City Council Meeting — November 16, 2022

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. front Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, are we ready? Okay, are we ready?

Hello, good evening.

Hello, good evening. It is time, and we are going to start our meeting for tonight. The City Council of Monterey Park, the City Council Act on behalf of the successor agency of the former redevelopment agency, the Housing Authority, the Monterey Park Financing Authority, and the Monterey Park Geologic Abatement District Agenda, regular city council meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 6, actually 6, 3, 4 p.m.

Let's see.

Flags will be provided by the Mario Park Police Explorers.

We thank them for being present.

Members of the audience, please rise.

On guard, on guard, on guard, forward, march.

Auto guard, present colors. On guard, present colors.

Turn with your heart. Ready to begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

On guard, order, colors. On guard, outward, face. On guard, forward, march.

Honor guard, prepare for post-colleys. Post-colleys.

Honor guard, about face. Honor guard, dismissed.

Thank you. You'll be seated.

Clerk, you're called roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Here.

Councilmember Peter Chan Councilmember Hans Liang Mayor Pro Tem Lo Thank you

Thank you very much Agenda addition, deletions, changes and adoptions

Do we have any?

None from the city manager's office I do have one thing Mr. Mayor Yes

So Mr. Mayor

On behalf of your colleagues that sit here at the dais

I reached deep into my heritage

and I wanted to present on behalf of all of us.

Oh.

Based upon your enthusiasm with a gavel. Oh, my God. Thank you. Oh, my God. Thank you so much.

Oh, wow. Does it call us under a lightning pipe?

It does.

Oh. Wow. Oh, my.

That's so kind of. Oh, thank you, colleagues. Wow. Oh.

Thank you. It's a book to crash it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness. I, oh, I can't do this. Thank you so much.

Right there for all the speed.

Yes. Thank you. That's all, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay. Moving on to public communications.

While all comments are welcome, the Brown Act does not allow the city council to take any action on any item not on the agenda. The council may briefly respond to comments after public communications 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 public comment on a specific agenda item at this time however you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered clerks do we have any requests at this time

yes we do

please call them forward thank you

Sarkis Antonian

good evening mayor council staff audience uh for the ones that are again are that are termed out thank you for your service for for the city but uh i'm still against this five districting and

terminal limits because I like to have some experienced people on the council. So when a

crisis hits, there'll be council members on there that can resolve the problem instead of putting

in more rookies. And as time goes on, it's going to cost people quite a bit of money for yard signs, advertisement, phoning people. So certain districts will have maybe four people running. Certain districts maybe only have one person running. But some people that are in one district that's well-known throughout the whole city won't get those other people voting for that individual person.

So that's something where a small city like this, it's not needed. Rose Mead don't have it.

so figure that out. And then how many people actually voted? If you actually look on the,

I looked down at my phone at LA Times, how many people actually voted? It's not that much, maybe what, 5,000, 6,000,

if I can remember, out of what, 60,000, maybe 70,000 people. So that needs to be rewritten, scrapped, basically,

and do it the old way. Look at the board, look, as you walk in,

How many of those council members of mayor would have gotten elected if there was five district ring back then?

Not too many.

And a few months back, when Garfield Hospital employees came over here wanting for them to have $25 an hour money, well, at the gas station, there was one girl with the nurse's uniform said, RN, so we started, I helped her pump gas. So we started talking. She works at the Monterey Park

Hospital. So again, on the phone, it said Monterey Park Hospital was going to go union.

She didn't want it. So back then, maybe, well, yeah, nine months ago, they have seven of them that got the COVID nurses in that department. So when, and then when people die, they, this

government is putting, saying COVID so they get federal tax dollars. So I don't know if you know

Matthew Lynn group, which I met him here once many years ago. He owns seven hospitals and the three hospitals locally, Alhambra, Monterey Park, and Garfield. Okay, so and then another thing, every morning I get up or if I think about it, how many people have died worldwide? And two, People, the well-known people in the city, your former city clerk, David Barone, passed.

And Johnny Thompson passed. Now, Johnny Thompson was alive today. Johnny Thompson Center would be open. That's right in the B-deck area to bring the people in. And Johnny Thompson would come in at the station maybe once or twice a month. And his employees working on the vehicles. You don't get that no more. So I'd like to know how much tax dollars have been lost due to the fact that Johnny Thompson has passed on and the wife didn't want her no more.

And those kind of things that's going on.

And then when you need a tax base and you got people dying off from this Dr. Fauci, you on lab, what has been proven,

it had to come out of there.

and Dr. Robert Malone that has a patent on these vaccines, not this garbage they came out with.

He has 16,000 doctors worldwide. He's on the internet on Getter and Dr. Nomi Wolf.

Women that are pregnant with babies, if the baby survives and if the baby does, the immune system is black, if the immune system is messed up, and when the woman is breastfeeding, the milk comes out black. And they're still telling people to take the shot.

In Pasadena Health Department, they don't know why people are dying all of a sudden. It's all from the shot. Check it out. The war room, Dr. Naomi Wolf, Dr. Robert Malone, they're all knowing what's going on in that stuff. so wait till January 3rd when they're new, when they're going to investigate, and then how much money they're making. Look at the stock market on these vaccine companies, how much money they're making. That's ridiculous. Oh, get the shot, get the shot, get the shot. Oh, we got the shot one time. I've never been felt any, I've been feeling, don't feel that great all the time, and all it is is a money-making deal. That's all it is. And yeah, look into those things.

Those are all the speakers that we have for our

communication. Thank you very much. Moving on to staff

communications, police department.

Mayor, council members.

Police Chief Scott Wiese. Chief Scott Wiese. Chief Scott Wiese began his law enforcement journey as a Newport Beach Police Explorer in 1980. In our In October 1986, he attended Rio Hondo Police Academy and went on to join the Monrovia Police Department. He joined the Monterey Park Police Department in 1992 as a police officer.

Over the next 30 years, he has worked many assignments, including patrol, investigations,

community relations, DARE, crime impact, and traffic, or just a few of them. I know there's many more. I looked in his personal jacket, it was probably about two inches thick, and I had to dust off the cover in between certain pages reading through his personal folder. So he's been with us for quite some time, and we're proud to have him as our chief. He was promoted to the rank of captain in February of 2020, and has commanded both support

services and operations bureau. He developed and remained a member of the department's Special Response Team, SWAT, for more than 20 years. Chief Weiss has a Bachelor's of Arts from Union University, Ohio, in criminal justice management and a Master's in Science degree in law enforcement and public safety leadership form from the University of San Diego. He is a graduate of California Post Sherman Block Leadership Institute, the California Post Management Program, and is a California Post Master Instructor. Here's probably the most important thing. Chief Weiss is married to a better half. As we all admit, there's always a better half of us. And has four children, two grandchildren. He enjoys spending time with his family. He travels watching volleyball and baseball games. Hopefully it's the Dodgers. And working around the house. May I introduce you to the community, City Council, Chief Weiss.

Congratulations.

Mr. Mayor, City Council, Ron, thank you very much for this opportunity. I've been in law enforcement a long time. and I've seen a lot of good, a little bad. It all mixes together.

What that's shown me is that the number one asset that any police department has is the people within the department. And our department luckily has some of the best, highly trained, motivated professionals in the law enforcement community.

We've been going in a great direction over the last few years, and I intend to take the department farther than it knows it can go right now.

One of the big goals that I have is to enhance our community relations and to build trust and transparency with the community so they understand that every single police officer on the street, every single professional staff member is there to provide a service to them.

And that's what we do on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week.

I want to thank you for allowing me this opportunity. I think all young police officers when they start see the guy down the hall with the four stars and are a little bit overwhelmed by the idea that someday they might be a chief of police I went through many many years like that and what I learned and what I pass on to my people is that every time I came to work I loved it and because I love it so much I never had to work hard a day in my life. I wanted to change the department in a positive way, and that's what I strive to do for the last 30 plus years, and I will continue to do that into the future for all of you and for all the members of the city of Monterey Park. I just want to thank everybody here and everybody at home and everybody involved in my life, including my wife and kids and the people that really have supported me throughout those years, my dad, my mom. They all got me to where I am today. They created the man you see in front of you, and I owe them a debt of gratitude, and I dedicate my service to you, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to be your chief. Thank you.

