City Council Meeting — August 2, 2023

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Good evening. Thank you for attending tonight's council meeting. We're going to go ahead and get started. It's currently 636, so we'll call this meeting to order. Before we get started, I'd like to read our city's mission statement. The mission of the city of Monterey Park is to provide excellent services to enhance the quality of life for our community. And I'd also like to read our land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as the Tomongar, the home of the Gabriolino Tongva people. We show our respect to the Gabriolino Tongva people as well as all indigenous people past, present, and future. And honor their labor as original caretakers of this land. and we commit to uplifting the Gabriolino Tongva people and we invite you to acknowledge the history and join us in caring for this land. Before we get started, we have a flag salute today by the Monterey Park Firefighter Explorer. So if I can ask you to please stand.

Colors, please place your hand over your heart. Ready and 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.

Color Guard, prepare to post colors. Forward march.

Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial!

Estabial! Estabial! Estabial!

Estabial! Estabial! Estabial! Estabial!

While we march.

Thank you so much. If you can please take your seats.

City Clerk, if we can continue with the roll call please.

Council Member Lo? Present. Council Member Yu? Here. Council Member Ngo? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Wong? Present. Mayor Sanchez? Present. We have a quorum. Thank you.

Are there any agenda additions, deletions, or changes?

None from the City Manager's Office. Thank you.

So we'll go ahead and start with public communications. Do we have any public communication first speaker?

Sarkis Antonian

Good evening council members Mayor council members and staff So we've been noticing up there on Orange and Pepper by Hillcrest School where they're going to put five custom homes and I came down there Thursday and I was told they didn't have to walk around the neighborhood to notify the residents and it was on the agenda those people have, those people hardly even, those people don't even go to consummatories, they come up to me, ask me what's happening in the city, blah blah so you wouldn't have those things but there's people up there already angry on it and any of them that are still living there in their late 80s early 90s so the only time they leave out of their homes in the mornings after nine o'clock after that hillcrest school finishes because they're bringing them in from rosemead on down that's the school that closed on delmar and you got a crossing guard there for years on orange, they don't even use the crossing yard. They go in between the cars with their kids, so that's really good to show their kids how to cross the street. And then when they drop their kids off, and they're going back to Rosemead or whatever they're going to be doing, that traffic backs up to almost up to the tennis courts to go down into graves. But last year, I've never seen anything, any patrol, anything to move the traffic out of there. And then, so how, but those five homes, how are they going to get in and get out where the orange is a main thoroughfare to go into marketplace, come out of marketplace? And then we use that area also to do what we're doing. And through the years, that lot was never used for anything, this open land. so whoever planned it and I won't use the other word

whoever planned this thing there was no planning at all

because if the people can get down here but that age

there was no input for none of the residents

up there at that age they've been up there so far there's been a few up there one lady in her 90's been up there raised two kids, blah, blah. She don't like it. And there's people around my age that don't like it either.

And more traffic, it's going to be, I don't see how you can put five homes rather up there when nobody ever decided to put it.

And it's not feasible to put those five homes there

because how are they going to get out of that location? We're coming up the hill. We're coming down the hill.

So you're going to put a stop sign. There's no geographics. I don't see nothing. I don't see no planning or anything how it is. And I've been up there since. I came in here since four years old in the city. So that's a slap in our faces that we've been up there. All of a sudden, they put five homes up there. So you're going to put patrol school, I guess, starts next week or this month. you're going to put a patrol up there to move the traffic

when it's backed up to the tennis courts, go back to where they're going, and that's happened.

So that was a bad move. Uh-uh. Bad move. And then our last council meeting,

you only get five minutes here, last council meeting when I mentioned about the virus, that has a spike protein.

So any of you that didn't get the vaccine, you can still get the COVID because it has the spike protein in there.

And then now don't take the flu shot because they're putting that vaccine in the flu shot to keep it going.

And they're also going to be putting it in the food. So check in.

I'm totally against that project because the people up there, they're in their 90s. They were not informed anything about it.

Do we have a next speaker?

Next speaker, Larry Sullivan.

Mayor, members of the council, good evening. And staff also. I'm here on behalf of the Historical Society of Monterey Park. On Saturday, August 12th at 1 p.m., we will have a showing of the film The Joy Luck Club in the Friends Room on the second floor. The film is co-sponsored by the Burgermeier Library at Monterey Park and Historical Society at Monterey Park. Monterey Park. The highlight of the afternoon is the presence of Foster Hirsch, the former student, former resident of Monterey Park, and a graduate of Mark Keppel, and who is now a noted film historian. Dr. Hirsch has invited Miss Francine Nguyen, the star of the movie, to have a close-up meeting. They have a close-up meeting with the audience to discuss the making of the film and other interesting facts about her life as a star. Miss Nguyen was a Golden Globes Award nominee. She also appeared in South Pacific and she's been here before meeting with us. Come to join us to enjoy an afternoon seeing the film and hearing the discussion afterwards with Francine Nguyen and Frances Hurst. The event is free. So you don't hear that word free very much anymore, but this event is free.

It's on the second floor of the library in conjunction with the library and historical society. and I'm going to give you some of the brochures for you guys if you can to please make it, be there. It'll be a great afternoon and hope to see you there.

Next speaker, Carol Sullivan.

Good evening, Mayor Sanchez, Mayor Potem, Thomas Wong. and Council Members Vingo, Yvonne Yu, and Henry Lo, Assistant City Attorney and City Manager Inez Alvarez, and the residents of Monterey Park. I am here on behalf of Monterey Park Library Foundation to announce that on Friday, October 13, at Luminaries, we'll be honoring our police and fire department for all they have done for our city and other cities during COVID and during the fires. But most important also is what they have done for each of us in our city. I know many of us have had personal stories about how they've come and helped each one of us. We would like to invite the residents to join us in the celebration to honor our men and women who protect us. The cost is $85, and it includes dinner, music, photo booths, raffles, and a one-on-one. We're talking with the fire and the policemen, and this will be held at Luminari's. Please contact Gwen Kushida or myself, Carol Sullivan. So please join us in honor and thank our police, fire, and raise money to support the library for the services and programs they do to reach out to the residents of our city and other cities. My last words in quote from the singer Seal, love will know your name. I love all of you for supporting our city always. And Assistant City Attorney, if you could thank Carl that we did get his check. Thank you.

Next speaker, Saul Colio of SEIU 121RN.

Good evening. My name is Sauli Collio. I am the union representative for the nurses at Garfield Medical Center. I am here on behalf of them.

I'm also a community member. My family lives in this community, and when my grandmother suffered from a stroke, nurses at Garfield Medical Center helped her recover and took care of her. So this is also an issue that is really deep to my heart

as my family attends and is being served by the nurses at Garfield Medical Center.

