City Council Meeting — May 18, 2022

Monterey Park. Good evening. City Council of Monterey Park. The City Council acting on behalf of the successor agency of the former redevelopment agency, the Housing Authority, the Monterey Park Financing Authority, and the Monterey Park Geologic Hazard Abatement District Agenda. Regular City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 18th, 2022, 6 3 PM. Meeting call to order. Flag salute presented by the of the Mara Park Police Explorers.

Please stand. That's the flag salute, presented by the Mara Park Police Explorers. Please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for

To stand by nation under God, in the physical, with liberty and justice for all.

Hologuard, order, colors. Hologuard, outward, face. Forward, march.

Hologuard, post, colors.

Color Guard about face. Color Guard dismissed.

Thank you all. Be seated.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member, you're on you.

Council Member Peter Chan.

Here.

Council Member Hans Leung. Here. And Mayor Henry Lo.

Present. All present. Thank you, Clerk.

Agenda additions, deletions, changes, and adoptions.

Council and staff, do we have any? Mayor, Council Members, if you would consider moving Agenda Item 4A under public hearing

immediately after the presentation of 1A Neighborhood Engagement Team,

this would allow net to describe our next steps regarding the home American rescue plan okay so

item 4a to be after presentation 1a okay counselor are we amenable to that all right very good okay public communications well all comments welcome the brownock does not allow the council to take

action on any item not on the agenda.

The council may briefly respond to comments after public communication

is closed. Persons may,

in addition to any other matter within

the city council's subject matter jurisdiction,

comment on agenda items at this time. If you provide comment on

a specific agenda item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered.

Clerk, do we have any comments at this time?

Yes.

Okay, please proceed.

So first speaker is the lawyer Robinson

Hello city council I'm up here to speak on Finances as a matter of fact, you know over the years I've gotten to be pretty good at finances and

I'd just like to make a few suggestions here to the city council.

You know, it seems that we're struggling with finances as far as the streets are concerned, as far as the Olympic swimming pool is concerned, closing of one park.

so

we talked about grants and I want to talk about

the political aspect of having more money

and I want to talk about the business aspect of having more money so

we can't do all the things that we would like to do

with the general fund at 35 million dollars

so in the future I'm definitely suggesting that we raise that ceiling

upwards to 40 or even 50 million dollars now how are we going to do that

well grants one of the main ways that we do get monies into the city other than the general fund what's available there is grants now everything is political people are watching you they're watching the city council chamber films who you know who your friends are who you're even your family members are name recognition, general familiarity. These are the people that get most of the money that the grants have to offer. Now we say that police and the fire department, the chiefs, they get public service. They get most of the money, of course. That's very important, But the general money designated to us, something like a swimming pool, this is political.

We've got to improve our city's image to attract more money.

The walkouts, the constant bickering, the different things that happen within the city. on the diocese here, walking out of the city council meetings. We've got to improve the people that we have elected to the city council also.

As far as the treasurer is concerned, he's doing a good job, but we need for him and the city to do a better job with our treasury. We need to go from conservative to a little bit more moderate.

Also politically.

All of you have worked or know people politically,

and some of you have been in the politics for nine years,

some less than that. Now the ones that have been in politics or on the city council for less than that, they're still babes and growing.

So you have to use your political influence to contact the state assembly person, state senate person,

and get the ball rolling on having more money coming into the city.

Also, business. I'm proud of Yvonne Yu. you've got some very good

promotions on television. I love that. But we also, you had

six million dollars in your campaign.

We also need your influence as far as

raising money

to help pave this, get this pool renovated

and also get these streets paved. Thanks a lot.

next speaker is Kayla Garfield

good evening my name is Kylia Garfield during the last council meeting a report was provided regarding our water supply and recent restrictions enacted by the Metropolitan Water District As the report was incomplete, I thought it would be helpful for me to hear some additional information with my neighbors. The City of Monterey Park is a member of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. According to the website, on average, about 65% of the water used each year is supplied from local rainfall. The other 35% is imported from Northern California to the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. The SGVMWD is one of 29 local water agencies that hold long-term contracts with the California Department of Water,

resources for supplies from the State Water Project, and the Colorado River, the same supplies of water that the Metropolitan Water District receives. The district uses the water to replenish groundwater in the San Gabriel Valley for future use.

As we are all aware, the state is facing unprecedented drought conditions. Based on the driest January and February in more than 100 years and other aspects of current water supply conditions,

the Department of Water Resources decreased the SGVMWD's allocation from 28,800 acre-feet of water requested to only 1,440 acre-feet of water provided. That is a tremendous difference, which when coupled with already diminishing local supplies, will surely have an impact on our water system. Although the district anticipates that a cyclic storage account is capable of assisting in these shortfalls this year, we still have yet to consider future years, especially if the drought persists. So while the city of Monterey Park is not beholden to the MWD's water restrictions, we too are faced with a water shortage and must all do our part to ensure we safeguard our water supplies. Rebates for water-saving devices are available to Monterey Park residents and businesses through the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. They include incentives for water-efficient washing machines, premium high-efficiency toilets, and commercial waterless urinals. Rebates are also available for outdoor water collection and irrigation devices, such as rain barrels, cisterns, water-based irrigation controllers, soil moisture sensor systems, rotating sprinkle nozzles, and flow monitoring diseases. The SGVMWD rebate program is administered by Thinking Green Consultants. For information or questions about rebates, please contact them at 855-512-1221. In addition, SGVMWD offers an irrigation controller retrofit program, as well as helpful tips on how to conserve water in your home and business. To learn more, please visit sgvmwd.com.

We all need to step up and say, more so now than ever, every drop counts. Thank you.

Next speaker is Vin Ngo.

Good evening, City Council, Your Honor, Mayor. My name is Vin T. Go. I am currently the Board President for the Garvey School District. I'm here tonight to ask and request a favor in terms of public traffic safety. I grew up right along Newmark and Pomelo. And as you know, Martin Vista School is right on the corner of Pomelo and Graves. And as you take Graves, going east and westbound through Pomelo, there's a stop sign there. However, as you go toward New Avenue, where there's a T intersection, there's no stop sign there.

And there's a slope there.

So anytime you drive by that area, you will see cars kind of flying back up and down. When you're going downhill, it's way beyond the speed limit, especially when there's children present. I'm also reminded that a couple of weeks ago there was an accident, a traffic accident, where a child was hit. So that has been made known. I'd like the city to consider putting up either additional crosswalks on the corner of that T intersection on Graves and New Avenue, or perhaps work with the city of Rosemead because it's right on the border of both cities where we can put up stop signs or traffic lights or crosswalks to ease and slow down traffic because there's a lot of pedestrians walking there, and especially during school hours, there's kids, there's children and students walking in that area. So we need to make it a little safer, especially during that time period.

Thank you so much.

Mr. City Manager, I'm sorry, do we have contact information to follow up with the school district?

Mayor, Council members, yes, we have all the information with Garvey School District Superintendent

and all the members of the board.

Thank you.

Paul Isozaki.

Mr. Mayor, City Council, and especially you, the residents of Monterey Park.

When I met the just-resigned City Councilman, Fred Cenoso, I knew he was a good man immediately. He told me he wanted his neighborhood to be neighborly.

Fred helped his neighborhood by giving the fruits from his trees to the people who lived around him.

He walked around his neighborhood meeting his neighbors as well as picking up the trash on the streets and sidewalks. He was a problem solver in that community when the situation occurred. Fred is the type of neighbor I would want. Fred is a Christian and he's practicing love thy neighbor. Monterey Park. We the residents of Monterey Park. Can make this a learning lesson. That Fred Cernoso taught us. By start by. Start being neighborly by simply by saying hi or wave to all your neighbors. The walkers, the dog walkers, the people driving by, mailmen and police men. You'll get to know your neighbors. Today driving by the police. home, a man was walking his dog, and no one was in the neighborhood, and I waved to him,

and he looked at me strangely, and then I just drove by. There was no high back, but no problem.

I'm just trying to be friendly. Hey, we could pick up our trash on the sidewalk, and I know it's not your trash, but just to keep our neighborhoods clean. I'm just trying to tell you how we could make it a better neighborhood. Get to know your neighbors. Learn their names. Get their cell phone numbers. Just in case of emergency, then you don't have to do these things. Be nice to each other. Help the elderly with their trash cans or any physical chores they have. Hey, watch out for dangerous situations, like if a coyote is in your neighborhood, or maybe someone doesn't belong in your neighborhood and seems a little suspicious.

Hey, keep an eye out for your neighbor's kids. God, the kids are so valuable. We should,

we should, as a community, keep an eye on those kids. Drive sLor in the neighborhoods. If you're gardening, you could give extra fruits and vegetables that you have to your neighbors like Fred did. Cut back on overgrown vegetation and offer assistance to neighbors in need. Hey, let's make this the Fred Cernoso Let's Be Neighborly project. We can use the Monterey Park cascade to communicate with you these type of ideas. I spoke to the mayor, Henry Lo, and he was thinking something very similar. And he gave me these ideas. And I'm going to pass you what he told me. He would like to see a community more friendly, creating a community walk program. He said, let's do it by voting districts. And they will meet at the neighborhood park and have the city council members lead the walk.

They could start by a meet and greet and then walk around the neighborhood and spread the goodwill. Fred and Henry drove a pickup truck around Monterey Park, and I don't think just once. And they picked up trash in our neighborhoods, including big bulky items. We can have a community cleanup event.

This program can be named in homage to Fred's service. Today, a lot of young people have bought and moved into Monterey Park, and I know they spent a lot of money on those houses. I need you young kids to get out there and change and improve this city and make it more friendly for your children. A, I have seen a neighborhood in South Pasadena that does all this and more.

You would love that community.

We can do it, people. We can do it.

