City Council Meeting — April 17, 2024

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right. Good evening.

Welcome to our city council meeting.

Recording in progress.

For April 17th.

We'll start with the

our

the flag.

Yeah, the color guard. Please stand.

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Outward face. Upward face, breeze, and colours,

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

and to the republic, which is one nation, under God,

indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Order, colors.

Outward, face.

Forward, march.

Palsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsals

All right. Thank you. If the council members can join me in front of the days for our civic superstar presentation.

All right.

Thank you so much to Elon Wu, who is a second grader.

What school are you at?

Repeto.

Repeto.

What are the Repeto school mascot?

I don't know. I don't know either, but it's not important.

But thank you so much, Elon, for joining us today and leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Is that your family?

Everybody in here? One, two, right here. Right here.

Family, do you guys want to take a... Oh, no, no. Councilman.

Thank you.

All right, again, thank you to Elon and the family for joining us tonight and for leading

the Pledge of Allegiance.

We'll start off as well with our land acknowledgement. We'd like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as the Tovangaar, 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. We commit to uplifting the Gabriolino Tongva people, invite you to acknowledge their history, and join us in caring for this land. With that we'll start off our meeting We'll call the meeting in order

Flag salute is done

And if we can have the clerk do the roll call

Councilmember Sanchez Here

Councilmember Lo

Here Councilmember Yu Here Mayor Pro Tem Go Present Mayor Wong

Present

All right, so we're all here Any agenda additions, deletions, changes From the council or staff?

No, Mayor.

Council? Is there a desire to move up item, well, move up item 3C,

Tree Memorial Recommendation for Ms. Silly-Li Chen?

Yes, do you need a motion or do you? No.

Okay. No.

All right, so move that up.

Any other items we want to move or take up before consent?

I have a question regarding public comment. How many public comments have been submitted?

Regarding which item?

Just for the public.

22. 22.

Is it all the same subject topic?

This is in regards to one item. Public comment has four.

The other one has 22

Well, why don't we take

The lily the tree memorial item now before public comment and then we can start with public communication from there

Staff brief presentation on that or

We'll take that after

WE HAVE TO TAKE

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE WE START ANY ITEMS.

FIRST SPEAKER, MADELINE ORNELLIS of SEIU Local 721.

Hello. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council members. My name is Madeline Ornelas, and I'm a Children's Library Assistant

here at the Monterey Park Library, as well as the Chapter Board Secretary for SEIU Local 721. I come before you today as a representative of the SEIU Local 721 Chapter.

The SEIU Local 721 Chapter supports the resolution of the Monterey Park City Council supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire to the crisis impacting Gaza. Our chapter hopes that the Council will adopt the ceasefire resolution and urgently do anything in their capacity to alleviate the humanitarian crisis impacting Gaza. We can only hope that adopting this resolution can rectify our delayed support and solidarity for those experiencing violence on a daily basis. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Next speaker. I apologize. I can't read this.

Next speaker after is Ronan Rock.

Hello, my name is Ariel Chung. I am a Korean-American 20 years old, and I am currently an art major attending East Los Angeles College.

I am here to urge you all to pass a resolution for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

as a citizen of Monterey Park, the current crisis in Gaza is not just a conflict, but a genocide

where over 34,262 lives, including more than 14,000 children, have been lost. And there has

been an inadequate response from this community regarding Palestine as a whole. Personally

speaking, as an artist, I have been active on social media, and it is the only way that I have seen any news regarding Palestine and their plight.

In the art community, there have been certain Palestinian artists who I have seen

who had posted that she had lost her eye regarding the conflict.

She had called herself our one-eyed artist and that she was sorry that she would not be drawing anytime soon.

I've not seen any update regarding her status.

I read the last text of another 14-year-old Palestinian artist, Izzy,

who when conversing with her friend has said,

no, I will miss Pokemon Day, just watch. And she didn't make it to Pokemon Day. This was in February.

Surely you have seen the hundreds of artwork circulating around the internet regarding Palestine. Does it not speak to you?

The city has committed to celebrating the many cultures of its people,

and I do not understand why this compassion cannot be extended to our fellow Palestinians in Gaza.