Thank you. Actually, chief, chief, I'm sorry, if we could have you come back. I believe my colleagues... Please, Councilman Chan, you have the mic? Thank you, Mayor, and congratulations.

Congratulations. Finally, I can call you, take the interim word away.

Thank you. Now you're the chief. And yes, I'm very happy that you achieved, you know, so much throughout your career.

And finally, you got to the chief. Although it's a small city, but it's an important city. And I like what you said is the community policing. I think that's very important. go out to the community, know the people, because the first thing when people move to Monterey Park, safety, public safety is the number one condition that they want to choose a city to live in and bring up their family. So I think you did a good job, and I know that you will continue to do a good job. And although Hans and I will be off the council, but we will be still around, and I'm working on the community affairs since the 90s with the Monterey Park Police Department. So call me anytime if you need help, and I have more time to do more things for the city as well. So remember my phone number and call me anytime. So congratulations. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilman Chan. Councilman Liang, you have the mic. Congratulations, Scott. it's been quite a quite a bit of time not only serving on council but I also remember some of the operations we did with Ron and and even when Jones was here you know I think that we always are concerned when we make a transition of whether or not the right person is there for the job and I know I speak on behalf of my colleagues as well that we're very confident that you're the right person for the job and as as Peter said you know we're going to be termed out but please expect my calls and talking about those interests that we have in common yes yes and and we're always here right if you ever need to reach out I think Peter and I it's not easy just to walk away after 10 years without sticking around and being there to to support you and the rest of the city so short and suite. Congrats. Thank you very much. Looking forward to your good work.

Thank you. Councilman Ryu, you have the mic. Congratulations. I'm very impressed and proud of your experience and your achievement. Monterey Park Police, we have very high reputations in the community, so we rely on you to continue to carry on with the good name and I look forward to working closely with you. Thank you. Thank you very

much. Thank you, colleagues.

I want to echo those sentiments and say how pleased I am to see this continuity in leadership at our police department. And I think it's a testament to the work you've done in our community, to our residents. And I think all of us are very proud to see you assume the position of chief. And we are here to support you and all your endeavor initiatives to meet the needs of

our community and our constituents. Thank you.

And if we need a hammer to get through a door, I know where to get one. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next, communication from Recreation and Community Service Department.

Good evening, Mayor, City Councilmembers. Roberto Aguirre, Director of Recreation and Community Services. So tonight, I just wanted to share a few upcoming events. But to start, I want to remind everyone this past Thursday, we did have our Veterans Day ceremony, sorry, past Friday, our Veterans Day ceremony over at the American Legion. So I want to send a special thank you out to the American Legion Post 397 for hosting that event.

It was very well attended. The event went very smooth.

We were actually able to dedicate a tree in Barnes Park, which is located directly across from the American Legion,

in honor of William Sanchez, the late William Sanchez, who passed a year ago.

Also, the next day, the following day on Saturday, we hosted over 50 pickleball teams here in Barnes Park. We had pickleball players from all over, so from as far as Long Beach, Moore Park, Claremont, Glendora,

Over 50 teams playing in Barnes Park in a beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.

We had tons of sponsors, lots of fun, very smooth event, beautiful weather, and everyone had a great time.

Next slide, please.

So also, I want to remind everyone, Thursday, December the 8th, is our annual holiday snow village. I do want to encourage people, if you do want to get involved in these snow activities, we still have some registration spots available. If you are unable to register for snow activities, we do still have pictures with Santa that are completely free. This year we'll also have pictures with Jack Skellington for the first time. And then this is also in conjunction with our weekly farmer's market. So if you want to stop by, get some fresh produce, eat some good food, get some entertainment, and then also engage in some of the activities for Holly Snow Village.

Next slide, please.

last meeting I did share that the we were doing a holiday lights tour out to the city of Riverside I did want to share that tickets went fast and we are completely sold out so next year look for

that event and we'll have some more tickets in next year next slide please so letters to Santa

Santa has reached out to us and asked us to help him with collecting letters from all the good

little boys and girls. So if you'd like to send a letter to Santa, you can send that letter to

the Langley Senior Center at 400 West Emerson, or we do have a special mailbox that is placed

outside Langley Center Monday through Friday, and then also on Saturday mornings. You can drop off your letter anytime before December 8th, and Santa has promised that he will reply as long as you have a mailing address, return address on those letters.

Next slide, please.

And then finally, we are encouraging residents to get into the holiday spirit and decorate your home.

And if you're going to be decorating your home this year, we want you to reach out to us.

Send us an email at events at montereypark.ca.gov.

Let us know your address.

We're going to be compiling all the addresses that are submitted and putting together a

map.

That way, during the holidays when folks are home and want to go out and see some lights, they can stay close to home and travel around the city and see those houses that are decorated throughout Monterey Park.

Next slide. And then finally, just a quick reminder,

to keep up to date with all of our ongoing activities, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Monterey Park Rec.

One last thing before I go.

I did want to share, we have some exciting news. This past Thursday, myself and Council Member Hans Leung attended the YWCA's luncheon, and the City of Monterey Park Recreation and Community Services Department was honored with a City Champion Award.

So this award was presented to us on behalf of the YWCA of San Gabriel Valley,

and it was to recognize cities, our outstanding commitment to excellence in the service of vulnerable communities.

So we're very excited to receive this,

and it's a testament to all the good work that the folks in the department are doing.

Our staff is excellent, works great with the community, and their heart is really in the work that they do.

Well, congratulations for that.

Can we take a picture of the conversation? Okay.

And Robert? Yeah. Sure. Please. Sure, sure. Give me my hammer. We'll post it. And the hammer? Okay. Yeah, bring the hammer.

Bring the hammer. The hammer will be fine. Okay. Bring the hammer. Okay, bring the hammer. Bring the hammer. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, next presentation by community development. Okay, next presentation by Community Development.

Our Senior Planner, Beth Chow, will be talking about the EBB program. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the Commission. Just a quick note, I'm very happy to meet you all in this setting. and making this presentation in front of you as I'm a new face around City Hall. Just to let you know, this program is the Earthquake Brace and Bolt Program, and it's open to community members within Monterey Park. The EBP program, as it's known, was launched in 2013 by the California Earthquake Authority and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services to help homeowners Lor the potential for damage in their houses during earthquakes. This program provides a $3,000 grant to strengthen qualifying homes to... Monterey Park. Director of Recreation and Retrofit Foundations. And to bolt them you know to the floor. Although this program has been around for about nine years. This is the first year in which City of Monterey Park has been eligible to call to apply for the program. So if your home was built before 1980 has a raised foundation and a few other requirements as found on the web page you may be eligible for these grants to retrofit your home. Next slide. To learn more about this program, please visit earthquakebracebolt.com. This website includes detailed program information and a way to search to see if your zip code, being Monterey Park 91754 and 55, qualify, which in this point in time, this year, we are qualifying for these services. City has posted information about the program on the city's website as well as social media for all residents so if you'd like to have more information about this program please visit the website next please if you are interested though you must act fast the registration opened October 18th and is running through November 29th, and the last day to register is November 29th. And this concludes my presentation. Excuse me, I don't know what I'm having a little allergic action here. This concludes my presentation, and we will have our planning manager present our going green project. Thank you.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. We would like to provide an update on the Going Green program tonight.

In 2021 and 2022, the City Council identified climate change as a priority,

and now the city staff is taking the City Council's priority to action, and we're beginning work on a sustainability plan through the Going Green campaign.

And I would like to introduce Olivia Williams, who's here with me tonight.

She's a Civic Spark Fellow, and she's leading the charge with the Going Green campaign alongside our Go Green team.