Thank you very much.

And if I may, I'd like to thank Ms. Vizlaki for reaching out. We had a very wonderful and productive conversation, and we're looking forward to working with you and the community on your ideas.

Thank you. Clerk proceed. Jennifer Tang.

Good evening Mayor Lo, council members and staff. I'm here tonight as a resident to express my support and offer my gratitude to the council and to staff for a

handful of the items that are on the agenda tonight. Firstly thank you for considering the return of the Spirit Bus. I highly encourage you to vote yes. Most of its users are students and seniors, and its service has been sorely missed by the community. I've gotten

messages from residents via social media asking about whether or not it will come back, and I know

many people will be very excited to hear that it will. I understand that ridership was low prior to

the pandemic, and I want to urge council to direct staff to study possible alternative routes for the Spirit bus. Our city has changed dramatically since those routes were first drawn, and we can increase ridership by adjusting the routes so that they go to places where more people will want to

go, for example, the marketplace. Secondly, thank you and congratulations to our city for its award of the Active Transportation Funds from Caltrans, and for tonight's historical vote on the city's first Complete Streets resolution. I hope that you will vote yes on these items as well. Having funding to make our school crosswalk safer is absolutely crucial. We heard that from

Garvey's school board member earlier tonight about the intersection at New and Graves. And also

adopting a Complete Streets policy means the city is committed to designing streets that are not just for cars, but for everyone on the road. These issues are extremely personal to me. Late last

year, I witnessed a horrific crash in which an elderly man was hit by a car near Garvey and Atlantic. And even though our first responders were there in what felt like seconds, shout out

to the Monterey Park Police and Fire Departments for all of the amazing work that they do, I learned months later that that elderly man had died of his injuries. I hope no one ever has to lose a

loved one in this way or witness such a horrific accident. I know that I still can't get the sound

of that car slamming into his body out of my head. I share all of this because the steps you are taking tonight to make our streets safer for people on foot, on bikes, on skateboards, on buses, and in cars will prevent violent deaths and injuries. The policies you will pass will save lives, and I urge you to keep going in this direction. Last year, 43,000 people died in the United States on the

roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and that's up 10.5% from

the year before. Monterey Park actually ranks fifth worst city in the state out of 105 cities of similar size for pedestrian safety. Even worse, Monterey Park ranks third worst in the state for

pedestrians 65 and older. That information is according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. I'm happy to share all of this research with you, and I'm happy to be a community partner as you lead on moving our city forward on active transportation and road safety. Again, thank you so much for moving our city in the right direction.

Nancy Okuri.

Good evening. I just want to thank my city council members for agreeing to have the voters in District 3 have a chance to elect their new council member in our November election. I would like our city to hold Meet the Candidates event

with all interested residents pulling after all the interested residents pull their paperwork

to room for council seats in their district as well as candidates for our city clerk and city treasurer. Since Monterey Park residents have been forced to vote by districts, we have the responsibility to hear from all of the council candidates, even if we can't vote for them. Please explain to all the Monterey Park residents that each council member is responsible for the total welfare of our hometown. It's become apparent that some residents believe that our council member is only serving their district. Our voting districts in Monterey Park were not established like an assembly district or a congressional district. All the election confusion is based on an issue called identity politics, where a political approach is wherein people of a particular gender, race, religion, social background, social class, environment, and other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these identities. We can thank these people for dividing up our United States of America. Thank you.

Michelle Yee.

Hello.

I just wanted to say, I don't know what that gentleman's name was who provided that water report,

but I'm assuming he must be a head of our water department.

That was really appalling that he doesn't know where our water comes from, and he was unable to list a single rebate that we offer as the head of our water department.

That's really scary.

So I don't know when his position is available, but something to think about. Just to add to what she was saying, we're in a very dire situation in regards to water. And we do get our water from the same place where our metropolitan water district gets its water. and as you heard, our supplies have been reduced. And so while we might make it out this year unscathed, we don't know what next year holds. So we need to take this very seriously and make sure that we all do our part to conserve. And as you decide on tightening restrictions

for our residents and our businesses,

it's probably a good idea for the city

to take a look at itself

and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. if you just go outside these doors and you see that lush green lawn in front of this building it's kind of an embarrassment as you go and ask your residents and your businesses to save maybe it's a good time for us to look at ourselves and see what we can do too so just a suggestion

okay uh angie chu

Hi. I'm glad to see everybody back in physical sense. I have lived in Monterey Park since 1980 and I left this city and have been out during the pandemic and meet a lot of heroes. helping the city. Part of my petition today kind of echoed with Mr. Robinson

about the Olympic-sized swimming pool.

My son, born and raised in Montreux Park and went to Mark Keppel, and swimming is something he was gifted in and also trained and represented Montreux Park to the point that we were able to allow him to go to Olympic trial 2016. And that was an awesome experience. Most of my upbringing is towards health and helping community people live a healthy lifestyle. And being elderly now,

I would love to have an Olympic-sized pool to do my aerobic aquatic exercise.

Besides that, our city has been the third nationally, and most cities, even like Rosemead and El Monte, they have an Olympic-sized pool.

and even El Monte, they have a diving board which allows young people to compete in diving and if you are aware, right now

I'm supporting a diving family in Monteproc her two girls is in the championship so I'm hoping with an Olympic size pool we draw more healthy young family with young activity Besides, they bring in a lot of business. And me raising my son, every weekend I pay hotel for competitions. Any city that has an Olympic-sized pool, the family will book three nights, four nights, a whole family. So I'm hoping to rally all the business people who run hotel and restaurant.

you will have a very healthy population running into this city. And I'm more than happy to raise money on that behalf. 1980 till now is a long time, so I'm in my aging years. I have nothing to do but raise money, I guess.

I hope the rest of the community people will come alongside

and continue to make

Monterey Park an Olympic city for the long haul. That's my speech tonight. Thank you.

Okay. Any other speakers? All right. Looks like that's it. Thank you, Mr. Clerk, and thank you all who

have come forward to communicate with us. All right, moving on to staff communication.

Yes, Councilman Liang, yes. Yeah, I just want to commend Mr. Isosaki for coming here to advocate for doing something special for Fred.

You know, he's watching again as normal.

And, you know, I just want to share a story. You know, Paul talked about how Fred was so dedicated to the community

and, you know, was always looking to his neighbors and trying to keep the community clean. So just a little story, you know, I think all of you know.

Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner and when we came home you would think that the first thing that he would want to do is go back home right but he would say hey Hans let's let's go down this street right here I said what why let's go over here so we go over there and he looks and he goes oh there's a big pile of trash over here let me let me take a picture of that takes a picture of that sends it to you know whoever in the city with the app and then he says okay let's go around this corner over here and then there's a bunch of graffiti that was that was on the wall he goes okay I think we got to get rid of this graffiti. So we actually drove around the city in his neighborhood for a little bit before we went home. And then when I would pick him up the next time for his treatment and come back, he would say, okay, let's go again. And he would say, oh, good, they got this trash. Oh, good, they got rid of the graffiti. So even when he was sick, right, he's always thinking about the community. And I think that Paul, Mr. Isazaki had captured that, but I wanted to share that story because, you know, Fred, I got to give it to you you know after what everything that you're going through and and just watching you do that you know it really is very impactful and I want to also again give you kudos you know you're not here we know that you resigned but you know as you can see you're very loved we still talk about you now and I think those ideas are some great ideas to do something for Fred in his memory or not in his memory but in his dedication and I think that that would be a great way to kind of set a model as as Paul said for how to be more neighborly and how to be more part of your neighborhood in your community so

just thanks for that thank you constantly thank you okay let us now I will proceed to Staff Communications, Human Resources and Risk Management Department,

Introduction of Principal Human Resources Analyst, Alicia Ramirez.

Our Director of Human Resources, Christine Tomikawa, will be doing the introductions.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Councilmembers. Christine Tomikawa, the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management. I'm here tonight to introduce you to our newest member of the HR team, Alicia Ramirez, and she's joining us with 10 years of experience coming from a local, I guess it's Montclair,

Ontario School District. She has her bachelor's degree from Azusa Pacific University.

She also decided to get her Juris Doctorate soon after her bachelor's degree. um she is enjoys being a family person and enjoys her free time with her family members and um one of the questions i asked her is why monterey park um so she grew up near the area she she's local from the area so she wants to come back see how municipal government works compared to a school district and she wants to be able to contribute to the community around us and she brings a lot of enthusiasm and she brings a fresh set of eyes into HR so we're excited to have her and have her be part of the Monterey Park team so I want to introduce Alicia Ramirez

thank you thank you welcome welcome Alicia good evening thank you so much um for this opportunity

I want to first of all thank the city of Monterey Park for providing me this opportunity to be able

to come back home and work for my community.

I look forward to working with such a distinguished team

and in contributing as much as I can for our beautiful city. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner Chan, you wish to say something?

Welcome, Alicia, and good to have you.

Although we don't know each other yet, the first time to see you,

but hopefully we will talk in details and work together. Thank you.

Councilman, will I? Yes. Yeah, just the same thing. Welcome, Alicia, and welcome to the Monterey Park family. Thank you. Thank you very much, colleagues.

Okay, and again, welcome to the Monterey Park family.

Okay, next presentation by staff, recreation.

Staff, hello.

Good evening, Mayor Lo and members of the City Council. My name is Memo Chavez, Recreation Supervisor with the Recreation and Community Services Department. I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who came out to support and celebrate the 106th Happy Birthday, Play Days, and Cinco de Mayo event. The four-day event saw thousands of people enjoy rides, food, entertainment, and giveaways. So thank you again to the community and everyone else who came out to support the event. Next slide, please. Next, I'd like to provide a few updates on a few upcoming activities and events where everyone's invited to.

