhere, other than the indigenous alone,

[1:39:40] people. And even they migrated here 5, 10,000 years ago, right? So, I, I'm not,

[1:39:58] well, the

[1:39:58] Recently,

[1:40:02] one of the highest increases in hate actions and hate speech has been against Mexican people.

[1:40:10] There we go again.

[1:40:11] It's not the first time against Latinos.

[1:40:16] You know, millions of our people were so called deported, even though most of them were US citizens.

[1:40:24] Millions of people were US citizens in this country and they were deported by the US government.

[1:40:29] especially when things get rough, get tough.

[1:40:32] The federal government seems to try to instigate hatred among people.

[1:40:37] Polarizing words, polarizing actions, polarizing history.

[1:40:42] That's what's going on with our Trump people right now.

[1:40:46] So, you know, language can be tricky too.

[1:40:53] So,

[1:40:56] we just passed the proclamation and I mentioned it, I'll say it again.

[1:41:00] What I was mayor was the first time that we passed the Jewish heritage month

[1:41:05] proclamation.

[1:41:08] But I am not in support of this for the reasons that, you know,

[1:41:14] safety in our community, sick and certain for everyone. So if any member of the

[1:41:18] Jewish community in this part of fields unsafe, they need to talk to our chief right

[1:41:22] now, some people in my community in Mexican community also feel very unsafe. So we

[1:41:28] need to stake together and fight against, yes, in security, like a public safety, hatred

[1:41:37] whoever is saying it to whoever else.

[1:41:41] These, you know, it's very ironic to me that if this is supposed to be something that

[1:41:48] somehow fights some kind of hatred, it's starting to generate a lot of tension and a lot

[1:41:53] polarizing talk, which is exactly what is happening in our country and I am not going to support

[1:41:59] that kind of stuff. I don't care if it comes to my own community.

[1:42:04] So again, right here in

[1:42:08] this fall also yes, I have seen and I have heard anti black hatred, anti Mexican hatred, et cetera,

[1:42:20] etc. Anti-Spanish-speaking hatred.

[1:42:25] So I'm not going to tolerate anti-Jewish hatred. I can tell

[1:42:28] you that. I am not going to tolerate anti-Palestinian hatred. I'm not going to tell it any kind

[1:42:33] of hatred. And if we want to get into international, you know, international and history and

[1:42:39] stuff, let's, you know, let's have a panel discussion and talk about those things. What have we

[1:42:45] learned? Have we learned anything? Or are we just back trying to recreate the same kind of madness

[1:42:49] that has happened in the past.

[1:42:51] So I am not interested in passing this

[1:42:55] for a commission for those reasons.

[1:42:58] I am interested in continuing, again, as a speaker said,

[1:43:01] we recognize all the different communities

[1:43:03] in this part of the world that we have over the years.

[1:43:07] And if we have not included some group that we can do that,

[1:43:11] but I'm not going to get into this

[1:43:12] politics in locally also just to create some kind of,

[1:43:16] I don't know what.

[1:43:17] So for that reason, you know, with all the respect, I think that anti-Semitism needs to be

[1:43:24] fought on its own grounds, anti-Mexicanism needs to be fought, anti-Black efforts, anti-women,

[1:43:31] anti-Semitism.

[1:43:32] There's a lot of anti-stuff that we can all work together on, and that's what I'm interested

[1:43:36] in, not not a proclamation this, and frankly I also thought it was going to be something

[1:43:42] that we would just be discussing first and whatever not already have a proclamation here.

[1:43:47] all, you know, with this situation.

[1:43:50] So, yeah, thank you, that's all I need to say for now.

[1:43:53] Thank you.

[1:43:59] Sit on

[1:44:01] me.

[1:44:03] So, council members, neighbors, you know,

[1:44:07] and in 1958, Dr. Martin Luther King addressed

[1:44:10] the American Jewish Congress, and he said this,

[1:44:14] my people were bought to America and Shans.

[1:44:17] Your people were driven here

[1:44:18] to escape Shans, Fashans for them in Europe.

[1:44:22] Our unity is born in our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid ourselves of bondage,

[1:44:28] but to make a pressure of any people by others in impossibility.

[1:44:33] This is the spirit in which I bring this on Proclamation Forward.

[1:44:38] I bring it forward at a moment when anti-Semitic violence in this country is not abstract.

[1:44:43] Anti-Jewish hate crimes have for years made up the largest share of religion-based hate crimes reported to the FBI.

[1:44:50] In March of this year, an Army attacker drove a vehicle into Temple Israel and West Bloomfield, Michigan.

[1:45:00] With the state intent to kill Jews.

[1:45:04] Synagogue's Jewish schools, Jewish students have faced the rats and attacks across this country.

[1:45:10] And these politics are not separate from that country.

[1:45:13] You saw Jewish neighbors are not separate from that fear.

[1:45:17] When a community is being targeted, the wrong response is silence.

[1:45:23] The proclamation in front of us names anti-Semitism and rejects it.

[1:45:28] It adopts the IRA working definition explicitly as a non-binding educational and analytical framework,

[1:45:36] not as a speech code, not as a regulation, and not as a test for who speaks at this

[1:45:43] dies, or who receives a city contract. It affirms the first amendment by name. It states

[1:45:50] that nothing in it shall be construed to diminish constitutionally protected speech.

[1:45:57] Criticism of any government, including Israeli government, remains fully protected in the city.

[1:46:04] Advocacy for Palestinian human rights remains fully protected in the city.

[1:46:08] None of that is anti-Semitism, and nothing in this proclamation says otherwise.

[1:46:15] Some of us, whether this proclamation is intentioned with East Palo Alto traditions,

[1:46:20] our ceasefire resolution, our stand against the part tied in South Africa, our solidarity with people,

[1:46:25] under occupation. It is not. A city that condemns the suffering of civilians in Gaza is a city that can also condemn the killing of Jews in Michigan.

[1:46:38] These are not the same. These are the same commitment and not competing ones.

[1:46:45] I've heard the call from neighbors to also speak clearly against Islamophobia, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian discrimination and not shared.

[1:46:52] Standing against one form of hate does not require silence about out any other form.

[1:46:58] And I'm committed to bring that work forward.

[1:47:02] This is Dr. King and the ALGC understood something we should not forget tonight.

[1:47:09] The safety of one community is not bound with the safety of one community is bound up with

[1:47:17] the safety of every other.

[1:47:19] This is what the proclamation is for, and I ask my colleagues to support it.

[1:47:25] Thank you.

[1:47:32] So, if there's no additional comments I would like to entertain a motion.

[1:47:46] I would like to make a motion.

[1:47:49] I'd like to make a motion that if we do approve this, we remove the warehouse statement.

[1:47:54] 5, 6, 7, 8, and the further pro-clean statement 9, all referring to the IHRA working definition.

[1:48:08] I think affirming our commitment to combat anti-Semitism is important at the same time.

[1:48:11] We should also be familiar commitment to combat anti-Muslim anti-Arab, anti-Latino discrimination,

[1:48:20] but in this case we are dealing with this anti-Semitism.

[1:48:22] So that would be my my motion. Can you read off the paragraphs you want to strike well as effective prevention monitoring

[1:48:32] And response required clear and consistent definitions and frameworks and whereas in May 2016 the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

[1:48:42] I got through the working definition of anti-Semitism which could become an internationally recognized framework by 42 governments out of

[1:48:49] in 195 governments, used by governments and institutions worldwide,

[1:48:55] whereas the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism provides practical guidance

[1:49:01] for identifying contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism,

[1:49:05] and has been widely adopted and utilized by federal agencies,

[1:49:09] states, municipalities, and law enforcement bodies across the country.

[1:49:12] where as the use of the IHR, a working definition of anti-Semitism as an educational and

[1:49:20] analytical tool does not infringe upon rights protected under the first amendment of the United

[1:49:25] States Constitution and then the other item would be, be it further resolved that the CDVs

[1:49:31] parallel supports the use of the IHR, a working definition of anti-Semitism as a non-binding

[1:49:38] educational and analytical framework to help guide municipal training policy

[1:49:45] development and awareness efforts.

[1:49:54] Do we have a second for that motion or I'd like to make an alternative motion?

[1:50:02] I mean, I, well, you know, such data before, we're sort of getting into, I don't know what to call it,

[1:50:18] If there was an anti-hatred statement to cover everybody, in other words, we're going to have to be passing one of these every single meeting.

[1:50:30] Every single meeting. People are persecuted, people are attacked for different reasons.

[1:50:36] The color of their skin, their religion, their language, their history, their gender,

[1:50:44] And I stated before,

[1:50:49] to my last day, I will stand against injustice and for the underdog.

[1:50:54] But the face of the oppressor always changes.

[1:51:00] And so, you know, I meant I hate anti hatred to any group, including Jewish community.

[1:51:09] But you know, this kind of stuff that we're doing here is trying to get the rabbit hole of, you know,

[1:51:17] policy, politics, et cetera, et cetera.

[1:51:20] And I don't think this is really going to help bring people

[1:51:22] together, unfortunately.

[1:51:25] It's too bad, but that just the way it is.

[1:51:27] So I'm not in support of really of anything

[1:51:30] that goes in this direction.

[1:51:34] All right.

[1:51:37] So I guess we have a motion, and I haven't heard a second

[1:51:40] on that motion, but I would like to make an alternative motion

[1:51:44] that we had adopted the resolution as it's written.

[1:51:48] Also, I can.

[1:51:52] Can we get a roll call vote?

[1:51:56] Mayor Lincoln?

[1:51:59] Vice Mayor Brickham?

[1:52:00] No.

[1:52:05] Can some member butter gun?

[1:52:09] Yes.

[1:52:10] Can some member dining?

[1:52:10] Yes.

[1:52:12] Can some member Romero?

[1:52:13] No.

[1:52:14] Motion carries.

[1:52:16] Thank you.

[1:52:17] will be proceeding on to the next agenda item.

[1:52:20] This is.

[1:52:24] I will be there.

[1:52:25] Follow the results.

[1:52:28] Follow the application.

[1:52:29] We're going to call it recess.

[1:59:22] I'm active in that commercial.

[1:59:24] We will amend the gender so that we can go to closed session.

[1:59:27] I second.

[1:59:29] All right.

[1:59:29] We follow.

[1:59:34] We have.

[1:59:35] Mayor Lincoln.

[1:59:36] Yes.

[1:59:37] Vice Mayor Brico.

[1:59:40] Vice Mayor Brico.

[2:00:00] Councilmember Dining. Yes. Councilmember Baraghan.

[2:00:08] Councilmember Romero. That's in. Motion carries.

[2:42:31] I'm going to carve a meeting that's a order.

[2:42:38] We are calling this meeting back to order.

[2:42:42] I'd like to request that,

[2:43:08] I'd like to request that we, that we proceed with this meeting.

[2:43:16] I'm issuing a warning that you guys are disrupting the meeting and I'd request that you guys

[2:43:25] respect the chair and to quiet down so that we can proceed with this meeting.

[2:43:44] This is the second warning I'm going to issue on this matter.

[2:43:48] I would like to ask that you guys a lawyer reverses so that we can proceed with this meeting.

[2:44:16] Okay, I would like to invite a motion to, I wish you two warnings asking this group of individuals at the council meeting to lower their voices and not continue to disrupt the meeting.

[2:44:33] I would like to entertain a motion to clear the room.

[2:44:40] Okay,

[2:44:43] I'm glad to be there, we're all kind of out.

[2:45:01] We're taking a roll call, Mayor Lincoln. Yes. Vice Mayor Brickham,

[2:45:31] we've got a successful call in the world.

[2:45:56] Mayor Lincoln, yes. Council member Bargon,

[2:46:03] Council member Dining, yes, Council member Romero.

[2:46:10] what the motion is to the mayor made a motion to clear the room due to the

[2:46:18] little disturbance

[2:46:22] clear the room clear the room

[2:46:39] yeah I I vote now

[2:46:48] so a

[2:46:49] motion does not carry

[2:47:12] don't remember but I can you hear I look and you all

[2:47:16] hear me because I you know when you were doing the voting I was not promoted to

[2:47:20] Do you vote for the motion to clear the room?

[2:47:23] Yes.

[2:47:33] And so we're going to call our princess after this.

[2:47:47] It's a member of the team.

[2:48:05] Can you remember?

[2:48:12] Can she give it?

[2:48:14] Can you raise your hand if you vote?

[2:48:19] On this motion.

[2:48:21] Can you guys hear me or no?

[2:48:23] The motion is to clear the council chambers due to a disturbance.

[2:48:28] Okay, so, Council Member Baragana has voted yes and so the motion passes.

[2:48:37] Motion passes.

[2:48:40] We're clearing the room.

[2:48:42] Yeah.

[2:49:06] It's a government code section five, four, nine, five, seven,

[2:49:10] point nine.

[2:49:11] The chamber will now be clear.

[2:49:14] Recommendants of the class may remain.

[2:49:16] So as long as they are not participating in a disruption.

[2:49:19] only agenda items will be considered while the room is clear.

[2:49:53] So we'll be calling this meeting into a recess

[2:50:15] for

[2:50:27] an album.

[2:52:41] Okay.

[2:53:17] I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[3:12:31] I'd like to call the meeting back to order. So we'll be continuing with item 3.6. So Mark, you pulled that. You have any questions for staff?

[3:12:52] Are we back in session?

[3:12:56] Okay, I pulled item 3.6 which is executed the updated animal control service agreement with the county of San Mateo for the period of July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029.

[3:13:10] I have a lot of concerns about animal control right now as do many members of the community who have spoken to me.

[3:13:16] We feel like we do not have adequate animal control.

[3:13:20] There's practically no outreach in terms of spade neuter.

[3:13:26] There's very little services offered in terms of vaccine.

[3:13:30] The animal control office is close to an hour from East Palo Alto anytime there's traffic.

[3:13:37] Being that it's up in coyote point.

[3:13:41] I've been very unsatisfied.

[3:13:43] We had a meeting last year where I raised concerns

[3:13:45] and I've seen no improvement and I've seen no outreach and you know I am concerned that we're

[3:13:52] extending this without which is quite expensive I believe it's you know 600,000 or more per

[3:13:58] year see imagine what what exactly is the annual cost of our animal control contract

[3:14:14] the

[3:14:14] citizen city manager is pulling that up.

[3:14:21] Now I think one of the issues is we have animal control and

[3:14:25] also that's literally a short walk from East Palo Alto, which is not accessible to East Palo

[3:14:30] to Residence. And instead animal control has up in coyote point, which is significantly

[3:14:37] far away.

[3:14:41] Councilmember, in this coming fiscal year, the impact is going to be 689,683. I'm talking

[3:14:50] I'm sorry for fiscal year 2627, and so staff estimates a total cost of approximately

[3:14:58] 2 million, 400.

[3:15:00] $154,279. That's a proximate, I should say, because we will get FY 2728 and 2829 amounts in those years.

[3:15:15] But that's 2.45 million over the proposed three-year contract term.

[3:15:21] So that's over three years, that's like more like 800,000 per year?

[3:15:27] roughly yes. Okay. I mean, well two two two two 2.5 million divided by 3 would be

[3:15:38] 800,000 if it's over four years. It would be 600, but you say it's a three-year contract.

[3:15:42] Yeah, sorry. I think our fiscal impact section is written incorrectly. My apologies. I think you're right.

[3:15:51] It does say in a different section 872 301 for fiscal year 2627.

[3:16:01] Yeah, I mean, I know you're going to be negotiating.

[3:16:05] But what I see in the community is we don't have to pay new to services.

[3:16:09] We definitely don't have vaccine shipping and other services that you would presume animal services would supply.

[3:16:16] We had asked last year about having a truck come out for

[3:16:19] new to shipping and things like that, that hasn't happened. I'm just wondering what are we getting

[3:16:24] out of this agreement other than somebody coming down and picking up dead animals once in a

[3:16:27] while because I don't know when people call animal control they don't do not get a response most of

[3:16:33] the time. And you know I think our residents deserve better in terms of the services that provided

[3:16:41] and I know this stuff is expensive and I would be like okay yeah that's fine we're getting

[3:16:46] excellent service. We're not getting excellent service. And, you know, I raised these issues last year.

[3:16:51] I have seen nothing about it. I tried to follow up about getting, you know, um,

[3:16:56] spanned uterine, trapping release. And there was no, nothing came back from animal control after

[3:17:01] I made investigations. Excuse me. Yeah. Mark, um, if you guys need to talk, um, I just

[3:17:06] respectfully request that you guys take it outside because we're trying to proceed with the meeting.

[3:17:11] And if everyone's talking, it really makes it hard for us to hear from our staff, the questions,

[3:17:18] I'd like to have our questions answered.

[3:17:23] Thank you.

[3:17:28] I mean, it is me $800,000 a year is a significant amount of money, and we should be getting

[3:17:34] better services.

[3:17:35] That's my point, and I don't want to see us renew a contract without demanding significantly

[3:17:41] better and improve animal services, because right now they suck.

[3:17:47] And you know, there's been no effort on the part of the county to actually do the job in East Palo Alto.

[3:17:54] And we have lots and lots of feral cats.

[3:17:57] We have, you know, dogs running around.

[3:17:59] If you call them, there's a least dog.

[3:18:00] We'll be, yeah, we'll get there in an hour and a half after we send somebody down from coyote point.

[3:18:05] You know, so it's not, it's not the kind of service you would expect.

[3:18:10] I hear you, Council Member Dining, on the desire for better service and animal controls

[3:18:18] in East Palo, but it's important to recognize that this contract is kind of a collaborative

[3:18:26] contract of East Palo to along with 20 other cities in the county in San Mateo County.

[3:18:34] There aren't very many alternatives.

[3:18:36] You may recall during the city council priority setting.

[3:18:41] This was one of the projects that I believe you proposed for us to look at better animal

[3:18:47] controls services.

[3:18:48] And it's not something that's an easy lift to evaluate alternatives.

[3:18:53] Frankly, I don't know if there are many other than possibly looking at Palo Alto.

[3:18:57] But the city council didn't prioritize this as a priority project.

[3:19:01] So, the city continued with the San Mateo County effort and here we are now.

[3:19:10] A council member, sorry, I need to correct what I said earlier.

[3:19:14] The fiscal impact section of the staff report is correct.

[3:19:18] It is $689,000 for fiscal year 2627.

[3:19:22] 7, but chart on the earlier page that has the 800 and some thousand number is a chart that the

[3:19:32] county gave to every city to include in the staff report. But our particular impact this coming

[3:19:39] year is 689,683. Yeah, I would encourage you to talk to the county about getting a

[3:19:47] station located significantly closer to East ball Alto and have personnel

[3:19:51] permanently stationed there because what we're we have right now is we're

[3:19:56] the most southern city in the county and they're just not providing

[3:20:01] services for us and so I mean I could you know I'm not happy with the service I

[3:20:07] haven't seen any improvement I haven't seen any outreach I don't see them

[3:20:10] showing up events to try to do you know community engagement or outreach on

[3:20:16] newter or you know vaccination shipping or whatever I mean you go to yeah how many times have

[3:20:22] been at cooling landing and you know every non-profit in the world is there animal services

[3:20:27] isn't there would be a natural place to do outreach so you know I don't know if we have

[3:20:33] many options here but I want to strong strongly send a message that this is not acceptable level

[3:20:38] of behavior for animal services they're not doing a good job we're paying a lot of money for

[3:20:44] I mean, everyone's been bringing up flock flock

[3:20:47] is like $95,000 a year, and this is $689,000 a year.

[3:20:52] So it's, you know, in terms of money

[3:20:55] of the city's spending, it's a significant,

[3:20:58] you know, it's a significant, I'll leave it at that.

[3:21:05] Yeah, I don't want to take eight minutes

[3:21:07] of the council's time on this as the former speaker did.

[3:21:11] I just want to say that my recollection aligns

[3:21:15] with the city manager's recollection.

[3:21:16] There was an interest by a council member to pursue this and, you know, look into a new service provider.

[3:21:25] It, it did not arise to that.

[3:21:29] We couldn't get the three votes.

[3:21:31] So at this point, I think we move forward with this.

[3:22:06] So I, I definitely think we should continue with this.

[3:22:10] If, in our future priorities, we would like to have staff analyze,

[3:22:14] even the remotest possibility of going to Palo Alto and I'm not sure if that is a possibility.

[3:22:20] You know, we can put that into a work plan in our already overwork staff.

[3:22:25] But I think at this point, we should proceed or try to proceed to negotiate this.

[3:22:30] It would be nice to see if we could, in addition to, well, collaborate with them.

[3:22:39] If we could indeed collaborate with them to maybe have a spay, newter clinic here.

[3:22:45] I have taken, you know, my cats up there, it's not that far away, but certainly there are

[3:22:51] and perhaps the subsidized one, but I think that it is worth at this point moving forward

[3:22:57] with the finally appreciation of this contract.

[3:23:02] Thank you.

[3:23:02] And just once I let you all know that Laurie Morton Feezel from Cemetell County Health has been

[3:23:08] here all night and she's available for any questions you may have of her.

[3:23:12] Perhaps she might want to make some comments as well.

[3:23:22] Thank you very much.

[3:23:23] Thank you, Mayor Lincoln, and Vice Mayor Abreca, and Council Member Denine Ann Romero.

[3:23:33] As city manager said, I'm Lori Morton, Fisell, with the county, and I did want to address some of

[3:23:39] your concerns about East Palo Alto. As far as the Humane Society being in San Mateo,

[3:23:46] that is correct. It is 15 miles down the road, and I did want to talk a little bit about Spain

[3:23:50] newter. I ran some numbers for you this afternoon. And with our Spaya newter voucher program East

[3:23:58] Palo Alto, we have done 370 animals this year. So out of the county, out of 20 animals,

[3:24:08] three animals are done out of East Palo Alto. So East Palo Alto is getting a higher percentage

[3:24:14] of animals spade and neutered for each city.

[3:24:19] So that's a nice, that's a very high percentage.

[3:24:22] Beneathly Humane Society is not the only shelter

[3:24:25] doing spade and neuter.

[3:24:28] Nine lives, which is in redwood city,

[3:24:30] is taking our vouchers as well as that's in need,

[3:24:34] which is right here in redwood city.

[3:24:36] The voucher program, one dollar from every license,

[3:24:40] goes into our fund.

[3:24:41] So, a resident can get a voucher and only pays $25.

[3:24:47] So, is any resident in East Palo Alto can get a voucher?

[3:24:51] So, it only costs them $25.

[3:24:54] So, they do not have to go all the way to San Mateo.

[3:24:58] They can go as close as Redwood City.

[3:25:01] The other program we just recently started was at WeHope.