I feel that it's important to also recognize that Palestine,

although it is known as the Middle East here in the West, is in Asia, in fact.

And I feel as though it is important to recognize that fact because we are an Asian-dominant community.

Addressing the situation not only ties our local efforts to national concerns but also stresses the need for immediate action.

We look to your local government representatives

to take decisive and effective action.

Thank you.

I JUST WANT TO NOTE THAT I'M PRETTY SURE THE COUNCIL MEMBER WILL PULL THIS ITEM FROM CONSENT.

IF FOLKS WANT TO WAIT UNTIL THAT ITEM, YOU'RE WELCOME TO. IF NOT, WE WERE WELCOME TO DO IT DURING PUBLIC COMMERCE.

RONAN ROCK.

Good afternoon. My name is Ronan Rock. I am 17 years old, and I am a Japanese-Irish-American and a Monterey Park resident. I'm here to urge you all to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

I grew up with many Arab friends. One of my closest was Lebanese. I remember years ago she had texted me terrified because Israel had struck a place near her family's house in Lebanon, destroying the windows and furniture. I remember her asking me if I believed in an afterlife afterwards.

Being from Hiroshima, my family and I are not strangers to catastrophic bombings and its effects on a person, family, and family lineages. As of January 4th of this year, Israel has dropped around 65,000 tons of bombs on the Gaza Strip, deliberately aiming for residential areas. 65,000 tons of explosives is relatively more than three nuclear bombs, much like the one dropped on Hiroshima. If I were to detail each and every crime against humanity Israel has caused and committed in its over 75 years long pursuit of Palestinian land, I'd need more than one meeting's time. If you want detailed accounts and dates of almost every crime Israel has committed and is committing, this is a QR code to an account that documents just that. I'm tired of governments and those in power who claim to represent us continuing to ignore the cries of the people in order to hold up status quo. I'm tired of having emailed my Congress members demanding a ceasefire only to get a reply back stating Israel has a right to defend itself, a group of people who has no actual army, a group of people that almost half of its population is children. I'm tired of watching as the IDF uses trafficking tactics like audio recordings of children's cries to lure people out to shoot. I am tired the government continues to refuse to recognize the blatant and most documented genocide that is happening in front of our eyes. Over 34,262 people killed, over 14,000 of which are children. How many more lives need to be taken for someone to listen? I'm tired of feeling helpless. This is something I can do now. I stand before you demanding a call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and a few recommendations of an edit to the resolution. Edit the title to say supporting an immediate and permanent bilateral ceasefire to the humanitarian crisis impacting the territories of the West Bank and Gaza and Israel. And to include in Section 1D a reflection of the sheer number of martyrs this genocide has caused. Millions more lives are in danger if we continue to turn a blind eye. Over two million Gazans are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger, a hunger we cannot even begin to fathom if described. If we continue to let capitalist corporate greed guide our humanity, what gives us the right to continue to call it humanity? Cease fire now. Free Palestine. Thank you.

Next speaker. Nedao Huda.

Good evening. We the people. We don't live in a police state, neither a police city yet. Moreover, a city controlled by a police according to their tyrant thinking and to their ignorant behavior. not even according to the Constitution and not even according to the rules of the laws. And we the people will not tolerate that behavior at all.

And we the people will make everyone who behaves that way accountable for their action, whoever they are, and we the people will make all of you face all the consequences according to the institution and according to the rule of the law. I repeat

again, we don't live in a police state or a police city, yet city controlled by

the police and the police ego psychologically and mentally sick. When any officer at all rank and position acted unprofessionally, we the people will remind you with the following. The state of California does not have a stop unidentified statue requiring you to produce identification to the police when they ask. Just because the police ask you for your ID doesn't mean that you have to show it. The police cannot force you to show your ID without cause, so they cannot arrest you for simply refusing to identify yourself. In California, police officer and law enforcement can only require your identification when they have reasonable belief that

A. A crime has been committed. B. A crime is currently being committed. C. A crime is about to be committed. I've been stopped by

Sergeant Cole himself quota badge number 434 when I was when I was walking in the street without

violating my civil right and violating the Constitution itself. He asked me,

do you live around here? He has no right to ask me that. He asked me, where do you live? He has no right to ask me that without any reason, just because I was walking in the street.