The City of Monterey Park, in partnership with the American Legion Post 397, would like to invite you to the Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 30th at 10 a.m. at the American Legion Post 397.

Any community members interested in sharing the story and photos of their fallen veteran hero, please contact post 397MPK at gmail.com.

Next slide, please.

On Saturday, June 4th, the City of Monterey Park, along with the Alhambra Teachers Association, will host the second annual Pride Parade and Festival.

The parade march will begin at Mark Keppel High School at 9.30 a.m. with the festival beginning at Barnes Park at 10 a.m. The event will offer entertainment, resources, and giveaways.

Next slide, please. The City of Monterey Park will offer Major League Baseball's Junior Home Run Derby on Saturday, June 11th at Garvey Ranch Park.

The competition will be for ages 14 years and under,

Pre-registration is required, and you can do so by visiting montereypark.ca.gov backslash home run or by calling the Recreation Department at 626-307-1388.

Next slide, please. For more information on programs, activities, and events, please visit us on social media at Monterey Park Rec.

Thank you again for allowing me to share these updates with you.

Have a nice evening.

Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you all for those presentations.

Now proceeding with our first presentation for this council meeting, item 1A, our neighborhood engagement team.

Staff, please present.

I'm sorry. Our esteemed chief of police, Chief Kelly Gordon. Thank you for presenting tonight.

Somehow that chair has gotten further away. I'm out of breath. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. So tonight we'll be providing a presentation on our Neighborhood Engagement Team, which is commonly referred to as NET. So first I'd like to start with introducing the personnel assigned to NET, because I think it's very good for all of you. We talk about NET, but really who is NET? So you're going to have to bear with me, but I'm going to introduce each of them individually. So first, I'm going to introduce Lieutenant Paul Inegas. Lieutenant Inegas oversees the entire Community Engagement Bureau, which includes NET. He'll be running our slides tonight. Sergeant Brenda Iglesias, who supervises NET. Corporal Alice Porter, who's the detective assigned to NET. Officer Izzy Flores. Officer DeLon Lamb. Officer Tony Nguyen. department of mental health psychiatric social worker 2 dario tejada and our housing and outreach coordinator shadeen womack so take a good look and a hard look at this very hard-working team it's really important that you see their faces know their faces and i also want you to note actually what they're wearing because it's actually very intentional okay and we'll talk about that as far as our approach with the community so there's a reason that they're all not here in uniform tonight I want you to see them how they are typically dressed as they as they are out in the field I'd also like to acknowledge and thank you guys can all sit down the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for their continued support Dario our social worker is here with the support of of DMH and we wouldn't be able to do the good work that we do without his support. So I'd like to give a special acknowledgement to their clinical supervisor, Natalie Mesa, who's Dario's direct supervisor. Where's she hiding? She didn't know I was going to call her out. And then the deputy director of the Department of Mental Health, Miriam Brown, who's been extremely supportive of policing and having social workers part of our multidisciplinary team, not just in Monterey Park, but in also other cities as well. So I think it's really important to acknowledge Miriam tonight. Thank you, Miriam. Thank you. Okay, now that we've done the introductions, let's get to it. So first I'm going to give you a little history on the creation of, first, our Community Engagement Bureau and the Neighborhood Engagement Team. So in 2020, during the pandemic, we identified a need to address our increase in calls for service related to homelessness and mental health. And we moved from the traditional policing model to a multidisciplinary approach. And at the same time, on the other side of this Bureau, we changed the way in which we recruit. And we also had to, the term that we all use now, pivot, and go to more of a social media and a virtual engagement with our community. So the Community Services Bureau and the Crime Impact Team were reorganized into the new Community Engagement Bureau, which includes our neighborhood engagement team and our community engagement team. So under Lieutenant Inegas, our community engagement team is staffed by a sergeant and our community service officers. They're responsible for recruitment and hiring, citizens patrol, reserve officers, the social media program, community engagement program, such as the traditional neighborhood watch, business watch, just to name a few of what they do. Now, originally under Sergeant Bob Hung, that most of you have seen up here before when we talk about these type of issues, who's now a lieutenant, this started with him and now currently overseen by Lieutenant Inigas. And the strategy has been to build NET to provide services and long-term solutions for our unsheltered.

The team actively conducts outreach navigation activities with a focus on the unsheltered and chronically high-vulnerable individuals,

which a lot of times includes many mental health issues which is another reason that having this partnership with the Department of Mental Health is so important. The team addresses the individual's immediate needs and works to engage them in the housing navigation process. As you can see I think the numbers are up. The point in time count which is a one time we talk about it often that it's done once a year in LA County. Each city does it separately. Our numbers have varied over the years. We've gone from 80 to 30. 2021, we didn't do any type of count because of COVID. Our last count was just completed in February. Unfortunately, we don't have those numbers back from L.A. County yet. Based on our estimates, we have approximately 60 to 70 unsheltered in our community based on the work that we've been doing. Part of a unique approach to our multidisciplinary team besides integrating our social worker, We have a detective within the team, and we also have our housing and navigating coordinator that we've added in the last year. And she is the one who case manages and tries to get the long-term solution for this. So we've gone from that traditional, I don't want to say kick the can down the road, but how do we solve this immediate problem at this immediate moment, which doesn't actually solve any long-term problems, to a more long-term solution? So that gives you just kind of a highlight of, yes, we still have our community, what used to be community services in terms of community engagement. We didn't get rid of that. We've just moved it and redefined it. And then we have our separate neighborhood engagement team. So I just want to draw the two apart so you have a good idea of what that looks like. So for NET, our engagement includes community events, youth activities, investigations, mental illness, and homeless outreach. And now, the fun part, instead of listening to me talk, all of those that are on the team are actually going to get up and talk a little bit about what they do. And we'll start that with Officer Izzy Flores.

Good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. My name is Officer Izzy Flores and I'm assigned to the Neighborhood Engagement Team. As a member of the team, I assist with some of the community events that are sponsored by the police department.

One of the last events that we hosted was actually Coffee with a Cop.

Another one of my duties is assisting with holiday events.

One of the last events that we hosted, or the large city events that we host, involve coming out.

Usually we're supplemented with our explorers and our reserve officers. We did the spring egg hunt, and we also did play days here at Barnes Park.

These are one of the upcoming events. It's going to be a national night out, which will be held in August.

During these events, it gives us as police officers time to engage with the community and both communicate and educate about some of the current issues we're experiencing in the city. I'm also the GREAT officer, and GREAT stands for Gang Resistance Education and Training. This is a nationwide program that I'm actually partnered with with the Elhambra Unified School District. I actually teach the great program to several elementary schools here in the city. This is a program designed to teach students life skills and also help them in several areas, including anger management, conflict resolution, and decision making. Thank you for your time. I'd like to introduce one of my partners, Officer Nguyen.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Officer Nguyen, and I am the program coordinator for

Monterey Park Police Department's Explorer Program. We currently have about 20 Explorers and we mentor the youths providing them a view of law enforcement while giving them skills to make them effective leaders. As you can see from tonight, the Explorers are involved in their community and I've just presented the flags for tonight's meeting. They're still in the audience right now. In addition to the community involvement, the Explorers meet twice a month to learn useful skills that will benefit them in the future and have opportunities to attend special events and ride-alongs with officers. At the end of the year,

explorers graduating from high school to go to college are alLod the opportunity to receive

a scholarship from the program. Although our program is law enforcement centered, the skills and experiences they learn will benefit them in any of their endeavors. Thank you for your time and allow me to please introduce my partner, Detective Alice Porter.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers, City Manager. I handle the criminal investigations that are assigned to the NET team.

Some of the crimes we investigate are graffiti, narcotics, gambling, and crimes involving the unsheltered individuals. It's important that we still enforce the laws and that we balance traditional policing with outreach. We ensure that there are consequences for crimes when they are committed, and my role is to investigate reported crimes thoroughly so those who commit the crimes are held accountable. and thank you and I'd like to introduce our mental health liaison and partner Dario Tejeda

good evening my name is Dario Tejeda I am the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Psychiatric Social Worker assigned to the Monterey Park Police Department in partnership

I respond to community mental health crisis calls complete necessary referrals provide

constituents with mental health education and assist the NET team with daily outreach and

engagement to our unsheltered residents in efforts to meet the needs of the most vulnerable homeless experiencing severe mental illness. Thank you and I'd like to introduce my partner Lam.

Good evening everyone. I am Officer Lam. In 2021 the Monterey Park Police Department had

3,220 2,320

incidents that involved a person experiencing homelessness and or mental illness.

The neighborhood engagement team responded to 721

of those incidents. 66 people were sheltered.

98 people were connected to an outside organization and we cleaned 18 encampments. Thank you for your time. And I will be folLod by Shadeen Womack.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Shadeen Womack. I am the Outreach Coordinator and Housing Navigator for the City of Monary Park.

My role is to link anyone that's experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to multiple services,

which includes substance abuse programs, safe parking, emergency shelters, transitional housing,

and many more through our partnerships with LASA, Catalyst, San Gabriel Valley, Union Station Homeless Services,

Pasadena's Public Health Department, GemLink, Volunteers of America, Veteran Affairs, and many more. upon connecting these people to services, I continue to work with them and their case managers

until they are in a more stable environment. Thank you for your time, and I will now introduce Sergeant Iglesias.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Sergeant Brenda Iglesias, and I supervise and lead the Neighborhood Engagement Team. As you just heard, Shadeen,

she listed various partnerships we work with daily during outreach. I want to point out another important relationship we have built to solve the issue of the encampments throughout the city, whether they were small encampments in our local city parks

or the large ones that you saw along the freeway. The successful cleanup of these encampments would not have been possible without the collaboration and teamwork with Caltrans, but most importantly, with our own city's inner departments, some that include public works, parks and recs,

code enforcement, the fire department, and the street team. As a team, we have worked alongside each other to successfully address public health concerns of the residents

and the safety of the individuals of the encampments. Next slide, please.