[3:25:05] So, WeHope, we are now doing vaccinations,

[3:25:08] free treatment, all of that for no cost to those residents so they can get in to housing.

[3:25:16] So that's for the unhoused.

[3:25:18] Unfortunately, no one has contacted me about any education here in East Palo Alto.

[3:25:24] I know you did speak with the Peninsula Humane Society.

[3:25:27] I'm very willing to talk with them and try to get any education down here in East Palo Alto.

[3:25:34] I did want to speak to you about the numbers, I know you were talking about services not being done down here in East Palo Alto.

[3:25:45] I wanted to let you know in the past 12 months there has been 689 animals cared for at the shelter.

[3:25:54] So that's receiving 24-hour care.

[3:25:59] 178 dogs from East Palo Alto were cared for.

[3:26:04] 275 cats, 27 others, which would be like guinea pigs,

[3:26:09] parakeets could be a reptile or two, and 82 wildlife.

[3:26:15] So that could be a raccoon, a possum, any type of wildlife.

[3:26:20] Return to owner 73 of those dogs were returned to owner's back

[3:26:24] in East Palo Alto. 182 cats went back to the owners in East Palo Alto, which is a very high

[3:26:31] percentage. So that means the staff at Penensley Humane Society cared enough to return those

[3:26:37] animals back to the owner, make phone calls to try to get them back. As far as field services,

[3:26:43] being in your city 562 calls were done in the city of East Palo Alto. That means, as far as

[3:26:54] working with your police department, assisting your police department, there were 79 calls,

[3:27:03] where your police department asked for our peninsula humane society to come and assist them. In my

[3:27:09] In my mind doing this for 43 years, that's a high number of service calls where the officers

[3:27:16] of the Humane Society are providing service to your residents and your police department.

[3:27:22] Another high amount is aggressive dogs, so they've been responding 16 different times

[3:27:28] in your city to come and answer calls for aggressive animals in your city.

[3:27:33] That's another high percentage.

[3:27:35] So when you look at the dollar amount, I know $669,000 is a high amount, but you are getting

[3:27:42] service for that amount.

[3:27:45] Years back, and I think it was right before 2021, when we went to sign the contract,

[3:27:51] Minlow Park thought about leaving the contract, and they went to Palo Alto.

[3:27:57] What they found out is it would cost them over $800,000 to contract with Palo Alto, animal

[3:28:05] services. And they realized that they would stay with the contract.

[3:28:11] If you would like to

[3:28:13] research that three years, we are going to go back out for a request for proposal. If East

[3:28:19] Palo Alto feels that they would like to leave the contract, that would be the time in which you

[3:28:25] would that you could do that. The other thing that the Humane Society does offer is they do a low

[3:28:34] vaccine clinic at their shelter every Wednesday and Saturday. So I understand it's a 15-minute drive down the freeway. I also understand there is traffic.

[3:28:47] 15 mile. 15 mile. 15 mile. 15. Yeah, you said 15 minutes. It's more like four in traffic. Yes, I apologize. I misspoke. Also, right here in Redwood City,

[3:29:00] That's a need. They offer a low-cost vaccine clinic. If you would like to cooperate with me,

[3:29:07] council member, I would love to come and meet with you and see if we could put some more

[3:29:11] services in your city. Like I said, I've been doing this for many years and I used to work in

[3:29:17] East Palo Alto as an officer and I would like to see if we can collaborate and get some more

[3:29:23] services into your city. But I do feel that the Humane Society is doing a very good job in your city.

[3:29:30] Are there any questions I can answer for you to this evening?

[3:29:36] I don't have any questions, but thank you for the update and the numbers and you're welcome.

[3:29:41] You know, certainly things have always been proved.

[3:29:44] I would say, yeah, maybe some gaps here and there.

[3:29:49] And as far as working with council members,

[3:29:51] you need to work with all of us, not just one.

[3:29:54] And probably you should check in also with the city manager

[3:29:57] because ultimately the staff that has to do the work.

[3:30:01] But I appreciate your offer. I just want to clarify that since we're not employee so the city, and we shouldn't be running our own programs.

[3:30:12] But obviously, whatever, both have, then you can air them, but ultimately, I think, working through our staff.

[3:30:19] But thank you very much for the update.

[3:30:20] and absolutely, to be pleasure to work with all of you and the City Manager, I do work closely

[3:30:27] with, I send the reports out to them monthly, so they know monthly what's happening with the

[3:30:33] Humane Society and are up-to-date, but I can absolutely work with your City Manager.

[3:30:39] Yes. Any other questions?

[3:30:42] I had spoken with our Assistant City Manager, but the possibility of doing, I know we have the

[3:30:50] or counties to do a Spanish newter clinic in the city, I would love to see if we could do that.

[3:30:59] I don't know if it means that we, you know, say my subsidized it, but I think that would

[3:31:03] be helpful when it probably gets your programs out into the community also, and at the same

[3:31:08] time, we can deal with, you know, spending a new dream. But I mean, the numbers sound promising,

[3:31:14] and I do want to just correct the record that I'm looking at Google Maps here, and yes,

[3:31:18] the drive time is anywhere from 17 to about 35 minutes, super, super high traffic, it goes before

[3:31:24] it.

[3:31:25] But so it's, well, well, again, I've gone, I do know about the Buster program, you know, I was

[3:31:31] able to use your services and actually, tragically, when one of my cats died and I was,

[3:31:37] it was on the curve on the gutter and I was going to bury it at home and I read that

[3:31:42] I should not and I called you all and literally I'm not kidding, that was about 10 o'clock

[3:31:48] in the morning, and then by 12 o'clock, my cat was gone.

[3:31:52] So you all took the cat away, and which was what you said I should be doing that very

[3:31:57] in my backyard.

[3:31:58] So at least, and that happened about nine months ago.

[3:32:02] So, well, maybe there's a lot of cool months ago, but still, I've appreciated your service.

[3:32:07] Thank you.

[3:32:08] Thank you very much for that.

[3:32:10] And what I can say with the new contract, they do have certain priorities, and they have to meet

[3:32:15] performance measures, and the new contract keeps them on that.

[3:32:20] They have 18 hours in which to pick up dead animals.

[3:32:24] So that might be the reason you're seeing a better performance, same thing with injured animals

[3:32:29] and responding to police officers.

[3:32:31] They have a certain amount of time in which to respond to that.

[3:32:34] So as far as the spanned neuter piece, I don't know if you're aware, but there is a shortage

[3:32:39] of veterinarians across the country.

[3:32:42] And the Spain-Newter mobile that used to go out a long time ago has not been out in years through the Peninsula Humane Society because of that shortage.

[3:32:52] Not to say that it couldn't happen.

[3:32:54] That's something we can look into.

[3:32:56] I am having a meeting with Anthony Tansmore, the president on June 1.

[3:33:01] I'll talk to him about that.

[3:33:03] If we can't do a Spain-Newter, at least we could try to do a vaccine clinic down here.

[3:33:07] Maybe a free vaccine clinic at least start there.

[3:33:10] and then try to get move up and see what we can do. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions?

[3:33:21] Thank you very much. If there's no additional comments, I'd like to have them make a

[3:33:26] best, can you answer an emotion to? There's a public comment. Oh, there are.

[3:33:34] Okay. I think we have a lot

[3:33:35] on, maybe online,

[3:33:41] more email?

[3:33:44] I good evening.

[3:33:45] It's really nice to have this conversation.

[3:33:49] And I understand council members, council members,

[3:33:53] guidance, frustrations because we are at the end of the county.

[3:33:57] I do want to point out though, through the years, having grown up in

[3:34:00] mental park and lived in EPA for a long time, that PHS has evolved best practices

[3:34:06] and they have some state-of-the-art facilities that we have access to through the county

[3:34:12] contract.

[3:34:13] Palo Alto does not, and on top of that, Petson needs is not a competent operator.

[3:34:20] We need these services as evidenced by their statistics, and there is a good return on

[3:34:25] our investment.

[3:34:26] There is room for improvement though, but things have greatly improved for pets.

[3:34:30] In fact, I remember I did a right along with Ms. Morton Faisel here years ago when she was

[3:34:36] animal control officer. And I learned a lot from her at that time. And I've also had

[3:34:44] good feedback from case managers at we hope about the programs that they have right

[3:34:49] now. So again, with the issues Mr. Dining brings up, these would require some long-term

[3:34:56] focus in planning. And he may not remember this, but we've talked about this in the past.

[3:35:01] And I do recall that there was something about it could make sense to work with the county and other local San Mateo County cities.

[3:35:11] So they're power in numbers, so maybe there's something that we could all do together, so that's not just us on our own trying to get more effective services, when maybe we could all do it as a group with the more southern cities or at least some other programs that maybe more local.

[3:35:30] Thank you.

[3:35:34] Thank you.

[3:35:35] Next speaker Mario.

[3:35:44] speaking of perros, I want to tell you that they will be a little bit tense on

[3:35:55] in his Paloato,

[3:35:59] there is a genesis of perros in the country,

[3:36:05] and the two of them

[3:36:06] know how to do the bathroom in the street,

[3:36:12] there is the park from the outside,

[3:36:16] there

[3:36:17] they take the subway, where they go, they go to the south,

[3:36:24] and they hope to do it in

[3:36:26] and because

[3:36:30] we have to take them to these people.

[3:36:37] That's fine, I also have two dogs,

[3:36:43] but why do they take them to the streets of the bathroom?

[3:36:49] In the middle of the morning, in the bathroom, there's a lot of people taking them to the streets.

[3:37:01] Now they take attention on that.

[3:37:25] Okay, can I get a motion to on this agenda item to approve it?

[3:37:32] I moved the item for approval.

[3:37:36] We do a roll call.

[3:37:42] May your link in?

[3:37:44] Vice Mayor Bricka.

[3:37:46] Councilmember Bauderan.

[3:37:48] Yes.

[3:37:49] Councilmember Dining.

[3:37:51] Councilmember Bauderan.

[3:37:52] Yes.

[3:37:54] Motion carries.

[3:37:56] Okay.

[3:37:56] Thank you.

[3:37:57] So we're proceeding with the policy and action item.

[3:38:01] Number 9.1, staffy late present.

[3:38:08] Thank you, Mayor. Once I can just load in the presentation,

[3:38:31] public.

[3:38:32] So the policy and action item was moved up to right after the approval of the consent calendar.

[3:38:41] So public comment will happen after.

[3:38:53] Thanks.

[3:39:00] All right. All right. See it.

[3:39:31] Thanks for your patience, everyone.

[3:39:33] Good evening.

[3:39:34] Honorable Mayor and members of the city council.

[3:39:36] My name is Orly Amy and I'm presenting on the adoption of the city's first ever legislative platform and formalization of a legislative advocacy and intergovernmental relations program,

[3:39:49] which largely consists of work we've already been doing.

[3:39:52] We

[3:39:56] have four specific requests tonight first is the adoption of the legislative platform itself which will set the policy boundaries based on the priorities that this city council has already set and making sure those priorities are rooted in the principles represented in the general plan.

[3:40:13] Second, authorization for the city manager to implement this platform.

[3:40:17] Third, directing staff to return to you for items that fall outside of this framework.

[3:40:23] And finally, we are looking for your direction on whether to establish a city council

[3:40:27] legislative committee to support ongoing coordination.

[3:40:33] So to Dr. Montgomery, a legislative platform is a guiding document that the city council

[3:40:38] can adopt that outlines its official positions on a range of public policy issues.

[3:40:43] And this platform serves as a strategic plan and reference guide for advocating for and responding

[3:40:48] to local, state, and federal legislation that could impact the Cs operations, finances, programs,

[3:40:54] and priorities.

[3:40:56] And by establishing clear positions on key issues, a legislative platform streamlines, a

[3:41:00] legislative process, and allows staff to act quickly and effectively to support beneficial

[3:41:04] legislation or oppose legislation that is inconsistent with the city's goals.

[3:41:10] So why are we doing this now?

[3:41:12] Historically, EPA has advocated on an ad hoc basis, and without a dedicated staff person

[3:41:18] coordinating these efforts. So that means that we've responded when issues arise such as

[3:41:23] funding opportunities or a piece of legislation, but without a consistent framework that guides

[3:41:28] these efforts. And the gap there is not lack of activity because we have lots of that and we'll

[3:41:33] share our ongoing efforts to later in the presentation, but a lack of structure. And without a consistent

[3:41:39] framework, it's more challenging to ensure that all of the city's advocacy efforts are aligned with

[3:41:44] of priorities and that we're advancing the clear and consistent policy direction across different

[3:41:48] issue areas. So back in September 2025, the City Manager's office presented to this council

[3:41:54] about the prospect of approving an official legislative platform and you all provided us preliminary

[3:41:59] direction of flesh out such a platform rooted in the strategic priorities in general plan principles

[3:42:05] and return to presents it. So that's why we're here today. So staff previously reviewed the

[3:42:14] California cities and the models that we looked at demonstrated the value of codifying legislative

[3:42:18] positions to guide staff, our consultancy work with, and the elected officials that we

[3:42:24] console in their advocacy work.

[3:42:35] So this slide outlines how the city approaches advocacy across

[3:42:37] different levels of government and at the federal level this includes direct engagement with

[3:42:42] congressional offices and agencies such as the environmental protection agency, the Department of

[3:42:47] are in development, the Army or Corps of Engineers, and those are just a few of the agencies

[3:42:54] we've worked with, and these are particularly to advance community project funding requests

[3:42:58] and other appropriations opportunities. At the state level, we coordinate with the governor's

[3:43:04] office and other state agencies and our legislative delegation of state senators and assembly

[3:43:09] members on both budget and policy matters, including issues that impact local control and funding

[3:43:15] for cities. Additionally, the city engages regionally through boards and partner agencies, you

[3:43:21] all are part of where.

[3:43:41] So additionally, the city engages regionally through boards and

[3:43:44] partner agencies that this council is involved in, where many funding and policy priorities are

[3:43:49] shaped across the local jurisdictions. And taking together, this is a coordinated

[3:43:54] approach that ensures that our advocacy efforts at all levels are aligned with the city's strategic

[3:43:58] priorities in general plant principles and focus on securing resources and advancing policy

[3:44:03] outcomes for the community and together all of these components make our advocacy strategy

[3:44:10] as a whole they will comprise the city's legislative advocacy and intergovernmental relations program.

[3:44:27] So our goal is to consistently advance the outcomes that this council has identified as priorities

[3:44:31] And as I mentioned, this work is not new. It's built on previous council direction.

[3:44:37] So as the council suggested back in the fall, we have created a like a crosswalk

[3:44:41] that anchors our advocacy in the fiscal year 2025 through 2029 priorities.

[3:44:47] And the general plan, we said 2035. And by doing this, we will ensure that every letter of

[3:44:53] support or opposition that we sign, or advocacy meeting that we hold is

[3:44:57] operationalizing the goals of this Council has already vetted with.

[3:45:00] And establish for the EPA community. And this proposed framework will ensure that the city is not just watching from the sidelines, but that we're actively shaping the policies and securing the funding that will define our future.

[3:45:12] So with this platform, we'll be translating these adopted priorities into a format that can be used to evaluate legislation, funding opportunities, and policy decisions.

[3:45:26] So, I will briefly walk through the core elements reflected in the platform.

[3:45:30] The platform, as I mentioned, are organized into seven pillars that directly align with

[3:45:34] the strategic priorities and are supported by the general plan principles.

[3:45:39] The first pillar is civic engagement.

[3:45:42] And with that, the city recognizes that meaningful participation in civic life is foundational

[3:45:46] to effective governance and community trust.

[3:45:49] And from the legislative standpoint, that means that we support policies and funding that

[3:45:53] span access to participation, particularly for communities like hours that have historically

[3:45:58] faced barriers to that.

[3:46:00] And so this includes things like improving access to public information, expanding language

[3:46:04] access, and strengthening digital connectivity so that residents can more easily engage

[3:46:09] with the city processes.

[3:46:11] And this also includes supporting youth engagement and leadership development, recognizing

[3:46:15] that long-term community resilience depends on building the next generation of civic leaders.

[3:46:21] So this priority is focus on ensuring that our advocacy supports some more inclusive and transparent and accessible civic environment for all.

[3:46:31] The second pillar is comprehensive housing. Access is safe, stable, and affordable housing is essential priority for the city and the key component of community well-being.

[3:46:40] And through our legislative advocacy, the city will pursue both production and protection and on the production side.

[3:46:47] That means supporting funding and policies that expand housing opportunities across all income levels.

[3:46:52] And on the protection side, it means advocating for 10 protections and anti-displacement strategies to preserve community stability.

[3:46:59] We will also evaluate housing related legislation through the lens of local control to ensure that the city

[3:47:06] It retains that ability to tailor solutions based on our specific needs and context.

[3:47:12] The third pillar focuses on governance, organizational strength and fiscal sustainability.

[3:47:17] And this one is about ensuring that the city has a capacity and resources to deliver services and achieve our long-term goals.

[3:47:24] From the advocacy perspective, this includes supporting policies that provide reliable and flexible funding sources so that we can continue to respond to community needs and invest in infrastructure and services.

[3:47:35] and it also includes advocating for transparency and accountability and ensuring data

[3:47:41] driven decision-making.

[3:47:44] Also, we will oppose unfund and mandate, meaning policies that impose costs on local

[3:47:49] governments without providing the resources to do so.

[3:47:52] And we will also support workforce development and organizational capacity-building efforts,

[3:47:58] recognizing that strong institutions are essential to effective governance.

[3:48:01] And last for this slide is the fourth pillar of land use economic and workforce development.

[3:48:10] And the focus here is on promoting economic vitality and expanding access to opportunity for our residents.

[3:48:17] So this includes supporting policies and funding for workforce development programs, job training and small business support.

[3:48:24] With the goal to reduce economic disparities and ensure that economic growth benefits existing residents.

[3:48:30] We will also advocate for balanced development to ensure that land use decisions support both economic growth and long-term environmental and community goals that the city has already established.

[3:48:41] So this includes reducing economic leakage, strengthening local business ecosystems and fostering regional partnerships.

[3:48:47] All

[3:48:51] right, moving on to our fifth pillar of seven, parks, recreation and community facilities.

[3:48:57] So access to parks and recreational opportunities is critical to the quality of life and community health in PA.

[3:49:03] So from the legislative standpoint, this means pursuing funding for park improvements, recreational programming and community infrastructure.

[3:49:11] And we also prioritize expanding access to open space and ensuring that investment support active lifestyles and community connection.

[3:49:18] And so this alliance closely with our existing goals around livability and overall well being for our residents.

[3:49:26] Our sixth pillar of public health, safety and quality of life focuses on building safe, healthy and resilient communities.

[3:49:33] And so, with this city, we'll support investments in public safety infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and community-based services.

[3:49:40] And we will also advocate for policy that address environmental health and promote equitable access to essential services.

[3:49:49] So the goal here is to address root causes and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations in a more comprehensive and sustainable way.

[3:49:57] Our final pillar is public infrastructure and utilities.

[3:50:01] So reliable and modern infrastructure is essential in supporting the city's growth, sustainability and our long term resilience overall.

[3:50:08] So from a legislative perspective, this includes advocating for investments in multi-moral

[3:50:13] transportation to ensure residents have safe and equitable access to schools, to jobs, services

[3:50:19] and regional opportunities.

[3:50:21] And it also includes water system modernization, which is critical to maintaining reliable

[3:50:25] service and addressing the city's long term infrastructure needs that need investment.

[3:50:31] And finally, there's this wrong emphasis on climate resilience, which means making sure that

[3:50:36] to withstand environmental challenges and protect the community over time.

[3:50:41] So this priority helps ensure that the city is well positioned to secure funding in these areas

[3:50:45] and advanced projects that support both current needs and future growth.

[3:50:53] We're guarding

[3:50:53] governance standards, this platform distinguishes between official city positions and individual

[3:51:00] council member views. So while of course council members may express their personal opinions,

[3:51:05] When it comes to legislation they must clarify that they are not speaking for the council body as a whole unless the position is adopted in this platform and aligns with this platform and to ensure consistent messaging all official advocacy materials will be coordinated through this key managers office as they are now.

[3:51:29] Moving on to the role of our legislative consultants.

[3:51:32] So we are a small city and we just frankly don't have the internal capacity to track and engage on legislation at the level that's required.

[3:51:44] So the integrated team that we contract with whose contract that this council awarded, they provide that capacity to us via strategic guidance and technical expertise across both the federal and the state landscapes.

[3:51:57] And so Ken Brown strategic consulting serves as the lead and that firm coordinates of the overall strategy and ensures that our advocacy aligns with our state of priorities.

[3:52:09] And at the state level, Nassiman provides detailed legislative tracking and analysis for various bills and legislative matters at the state level and staff help complement those efforts by helping the city manager's office understand how bills might impact the city.

[3:52:24] At the federal level, we have the other subcontractor Sustainable Strategies DC, which supports

[3:52:32] our engagement with congressional offices and helps advance funding opportunities, particularly

[3:52:37] with community project funding requests.

[3:52:40] And together, this team allows the city to stay informed and be strategic and engage effectively

[3:52:45] across all levels of government.

[3:52:50] As we're advocacy tools and tactics, we use a variety of those, and so this includes formal

[3:52:56] position letters such as letters of support or opposition, verbal testimonies at hearings,

[3:53:02] direct engagement with legislators and agency representatives, so that means working with

[3:53:06] legislative staff to shape the actual language of a bill before it ever reaches a vote to help

[3:53:11] ensure that it doesn't unintentionally harm our community. And lastly, with funding advocacy,

[3:53:17] which allows closely with our capital and programmatic needs. And just to be clear, these are all

[3:53:22] of the city is already using the platform will just help to provide a better framework for using them

[3:53:28] consistently.

[3:53:33] As for the delegation framework for positions, the proposed delegation framework

[3:53:38] is that when a billor action is clearly aligned with the platform, the city manager would be authorized

[3:53:43] to act with the mayor or vice mayor signing formal letters. And this allows us to meet high deadlines.

[3:53:50] However, if a billor action is ambiguous or outside the platform, or involves a major policy

[3:53:55] issue, that's not approved by the Council, staff will return to this full Council for direction.

[3:54:02] And the emphasis here is that the Council would always retain authority over new policy.

[3:54:09] We're also presenting an option to establish a legislative committee and we wanted to include

[3:54:14] this as an option because in practice, the city is already kind of operating in a similar structure today.