And you'll learn more about the program and the team tonight. So with that said, I'll go ahead and hand it over to Olivia.

Thank you, Jessica. I'm so excited to be here tonight and to finally formally introduce myself.

As Jessica said, my name is Olivia Williams, and I am a fellow serving the city of Monterey Park through Civic Spark,

a governor's initiative AmeriCorps program that is dedicated to building capacity for local governments to address climate change mitigation and social equity challenges.

Next slide, please.

Monterey Park is addressing these challenges through the Going Green Program, which is focused

on mobilizing a community effort to mitigate climate change and prioritizes outreach efforts to ensure community input informs the direction of the city's climate action.

Monterey Park has already taken many steps toward a greener future, and the Going Green

Program will evaluate the city's existing and completed plans and projects for efficacy and identify the best practices the city can adopt moving forward.

The final work product of the Going Green program will be a sustainability plan, which is comprehensive, understandable, achievable, and represents the voices of the Monterey Park community. Next slide, please. Here I've provided a snapshot of the Going Green timeline with our current progress. We have assembled our green team with representatives from every city department, and so far we have held three meetings to develop and launch the community outreach campaign. We will be collecting valuable community input through the coming months that will be presented to the City Council in February. With direction from the Council, the Green Team will create the sustainability plan to be presented for approval in June with implementation starting in July. Next slide, please. I am pleased to introduce some of our Green Team members joining us this evening if you want to come on up and join me. Come on up.

All right, we have Jessica Serrano and Beth Chow from Community Development, Alicia Ramirez from Human Resources and Risk Management,

Sochi Tipan from Public Works, Laura Borjon from Management Services, and Angela Loera from the Fire Department.

I want to extend a big thank you to this team. They have already put in a lot of work and passion into this project, and I'm excited to see how their efforts make a difference in our community. I would also like to present our Going Green campaign logo, which is created by Rugmeyer Library technician Michael Lee. You can look for this logo on upcoming social media posts, our community survey, and outreach items to get our community excited to participate in our initiative. Thank you so much for your time this evening, and we look forward to see your report on this project as Monterey Park goes green.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Colleagues, do you have any questions on both presentations? Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Okay. Moving on to presentations, none. Or business, none.

Consent calendar items, numbers 3A through CI. Aye. Council or staff, any items that need to be pulled?

Mayor? I would like to ask the city attorney, I know that this is going to be a citywide project on 3H.

Okay.

But I just want to declare that we have no conflict of interest on this item 3H.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council.

I believe the city clerk's office checked the property conflicts. there were two potential conflicts between 500 and 1,000 feet but since this is a citywide rehabilitation project

you are clear with regard to conflicts because one of them is mine so that's why I want to clear

thank you and I would like to pull item 3C 3C the investment report

and the 3G 3G the landscape

okay item 3C and 3G any items colleagues that you wish to pull for discussion?

Mayor? Oh, yes. I'm sorry, yes. The request, yes. Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Actually, for the item 3A, in their minutes, for the November 2nd regular meeting minutes,

there was some missing information which will be amended to reflect that.

So there was just a minor error in that.

Okay. Does it mean we pulled or? No. Okay. Okay.

But just thank you for, I guess, for clarifying.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay. Hearing anything else, then, may I have a motion to pass the items with the exception of 3C and 3G, which have been requested to be pulled?

Yeah, move to accept consent agenda items.

Moved by Councillor Chan, seconded by Councillor Yu. Hearing no further comments or questions, members, please vote.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Clerk. Okay, moving on to

for discussion, item 3C, monthly investment report, October 2022.

Staff report, please, or comment from Council Member. No, I would just like to invite Mr. Treasurer. Yes, our esteemed Treasurer.

Thank you, Your Honor. Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Staff, and of course residents of Monument Park. Joseph Leon, City Treasurer. Today is actually my last day. I'm presenting the investment report to the city of Monterey Park, if I'm correct, because then the next meeting will be turnover. It's a new treasurer. So I just want to thank staff and, of course, council and our city attorney, and especially the investment committee and, of course, overall, Martha Garcia for her help doing the investments that we've had to the city since the last few years, since Martha's been on board. And, of course, Carl has been on board for a bit, and so has Ron, and a couple of you also have been on board for a few years. Thank you so much again. And, of course, the new members for the last few years for helping us with investments. We have made the best investments, keeping security as our number one priority. During my term as treasurer, I'm very happy to say we've never lost even a single dollar in our investments. We are, people say, perhaps a little conservative, but, again, we've always kept security as our main concern. It's always been the main concern in Monterey Park, even with the prior treasures before myself. So it's been security of the residents' money. It's not our money. We always keep that in mind. It's our residents' money. And we have to answer the – as elected officials, we answer the residents. We don't answer it to anyone else. I know we have discussed diversifying our investments. And with that in mind, I've spoken to Martha and I've spoken to Ron, our city manager. and we've kind of agreed that perhaps this council, especially the new council coming on board, should consider hiring a part-time specialist.

The city treasurer, just as the council and the city clerk, we're semi-volunteers, and most of us have full-time jobs. So we can't focus every day looking at investments. And Martha is very busy with her department. So it would be nice to have at least a part-time specialist that could help us. although I'm not prone to spend city funds on outside sources but perhaps we can hire specialists like Michael Bush is really great I work with him a few times I know Ron has worked with him Martha has worked with him very knowledgeable it seems to be very sincere and perhaps hiring him for a six-month period to see how it works out the city seems to be benefiting from it then you you know, extend the contract with them. If it doesn't, then at least try. I know we have talked about diversifying quite a bit. I know we've looked at, I know I asked Martha to look into treasury bonds and short-term. I know Councilwoman Yu has also asked about short-term CDs, so that's come up too, and Freddie Mac. But hopefully Michael can come up with other suggestions, or whoever council decides to hire come with other suggestions. And, of course, any investments has to be brought up before, hopefully before the council for approval. And again, I just want to thank everybody. It's been an honor to work with all of you. It's kind of bittersweet from leaving. I know I'm sure Peter and Hans feel the same way. But you guys have been here eight years, right? Ten. I think I've been here like 14 or 15 years. So, yes, I've been here for a long time. So it's kind of sad. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend. So thank you so much. I'm not going anywhere. So I'll be here if anybody needs any help, especially whoever the treasure may be you know they need help and long and Martha of course I was be here to help her out she needs and in Ron I was already mentioned Ron before and around for a long time I'm not going to work so thank you again have any questions well thank you and and happy

Thanksgiving you have the mic please just want to say thank you for your services for your last 14 years for the city of Monterey Park let's keep on well Just you I'm not into a bike no more. So keep on biking and if you want to go to swim Come to see me on Sunday morning in Elder Park. Okay. I will thank you so much

And I just want to wish everybody happy Thanksgiving. Thank you. And also I want to open you want to come to it

Joseph again, it's been a pleasure working with you 14 years 10 years, you know, we've seen a lot of stuff, right the good and bad, right? but it has always been a pleasure to work with you, and I'll be looking for you. We still haven't had that cigar yet, so. Thank you. Councilor Yu, the mic.

Yeah, I wanted to say congratulations and good job, and I enjoy working with you, and thanks for all the suggestions that we'll take into consideration as well. And so thank you so much for thinking for the community, and all the questions and suggestions that you brought up is all good to our community. So thank you so much for your service.

14 years is a very long time, but now you can relax and enjoy your life. But thank you so much for the service. Thank you.

I want to thank all of you, especially the ones still on council for your services too. Thank you, councilman and colleagues.

I also want to just echo the sentiments and say we are very grateful

for your steadified leadership

these many years to our community. It's never easy to step into these positions but when we answer the call and the obligation, then we answer it.

And, you know, it's always not easy,

and so certainly we've appreciated your involvement in the position as treasurer.

And certainly, you know, we are very grateful. So thank you. Thank you all.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Let's see.

3C is a receiving file report, so there's no need for...