Although you just heard the great work this team does during homeless engagement, the team continues to run into barriers. First, with the homeless engagement, access is key. As a team, we continue to face a lack of resources and bed availability in the San Gabriel Valley,

which is a huge issue, especially during outreach when we have built a rapport with a client in the street and they're ready to go into shelter, but there's no beds available.

And if there is a bed in an area, it's usually in the area where the culture is diverse

from the person that's experiencing the homelessness, which raises cultural competency issues.

Another barrier is the lack of funding allocated for homeless engagement and prevention,

along with no access to HMIS. Now HMIS stands for the Homeless Management Information System, and that's the database in L.A. County. And not having access to both funding and the HMIS delays a lot of the work and the clients from navigating quickly through the homeless system and causes a lot of duplication in work. With that being said, the team has worked alongside various nonprofits to help with these barriers. But another component to the team's success has been the funding from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Government. The San Gabriel Valley Cog awarded the city a total of $40,000 in funding for diversion and prevention.

As you can see the numbers, the funding gave us the ability to service individuals and families from emergency interim housing to homeless prevention. One residence utility bill was paid to prevent them from becoming homeless.

Most of the funds helped with placing clients in motels for emergency stabilization. without access to this funding, especially during COVID, where a lot of the shelters were put on quarantine. We were able to keep the unsheltered population off the streets and safe and secure

in hotel rooms while Shadeen linked them to service providers. I want to end this with just a couple of successful stories. The first two photos are of two veterans that were found living

in the streets of Monterey Park. The first client we helped pay for him to obtain the proper

documentation to get him into permanent housing, which was accomplished about two months ago.

It took a long process, a couple years. The second photo, he was a vet who didn't know he had many benefits, and so we were able to link him to the VA, and they were able to provide him the services that he needed. And the last photo is a client who was contacted during the pandemic, and he was successfully transferred into permanent housing.

this concludes our presentation I just want to remind everyone for any non-emergency questions or complaints our team can be contacted via email

or by the non-emergency dispatch number our email is pdnet at montereypark.ca.gov and our non-emergency dispatch number is 626-573-1311 thank you for your time and we are available for any questions or comments

so as you can see i'm a very very lucky chief with a fantastic team so part of the reason that i ask them to wear what they normally wear every day is because i want you to see that we've taken

a different approach in how we approach those in the public it's much less authoritative it's much more in terms of offering resources and working to establish rapport and look for long-term

solutions. It doesn't mean that we don't enforce the law. It doesn't mean that we don't do those things, but we do it differently now. And like I said, we're much more focused on the long-term solution. This team also supports patrol. Dario and team members, they go out and they support all of our schools when they have crisis calls at the schools, when we have crisis calls within the community, this team also responds. So as you can see, they have a very large bandwidth and a lot of responsibility. But I'm extremely proud of the hard work this team has done. And I really wanted to highlight that tonight because I think that, you know, throughout the pandemic, it's kind of gotten lost in terms of all the good work that we're actually doing. And I say we, but they are doing because they deserve all the credit. They are the boots on the ground. They are the ones out tramping through the encampments. They're the ones out making contact. They're the ones making those long-term contacts and doing the good work. So I want council and I want the community to understand and know that. And the reason that we, you know, started with this and now we're going to move into HUD and the home item 4A is because I think it'll give you a better understanding of what we're asking for in terms of 4A and why we're asking for what we're asking for. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them but more than likely I'm going to refer you to one of them

thank you very much colleagues do you have any

just a few comments thank you chief and thank you all for being here today it's you know I understand you're you're you know being in law enforcement as well I understand the approach you're taking it's kind of an evolution or if you will or rebranding of what we do but at the end of the day I think that you know the dedication is to keep our community safe and do it in a way that's like you said different more approachable more friendly less authoritative as you said I think those are are important things I think oftentimes with law enforcement you have that kind of profile of being the authoritarian and oftentimes when you come you know because of whatever stereotypes or whatever people's thinking are, they tend to immediately respond a certain way when they see a group of people coming in uniform, right? So I want to commend all of you. I just want to say hi to Alice. I haven't seen her for many years or been a few years, but when I was working in the field in Asian gang, we would be on operations together and when Cook was still with us. And yeah, so some good times. And then also I see we have a fellow AFSCME member, I think 2712 is that right psychiatric social workers yeah we're also asked me so also under council 36 so it's also good to see a fellow labor a person here also to all of you Brenda I know you've been here a while and glad to see that you got your sergeant I'm glad that you're able to manage this team and everybody here the line I had a great chance to meet you at the peer support training as probation had attended that as well and I want to really thank you because it It takes a certain amount of ability and awareness to say, okay, to make certain changes or to be aware of how your presentation may either hinder or help your engagement with people. So it takes an open mind. And I think that the fact that you're all sitting here and thank you, Kelly, for having them come up to speak. Oftentimes, the chief is doing all the talking, right? But it also gives you guys a chance to stand up in front of that mic and talk to us about that. So thank you. I think that this is a great direction that we're moving in, and you have my full support on that. So thank you. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Councillor Lian. Councillor Chan.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chief, and the team for your effort. And I like the idea, because this is kind of a new idea, to tackle the homeless issue. And the homeless issue has already been like two decades or more, and it seems like it's out of hand. and seems like the old methods doesn't work too well. And so this is a new way to tackle the problem, not just in the law enforcement side of looking at them, but also in the social worker side and also in the community side. I think that is great. But I want to thank Officer Wien that you do the Explorer, and we have to bring up the youth, bring up the new generations. Sometimes we got getting old. Everyone will get some time. And then the new generation is very important. So thank you for your work. and want to thank you, Paul, for your leadership and chief of the leadership. But before, I know that we are very much emphasized the Neighborhood Watch program and you just barely mentioned it. So I just want to hope that the Neighborhood Watch program will continue and bring in more interaction, connections. with the communities and neighborhood watch is one of the good way to bring the police and the

people together so it certainly hasn't gone away it's it's coming back and you know we're just adapting to the pandemic and um our our community in terms of neighborhood watch doesn't have a big appetite to be back in person quite yet so we're just working through that and uh and we're we're definitely it's definitely not going away good it just looks a little different than it used to

Yeah, and I always been to most of the captain's meeting, quarterly meetings, and most likely in Langley Centre, and always have good meals. I enjoy that. Thank you.

I know, Peter, you like the party. I know.

Thank you, Councillor Chen. Councillor, are you?

Yeah, hi, I just want to say a few words. Thank you, Kelly, for outstanding leadership and brilliant idea. And I feel jealous that I don't know any of you, so I feel like I have to work harder and get out to know more about your program and to know each of you and your duties as well and I'm more even interested to know the result I wanted to say if we have you know

Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

Gordon and to your team, but just hearing your presentation tonight makes me very proud

because I think this is an example of community policing at its best.

I would even suggest to the city that if we haven't, we should probably share this presentation with our representative from the Board of Supervaries, the Hill of the Police, and the entire board because I think Brenda did make a good point in her presentation is that we are doing a lot

and we are taking our responsibility and we really are stepping

out to show leadership of how we can address homelessness and be part of that

conversation. But yes, it does require resources and I think it behooves us to

continue to work with our partners at the other level of government to know what we're doing, but also to advocate to lobby as a city, as a community about how we can, you know, get our share of resources so that we really can effectively address this issue, which I think many of us in the community knows.

Homelessness does not know boundaries or political demarcation. It's a regional issue, and we need to be part of that regional solution. So thank you so very much.

Yes, Mayor, Council Members.

I just want to point out that we are not able to do what we do without your support and it starts with budgeting and funding and really supporting what we do and the PD and the NET team is a good example of what you have provided us to do I also want to point out that these individuals that you see in front of you are very patient because you have to be They are also persevere in every circumstance that's really different every time you meet someone. And the determination to really help those individuals is huge, and they can see it. You're driven to a solution, and then also our partnership with mental health, all the agencies that we partner is big. you help us council to to bridge that gap in partnerships and we appreciate that and last of all you know i i really want to just for me is i go down to their office i've been out there the homeless camps i've walked in it i've talked to them about everything and they are committed these are committed individuals to make a difference and that's what we're all about council you've taught us that and we are implementing uh you know is just making the community better out there in the community i just want to let you know too is it's it's not a problem that we solve overnight it's really really hard as as they mentioned sometimes it's two years in a relationship with an individual before we can get them home so please be patient with us and and and we'll get a solution but it's not always that easy but thank you for the time

Council. Thank you. Well said, City Manager. Thank you again. Thank you.

Okay.

Okay. We now are moving, well, as we discussed

earlier, we are moving item 4A, public hearing and approval of the substantial amendment to 2021-2022 HUD annual action plan to receive an home investment partnership program, home American rescue plan program

which we will now move up after our

presentation. Staff, do we...

Chief, is she going okay again? Okay, thank you.

I didn't go anywhere. Okay, thank you so much.

Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.

All right. Good evening. So we're just going to continue to move forward based on the conversation

that we just had. So the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides funding to states,

counties, and cities in the form of community development block grant funds and home investment

partnership, which are called home funds. So one of the ways that we brought Shadeen on board with

us, as we thought outside the box on how we're going to use the allocation of funding that the

city gets. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act was enacted by Congress. It provides funds to assist individuals or households who are homeless at risk of homelessness or other vulnerable populations providing housing, rental assistance, supportive services, and non-congregate shelter to reduce homelessness and increase housing stability across the country.

See, and they're a loud team. They all like each other. You'll have to excuse them while we shut the doors on them.

It's good when they all get along.