As you may have heard, nurses at Garfield have served a 10-day notice to Garfield agency management that they are prepared and are going to go on strike starting August 10th. I hear many stories of nurses who often work understaffed and with low resources, broken equipment, with skeleton crew. They have so many stories of, and I can go on.

This really impacts the community.

This means that nurses are often, patients are not often receiving the best quality care,

and nurses are doing everything that they can to be able to provide these really important services. You know, since I've been here, I've met so many new nurses.

I meet them at the new employee orientation, and they often end up leaving, right?

So the turnover is really high.

This impacts patient care when new nurses are coming in and being trained constantly.

So nurses have spoken to management. We've been bargaining since January.

You know, the message is very clear. Like nurses are ready to do what it takes to protect patients and, you know, provide quality care.

Given all the sacrifices that nurses made over the pandemic and the dedication that they continue to show, they deserve to be heard. And the patients in their community deserve the highest quality of care.

So we ask and really hope that you continue to support the nurses. And, you know, yeah. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Sally, and for representing the nurses and their cause.

Thank you.

Do you have another speaker?

Next speaker is Lene Gong, who's allocating her time to me, Mayshall Yee. Next speaker is Kailea Garfield, also allocating her time to me nationally. And I am the next speaker, 10 minutes total.

I hate bullies. That's why I ran for city clerk.

I saw people in positions of authority abusing their power to take advantage of the situation. I felt if I didn't say anything that I would be complicit to because I didn't try to do anything about it.

All of you saw me being treated inappropriately, being down emotionally, knowing how petty these accusations are,

and not a single one of you spoke up or tried to stop it.

I don't need your support, but I hope one day you think about all the other people you are letting down

and finally find the courage to speak up and do something.

In response to your findings that I am guilty of violating the city's code of conduct the day after the mass casualty shooting, here is my side of the story.

At the council meeting days prior to the shooting, as a resident, I reprimanded the city manager regarding his conduct towards the residents.

The night of the shooting, I was never notified a mass casualty incident occurred. No one called, emailed, or texted me regarding the situation or provided any information at all. The morning after, the assistant city manager accidentally notified me there was going to be a press conference, to which I found out later she was scolded because she was not supposed to invite me or tell me about it. Not knowing at that moment I was not supposed to be there, I folLod an officer's instruction and waited in the conference room with everyone else.

I was then informed by the chief of police that they needed to discuss high-level stuff and that I would have to step out.

I said, of course, and left immediately to later realize I was the only person asked to leave the room. Now being snubbed and purposely omitted three times by the city manager, I was hurt and angry and felt that he was being petty and taking advantage of the situation to get back at me for calling him out a few days earlier. I told the chief, the FBI who were in the room when it happened, and the assistant city manager that I felt he was doing this as retribution against me and that it was effed up and his actions were effing disrespectful. I explained as the city has moved to district elections, the council members represent only a small portion of the city. As I was elected citywide, I am responsible for and accountable to the entire city and all its residents. That's why I need to be kept in the loop as I have more people to answer to. Never having the opportunity to speak directly to the city manager, I emailed him the day after the incident, asking him to please notify me of any public incidents, safety issues, and announcements. I never received a response back. Three months go by. I continue to comment during council meetings. A council member demands a colleague get me under control and make me stop. Otherwise, this will not end well. Triggering an investigation. Days after the investigation was opened against the council member and months after the shooting incident, I am then, three months later, issued a notice I violated the city's code of conduct. The mayor and mayor pro tem attempt to speak to me about the charges. I ask them, what did I do or say wrong, because it may be a misunderstanding. If so, I would like to rectify the situation. They can't tell me. I respond, I can't fix this if you don't tell me what I did. Please ask the city manager and attorney if you can tell me what I did so we can correct the situation. I never receive a response back from them. The city hires an attorney to investigate the matter instead. The attorney reaches out to me to request we meet to discuss the situation. I reply, I would like to meet with her. However, I need to know what I am being accused of. What exactly did I do or say wrong? She cannot say. I detail what I believe are the city manager's acts of retaliation against me. I remind her of the council member's threat. Things will not end well, which she is also investigating. I inform her I am concerned for my safety. So much so, I ask the police chief to please, for the sake of my child, make certain to investigate if anything happens to me.

I share my concerns with her regarding the integrity of the investigation and question, how can I be alLod due process if I am not informed of what exactly I did or said to violate the code of conduct? With the city threatening to make the charges public, I decide to inform my neighbors instead during public comment. Everyone is now aware of the city's investigation against me. Another council member issues a threat against me, now against my personal life. I inform the attorney of the second threat and explain this is why I need to know what I'm charged with, so I can protect myself. I question whether this investigation is real, as typically the purpose of an investigation such as this would be correction and improvement. However, how can the accused correct or improve her behavior if she does not know what she did wrong?

The attorney informs me there are concerns I may retaliate if I was told what I did wrong. I detailed specific acts of retaliation and threats made against me.

Yet the city is worried about me getting back at other people. I tell the city I am fearful for my life and safety.

The city does nothing to protect me and considers me the threat instead. Me, one person against all of you. That's why you can't tell me what I'm being accused of.

Of course, now that I'm found guilty of the charges and the document is public record subject to release,

The city has no problem going into great detail about what I was accused of saying and doing to violate the city's code of conduct. A public document filled with half-truths and lies in an attempt to slatter my reputation. So what does it say? I was found guilty of entering a confidential briefing where I was not authorized to be. I was escorted by an officer into this briefing, and when asked to leave, I left. I was never informed there was an emergency meeting of the council, so how could I have known I was not supposed to be there? And how can I be found guilty of this violation? While I agree I used inappropriate language in describing the city manager's actions against me as effed up and effing disrespectful, I never used those terms against anyone or their character and was only describing one man's actions. To witness number two, I do not believe I am more important than anyone. Being elected by more people only means that I'm accountable to more people, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I'm just trying to do my job.

To witnesses four and five, I never said I think the city council are effing idiots and morons. I totally get why you might think that, but I never said that.

The council didn't do anything. They have no part in the action of the city manager that day, so why would I blame them or speak poorly of them? To witness number five, you misheard me. I didn't tell you to do your effing job. I don't even know what your job is. I said the city manager should do his effing job. Agreed again, I shouldn't have used the F word. In sending an email to the city manager asking him to respect my position as the elected city clerk by please keeping me informed of any public incidents and copying the city attorney, council, and police chief, I was found guilty of abusive conduct and for attempting to direct the work of the city manager. Knowing the council directs the work of the city manager, I purposely copied all of you so that you would be aware of my request and what had occurred. The code of conduct should not be used as a means of intimidating people from speaking up and asking for things.