Not only that, after I told him the state of California, it's not ID state, he went around.

So many times asked the people around who is working, and he's walking around. They asked him to provide their ID and to show why they are around here and walking around the street. He has no right.

He must be demoted according to the law. And if this is going to happen, we're going to have more problems with the police department. And we'll make them accountable for that. I remind you, the situation happened, and this is the log number for it, 103-24-7612, at the time, 1711. 122 24-7604 1616 24 I repeat, no any police officer, even the chief of police have the right to do that to any citizen or any resident live in the city you should be accountable and you should ask the police chief why his officer is doing these things thank you

last speaker is me

good evening it's michelle i just had a request um for the council to please look into the metropolitan water district announced um water rate increases we do not receive water directly from them, but our basin, I believe, is recharged with Metropolitan Water District water, and so that may impact the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, which may then trickle down to us residents as well as our property tax bills. So if we could look into that and provide an update to the residents if there are impacts, because we did go through a recent water rate increase, and that may

impact our profits from that as well, so that may

BE AN ISSUE. WE SHOULD LOOK INTO THAT.

THANK YOU.

CITY CLERK, THE REMAINING COMMENTS ARE SPECIFICALLY

FOR ITEM 3D?

AND ONE MORE FOR 2B.

2E? FIRST 2B? 2B.

LET'S TAKE A PAUSE ON THE PUBLIC COMMENT AND GO TO THE ITEM

FOR THE TREE MEMORAL.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Councilmembers. Robert Aguirre, Director of Recreation and Community Services.

This evening, I have the pleasure of recommending Ms. Lily Lee Chen for a tree memorial program.

At the March 26th City Council meeting, Mayor Wong and also City Councilmembers nominated former Mayor Lily Lee Chen for a tree memorial program for her dedication and service to this

Monterey Park community.

Li Li Chen served on the Monterey Park City Council from 1982 to 1986 and was mayor from 1983 to 1984. By becoming the mayor of Monterey Park, Li Li Chen is recognized as the first Chinese-American woman mayor in the United States of America.

Absolutely.

Lily Chen has earned a variety of recognitions, including being appointed by the U.S. State Department East-West Center Board of Governors. Former President Barack Obama awarded Lily Chen the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year

Award in 2016.

And in 2017, the Los Angeles Times named her one of eight Los Angeles women that you should

know.

It is my honor and pleasure to recommend a city council Approve a nomination for Lily Chen for a tree memorial That completes my staff report and I'm available for any questions

And Lily Chen is actually here with us this evening

And I'm sure she's ready to hear all the wonderful things you're going to say about her

Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council?

Sure. Thank you so much, Ms. Chen, for being here today. As a history teacher and as a teacher in the community, I know how important you are in this community, but also the important role that you've played over the years in Monterey Park and how well you navigated a very serious and a very tense time period in Monterey Park when demographic changes were changing in our community. You were a leader in that movement to not just represent the Asian community in this area, but to represent all groups that were feeling at that time the tension that was rising in this community. So I thank you for that role that you played in Monterey Park and the lasting impact that you've had in Monterey Park. And I'm very honored to say that I mention and teach you in my classroom because of that role that you've played. We admire you very much, and we thank you for everything you've done for Monterey Park.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, well, Lily, I just want to say it's about time, because we all know your history. We know your contributions, not just to this community, but to the visibility of Asian American women in this nation. And as my colleague said, you are someone that is an iconic historic figure. and I know I was very honored when I now 20 years ago decided to, you know,

based on role models like yourself

to run for public office and at the time it was for school board and I was very proud that you were

one of my first endorsements

and here I am sitting on the dais and so again, thank you for all that you do

and for all people in the audience, you know, get to know Ms. Lily Chen.

She certainly is a treasure in our community.

So congratulations. Okay, Lily.

I wanted to just congratulate Lady Chen.

I'm very proud of you.

I read a few of your books as well,

and I'm really impressed with how you share your experience

and even some bad experience that you also share with all of us

and make sure that we all learn the lesson. So very proud of you. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you.