Okay.

Okay, next, moving on to item 3G, approval of Second Amendment to agreement with Mariposa Landscapes Incorporated.

Staff report.

Good evening, Honourable Mayor and Council. This is a second amendment to our landscaping maintenance contract. This is really just to add our water site services to this landscaping contract. So this is actually a reduction in cost from our previous landscaping company. So we'll be saving about $10,000 a year by making this move to this amendment. So with that, I'll answer any questions.

Thank you so much. Dr. Roshan, you have the mic.

Yes, thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Son, for the presentation, although it's brief. But the question that I have is that because this is an amendment to the existing contract,

and I see the numbers is, you know, from $118,000 and go up to $170,000 annually.

And so I would just like to ask you to explain.

And so I would just like to ask you to explain, you know, if it is a contract and we can just hold

! them to it, but I know that there may be something additional to it. ! So I would like you to explain.

! Sure, yeah, this is an increase in their cost. This is really just adding sites. So we're ! not actually giving them an increase based off of service costs. This is actually an additional ! service request from on our part.

So instead of doing just our parks, they're also doing our parks and our water site services.

So instead of doing just our parks, they're also doing our parks and our water site services.

So what kind of extra services that will be?

So they'll be doing anywhere from landscape maintenance to blowing to weeding, lawn mowing services, all the normal services you see at a park, they'll be doing that at our water sites.

I see. Okay. Yeah, because that's exactly the reason that I asked to put this item,

because if we have a contract, then we should hold them to the letters of the contract.

but if we have an additional services then of course you know that's the

pro pay and with that service you also mentioned

there's a saving of ten thousand dollars correct yeah our

previous company that we were using um they asked for an increase in in costs so by going this route with mariposa we're saving ten thousand

dollars a year and how long do we still have in the

contract how many years this will give us an additional year so we'll have two years oh two more years to go okay thank you

Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments, Council Members? Okay.

If no questions, then I would like to make the motion to approve Item 3G.

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

Seconded by Council Member Yu. If there are no further comments or questions, members, please vote.

Post unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you. Moving on to public hearings. First public hearing, item 4A.

Consideration possible action to conduct a public hearing to waive further reading and adopt an ordinance amending titles 16 and 17 of the Modern Park Municipal Code by adopting the 2022 edition of the California Building Standards Code and the Modern Park Amendment to the California Building Standards Code.

Staff report.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council.

This item is a public hearing to waive further reading and adopt an ordinance amending Titles 16 and 17 of the Monterey Park Municipal Code by adopting the 2022 edition of the California Building Standards Code and local amendments.

This ordinance was first introduced and received first reading at the November 2, 2022 City Council meeting. If approved, the ordinance would become effective on January 1, 2023. At this time, staff recommends that the City Council, after considering the evidence, waiving the second reading and adopting the proposed ordinance and taking such additional related action as may be desirable.

This concludes my presentation.

Staff, including our acting building official, are available for any questions.

Thank you. Why don't I go and open the hearing then. I'll use this hammer.

And I open public hearing for this item. If anyone wishes to come forward and present comment or do we have any written requests?

Mr. Clerk? I don't have any speaker cards. any comments? No. Okay. Okay. I hear and see none, then I will close the hearing. Thank you. Colleagues, comments, questions? Councilor Liang, you have the mic? Move to approve item 4A. Okay. Second. Moved by Councillor Liang, seconded by Councillor Chan. Any further comments or questions? Hearing none. Members please vote. Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you. Next hearing item 4B, public hearing in consideration adopting a, thank you, a resolution amending the 2021 to 2029 housing element GPA 22-02 to the Myer Park General Plan effective January 19, 2022. Staff report, please.

Our Interim Community Development Director, Steve Sizemore, will be presenting this agenda item. Good evening, Mayor,

Councilmembers. The city seeks to there we go, not better. The city seeks to continue to have the state grant compliance to our housing element. As you remember, we took this item before you in January of 2022, earlier this year. The Council adopted a resolution approving the housing element. And after that occurred, we submitted the housing element to the state housing and community development department, which we refer to as HCD. And HCD, after looking at the document, sent us a letter indicating that the city still was not in compliance and that a majority of the work that had been done was technical and was alLod to be done by staff level, and that was authorized in that resolution. However, there was one area that the HCD had a request that this be brought back to the city council for consideration,

And that is under Monterey Park, the way we are going to be achieving our regional housing needs assessments numbers is through our existing land uses.

There's no rezoning or anything like that. And after reviewing that and looking at it, the city relies on these non-vacant sites to accommodate more than 50% of our regional housing needs assessments. and California law presumes that the existing uses on these properties will impede that type of development. So they've asked that the city come back and adopt a resolution saying that it will not impede development on that. And so what we've done is we've restructured the element to look at things like we've adopted in the element that we've had. A MAJORITY OF THESE HOUSING UNITS THAT WILL BE PROVIDED CONSIST OF SEVERAL THINGS THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE ON LARGER LOTS WHERE THERE'S RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT ALREADY.

THERE ARE OLDER HOUSES THAT ARE EXISTING THERE AND THE LAND TO STRUCTURE OF VALUE IS LESS THAN THAT.

AND THESE ARE THE AREAS THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED AS NOT IMPEDING DEVELOPMENT IN THE FUTURE.

so with this said staff is has prepared a resolution for the council council to consider

and once that is adopted if it is adopted we'll we'll resubmit to hcd and we'll seek to get compliance of the housing element once that's done we think that can be conducted in about a 60-day review period and we hope that this would be have a certified housing element in early 2023 So this concludes my staff report. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. Sure. Thank you very much.

Why don't I go ahead and open the hearing as well?

So for the item, I am now opening public hearing.

Do we have any requests?

I have no requests for speakers. Anybody in the audience?

No. Okay. And then I will then close this hearing.

Okay. colleagues Councillor Chen, you have the mic

yes, thank you Mayor

thank you Steve for the presentation and I have a concern

well, more than a concern is that the state of California is impeding on all these cities on the housing and actually affordable housing and the homelessness I think that's come hand in hand and it's more than a city can handle. And the state is shoveling the problems to individual cities, not just in Monterey Park, but all the cities around in California. And that is not right. I said it before, I still believe that's the state or the national problem. and what they did is shift the responsibility to individual cities and that is not right. I still have to say it. I mean, that is, although we are departing, but I just have to get it out of my mind and air it out. And then the way that it is, is that they passed a lot of state laws and dictate the cities do this, do that, and that may be contrary to what we believe in. because such the city of Monterey Park and similar cities. We treasure our R1 zones, the single-family house. And with this housing thing coming in, they have already passed the ADUs, the additional units, and less parking spaces and more density and that kind of things. And that is not what Monterey Park or similar cities like us would like to see. We would like to have, we have already passed the zoning, the land use to mix use on the commercial areas and many parts of the city. But of course, it's not enough to satisfy the RINA numbers or to get all the affordable housings or the residential units to accommodate all the problems that the state created. And so, but the thing is, we are not in a position to challenge the state because it's kind of just shoveled down to us. And kind of like you eat it or would put you, you know, responsible. And I think that's wrong. so my question is I don't know if anyone can answer I cannot answer what can we do

well I know it's not tasteful to have the state tell the city what it should do we know best what's in our self-interest but adopting the housing element is in our best self-interest and certifying it and we're going to dictate what happens in the city with our zoning and our approval process and I think what happens with the adoption of the housing element and getting compliance from the state it does two things it one it reduces our risk of being sued by somebody who wants to come in there and if you get sued there's all kinds of things that can happen and then secondly it provides us an opportunity to get funding there there's planning grants there's infrastructure plans grants um there's funding for homelessness and stuff like that so it's in our best interest to do that and i think we've structured the house now to make it work for this city of Monterey Park and we really don't pay attention to reading the numbers we put them in there and accommodate them but the marketplace is going to dictate what happens and we're going to create the zoning and the regulations to make sure that it doesn't infringe upon our single-family neighborhoods and doesn't impact our existing neighborhoods so I think we have enough tools in place to protect the city while taking advantage of what funding opportunities are available to us and then protecting us

from potential future lawsuits. Okay good to hear because we need to stand up for what we live in and maintain the city as our one single-family house which is valuable to us to all of the residents so I think I have to accept this this item in protest. I will vote yes, but in protest. It's a protest yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chen. Any other questions, comments? I have a question. Again, reading the staff report, so what is being proposed, which you believe would allow you to approve this is, so we are, if you will,

putting more focus on the North Garfield area, right?