Threatening to charge people with violation of the code of conduct just because they're trying to do their job and are asking for support in doing so is what should be considered indecent, unethical, and a violation of moral conduct.

For some, it can even be perceived as abuse of power.

Lastly, and most hurtful, I was found guilty of violating city governance.

for speaking to a witness of the shooting. Our city paid an attorney to watch hours of video footage

to find me in the lobby speaking to a witness.

So what did the witness and I discuss that was so egregious the city had to charge me?

I still hear his phone ringing. Sadly, he was among the deceased, and I later learned from the officers on site that they too heard the phones ringing on the deceased bodies.

I can't erase this image from my mind. I am forever scarred by this. How is common decency and compassion for other human beings considered a violation of city governance?

This is not the standard of care that we want for our city and that we punish our people for. In front of the cameras, you all pat each other on each other's backs and tell each other what a great job you did handling the shooting, while behind the scenes, you reprimand me for helping a victim. So many of you were aware of these charges and what was going on, and no one had the courage to ask questions or speak up.

That's scary. I hope it doesn't happen to you.

here's my written response neighbors I know this didn't make a lot of sense I barely had enough time to get through this so if you want to see it'll be

attached to today's meeting minutes you can view it online

is there any more public comment no more speakers

we'll go ahead and jump into staff communications I know we have a

presentation from the library

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council members. My name is Victor Castellanos, and I am the Adult Literacy Coordinator. Today, tonight, I'd like to talk a little bit about our summer reading program that just wrapped up on Saturday. This year's program was attended by over 1,800 attendees, not to mention over 1,000 people registered for the Summer Reading Program Challenge, and they've logged in over 17,700 hours of reading. The theme for this year was Find Your Voice. And for the past couple months inside the library, children, teens, and adults expressed themselves and found themselves

through library events,

encouraging singing and dancing,

writing and coding,

and even playing and exploring.

On the photos that you see above,

we have pictures from our junior maestros,

our Lego coding class,

and even an open mic karaoke. There was something for everyone inside the library. There was also something for everyone outside of the library, and we want to give a huge thank you for recreation staff for helping us with events at the Langley Senior Center, who helped coordinate bus trips to the beach, and helped us celebrate the end of the summer reading program with a big pool party at George Elder Park. We also want to express our thanks to Mayor Pro Tem Wong and Council Member Lo for visiting the library's Junior Friends volunteer group. Thank you for showing the volunteer group how to find their voice through civic engagement. And now, looking forward, we have a few big events coming soon. First, as was discussed earlier, is our classic film event on Saturday, August 12th. We are thrilled to have Golden Globe nominee France Nguyen in attendance to discuss her role in the classic film The Joy Luck Club with film historian Foster Hirsch. Second, registration has begun for our fall semester of ESL classes, and these begin on August 15. The classes are 16 weeks long, and we have classes for beginning, intermediate, and advanced adult learners. Not to mention, we also provide ongoing one-on-one tutoring, conversation groups, book clubs, writing clubs, and citizenship preparation practice. Third, our library is hosting the Educator Night on Tuesday, September 5th. Educators who work or live in Monterey Park are invited to come to their library and meet with their librarians to talk about their classroom needs. and to learn about library services for grades K through 12. And finally, on October 13, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Luminaria's, everyone is invited to the Monterey Park Library Foundation Gala, where we are honoring the Monterey Park Fire and Police Departments. Please check our website for more information on how to purchase individual tickets or sponsor a table.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much for that information.

Are there any questions or comments from Council?

Okay.

Well, thank you so much for all of the events.

We look forward to a lot of those. Thank you so much.

I know we have another staff communication from Public Works.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council.

Sean Igo, Public Works Director.

Next slide, please.

Tonight I want to give you a brief overview of our recently launched Geographic Information System mapping for our CIP program.

Next slide, please.

So this map, this GIS map actually gives an overview of our CIP program. It's an interactive map that you can click on several of the icons and see what projects are going on. This particular slide gives an overview of the entire city and the projects we have going on throughout the city.

Next slide, please. You can also search by address.

So this gives you opportunity for residents, businesses, whoever, to actually search by address to see what's going on around them or going on around a specific location such as a park or like this is depicted around City Hall.

Next slide, please. You can also search by project type.

So this gives the opportunity to search by what type of projects we have going on for the specific fiscal year. So if you look at the upper right-hand corner, it gives you an icon that looks like a folder. that drop-down gives you an overview of what's going on for that fiscal year. So there's two there currently for last fiscal year and this current fiscal year. Additionally, next to that is an icon that gives a legend, so it shows the types of projects we have going on. So you have different icons such as circles, squares. That will give you an overview of what we actually have going on.

Next slide, please.

Here you have the project details. So this actually gets into what we have going on for that specific project. So as you click on a symbol or an icon, It'll give you a breakdown of what the project is what type of project is the project manager and additionally some attachments So if you click on the attachments, it'll actually give you more details about that specific project So we're excited to launch this program for our residents for business owners Anyone else that wants to see what we have going on in the city big thanks to the public works engineering team that put this together We'll continue to update this as we have projects going on and with that I'll answer any questions

Thank you for that map. I think it's very great and informative. Any questions from Council?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Again, this is a great tool for many of our residents who are often wondering about projects

that are taking place. I think this is really informative.

My question is this.

Is it only accessible via the city website or can they download an app and look at it? Currently this is only available on the city website.

Are we able to eventually put in an app?

We can look at that and see if that's something that we can do.

Again, you know, because, I mean, after all, we direct people to, you know, go to our MPK app and shop MPK.

And, you know, most people, you know, utilize their phones. I think that it would be a useful tool as well.

You can access it from your phone. Oh, you mean accesses on your phone? It's not an application. It's still the website. So you go to the website. Okay. Yeah.

So if you go onto the website, it's under Public Works and then under CIP. So if you scroll through that process, you can still access the map.

And there's no limitation of function?

Because I think that one reason why you have an app version is because sometimes accessing a website through your phone, for example, you may lose some utilities.

But you're saying there's no loss of utilities?

We haven't seen any yet, but we can start going through all the details to see if there's any limitations.

Okay, thank you. Mayor? Any other questions? Yes.

Sorry, if I may, I think the other thing that we can do is we could add it to the GoMPK. The landing page of GoMPK has some applets on there in the front, the home page. We can link that so that it's a clickable link that will take you. It's going to take you to the website, but at least it's more direct and describe it there. So we can definitely add that as an option.

Any other council members?

Thanks for the map.

So it looks like it's an interactive map where you can click on it and it tells you construction For seven days and then by day seven it will say construction is delayed one more day or construction is complete is that

Might not be that specific, but we will definitely give come expected completion dates and start dates. Okay, so it'll be updated

Yes, we do update this and I guess folks who are really tech savvy and I know we have a lot of those in the city they can pull that information and share with their neighbors and in Maori Park Life or whatever social media they have and say this is what's going on so you can see it the day before or the day after depending on the events or the project.