The grant funds will be administered through HUD's Home Investment Partnership Program. Since the city of Monterey Park is an entitlement city, the city is eligible to receive home ARP funds. Before Monterey Park can receive these funds, the city must develop a home ARP allocation plan that meets the requirements in the home ARP notice, which is what you have before you tonight. So attached to the staff report is the home allocation fund plan. So that attachment that you saw attached to the staff report is that plan. As a result of the ever-worsening homeless crisis, which has greatly impacted the quality of life and public health here in Monterey Park community, and our first responders, the city of Monterey Park and the police department's leadership, are committed to combating homelessness but continue to face challenges, which include access to the lack of beds and the other resources in the San Gabriel Valley. And, like we mentioned earlier, the lack of funding allocated to address the cultural competency of the unsheltered in Monterey Park and those on the verge of homelessness. The City of Monterey Park and the Police Department have a need and a desire to serve the most vulnerable in our community and increase ideas, resources, and programs to be part of the solution to this end. The HOME ARP will provide funding for homeless engagement with the objective to reduce homelessness and increase housing stability among individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or on the verge of experiencing homelessness. And it's through that support service system that we work in collaboration with the broader continuum of care in the L.A. County. The program's qualifying population also includes residents on the verge of becoming homeless, veterans, victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking, which is an important thing to note. Eight virtual consultation sessions with key stakeholders were held by NET. The stakeholders that manage the homeless and public benefit programs emphasize that a huge barrier within the homeless service system in San Gabriel Valley is the lack of bed availability and affordable housing, which is something that we know from experience and we highlighted earlier in our presentation, but was emphasized as well by all the stakeholders that NEP met with. This program will use the funds to provide emergency and or interim housing along with supportive services in a hotel-motel setting. The program's activities include assisting clients with obtaining legal documents, resource referrals to mental health providers, full-service partnerships, rapid rehousing, emergency hotel vouchers, substance abuse, debt resolution, utility in the rears, and assisting with clients' income. Through case management, a housing navigator will identify and assist the client's needs and barriers to find a long-term solution. This is what NET has been doing over the last year with the grant funds received from the San Gabriel Valley COG. Based on the success that we have had with the COG funding, we know that we can provide much-needed resources to those most vulnerable and make an impact in our community with this home ARP funding. And in response to the question that Council Member Yu brought up in terms of results,

that 66 that we sheltered last year was with one year of the work that this team has been doing. The slide that the San Gabriel Cog slide that we had up showed, I think there were nine families,

nine individuals, and that was with just that $40,000, along with all of the other things that

we listed. So we know this is successful. We have results. That's why the team is here. That's why you have police officers and Port Sergeant Iglesias tasked with learning things that they never knew that they would do in terms of this type of funding. Because I will tell you, other cities use this funding in different ways, some of it's similar to what we're doing,

but it's not done through the police department like we're doing. It's just not. So in accordance with the Home ARP Program Regulations, the proposed 2021-2022 One-Year Action Plan proposes the activities for funding as follows. Administration, $176,000,

which is for the cost of our staff and all the work that our staff is doing in terms of this program. Interim housing.

This is where we talk about those hotel and motels where we provide interim housing, short-term while our housing navigator, as well as what you see there, the housing navigator and case management, we're going to contract out for additional resources because it's not something that we can do with just Shadeen alone. We're going to bring in a contract service to assist us part-time so that we can increase our capacity with the number of individuals that we can help. So the interim housing piece you see is that $147,000. Those are for, it's not to build a shelter. It's not to do any of those type of things. It is to do the same thing that we've been doing now with using local hotels and motels that we know that we can put them in temporarily while we find long-term solutions for them and get them into housing. And let me just tell you, we don't generate calls from service from placing them in interim housing. We're giving them a place to stay. There are rules that they have to follow, so to speak, in order to participate. And with that, we actually prevent calls from service, right? Because I will tell you, when they're out unsheltered on the street, we get lots of calls for service. When they're in a secure, safe environment in that room, we're not getting calls for service on them. And they're secure and safe, and our community is also secure and safe. So I want to bring that, you know, because there's some misconception about what that means and what that looks like.

So I just want you to keep that in mind. And like I said, we'll be bringing in an outside housing navigator, case manager, to supplement what we already do with Shadeen. It's super important in this because you have to have that partnership that's working towards helping you. And then the $15,000 you talk about for eligible activities, that's things like they talked about if we have someone who is just about to be on the verge of homelessness, or you have a family and they need clothing or a gas card, or we need to provide documents or anything like that, that's what that $15,000 is used for. You know, we've done things through ours like getting a flat tire fixed and other things to help them get where they need to be when we're trying to get them to safe parking and other things. So it is a collaborative approach. So this 21-22 allocation would be for the $391,687.58. So I'm trying to keep this kind of concise so you can see exactly what we're going for. I'm not going to go through the whole allocation plan. That is a template that we have to follow in order to be compliant. This money all gets federally audited. There is a lot of compliance checks on this because it is federal funding. And there are a lot of regulations that we must follow in terms of making sure that we're being good stewards with this money. So this is that home ARP allocation funding. And I'm available as well as Sergeant Iglesias and Shadeen if you have any questions.

Thank you very much, Chief Gordon, for the very comprehensive presentation. Because this is a public hearing, I'm going to open the floor for a public hearing on this item.

Anyone who wishes to come forward and offer testimony during the hearing, please do so.

Okay, thank you. All right, thank you very much. I'm seeing none.

I'm going to then close the hearing. Seeing none.

All right, thank you. All right.

Colleagues, do you have any questions or comments?

Councilman Lang, please. Sorry. Yeah, really quick, Kelly. I'm looking at the allocation plan, and they refer to this throughout it.

It says a PJ, a PJ. What does the PJ stand for?

Submit a PJ must, you know.

I'm going to bring my technical expert who, you know, that's why her name is on the staff report because she did the homework and research for it. I just get to say submitted by.

A PJ stands for participating jurisdiction.

And then this what we're talking about is just the this decision is about the allocation of the home funds for this cycle correct? That's correct. Just for this cycle right now not not other years, but you're not asking for other years You're just asking for this correct current allocation. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you customer Lang customer Chan

Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

for the fiscal year 21 to 22, and now we are in the end of, you know, May of 22, so it's the end of the cycle already. So how does it work? We still have six years to use the funding,

so we have to allocate it, but we have time to use the funding. I see. It's, you know, federal government style. Okay. But we have plenty of time to use the funding, so our goal is to start using the funding if we get approval tonight to get everything in place to be able to

start using the funding July 1st. Okay good and now if the council approves this then we put in the application what's the chance of getting the approval from HUD? We we will already as long as

we follow all the steps we get the approval for the money. Oh I see so pretty much a done deal. Yes, we're entitled to the money as an entitlement city. So we have to follow all the legal steps and get your permission and follow the public hearing cycle in order to be able to do it.

I see. That's great. And then my question is, this is one year grand. What about next year?

Well, like Council Member you referred to, there is more money that can be had from this. And if we are successful, then we will come back. we will show you the results and we will ask to use more money of that

home ARP entitlement that we can receive. I see so every year we have to apply and get

the approval. We have to go through the official process. Okay not a problem I will support it.

Thank you. Thank you Councilman Chan. Councilman Ryu.

I want to say good job and also this is just wanted to clarify you said that we have about 60 to 70 and shelter and the February data has not out yet but so that it that is a guest of it that we have about 60 60 to 70 and shelter individuals so this amount is actually for those about I would say 70 right and shelter individual and so it will divide it up into 70 and per month is only like $500 so is actually a very I would say a very good price I mean to to handle such a big social problem for our city and eliminate a lot of the crime or, you know, and comfort situations for our businesses and people. So a $500 per month, and I would say it's a good job. So hopefully, you know, we achieve good result and we'll get more funding maybe to serve as a second stage of the people for their mental health. So, but wanted to say good job. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much, colleagues. And, you know, I just want to add my comment that, you know, I look at this as really, I think, seed money to hopefully it will start something that will grow in this community.

And I think that with our efforts collectively to work together, then, you know, this is a program that we hope that can become sustainable for long term.

So let's hope so.

I see more for the comments. Yes, Councilman Chan.

I would like to make the motion to approve item 4A.

Moved by Council Member Chan. May I have a second, please? Second by Council Member Yu. Please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you very much.

Okay.

Yes, yes. Let's go back to...

Okay. Let's see. Item 2, owed business is none.

Item 3, consent calendar items number 3A-3K. Council or staff, any items that we wish to pull, or if there's a request for public comment on any of these items.

We do. We have comments on 3J.

3J, okay.

3A. 3A.

Uh-huh. Yes.

That's it.

3A and 3J.

And, Council, any item you wish to pull for discussion?

Yes, I would like to pull 3.

3G. Okay.

3G. All right. To repeat what I've heard is a request to pull item 3A, 3G, and 3J.

Is that correct?

Okay. Okay, then moving forward, can we have approval of the remaining consent calendar items, please?

Move to approve consent calendars items minus consent calendar 3A, G, and J. Second.

Moved by Councillor Liang. Seconded by Councillor Yu. Please vote.

VOTE UNANIMOUS. MOTION CARRIES.

THANK YOU, CLERK. MOVING ON.

FIRST ITEM FOR DISCUSSION, ITEM 3A, MONTHLY INVESTMENT REPORT.

STAFF PRESENT OR PROCEED WITH THE REQUEST TO SPEAK.

ACTUALLY THE SPEAKER IS TREASURER JOSEPH LEON.

OKAY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

OUR TEAM TREASURER, PLEASE COME FORWARD.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members of Residence of Mountain Park. Joseph Leon, City Treasurer. Our agenda tonight is 3A, which is the monthly investment report.

Just a quick update since last month. We've purchased several CDs with a better return, so that's a great thing.