Is that the area? When you say North Garfield, geographically, what is that area defined?

That's along Garfield Avenue. It's along Garvey Avenue, Atlantic. It's the whole north portion of the city,

currently where we have our commercial zones and our higher-intensity residents. Garvey to Hellman?

Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I mean, yeah, I mean, those areas already do have existing.

commercial and office buildings.

I'm curious because Councilman Chan did mention some of the legislation, but like, for example,

there was legislation that was passed pertaining to underutilized

commercial and office space. Would that legislation be helpful, especially in the areas we've

designated in our housing element to HCD?

Could you repeat the question?

Well, so, you know, there is recent enacted legislation, AB 2011, that has to do with office and underutilized commercial and retail spaces. And I'm saying in the areas that we've designated, you know, to satisfy our obligations on the housing element, I mean, would that help or hinder the city?

I think it probably could help if we do, right?

I think one of the things that we're going to create in is a mixed-use zoning regulation that will come forward in the future As part of the implementation of the housing element or of the land use element

And that will allow the the market place to come in and take these older commercial

Underutilized properties and create something like was approved on South Garfield that like the what's the name of it? The Celadon project

We see that as potential to happen numerous times in this area. And that's going to create a lot of housing and it will create affordable housing.

and make it, you know, it's going to create an opportunity to redo some of those areas.

Okay.

I also know that in the recommendation from ACD, which we are currently working on,

it was a creation of an inclusionary housing ordinance, which is still being worked on because we just had a hearing.

But because it still remains to work on details, do you think that might be an issue? with HCD when we resubmit the housing element? No. No, okay.

No, because we've had discussions with them, and we've told them, you know, we're working on these programs. We're trying to get them mixed use. We're trying to create opportunities for housing, and if you just let us get the housing element complied, we can spend more time creating those documents that allows housing development. So those are programs that are in the housing element, and they have timelines that we can think. If you don't meet your timeline, that's not such a big deal. They want to see you're working on it. And Monterey Park is working on it. You know, there's 89 cities in Los Angeles County. I think only 35 of them are in compliance with the LCC. Only 35? Only 35. Really? Okay. So very few have. And when you look what Monterey Park has done, I think, without question, we've already done what a lot of cities haven't done to create housing opportunities and what we're going to do.

Okay, well hopefully then this will receive your blessing. Okay, okay. Yes, oh.

Any other comments or questions?

Okay, are we hearing them? Can we? Yeah, I'm fine.

I would like to, because I would like to see if they have any questions. But I would like to add to, you know, kind of like what you talk about, the vacant lots or underutilized lots along Gavi mostly. and around the city, we see a lot of underutilizing or vacant lots in the city. And I've been talking about it for years, and so I talked to the property owners, and I find it's kind of difficult because, of course, there's many reasons for it. One of the reasons is those properties were owned by the grandfather, which is like two or three generations ago. and now the siblings is all over the country, like over 10, 20, whatever number it will be. So even if one person, one of the owners, wants to sell or want to develop, it's so difficult for that person to round up all the relatives to sign the papers. That's number one. That's number one problem. Number two is that they may lease it to an auto repair shop or something that's not underutilized in a very cheap grant. Because it was signed by the grandfather or the father before, decades ago. So it's still under the market value. value. And so that's why they can still go on because the rent is low. And because of the relationship of even their relatives. So they cannot evict them or they don't want to evict them. And it's very difficult to evict them. So it keeps on going and going. So those are the things that we are facing in our city. Because when I first got into the council 10 years ago, I was thinking, okay, how do we handle this? So I start talking to different owners and so forth, and that's what I find out. And so there's no incentive for them to sell or no incentive for them to build or to develop. So those are the things that we are facing with. It's how to handle it, how to mitigate it. It's difficult. Yeah. And I managed to do one thing and talk to them, and that's the lot on Amazon and Atlantic, which is the Holiday Inn lot. It was a used car lot, and I managed to just bump into the owner and managed to talk to them, and he explained to me there are 17 owners. But finally they make the sale, and then Holiday Inn, you know, acquired that piece of land and so they have the corner so which is a better development but it's so difficult I can say but as well how to take care of it I have no answer.

Well I think the city's done a lot to position itself after the elimination of redevelopment that alLod the city to do certain things and the adoption of the land use element created this vision of the community the approval of the the project um what's the name again the celadon project the holiday inn project those are projects that are going to be the foundation of future development in the city and you know there's all saying money chases money these property developed or these property owners are going to see that and they're going to be encouraged to develop their property even if they have long-term leases or projects and so it's um it just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you see development occurring and quality development and nice things that other people want to do that they want to come in and and be part of that and I think the city has positioned itself to do that and and now it's a matter of our economic development staff and our community development staff meeting with these property owners encouraging them finding the resources for them and provide them the directions because we've given them the tools to develop their properties. They just have to find a way to do it now.

And then another thing is that they ask for too much price. Always. They thought they're sitting on a gold mine, and so any offer is not good enough. And because there's so many owners.

That's a hard one.

Yeah. So one said this is enough, but then the other said no is not enough. Then it makes it more difficult. So, yeah, so it's a big problem on our hands, and it's not easy to resolve it, and so that's why we see a lot of underutilized lots in our city. Yeah.

Thank you for sharing with that.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions?

Okay, we're hearing none. And again, there was no comment for public hearing. Okay, then we have a motion then.

I will make the motion to adopt the resolution amending the Monterey Park housing element effective January 19, 2022.

And authorize the city manager or destiny to prepare and transmit the final documents to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Second.

Motion made by Councilor Chan, seconded by Councilor Member Liang. If there are no further comments or questions, members please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you. Next public hearing.

A public hearing to consider an application for a wireless telecommunications facility permit, DRB-22-49, to allow a new wireless telecommunications facility on an existing Southern California Edison transmission tower,

by DISH Wireless. Staff report, please.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council.

This is a public hearing to consider an application from Bob Searcy on behalf of DISH Wireless

for a wireless telecommunications permit

to allow a new wireless facility

on an existing Southern California Edison transmission tower. Next slide.

This slide shows an aerial of the zoning map and an aerial which identifies the project site location with a yellow

star. The project site is owned by Southern California Edison and is used for transmission towers and lines. The property is located near the east city boundary line near Potrero Grande

on Arroyo Drive between Ackley and Robin Lena Lane. The property is within the R1 single family residential zone as identified on the map on the right, and the property is shown in yellow,

which represents the R1 zone. Per the Monterey Park Municipal Code, City Council approval is

required for this facility because it is in a residential zone. Although the property is zoned R1, the property does not contain any residential uses. The surrounding land uses include residential

uses to the west and Southern California Edison towers and lines to the north, south, and east. Next slide.

This next slide shows the general plan map identifying the location. And as you can see, the location is within the public facility's land use designation. Next slide. now this is a an enlarged site plan which shows it's a bird's-eye view it's as if you're hovering over the property and it shows everything that's existing on the site which includes the proposed wireless telecommunications facility circled in red or it's not circled in red but it's when it's in the black box the project site highlighted in is highlighted in yellow or your arroyo drive is identified at the bottom of this slide and it also shows existing utility towers internal roads which are unaffected by the project and an outline of existing single-family residences to the east and west of the project site the proposed wireless facility includes three panel

antennas and accessory radio equipment attached to an existing utility tower ground mounted equipment within a 185-square-foot block wall enclosure below the tower.