Yeah, they can share this via their website link.

Great, thank you. Thanks, Sean.

I'll echo what the others have said in terms of how exciting this is. I think this is great to be able to share more in real time for residents and others to just see what's going on in the city, public works wise and infrastructure wise along those same lines as the city manager mentioned can we add a button to the home page of the website so that they can just go directly to

something like this I don't know if that's hard but that I don't know we can definitely take a

look yeah just to make it more accessible I think we get I mean I know the city sends out notifications when there are some public works projects and then I know we've been posting on social media, but we can just find ways to make this kind of data more accessible, support

that.

And if there's a way to integrate this map into GoMPK as opposed to just a link, I think that would be very cool. And then eventually to translate some of the materials into Spanish and Chinese and other languages at some future point, I think that would be helpful too. Is there any way to integrate or any thoughts to integrate? Emergency repairs or other situations like that into a map like this too

It'd be hard to do to give real-time data because we don't have a dedicated GIS staff member It'd be kind of hard to update especially After hours and things like that, but we can definitely look to see how easily we can integrate that up during normal working hours

Yeah, no, I because that would be just as an example at the last city council meeting where there's a major gas leak on Atlantic by Times Square, to be able to put that on that map and people can check that

and see, oh, the gas leak,

and if there's an estimated time of reopening. I know some of that might be gas, or whoever the utility is too.

Yeah, GIS is very robust and you can have a ton of layers. So this one was specifically focused for CIP. We can look at other layers that we can create for such things like that to hopefully notify the public.

Yeah, we'd love to get to a future state where we can integrate that more. And then was this built all in-house or do we go to a consultant to build this?

This was completely built in-house.

Perfect. That's great. Appreciate it. Thank you. Keep up this kind of work. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Sean, for this. And I just had one quick question.

Is there a way to embed or to kind of add a picture or an image of what the construction or the project is looking like?

So updated pictures?

Yeah.

I mean, just so people can also get an idea. Like, I'm not sure if you can embed it in that pop-up window that you have or even if

it's like an attached image we can look at that so the attachment that's on there now so if you

click on it gives a quick brief update or overview of the project and it also has a picture of the project location of what it is currently but if you're looking for updated as it's going we can look at that depending on the project it might you know be something we can do if it's a quick seven-day project it might not make sense to give updates like that but we can look at updating there each thing we are working on updating our cip completion forms that we'll have before and after pictures we might be able to embed that document into the GIS. Okay great

and then just to Councilman Ngo's point have we shared this already on social

media or we plan to share it on social media? We have not yet but we will. Okay excellent thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you and our next staff communication recreation and community services. Good evening Mayor Sanchez and

members of the city council. My name is Memo Chavez, Recreation Supervisor with the Recreation Department. I want to begin by thanking those that came out to three of our most recent events. The first one was Movie Night at Barnes Park, which featured Back to the Future, and the two

others that were Langley Center events. One was our monthly Dance Social, which was themed Christmas

in July, which had over 100 participants, and the trip to the Academy of Motion Pictures on July 20th, again, a trip that was offered by the Langley Center. So thank you to those that came out and supported those events, and we hope that you continue to support our events as well. So next slide, please.

Next, I'd like to inform everyone that during these hot summer days, the Langley Center and the library will be offering cooling centers. If it's 95 degrees or higher for two consecutive days, Langley Center and the library will offer cooling centers at their facilities. Langley Center cooling hours are 10 to 6 on Mondays,

Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and 10 to 8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And library hours are 10 to 6 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 12 to 8 on Tuesdays.

Estialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialialial years or older to participate, and there will be a live country band, which will entertain all the cowboys and cowgirls at the event. Next slide, please. Another activity offered by the Recreation Department is the How Do You Rec Activity. Simply share your photos of how you utilize the parks, whether it be by picnicking, riding your bike, playing sports, or any other recreational activity, and email your photo to recreation at montereypark.ca.gov, and if your photo is shared, you'd win a prize. Next slide, please.

And some upcoming events for the month of September. Save the date for the month of September, which is Hispanic Heritage Month.

As you can see, we have quite a few events coming up. We'll have more information on these events in the future, and you can always get information by following us on social media at Monterey Park Rec.

Next slide, please. And thank you for having me share these updates with you, and don't forget to follow Recreation on social media at Monterey Park Rec. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for all those updates and all the great programming that you guys do through your department.

Any questions or comments from Council? Sure, Mr. Mayor.

Again, as always, applause for your department for quality programming for our community. You know, I think oftentimes, at least for myself, like when people ask, you know, relating to the January 21st tragedy of, you know, how has this community been able to heal and move forward? I said, you know what, by committing itself to the programming that we've all come to expect. And I think that every time we put on an event that attracts people from not just the city but the region, it's a demonstration of our resolve and our commitment to moving forward and healing.

Thank you. Thank you.

Are there questions? Councilmember Ngo?

I want to echo the sentiments of what Councilmember Loll said. And you guys do a fantastic job on social media. I love the music, the IG, just amazing what you guys are doing out there and getting the community to come out despite the heat and the heavy burn and the sunlight, just getting folks, all the parks are busy. Even last night on National Night Out, I know it's more of a police thing, but you guys did an excellent job setting up and helping Barnes Park get ready for a huge event.

Thank you. So thanks for all you do. Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you to the recreation department. I appreciate the update and all that you guys are doing for our community and our residents in terms of programming. On the cooling center, just the question, I know it's a matter of staffing and resources, but when we do open the cooling centers, I know if they are during regular business hours, there are activities for folks who want to come out and utilize the cooling center. But when we open Langley outside of business hours for cooling center, Or is there a way to integrate some sort of activity so people don't just have to sit around and have nothing to do? And can we look at what those opportunities might be?

Sure.

I mean, if people come during closed business hours and they come to the cooling center, I'm only speaking of Langley Center because I'm not exactly sure what happens at the library.

But if they want to, you know, partake in ping pong or pool, they're more than welcome to do so.

We also have the TV there. I know the World Cup or women's soccer is going on.

We sometimes put that on, and they can enjoy that activity as well.

So, you know, we can look into offering other types of activities when we're open during the cooling center time. Great.

And do you know, I don't know if you know offhand, when we activated the cooling centers, I think this past weekend, about how many people kind of came out?

They come in and out, so it's kind of difficult to say. And, again, most of the time it's during business hours.

So it could be anywhere from 10 to 30 people or so is what we've had these past couple of weeks.

All right.

That's good to know.