Well, Lily, it is a blessing to have you here today in person. I know we see each other among all of us in the community, in particular for you. The point is you actually...

All this for you started here in this city. As I look at our tagline Pride In The Past you are the Pride In The Past for many of us who are sitting here because you helped started this proud process of being the first minority, being the first woman, being the first Asian-American woman to step into this limelight and be vigilant and play a major role in this city in terms of spirit.

of policy making in terms of being in the community so with that thank you very much for all your leadership and all your commitment uh not going to go into all the details of all your accolades because someone can catch a book or see a video of that but thank you for being here well deserved

and again congratulations long overdue thank you i'll just add uh echo what my colleagues have said

as well lily you're not only a trailblazer here in Monterey Park but i'm privileged and blessed to

have you as my neighbor i walk by your house all the time uh appreciate your your service and and

as was mentioned earlier uh you really helped to pave the way for all of us i think here to be on the council now and you served on this council and as our city's mayor at a particularly turbulent time in terms of race relations in the city and led with a lot of grace uh through that effort and even after your service on the council, continue to find ways to serve, even now, in many ways in the community and continue to lead in many ways. So we appreciate your lifelong commitment to our community and to service and to our kind of the greater good of all things.

So can't think of anyone more deserving than Deligli Chen,

and we'll open it up to a motion from the council if there is one.

I'll make the motion. I'll make the second any further discussion if not we'll call the vote

approved unanimously

thank you

congratulations applause applause

applause

and we look forward to scheduling the actual planting and the ceremony of not planting the tree

but putting the sign and dedicating the tree once And I know the staff will reach out to Lily and your family in terms of sighting, witch

tree, and all that stuff.

But welcome everyone here to join us in that occasion when we have that scheduled.

All right. We'll move on from there to...

Wait, actually, Mr. Mayor, did you say that for item 2B, or rather than clerk, did you say for item 2B, there's only one person who...

I'm sorry. You said... I'm sorry.

Did you say for item 2 there was only one person who filed?

2B, I think, right? Okay.

I'm wondering just, I mean, if only one person, in the interest of time, maybe we take up 2B? There's only one person, and then we both.

Say it again?

I mean, it's a presentation.

That's fine. That's fine. Okay, never mind. All right, never mind.

Okay.

Mr. Mayor, since we have Ms. Chen here, I was wondering if it might be appropriate to perhaps at least take a picture.

Yeah. If there's interest among the council, certainly invite her.

Lily, if you wouldn't mind coming up to take a picture with the council.

We can go down to where she's saying.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Well, we will take a picture when we dedicate the tree.

All right. We'll save it for them then. Thank you. All right.

Any other changes to the agenda? If not, we're going to take up our first item 2A. Actually, we're going to staff communication, unless there are other public comments.

No. All right.

Do you want to go to any items?

I'm sorry.

Are you asking if we want to move up any items?

Yeah. Yeah.

I would like to move up item, perhaps 3D, since we have a lot of people in the audience that are interested in hearing about.

um i know that we also have a lot of people people here so if we can perhaps um limit time um maybe um so we can um in the interest of time to maybe three minutes

if if there's no objection that's fine

all right well we'll ask everyone to keep efficient i feel like we're gonna be amenable to

So what's going on?

So we'll move up. We'll pull item 3, sorry, D from the consent,

and we're going to move it up before staff communications

and updates on these items.

If that's okay with staff. Sorry. I love you guys.

All right.

No objection to that.

Let's start with the public comment.

Clarification. The timer. Three or five.

I made the motion to limit time to three minutes just in the interest of time.

If there's a second.

I'll second that because we have a lot of people here.

Thank you.

I have a question.

If there's an individual giving the minutes, would that be five then?

Yeah.

Okay. Please vote.

So five minutes for people giving out three minutes.

There's only one person that conceded their time.

I don't think the vote is needed on the time.

Let's do our best and we'll be accommodating to the best of our abilities.

So leave at 5? Leave at 3?

3.

And then I'll ask them to finish up if they get there. But we can start with the speakers.

We're not going to proceed with that.

Got it.

First speaker, Daisy Sim.