And just for the City Council's information, the nearest residential property to the west is 33 feet, and the nearest residential property to the east is 300 feet from the proposed facility. Next slide. Now this is a detailed site plan showing the proposed wireless facility highlighted in yellow. And it shows the lattice tower with the facility at the base. Next slide.

This next slide shows elevations, which are two-dimensional drawings of the towers. And it depicts the proposed antennas circled in red. And according to the applicant, the proposed project will provide a higher quality wireless telecommunication services to the surrounding area.

Next slide. Now this is another angle of the proposed towers and antennas.

Next slide. The next few slides show photo simulations, which are photographs of the existing tower, and they superimpose what the proposed structures will look like.

Those areas, those structures are circled in red. And the photo simulations, this particular photo simulation is east looking west.

And please also note that the applicant submitted a noise study to show compliance with the city's noise regulations.

Next slide. This is another photo simulation from the vantage point of the south side looking north. Next slide and then this last photo simulation is from the vantage point of

West looking east. So this is what the nearest residential property

properties would be looking at next slide

At this time staff considers that City Council

adopt the proposed resolution granting a wireless telecommunications permit with conditions of approval and taking such additional related action that may be desirable. This concludes my presentation. Staff and the applicant are available for questions.

Thank you very much for that presentation and because this is a hearing I will open up the hearing.

Clerk do we have any requests? Yes we do.

We have a request to speak from Rob Searcy. Okay.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. My name is Rob Searcy. I am with SureSight Consulting, and I'm here tonight representing DISH Wireless. As many of you probably know and probably have heard, DISH typically was known for its satellite TV and things like that. This company is not related to that although they have some type of a Very minimal relationship that might be exercised in the future. It is an independent operating company dish wireless is actually rolling out their Nationwide 5g network They will be a competitor with AT&T with T-Mobile and with Verizon Wireless as As a part of DISH acquiring their license, the FCC mandated that they build their sites and get their network launched by mid-2023. So the project before you tonight is one of their backbone launch sites. At this time, there are no DISH wireless networks up and running in this area, so this will be the backbone site that gets the initial service out and running. when we go out to look for a site to develop one of our facilities on we look at locations that where or where it County. We can accommodate an attachment of our facility to an existing structure. Whether that's to an office building, a utility pole or a utility structure such as this. Those are the primary sites that we look for. We don't want to build new sites and proliferate sites throughout a community. One of the challenges we had in this area is that as staff has mentioned everything in this area is residential. However, this is a utility use in a residential area on an existing utility pole and it will provide service to both the established homes that are in the area and to those who traverse the area driving through so to us this is one of the preferred locations I also looked at some locations in the area that included water tank sites that were much closer to the residential homes than this site again our site is about 45 feet to the nearest property line and even further to the nearest residents currently there are probably about five existing wireless telecommunication facilities within this easement and we feel that our site is consistent with that development with that i'll conclude my presentation i'll answer any questions that you might have

okay thank you mr syrcy colleagues councilman chan you have the mic uh can i can i ask

how far this transmission device will go.

So right now all I can tell you is what our models indicate. Typically, we do engineering for all the wireless carriers. And typically for a site like this, we're attaching at about 45 feet. And as you know, in your community, you have a lot of undulating topography, very changes throughout the community. You have hillsides and things like this. Typically for a site like this with one six-foot antenna, we would look at a performance and a distance that would extend someplace around three and a half miles. One and a half? Three and a half. Yes, sir. And so what you'll notice when you build your initial system, your whole intent is to create a footprint that's extremely large because you don't have a lot of people on the network. As systems mature and grow, you'll see more sites coming in because then it becomes a capacity issue. as more residents or more people in your community get on the network. But at this point, we figure that we'll get about three and a half miles of service out of each sector.

So you're looking for more sites in the future?

Yes, sir. We actually have at least one or two sites that we've already been in process with staff. We have one over at 1000 Corporate Center Drive, which is about a seven-story office building. We're co-locating on the rooftop there. so we look for opportunities like that where we can co-locate so we don't have to proliferate sites

and then you're looking for sites in other cities as well yes sir it's all the way through all through southern california all over southern california yes sir is it 5g's or is it uh what

what it is 5g so that's one of the reasons why you'll see that the equipment we're proposing to deploy is much more diminutive than you'll see from some of the other carriers the other carriers have legacy technology that they have to house so they've got 3g they've got 4g they've got 5g they've got different frequencies with dish wireless because we're just coming into the market we only have one technology and that's 5g technology in one frequency see and then i would

like to ask the city manager i think year and a half or two years ago we have we did uh have a resolution in this council that we have different locations and I still remember Robert talking about the size of a refrigerator so does that in conflict with that or is it a complement to what we have passed with this application there is no conflict this there's no relationship with no relationship at all

if I may chime in what you're referring to I think I was on the council already that pertains to light poles right or the utility poles on different streets

small cells and this is not a small cell this is a macro cell different technology

and then of course you know we cannot cite health issues or anything that

that we actually we cannot stop you the way the federal law is written you can only enforce our compliance with federal mandates and our performance and we provided an eme study which is electromagnetic energy study to show that our site will perform within the parameters alLod by the fcc if we were outside those parameters the city could then enforce that to make us bring it into compliance or turn the site off?

We went through that before, so many times. But anyway, I still have to bring it up. And also, since this device is in Edison's property, is in their electric power line, and it's located the property is owned by Edison. So why you need the city to approve it? It should be a private deal, right?

We have a lease to attach to it, but from a development standpoint, we still need to get our permits from the local jurisdiction. And your code requires that we obtain a design review application approved by city council. So there are different levels of the things that we have to go through in order to develop a site, even on private property.

And city attorney, is it correct?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, as written in your staff report, the ability for the city council to deny this permit is very limited. For those of you that were on the council at the time that this was added to the municipal code requiring them to actually come to the city council, you'll recall that involved an AT&T wireless site, but that was actually located very much in the middle of a neighborhood. So this is a bit of an aberration since it's, although it's technically zoned R1, as you can see from all the photo depictions,

it's tangentially adjacent to R1's actual buildings.

So from the standpoint of being able to deny this permit, there's nothing in the record that I'm aware of that would allow you to deny the permit.

Right. I know that. And also I would like to suggest in future, but not this one because this is Edison and your company and dish, and this is your deal. And for future ones, I would like to ask the future council members, staff, is that if those cell towers or whatever come in, because I know that some of the cities, they require them instead of like a Christmas tree close to the freeway or, you know, so ugly antennas sticking out here and there. And some cities require them to have some beautiful, nicer structures around it so that they won't see the antennas. But you see, I saw like a clock tower, which is beautiful, and no one sees that it's an antenna inside. So I would like to ask the council if those things that come in, and then we can require the owner of that antenna, that device company, to make instead of just an ugly antenna or like a Christmas tree, but make it a beautiful, nicer-looking building or something that stores the ugly thing inside and make it nicer for the for the people to see at least in the in the look is better so that's my suggestion of course this will be the new council will deal

with it later but that's my suggestion. Councilman Chancellor currently we don't have such a requirement. We don't have...

elaborate on that. Oh I'm sorry. Oh okay. Go ahead. Yeah if I remember correctly City Attorney that was one of the only reasons we could deny a project is if it made it was an eyesore or it was it didn't you know caused the area to be lose its character or look different and I remember with is that correct that's correct

aesthetics is one of the reasons that you can deny it yeah and then I remember

some of the ones there was like a church tower that was built yeah so that it it's hidden behind there so I don't know if in City Attorney you can comment if if their city requires a ordinance to say that it must not look a certain way or does the current rules like you're saying about it being you know like I saw or whatever is that enough to protect us in terms of ensuring that anything that goes up can't create a change in the character or cause I think

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, the current rules that we have are, to be honest, somewhat dated. We will likely need to put those on the long list that we have for updating regulations, particularly in light of changes to both state and federal law with regard to wireless facilities. But to answer your direct question, at the moment, I think we're sufficiently protected from the standpoint of being able to say, okay, you need to camouflage this particular device in a manner that's consistent with the neighborhood. So, for example, this particular device, if you demand that it look like a clock tower, I don't think that would be reasonable under the circumstances. But certainly if it were under the circumstance that we previously were talking about, the AT&T wireless device, that certainly would be entirely reasonable. As an anecdote, I switched carriers after that particular one because I couldn't reach AT&T on my AT&T phone, but in any event.