I also wanted to address a concern that was brought up by one of our residents earlier as far as diversifying our investments. Myself as city treasurer and our investment committee, we're always looking to diversify our investments as best possible,

but always keeping in mind the council's priority of security,

wanting to make sure that our funds are secured. Of course, we'd love to have a great return, but also we don't want to jeopardize losing those funds either. We've seen that happen with many other cities and counties in the past.

Lastly, I also want to bring up, if you look at the agenda, we have slightly more funds in the state pool than the county pool. Although the county pool has a slightly higher return. So I would like to ask the council to direct our director of management services, Martha Garcia, to move $5 million of idle funds from LEAF to the county, which currently has a higher return. Slightly higher return, but as our residents say, we're trying to get as much return as we can for our city. And that's it. Thank you. I'm here for any questions you may have.

Colleagues, questions, comments? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Treasurer.

Yes, I would appreciate if I would get your authority to direct because we did that before and it kind of stayed in limbo. So I would like someone to direct or authorize our director to move the five-minute title funds to the county pool.

Okay. All right. Sure.

I mean, do we need a consensus regarding the-

Mr. Mayor, members of the council. That's not on the agenda. This is an investment report only. I see. Okay.

Can we put this on the agenda for next time?

Well, I'll talk about Mr. Treasurer, if you could work with our staff to have it on the agenda.

Okay. Thank you. Is that agreeable? Thank you so much. Thank you.

Okay. Next item.

Item 3G. Adopt a resolution improving the design and plans.

and authorizing the Montevideo Unified School District to construct improvements at the George Elder Community Center.

We have a request to speak.

Oh, I'm sorry, do we have a presentation by staff?

Or do we have a request to speak?

Or whoever?

Okay. Oh, sorry, staff before, yes. Okay, Mr. Geary, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the Council. Robert Geary, Director of Recreation and Community Services.

so tonight there's just here to talk to you about there's an agreement the with the Montebello

school district it's a long-standing joint use agreement that the city has with the district

for the usage of the George Elder community center so part of that agreement is that if either

parties the city or the district would like to do any major improvements to the facility

then they can do so at their own expense but also with the approval of the other party So recently, the Montebello School District approached the city regarding some needed improvements to meet the needs of their students at the George Elder facility. Those improvements include the upgrades to the fire alarm system as well as renovations to the indoor restrooms.

so prior to the school district being able to submit their projects to the California's

division of the state architecture they have to get approval from the city so before you tonight is a resolution basically approving the city approving for the district to move forward with

submitting to the California state district sorry state architect that completes my staff report and I'm available for questions.

Thank you, Mr. Geary. Council members? Yeah, thank you. Councilman Chan, yes.

And the reason I put this item is because I just want to let the residents know that there's some improvements coming to Elder Park. And to start with, some years ago, and I used the Elder Park, you know, quite a lot when my two sons were young, and I actually teach them to ride a bike in the basketball court. and at that time there was no fence between the school, Macy's School, and the Elder Park. So I thought that was part of the park. And, you know, I think everyone has STEM misunderstanding. And then until some years later, then the school built because of security reason and some shittings in the school campus and so forth. So all the schools erect the fence to protect themselves, to protect the students from the outside damage or harms. And so the park seems like, you know, cut in half or, you know, something like that. And I know that at that time, not just Elder Park, but like Highland Park, you know, the same thing with the schools right next to the park. seems like the park is half the size and people of course don't like it but that's the security reason so we go along with it and it's good that the school district because the elder park is kind of old similar to the other parks in the city the restrooms and some fake cities really need a lot of improvement and together and I hope they not just do the restroom, but also the swimming pool there as well. And the locker room is not as good because it's been closed for two years. And I've been using the other park pool. And good that Mr. Delario Robinson was there. I was swimming and he was there as well. And after that, we had coffee in Starbucks, which is good. And, you know, because of two years of closing, the locker room, it smells and, you know, doesn't really good. And so hopefully not just, and I know that the Marqueville Schools, the mentorates, they're using the elder pockets. as well, I mean the Elder Park pool, so hopefully we can get some resources from the Elhambra School District. Since now the Macy School, or the Gavi School District is putting out some fundings for this, no, this Montebello School District, right? The Montebello School District. So I hope the other school districts will put in some more fundings, because the students use the park as well. It's a mutual benefit to the students, to the faculties, and also to the residents in the area. So just want to point that out, and hopefully we can work with them and get some fundings and ventilate a lot of things. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Chan. Any further comments or questions? Okay.

I would like to add, you know, I always applaud and appreciate when the city builds a partnership with partner agencies.

And I know that we've had this relationship with the Mountainebleau and the five school districts since 1980.

Has it been? Or is it longer?

This agreement was established in 1979.

Oh, my goodness. I'm off by a year. But nonetheless, you know, I've always said, you know, no agency is an island to itself and I think that whenever we have an opportunity to work together

to leverage our resources we can do so much more to amplify benefits to the community so I'm again pleased that we have the item before us so okay if there's no further comes a question Mayor, motion please.

Yeah, we would like to move to adopt 3G.

Move by Council Member Chan. Second, please.

Second. Seconded by Council Member Liang. Please vote on this item.

Motion carries.

Thank you, clerk.

Next item for discussion, item 3.

Council Member. City Attorney General. St. G. Third Amendment to agreement number 1636-A with First Transit Incorporated for fixed route transit service. Staff report please. Mayor, Council Members, Sochi, Tipan, our Principal Analyst in Public Works will be presenting the report.

Is there a comment? Okay, thank you.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor Lo and honorable council members. As you are all aware, the city spirit bus was suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city maintained communications with First Transit throughout the suspension and recently hired a consultant to evaluate the city's transit system. The item on tonight's agenda is a recommendation to restart Spirit Bus Services, which will allow for additional data collection for the study and bring back the service to the community. First Transit has provided a proposal to restart the system by July 1st with modified service hours and an increased service rate. First Transit expressed the challenges that they, like many other transit providers, have experience with hiring and retaining drivers. This, along with increased operational costs, has resulted in an increased rate for the city. With the proposed modified service hours, the city's annual cost for the bus system would be approximately $1,075,000 for an estimated 10,320 service hours, which is funded through Prop A and Prop C funds. The proposed hours include service Monday through Friday with no weekend service. Previously, routes one through four operated on Saturdays, and there were no routes running on Sundays. Due to Saturday being the day with the Lost ridership and potential difficulty hiring drivers for that day, it's recommended that the Spirit Bus restart with Monday through Friday service. If approved, the term of this agreement would be for one year with the option to extend for an additional one-year term. During this time, staff will continue to work with the consultants to assess the Spirit Bus system. The consultants will be analyzing ridership data, current routes, available technology, and other factors to assess the effectiveness of the city's current transportation system and how to best address the community mobility needs. The evaluation would also include community outreach in the form of surveys and community meetings. Upon completion of the evaluation, the city staff would come back to council with the consultant's final report and recommendations for program enhancements, such as route adjustments or microtransit options. Based on city council's direction, the city would move forward to prepare an RFP for a new transportation contract. We do have a representative from First Transit here today and we're both available for questions

or comments. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And clerk, we have a comment you said?

We have one speaker, Dora Leung.

Good evening, Mayor Lo and members of the council members and staff. My name is Dora Leung. I'm the board president of the Greater Monument Park Chamber of Commerce. On item 3G, we're in support of the city renewing its bus contract. contract. We also understand the need to increase the fare so that the company can hire and keep quality drivers. However, as far as the business community perspective, we will encourage a review of the existing routes to see if we can maximize the use of our buses. Our residents and also the

visitors from our neighbor cities need to have an easy access to our major shopping area, such as Marketplace, Atlantic Times Square, and other popular eating places. We also understand that to review the operation times is very important. For example, why cut off the bus service on the weekends when we should be encouraged to traffic, to use the public transportation to eat, to see movies, simply have a cup of coffee. Again, thank you for the city council member tonight in considering the operation times to be more effective. Thank you.

We also have 44 written communication. I think most of them are along a similar template, so I'm just going to read one of the letters. This one from Jose Sanchez. I'm a teacher and resident parent, and I support bringing back the Spirit Bus. Thank you for considering a one-year contract to reinstate operation of the Spirit Bus. Many of the students use the Spirit Bus to get to school, go home, and get around our city. The Spirit Bus serves a purpose in our community. For those who cannot drive, it serves as a method of transportation. Furthermore, public transportation helps connect our residents and our community, and it's good for the environment. I also highly encourage the City Council to direct staff to study possible alternative routes of the Spirit Bus. Ridership was low prior to the pandemic because the routes have not changed in a long time. The city should consider routes that allow residents to get to marketplace and other shopping destinations. The staff should also consider speaking to all schools in our city and survey students, parents, about expanding ridership for students and family. Thank you for your time and consideration, Jose Sanchez, resident of District 3. The other writers, I'm going to go ahead and read their names, are Amy Nguyen, Ginny Zhu, Hortensia Armendariz, Jeshou Yang, Alexa Elizondo, Jalinda Hendrickson, Evelina Fernandez, Dalia Vazquez, Crow Zhang, Hannah Campos,

Julie or July Atjun, Katie Wang, Dulce Amadades, Tara Kwan, Christina Liu, Nicholas Tran, Danny Wu, Tiffany Thong,

Samson Du, Monique Vasquez, Arlene Medina, Grace Young, Christopher Gonzalez, Gabby Wong, Amanda Jimenez, Abby Gong, Asia Chong, Sophia Kinoshida, Jackson Alexander Mater, Izzel Melkor, one that's not a signature, but KAB826677. I guess that was an email.