Hello, my name is Daisy H. Sim. I'm a Korean American who is able to recognize the historical parallels between the common history of genocide and resistance between Korea and Palestine. It's been 76 years since the Jeju uprising and Nakba, but today it's the Palestinian revolution that's pushing U.S. imperialism into a crisis. The truth is liberation is inevitable. There's nothing stopping the will of the people. Korea will be won and Palestine will be free. But the question tonight is what role will y'all play in this journey, right? Is it for peace or is it for the maintenance of an immoral settler colonial state that commits genocide for the past century? Let's go over some basic facts. 41,496 Palestinians killed since October 7th, majority of whom are women and children. 77,250 are injured, 2 million displaced, 136 journalists killed, 869 health care workers killed, 42 civil defense workers killed, but it took the death of seven white American aid workers for our government to say this is a genocide. If the stats and the overwhelming destruction and atrocity of Palestine didn't sway you, consider this. Over 70% of Americans disapprove of the actions of Israel because it's never popular to support a genocide. Every day, Americans are going slowly and slowly more disillusioned by our government. The mere fact that there are people here commenting should showcase a lingering faith in our local representative which is y'all and it is in your best interest to vote for a permanent and immediate ceasefire because we

will remember how y'all voted tonight come during your oh shit re-election time i also want it on

record i oppose a two-state solution u.s support of israel has always been about a central colonial state in the Middle East. In order to have access to oil, U.S. support of Israel plays an important role in how Arab Americans are treated here. To combat U.S. imperial ambitions and rising Orientalism and Islamophobia, we as Americans need to let go of any paternalistic colonial

attitude and allow Palestinians full self-determination. The end goal was always free Palestine, and we start this by passing a permanent immediate ceasefire. Change the title to include an immediate, and also include the latest death poll in the resolution, please. And some, please join more than 100 cities that have already issued a ceasefire resolution, including El Monte, La Puente, Pasadena, and Alhambra, by voting yes on a permanent ceasefire resolution today. Thank you. Oh, my God. Oh, that's it.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Next speaker is Esti Chandler, and after that, it will be Ashad.

And just to note, when it's yellow, you've got a minute left.

Hi, thank you for your time. I proudly represent Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles. As Rabbi Brant Rosen, co-founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinic Council, wrote at the Chicago Tribune, ceasefire resolutions are far more than symbolic exercises. They recognize that we as citizens have personal and civic stakes in the events that take place around the world. I am the proud Jewish-American daughter of an Israeli father with a very large family in Israel. My grandfather fled the pogroms in Ukraine with his wife and small children, but didn't come to Chicago with most of our family. Instead, he took them to Palestine, lured by political Zionism. There has long been an effort to conflate anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism to confuse and frighten people from speaking up against this decades-long oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli government. It may even be used here tonight for that purpose. But anti-Semitism is the discrimination targeting violence and dehumanizing stereotypes directing at Jews because they are Jewish.

Zionism has been an over 100 year long project of establishing and developing a state of, by, and for Jews only

at the expense of indigenous Palestinians by means of settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in historic Palestine.

Being an anti-Zionist isn't new and isn't anti-Semitic.

It is opposing the political ideology which resulted in the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians from their land and homes and continues to maim, kill, and starve them today.

Anti-Zionists have always believed in the lived reality of never again, a future where all people on the land live in freedom, safety, and equality with self-determination. As Rabbi Brandt also wrote, quite simply, the ongoing violence in the Middle East is confronting us all with the most critical moral challenge of our lifetimes.

As you've heard, over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Over 75,000 have been injured, and more than 90% of the population has been internally displaced. According to the World Health Organization, the population of Gaza is starving to death.

And we saw last week why as three World Central Kitchen convoy vehicles were stuck three times

after coordinating their movements with the Israeli military, killing seven people. That is not bad luck.

It is precision weaponry being used as designed. This is a genocide. Many of us are here tonight asking you to join a nationwide effort to save every human life possible

by passing a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. History has her eyes on all of us.

We will all be confronted with the question of what we did to stop this genocide and when we did it. Never again is now. Please pass a ceasefire resolution tonight.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Ashad Hamada.