I'm sure as it gets actually even hotter, I think people will come out. I just want to make sure they don't have to just sit around and do nothing.

But I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And then also I just had a follow-up question about the Colleen Centers. I know that I've seen that we've posted them on social media. Is there another way that we are communicating with residents about that the cooling centers have been activated?

Well, social media, I know we post a lot of flyers around our facilities. I believe our website has that information as well.

I guess my question is, other than social media, is there a different way that we could potentially communicate with the community who might not be on social media, for example, especially like maybe our older residents?

stuff like that. Mayor, members of the City Council,

I believe we also post flyers about the cooling center

at the library and at Langley Center

to make sure that our residents that visit those facilities know that there's a cooling center available on warm days. What we can do is we could additionally, it's on the website, but we could also make sure that we put it in the Cascades newsletter as well,

just so that people are aware.

And we will put the thresholds and where to look for that those announcements when they come out.

Mr. Mayor? Yes.

Actually, I just thought of a suggestion too, but especially given that to some people

who may not be comfortable using social media platforms,

I think many times people still rely on just making a phone call. And I know that, I'm presuming that, you know, after hours we have recorded messages. I don't know if it will be too much of an effort, but for example, at the cooling centers to maybe add a message if someone calls. You know, I mean, at the very least,

when they listen to a message, they can hear,

oh, and by the way, this weekend, we are holding cooling center hours because, again, I always think of my mother. I mean, my mom, probably her basic way of communicating with us is through a landline. Not even a landline, like many people her age,

I would imagine, so.

Yeah. Mayor Potemac?

And just an additional suggestion.

I don't know if we've utilized our media list especially the ethnic media list and maybe this is something we announce When we do activate the cooling centers. I know some of them do Compile lists of cooling centers in different neighborhoods for and that would be an easy way radio or or even print Daily print to get the word out about some of our cooling centers I think some of them already helped get that the word out for other cooling centers

thank you for that and then the last thing I'm just suggesting would just be the

go NPK app if there's any way to put an update there and I think that you know as climate change begins to get worse and we have more and more hotter days as we are starting to witness that we start looking at ways that we can you know not just offer more cooling center days but also be able to communicate those with our community thank you so much

thank you very much

I say that we have a presentation, a update from the Monterey Park Community Healing Fund.

Good evening, Council. City Manager and Assistant City Attorney.

How are you today?

I wanted to update you.

We have raised $70,000. So we had a big jump.

Thank you. Happy birthday, Henry Lo.

He had made the announcement during his birthday, so we did get a big jump in donations at that time.

We also have our website up. We just created it.

It's linked to the Monterey Park website.

If you see it up on the overhead projector,

and that takes you to the link to the Monterey Park Community Healing Fund.

On the website, you can get to the applications.

There are grants available, victim compensation grants, community project grants, and there's also links for resources.

Initially, we had the close of the applications for July 31st,

But since we were able to create a website, we are going to extend it one month. So we are accepting additional applications, if they're still out there, until August 31st.

So if you believe that you may qualify for a grant, please apply. Go to the website. If you have any questions, please go to Contact Us, which is below.

You can send us an email. And then we could kind of walk you through the application to see if you qualify.

Any questions?

Thank you, Amy, for that update.

Any questions or comments from the council?

Council Member Lo? Thank you, Mr. Ridd.

Again, just thank you, Madam Scherzer, for that presentation update.

And, yeah, let's just continue to push the website and our own networks to, you know,

enhance the resources we have for our community as they are collectively working through trauma

and trying to collectively heal together.

Heather. The great thing is that people are still recognizing the pain that our city has suffered.

There's donations coming in from all parts of the country, again, internationally.

Sometimes we get donations from a school in Indiana or even Florida, so it's nice, and we thank the people that are out there that are thinking of Monterey Park and their residents.

Actually, I also want to thank the California Community Foundation, which has been our fiscal age.

And the reason I bring it up is because, well, again, those who did attend my birthday party,

because we had checks and I didn't know what to do with them,

they were very walking me through where to deposit them and what to do with them so that it's all on record.

So I just want to thank CCF as well for also partnering with us.

Again, to the community, we are still accepting donations, so if you feel inclined, please make a donation. It can be done through the website, through the city website, or through the Monterey Park Community Healing website.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any more other questions or comments from Council? Mayor Potem Wong?

Yeah, thank you, Amy.

I appreciate you and the whole steering committee for continuing these efforts and continuing to support all of these efforts. I don't know if you have an update to give on the status of the grants or the mini-grants process that you guys are doing.

I don't know if you can provide that.

We're supposed to have all the applications by the 31st

and make distributions by the end of August. But because we have the website, we are going to extend it out to August 31st

so we could get additional applications in.

But in the meantime, we will be making some distributions if they have been approved. They haven't been done yet.

Have there been a lot of applications already?

or there's about 40 applications at this point okay and then do you know what do you have an

expected amount that you'll be granting out or that's dependent on how many people actually

that will depend yes thank you thank you thank you Amy for that report thank you appreciate your

help with this and I also wanted to thank our council member Henry Lo for you know using his birthday as an opportunity to fundraise for our healing fund thank you Henry we'll go ahead and jump to consent calendar items 3A through 3F. And I wanted to ask council if there are any items you would like to pull for discussion.

I will pull 3A for the staff report,

3C, and 3E.

Okay, 3A, 3C, and 3E.

And I'm not hearing any other items being pulled.

I'll move to the other items for approval.

Anyone want a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member Ngo. If we can take a vote, please.

Can we vote again? Thank you.

Approved unanimously. Thank you so much.

And is there a staff report for item 3A?

Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council, if we could be for each item, just for clarification, just let staff know if you'd like to hear the whole report or if you just have a question.

That would be helpful.

Not sure this is the second reading item, so we will, is Council requesting a?

Just a very quick highlight.

Okay, understood. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

THANK YOU FOR THE WAIT.

WE'RE JUST PULLING UP THE PRESENTATION.

OKAY. IN THE INTERIM...

I'm Kristen Olivares, interim city librarian. The staff report you have in front of you tonight is a request to accept and appropriate grant funds into the 2023-24 fiscal year budget. The library was awarded $34,976 in California Library Literacy Services grant funding for language, sorry, Library English as a Second Language Programming. this is the second year that the lamp literacy program has been awarded this grant which is be used to fund ESL classes and I'm happy to answer any

questions thank you for that any questions or comments from council mayor

for 10 one thanks Kristen I appreciate the library and your efforts I know it was reported on earlier around the literacy program as well this is a great program provides amazing service to our community and those that are looking to improve their English skills and especially for an immigrant heavy community like ours I think a lot obviously from the staff report right hundreds of people make use of this program every every year and it's free

right to anyone that wants to sign up yes it is do we do anything to thank the

volunteer tutors and others that are helping support the program so if I may

Victor Castellanos is actually our literacy coordinator, so he could speak a little bit more to that.