[3:54:21] For example, the mayor and the vice-meritipically lead our federal advocacy efforts, including participation,

[3:54:26] representation in our Washington D.C. agency meetings and additionally, when we work with our

[3:54:32] legislative consultants every winter to finalize the city's annual federal appropriations

[3:54:37] priorities, staff in the city manager's office are typically coordinating directly with the mayor

[3:54:41] and vice mayor on this matter and sharing with them the proposed projects and seeking alignment

[3:54:46] before those requests are advanced. So there's already a level of coordination that's happening

[3:54:51] here, but in a more informal way. So this proposal was simply formalized at our approach and provided

[3:54:56] clear framework for that coordination. And we did do some research in this area as well. So for five

[3:55:02] member councils like EPA, the most common structure that we've seen is a two member committee either

[3:55:08] the mayor and vice mayor or any two council members who would be appointed annually. And this structure

[3:55:16] would keep the group below a quorum, which will allow us to be flexible and while also ensuring

[3:55:22] that the full council retains decision making authority.

[3:55:25] So we looked at how some other cities approached this.

[3:55:28] And we saw that 10 material.

[3:55:30] There is city legislative committee

[3:55:31] uses that mayor vice mayor model.

[3:55:34] While Redwood City, their intergovernment,

[3:55:37] Louva, excuse me, intergovernmental relations committee

[3:55:40] uses two appointed council members.

[3:55:43] So ultimately, tonight, we are seeking your direction

[3:55:46] on whether this council would like to formalize such committee

[3:55:49] and what structure would best align with your preferences.

[3:55:57] Another important component of the city's advocacy strategy is regional engagement,

[3:56:00] as you all know, because you all serve on critical regional boards, like A-BAC,

[3:56:06] or the San Francisco Creek, JPA, and this participation helps to influence funding policy and regional priorities.

[3:56:13] And so this is another instance in which the legislative platform will be helpful,

[3:56:18] because it would serve as a guide for these roles

[3:56:20] and it would give you a consistent framework

[3:56:22] to represent EPA's entrance,

[3:56:23] interest, excuse me,

[3:56:25] while still allowing you to the flexibility

[3:56:27] of negotiating a real time.

[3:56:29] And we would also like to encourage coordination,

[3:56:31] which means reporting back to city staff,

[3:56:35] and our legislative consultants

[3:56:36] on the regional trends that you're seeing and informing on,

[3:56:40] so that we can also be aware of

[3:56:42] broader regional advocacy efforts

[3:56:44] that we might contribute to.

[3:56:49] So, this is moving into one of the handouts that I had shared with you all about our recent advocacy efforts over the last

[3:56:57] maybe year and a half or so, from which we started tracking all of these efforts at the beginning of 2025.

[3:57:07] So, since 2025, maybe around, let's see, March was our tracking.

[3:57:13] We started tracking our legislative advocacy activities and the positions that we've taken.

[3:57:18] So we have submitted some targeted letters supporting federal funding state budget priorities and key policy positions.

[3:57:27] Regarding our federal appropriations and funding requests at the federal level, the city has supported multiple appropriations requests, including funding for roadway safety, water infrastructure, parks and public safety.

[3:57:39] And we come back to the mayor and vice mayor at the beginning of like January do March of every year to align on what those appropriations request would be.

[3:57:51] And here are some recent wins in that area and so in February, 2026.

[3:57:58] The community project funding for our will an avenue safety improvements project was signed into law and so that's $2 million for the city.

[3:58:05] And likewise, just last week, we just received notice that the same thing, funding for the community project.

[3:58:14] San Francisco Creek floodway study, we had $600,000 allocated to the city in a recent bill that is due to go to the president's desk any day now.

[3:58:30] At the state level, we've allocated for restoration of the vehicle licensee funding, which, as you can see, represents a significant portion of the city's general fund.

[3:58:38] And this is also something that our lobbyists, consultant,

[3:58:44] subcontractor was able to go give in-person testimony for the leave just last week

[3:58:49] up in Sacramento to advocate that this funding is restored.

[3:58:56] We've also supported major infrastructure investments, including water system upgrades,

[3:59:01] flood control projects, and regional public transportation initiatives.

[3:59:10] And we have also taken positions on several legislation affecting local control

[3:59:14] environmental protections. And so the point of showing all this with you is just to demonstrate that

[3:59:20] we are already actively engaged and we really just see our legislative platform as a way to

[3:59:27] allow us to build on that momentum in a more structured way.

[3:59:33] As far as transparency and reporting

[3:59:34] in next steps, transparency is a key component of the program. So we are utilizing legislative reports

[3:59:41] from Nostimans to track developments on bills and real time.

[3:59:45] We get a weekly update.

[3:59:47] Following tonight's meeting, we will also be launching a public facing advocacy webpage.

[3:59:53] We want to share with our residents and our stakeholders, our legislative platform.

[4:00:02] And we also want to share the advocacy outcomes of that advocacy. We will also continue coordination of our DCNs.com meetings with the relevant agencies and officials and going forward staff will also be providing period of periodic updates to council to ensure ongoing visibility.

[4:00:25] so we're at the end. Thanks for listening. So this slide is divided into two components. One

[4:00:36] is the key decisions that we'd like to hear from Council on tonight. So the core decisions that

[4:00:42] we're asking are for adoption of this legislative platform, authorizing the City Manager to

[4:00:47] implement its and giving us direction on the legislative committee and also directing staff to

[4:00:53] turn out the full council for advocacy efforts that fall outside of the platform and then

[4:00:58] opening up the floor for council discussion and feedback, you want to open it up for your

[4:01:03] thoughts. Specifically, we would like to know, does this platform align with your vision for

[4:01:07] the city and the direction that you all originally provided in September for us to produce a platform

[4:01:14] that is aligned in our strategic priorities and general plan? We would like to know that

[4:01:20] or whether the delegation authority is clear and appropriate and should we be

[4:01:26] moving forward with the legislative committee perhaps meeting quarterly to

[4:01:29] dive deeper into these issues. And so there's a fourth bullet point. Are there

[4:01:35] any additional regional or say issues that you would like to be that you would

[4:01:40] like to see added to this priority list? And with that I will sub-talk in and pass it

[4:01:46] to the council for your feedback?

[4:01:59] Do we have any discussion or question feedback for staff on this item?

[4:02:07] So I have one suggested change on the wording on the legislative platform and then there's

[4:02:16] an additional regional issue that I guess we can get to when we get to the four and that

[4:02:21] is where we we're talking about housing and the programs that we support the in alignment

[4:02:31] with the general plan principles of equitable growth and neighborhood preservation.

[4:02:35] The city will evaluate housing related legislation through the lens of both production

[4:02:40] and protection.

[4:02:42] And I think preservation is something that is missing because one that somewhat protection

[4:02:47] And there is funding available, but also if there are naturally affordable housing that we

[4:02:53] can, or if they legislation that might come through that would allow us or allow land

[4:03:01] trusts to acquire and then place in perpetuity, those units into an affordable pot or an

[4:03:09] affordable trust, I would hope that we would be willing to add the word preservation

[4:03:16] in addition to production, protection, and preservation,

[4:03:22] that would, again, align with some of the

[4:03:24] work that we're doing based on some of the local ordinances that we've passed. That was my only

[4:03:32] change to the legislative policy. Thank you council member. So I have added in that notes.

[4:03:51] Yeah,

[4:03:54] so is this, for instance, SB 79 came up this year, which was housing your transit,

[4:04:01] upzoning your transit, would this be the sort of thing that the CDV's polity would officially

[4:04:06] endorse a certain bill, like we'd be like the CDV's polity formally is endorsing

[4:04:12] SB 79 or is this more lobbying behind the scenes on the bills to get them, you know,

[4:04:18] to our benefit?

[4:04:20] Well, first we would take this to our staff and ask them, well, can you analyze this bill

[4:04:26] and also one conjunction with our legislative consultants to get a fill for how that bill

[4:04:32] would specifically impact EPA. From there, we could advocate for it, we can oppose it, we can

[4:04:39] support it. Yeah, I'm often asked to endorse bills, you know, as a whatever, would this be like the

[4:04:46] the entire city of East Palo Alto endorses a certain bill and can, you know, officially our policy might be like let's say that there's a affordable housing bond that the city of East Palo Alto officially is going to support that and this is a message from our council that we support it is a for instance.

[4:05:04] Yes, it could be.

[4:05:05] Okay. Thanks.

[4:05:08] I don't think I have any further questions.

[4:05:12] I think when it comes to I guess what you're asking for direction on is the formation and the cadence and I think like given all of our other communities and now we have to make appointments to them.

[4:05:26] I think we should follow the same sort of process when it comes to a pointing and I believe that's what we should do and I think in terms of like the cadence.

[4:05:38] I'm quarterly I think is fine, you know or by annually we have a lot of other committees

[4:05:46] and stuff that we also serve on so I think that we have to be mindful of that too so I'm

[4:05:52] fine with the proposed cadence.

[4:05:58] Yeah, thanks for the report and I think I think our city

[4:06:03] So we've been very active in this area, but creating a structure and organizing the Morris

[4:06:10] really good.

[4:06:12] So I'd definitely like the sequence of having started with our general plan, because

[4:06:18] general plans are a little bit like the Constitution in a way, other than municipal code,

[4:06:23] because that's the document that really involves a lot of the community over a long period

[4:06:30] time and then it gets established as the foundation for stuff.

[4:06:35] And then having the, what are being called the platform pillars, the seven, which I think

[4:06:41] that the council agreed is kind of the large strategic areas.

[4:06:48] And then when we get into specifics, they all are supposed to kind of fit under one of those,

[4:06:55] which I think having the larger category I think is more flexible because I can foresee

[4:07:02] there may be something that emerges in this process and the legislature or in the federal

[4:07:09] government and maybe it was not something that was identified as a priority for that year

[4:07:14] just for the sake of argument. That doesn't mean that we should not pursue it if it fits under

[4:07:20] the one of these strategic areas.

[4:07:24] Obviously, it had to come back to council to say,

[4:07:27] hey, we don't have a superiority, but sometimes,

[4:07:31] if there's funding for certain areas and we need them,

[4:07:36] we need the funds, and we could do something with them,

[4:07:40] then I personally feel we're not gonna turn it away

[4:07:43] just because that year we didn't identify

[4:07:45] the strategic priority for that year.

[4:07:49] So I think having that is part of the framework that's important, I think, because need

[4:07:54] uniform flexibility,

[4:07:57] and then having the, yeah, the consultants, obviously, working with

[4:08:01] our staff, it's always, helps to give good information to council members, because as much

[4:08:09] as we're involved in a lot of, you know, a lot of things is still always takes time and energy

[4:08:14] to figure out and find out what bills are being proposed, who's doing and all that stuff,

[4:08:19] So I think I definitely rely on our staff to give us some research,

[4:08:23] some idea of what they are.

[4:08:26] I think I think a key area, everything's important,

[4:08:31] but money is really the most important thing here.

[4:08:35] Other things too, but any opportunities for the city

[4:08:39] to apply for funding to me is the priority.

[4:08:44] Where is there some potential to get grants for what we have identified as our needs?

[4:08:52] And I know that tends to be the, I think that's, that's why we have tended to do,

[4:08:59] which I think is very important.

[4:09:01] So once we expand it into advocacy and taking position on things,

[4:09:07] if you're sometimes that can dilute that focus, which is,

[4:09:11] you know, let's try to get more funding to do things. So I don't want that to get lost in the

[4:09:16] all the other, you know, I'm sure it won't, but I just feel like that's important to keep in mind.

[4:09:23] Also, I think that we shouldn't include county government. You know, the county does have a lot of

[4:09:28] funds and they, I know, you know, we have a representative Lisa there, but she has to deal with a

[4:09:35] stuff. And I think that we part of our advocacy should also be specifically with the

[4:09:42] county of San Mateo. And we have regional bodies, but somehow I feel like San Mateo

[4:09:48] County is not being specifically mentioned. And so, you know, federal government

[4:09:55] state government, county government, and then regional entities too. Or at least make sure

[4:10:02] is included in there and we don't take it for granted that the county is going to be looking

[4:10:06] after us, which I assume they are, but we're still 20 cities in the county,

[4:10:14] and there's

[4:10:15] sometimes funds that are available. We want to make sure that we are in a good position to do that.

[4:10:24] Yeah, I think you covered it there where there's going to be the focus is to have the

[4:10:32] council advocate for the city, but I foresee there's going to be times when there may be

[4:10:39] differences of opinion on the council. And so it should be understood that every council member

[4:10:44] still has the right to individually, as long as they do individually, to stay their position

[4:10:50] if it differs from what the majority is. Right? So that's. Yes, so that's the case. And I think

[4:10:57] I specifically wrote that in there as well.

[4:11:00] So the legislative platform is the full position of the whole council,

[4:11:04] but as you mentioned, each council member still

[4:11:06] retains their own prerogative to individually advocate.

[4:11:09] As long as they make sure that they state that it's their individual position.

[4:11:13] Yeah, absolutely right.

[4:11:15] But yes, I understand that.

[4:11:17] But at the same time, it's not a, yeah.

[4:11:21] So that's that big dinner.

[4:11:25] And yeah, I think having the committees fine, I don't

[4:11:28] what, you know, brown act issues there are sometimes you want to be flexible.

[4:11:35] And if there's

[4:11:38] it has to be, yeah, I don't, maybe you could speak a little bit about that. What the,

[4:11:43] so this will just be, if advisory, only not a brown act's body. I'm sorry. This will just be

[4:11:48] advisory, only not a brown act's body. No, I know, but is it at hug committee or if it's a standing

[4:11:55] committee, then there's some issues that are standing in permanent committee versus in

[4:12:03] that hot that, okay, we need to check in. In some ways, if you check in with an mayor and

[4:12:10] vice mayor, those are the two officers, sort of brainstorm or had some feedback, they don't

[4:12:16] have the final authority, but if you need to consult with sort of get a council perspective to

[4:12:24] degree that two people can give that is good, I think, understanding is not the final decision,

[4:12:33] but also I just have questions about the existence of the committee so that it's not to

[4:12:38] rigid and to constrain or something. I don't know if that would say like how you're describing

[4:12:48] it is how it's kind of already been done as we had described. So when we meet with the

[4:12:53] mayor in the council, the vice mayor, every spring to figure out what the city's legislative priorities,

[4:13:00] I mean, excuse me, legislative appropriations, I've priorities are going to be like that hasn't,

[4:13:05] we haven't had to like convene a Brown Act body to do that. No, I understand, but

[4:13:10] okay, yeah, so consultation takes place, but now that it's been called out, it's a legislative

[4:13:16] committee. That's that's my question really more. Because yeah, I mean, I think that

[4:13:24] any and all kinds of members can be consulted and sometimes the mayor vice mayor, because

[4:13:29] maybe there's more meetings with them. But I just said that question.

[4:13:35] Cities are you having comments? That's the application on that. I do. I think what Orley is saying is

[4:13:41] generally correct and I think what we'll do is we'll ensure that if the council does want

[4:13:46] on this to happen, it would be more in sort of the nature of like information, exchange or briefings that are generally considered okay under the Brown Act. There are exceptions for that.

[4:14:00] The way the legislative committee is framed in the staff report, I think that's generally the gist of it, but we can work more closely with Orley and the team to figure out how to refine that a little bit more consistent with your comments.

[4:14:15] And through the chair perhaps for flexibility, something that it might be good for us to know is as we've kind of,

[4:14:23] as Orly mentioned, naturally leaned on the mayor and vice mayor for guidance on our, like our funding priorities.

[4:14:33] If this council said that, yes, that same body could be the body who staff could expect to consult if there are questions again.

[4:14:41] It does not have to be a standing committee.

[4:14:45] We have this legislative platform to guide us, but it's more so if there is a questionable

[4:14:50] area, is that Mayor Vice Mayor, combination, the appropriate combination of council members

[4:14:57] to for staff to consult for in a minute.

[4:15:00] Initial consultation, any ultimate decision still would come to the full council?

[4:15:14] Do you need additional direction from us?

[4:15:19] Yes. So it sounds like we can take a vote.

[4:15:25] But I think what you have provided is helpful, and it sounds like there are some revisions that we do need to make

[4:15:30] to this, planning the council vote, and so we will do that.

[4:15:37] I just wanted to say we're a relatively small city with a relatively small staff, some of the other regional bodies that I sit on.

[4:15:48] We have dedicated legislative staff working with consultants.

[4:15:54] And so this, I don't want this to be too onerous in two time consuming for staff.

[4:15:59] I mean, our voice is important, but it's relatively small, and so impact is what we should

[4:16:06] be looking at, but we should also try to make sure that we're not overburdening U.S.

[4:16:11] staff with this, I want to hold that clear in our heads.

[4:16:18] So I'm fine with moving forward with this, but again, as council members, we should keep

[4:16:26] mind that, you know, your time is limited, and to the extent that this can get streamlined,

[4:16:33] so then indeed, you have a lot of your time, and maybe a minimal amount of this body's time,

[4:16:38] and that would be my request to you all. And then the last item is, are there any regional

[4:16:44] regional or state issues to be added to the Prairies list? I think, and maybe it's already in here,

[4:16:51] but certainly regional funding for affordable housing and home ownership is something that

[4:17:00] has been discussed and is being discussed at the regional level and it's something that

[4:17:04] I think that we as a city may want to include our legislative platform because it probably

[4:17:10] will require nine county, possibly five or six county legislation to move this formal housing

[4:17:23] funding forward. So I don't know if my fellow council, but if this is the right time to

[4:17:28] interject that, or if something that maybe gets brought back, as on the legislative priority list.

[4:17:39] So, just for clarification, City Manager sounds like we should incorporate this feedback,

[4:17:46] depending the vote, and then bring this item back.

[4:17:51] No, I think we can, depending on the direction it's given, just incorporate that feedback

[4:17:55] if it's in the motion to make these modifications, or if the council is kind of a consensus

[4:18:02] with the matters that council member Romero have registered.

[4:18:07] Okay, thank you.

[4:18:12] And so like when it comes to the, um, I think we are already discussed this, um,

[4:18:21] community formation.

[4:18:23] Yeah, I'm fond of mayor vice mayor, but I'd rather just appoint somebody to it.

[4:18:28] And then we all just to agree on who we appoint to this committee.

[4:18:35] So, uh, for kind of being just to distinguish from having a brown act kind of standing committee,

[4:18:45] are you saying that at the point that the staff has a question, we'd come to the council and then you

[4:18:52] to point an ad hoc committee for that purpose of being convened.

[4:19:00] But just the formation, it says there's

[4:19:11] The side of the formation and the main case from this.

[4:19:19] Yeah.

[4:19:20] You're saying mayor and vice mayor.

[4:19:23] But what's the, what a form of committee.

[4:19:27] Don't we have point people to this committee?

[4:19:31] You could.

[4:19:34] And we want to be.

[4:19:38] Careful with kind of a pointing a standing committee.

[4:19:40] That's not a brownaxe committee.

[4:19:43] So, a more appropriate recommendation would have been for us to ask, at the point that staff has a question, is the council okay with the mayor and vice mayor being the first line of council members whom we discussed this with.

[4:20:04] I mean, I'm fine with that. Because if you were to a point kind of, if you were to just by nature of establishing a committee, it's no longer ad hoc.

[4:20:15] Because I know we had like a, it was a community and economic development and stuff like that.

[4:20:20] So, yes, and those were very temporary in nature.

[4:20:24] So they were at Hock, but if we're saying this is a standing committee, and that's we should

[4:20:33] have written that recommendation a little differently.

[4:20:36] But as of right now, what we're recommending is that you either approve just an theory that

[4:20:44] if an issue comes up, speaks to the mayor and vice mayor, or if an issue comes up, comes

[4:20:49] to the entire council at which point you'll appoint people for us to speak with.

[4:20:55] I'm fine with the least amount of work.

[4:21:00] So we'll stick with the Mayor and Vice Mayor.

[4:21:04] Can we move approval?

[4:21:06] I'd like to make a motion to approve for staff recommendation.

[4:21:15] I'd like to second it, but certainly suggest that we include this

[4:21:20] preservation language within the housing piece. Let's see if this flies and also

[4:21:28] add this

[4:21:30] regional funding for affordable housing as

[4:21:34] another item on our priority list for legislative

[4:21:38] legislative varieties.

[4:21:45] Okay, do we need a row calls out?

[4:21:47] I don't think

[4:21:48] council and rebargon is present.

[4:21:54] We do not at this point because she's our president. Okay, so we have a motion a second. I'm all in favor

[4:22:03] motion passes

[4:22:07] So I

[4:22:08] would just

[4:22:09] recommend that we make some agenda amendments to our agenda or the next and changes at this point

[4:22:16] That we probably just continue items 9.2 and 9.3 to a future meeting and we just continue with

[4:22:24] on the rest of the agenda.

[4:22:26] How's that going to?

[4:22:29] Oh, this is going to have my agenda in front of me.

[4:22:31] Could you read what 9.2 is?

[4:22:34] So, at that point, you would be the discussion of the term limits, okay?

[4:22:38] And 9.2 would be the code of conduct.

[4:22:40] Okay, thank you.

[4:22:42] I think in the agenda packet, they're not there flipped the numbering.

[4:22:46] So that needs to be corrected.

[4:22:48] But these are the gestures of the two lines of that will be continuing.

[4:22:53] So, yeah, so we have a motion and a second, I'll second it.

[4:22:58] I'm so clean of all in favor.

[4:23:02] Yes.

[4:23:03] Yes.

[4:23:05] Yes.

[4:23:06] A future meeting.

[4:23:09] What's the guy doing?

[4:23:11] So we'll be proceeding now with back to our original schedule.

[4:23:17] We'll be opening it up for public comment.

[4:23:26] We have any speakers, let's write them down on the agenda.

[4:23:31] Yes.

[4:23:32] First speaker, Luis Rosas, followed by Leland, Francois.

[4:23:47] Next speaker, Leland, Francois.

[4:23:50] I was keeping it to two minutes.

[4:23:59] We didn't need to know, you know, counsel, staff,

[4:24:02] and the members of the public.

[4:24:04] Leland, Francois.

[4:24:06] Excuse me.

[4:24:08] I came in on the, I have a brief comment.

[4:24:10] Basically, this is your opinion.

[4:24:11] I came in on the last end of your verification of 3.4 and 3.5, that's the international support legislation and public safety communications.

[4:24:27] And there's a phenomenon that's traveling across the globe right now and I think I'm qualified

[4:24:36] to make common on that radio off, radio Ksi 68 WN, trying to set up a station in Mountain

[4:24:43] View, formerly with W60T, Oakland Radio Club, KBI 776 in Oakland, and WN6BNT, and the

[4:24:55] The first thing about today's technology is a product of the new telecommunications act signed

[4:25:02] by Congress under the Bill Clinton administration, 1996,

[4:25:08] and this fell down in a digital

[4:25:10] decision of the airways has been enhanced, pregnancy has been so, and basically the new law

[4:25:21] It's not in correlation with the old laws, going back to 1934, and it's causing a public safety

[4:25:29] communications, but not only international communications, but local domestic communications

[4:25:36] as far as 911 communications.