So do we need to put it into an ordinance, or is it enough to make it look better?

It's enough, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, for me to have added to my list of things that we need to look at. We have, as you've heard tonight, we have housing element regulations to implement, land use regulations to implement. there's a new shot clock requirement under state and federal law that we need to implement that we haven't updated our regulations with but we're adhering to nevertheless because we're a general law city and have to adhere to it so the direction from the council is clear and we will add it to the honeydew list

thank you sir

I have a question. Since it's really closed

we're at the R1 soon. Did we actually send a letter to notify all the neighbors? I can answer that

Council Member. Yes. A notification was sent to

property owners within 300 foot radius of the project site

as well as it was published in a paper of local circulation as well

Do we have any respond from them? Staff has not received any communications from the public regarding this.

Thank you.

Thank you for that question. Okay. Let's see. Any other comments, questions?

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. And any other requests to speak from the audience?

No.

Okay. Hearing is seen on.

Then I'm going to conclude this hearing.

Okay. And we have an item before us. Colleagues?

Motion to approve item 4C.

Moved by Councilor Layan. Seconded by Councilor Yu.

Hearing no further comments or questions. I'll call for the question. All members, please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you.

On to new business. Introducing and waiving first reading of an ordinance

extending the effective date for the 2020

Marley Park Business Recovery Program

from December 30, 2022 to May 31, 2023.

Do we have a staff report? Yes. Thank you. Mayor, Council Members, This item is a request to introduce and waive the first reading of an ordinance extending the effective date of the 2020 Monterey Park Business Recovery Program from December 30, 2022 to May 31, 2023.

In 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, the City Council adopted a series of code updates and ordinances, which were all aimed at helping with our businesses recover from the effects of the pandemic.

And this included the creation of the 2020 Monterey Park Business Recovery Program. This program included temporary regulations to help local businesses, including adopting the outdoor temporary event permit regulations. And the majority of the regulations that were adopted during that time have now been codified into code, except this one. This is the last one that has not been codified. And they are set to expire. This ordinance is set to expire December 30th, 2022. staff prepared an ordinance to adopt a permanent regulations for this valuable outdoor dining use and it was presented to the planning commission on november 8th 2022 at that meeting they adopted a resolution to recommend city council approval of the draft ordinance that was presented to them with the permanent regulations for outdoor dining to ensure that ample time for noticing and presentation to the City Council is alLod, staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached proposed extension ordinance to continue the effective date of the program from December 30, 2022 to May 31,

2023.

This concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you so much. Clerk, do we have any requests to speak on the item? No. Okay. Colleagues. Yes, Calvert, change your mic. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I would like to ask in the city around how many restaurants or outlets that still have some outdoor dining in the city?

Sure. There are very few left in the city. I would say less than 10 have currently outdoor dining operations. And by extending this, we would allow those temporary outdoor operations to continue until such time that we adopt permanent regulations. and once the permanent regulations are in, then we would work with the businesses to help them comply with the permanent standards and then they would have to remove any temporary structures at that time.

So those 10 operators, they have a permit with them at this time now? Yes. They all have them? I see. Okay. because, yeah, it's not that many now because they're kind of like pretty much back to normal and everyone have their dine-in and everything. But I can see that with the tents on the parking lot, which is good for the business because that means they have more tables, more space, and accommodate more patrons, people to eat inside and outside, which is good, good for the business. and the city at the same time collect more sales tax, which is good. But on the other hand, it's that few parking spaces on site, and so people will park around the corner or on the street, and that has some parking problems for the neighborhoods and so forth. And so we have to be fair to the other, not restaurants, but all the neighborhood shops that surround the restaurants that may be impacted because of the parking space that they occupy on the street. So it's just kind of a balance thing that we need to address. So I think it's okay to extend that, but I think we need to address the parking issue and then see what they can do. We also want to help them to do better in the business because it's not easy. to operate during the pandemic. But since we are kind of like three years and we get used to it, and I think it's pretty much back to normal. And so we have to address it in the long term. So as for how to do it and what to do it, I think the new council and staff will take a look half years later. So that's what my suggestion is, is to have a balance, look at the impact to the other businesses. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Catherine Chan. Colleagues, you have the mic.

Yeah, thank you. I support this. I don't know if you guys have been paying attention. Recently in the news, L.A. County has had another spike in COVID positive cases. I think it's like 2,000-something. I think it went from, I forgot what the numbers were, but there was definitely a spike. It was an article today in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune about that. So I think that this is appropriate at this time. I know while we've been through years of COVID and we are somewhat getting back to normal, we have seen, as history has shown, where we thought we were getting normal and then surges came. And then we said, oh, it's better. And then everyone traveled and then surges came again. so I think that at this time it's it's appropriate to continue and let's just hope that you know those numbers don't continue rising it I think it also allows for the flexibility while we're seeing a lot of the businesses not using the outdoor dining if we do have surges again you I think you'll see those people starting to go back out because there were some discussions about if it reaches a certain number that the county may implement certain masking requirements or recommendations so i know we all wish covid was gone but we also have to be prepared for things like what we're hearing now hopefully it stays at that level but again we need to be prepared i remember when it first came out we're thinking oh three thousand four thousand i think it's going to be all right you know i was talking to people at the county about it and little did we know it would be three years later with you know hundreds of thousands of people you know millions affected all around the world and all the deaths and everything so I support this it's another five six months and keeps us prepared in the instance that we do need to go back to those

types of regulations so thank you thank you councillor Liang any other I have a question

So if I understand correctly from your presentation as well as the staff report, part of the reason why you are requesting the extension is also because we want to eventually also codify it, right, into our ordinance.

Okay.

I do not ask this because aside from the potential public safety, I'm sorry, public health issues brought up by Councilor Liang,

I think that one of the things that we also saw from the pandemic, especially out of necessity in which businesses had outdoor dining, is that it also, I think, created probably improved dining experiences.

And examples I can think of is the brew kitchen on Garfield, as well as near my home, Alice's Kitchen on Garvey.

And I think that people do like the outdoor dining experience.

And I think that especially now that this city is going in a direction, especially when we look at our housing element,

development, the resolutions we've enacted recently for complete streets and Vision Zero to create more pedestrian-friendly development.

I'd like to also hope that as we are codifying this, we also work with business to see how we can encourage sidewalk dining.

I would even say sidewalk dining, but also seeing how this outdoor dining program can

also be integrated with our other resolutions and policies in which we've committed ourselves to for more pedestrian-friendly development. And for example, I know in some communities, I've seen that because of unnecessary during the pandemic, they may have taken a lane on the road to create outdoor dining, but even after the pandemic subsided, in some cases, they were

kept and if anything

I think it created a more vibrant dining experience and so that's

something that I would hope that as we are

codified and of course work with our businesses

but also you know I think

see this as an opportunity to also

as a way to encourage again

that more pedestrian friendly environment that we want especially in our commercial corridors so that was my suggestions and thoughts on the item

Great. Thank you for your comments. And I think you'll be pleased to see in the ordinance we presented to Planning Commission, there were provisions that would allow sidewalk dining. And so, yeah, definitely your comments are noted as to, you know, how outdoor dining experiences can help with the pedestrian experience in our downtown and in our city. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay.

Yes, Councilor Leigh, yes.

Yeah, just really quick, as I look on my phone, just some of the recent headlines in regards to where we're talking about COVID infections, hospitalizations, continue upswing in L.A. County. These are the headlines. Rise in COVID cases in L.A. County, prompting fears of winter surge. L.A. County COVID test positivity up 50% in two weeks. So, again, you know, I'm just, you know, we should also be very vigilant as well.