Yeah, every year at the end of the year, we give a lot of free giveaways, and we thank the volunteers for their time.

We also keep track of when they started. So at their anniversary mark, we write letters of thanks to all the volunteers in our literacy program, and we mail it to them. so yes our tutors are instrumental in what we are able to accomplish so ideally maybe sometime in

the future we can do a big potluck with everyone but that'll be you know in the works yeah no I

appreciate that and and the larger point I wanted to make was I would love to see if we can as a city support some sort of volunteer thank you event for not just the lamp volunteers but for anyone who volunteers for the city once a year or something where we at least feed them and find some time to honor their service. And then my other point on this is I appreciate this program and I appreciate that we went after this grant funding. It looks like it will be available for at least the next few years. If there are opportunities or a need for us to advocate for the state to continue this funding into the future, I think let's look and explore but those opportunities to call for this funding to continue going forward that would be helpful and if there are other funding sources that might be available to supplement the support for this program going in the future would encourage us applying and pursuing those funds as well to see if we can expand this program and make it even better That's all I have happy to move

I just wanted to add something

I appreciate all the work that you guys are doing and all the programming. I was at a birthday party with my daughters this weekend, and one of my neighbors was talking very highly of the library and the program that you have, and they're talking about librarian Diana, Miss Diana, they called her, and all the amazing work that they did. They have three daughters, so I wanted to make sure that I shared that with you, Diana, and the library staff about the amazing work that you do. So appreciate all the programming, and that's obviously very evident in the program that you do.

So appreciate your work.

Thank you.

I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE ITEM.

I'LL SECOND. AND IF WE CAN TAKE A QUICK VOTE.

APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.

THANK YOU. AND WE'LL GO AHEAD AND JUMP BACK TO ITEM 3A, THE FIREARM PROTECTION ZONE.

IF WE CAN DO A QUICK BRIEFING. Thank you. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council members, good evening. Today, you are being presented with a second reading of a proposed ordinance to amend the Monterey Park Municipal Code to add a Chapter 21.55, which creates a firearm buffer zone known as health protection zones within the city, restricting gun sales and firearms dealers within 1,000 feet of what is defined as sensitive receptors. Sensitive receptors are defined essentially as any residences, hospitals, any educational facilities or institutions, playgrounds, parks, and other sensitive areas where people congregate or receive health care or are housed related to health care.

we have maps and you've seen these maps and

diagrams before to recap this is of course primarily responsive to the mass casualty incident of

January of this year that resulted in the murder of 11

innocent lives and 9 more seriously injured not to mention

the severe trauma inflicted on the entire community and frankly the nation.

And so the city council directed the city manager and the city attorney to present some options

that were available to the city to address and hopefully further protect its citizens and residents and those within the city.

the proposed amendment to the municipal code as mentioned creates these 1,000 foot buffer zones

there are some exceptions that need to be recognized first there are two firearms dealers currently within the city while they would be considered not

compliant with these thousand foot buffer zones because they pre-exist they would be considered

legal non-conforming and would be alLod to remain. Further we have shopping center zones

we have three designated areas that are shopping center zones. Firearm sales even though firearms sales within the shopping center zones would encroach on the thousand foot buffer.

It would still be available pursuant to approval of a conditional use permit through the planning

commission and or the city council.

The effect of this is that the goal is to prevent the availability of guns within areas deemed to be sensitive receptors,

and specifically, as mentioned, to protect the citizens and residents and guests of the city.

There's no anticipated fiscal effect on the city. there are no pending business licenses or other businesses looking to open any firearms sales within the city. So this would be obviously prospective to any new gun dealers must be compliant with the 1,000-foot buffer. With that, a basic overview.

I am open to any questions you may have regarding this proposed amendment to the municipal code.

Thank you for that brief report. Any questions or comments from Council? Mr. Mayor, yes. Council Member Lo. Thank you for that brief recap.

I mean, I'm in favor of adopting this ordinance. And I know at our last council meeting in which we had discussion, there were also, at least from some of us, questions about what else can we do. And I know that there are some ordinances that, if I recall, may be subject to constitutional challenge, such as storage of firearms. But nonetheless, I think that as a city, we need to continue to explore what are safety measures, safeguards, preventative measures that we can continue to do as a city at our level. because I think that while people still remember what happened in Monterey Park on January 21st, I think that what we do may also encourage other municipal governments to do the same thing and hopefully also put pressure on our federal leaders in Congress, especially when we all know that nationally there still is the lapse of a ban on assault weapons which has been lapsed since I think 2004, you know, and, and, and again, I think we need to continue to just adopt measures that we can at our level.

So thank you, council member low. Any other questions or comments from council? Uh, mayor for 10 one.

Thank you to the city here.

And I know that we are the attorney's offices continuing to look at and research those other measures we talked about the last council meeting. So look forward to those coming back, um, on this specific measure. I don't know if you know offhand has LA County already adopted because I know we took this template from LA County's ordinance for Unincorporated County. I don't have they already adopted this this measure

I I'm sorry. I I do not know the current status of that

Perhaps the city manager might know but I'm not I don't I don't believe I don't know one way or the other so I would have to get back to you on that.

Yeah, not a big deal.

I think we can, if we can instruct staff to find out, I think that would be just helpful to know. And I'm fully in support as well of this measure and look forward to the other measures coming back. I think once we, I assume, approve this measure tonight, if we can share this language for the ordinance and the research that went into it with our neighboring cities as well, if it hasn't been passed in L.A. County, maybe we can look at efforts to encourage them to pass it and share this ordinance language in the research with our neighboring cities to encourage them to adopt similar restrictions in their own communities so that a gun store doesn't open up just outside of our borders that otherwise would not be alLod to open up.

That's my only comment.

Thank you.

And I also wanted to thank the city attorney's office and staff for coming up with this ordinance. I know that this really keeps gun dealerships or gun dealers away from sensitive receptors. I know that as a parent and as a teacher in this community, I think that's very important to keep our families and our residences and also our schools safe. And this is one way, I think, for us to try to send a message to not just our community, but to our nation as a whole of the necessary measures that we need when it comes to gun control. So I'm happy to move to pass this ordinance.

I'll second.

Seconded.

If we can please take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Thank you.

We'll go ahead and jump to item 3E, the third amendment to agreement 2260A. Did we need a detailed report or abbreviated?

Abbreviated staff report would be perfectly fine.

Thank you, Sean.