[4:25:40] Now, the infrastructure that needs to be set up here and this place that has become known as

[4:25:45] call about to. Let me give you an example. I need the email of the police. Please give me a radio

[4:25:53] check. Please to dispatch. I need to make a point. Either officer or chief loo.

[4:26:10] Okay. Thank you.

[4:26:11] That's signal. Travels from this building. But we have dish always. Sorry, Mr. Franz,

[4:26:17] for two minutes or up. All right. Thank you. I appreciate I thought it was three minutes.

[4:26:20] But let me just say that this, the past in this legislation should have been proceeded

[4:26:27] by public comment.

[4:26:30] We're so moonlight like myself would come in and give you some honest information.

[4:26:33] I'm going to speak as do we have?

[4:26:35] It's already.

[4:26:38] And.

[4:26:39] It's like they're six more.

[4:26:41] Okay.

[4:26:42] I understand.

[4:26:43] Please.

[4:26:44] Can you feel it?

[4:26:45] Black or Black?

[4:26:47] let communications public safety communications please point of order all right I can continue this

[4:26:55] where I would like to meet with your legislators and further comment on what I need to say

[4:27:02] with your attendance at the piece of order to please department send a fire American medical services

[4:27:08] and the dispatch service in the country thank you thank you next speaker

[4:27:17] Revenue followed by Mia O'Brien.

[4:27:25] Good evening council. I'm just here to follow up on my public records request asked two weeks ago

[4:27:32] I had come to state that I had not received a response to the city yet. The city has 10 days to respond and give a timeline when that

[4:27:41] request will be completed and it has been two more weeks and there's been no update that's come from the city and the request is

[4:27:47] guarding the flock cameras and that information is public record so that needs to be shared.

[4:27:53] Apart from that, I just wanted to say how I find extremely concerning how the city council

[4:27:58] and city officials treated people in this room today. It was clear that when there was antagonizing

[4:28:04] from the Zionist side of speakers tonight and they were giving priority. A lot of antagonists,

[4:28:11] a lot of the people who came to speak out against the I.H.R.A. definition were told to not antagonize

[4:28:17] which is not fair. We clearly saw that the Zionist side was the one doing that

[4:28:21] organizing, but we were seeing that the people of color came to speak where the

[4:28:25] ones who are being persecuted and that is not okay.

[4:28:33] Next speaker, Mia O'Brien. Mia O'Brien. Next speaker, Angel,

[4:28:41] all by DeBora Lewis Ferdus.

[4:28:47] Hi, good evening,

[4:28:48] city council members and mayor, whips the Lincoln tonight. You should be

[4:28:53] show you yourself. For being a hypocrite, yes, a hypocrite. This is going to bespoke against

[4:28:59] anti-Semitism and anti-Sigmatic behavior and let me be clear. I also condone any anti-Semitic

[4:29:06] behavior of any form and intimidation. You say, quote, I will not be silent and I apply you for it.

[4:29:15] In the type of anti-Sigmatic behavior has no place in our community yet. After a few months

[4:29:22] since your brother made a statement, some social media about calling ICE to our city of

[4:29:27] Miss Palo Alto, you have you have remained silent. And I immigrant, Rodoic, behavior has been on the

[4:29:36] rise since Trump's first term in 2016. In fact, it went from 200, a million, a million cases were

[4:29:44] in 2016 to over a 1,100 cases as of today this year.

[4:29:50] Last year.

[4:30:00] I'm asking you tonight if you are going to pay you silence in continuing brothers remarks that he made on social media.

[4:30:08] Are you going to ask you brother to apologize to the residents of East Palo Alto, particular to Latinos?

[4:30:15] Just know what you mean, some facts.

[4:30:17] So if father had been 17 Latinos immigrants died this year, 32 by last year in detention centers.

[4:30:24] You let it die in two to two, four, and you let the horns and in hundreds of missing.

[4:30:24] late in the day in 1244, and we are in the hundreds of missing, and we still, still,

[4:30:33] And we still.. you still haven't say anything about your brother's remarks.

[4:30:36] had and say anything about his remarks.

[4:30:38] Soon we'll end it.

[4:30:38] Shane Willingman.

[4:30:42] Thank you.

[4:30:42] Thank you, next speaker, the Boraloo's Virges fought by Killer Dixon.

[4:30:43] Next speaker, the borroth Lewis Virges, fought by kail Dixon.

[4:30:52] Good evening, Council, and staff, I had originally plan to speak to items 9.2 and 9.3.

[4:30:52] Good evening, Council.

[4:30:53] and staff. I had originally planned to speak to items 9.2 and 9.3. However, since those items

[4:31:00] However, since those items are being continued, I wish to share the following, I find it utterly

[4:31:03] are being continued, I wish to share the following. I find it utterly disrespectful that the

[4:31:09] disrespectful that the council failed to say anything to those of us who came here to address

[4:31:11] council failed to say anything to those of us who came here to address others, to address items

[4:31:17] others, to address items other than 3.4 tonight.

[4:31:19] other than 3.4 tonight. When the break occurred, we said patiently for three hours and listen

[4:31:22] When the break occurred, we sat patiently for three hours and listened to the various

[4:31:27] to the various sides, speak about their feelings. We waited 45 minutes while you guys retired

[4:31:28] side, speak about their feelings. We waited 45 minutes while you guys retired upward to avoid

[4:31:34] upward to avoid some of the chit in some of the chatter. And nothing was said to us. Not once did

[4:31:36] some of the chit in some of the chatter. And nothing was said to us, not once did anyone say

[4:31:41] anyone say to those of you who are waiting for another item. Please know that we're going to retire

[4:31:42] to those of you who are waiting for another item. Please know that we're going to retire upstairs

[4:31:47] upstairs and we'll be back and we will address those items. Perhaps better that you did

[4:31:47] and we'll be back and we will address those items. Perhaps better that you did not, since now,

[4:31:52] not since now, we have discovered that you decide it to move those items and to continue

[4:31:53] We have discovered that you decide it to move those items and to continue those items to another time.

[4:31:58] those items to another time. I have no problem with items being continued. I really don't.

[4:32:00] I have no problem with items being continued. I really don't.

[4:32:04] But we sat here all of that time and it should have been noticed. Someone should have taken

[4:32:04] But we sat here all of that time and it should have been noticed.

[4:32:08] Someone should have taken notice that there are only perhaps five or six slips for those of us who wanted to speak to those items.

[4:32:09] notice that there are only perhaps five or six slips for those of us who wanted to speak

[4:32:15] to those items. We should have been allowed to speak to those items today. Instead, you entertained

[4:32:16] We should have been allowed to speak to those items today.

[4:32:19] Instead, you entertained item 9.1, an item which clearly was intended from staff to

[4:32:22] item 9.1, an item which clearly was intended from staff to council, which would have rarely

[4:32:27] counsel, which would have rarely had any input from those of us who are waiting to speak

[4:32:30] had any input from those of us who are waiting to speak on 9.2 and 9.3. I am of the firm position

[4:32:33] on 9.2 and 9.3.

[4:32:37] I am of the firm position that the counsel should have table that item, and not 9.2 and

[4:32:38] that the council should have tabled that item, and not 9.2 and 9.3.

[4:32:44] So I implore you to be considerate in the future of those of us who take our time to come out and express our opinion about items that are a great concern to us.

[4:32:45] So I implore you to be considerate in the future of those of us who take our time to come out and express our opinion about items that are a great concern to us.

[4:32:55] I'm very disappointed and I leave here tonight, feeling like we were disrespected and ignored.

[4:33:02] So I just want to say, please be mindful in the future. Thank you.

[4:33:06] Thank you. Next speaker, Gail Dixon, followed by a module.

[4:33:16] I should have taken a next to five minute nap.

[4:33:17] I should have taken a next five minute nap.

[4:33:21] But it's been exhausting tonight.

[4:33:21] Let's have been exhausting tonight.

[4:33:23] And I kind of concur with Miss Verges Lewis.

[4:33:24] And I kind of concur with Ms. Verges Lewis.

[4:33:28] I was at Lewis Verges.

[4:33:31] And I'm worn out, and I feel disrespected,

[4:33:31] And I'm worn out.

[4:33:33] And I feel disrespected and taken advantage of

[4:33:36] and taken advantage of when you let somebody come and dear

[4:33:38] when you let somebody come and dear, you're consummating.

[4:33:40] you're consummating and I can't help but not to feel that if I had

[4:33:42] And I can't help, but not to feel that if I had had done half, and not even a quarter percent, I would have been roasted.

[4:33:47] had done half, not even a quarter percent, I would have been roasted and I

[4:33:52] And I don't appreciate it.

[4:33:52] don't appreciate it. You let robber officers come in here and come in

[4:33:54] You let robber officers come in here and come in there and take up my tax dollars and pretend that they have a first amendment right to be abusive.

[4:33:58] dear and take up my tax dollars and pretend that they have a first amendment

[4:34:04] to be abusive. And that's all it is being abusive. But in this let me talk about

[4:34:06] And that's all it is being abusive.

[4:34:09] But in this, let me talk about, I appreciate the fact that they have dotted off the lanes

[4:34:14] I appreciate the fact that they have dotted off the lanes out in front of where

[4:34:17] out in front of where I stay, they haven't done anything since last week, and I just

[4:34:19] I stay. They haven't done anything since last week. And I just wonder and after

[4:34:25] wondering after three years when they're going to get it done, and I'd appreciate it

[4:34:26] three years when they're going to get it done.

[4:34:30] And I'd appreciate it because

[4:34:33] because it seems like it's getting worse.

[4:34:33] the things like it's getting worse, and sat there and watched the traffic come through and

[4:34:35] And sat there and watched the traffic come through.

[4:34:40] I said, how do we get all this traffic, it used to be that you can get through, it's all

[4:34:40] And I said, how do we get all this traffic?

[4:34:42] It used to be that you can get through a lot

[4:34:45] out to anywhere from five, I would factor, worth it the post office, and we'd do it time

[4:34:45] though anywhere from five, I would

[4:34:47] fact it were at the post office, and we would

[4:34:49] time how long it would take us to get from one

[4:34:51] how long it would take us to get from one block to the nest, and go pick up a letter carrier

[4:34:54] block to the nest, and go pick up a letter carrier or whatever.

[4:34:58] or whatever. And the traffic, I think the console is responsible for all this damn traffic,

[4:34:59] and the traffic, I think the console is responsible for all this damn traffic is ridiculous.

[4:35:06] it's ridiculous. We shouldn't have Palo Alto's traffic coming down Nual. And along the woodland,

[4:35:09] We shouldn't have Palo Alto's traffic coming down Nual, and along the woodland, the creek.

[4:35:17] the creek, we shouldn't have it at all. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:35:18] We shouldn't have it at all. Thank you.

[4:35:20] Thank you. Next speaker, Mario, followed by Luis Rosos.

[4:35:22] bit

[4:35:28] of chair, point of order, I want to say this that I for one and willing to reconsider and

[4:35:29] Next speaker,

[4:35:32] So I want to say this that I for one and willing to reconsider and hear those

[4:35:40] hear those items. It was the mayor who suggested we continued them because a council member

[4:35:40] items.

[4:35:41] It was the mayor who suggested we continue them because a council member dropped out

[4:35:45] dropped out and they're only four of us. That's not necessarily a good reason to stop things,

[4:35:46] and they're only four of us.

[4:35:48] That's not necessarily a good reason to stop things.

[4:35:51] there's still four of us here. So I think maybe we should reconsider if there's people here

[4:35:51] There's still four of us here.

[4:35:53] So I think maybe we should reconsider if there's people here want to speak on that.

[4:35:56] When I speak on that, I don't see why we have to, you know, if I leave, I don't expect the rest of the council to stop that's my opinion, but because Marta left all of the sudden we have to stop.

[4:35:58] I don't see why we have to.

[4:36:01] You know, if I leave, I don't expect the rest of the cancer to just stop, that's my opinion.

[4:36:08] But because Martin left, all of the sudden we have to stop.

[4:36:14] We can see it without next speaker.

[4:36:17] Next speaker, Mario?

[4:36:17] So, you know,

[4:36:23] this country is the best thing that we have in the world,

[4:36:33] there is no other country like you.

[4:36:37] Listen to the Spanish speakers,

[4:36:38] Listen to the Spanish language,

[4:36:44] because they come to colonize them here,

[4:36:44] because they came with the dinosaurs here, they were killing us with another.

[4:36:49] they are killing us with another,

[4:36:54] These people are civilized,

[4:36:55] these people are civilized,

[4:36:59] what will happen to your students who will not see me here,

[4:36:59] what will happen to your columns?

[4:37:01] They will not see me here.

[4:37:06] when you see them in the streets,

[4:37:06] They will live in the barracks.

[4:37:10] They will also have the Americans, they want a lot.

[4:37:10] they also have the Americans, they want a lot,

[4:37:16] they should die.

[4:37:16] They should die.

[4:37:17] So,

[4:37:20] What will happen if you will see the slaves here?

[4:37:20] what would you do if you would not see the screen here?

[4:37:26] I will be in Africa.

[4:37:27] I would like to see the screen in Africa, in

[4:37:28] I will be in Africa.

[4:37:33] In Africa there are slaves.

[4:37:33] Africa, all there are screen.

[4:37:35] In this case, we

[4:37:38] want

[4:37:39] That's perfect.

[4:37:44] What do you want to see?

[4:37:44] to see the mistakes of this country to attack it, look at all the freedom of expression,

[4:37:46] The mistakes of this country to attack it?

[4:37:55] Look at all those things, all the freedom of expression.

[4:38:02] These are the people who protest here in their country, not to take a break.

[4:38:02] these people who protest here in their country should be

[4:38:12] I'm going to be there in the city with their whites.

[4:38:12] arrested with their whites.

[4:38:14] I don't

[4:38:18] I don't know if I've been there, but in the truth.

[4:38:18] know what I've said, but the truth is,

[4:38:24] When they came here,

[4:38:24] when I came here,

[4:38:32] the Indians were the slaves of the Spanish,

[4:38:32] the Indians were the slaves of the Spanish.

[4:38:37] they would die,

[4:38:37] They died.

[4:39:35] cloud that the vision is of that

[4:39:35] cloud that the vision is of that,

[4:39:43] here in the New York,

[4:39:43] here a new in the game,

[4:39:48] in the US,

[4:39:48] in Africa,

[4:39:51] in the US, in the US,

[4:39:52] speaks of the Hispanic,

[4:39:56] but it seems that it does not give the white

[4:39:56] but it seems that it does not give the white blank as it is the orange,

[4:39:58] of the white as it has the courage,

[4:40:04] these are the people of the United States, and we are with the pink,

[4:40:04] and then the population of the country is

[4:40:06] a little bit on the other side,

[4:40:07] with a lot of errors,

[4:40:12] but the

[4:40:13] Mexican, in the United

[4:40:13] in the United

[4:40:17] States, in the United States, in the United States, in the United States,

[4:40:17] States,

[4:40:17] in the United States,

[4:40:18] in the United States,

[4:40:19] in the United States,

[4:40:19] you

[4:40:22] have to leave you that you are discriminated.

[4:40:22] have to leave those

[4:40:24] that are discriminated.

[4:40:28] Thank you.

[4:40:30] Is it?

[4:40:30] It's not a word.

[4:40:31] Is it?

[4:40:31] It's a word.

[4:40:32] Oh, in the borders.

[4:40:32] In a border.

[4:40:33] In your Mario, in your Mario,

[4:40:33] In your Mario.

[4:40:34] In your Mario, you can say,

[4:40:34] it's in a thing.

[4:40:35] a cosa.

[4:40:36] No, it's not a word.

[4:40:37] It's not saying, no,

[4:40:37] They said no mentiras,

[4:40:37] mentiras, because I said,

[4:40:38] because I said, what I said was the

[4:40:39] what I said was the

[4:40:40] I was supportive the other dog.

[4:40:40] I was supported

[4:40:41] of the other dog, vulnerable people.

[4:40:43] Vulnerable people that

[4:40:44] That includes white people.

[4:40:44] includes white people.

[4:40:46] So no diga cosa racist.

[4:40:46] So, no,

[4:40:47] no, diga cosa resistas.

[4:40:49] So okay, and no diga.

[4:40:49] So, okay,

[4:40:49] and no, diga,

[4:40:50] what I don't say, no,

[4:40:50] What I don't say, no,

[4:40:52] no,

[4:40:52] no me ponga palabra's.

[4:40:52] may I not speak,

[4:40:53] where I don't,

[4:40:53] Where I don't say,

[4:40:54] diga,

[4:40:55] they're not saying,

[4:40:55] it's not more like saying

[4:40:56] to confess,

[4:40:56] to describe the human being this

[4:40:57] the man,

[4:40:57] this is the Lord.

[4:40:58] So no, no se ponga tambajo.

[4:41:01] We are excluded why people, i said people who are vulnerable

[4:41:06] No no no, no, no, no.

[4:41:08] I see pain.

[4:41:17] Sign SDKs

[4:41:20] Li Luis enJustitai

[4:41:22] s

[4:41:22] wyvniegre

[4:41:24] SECUR

[4:41:26] SECUR

[4:41:32] Let's proceed with the next speaker.

[4:41:32] let's proceed with the next speaker.

[4:41:36] So, you know, we've got a lot of data that we've got to change.

[4:41:37] So.

[4:41:38] You know, forget about our backup window.

[4:41:41] That's what's been.

[4:41:41] That's what's been in all of the world.

[4:41:42] You know, oh, it's okay.

[4:41:43] Oh, it's okay.

[4:41:44] And why people in the Senate,

[4:41:44] Why people in this in English, they've always learned how to learn.

[4:41:46] they've saved us all those little family.

[4:41:47] Because you know, I understand it without any kind of...

[4:41:47] Because you're not in the Senate without kind of.

[4:41:49] It is racist.

[4:41:49] It is, it is racist.

[4:41:51] Follow

[4:41:54] But please.

[4:41:54] me.

[4:41:55] Please.

[4:41:57] We can be pretty sure, we're calling it my time.

[4:41:57] We can go.

[4:41:58] We're coming right now.

[4:41:59] I just want to say there was a lot of community members here,

[4:41:59] I just want to say there was a lot of community members here.

[4:42:02] here, considering for both the policy and community, but also these multi-community.

[4:42:03] Consumer for both the parts in community,

[4:42:04] but also these multiple community. And what I want to speak to that is when we look at the

[4:42:07] And what I want to speak to that is, when we look at the times that we live in, we're living

[4:42:09] times that we live in, we're living in crisis. And I think most of us would want leaders that

[4:42:11] in crisis.

[4:42:12] And I think most of us would want leaders that, you know, should all for the occasion, gap

[4:42:16] you know, or for the occasion, gap by this are going up, go short by this are going up, people

[4:42:20] items are going up, go short, items are going up, people can't pay the rent anymore, they

[4:42:23] can't pay the rent anymore. They still have to pay for their children. And I think that policies that

[4:42:26] have to pay for the children. And I think that policies that the people we've bought,

[4:42:30] that the people we've bought or what appreciate our rent

[4:42:32] I would appreciate it, are rent free school lunches, free public transportation. And these are

[4:42:34] brings is free school lunch is free public transportation

[4:42:39] and these are all things that are possible

[4:42:40] all things that are possible and all things that have been done in other cities. I think that there

[4:42:41] and all things that have been done in other cities.

[4:42:43] I think that would be much more greatly needed

[4:42:44] would be much more greatly needed to help people in these parts of the lives during these times of crisis.

[4:42:47] to help people in these parts of the living

[4:42:50] in these terms of crisis.

[4:42:51] and it's much more important than a part of that from the mayor, it's much more important than

[4:42:51] And it's much more important than a part of that from the mayor.

[4:42:54] It's much more than detecting genet vital Zionists right now in the time of crisis that's worth an esports or an EPA, we need leaders who stand up for their people.

[4:42:57] detecting genath vitals line that's right now in the time of crisis that's worth an

[4:43:02] esports or an EPA within leaders who stand up for their cities and who stand up for their people.

[4:43:11] Inviting as Zionists to espollow auto is like inviting eyes to espollow auto.

[4:43:11] Inviting is an iron that's to ease follow auto, is like inviting eyes to esports auto. It would be like

[4:43:18] It would be like inviting the Nazi party to ease pollalto.

[4:43:19] inviting the Nazi party to ease blow all to these people are dangerous and

[4:43:23] These people are dangerous and pros and dangerous to us.

[4:43:26] pros and dangerous to us. If they're there to report Palestinians, they could

[4:43:27] If they're there to report Palestinians to ICE,

[4:43:31] they could also do the same for our community members here.

[4:43:31] also do the same for our community members here, and we need leaders that

[4:43:34] And we need leaders that take that seriously and don't invite a bunch of scientists like Mark Dynand did.

[4:43:35] take that seriously, and don't invite a bunch of scientists like Mark Dynand did.

[4:43:41] Thank you, and I appreciate your time.

[4:43:41] Thank you and I appreciate your time.

[4:43:44] Thank you, and those of the last speakers for public comment.

[4:43:44] Thank you and those of the last speakers for public comment.

[4:43:47] All right, thank you, so I don't necessarily address public comments, but what I would

[4:43:57] like to say is that, you know, today we did have some disruptions that were, we had to

[4:44:02] protocol to address those disruptions, and there were some questions about how efficiently

[4:44:09] we can handle that.

[4:44:10] And so that kind of impacted the amount of time that we were away from, you know, from

[4:44:17] along the meeting to proceed.

[4:44:20] And so given that, we also have several other items that we need to get to tonight,

[4:44:25] I felt that it was best, and I know it's unfortunate that some people can't speak on those

[4:44:29] items.

[4:44:31] And, you know, we'll bring them back in a future meeting, but it was really because we have

[4:44:35] several other items that we'd like to get to tonight.

[4:44:37] And we have other consultants and people who are waiting for special presentations as I felt

[4:44:42] that.

[4:44:43] Those items could come back probably at a future meeting.

[4:44:49] Well, I thought you did it because Martha was not here.

[4:44:53] And I don't think that's fair for the entire council nor for the public.

[4:44:56] I stated, if I leave the meeting.

[4:45:00] I know should not stop just because I left.

[4:45:03] Thank you.

[4:45:04] I'll be proceed.

[4:45:05] Mr. Mayor, if I'm here on this night and since you've brought it up, I would be willing to stay

[4:45:11] after 12 o'clock, which we can do as long as we pass a motion to discuss these two items.