Samantha Rios, Anthony Fung, or Andy Fung, sorry, Ximena Romanos, Citali Juarez, Mellie Tran, Karina Tan, Alex Esparza, Angela Lynn, Arthur Cadenas, Amy Lloyd, Paula Litt, and Phil Timoteo. Now there were six written communication that was actually submitted after the deadlines, but they're also included here for references. And I believe those are all the communications we have. Okay, thank you.

And just to clarify the record, those were in favor of Item 3J?

That is correct. They are all in favor of the contract. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk.

Colleagues, questions come up. Councillor Chan.

Thank you, Mayor. And first of all, I just want to ask the amount is $1,075,000.

What was the old amount?

Is it an increase from the old amount?

So the previous contract alLod for up to 19,000 service hours at the previous rate of $59.31, which would be equivalent to an annual cost of $1,126,000 approximately. So this contract amendment would be less than the previous allocation.

I see. Not more, but less.

Yes, because of the reduced service hours.

I see. Okay, thank you. And it will be taken out from the Prop A's and the other fundings.

Yes, the spirit bus is funded through.

And there's no impact to the general fund.

Correct.

Prop A and Prop C, and it is included in the proposed budget for fiscal year 22-23.

Good. Thank you for that. And I have no problem to reintroduce the spirit bus into the city because it's needed.

And we still charge a quarter of Rye.

Correct.

The fare would not change, just the service rate that is charged to the city to operate the system.

But the fare is the same. Okay. And maybe I would suggest to the council members and to the staff is to consider a fareless program with no charge. Because right now, the metro is having some pilot programs for the fareless. and I think it's already implemented for the community college students. It's no charge. I believe so too, yeah. Right. And since it's only a quarter, and I know that the amount that we charged based on that quarter is a very insignificant amount to the city, although it helps a little bit, but still it comes from Prop A and Prop C. So, of course, by doing fairness, there may be some abuses by some people. That may happen. But to the benefit of more residents, I think we can consider. And there's fundings for metro that they will give to the cities. And we can apply for that so that we can have the fundings for metro. and then we can cover the deficit if we don't charge that quarter charge. So that's something that we can consider but also consider the consequences. If someone abuts it, what to do or if it's a significant law enforcement thing. I don't know. But just something that we have to consider in all areas that if it's a good one or not a good one. And then Council Member Long and I, during, I think it's 2014, around that time, there's a study on the routes of the spirit bus.

And there was many public hearings, and people kind of like opposed it. And I want to ask the residents, whatever change that happens,

it always benefits some people and disadvantage to some people. But the studies will be based on who benefits more or how many people benefit. So if the majority of the people benefit and just a smaller portion of people got affected

or got some inconvenience because of the change of the routes instead of just outside my house.

Now I have to walk a few blocks, two or three blocks away to wait for the bus. That may happen. But I think we just have to understand that this will happen.

And of course, in 2014 and now 2022, a lot of things have been changed. There was no marketplace at that time. Now we have marketplace. place. We have a lot more stuff coming out in North Atlantic, South Atlantic, you know,

different areas of the city. And so we need to have a new study to benefit, you know,

what's the best for this spirit bus that we have. And maybe at that time we have already talk about connect the corporate center those business offices there there's a lot of people

there also monterey pastoral you know how to connect them to the shopping centers the downtown area and now of course you know if we can connect to marketplace or to north atlantic south atlantic connect those office people for their lunch and i know that you know la city the dash in downtown they go around downtown and even go to Chinatown. And so a lot of people from working in downtown, they go to Chinatown for lunch and come back after that.

So that helps the business if we have a good system of our connection. So this is something that I would like to see that happen. But still, I want to emphasize the point that some people may get disadvantaged.

You may have to walk a few more blocks to get to the station, but that's for the benefit of the whole city, so please bear with it, and I would like to see and get to know the new routes. Of course, it's all based on studies, based on...

Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

quick uh i think we're all happy to hear that the spirit bus is coming back uh it's a great opportunity right now we haven't been running for such a long time uh when we start up as as you said you'll be doing the studies and gathering the data uh you know we can go based on what we had you know when it was running but you never know how the dynamics have changed post-covid and how people feel about writing uh public transportation etc but given the fact that you're going to be doing the study. I think it will provide, as Peter says, the data for us to make a good decision on how the routes should go, the dates, the hours, etc. So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Yang. Yes, Council Member Liu. Yes.

Yeah, I'm also excited about coming back. But also I wanted to explore maybe alternative route. I called Council Member Chen, maybe marketplace, downtown area. If we can get connected, I think that would be good. So we'll be good to explore more alternative route. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Yu. And for my comments, I know that the item before us with First Transit is for fixed route transit service. But I noticed in their letter to us, which was in our packet, there was mention about if there was still an interest in us exploring with micro transit. And And, you know, I'd like to see if that's something that we could, even if it's piloted, you know, be incorporated into one year study.

Because I think that there's been a lot of sentiment and observation that part of the challenge is how do we encourage more ridership to our public service?

And even prior to the pandemic, we did observe that some of our routes did have low ridership.

And I can personally attest that when I was still working over at Corporate Thinidad Drive,

occasionally I would take the Spirit bus and maybe it was too early in the morning, but I didn't know sometimes I was the only one on that shuttle.

Or maybe because no one else goes to Corporate Thinidad Drive.

But I think, though, that either this we work with first transit

or we even separately contact Metro to see if we can partner with them because I know that they've had pilot programs in other cities.

And I think the idea is, you know,

how do you have a transit system that is also adaptable and observant to realities?

And I think that especially when we are trying to encourage great use of public transit, because, you know, to the south of Mallory Park is the Metro Gold Line, or I think L Line, And then to north of us, we also have a Metrolink stop. And that's something that I would like to see is that, you know, how do we also, especially we're doing a survey,

to also look at, you know, how can we be innovative and try to encourage greater usage of the regional transit system we have with.

So that's my suggestion and comments.

Thank you, Council Member, for your comments.

Everything that you guys all described are things that the study will be looking at. Our fare collection system, alternative routes, key points of interest in the city, and microtransit options or other transportation options for the city. What the study will really do to collect data is not only from the bus system, but also from community input.

So it will be very important for the city to reach out to the community, to conduct community meetings,

to see what the mobility needs are and how we could address that. So those are all great points that will be considered.

Okay. Thank you very much. Further comments, questions, colleagues?

I would like to make the motion to approve item 3J.

Okay. Moved by Councillor Chan. You have a second, please?

I'm sorry, Councilor, you seconded the item.

Council members, please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you so very much.

Okay, we are now at new business, item 5A, resolution adopting a complete streets policy

pursuant to the California Complete Streets Act of 2008.

Staff report.

Our interim public works director, Tony Antic, will be presenting the report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The item before you is two items.

One, adoption of a resolution establishing a complete streets policy. So, you know, if approved, this will establish a policy whereby we'll be looking at all the different modes of transportation when street improvements are planned. So it's not only pedestrian and vehicular, but it's also bicycles and other forms of modes of transportation.

So the background on this goes to about 2008 when the state legislature adopted AB 1358, which basically said that California, it was called the California Complete Streets Program, Streets Act, and it says that cities should establish policies to include this into their general plan.

And so while Metro worked on this for a number of years, they established some deadlines. The deadlines were very loose.

We are one of the last agencies to actually get the policy approved. And once the policy is approved by this council, it's forwarded on to Metro. And this provides us access to a lot of federal funding for street improvements in this community.

And that, I'm ready for any, prepared for any questions you have. And that kind of summarizes.

Thank you so much, colleagues.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Do we have a request to speak on the item?

Yes, you have one speaker.

Okay, please.

Have a person come forward.

Oh, oh. Yes, please. Come forward. State your name for the record. Thank you, Mayor, members of the City Council. Vincent Chang, City Clerk. except this situation I'm asking as a resident. What can I say? It's never too late. So I want to thank you Mayor, Member, City Council for taking a vote on this. I hope your vote comes out positive. You know it was mentioned that you know the Complete Street Policy started back in 2008. In 2010 I was a co-founder of an organization called Bike SGV which is now Active SGV.

We've been working on complete street programs with San Diego Valley in various cities, you know, to support a program that actually looks at the totality of movement, not just vehicular movement, but also, of course, considering bicycles, pedestrians, and everybody else. The street belongs to everybody. We need to have access to safe streets. So I hope your vote comes out positive. Thank you very much.

Vincent, Mr. Chang, since you mentioned your involvement with bike SGV, which is now active SGV,

are you still involved with the organization? I'm sorry? Are you still involved with the organization?

Yes, I am still involved. However, I am serving as a member of the board. we do have an executive director we've grown a little bit since then we also have taken on open street programs the most recent one that took place in the city of South Pasadena, Alhambra, San Gabriel in which there was a five miles of open street the streets were closed off and the public had access to you know five miles of carless ability to run

walk and bike. It was a great event and I know Mayor, you were out there

as many, as well as other people were out there and they enjoyed the program.

Thank you very much. Perhaps

you can connect

Activist GV with the city and we can look forward to with collaboration.

Yes, we look forward to that.

Thank you very much. Any other comments on the item from the public? Okay, thank you very much. Colleagues?

Yes, Catherine Chan, yes.

Okay, thank you, Mayor, again.

And yes, I think this is a very good policy that we need to go over

because things have been changed. A lot of things have been changed.

Before, Los Angeles is the automobile capital of the world.

but because of the environmental issues and a lot of things has been changed

so we changed as well and I can see safety is the most important issue in the city

because we've seen some fatal accidents last year and one person

dead is one too many

And lately, as one of the speakers talked about, in Montevista's school, there was a student crossing the street, got hit by the car. Those are the accidents that we don't need.

And so the complete street policy, I think that will hopefully,

that will address all the issues in the city. And the problem is that our city is 106 years old.