Sure. Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor of Pro Tems, City Council, Sean Igoe, Public Works Director. Tonight you have before you an item to authorize the interim city manager to execute a third amendment agreement with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, or the COG, for our regional food recovery program. This item is to help us to meet the obligations of SB 1383, which is to reduce food waste and organic waste in landfills and to increase recovery of current disposal edible foods that are used for human consumption. So we do have an obligation to meet SB 1383, and there's certain stipulations we have to meet every year. By 2025, we're supposed to reduce our numbers by 20%. So this is an organization we work with regularly, on various items, including this one, and also with Athens, to meet our obligations for 1383. So with that, I'll answer any questions.

Any questions or comments from Council?

Mayor Portemone?

Council Member Lo? Yes.

Out of curiosity, and I know, again, the staff report,

but walk me through this program when organic edibles or food is recovered.

how do we make sure then it gets to those who need it?

So part of the program is actually we don't ensure that's the cog. They work with agencies and companies that will actually distribute those foods to people that may need it. So obviously there's food that's wasted, and so this program is to help take that food in

and hopefully distribute it to people in need.

And I'm assuming they are working with regional food banks in the area?

There's specific criteria that have to be met for SB 1383. So if they are doing that, then they would have to meet certain guidelines.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments from Council? Council Member Ngo?

I'll make a motion to move it.

Mayor Forten Wong, do you have comments?

Yeah, I'll second.

But also, yeah, Sean, I don't know if you know.

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close yeah we work with them constantly who to know and yeah it's are we doing I

know we had and we've given out the compost or the organic waste containers and we've been doing some outreach on that the community in terms of putting organic waste that is compost compostable nor green bins are there any other efforts planned as part of this effort or others or through Athens as well in terms of continuing to encourage organic waste diversion? Yeah, we'll continue to work with Athens. We

actually do work with Athens on a regular basis to really focus on multifamily commercial businesses because they obviously produce the most and so we're constantly working with them. We had a third party that we were working with as well so we try to find different measures to

work with the community to encourage them to

you know with their organic waste. Great. Thank you.

And I'll make the second to Council Member Gose motion if there's no other comment. Okay.

So it's been seconded. So if

we can take a vote.

Approved unanimously. Thank you.

So we'll

go ahead and head in. Thank you Sean for that.

And we're going to head

into public hearing for item for a consideration of costs resulting from abating weed nuances and authorizing collection via special assessment. So I'll go ahead and open public hearing.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. Tonight before you is the final step in the City's weed abatement process where the Council is to consider approving the County's costs related to abatement and directing that these costs be collected via special assessment. In the 22-23 weed abatement cycle, we had 1,569 parcels that were identified as public nuisances. Of those totals, five required abatement by the county. Of the remaining 1,564 parcels, they were assessed. The flat county established annual inspection fee of $48.09, bringing the grand total of the weed abatement cost to just under $90,000. point of clarification is that we contract with the county of los angeles for this so there is

no fiscal impact to the city of monterey park an additional point of clarification is there are addresses in the declaration list that are non-monterey park addresses those are simply mailing addresses or property owner addresses for those properties with that i'd be happy to answer any questions you have about the weed abatement process. Any questions or comments from Council? No?

Okay.

I don't know if we have to close public comment before I make a motion or if I can just make a motion.

Are there any public comments? No comments. Okay. There are public comments.

I'll make the motion to approve

the item. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Yu. If we can please take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Thank you.

There are no new business items, so we'll go ahead and jump to city communications. And we'll start with Council Member Lo.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let's see.

So for my report, on July 20th, I participated in a virtual town hall organized by API Victory Fund. This is the same organization that had organized an anti-gun violence conference in Washington, D.C.,

which I traveled to a few weeks ago.

And so at this virtual town hall, the topic was how communities are healing. And so I gave a report about some of our activities, some of our efforts, such as creating the Community Healing Fund, not to mention our partnerships,

like the pro bono legal clinic we did with the Asian American Bar Association.

So it was virtual, but nonetheless, you know, any opportunity I have to discuss how our community is recovering from January 21st, I'm always happy to do so. Then the next day, on the 21st, I and some of my colleagues will probably report the

same thing.

We joined Congressman Chu when she announced her legislation regarding funding for red

flag laws in other languages.

And again, we just thank the congressman for her efforts and support for our community. On the following week on the 25th, I and Mayor Pro Tem attended the Junior Friends Library,

Brighamire Library.

And again, we want to thank the library for having this great mentoring leadership program

for our youth.

And it was a pleasure and honor to share my experiences to the group. And hopefully it was something that resonated with the audience. And then I also want to thank our NET team for showing me around the city and especially places where our Community Engagement Bureau has been working with our homeless population to try and get them services as well as meet community concerns about homelessness in our city. And, you know, for me, it's always important to always, you know, hear about the human side when it comes to homelessness. And I think, you know, during our drive around the city, there was one stop at Sierra Vista Park in which I got to meet a gentleman who is homeless, but he's actually a homeless veteran, a naval officer. and he actually does have housing and service through the VA, but he also is dealing with addiction issues

and that has really, you know, unfortunately,

I think caused him to repeatedly be homeless, you know, but I think that's the human face of the challenges we have

and why when we are talking about homelessness,

It is about providing the assistance because I think, as one officer explained to me,

oftentimes it is mental health issues that contributes to homelessness, and that's something that we as a community need to just focus on helping those in need. And then lastly, again, congratulations to our police department and our community for coming out yesterday for a national night out.

It was great to see so many people out to show appreciation for our police department,

our first responders, and again, that includes also our fire paramedics who were there as well. I also want to thank those in community who took the time to stop by our police department booth and to express interest in participating in our Neighborhood Watch program. I think that oftentimes we want to encourage our residents to be part of the solution,

the conversation, and helping our communities be safe.

And so, again, just thank you for all those community residents who expressed interest in participating in the Neighborhood Watch Program. And that is for me. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Lo. Council Member Yu? Yesterday we had a fantastic time at the National Night Out event. The highlight for me was the car chasing demonstrations put on by the impressive Watts team. It was an opportunity to learn more about our dedicated law enforcement professionals and greatly appreciate their efforts. On the previous Friday, we had the pleasure of hosting two Japanese exchange students from our sister city.

We had a delightful time sharing various cuisines and discussing restaurant recommendations.

Additionally, I inquired about their favorite cartoon character, which led to some interesting conversations and insights into each other's culture. Last Monday, I had the privilege of attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the City of Industry Underpass, hosted by the St. Gabriel Valley Council of Government. The construction had been in progress for several years, so it was truly thrilling to finally witness the complete project. So that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Ngo?

All right. I'm going to have a lot of repeats. So we started off on the 22nd with Chef Tony's dim sum opening at the Marriott.

That's right.