[4:45:16] There are people in the audience who want to talk about it.

[4:45:18] I see no reason why we couldn't do it.

[4:45:20] It is generally much of a run, who is not able to stay beyond those hours.

[4:45:26] But we are here.

[4:45:27] It shouldn't be any reason that we should deny residents in the room, the rights to speak on these two items.

[4:45:34] You know, we've had this issue happen before when we discussed the residential parking permit program where Martha couldn't attend that meeting.

[4:45:42] And I believe Councilmember Romero, you suggested that that item be continued because you wanted the full council to be present to discuss that item.

[4:45:50] And I just want to make sure that our meetings are productive.

[4:45:53] And so I would just like to continue with this meeting.

[4:45:58] And when we have a full council, we can adjust those items.

[4:46:03] So.

[4:46:03] So there's a lot of having a full council.

[4:46:05] And this is the end nine folks in the public to speak.

[4:46:08] That's that is, you know, now,

[4:46:09] still getting that that is it.

[4:46:10] You would not want to do this because you don't have five members.

[4:46:13] Is that correct?

[4:46:13] No, that's what she said.

[4:46:14] No, that's what she just said.

[4:46:15] You want to bring it back to a full council.

[4:46:17] We'll be proceeding with the next agenda items. Thank you.

[4:46:28] We'll be presenting on item 6.1.

[4:46:31] This is the first time home by our program research. Thank you so much council. My name is

[4:46:36] Garen Gamacho and I'm the Housing and Economic Development Manager. Tonight I'm a company.

[4:46:42] Oh, sorry. I just quit the presentation.

[4:46:47] By Alex Wagner from Heart of San Mateo County who will

[4:46:51] co-presenting this item. Hopefully it's a short-term-init presentation on our first-time home-buyer

[4:46:58] program feasibility research. This is the agenda for tonight. We're presenting an overview of five

[4:47:05] different program concepts, so we're not going into great details at the end you can tell us which

[4:47:12] programs you want more follow-up on. Researching the feasibility of first-time home-buyer program is part

[4:47:20] Council Strategic Priorities over the past four months we reached out to 18 different banks

[4:47:26] and were able to interview three banks and credit unions and two non-profits who have operated

[4:47:32] for some home-buyer programs.

[4:47:34] We also conducted a landscape and costs analysis, so on now pass it to Alex to begin with

[4:47:41] an overview of the landscape.

[4:47:44] Good evening, City Council, thank you for having me here tonight.

[4:47:49] I wanted to start a discussion with an analysis of the home buyer market in San Mateo County.

[4:47:55] As you can see here, interest rates and home prices have steadily increased since the end of 2022.

[4:48:03] As of 4126, the median home price in San Mateo County was $2.08 million.

[4:48:10] And for East Palo Alto, it was about $1.1 million.

[4:48:16] Similarly, interest rates have continued to increase,

[4:48:19] and the standard 30 year fixed rate mortgage

[4:48:22] has an interest rate of 6.3%.

[4:48:26] That has made it very difficult both for home buyers,

[4:48:30] and for entities that operate first-time home buyer programs.

[4:48:35] This rising interest rate is part of what caused heart to shutter.

[4:48:39] it's loan first time home by our loan product. As there were a number of other more competitive

[4:48:47] options, that home buyers were trending towards using and because of the high interest rate,

[4:48:54] our loan product was one step above whatever the standard interest rate was, and folks just couldn't

[4:48:59] afford to have a higher interest rate than what the standard 30 year mortgage is being quoted at this point.

[4:49:08] Next slide, please.

[4:49:12] So tonight I'll be giving you an overview of first-time home buyer programs.

[4:49:18] You can see the list here.

[4:49:20] Those include down payment assistance program, closing costs, rate reduction,

[4:49:25] free-givable loans, and home buyer education programs.

[4:49:28] We can go to the next slide.

[4:49:31] The first type of program I'm going to be talking about tonight

[4:49:34] is a down payment assistance program.

[4:49:36] It's the most traditional straightforward type of program.

[4:49:41] You can either structure this as a traditional loan with a lower interest rate,

[4:49:47] or a silent second loan, which is only repaid upon sale or transfer of the property.

[4:49:54] There are some other details that I could get into if we decided to explore this in more detail.

[4:50:00] But some examples from around the Bay Area that we found typically ranged from about $50,000 to up to $500,000.

[4:50:09] These include this Antioch and San Francisco programs.

[4:50:15] I'm going to go to the next slide. Thank you.

[4:50:17] The next type of program I want to discuss that's increasingly popular, especially with limited funds for a program.

[4:50:24] a closing cost assistance program, closing costs are the last expense that a home buyer has.

[4:50:33] They typically comprise of attorney fees, realtor fees, taxes, and other

[4:50:39] the final fees related to the transaction. They can typically cost about two to six percent of

[4:50:45] the home's total purchase price. Based off of the average cost of a home and he's piled out

[4:50:51] that would be between $22,000 and $66,000 as you can imagine that can be difficult for a family

[4:51:00] who has drained most of their savings to go towards an expensive down payment. So these types

[4:51:06] of programs have become increasingly popular to help families cover those final costs. Some of

[4:51:13] the examples we found were between $5 and $15,000 and those are typically structures as a grant.

[4:51:19] So once those funds are expanded, they're gone.

[4:51:23] Some examples are the San Mateo County and Conqueror programs.

[4:51:29] Another less traditional but more complex program type is the rate reduction program.

[4:51:36] When you're finalizing a mortgage for a home, you can buy down points, which each point equates to 0.25% of the interest rate on your mortgage.

[4:51:47] It costs about 1% of the total mortgage amount to buy down points.

[4:51:57] That equates to about each point would be about 8,800 dollars, based off of that average home price.

[4:52:06] And over the long term of a 30-year mortgage, this can actually lead to very significant savings for a home buyer.

[4:52:14] Based off of the calculation we ran for just $17,600, you could save $180,000 over the course of a mortgage if you bought down 4 points.

[4:52:27] So 1,4% of interest.

[4:52:31] This is something that anyone can do as part of their normal traditional mortgage,

[4:52:36] but the city could sponsor a program to help allocate funds to do those by-downs.

[4:52:43] We go to the next slide. Thank you. Next is a forgivable loan program. This program is a little bit

[4:52:51] trickier to administer, especially because the amounts are larger and as the name of the program suggests

[4:52:58] you oftentimes don't get the funds back. Typically those loans are forgiven upon certain conditions

[4:53:05] being that typically holding the property for a certain number of years. And these programs are oftentimes

[4:53:11] used to target folks in a particularly vulnerable demographic, or who struggle with to achieve

[4:53:23] home ownership because of structural conditions. And those are typically around $50 to $80,000

[4:53:29] and there are oftentimes stacked with another finding source. And our oftentimes offered by banks

[4:53:37] in conjunction with other state or city programs.

[4:53:41] Next slide.

[4:53:43] Last, the last type of program that we're going to be talking about tonight is a home buyer education program.

[4:53:50] Some of you may have heard of these first-time home buyer workshops.

[4:53:53] It's something that hurts still offers,

[4:53:56] but they're oftentimes combined either as a requirement or as a incentive for programs,

[4:54:03] such as a down payment assistance program or a closing cost program.

[4:54:09] These are typically structured as a series of workshops

[4:54:12] that help first-time home buyers become more familiar

[4:54:16] with the complicated process of buying home.

[4:54:19] They'll have three sessions, one with a realtor, one with a housing professional

[4:54:24] and then maybe one with a housing attorney or something like that.

[4:54:28] and these can really help first time home buyer

[4:54:33] to say significant costs by understanding

[4:54:35] the strict timelines that can be related to the home buying process

[4:54:41] and really are a big value, I would say,

[4:54:46] especially when combined with another sort of program.

[4:54:51] Thanks, Alex.

[4:54:52] I'd like to go ahead and yeah.

[4:54:55] So now that Alex has provided an overview

[4:54:58] of the different program options. I wanted to highlight an example of a low program

[4:55:03] the city has administered, which is the column ADU JDU loan program for homeowners to have up to

[4:55:11] $80,000 loan to build accessory dwelling units. We estimate that the start-up costs to administer

[4:55:20] eight loans in down payment assistance program, which is our set goal in our housing element and

[4:55:27] affordable housing strategy would cost the city nearly $150,000, and this includes costs associated

[4:55:36] with loan processing, outreach, education, and home buyer support, housing administration

[4:55:41] costs, legal staff costs, and finance staff costs, and doesn't include ongoing other potential

[4:55:48] costs. The city only has about $45,000 in its housing assistance fund available for

[4:55:57] a first time home buyer program, which is not enough to support the goal number of households listed

[4:56:04] in our housing element. So for this reason, these are the recommendations from staff. So as Alex

[4:56:12] mentioned, high home prices elevated interest rates, as well as limited local funding and the administrative

[4:56:20] demands of a loan program would result in higher per household costs with relatively low overall

[4:56:28] impact and also based on our stakeholder interviews, market analysis and review of available funding.

[4:56:36] We think that a traditional for some home buyer program centered on large down payment assistance

[4:56:42] loans is currently not feasible for the city. However, we can have more targeted and cost-efficient

[4:56:50] approaches, like home-wire education and counseling, like closing cost assistance and leveraging

[4:56:57] partnerships and external funding.

[4:57:01] These alternatives also complement existing programs,

[4:57:06] rather than duplicating them and would allow the city to assist a greater number of residents,

[4:57:11] while aligning with available resources and staff capacity.

[4:57:17] So now that we've completed the assessment on feasibility,

[4:57:20] we'd like your direction to return with more detailed program design,

[4:57:25] funding strategy and the implementation plan should you be interested

[4:57:29] in any of the programs we present it.

[4:57:31] Thank you.

[4:57:35] Thank you for the background and the research.

[4:57:41] Um, and if you can go back to the slide on the funding, um, if that's 11. So the

[4:57:54] estimate amount of funding. So what funding sources do that comprise of or where is

[4:57:59] those funds coming from? Yes. So it's a special fund, the Housing Assistance Fund. So it's

[4:58:04] specifically for programs like these first time home buyer programs. Um, we have also measured

[4:58:11] JJ that was passed by taxpayers that could be another funding source because it specifically

[4:58:20] states, home buyers, support for home buyers as well. Since the funds are currently being

[4:58:26] used in this fiscal year, we would have to wait until the next fiscal year to see how much

[4:58:31] revenue we generate and see if there's any additional available funding we can pair together.

[4:58:38] Okay, so essentially, like when we voted back in October to allocate all this funding to rent payments, direct payments, the legal services, the homeless services, I believe how much did we allocate to that, and total, pretty.

[4:58:55] Yes, about 1.1 million.

[4:58:57] 1.1 million.

[4:59:00] So, that's when we, that obviously will be getting an update on that, those programs, right?

[4:59:08] That is correct.

[4:59:09] Okay.

[4:59:11] So, and I think that, how much will we're spending the previous year on those services?

[4:59:16] I believe closer to, um, let's say, 700,000.

[4:59:22] What was that, right?

[4:59:22] 100,000 or 500,000.

[4:59:25] I would have to go back and check it was administered through the

[4:59:28] Rensialization program that I'm so essentially doubled the amount of funding

[4:59:32] or spending on those programs. Yes we increased it. Okay so there's obviously

[4:59:39] moving forward this is just research there's a potential opportunity to balance

[4:59:42] that out and figure out how we could there's some flexibility in terms of funding and

[4:59:47] other sources are from those sources that we could potentially allocate more in the future.

[4:59:52] Yes, and I think part of the additional funding strategy is also to look at outside.

[5:00:00] State, federal, regional funding sources that we can put together.

[5:00:04] Okay.

[5:00:06] So that sounds good. But I just had a question. Are we, when you did this research, are you just

[5:00:15] basing it on market rate housing or how could we disnear all the scope of this program to

[5:00:19] just say, you know, we're supporting houses, purchase under our inclusionary ordinance?

[5:00:26] That is a good approach. I think we could do that as well.

[5:00:33] Yeah, we hadn't thought about that. So that's something that we could research a little bit.

[5:00:37] Because you're not looking at million dollar homes. It might be less than 800,000.

[5:00:41] So it might be more helpful to support people that are looking to get those affordable units,

[5:00:49] Um, whether it's a loan, um, you know, for, like, closing costs or even for, um, some of

[5:00:58] the down payment or a small proportion of the down payment.

[5:01:01] So yeah, I can, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, um, but I can speak a little bit to that

[5:01:05] as well.

[5:01:06] I, I, we, one of the organizations we spoke with, um, the, uh, Bay Area Alliance for a

[5:01:13] global home ownership, Baja does operate some programs that are specifically targeted towards

[5:01:22] BMR home ownership, and we connected also with First Citizens Bank, who has been the first

[5:01:31] lender on a number of some of those mortgages related to BMR properties.

[5:01:36] So that is something that is a possibility.

[5:01:41] And we will focus on folks who have experienced with that.

[5:01:45] OK, because I was thinking that this might be more useful for people who are in the BMR

[5:01:50] category than people who can obviously afford to buy something at market rate.

[5:01:55] Even though you know it might be helpful, you know if you need that extra 2 3 5% of the down payment.

[5:02:01] I'm sorry if I may interrupt, I think one of the things that is difficult for us to guess or determine is what is that threshold amount that is helpful enough, whether it's by percentage or actual dollars I don't know, and that may also differ on different income for different income groups.

[5:02:29] But obviously, if we make it a smaller amount, we can help a lot more people, but there's

[5:02:37] some question of will we reach the threshold that is helpful enough that someone can actually

[5:02:43] buy a home, even if it's an affordable home?

[5:02:50] Yeah, and in heart-operated a closing-consistence program with a $75,000 grant that we got a few years back

[5:02:59] And we allocated the full $75,000 of closing costs assistance in five to $10,000 grants within

[5:03:11] two months.

[5:03:13] So I will say, obviously, there's some drawback to structuring them as grants and that the funds

[5:03:18] aren't repaid.

[5:03:20] But there's definitely a demand for some of that closing cost assistance.

[5:03:24] Yeah,

[5:03:28] thank you. Those are most of the questions I had is maybe narrow in the scope of this program and

[5:03:34] seeing how they would apply to some BMR units, especially like when we're considering our inclusionary ordinance and

[5:03:42] you know that we have 10% of those properties are being basically so that

[5:03:50] are affordable. It's made affordable to people making less than 120% of median area income.

[5:03:59] So, yep, thank you.

[5:04:04] If I may, I have a number of questions that I think are more fundamental than what we're

[5:04:11] discussing here. Number one is if we had a program, who would this be serving?

[5:04:17] So, are we talking about trying to get to the extent possible in the 18 months residency, maybe

[5:04:26] the longest we can go, but are we trying to get East Palo Altoans to buy single family homes,

[5:04:36] which might be difficult.

[5:04:37] But again, I don't think I would be in favor of just throwing out a bunch of money for anybody

[5:04:41] to come and, you know, utilize it when the folks most in need, whether they're renters or potentially

[5:04:49] folks who might be on the cusp of homeownership, live here locally.

[5:04:54] The other question is, what income levels, I mean, this council has moved, has reduced the

[5:04:59] number of BMR units that we're going to produce, going from 20 to 10% and increase that affordability

[5:05:06] up to straight 120% of any of my and I mean I can provide you some of those numbers but I think

[5:05:13] that's also a question of like who exactly would we be serving in terms of income levels to

[5:05:19] qualify and then there is the question also about well what about putting some of this money into

[5:05:28] another affordable vehicle which would be land trust which would then allow a land trust that

[5:05:34] preservation work that would then allow those if they could make it work on a home

[5:05:39] ownership side to put those make them affordable and perpetuity segregate the

[5:05:47] land from the improvement and then perhaps have a more reasonable mortgage on that

[5:05:58] piece of land which would be possible. I do want to just give you a few numbers. I got

[5:06:06] up my bound mortgage calculator which I just had to pay about $180 when I was in grad school

[5:06:13] and now you can get them on your phone for five bucks. The HPs are available. So, you know,

[5:06:19] very quickly the amount of subsidy that we would have to provide someone at a hundred percent

[5:06:26] of AMI to be a homeowner in this city is approximately $525,000 for one home.

[5:06:36] If you're at a hundred and two percent of AMI, it'd be closer to $410,000.

[5:06:42] It's the subsidy that we need to provide to make that unit affordable to those families.

[5:06:48] When you look at those numbers and then you figure out what is the leverage we can get on affordable rental housing.

[5:06:56] I'm going to leave for it. I was 55 years and then we move on from there, other leverages

[5:07:01] anywhere from $30 to $60,000 a unit. It just does not make a lot of sense to have these,

[5:07:08] and I actually believe that our consultants and our staff is saying the same thing, that

[5:07:14] given where costs are today, given where interest rates are.

[5:07:20] A first-time home buyer program that is based on, you know, trying to get 120, even 120%

[5:07:32] folks living in this pot of water would require an anordinate amount of money that would

[5:07:36] provide the future production of multiple units of rental housing, given that, you know,

[5:07:45] Council has actually, on its inclusionary side, also, step those inclusionary numbers, the

[5:07:52] affordability, you know, to reach 100% of MI, there are some of these folks that would qualify

[5:07:59] for these rental units.

[5:08:01] So I do think this is right now, I think we should be focusing on the home buyer education

[5:08:10] and counseling fees, but closing costs the system program is, it's, it's, it's

[5:08:15] to minimize whether it's five to twenty thousand dollars. I'm not sure that's going

[5:08:19] to make a big difference, but I would want to make sure that if we did a closing cost assistance

[5:08:22] program, it would be targeted to the extent we can, the people in East Palo Alto and the people

[5:08:29] at, not at 150, 140 or even 100, perhaps 120% of AMI, but again, that is a

[5:08:38] diminimous reduction in the cost of ownership, given those gaps that range from 400,000 to

[5:08:45] about 550,000 for folks to be able to afford those units.

[5:08:51] So those are my comments, this point I would hope that staff could come back with perhaps the

[5:08:57] by our education counseling program first and then we'll see what the

[5:09:02] universe is like within the city. Obviously if heart is having problems and

[5:09:08] they were founded a lot on not just not on the rental housing side, but actually

[5:09:12] on the homeownership side. If they are having difficulty or had difficulty in

[5:09:17] actually had to turn off that program, I cannot believe that we as a city will be

[5:09:23] more effective or we'll be able to reach folks so that they could actually purchase these units

[5:09:32] in this interest rate climate as well as where prices of housing prices are between 1.1

[5:09:41] million to 1.3 and I've seen even higher. And by the way those numbers that I calculated were based

[5:09:47] on the lowest cost of 1.1 million. That's where the spending gaps of 400 to $500 and $50,000

[5:09:52] come from. They would be much higher if we moved up to the 1.3 million number. Thank you.

[5:10:03] Do you have any further comments from accounts for or do you have or then if we don't

[5:10:07] then we've got a public comment? Yeah, I was going to, yeah, I agree with your recommendations.

[5:10:14] I think

[5:10:20] assisting the greatest number of people to me, that's probably the priority because

[5:10:25] With limited funds, you know, if we only end up helping a few people, I don't think that's fair to everybody else, regardless of their income level.

[5:10:37] So, I think doing education and counseling, and yeah, I think loans for the closing costs, at least that's something that at the end can help that.

[5:10:49] It's already somebody who's in the process.

[5:10:53] And obviously, leveraging, I think,

[5:10:55] the more we can leverage other funds that are out there.

[5:10:59] And in order to determine the amounts and who and how,

[5:11:04] I think that's where we do need,

[5:11:05] or more research needs to be done.

[5:11:09] You know, including, I think we mentioned this before,

[5:11:14] we talk about the percentage of median income and law,

[5:11:18] But we need to put actual figures also.

[5:11:21] So we know what amounts of money we're talking about,

[5:11:25] the different income levels, and also have, you know,

[5:11:30] the statistics about Ispala Alto and the population and their income levels.

[5:11:38] And because that's where we can then see where the need is,

[5:11:42] where potentially we could have some impact.

[5:11:45] But given the fact that,

[5:11:51] well, I'll just leave it at that.

[5:11:53] I think assisting the greatest number of people

[5:11:55] and making it fair is something that's going to be very

[5:11:59] important for us to consider.

[5:12:01] These days, even in East Palo Alto,

[5:12:03] and if you can sell your house for a million dollars,

[5:12:07] or you're going to need a million dollars to buy it,

[5:12:09] that's not just your average person.

[5:12:12] But nevertheless, there are people who might be,

[5:12:15] with the BMRs or being a position to do that and so giving some assistance I think it's important

[5:12:23] but trying to not limit it to only a very few who get a lot. Again, more people get less but

[5:12:33] probably where that where less money will be impactful could be in the closing cost or in the

[5:12:40] education and counseling and other ways to leverage money.

[5:12:47] So, and by the way, you know, this is a reminder that I just have to throw this in here for

[5:12:52] people to know that the fact that we became a city and we were able to reduce crime and

[5:13:02] reduce the homicides, clean up the city, I know there's still work to be done to make it

[5:13:09] possible for people to have a better quality of life, that is what has increased the cost,

[5:13:16] but it also has given homeowners who were here from a long time ago and even not so long

[5:13:22] ago has added a lot of value, a million dollars.

[5:13:27] So let's not forget that, because when we look back, sometimes we say nothing's been done,

[5:13:32] a lot has been done. And now we're even then trying to help those who have a much higher

[5:13:41] much higher hurdle in order to be able to buy something. Anyway, thank you.

[5:13:51] Do we have any

[5:13:51] public or given?

[5:13:55] Yeah, um, this is a very tough problem. Houses are extremely expensive. Um,

[5:14:01] you know, buying house in 2018? Well, I bought $2,000 in these

[5:14:07] politics. One was in 2009 when the, you know, you could get a very nice house for under

[5:14:14] half a million dollars. That same house today is probably 1.4 million. And then I bought another

[5:14:19] house where the interest rate was, I think were at 2.75%. It's a huge, you know, we've refined

[5:14:28] And it's a huge difference between being 2.75% and paying, you know, the 6.4% I think is the 6.45 is the rate I'm looking at.

[5:14:46] It's not impossible.

[5:14:48] And there's a lot of people doing this.

[5:14:50] I like the idea of a silent second where the city is invested and maybe even co-science for get a better interest rate.

[5:14:58] Um, and then once we house it

[5:15:00] We appreciate which there's ample room for appreciation or it's sold the city we get with money back, where we're giving a hand up, not a hand out necessarily, we're doing that. I think that would be more expensive, but it could be a partial, you know, the rich uncle, he split the down payment. One person puts in 150, the city puts in 150 and then eventually at some point you refinance and the city gets to money back with hopefully some interest.