We have constraints. We cannot like a new city. We can design wide, easy, good roads. We have to work with what we have. And that adds to the complexity and the difficulty of having a safe street. And at the same time, how to smoothly conduct traffic from point A to point B for all the residents to move around safely and fast.

And so those are the things that we need to talk about.

and especially now I can see more people are using bikes. And of course, our city clerk has talked about that. But that also creates some safety factors because cyclists and cars,

sometimes they should coexist, but sometimes just getting onto the road

or some bad accident did happen. And, of course, we have to educate the cyclists to obey the law, to follow the law, and the drivers have to be careful on the road, that kind of thing. So I think hopefully all those can be addressed and go from here. So I fully support this.

And as our city clerk said, we should, you know,

hopefully we have a good support on this policy. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor

Chan. Any other comments, colleagues? Okay. I'd like to take this moment actually to first thank the city and our staff for bringing this before the Council, but I

also want to acknowledge the work that was done by members of our Planning

Commission, whom I believe also gave input and the wordsmithing of the

resolution that's before us and so I also want to thank and acknowledge our planning commissioners

and also you know this is an example where when we talk about governance you know we talk about how we as a council as a community you know work together in shared governance in crafting policy for our community so again I just want to thank our members of our commission so and with that

if there's no further comments may have a motion please yeah would like to make

the motion to approve 5a okay councilor channels move item 5a second please second second by councilor Liang please vote motion carries thank you very much clerk okay on to item 6 city communications councilmember you

As most of you expected, I travel a lot more lately. I want to share my experience of getting the TSA pre-check recently. Last weekend, I went to the airport, and when I see a long line, I immediately applied for TSA pre-check. I went online on my cell phone. I got an appointment the next day, and after a short in-person appointment in downtown, I got approval the next day. So actually, within two days, I get approved. And so my credit card waived the $85 fee, which the fee will cover three years of service. I want to share that with people who start traveling. And it's good as a lot of the people, you know, if you have TSA pre-check, you don't have to remove your shoes. You don't have to remove your laptop, belts, or light jackets. As some senior, they may have a problem doing it. So I wanted to share that, you know, tips with all of you. that is actually a very good experience that you know to have it and obtained it

so that's it for me thank you thank you Councilmember you for that PSA

Councilman Chan please thank you and actually I had Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner check thing well i mean i already renew it once so i'm into the sixth year of uh getting the tsa and at that time i'm not as lucky because at that time there's a lot of people it's the starting of the program and a lot of people apply so i have to apply online and text i think the appointment is like a month or two down the road not just the next day and then i got the interval and got it just a few minutes and I got fingerprints and I'll take pictures and then I'm on the way to have easy access to the and get the short line in the airport which is good save a lot of minutes especially when you're in a rush and now they have also a new thing is a biologic

identity and that one you also have to pay like 85 dollars or so for the fee to have that and that one I can say no one use it. You can just TSA pre-check is like a few people, less than 10, but those biological machines is empty all the time. So you can just walk up and I think look into the machine and then you're done.

But I haven't tried that, so I don't know.

But anyway, I want to report that the play day, I've been to the single-day mile, and in the weekend, been to the commissioner's recognition session, and the play days, and happy birthday to the city of Monterey Park, 106 years old. And, of course, we passed a long way, and, of course, it's ups and downs, happy days and sad days and so forth. But the most important thing is we are through with that. So we are looking for the future and have more good days ahead of us.

and actually council members you and I attended the in the city of El Monte they had API heritage month event in the city of El Monte and they have a farmer's market just like us we have it in the elder park and I talk about I was invited to talk about the API stories and but I only get I was only given five minutes and that's uh i can talk about for the whole day but five minutes i just talk a little bit but uh it's it's good good for that and uh and then on the weekend there was the fire station 62 uh on garfield and there's a open house a lot of people went there a lot of uh young kids

they climb on the

fire trucks, they had a good time and had some good food and drinks

and I also purchased a t-shirt just to support the firefighters

so that was a good one and

I attended the Metro Service Council meeting and actually June next month is my last meeting in the Metro Service Council.

My term is up. I served there for three years, representing Monterey Park, Montebello, and Rosemead. And actually, I asked our former council, Fred Sonoso,

to take my place in the Service Council, but just because of his health issues.

So I think the seat will go to either Montebello or Rosemead.

But we need to work with the metro to get more information and so forth.

So just my report in June will be my last time to chair,

because I'm the chairman of the service council. And so that will be my last service council meeting next June. We'll report anything after that. Thank you.

And let me also take this opportunity to say thank you, Councilmember Chan, for serving as our community's representative in the Metro Service Commission because I think there's been one theme tonight is about the need for mobility, mobility solutions.

And so we appreciate very much that you have devoted and invested time to making sure that Mario Park,

probably well as our region has a voice too much on these matters thank you

councilman there thank you mayor and also thank you to Peter for the number of years that he served in that capacity I also attended Cinco de Mayo on Thursday it was great to see so many people out I remember speaking to the staff and their comments were that there were a lot of people on a Thursday I think a lot of people you know were itching to get out and it's great that We had an outdoor event, and I think it was like 8,000 people over the four days. I also attended on Saturday with Peter and Mayor Lo to recognize our volunteers. I also want to thank all of the staff that worked that day. I want to thank Robert Aguirre. I know that we had a new idea that we had pushed forward for providing a little bit of a different venue for our more 20-year-old something kids. You guys do such a great job with the young kids and the seniors, and it's also great that we're able to get members of our community that are more in the middle age range to be involved in the community. So thank you for that. It was a wonderful event. I also attended the fire station fire services day at station 62 I want to commend the fire department for all of their work It's always great when you come out there and you see everything set up and you know For those of you who didn't attend you know the firefighters have a booth where young kids little kids

they have a stack of these little firefighter out outfits that they you know put them in Put their little hat on and they get to run this little course you know like putting out fires and Moving the hose around everything so it's it's it's great When our fire department is involved in the community like that

I think it also creates more of the thing we call community and also gets our

Residents to see the fire department as their fire department. So it was a wonderful event. Thank you firefighters I did also I bought a shirt for my wife and then also another hand handcrafted Little piece from the fire fire fighters there. So thank you for that

And, you know, I wish everyone a good evening. And I know Fred's probably still watching. So good night to you as well, Fred. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Lang. I also want to thank the community for coming out for a Play Days event

and for really, I think, a strong message that, you know,

with this pandemic, you know, having rolling,

that we as a community feel safe and confident to gather again

as residents, as families, as neighbors, as friends, as well as the tremendous turnout we saw at Fire Station 62.

And I think in the spirit of that theme of community

is where I'd like to report.

Well, actually, earlier tonight, you heard from one of our residents,

Mr. Poizlaki, who came forward and discussed his idea to create programming

to acknowledge the service of our colleague Fred Sonoso when he served on the city council.

And perhaps a confluence of ideas that come together because I had spoken to Mr. Izlaki

And we have both also talked about, you know, how do we promote the theme of being good neighbors and being friendly towards each other?

Because I think that if one thing we learned during this pandemic, I mean, I know we're still in the pandemic,

but during the height or the lows of the pandemic is really a need for we have to come together as a community. and I think in that spirit of community,

what I'd like to see and council your support is programming where, as was suggested by Ms. Saki, which we've discussed,

a program in the future in which council, city, staff,

we devote a day in which we go for a walk in our districts,

but really an opportunity to talk to our neighbors and also hopefully, besides getting some exercise in fresh air, you know, here was the pulse in our community, as well as continuing the tradition that our colleague Mr. Sunoso enjoyed doing

during our blockade item day, which was to pick up debris we saw on the sidewalks and the streets.

And, you know, I want to, again, I know if you're watching, Fred, I know you are,

again, I want to thank you for, you know, calling me and always texting me

and say, hey, let's go pick up some items.

And boy, you know, one doesn't really fully get the flavor of their community

until they actually drive around and see the things that are discarded on the streets,

like mattresses, chairs, and desks.

But, you know, I think that, again, one thing that Fred is the lesson of his work on the city council

is that need to enable it to be friendly.

And so one of the things that I'm proposing is that we call, for starters, our community walk program, Friendly Fred Walks.

And the idea is that in the spirit of Fred and his work that we do these walks,

as well as continuing the position to be bulky item pickup as, you know, we call it Friendly Fred Pickup Days.

We can refine the name, of course, you know, but again, it's the idea that, you know, I think as we move forward from this point on is that let's not waste the goodwill and the unity that we as a community generated during two years of what has been in quite

challenging times.

And let's really remember how we can continue to work together as a community. And that's where I will end my remarks for tonight.

Thank you. Okay. Any other further communications?

Okay. And I will say one last thing is that maybe I will apply for TSA.

What's it called? TSA. What's it called?

Well, you know what? It might not be a bad idea because as you remember from the last council meeting,

as a favor to our Boys and Girls Club, I actually spent more time on a plane than in Chicago to present an award,

to acknowledge, by the way, their recognition as one of four Boys and Girls Clubs to be honored at the National Boys and Globe Subconference for the work they did to our children, our families during the pandemic. But let me tell you that because I didn't have that special TSA arrangement, I hustled by Prime Minister of State Manager I would not miss the plane so I could come back to a council meeting, and I didn't.

But, yeah, perhaps I should also do the same thing.

If you go to TSA, may as well go to that biological thing. What? What?

Because those, I think, facial recognitions or, you know, something like that. I don't know much about that.

So it's $85 a year or so. And so you go through it faster.

Well, that's good to know. Good to know. Try that, too. Well, you know, again, you know, that probably would have helped really from a lot of stress on that day in which they were doing final boarding and said, please let me on that plane

because I don't want to see manager to call.

Where the heck are you?

anyway

if there's nothing else

let's see no future agenda items

no closed session to report

with that I'd like to adjourn tonight's meeting

at 8.43pm

have a good evening and we will see each other soon goodnight