Not only for the business in the city, but also for our own personal health. So everyone should be aware of that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Any further comments or questions? Okay. Hearing none.

And again, no further comments from the audience.

Then, okay. Well, we do have an item for us. May I have a motion, please?

Motion to approve. Item 5A.

Second. Moved by Councilman Lang. Seconded by Councillor Chan. Hearing no further comments or questions, members, please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Okay, on to city communications by City Council. And we have Item 6A, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Monterey Park, recognizing November 13th to the 19th, 2022, as L.A. versus Hate United Against, I'm sorry, L.A. versus Hate United Against Hate Week. and this was brought up by me because it is something that has been done countywide and it also has been prompted by what we've seen in a path and unfortunately to the present continue acts of hate towards different communities. Of course here in the San Diego Valley we've seen a spike in hints of hate against Asian Americans and unfortunately not too long ago over in the west side, you know, we saw acts committed that were of concern anti-Semitic. And, you know, I think that it's important for a community that like our, that pride itself on being inclusive, that pride itself on embracing our diversity, that, you know, we continue to recognize that, you know, we stand against all types of hate.

and I'll close by saying that unfortunately xenophobia is still used as a tool by those,

especially in our national discourse.

I'll point an example.

Last night when former President Trump announced his run in 2024, he made some accusations that in 2020 the election may have been rigged because of China's involvement. And again, comments like that, you know, it breeds xenophobia,

and in this case, probably additional hate against Asian Americans.

So I think it's important to, even if it's symbolic as a revolution, it's important to continue acknowledging it, especially in a community like ours, because we have, in this city, historically seen xenophobia in the past. So anyway, that's my reason for bringing it up, and certainly I hope the Council will support it.

Oh, yes, Councilman, I guess you have the mic.

Yeah, Mayor Lo, I want to commend you for bringing this forward, and I was very pleased to see that it says United Against Hate Week, period. You know, oftentimes we hear about people talking about a certain type of hate, but the way I see it, hate is hate, and this resolution really covers it across the board, not just for a specific group. So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Any other? Okay.

Thank you for putting this on. Okay, great. then may I have a motion? Oh, actually, I'll make a motion.

Actually, I move for approval of Item 6A, a resolution of the City Council of City of Monument Park recognizing November 13, 2019, 2022 as LA versus Hate, Unite Against Hate Week.

Second. Second by Councilor Liang. Hearing no further comments or questions, members, please vote.

Polls to unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you, colleagues.

Okay. And continue on with communications. I will begin with Councilor Yu.

I attend the Chinatown Service Center, I think, last two weeks. It was a very enjoyable event, and both me and my husband are very impressed with all the arrangement, especially the MC, the two MCs that night. In fact, I have the same age and birthday with CSC,

so whenever they celebrate their birthday, I also celebrate my birthday.

I went to Japan last week with my husband, and I really enjoy all the good food and the hot spring. So that's it for me. Good night to everyone.

Thank you, Catherine Yu. Catherine Chan.

Yeah, after close to 10 years in the council, and I have to say goodbye to the staff, and thank you very much. And, of course, next council meeting, December 7th, Hans and I will give the departing speech, so I'm not going to say much more. And so I just want to, first of all, thank you, all the city staff, all the residents in the city of Monterey Park, have your trust in me and put me in this position. So I really appreciate that. And I will elaborate a little bit more on December 7th. And I just want to thank you, everyone. And happy Thanksgiving. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chen. Councillor Liang. Thank you, Mayor. I will also save those comments for the next meeting, but I did attend the Veterans Day ceremony over at the Legion, and as was indicated by our Rex and Parks director, I accompanied him at the YWCA Champion Award that we received. And that's it for me, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Councilman Lank. And for my report, I also want to report that I attended the Chinatown Service Center Gala with me and my colleagues and probably some people in the audience. And, you know, it was actually a very important milestone for Chinatown Service Center over 50 years in the community. And, you know, for the honest information, Chinatown Service Center actually has community clinics. Monterey Park. And they serve everyone who is in need of social services and health care services. And as a personal point of privilege, as I actually made remarks during the gala at their presentation part, that CSC actually had a very important impact on my life as well because, as I shared, when my father was a young man and trying to get job training to find a well-paying job, it was actually CSC that helped him to get a job training.

enroll in an adult training program in Los Angeles at the old Evans School,

which I don't even know exists anymore, in downtown. And, of course, when I was preschool age, I was able to enroll in a preschool program that actually hit start. That was actually also operated by CSE back in the 70s. And then also further or later on when I was in college and was trying to find a job during the summer break,

it was actually CSE.

through a job training program that actually helped me get a summer job at Daily Times. And so, you know, it took me a while to realize that really the impact organizations like CSE have to probably thousands of people with similar backgrounds like myself in the community. And so I think it was very exciting to celebrate this milestone. Again, thank you, CSE, for investing in our community as well. I also attended the Garvey Education Foundation's gala last Wednesday. And for those of you who know my history, I used to be on the Board of Education at the Garvey School District. And in fact, I was one of the co-founders of the Garvey Education Foundation.

And it was just really pleasing to see, after I've left the school board to be on the council,

that there are leaders who have continued the work of the foundation, and impressive that at this year's gala, there was 40 tables.

I'm sorry, 72 tables.

There are a lot of tables at the gala. And for those who are not familiar,

a lot of school districts have education foundations,

but there's always a presumption that only wealthy communities can have education foundations. And so it is always exciting to see even school districts that serve our community, which is a middle-class and working-class community, to still see nonetheless the effort to raise the visibility and resources for our children and our schools.

And so again, my kudos to the Graduate Education Foundation and its foundation head, Mr. Vingoh.

and for Veterans Day I also attended the ceremony with my colleague Hans Liang and you know it really

was wonderful that we were able to dedicate a tree to William Sanchez who for his longevity and to really hear it was real treat to hear from his family you know his story how he served our community, served in this nation during World War II to protect our democracy, our nation, and then his history of starting a life in Monterey Park, which at the time which he settled, this community was still experiencing its post-war growth.

And really, his involvement, I think, is a testament to the caliber of the people who

choose to live in Monterey Park and be involved in this community. And so for those, when you go out to Barnes Park, it is a tree that is facing the VFW Veterans Post 397.

It has a plaque.

And so please stop by, take a look at it, and again, think about the contributions of William Sanchez and his family to Monterey Park. And lastly, and I know it's not the final name, but yes, I do want to take the time to also thank my colleagues Peter, Hans, Joseph, Vincent, for your service and your dedication, really.

because, as I've said before,

it's not easy to step in these positions

and to serve and to do so with a steadiness

to do what is right for our community. And all of you have demonstrated that,

your commitment to public service

and also your focus on doing what is right for our community. And also, thank you for this hammer.

Again, I should be giving you guys gifts.

I'm very touched by this, so thank you all, as well as Carl, thank you, and Ron, everyone.

But again, I want to say that since I joined the council in 2020, which my goodness, seems

like a long time ago, because we certainly have been through a lot of ups and downs, and I've really appreciated working with all of you on some very challenging issues, challenging

times and I think that if we have

seen better times, it's because of

our ability to work together as well

as with our dearly department colleague Fred Sinoso who

I still think of Fred very often because again, we were the

pandemic city council and so

again, just thank you so much.

Of course you mentioned it and I want to

thank our city clerk Vincent Chang for your also 10 years of service as a city clerk and you

I Hans we got elected at the same time and we got

off at the same time and of course your treasurer is longer a lot longer but thank you for your services you know throughout

the years so just want to say thank you to you

thank you and also I'll close by saying happy Thanksgiving

There are no future items, no full session items, and so I will take Yoloneer and close

and say, have good and happy Thanksgiving.

Yes.

Although no thunder or lightning came out of Yoloneer.

Thank you.

Thank you.