[5:15:27] This is a tough problem. We had very little housing production in the Bay Area, all prices are up.

[5:15:34] So not only are people, you know, house sale, it's a really crappy interest rate compared to what I'm paying.

[5:15:40] But it's also two or three times what I was paying. So it's like, it was really easy to buy.

[5:15:45] At some point in the past. And now it's, you know, significantly harder. Now we worked really hard to buy a house and save four years.

[5:15:53] and did that. I didn't get any help from my family on that. But I do think that there's probably

[5:15:58] a few limited use cases where the city could be a silent second and help out somebody. Folks

[5:16:05] who could really use like $150,000 for a down payment and then get that money back at some

[5:16:12] point refinancing. This is very tough. I mean, it's one of the reasons why housing must

[5:16:16] be the focus for the next and you know, removing barriers to housing production, whether

[5:16:21] it's owning, building code or whatever.

[5:16:24] That's the separate issue entirely.

[5:16:27] But I do think we should look at this,

[5:16:30] we should look at where we can find money internally,

[5:16:31] whether it's JJ or looking at our budgets.

[5:16:37] But we're not going to be able to solve the housing crisis

[5:16:41] in East Palo Alto and part of the Bay Area with subsidies.

[5:16:45] We're going to solve it by building a lot more housing

[5:16:47] to meet the need for what we have.

[5:16:50] But I think this is not something we're going to solve tonight, so I'll leave it at that.

[5:16:56] Thank you, Council.

[5:16:57] So just to summarize what I'm hearing is, do, you know, the further research on these three items and add the dump payment assistance analysis to see if that can also be included.

[5:17:10] Yeah, when I did my analysis, I thought the rate by down was probably more effective.

[5:17:15] but we still would like that research. Also I would like to get an understanding of how we could

[5:17:25] prioritize this for residents that live or work in this policy like our local preferences.

[5:17:31] Is there a specific limitation on the number of individuals like and that we do a desperate

[5:17:37] back analysis to determine them out of our set the levels of our local sort of preference for affordable

[5:17:45] apartment buildings, but how does that apply to purchasing properties? And when you think about

[5:17:51] the number of market rate homes that we've built over the last like 5, 10 years, it's not been

[5:17:57] many, but when you're talking about 100 units that we're building, that's 10 units that will be affordable.

[5:18:02] So, you know, that's, we're not looking to basically, we can't help everybody, but we

[5:18:09] have to identify the people who need to help the most and try and help those people.

[5:18:14] So, you know, when you think about, like, the, how much we spend on these, like affordable housing

[5:18:20] projects, like I think with Calibra, he was like $800,000 or something more per unit, you know,

[5:18:26] through multiple sources to get that built-in for that's the land and the

[5:18:32] The construction costs those are very that's a lot of money. We're spending per unit for some of these low and come and subsidized

[5:18:39] Properties so you know thinking putting things in perspective. You talking about like a $10,000 or maybe $20,000

[5:18:46] All alone, you know, and then that's something that you're gonna eventually gonna get back

[5:18:50] You know when things are homes of refinance or whatever

[5:18:54] or plummeters in just getting more research around those

[5:18:56] credit things.

[5:18:59] We have thank you.

[5:19:00] Do you have any public comment on this item?

[5:19:03] Yes, we do have two three speaker slips from

[5:19:07] Gail Dixon, followed by Lila and Francois and

[5:19:10] Mario.

[5:19:12] Gail Dixon.

[5:19:21] Half a minute.

[5:19:22] I'm just, I'm just, okay, that's it.

[5:19:24] Okay, that's it.

[5:19:24] First thing I want to say is, I have a,

[5:19:30] uh, uh, bone to pick about them, how they select. I put in for that position and they told

[5:19:37] me it was closed. I have 45, 46, May 1st, rule up and real estate. He talking, do you guys

[5:19:45] know what a buy down is? I don't know you don't. I owned and operated a finance company. Do

[5:19:51] you guys know what you have here? You have a gold mine. And I hear you talking back.

[5:19:59] I'm

[5:20:00] say that, you know, it was a time that white real estate agencies wouldn't step a toe

[5:20:05] in East Palo Alto. I had to a company, my office, Sax Realty on California, 456,

[5:20:12] have they're not there anymore, turn to Russell Moore's. And I, I got 200 homes financed,

[5:20:21] and I used creative finance. Advidown is where you buy the interest rate down. I don't know why

[5:20:27] Donald Trump wants to do what he wants to do, but you, you don't know, they don't know what the hell they're doing.

[5:20:35] Period. And I'm kind of like tired of it. And a lot of people that I know are tired of it.

[5:20:43] We sit down to go online here. 101. You're talking about, oh, we got a million dollar household. That's it.

[5:20:50] You cross over the bridge,

[5:20:53] second burglary over there,

[5:20:56] and the lots are costs in $9 million,

[5:21:00] 9 million for a vacant lot.

[5:21:04] This is East Palo Alto and you are a city.

[5:21:07] You're talking about how many people can we find it.

[5:21:09] You can find this as many as you want.

[5:21:12] You don't know what you're doing, period,

[5:21:14] and it ups me.

[5:21:16] It pisses me off.

[5:21:19] And I think you ought to look into it because if you don't look into it, I'm going to have the D-H-E down here.

[5:21:26] Discrimination, you're trying to erase the Blacks people out of East Palo Alto, period.

[5:21:31] He asked about who you're servicing.

[5:21:33] He's a little bit in front of you.

[5:21:35] He asked who you're servicing.

[5:21:37] You're having your servicing.

[5:21:38] Next speaker, Lee Lippon's for.

[5:21:40] Got your kick to Black people out.

[5:21:46] And...

[5:21:46] Lee Lippon's.

[5:21:57] Lee Lippon's.

[5:21:58] Lee Lippon's.

[5:21:58] Well, I'm confused.

[5:22:01] You have the city of East Palo Alto in South San Mateo County.

[5:22:07] And you have Palo Alto and Stanford in Santa Clara County

[5:22:14] that major interest here at Thorough Fair University Avenue,

[5:22:18] the East Side Prept Schools.

[5:22:20] But I first arrived here, you destroyed.

[5:22:23] I thought you destroyed valuable historical property

[5:22:26] go through a houses that could have been rebuilt and put into community work, I don't understand

[5:22:31] the mentality of this city in what direction that you think you are to take people

[5:22:37] whatever. It's all about money, but then again I see what is justified, what this lady is saying,

[5:22:46] there's a lot of racism.

[5:22:50] Okay, I mean, I'm just telling you what I see. I'm trying to maintain

[5:22:55] some kind of neutrality. I associate myself with the U.N., but I come here, I hear all this

[5:23:00] here. Twisted words about that, and she's right, across the highway. There's some prime,

[5:23:10] real estate going on. How, what role does Paul out to Stanford in Santa Clara Clara County

[5:23:17] play in the future of housing in this place that had become the ones he stole out to?

[5:23:23] I will never buy a home here.

[5:23:27] I'll start a business to help others, but it's been so confusing and I think that

[5:23:33] just like I said earlier, the infrastructure that you set up earlier when you're first

[5:23:37] in court made, you really should have looked into it, or I'm really kind of finding out what

[5:23:43] direction you're going and what you're doing.

[5:23:44] That's what I'm picking.

[5:23:47] Thank you.

[5:23:47] Next speaker, module.

[5:23:49] I

[5:23:55] want to ask you where you are going to get money from here.

[5:24:03] Where are you going to get money from here?

[5:24:13] They will get money from here

[5:24:19] because,

[5:24:21] obviously, we are not going to get lucky in the house.

[5:24:30] But if you are still there, look,

[5:24:37] you know why people are going to buy a house?

[5:24:43] because the time they leave to walk,

[5:24:49] until they talk to me,

[5:24:50] they tell me,

[5:24:51] they

[5:24:56] speak,

[5:25:00] they speak,

[5:25:04] they believe in the many young men

[5:25:09] who are in the political and the discrimination.

[5:25:18] And those young men are in time

[5:25:23] and they do not have to be.

[5:25:29] In that, they are not going to worry about us.

[5:25:31] not

[5:25:34] fighting,

[5:25:38] but also, in which the Serraro and the Jevines will be held,

[5:25:45] but in which the Serraro and the Jevines will be held,

[5:25:51] and the story of this

[5:25:52] struggle

[5:25:56] has been presented to the people

[5:26:04] who were not 40.

[5:26:10] The same,

[5:26:15] what is happening is that you are passing the Ninth-Girubriyas,

[5:26:22] who are not the Jevines.

[5:26:27] Because the children always take care of them,

[5:26:37] the rest of them, because they do not care about them,

[5:26:44] they help them,

[5:26:48] they do not care about them,

[5:26:53] they do victims,

[5:26:58] and so they live in their life.

[5:27:03] I have six children,

[5:27:07] and I want to know who is the mentality of the discrimination,

[5:28:07] That was our last speaker for this item.

[5:28:11] Thank you.

[5:28:11] The needy more direction.

[5:28:13] Thank you so much.

[5:28:13] Okay.

[5:28:14] We can proceed with the next agenda item.

[5:28:18] Thank you.

[5:28:19] Item 7.1.

[5:28:21] We have the special presentation.

[5:28:24] Sorry.

[5:28:25] You did have a.

[5:28:28] Did you have a speaker?

[5:28:31] Okay.

[5:28:31] a boy you put it in for 8.1.

[5:28:36] Okay.

[5:28:37] Would you like to speak on it?

[5:28:44] I just wanted to say,

[5:28:45] how important it is for me to have the right to return

[5:28:49] to much older and former Espoilter residents,

[5:28:53] be that within the Black community of Espoilter,

[5:28:56] who was the sole of Espoilter,

[5:28:58] or even right now for a lot of Latinos

[5:29:00] who are also even being pushed out of Espoilter

[5:29:02] you to increase rents also due to the market rate housing.

[5:29:09] There are ways in order to improve or fix housing.

[5:29:15] What that looks like is socialize housing or cap rents or bigger homes instead of making

[5:29:23] townhouses.

[5:29:26] These are things that have already worked in a lot of European countries,

[5:29:31] in a lot of

[5:29:32] possible, again, if you're considering the people of East Paul, and if you want East Paul

[5:29:37] to be the rich diverse culture that it is, give those residents the right of return and

[5:29:43] give them a place to be housed, because they've been displaced, why all these real estate

[5:29:47] developers?

[5:29:48] Thank you.

[5:29:52] Thank you.

[5:29:52] So we'll be proceeding with the next agenda.

[5:29:54] I just do still have item 7.1 or did they leave?

[5:29:58] Okay, let's start from making you

[5:30:20] It's a lighter topic with less words on the slides. For our, you know, almost close to midnight presentation here y'all, my coffee is not still going strong. So I will try to go get through this in the ten minutes and it was shorter. Good evening, Mayor council members. Thank you for sticking with this meeting and allowing me some space this evening to share about the new East Powwowso community garden.

[5:30:46] Fresh approach launched this garden last year after being evicted from the 17 year

[5:30:51] home of the collective roots community garden. And I want to just start by sharing the

[5:30:56] story of our time on this new little space of land and inviting those of you who haven't

[5:31:03] yet been able to come out to the garden to come out. I'd be happy to host you at any point

[5:31:07] in time that's convenient for you. Preferably during daylight hours so we can actually

[5:31:13] see while we're out there.

[5:31:15] We go to the next one, please.

[5:31:18] So we began leasing half acre of the vacant four acre field

[5:31:22] behind Blue House, which stretches all the way

[5:31:25] out to Demeter Street in April of 2025.

[5:31:28] And as you can see, the field was completely empty,

[5:31:31] except for some weeds and a whole lot of mulch.

[5:31:35] Next slide, please.

[5:31:37] In June, we hosted a welcome to the garden.

[5:31:40] And at that time, we installed our, we had installed our first small shed, moved everything

[5:31:45] that we could from the old garden, to the other side, from the other side of town, and

[5:31:50] our half acre field at that time, that time had mulch varying from about a half foot deep

[5:31:55] in some places to four feet deep in other places.

[5:31:59] Not really something you can build any solid structure on or plant in.

[5:32:04] We welcome the community to the space and began collecting names of residents that were interested

[5:32:08] in having a space on site to garden.

[5:32:10] I do appreciate Councilmember Abreka who's able to join us last June at that welcoming

[5:32:15] ceremony and he shared a few words about the importance of community gardens in East

[5:32:19] Palo Alto.

[5:32:21] Next slide, please.

[5:32:24] Last June, we also relaunched our East Palo Alto community compost hub, which collects

[5:32:29] food scraps from local residents and turns them into high quality compost for us to use

[5:32:32] in home gardens.

[5:32:34] The compost is provided back to compost to have members and used in the community garden.

[5:32:38] enriching the soil of East Palo Alto with the food waste of local residents.

[5:32:43] Beyond land access and resources for gardeners, the community compost tub is one of our longest

[5:32:47] running and most successful community garden programs. Next slide please.

[5:32:54] Our compost tub collects food scraps at the community farmers market at Bloomhouse during the

[5:32:59] market season and the photo you see on the left here is a compost-sifting activity where we

[5:33:04] engage local residents and compost education at the farmers market. The EPA compost tub,

[5:33:09] community compost have launched in 2019 expanding our previous garden level composting and initially

[5:33:15] we were supported by the County Office of Sustainability as they prepared for community focused

[5:33:19] composting education and production projects for SB 1383 requirements. You'll note on the flyer

[5:33:25] on the right that we do also operate a hub up in San Mateo and that expansion was inspired by the success

[5:33:32] of the EPA compost hub and again that was supported initially with County Funding prior to SB 1383

[5:33:38] implementation. For folks who don't always remember SPS 1383 off the top of your memories,

[5:33:44] this is the state legislation that requires the city to procure compost and to distribute

[5:33:49] some to local residents and to educate residents on sorting organic waste. I'm going to come back

[5:33:53] to compost, but I do want to just continue to share the evolution of the garden over this past year

[5:33:59] in our hopes for the future. Next slide, please. So here we are in August 2025, nearly complete

[5:34:06] with moving all of the mulch off of the half acre field

[5:34:09] that we were renting.

[5:34:10] And you can see our little shed and our compost system

[5:34:12] is still there.

[5:34:13] Next slide, please.

[5:34:16] By September of last year, the garden was really

[5:34:18] starting to take shape.

[5:34:19] Pathways were laid, including a patio space

[5:34:21] on the Demeter Street side to host workshops and events.

[5:34:24] Water and electrical had been on site

[5:34:26] and we prepared to host our first big event in late September.

[5:34:29] Next slide, please.

[5:34:33] Another view of the garden from last September.

[5:34:37] I know a couple of council members

[5:34:38] were able to attend our dinner last year.

[5:34:40] And I do hope that you'll all be able to join us this year.

[5:34:43] Save the date, September 12th,

[5:34:45] and put it out there right now.

[5:34:47] You'll get it in the ear email soon.

[5:34:49] Next slide, please.

[5:34:51] After the September event,

[5:34:52] we continue to establishing garden spaces for individual residents,

[5:34:55] leveling the ground and installing garden beds.

[5:34:58] Next slide, please.

[5:35:01] And then by March of this year,

[5:35:02] we had all the beds leveled in filled with 22 families filling their spaces

[5:35:06] with late winter and early spring crops, and the garden really started to grow up as our

[5:35:11] potted fruit trees and put on their spring leaves in their blooms. We currently still have 20

[5:35:15] families on our waitlist for spaces to garden. Next slide please.

[5:35:23] This past March 21st we hosted our

[5:35:26] first annual community event spring is in the air. We do plan to host this event every year to

[5:35:31] celebrate the beginning of the spring season. The event featured a performance, a performance by

[5:35:36] band from east side college prep. And they were awesome. If y'all haven't heard them, I'm

[5:35:42] sure you have there. Just an amazing band. They really had both toddlers and adults dancing

[5:35:48] the morning away. Next slide, please.

[5:35:53] Along with great music, we also had a resource village with local

[5:35:57] community base and government organizations sharing information and other resources. We did have a

[5:36:03] table from some city staff there. We hosted seed planting in the garden, which filled our new greenhouse

[5:36:07] with trays of vegetables and flowers that will fill the garden this summer, hosted a

[5:36:11] compost station, sharing information about our community composting hub, the composting process,

[5:36:16] and best ways to sort organic waste for composting. In the center on the bottom there, you can see

[5:36:21] that we had some folks finishing up a cob bench and learning about alternative and sustainable building

[5:36:25] techniques. And on the bottom right there, we also brought our mobile farmers market trek to the event

[5:36:30] to distribute free locally grown produce to the community.

[5:36:34] Next slide, please.

[5:36:37] We also provided lunch for all the attendees

[5:36:39] at the event, demonstrations on food preservation,

[5:36:43] workshops on soil biology, and an amazing performance

[5:36:46] from the Eastside College Preps for Folk Lawyco dancers.

[5:36:50] Next slide, please.

[5:36:55] We're really working to provide the garden

[5:36:56] as a standalone resource for the community

[5:36:58] and also as a hub for gathering, learning, and resource sharing.

[5:37:01] We provide free monthly workshops for East Palo Alto residents, weekly volunteer opportunities that provides hands that provide hands on space for learning to grow food and to cultivate food together.

[5:37:13] We provide free land for residents to grow their own food, free seeds and seedlings access to the tools and a supportive network of local gardeners.

[5:37:21] Next slide please.

[5:37:28] And of course, we continue to provide our community compost hub.

[5:37:31] After reestablishing the hubs operations last year with the move, we saw engagement from residents increase over the course of 2025.

[5:37:40] By the end of the year, we had nearly a hundred residents participating by bringing us their food scraps and receiving compost from us.

[5:37:46] Those residents diverted over 7,000 pounds of food scraps through the EPA compost tub and distributed 3.5 cubic yards of compost to residents just in six months of operation last year.

[5:37:57] This strong engagement from the community required us to increase our capacity and build

[5:38:01] additional composting systems at the gardens, so we can continue to increase the number of

[5:38:05] residents that are composting with us. Next slide, please.

[5:38:11] This is where our partnership

[5:38:12] with the city comes in. Our community compost to provide an opportunity for the city to be able

[5:38:18] to support the composted activities at the community garden with funds that the city already

[5:38:26] spends on the requirements for SB 1383.

[5:38:29] State legislation passed in late 2024, AB 2346, that allows the city to fulfill some of

[5:38:36] its SB 1383 requirements by investing in community composting infrastructure in East Palo Alto.

[5:38:42] We have received support from the City of San Mateo, which is now investing annually with

[5:38:46] their SB 1383 spending requirements to support community composting there.

[5:38:51] That city level support has allowed us to double the food scrap collection dates we offer

[5:38:55] and increase compost production. I'm asking the council to consider working with city staff to

[5:39:00] direct this same type of investment of SB 1383 spending into the East Powell Alto community

[5:39:05] compost hub to help us make the compost hub and the community garden along lasting resource

[5:39:14] for the community. Thank you. That's all I had. Then I went through it as quickly as I could.

[5:39:20] I'll take any questions or any, I'd love to hear any comments from y'all.

[5:39:26] Yeah, hi, Laura. I'm going to actually try to make it to the farmers market tomorrow, though.

[5:39:31] I've me sleep past the reasonable.

[5:39:35] Thank you for waiting. I apologize. There's been a lot of disruption tonight and you were supposed to go much earlier on.

[5:39:42] But thank you for sticking out, sticking around.

[5:39:45] I've been over to the community garden multiple times. I think it's a wonderful asset to the community.

[5:39:50] If you honest, I was not convinced when I heard of the idea, but after seeing it and seeing

[5:39:54] many people I know and a lot of people who I just met there, it's really been a wonderful community

[5:39:59] asset that has brought together all sorts of people and then the workshops you guys do in other

[5:40:05] parts of the city, including at the Spire School, which is across the street for me, is really

[5:40:10] great like pruning and worms and all of this other stuff. I'm not a gardener, my wife's a gardener,

[5:40:16] But I also know that not everything he's Paul also has to be for me. I'm in a jazz musician

[5:40:22] I like weird, you know music from the 50s when they are gulfy, you know, but what I've really

[5:40:29] Appreciate about a fresh approach is how it's really about the community together. I certainly would support presuming this is a reasonable ask

[5:40:37] to the city staff to work with fresh approach to

[5:40:41] You know, take advantage of that

[5:40:43] And it's really late and it's probably someone complicated, but I certainly would support that, I think fresh approach is a valuable community member and, you know, we attended your dinner last year, it was wonderful.

[5:40:59] And look forward to seeing lots of good things coming out of fresh approach and perhaps even finding a more permanent location.

[5:41:09] If one were to pop up at some point.

[5:41:11] So. Thank you. Thank you.

[5:41:19] Yeah, thank you for the presentation. It's, you know, great success. I think it's, you know, part of a growing movement in California and partly because of the state laws, but it's really good that there's a, you know, a good coincidence in time of people like yourselves doing that work and then the states say you need to

[5:41:44] do more illicitis and then the city's also trying to do what we can in different areas, but

[5:41:51] this is really a good combination to keep educating ourselves and the young people especially

[5:41:59] I think for the future, you know, about the importance of, you know, it's got a little

[5:42:07] bit of everything, you know, you learn, we connect with nature, do some gardening, you know,

[5:42:14] you learn where the food comes from, and at the same time with, you can learn all kinds

[5:42:19] of things about energy, green energy, etc., etc., and of course coming together and having

[5:42:25] some benefits, and utilizing what might be considered as waste, which is what our society

[5:42:32] has done, created tons of waste, and then in this case it's a good way to turn it into compost,

[5:42:39] and so yeah congratulations and you know keep up the good work and yeah thank you very much

[5:42:45] yeah it is it's been exciting to see what can happen at that garden and in that space and just

[5:42:50] a relatively short period of time to go from a fully blank field to a really well laid out

[5:42:56] garden.

[5:43:02] Do you have any additional comments on this is your special presentation so we're not taking

[5:43:05] any action but yes I have a question about the community composting piece I mean the amount of

[5:43:13] and that he needs to get back is monumental.

[5:43:19] I mean, it's as tall as this building,

[5:43:23] it's just monumental.