Great event, line dance and all. I think there were probably 300 people that morning as guests of Chef Tony. and that's not including the folks who actually went there for the actual dim sum. On the 21st, most of us attended Congresswoman Chu's red flag laws in front of Stardance, a reminder of what happened over six months ago for us. On the 26th, I think a few of us attended. Assemblymember Mike Fong's, I guess this is a roundtable, in regards to Senate Bill 1186, which is a cannabis medicinal medicine rules which becomes a fact or takes effect on January 1st, 2024. Our interim city manager was there along with our police representative. We need to be proactive here. we'll probably do some research behind the scenes here and then we'll agendize this item for discussion so that's what's

happening there

National Night Out was last night and that was an

epic event

right Scott? epic

so I don't know how you're going to do epic next year

but great event

Lots of folks show up, residents, despite the heat, they all came out. I think we were out of hot dogs by about 7.30. So that's a good showing. Earlier this morning, I attended the Asian World Estate Association of America, a super summit. So I spoke a little bit about the state of the market in terms of real estate. and I was privileged to present a gallantry award to Brandon Say who many of you remember came and was the hero in Alhambra who stopped the second

potential shooting at Lai Lai so that's my wrap-up thank you

Thank You Councilmember Ngo. Mayor Portem Wong? Yeah I actually am looking forward to

how Chief Weiss and the Police Department top the epic event from last night. Next year, I very much expect Chief Weiss to fly out of a helicopter to land in the middle of the field or something.

Yeah, good. So looking

forward to that. But again, thank you to the Police Department, Recreation and Community Services Department, and all the city staff that helped put together a very successful event. I think as soon as the sun started to go down, the weather became perfect. And I think we did have a very good turnout of community members who are interested in coming out. Also on Saturday, the 29th, I think a few of us attended the Vincent Price Art Museum at East L.A. College, their annual gala, to raise money to support that nonprofit. And just wanted to highlight this because we do, I think most people here in Mario Park and in the region don't realize that Mario Park has a high quality art museum within our city borders at the Vincent Price Art Museum, which is free for anyone who wants to go during their regular business hours so I encourage everyone to take a look at their exhibits and to take advantage of one of our local treasures in the Vincent Price Art Museum I was really excited to join Councilmember Wo at the Library of Junior Friends to talk to some of these students who are budding volunteers and leaders in our own community look forward to and I'm pleased to the library count on on me and us to support in any way we can those programs and anything else that we can help show up to and to support was really excited to join council members and others at the chef tony opening the newest at least I don't know if it's the newest restaurant in the first district but at least the newest dim sum restaurant in district one in Monterey Park beautiful space and when we were there during the opening we had to go into the bar area because the restaurant was operating and was full. So congratulations to Chef Tony on their opening here in Monterey Park and encourage everyone to go try them and other delicious restaurants that we have

in the city.

And then just ending with the 21st, I've joined other council members at Congresswoman Judy Chu's press conference on her two new bills on red flag law implementation and language

access.

Appreciate her leadership. Since the shooting and even before that, but in following up to the shooting, she's been amazing in bringing federal resources to our community and making sure that attention is being paid to the needs that are here and the resources that we need, including in this latest effort to help provide federal resources for red flag law implementation in communities. And when that passes, we look to staff to pursue some of those funds to see how we can implement gun violence, restraining orders, and red flag law implementation here in Monterey Park and help make that more accessible for people who want to help their own family members and people that they might know who should not have access to guns be able to make use of this law. With that, I'll kind of close my comments and look forward to the next council meeting in two weeks.

Thank you.

I know that many of us attended some of the same events. I did want to talk about the Nachiketsura Sister City event that Councilmember Ngo and Councilmember You attended. I think it's a great opportunity for our city to maintain a lot of these relationships. America. It's also a great environment that we have with foreign countries. But this was a great way to not just extend our relationship but to maintain our great relationship with a lot of these cities. So I look forward to the committee bringing more and creating more opportunities for us to communicate with a lot of our sister cities. I also want to encourage us to try to create some type of delegation and visit Natchi Katsura or any of these other. I know some of our council members would like to visit. I know council member has already volunteered to go to Natchi Katsura. Natchikutsura. So that would be happy too, he says. So if we can, I know that Councilmember Yu is, you know, representative to that commission. He can help us arrange something that would be great, especially with our other also sister cities that we have yet to visit. I also received a letter actually from the mayor of Natchikutsura. So I'm emailing, I'm sorry, I'm sending the letter back to him next maybe sometime next week in response to his letter so we will display that letter out in the display case if you haven't seen there's a display case out there with a lot of Natchikutsura items from previous delegations that have been to Natchikutsura so we'll put the letter up up there so thank you for that opportunity Councilmember Yu for bringing that forward as well thank you I also wanted to mention that this past Saturday, I know Council Member Yu was there as well, we attended Congresswoman Judy Chu's Leadership Award Ceremony in Arcadia. Part of the reason we went was there was a Monterey Park teacher who we've already honored here in our own chambers, Tin Tran, who was honored as Educator of the Year. He is a teacher at Mark Keppel High School. He is the academic decathlon coach. And remember, under his leadership he has, or under his coaching, he's helped Mark Keppel get four county championships. So very well-deserved award on that day. And then lastly, I wanted to commend our chief and the entire police department and our city staff for the amazing national night out event yesterday. We had such a large turnout. Even my in-laws came because they said it was better than the Pasadena one.

But see, it was epic.

And I did want to also personally thank Officer Bob Hung, who actually gave my in-laws and my family a personal tour. Yesterday was actually my wife's birthday, and she thought that I had arranged that for her for her birthday

because it was so well done. So I definitely owe Officer Hung a thank you for that

and maybe some lunch for doing that. But it was extremely, extremely well done, so I appreciate that. I also wanted to read an email that I received this morning from a resident. And she writes, Mayor Sanchez, it was very nice to see you and your young daughter at yesterday's National Night Out. Through our families, we have been residents of Monterey Park since 1959, when the new housing tracts were built. We were very proud to be present at this year's event to honor our police and fire officers who were first responders at the January mass shooting. It was also great to see all the federal, state, and local officials who were in attendance

and to meet our neighbors.

We also enjoyed seeing Officer Estrada from Animal Service who has helped us many times

over the years.

The event was very well attended and very well organized! We enjoyed the rock band and the ladies who were dancing, and the hot dogs were delicious. exclamation point. We were only sorry that we needed to leave prior to the canine exhibition as they are also our heroes. Please accept our sincere appreciation for this event and our ongoing gratitude to everyone who assures that Monterey Park is such a great place to live. So with that, I wanted to end my public comments and thank from the bottom of my heart the police department and our fire department and our first responders who keep our city safe and you are recognized and very well admired and loved by our community. Thank you. And if there are no other comments then we will close our meeting

at 8.04. Who would have thought we'd end at 8.04 so early, right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.