[5:43:24] And so as a matter of scale,

[5:43:28] you know, 724 pounds of switch grabs

[5:43:31] diverted sounds great, but I mean,

[5:43:35] how effective is this in indeed realizing

[5:43:39] using, you know, the actual amount of compost that we need to take back and utilize or we

[5:43:46] may actually wind up as this, you know, recalls you are the south. What is the SBMWA wherever

[5:43:54] we are, you know, paying someone to take this compost off our hands. So it explained to me,

[5:44:01] kind of what the, or perhaps staff needs to come back to us is to kind of what, when partially,

[5:44:07] what's the cost benefit to doing this, and then perhaps the cost benefit is very little, but

[5:44:14] mostly it's a community building exercise and that would be fine, but I just I want to understand

[5:44:19] kind of scale and scope of the composting piece. Yeah, they're certainly community building and it's

[5:44:24] the community education that's a huge piece of it. There is the AB2, 2376 allowed cities to divert

[5:44:33] 10% of their purchasing requirement to support community composting, which then allows you to

[5:44:39] also reduce the amount of compost that you're having to purchase. Community composting still

[5:44:43] has to show as a part of that, you know, an outturn in the cubic yards of compost that we're

[5:44:50] producing, but it does allow the city to divert those funds from purchasing compost and

[5:44:57] should be on the coast side, which is a lot of ways.

[5:45:00] The panel also does, to instead actually generate that compost here, use it here in this community, not send those food scraps to Fresno, to then go back to the coastside, and add all those greenhouse gases. So there's a lot of additional advantage that 2376 allows for.

[5:45:18] Yeah, I mean, we have problems placing it. Let's make it very clear, right? I mean, the amount of, yeah, the amount that you have to purchase it.

[5:45:25] And it's coming from our communities that we're required to do.

[5:45:32] So yeah, I would want to know how this might work

[5:45:37] in terms of both costs and certainly capacity.

[5:45:44] I mean, I mean, this AB 2346 allows jurisdictions

[5:45:47] to meet 10% of their target through the development

[5:45:51] of community composting infrastructure.

[5:45:54] So that would mean that 10% of the target is, you know, if we had, let's say, you know, I don't

[5:46:02] know, 10,000 cubic feet, it's much more than that, actually.

[5:46:08] Then we would be able to do locally a 1,000 cubic feet.

[5:46:15] It's about diverting.

[5:46:16] It's not about the community compost hub isn't upheld to need to produce that 10% of the compost.

[5:46:23] But it's that 10% of you're funding that you're spending on compost can instead go to support these local programs that are

[5:46:30] Providing compost to the community measuring that output and also providing education and community outreach to increase knowledge around

[5:46:39] Organic waste diversion

[5:46:42] So there is there I sir. I have a great contact in the city of San Mateo who is one of the

[5:46:48] Key partners actually used to work at the office of sustainability

[5:46:52] that helped us start our community composting work and he would be happy to talk further with

[5:46:58] city staff. He's already talked with Latima a little bit about this and we've just sort of faced

[5:47:03] some roadblocks with moving forward with city staff and so the request is really for council to

[5:47:09] ask city staff to work towards this. It might not be, you know, this year but it could absolutely

[5:47:15] be something that we work towards for next year and I think it's something that this city should

[5:47:19] invest in with the amount of benefit that the garden provides?

[5:47:25] Yeah, I'd certainly be interested in seeing, you know, staff potentially bring this

[5:47:33] back in terms of what's the cost benefit and, you know, what we might be able to do on this

[5:47:40] composting site out. I'm still grabbing my head around it, but. Thank you.

[5:47:45] Thank you.

[5:47:49] Thank you for the presentation. And I hope we can

[5:47:53] thought was to collaborate. I'm going forward. Thank you. To see you too out of the garden

[5:47:59] sometime soon. Either at an event or, you know, I'll, I'll email you sometime this summer

[5:48:04] and we can arrange a separate time. Yes, in any mail, I can put it on my calendar. Okay. All right.

[5:48:08] Okay. Thank you. Okay. We'll be proceeding with, um, are do you have any public comment on this?

[5:48:14] Okay. We'll be proceeding with item 8.1.

[5:48:27] I will just keep this to two minutes. All right. All right.

[5:48:35] They're running their family, Charles Wigs, the Koolie family, they're all farmers in

[5:48:42] gardens.

[5:48:43] This year, all community goes back more than a hundred years in gardening, it's a seed of

[5:48:50] California's agricultural industry.

[5:48:52] I started to remember what garden kids' products, to kind of keep that alive, I developed

[5:48:59] my own garden because I have something going with the United Nations and I would like

[5:49:04] start working. I would like for all of us to talk, we're going to get a similar because we

[5:49:07] share a similar common denominator, and that's easy. So if we're going to do it and bring

[5:49:15] everybody together historically, we're going to put some props, everybody see what's happened

[5:49:20] in the past few years, then we're going to be going in a right direction. Thank you. Thank you.

[5:49:28] So what we're proceeding with item eight, or do we have to make a motion extend the meeting to

[5:49:35] I'd like to make that motion, I don't think we're going to get done with this in 13 minutes.

[5:49:40] Okay, we have a second.

[5:49:42] I'd like to make the motion that we go to 1230.

[5:49:45] All second.

[5:49:46] Okay, all in favor.

[5:49:49] All right.

[5:50:13] Thank you.

[5:50:15] Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council.

[5:50:18] This is part two of the proposed development could update.

[5:50:21] this is an annual or are roughly annual update

[5:50:24] that we've been bringing to the City Council

[5:50:25] for the past few years.

[5:50:27] The first part was discussed on April 21st,

[5:50:30] and this was basically introducing

[5:50:32] this year's development code update,

[5:50:35] and at that presentation,

[5:50:36] we discuss various amendments,

[5:50:39] such as just basically primarily cleanup items,

[5:50:42] such as bringing sections of the code

[5:50:45] into compliance with each other

[5:50:47] and making the temporary use permit process

[5:50:50] a little more efficient, refining the setbacks,

[5:50:53] the multi-family zones, and various other changes.

[5:50:57] So tonight we're bringing to you the proposed

[5:51:00] objective design standards, which we're

[5:51:03] being proposed to bring us into compliance with new state

[5:51:06] requirements for housing projects.

[5:51:09] And so with that, I will turn it to Sal to present on the ODS.

[5:51:15] OK, thank you very much, Yelena.

[5:51:17] And good evening, Mr. Mayor, a member of the City Council, two weeks ago, as Lena said,

[5:51:25] we presented the first part of this development called amendments.

[5:51:29] Tonight, we present the second final part, focus on objective design standards.

[5:51:37] So, we have done a good amount of auditions with this project.

[5:51:42] In addition to the normal publications and pushtons,

[5:51:45] We also reached out to various stakeholders, including architects, designers, and developers that are working on our community.

[5:51:53] They include the designers of collaborate comons, the designers of literary apartments, the Dalong group, the Ngoran and Associates, the Hays group, some hill properties, and SC design group.

[5:52:08] slide. And so tonight we will focus on the objective design standards. The draft standards we

[5:52:17] will discuss were developed in consultation with Remy and Associates, the planning and

[5:52:24] design consultants who already know the work on the city's development code. Our recommendation

[5:52:29] is for consult to approve the process improvement amendments with the scarce last week, along with

[5:52:36] the objective development standards we are going to discuss tonight, if approved, we anticipate

[5:52:41] the second reading to be on your meeting of June 2nd, 2006.

[5:52:50] The primary goal of the objective design standards is to provide the city council and plan on

[5:52:57] commission with the tools to review residential and mixed-use projects, but I want to

[5:53:03] the State Housing Accountability Act in the Housing Crisis Act.

[5:53:07] These legislation requires projects to be reviewed for compliance with objective design standards

[5:53:13] and not subjective design standards which are comfortable most of the current standards in the

[5:53:18] development code.

[5:53:21] Objective design standards are standards that are measurable and verifiable.

[5:53:26] For example, frontset back must be at least five feet, build and height shall not exceed 35 feet.

[5:53:33] A planar can simply check whether the requirement is met.

[5:53:38] Subjective design standards are not allowed for many housing approvals as the required interpretation.

[5:53:45] For example, the building should fit neighborhood character or the facade should be visually interesting.

[5:53:53] These required management and therefore are not objective standards.

[5:53:58] So typically, objective design standards would regulate

[5:54:02] building placement and orientation,

[5:54:05] the heights and setbacks of buildings,

[5:54:08] facade articulation and materials, roof form,

[5:54:11] ground floor transparency, landscaping and lighting,

[5:54:15] parking layout, mechanical equipment, screening.

[5:54:19] In general, the regulate design and site layout.

[5:54:24] So it's simple way to think about it is

[5:54:26] Objective design standards include a measurable rule.

[5:54:32] It is, for example, greater than or 10 feet.

[5:54:35] Subjective guidelines express an opinion.

[5:54:39] For example, does it look good?

[5:54:43] The Objective design standards document has three parts.

[5:54:47] The first part includes definitions, including fuller definitions for apartments and rules houses.

[5:54:52] The second and third parts focus on different development types.

[5:54:58] The second part includes single-family houses,

[5:55:02] dual-plexes, triplexes, four-plexes, and townhouses.

[5:55:07] And the third part would be about apartments and mixed with buildings.

[5:55:15] So we would discuss the second,

[5:55:20] I mean, the two development types separately.

[5:55:22] does the single-family through fourplexes and then following that will do the

[5:55:28] apartments and mix these projects. However, there are a few cases where the

[5:55:33] same standards are identical. They are applied to both the single-family to fourplexes

[5:55:39] and the apartments and mix-uses and do standards will include bulk on the

[5:55:44] setbacks, for example, roof-line and roof-on materials and finish-on materials.

[5:55:49] So, when we discuss them with the first part, in the second part, we will just skip them,

[5:55:55] since they are identical. Next slide.

[5:56:00] And the two different development types are generally

[5:56:04] intense fractured in three sections. First, there is an intense statement, which will clearly

[5:56:11] spell out the purpose of the standard. The intense statements are not standards. They are just

[5:56:18] vision or ideal outcome statement. The second section, the design standards objective measures

[5:56:29] that must be complied with, unless they are reduced by qualifying concessions in sessions

[5:56:34] and weaver. So, in our city, every development and mixed-use project with residential

[5:56:43] qualifies for the state density bonus process and with the state density bonus law comes

[5:56:51] what we call incentives and concerns and wevers which would give applicants relief from

[5:56:59] objective design standards and so if there's a particular standard that developers think is going

[5:57:09] be difficult for them to maximize the developmental housing units they can request weaver and

[5:57:19] the weavers are basically unlimited. The third section would be design guidelines and these

[5:57:26] are museless objective measures that applicants may volunteer to comply with. They are commonly

[5:57:32] reviews and set projects as planned developments where applicants agree to set in design measures

[5:57:38] and exchange for certain zones or subdivision relief. So we include the intent statements

[5:57:47] and the guidelines in this document because there are certain projects that might be subject

[5:57:54] to subjective standards.

[5:58:04] So, let's talk about the standards that are patented

[5:58:07] to single-family, do flexors, townhouses,

[5:58:11] triplexes, and four flexors.

[5:58:14] And all new residences or residential additions

[5:58:19] shall be designed to match the prevailing frontset

[5:58:22] back condition measured as an average of all frontset

[5:58:26] along the blockface. Front entries shall include two or parties and be clearly

[5:58:32] identifiable through accentuated architectural details, such as

[5:58:37] Ownings, projections, recesses and so on. These standards generally deal with

[5:58:45] the placement of buildings on a parcel and they also include a

[5:58:52] of garages with kept cuts and accessibility of buildings from walkways and common open spaces.

[5:59:02] Second, we will talk about setback areas and landscape design standards. So,

[5:59:11] these are what are normally described as external works. The treatment of spaces between

[5:59:17] buildings and property lines. So, the standards include front yard landscape and protection

[5:59:24] of protected trees and the use of pervious materials for stormwater compliance. These standards

[5:59:32] are all included in the current development code.

[5:59:39] Next, we talk about mass and addition standards

[5:59:43] and these tenders are meant to reduce the bulk of buildings and ensure that additions are

[5:59:50] compatible with existing buildings. And so with these ones, we have residential, second and

[5:59:57] fair story additions, so simple.

[6:00:00] Employee, at least two of the full-name building modulations strategies, and the modulations strategies

[6:00:06] include varied roof forms, use of balconies and front-porties and decks, and then put projections

[6:00:13] and offsets and recesses of buildings and building planes, at least two feet in death,

[6:00:21] as B Windows. So let's go to the next slide. Next we talk about privacy standards. So the intent here is a new

[6:00:32] residences and residential additions, particularly it should be designed to preserve privacy,

[6:00:40] light and air to a governing properties to the extent possible. And so these standards then would

[6:00:48] close tapbacks from front and side, setbacks for new structures and additions. For example,

[6:00:58] it talks about a 10-foot front stepback for second and third story, this is if 60% of the

[6:01:05] existence structures are single story buildings. There are side tapbacks, tapbacks too,

[6:01:18] and

[6:01:18] colleagues said back should be at least 20 feet from the side property lies. Now this was

[6:01:26] we got a comment from San Hill properties and they were concerned about this standard,

[6:01:33] but we have clarified in the objective design standard as the 24th said back a place to front

[6:01:40] and rear of buildings, and so, part of the proposals we brought two weeks ago was to reduce

[6:01:50] multi-family setbacks to five feet. So, obviously, with that five foot setback, I mean,

[6:01:56] there can be insert back on this and so on and so forth. So, the projected back on is

[6:02:01] applied to the front and rear setbacks, and the rear setbacks are already 25 feet in a way.

[6:02:15] So, continue with the privacy standards for the upper storage windows of new structures

[6:02:22] or additions within 5 feet of proper supplies that the standards will require the windows

[6:02:30] we offset horizontally by 3 feet that we windows don't look through each other, that windows

[6:02:38] to now have a double-species exam from this requirement as long as they have like a 6-foot

[6:02:46] window seal or they have frosted glass windows. And also there is a standard for landscape and

[6:02:58] the site setback to provide for additional privacy as well.

[6:03:06] Next we talk about architectural design

[6:03:09] digital standards. And these are standards that pertain to the use of identical materials

[6:03:17] and finishes for additions. The use of durable materials and the colour and finishes of

[6:03:26] service elements and fixtures and the compatibility of roof fixtures and roof lines,

[6:03:33] which exist with the existence structure. So these standards here mostly have to do with

[6:03:39] conditions.

[6:03:45] And they're finally for architectural design details standards. We talked about

[6:03:51] the need to de-emphasize garages and we would do that by limiting the waves of garages

[6:04:01] to 22 feet or 60% of the facade that garages should be set back six feet behind living

[6:04:12] of livable spaces and for townhouse garages that the officer should

[6:04:18] limit her to 20 to 20 feet wide and no more than 75% of the front-teach.

[6:04:27] So I have this question about the 22 foot garage door with, is that the so that they don't

[6:04:35] 22 for garage doors is a matter of fact this. They make sixes and sixes, twelve, eight and eights.

[6:04:42] It's very, and they make 16s, but it's very rare. I don't even think they make a 22 for garage doors.

[6:04:47] So is there a reason why we've, we're even doing 20?

[6:04:51] I don't know if I'm the listener to feed the garage for the garage.

[6:04:53] The garage frontier.

[6:04:55] Untid. Okay. So it should not be going to be garage door with.

[6:04:58] Okay. Frontage. That's frontage. That makes sense. Okay. Thank you.

[6:05:02] Next. Now let's talk about apartments and

[6:05:08] mix-ins bills. And so first general side design standards.

[6:05:15] And these standards are about the location, accessibility,

[6:05:21] visibility of the mean entrances to buildings and entrances to individual units.

[6:05:27] So here, it typically standard would call for 50% of all graph flow units to be directly accessible from the closer side work.

[6:05:44] Second, site access standards.

[6:05:48] Here, the standards are about accessibility of the sites to the ecological traffic and pedestrians.

[6:05:55] So they include standard such as the driveways being less than 20 ft wide.

[6:06:06] We want to provide direct pedestrian pass from the sidewalks to build an entrances.

[6:06:13] Each site should be limited to 1 kb per site or 1 kb for every 200 ft.

[6:06:22] and then two Cape Cards will be permitted for parking garage frontages.

[6:06:30] And about Newton's standards,

[6:06:33] this is about the location as greener of lunar areas

[6:06:37] to minimize noise and vehicular and pedestrian conflicts.

[6:06:42] So, lunar and solid waste,

[6:06:44] recycling and collection areas would be centrally located

[6:06:49] and Luden docks in equipment areas to be screened from adjacent properties.

[6:06:56] The designated Luden docks shall be located in the rear or interior side yards,

[6:07:05] and there's

[6:07:05] an exception, and that has to do with Luden to the rear or side, and that is not feasible

[6:07:12] on a corner property, then Luden can then be located on the non-premise 3 side of the front

[6:07:24] Parking design standards are about the loodern as greenen of parking areas in the access

[6:07:32] ability.

[6:07:34] So, surface parking should be located behind buildings or beside buildings.

[6:07:41] And we encourage that where we have parking adjacent parking spaces that the user is

[6:07:48] protocol access and that has the effect of reducing the number of cat cuts. The ground floor,

[6:07:55] ground floors of truck yet parking, should be lined with active uses. And so we clarified this

[6:08:04] in the development standards that this standard doesn't apply to apostores, just apply to

[6:08:11] ground floor spaces. And then upper levels should however have a non-parking design, access

[6:08:22] should be from lower streets to busiest streets, if you will. So what this 62 is that the

[6:08:34] No wooden areas and access to parking structures are better off on the less busier streets

[6:08:47] because they cost a lot of disruption and conflicts with a faster traffic on the busier streets.

[6:08:57] Unmanned garages should have a parking plan approved by the city.

[6:09:01] The reason for this is to ensure that the unmanned parking garages do not have key when the

[6:09:10] will spill out into the public right of the way.

[6:09:21] So, set back in landscape design standards and these are existence standards from the

[6:09:30] existing development code, and they include front yard landscape and preservation of

[6:09:38] my two or three, the use of pervious or semi pervious of its material to help our stormwater

[6:09:47] program, and that underground parking, student and cruise and the public streets, or dedicated

[6:09:54] the public parks. These are all standards that are included in the existing development code.

[6:10:02] Also, that asphalt pavement is prohibited in private and common open space areas.

[6:10:12] Also, we include last given standards depending on the use of adjacent properties.

[6:10:27] For instance, if the adjacent properties are residential, that the site last given,

[6:10:36] That said, back last year, it might be 75% to the extent that the use is residential adjacent.

[6:10:47] And then 25% of the adjacent uses retail.

[6:10:51] And the reason is because of the traffic associated with retail,

[6:10:55] if you have more last year, it's just going to be troubled and it's not going to take hold.

[6:10:59] Private

[6:11:06] open space areas. So, the private open space areas, multi-family residential and mix

[6:11:13] use projects, I intended for private use for each dwelling unit. It may include balconies,

[6:11:20] which may be covered or uncovered. Private gardens, private yards, terraces, decks and

[6:11:28] They should, however, have a floor to seal and height, no less than 9 feet, as we said,

[6:11:37] they can be covered or non-covered, and this would be directly adjacent to an accessible

[6:11:43] from the dwelling units they save.

[6:11:48] As for common open space areas,

[6:11:53] these normally come into play in multi-family residential

[6:11:58] and bigger residential mixes projects and they are shared and accessible only to the building residents and their visitors.

[6:12:10] and so this shall immediately be adjacent to entrances or hallways and lobbies of residential

[6:12:21] units, this shall be accessible to all residents and courtyards that are enclosed by three

[6:12:28] size of a building shall have a minimum open and with that is equal to 75% of the height of the

[6:12:38] join in phases.

[6:12:46] So any time these common open spaces are fully enclosed, they should have

[6:12:54] at least one minimum dimension. That is equal to or greater than the highest height.

[6:13:01] A minimum of 60% of the open space areas shall be open to the sky. A minimum of 20% of

[6:13:08] required open space shall be planted with trees, drunk of a shrubs, and there shall be

[6:13:15] permanent seat in these common open space areas as well. Next, we'll talk about mass and

[6:13:23] articulation, and the intent here for structures to be designed to avoid long monotonous

[6:13:28] plane facades. Appropriate articulation techniques include staggered building planes, variation

[6:13:37] of facades, recesses of interest and arcades, they all help to create variety and interest.

[6:13:48] So the buildings should not exceed 400 feet and mix with areas and 350 feet in residential

[6:13:58] So, this time, that's where previously 300 feet for mixed uses and 200 feet for residential.

[6:14:09] However, we did some reconnaissance work and we visited lots of projects in this town and in surrounding cities as well.

[6:14:18] And we thought it was reasonable to just the mix use builders 400 feet and 350 feet for the residential buildings.

[6:14:30] And just by the side, we looked at all of the downtown San Jose with big residential buildings and mixes buildings and so on.

[6:14:40] And there wasn't just single building that exceeded these standards.

[6:14:49] and continuing with Martin.

[6:14:55] We ask him that the Fassard planes are...

[6:15:00] For example, evidence, and Marxist-based evidence should not exceed 100 feet. Therefore, every 100 feet plain, that we want a break in the, or up to three breaks.

[6:15:14] So if there is one break, it's got to be a large break, or two medium breaks, or three smaller breaks. For example, a large break would be one with a width of 15 feet and a death of 10 feet.

[6:15:29] And in a minor break, and we are a commander in three of them for every 100 feet would be

[6:15:38] 60 to wide and then 30 feet deep. Next slide.

[6:15:45] Compatibility and transition. So, we are going to skip these ones because, yeah, identical to what we talked about with the single

[6:15:55] family true for Plexis and they have to do with the window of such we talked about and also the

[6:16:02] the project of balconies we discussed earlier.

[6:16:10] And so continue with the transition standards.

[6:16:16] Here we have separation requirements for buildings within a complex. The concept is the taller the

[6:16:26] the larger the separation. So, for example, from the front of the building, to the front of

[6:16:34] an Arab building or the back of an Arab building, if there are four storage buildings, there's a

[6:16:38] separation or to be 45 feet. If there are three storage buildings, 35 feet, if there are two

[6:16:45] storage buildings, 25 feet.

[6:16:50] There's also, there are also standard for side building side to

[6:16:54] side separation and here to the taller the building, the larger the separation, four

[6:17:03] storage buildings would be separate the side to side about 25 feet and then two

[6:17:07] storage buildings, 15 feet.

[6:17:16] And facade design and articulation, so that ground, ground

[6:17:29] frontages should include active uses of your slay, and we want, we don't have

[6:17:39] quite large blank walls, so in a war, there is more than 30 feet should include

[6:17:50] some articulation elements in the, like we discussed earlier. We also talked about

[6:17:56] Parkinson's structures being wrapped around the front underground floor with active loses.

[6:18:11] Okay, so this has to do with

[6:18:17] residential uses the relationship to the public rate of we in terms of the elevation.

[6:18:26] So the closer the unit is to the public rate of we

[6:18:32] the higher the elevation. And so with this one, it 10 foot setback would call for, if

[6:18:41] we're in a half foot elevation, and then a 15 foot setback, new elevation. So we again

[6:18:49] got comments from our stakeholders, and so we added some alternative language in here.

[6:18:56] that is alternatively the unit shall be provided with a kind of pitch port or a kind of pitch

[6:19:04] port recess or projected even more of two feet. So if the developer is not able to or they

[6:19:13] don't want to elevate these units they could include these covered portes that would either be

[6:19:19] projector or recessed.

[6:19:26] This talks about the transparency of, you know, graph law, active

[6:19:35] spaces, and so yeah, this is covered. So the transparency is, I think, this is covered.

[6:19:47] We have part of the slide which is covered so they can see it okay okay so the transparency

[6:19:56] for star fronts okay for star fronts it's 65 feet within 2 and 7.5 feet and then for

[6:20:07] are active and non-stop fronts will be 40 feet and we are also asking that

[6:20:16] opponents that, what is this?

[6:20:23] Sorry about that. We are also asking that every 50 feet or

[6:20:29] those who haven't opened and that's for both the store fronts and then for other

[6:20:35] commercial uses every ATFE.

[6:20:45] So, balcony is where provided cellutilized relance and or similar

[6:20:50] materials compatible with the overall architecture style of the development. The at least two

[6:20:56] treatments, that's architectural features or landscape or at elements that tie into the overall design

[6:21:03] theme shall be applied to all facades, exposure, public, blank and walls with a windows or

[6:21:11] purchase or bulk on a Shelby prohibited, roof flashings and roof garries and downspots, spouts

[6:21:18] and vents, Shelby screened from view of Finnish to match existing materials and or calles of

[6:21:27] the structure. The all facades of a building facing the street or public space shall be treated

[6:21:32] with variations in mass and articulation.

[6:21:41] So, Dawson Windows should have terms in there,

[6:21:47] and entries should be projected or recess,

[6:21:50] at least two feet.

[6:21:51] And the window terms should be minimum two inches.

[6:21:56] Next slide.

[6:22:03] Okay. So, about materials now,

[6:22:06] that at least two materials that we use

[6:22:08] in a building of frontiers in addition to glazing and railings and certain materials are not durable

[6:22:18] and ought to be prohibited and they include playwood and vinyl in T1111 and plastic and plastic

[6:22:25] laminates or fiberglass. We don't want these, you know, use that finises on our facades and materials

[6:22:35] could continue around corners for at least two feet. Next.

[6:22:45] So, Roof tiles and pitches shall be consistent with the style of the with the style and pitch

[6:22:55] of other roofs within the development and additions to existing structures shall be designed

[6:23:01] to match the roof line, the roof style and colors of the original structure.

[6:23:10] And so we're almost there. So this talks about the screen of roof equipment that we

[6:23:22] went down screened and we have a ratio in here for every one foot. There's got to be a recess

[6:23:31] of 1.15 feet. Regardless of height, it's got to be a minimum 5 feet of screen and

[6:23:39] and the screened materials would be similar with the materials of the facades of the building itself.

[6:23:50] That in the roof equipment there are less and too thick like solar panels could be exempt from screened requirements.

[6:23:59] And so, thank you very much for bearing with us.

[6:24:03] This brings us to a kind of rationale through this brings us to the end of our presentation.

[6:24:09] and so we recommend that the Ispal Autosary Council adopt an ordinance to approve the

[6:24:17] development could amendment ZTE25-002 that appeals to the police and amend the

[6:24:27] various sections of chapter 18. Regarding those definitions, type of graphical errors,

[6:24:35] on a lot of standards, refueling and service stations, front setbacks, trees, accessories,

[6:24:41] structures, temporary goods permits, alcohol seals at bonafide, eastern establishments,

[6:24:47] conditional goods permits for public and private schools, wool occupations, and other areas

[6:24:53] as set forth therein, and to find that the proposed zoning tax amendments are exempt in our

[6:25:02] with SQL guidelines, Section 150, Section 153, which is the common sense exemption and Section 153,

[6:25:16] 785, that is not a project and Section 151, 83, and this applies to projects that are consistent

[6:25:26] with the community to plan general plan or zoom in as these

[6:25:31] tax amendments of the California environmental quality

[6:25:35] guidelines.

[6:25:36] Thank you very much for your attention.

[6:25:44] Did you have any public comment on this?

[6:25:50] OK, I have everybody left.

[6:25:51] That way, it cares.

[6:25:52] That was fine.

[6:25:54] OK, go ahead.

[6:25:56] Yeah, thank you for the presentation.

[6:25:57] At this late hour, I already expressed this.

[6:26:00] But I have concerned about requiring the reducing

[6:26:03] of massing above four stories by 10% requiring to have a variety of planes in our

[6:26:09] articulation, massing in articulation.

[6:26:14] I really do think that we can kind of trust

[6:26:17] architects on this and if you travel the world you'll see lots and lots of nice beauty,

[6:26:22] buildings that are, you know, six stories in one facade with some clasque material like

[6:26:26] brick or whatever. So I'm not at all in favor of dictating aesthetic choices. The other

[6:26:33] about reducing the massing, it also reduces housing. So if you're going to reduce both for

[6:26:38] stories, you're basically saying build less housing and I think our message should be

[6:26:42] build more housing. So I don't know how we change this in five minutes because we have

[6:26:49] we're all going to turn into pumpkins soon. But I do have an issue with that requirement.

[6:26:54] Otherwise, thank you very much, I know. It's been a long night.

[6:26:59] Thank you much for the comment and so the articulation was previously 20 feet if you

[6:27:09] well but given some of the comments we got from our sequel as we reduce it to 10 feet

[6:27:18] that's above the fifth law and above.

[6:27:23] And that's basically to provide a light to adjacent properties.

[6:27:30] But haven't said that we mentioned earlier

[6:27:33] that this relationship makes this project a subject

[6:27:37] to, well, the benefit from the density bonus law

[6:27:40] and with that, they have opportunities

[6:27:43] to weave out of certain developments than that.

[6:27:46] the thing would cause them to lose number of units or would make the project more expensive

[6:27:57] than would otherwise be. So the the concessions and incentives and wevers are a relief that

[6:28:07] property owners and developers can use to eliminate a wave out of standards that they think are too

[6:28:16] onerous.

[6:28:17] And I also wanted to add that the intent of this program is to bring code updates on a regular

[6:28:23] basis back to the city council for your decision. And so we are proposing these changes that

[6:28:32] basically recommended by our by our consultant but also something that we've

[6:28:39] vetted with the other developed with the developer architects, the various

[6:28:43] including San Hill and so this is something that we're proposing now and we

[6:28:49] do appreciate that this is a late hour but if we determine in working with

[6:28:54] developers that this is an issue this is something that we can come back to

[6:28:59] and amend along with other issues.

[6:29:01] So for example, we do intend on coming back

[6:29:03] likely at the end of the year with

[6:29:05] some other changes that we want to bring back.

[6:29:08] And so this is something that we can continue to look at.

[6:29:11] Okay, here. That's fine.

[6:29:13] Thank you. Yeah. I agree.

[6:29:15] I'd like to move that we at least had another 15 minutes of time

[6:29:19] because we're three minutes away from 1230.

[6:29:22] I mean, perhaps we should go to one o'clock

[6:29:24] and but we won't get there but that gives us enough time

[6:29:26] to at least have some discussion.

[6:29:28] or at least a pint on this each of us.

[6:29:32] Didn't we make emotions? It's a 1240.

[6:29:36] I'm finally extending it to one o'clock.

[6:29:39] Okay, I think my motion was 1230, but.

[6:29:42] Okay, well I'll make a motion that we extend the meeting to 1 a.m.

[6:29:48] All in favor?

[6:29:49] Yes.

[6:29:51] I can meet.

[6:29:53] Okay.

[6:29:53] So,

[6:29:57] you had a comment, Councilmember Romney.

[6:30:00] I have a few,

[6:30:06] so I'm a little concerned about the building max lengths. I mean, as seen from the San

[6:30:15] Hill property project on Euglid, that basically just left in place a massive block. I mean,

[6:30:24] originally there was some interest in doing amuse, they didn't do the amuse. Now it's just

[6:30:29] basically one large, impenetrable place and 400, 400 foot max building length, I think is

[6:30:40] indeed a piece of urban design and I think that they should be reduced. Again, I completely

[6:30:48] agree with the mass reducing the massing about four stories. The difference that makes in terms

[6:30:54] of kind of imposition on our neighborhood is huge,

[6:30:59] is huge, and if you look at actually

[6:31:01] classical architecture, right?

[6:31:04] They actually have a way of stepping things back,

[6:31:06] not just controlling it with the side materials,

[6:31:09] but actually stepping things back so that you know,

[6:31:13] you don't affect the daylight plane as much,

[6:31:17] and you have, you know, some, you reduce the monolithic nature

[6:31:25] of these buildings. I mean, look, we have to remember the cheapest thing the build is a box.

[6:31:31] And if a developer can get away with building a box and selling it or renting it, they will do it.

[6:31:37] And to the extent that these design guidelines actually help give even though I understand that

[6:31:45] depending on the affordability, you're including in these things. If you use the

[6:31:50] affordable housing. The density bonus law, you can actually wave and unlimited number of

[6:31:59] these requirements. I think it's important to have these and I actually am opposed to

[6:32:05] moving to the 450. I thought they were fine the way they were before,

[6:32:11] but I think it was 350, particularly in the residential zones, 350 square feet. That's 350 linear feet.

[6:32:19] It's a pretty large building in a residential zone.

[6:32:25] Yeah, again, I would keep the reduction of massing,

[6:32:30] and I think that the 20% reduction of massing

[6:32:32] was probably better than the 10.

[6:32:34] Perhaps they can move this to 15.

[6:32:36] I understand that, you know, these are comments

[6:32:39] that we got from San Hill, you know,

[6:32:44] developers will have the right to reduce some of these,

[6:32:48] some of these standards. I don't think we should completely adopt what they want to do.

[6:32:55] Again, developers want to maximize their profit. They're not interested at all if they could

[6:33:02] get away with it in urban design, right? I mean, they want to make sure that they can make a ton of

[6:33:18] think that we would want to be less a little more restrictive on this. This is just an issue

[6:33:24] of, yes, we need to produce more housing.

[6:33:28] So, yeah, that's a concern I have.

[6:33:35] There's some

[6:33:36] question, there's a question I have about the mixed use buildings, street facing ground floor

[6:33:40] frontages. Are we proposing that all of these buildings on the street facing side should

[6:33:53] have commercial active uses on the ground floor? My concern with that is that the market

[6:34:00] will only absorb a certain percentage of new commercial space. I mean, we can build it

[6:34:08] it can stay there vacant forever because this citizens don't have the disposable income

[6:34:16] to support, you know, 25, 40, 50,000 square feet of ground floor commercial.

[6:34:22] So I'm worried that this is two, you know, this may lead to our having way, way, way

[6:34:33] much commercial frontage. So I don't know. I mean,

[6:34:42] yeah, it is a concern of mine. I actually

[6:34:44] support the 16th book height, because there's flexibility in there that you're proposing. I think

[6:34:49] you're proposing 16 feet right on those ground floors in mixed use.

[6:34:57] Let's see.

[6:35:02] There were a few

[6:35:02] concerns I had about adjacencies. So we're reducing side setbacks to three feet. Is that correct?

[6:35:11] Oh, by feet.

[6:35:12] Five feet. Five feet.

[6:35:15] And in the residential zones. Yes.

[6:35:17] Yes. Okay. You could have zero lot line on multifamily mixed use buildings. Is that correct?

[6:35:26] Or you could not in the city.

[6:35:32] There's there's always a setback. Is that right?

[6:35:33] Yeah, so we can do one lot of convenience where the setbacks don't come into play, but I know

[6:35:44] some mixed use zones do have zero setbacks, you know, like those on the University Avenue,

[6:35:55] yeah, those are front setbacks.

[6:35:59] But I say that again, but I mean, so they're in terms of adjacencies, we don't have zero

[6:36:07] outline in the city.

[6:36:08] Um, I've got to check that.

[6:36:11] Uh-huh.

[6:36:11] Okay.

[6:36:12] Check that.

[6:36:14] So, so they're, they're eight times separated.

[6:36:16] At least not in the residential room.

[6:36:18] Okay.

[6:36:18] Not in the residential zones.

[6:36:21] Um, I'm fine with the, but we would make some zones.

[6:36:28] I wanted to see my other notes here,

[6:36:38] but did we, you know, I had a note here about the

[6:36:41] punched windows and, okay, it's the same. So it's either a two inch trim or you punch

[6:36:50] it in two inches. Why did I think it was four inches? It wasn't four inches. Is there anything

[6:36:55] here that talked about a forage punch now. I think the the plane or the flesh windows you

[6:37:07] may find rates.

[6:37:13] Well, okay we're not allowing flesh windows and if you have a flesh windows

[6:37:17] essentially what you're doing is you're putting a frame around it. If you have a flesh windows

[6:37:22] What do we say it like for inches of plane?

[6:37:25] I'm trying to get to the section.

[6:37:30] Yeah, I see how two inches in memory set here.

[6:37:34] Oh, okay. What's the difference here?

[6:37:37] So four inch minimum depth for flush window recess, building the sides.

[6:37:45] What's the difference?

[6:37:47] There are so the individual windows would have like a trim.

[6:37:51] Yeah, two inches. But where the windows are flush with the facade with the wall, then the

[6:37:57] plane has got to be recessed like four inches. But on one page, so paid 64 says minimum

[6:38:04] two inch recessed before. I'm sorry, I'm looking at the last last meeting's presentation because

[6:38:15] that's what I marked up. So I guess it's where we're talking about roofs. I'm sorry. It's

[6:38:24] figure 19 window design says 2-inch recess. And then figure 20 says windows and recess

[6:38:33] façade modulations for inch depth. So we're making a distinction between a façade modulation

[6:38:42] and window design is exactly. Exactly. Okay. Okay. So the the facade modulation is an entire

[6:38:52] section, the playing recessed. Exactly. That playing, that playing. Yeah. But the window is

[6:38:58] sub-distreams. Yeah. It's okay. It does the first. Yeah.

[6:39:08] I think you addressed. You know, I really

[6:39:12] wish we could and hopefully we'll have a design manual but these these blocky

[6:39:21] illustrations don't really help much you know I I understand them I understand but I think

[6:39:28] they're probably better ways of representing them actually I think sometimes he goes design guidelines

[6:39:34] actually do a pretty good job of addressing this these and it because I had to look at this a couple

[6:39:42] times and I use the drug, I read them and I use the drug. Anyway, we can work on the illustration.

[6:39:50] Yeah, I mean, those are easy enough to do. Okay. Basically, it's for every 100 feet,

[6:39:57] you don't have one light brick or two medium bricks or three manual bricks,

[6:40:03] but we can work on the illustration. And in general, for the mixed used zoning districts,

[6:40:09] Sites up backs aren't zero, so there's no zero-sites up backs in the mixed system.

[6:40:15] Only the front. Only the front would allow up to zero, zero-set backs.

[6:40:20] So there's usually a max-set backs. Right, so there's like, I think it's like 10-foot maximum.

[6:40:26] Right. Front-set back and up to zero-set backs. But generally for residential projects,

[6:40:31] the requirement is to have some zero-set back unless it's a condo,

[6:40:34] town homestow, condo, complex.

[6:40:40] got it. But then you'd have to recess the entrances. I mean because you're actually talking

[6:40:46] about, I mean if you had condo entrances on the public side of the street, on the street,

[6:40:56] on the street, you would not be allowed to put a flush door on zero-lot line.

[6:41:08] You'd actually

[6:41:08] I mean, is there a situation where we could actually have 0, 0, a lot of line doors?

[6:41:15] Okay.

[6:41:16] So, frontage.

[6:41:18] So, for mixed zones, one can do 0, a lot of line.

[6:41:24] And do for the commercial side, no?

[6:41:27] Yeah, because the mixed uses, you want to have these active.

[6:41:31] Yeah.

[6:41:32] You just want to fail.

[6:41:33] That's fine.

[6:41:34] But we don't have any situations where on a resident, with an a resident,

[6:41:38] an inch of building that actually has ground floor residential that you would have

[6:41:47] doorways that a central I'm almost project on to the sidewalk. No, so the residential

[6:41:55] zones do not allow a zero said about okay only the mixed zones do got it yeah

[6:42:05] Yeah, I think those are, those are some of my comments, and there is a lot contained in this.

[6:42:12] I do, I do think that perhaps we have gone overboard by accepting these 400 foot-long

[6:42:21] besides, again, I think we're going to break up super blocks.

[6:42:25] And those things tend to be rather large.

[6:42:28] I mean, look, I could see this in, you know, Mission Bay where I've developed before, where, you know, the lots are different and it's just, it's a different typology.

[6:42:40] I, I fear that these 400 foot buildings just seem to be at a place and we should have gone back to go back to that 300.

[6:42:49] So actually after when we initially did the 200 feet for residential and 300 feet for

[6:42:59] mixed projects we went back and as I said we looked at projects in town for example

[6:43:05] callibrary commons. The sub-building and the number of buildings are almost 250 feet.

[6:43:15] And we looked at projects in other cities too and there were buildings, very nice buildings,

[6:43:23] articulated buildings that were about 300 feet.

[6:43:28] makes use projects. There were buildings we found and we have some of them in this presentation

[6:43:35] we just initiated and that way more than 300 feet. And so rather than including these

[6:43:44] standards, there are going to force developers and applicants to get less rivers we thought

[6:43:52] who just increase in some, we currently have some development.

[6:43:56] And his waivers believe he failed to get the photo.

[6:44:00] I'm sorry, you know, right, we, we currently have development

[6:44:03] proposals that residential, um, that are up to 300 feet long.

[6:44:10] They have blocks in there.

[6:44:12] So it's up to their castle, um, if, if we want to go back to the 200 feet

[6:44:17] and 300 feet of yours, let us, something, you know,

[6:44:22] it's the length of a soccer field, it's the length of a football field. I mean, that's a

[6:44:27] pretty long building, but I know we're bringing up the facade, we're articulating it, but

[6:44:33] I mean, to move to 400 feet is just, I think, way beyond what we should be doing.

[6:44:41] Yeah, thank you. I said, just one comment. I was hoping we can just kind of wrap this up.

[6:44:47] And if you have any additional comments,

[6:44:52] you know, we could, if these can be taken offline

[6:44:56] or if it's not like contributing to sending or changing, whatever.

[6:45:00] We're going to adopt, I think, we could, I'm just trying to wrap it up, but it's almost 1 a.m.

[6:45:09] We want to summarize again that it needs to be 200, and now it's 300, or you're saying 400.

[6:45:17] So, I mean, because that that seemed to be okay.

[6:45:20] Okay.

[6:45:23] I know we could later on to change this whatever, but to start with, yeah, you want to just review that again.

[6:45:32] Okay.

[6:45:34] So initially we were proposing for residential buildings that they be limited to a maximum

[6:45:44] of 200 feet long and for mixed use buildings 300 feet long. But then we had from some of our

[6:45:55] who this does that do stand us way to limit and they will do in projects and

[6:46:04] proposal projects in the city that were larger than those. So we went and we did

[6:46:10] our due diligence, we went around the city, it's part of the alto, we looked

[6:46:15] at equilibrium commons and light tree and so on so forth and we realized that some of

[6:46:22] buildings were about 250 feet. We reviewed some of the current proposals we have and some

[6:46:31] of the buildings were 300 feet and then we looked around some other series and so we used

[6:46:42] We thought 350 feet was probably appropriate for residential and mixed projects,

[6:46:55] large mixed projects, typically a little larger than the residential.

[6:47:00] We thought of the 400 feet, but again, these things are subjective until you make them objective.

[6:47:09] And so 300 feet, this is 400 feet.

[6:47:13] That's a choice that it also has to be big, but once you make that choice, then it becomes an objective standard.

[6:47:29] All right, if there's no additional comments I would just like to make a motion that we adopt,

[6:47:34] the staff's recommendation in the way of the first reading it to do with the ordinance as presented.

[6:47:42] I'll sign up.

[6:47:46] Again, I voiced my, the reason I don't think we should be doing the 300 and 400 and if it moves forward as a 300 and 400 I will be voting no in it.

[6:47:59] I think it actually does have a very large impact and again think of the length of a football field.

[6:48:05] And then think of the length of a football field plus the oval around it.

[6:48:09] If there's a track, it is a very, if you've been inside the Stanford Stadium, from

[6:48:15] Bleacher to Bleacher, that's about how long it is for 100 feet.

[6:48:18] It's huge.

[6:48:22] Yeah, you know, I feel like we're already very densely constructed and, you know, for the

[6:48:34] We all perlabor once to absolutely have to do that, they could come to the console and say,

[6:48:43] I wanted to change this.

[6:48:45] But I'm also not in support of that big difference now, going.

[6:48:51] You know, yeah, so do you have an alternative to the most modified somewhat?

[6:49:03] Yeah.

[6:49:03] The military motion was to return to the, was that 200,

[6:49:10] 300?

[6:49:10] That's your 100.

[6:49:11] 200 for a national and 300 for mixed sprung.

[6:49:15] And you're saying Colby Commons is like 230 or something.

[6:49:18] Like the 230.

[6:49:19] Colby is, yeah, it's,

[6:49:21] So maybe it's 250 and 300, residential 250, 300 on the other side.

[6:49:27] That's, that's again, this size of the building.

[6:49:30] I mean, you could,

[6:49:31] Yeah, back to what the next to each other.

[6:49:33] Who saw a big build?

[6:49:34] I mean, there are 254 results that would send the work, you know, and 300 from mixed

[6:49:40] useful work as well.

[6:49:44] That would be my modification at this point and, you know, let's, let's keep the

[6:49:49] 10% in support of that and, you know, it's time goes by and if totally infeasible and they

[6:49:56] want to come back, that's fine. And again, we can use

[6:50:03] we best to increase the length.

[6:50:09] Okay, well, we have a modified motion

[6:50:12] changing the length to how many feet? Um, 250 feet for us to

[6:50:18] that cell. Okay, then 300 feet for mixed use. We'll get a

[6:50:23] second. I'm all in favor. Hi. Hi. Hi. Okay. Motion passes. Do we have any council reports?

[6:50:36] Okay.

[6:50:37] The air point of order, just really close. One of the report out in close session, no report

[6:50:41] of last year because there was so much rock as we didn't, we were unable to do that. Thank you. Okay.

[6:50:45] Welcome. No council reports. I think that we can move to a journalist meeting at 1251 AM on March

[6:50:54] 6, 20, 20, 6.

City Council

Agenda

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