After that is Tarek Wan.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor Wong. City Council members. My name is Asad Hamida. I'm a resident of the city of Monterey Park for the last 22 years. My children went to Brightwood, ELAC, Cal State, Los Angeles, and also I'm a member of a family who has lived here in Monterey Park for almost 50 years, and most of us came here

in the sequence of wars in Palestine. So for 75 years, we have been here in the United States of Americans. We are Americans. We are Latinos. We are Palestinians. With that said, I represent myself indeed here, but I also represent the 2.3 million people in Gaza that are suffering the

Israeli occupation, the indiscriminated attacks and killing of innocent civilians. And to remind everyone, Palestine is occupied by international law recognition, and Palestine, the West Bank, and Gaza has been separated for years.

And we are here now living an atrocity,

and unfortunately, not much has been done. But I feel proud today to be in Monterey Park representing those 2.3 million people in Gaza, the 6 million Palestinian refugees around the world, the widows, the orphans, the amputees, those who are in prison for nothing other than saying free Palestine. I represent those that have no voice. I represent myself. I have lived in Monterey Park. I have seen family members die in Monterey Park. But as I came here today to this honorable council chamber, I called my friends in Gaza, who I studied with. Those who were and are the smartest among us for the reason that they had nothing left after the consequent wars that were suffering. they said the only thing that we had is our knowledge and that's something that nobody takes from us and that's why they were the smartest

Director of the United States. They were the Bravest. But unfortunately from war after war after being displaced from what is now called Tel Aviv and what is now called Netanyahu and from what is now called something else. They are now refugees after refugees after refugees after refugees and even now under the threat of being exterminated. This is enough. Monterey Park needs to stand on the side of history. The right side of history. Monterey Park needs to start on the side of history. Monterey Park.

On the right side of humanity, I hope that this item remains in consent. Myself and my family members, a thousand family members, most of them voters in Monterey Park, we are going to be eyewitnesses for generations because this has become our home against our will. Again, I am American. I am Latino. I am Palestino.

Cease el fuego ahora. Cease the fire now. Free Palestine. Thank you.

Next speaker, Tara Kwan. After that, it's Mayra Salazar.

Mayra? Good evening, Monterey Park City Council. My name is Tara Kwan, and I'm a Monterey Park resident. I'm District 2 for over two decades. Thank you for bringing the ceasefire resolution on the agenda. It's been absolutely heartbreaking and horrifying to witness the ongoing genocide taking place in Gaza. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 14,000 of these deaths are thought of children. So the resolution should be updated to add a death toll, as well as changing the title of the resolution to reflect the need for an immediate and permanent bilateral ceasefire in the Palestinian territories. I work as a social worker for a nonprofit providing counseling services. I shadowed a colleague in session, and their client tearfully shared about the impact of witnessing the genocide on their mental health and how helpless they felt despite their actions in signing petitions, participating in protests, and contacting legislators.

It was difficult to support the client when I also felt similarly helpless and enraged.

The 2023 World Bank report stated that 71% of Gaza residents suffer from depression.

I cannot even begin to imagine what mental health looks like for Palestinians right now with the ongoing crisis and the trauma of trying to survive in a war zone, along with the utter lack of resources to address their mental health, let alone sufficient food.

I sincerely hope Monterey Park can join other San Gabriel Valley cities, such as neighboring Alhambra, and unanimously support a ceasefire resolution. As our local representatives, you are critical in ensuring our community's voices and support for ceasefires represented. The very least we can do in our privileged positions here is to show support and stand against the suffering happening in Gaza and Palestine.

Free Palestine, thank you for your consideration.

Next speaker, Mayra Salazar.

Good evening, Mayor Wong and city council members. My name is Mayra Salazar. I am a Mexicana from East LA, not a resident of Monterey Park, but a fellow neighbor.

Very excited to be in community with all these wonderful people. Thank you, Daisy, for the snacks. Thank you, SGV Progressive Action, for organizing this.

My sister Judy for inviting us out.

Here with my nephew, who's almost 15, first time at a city council meeting, seeing how power goes into action.

And here to support the resolution, I hope they're going to vote for it,

and to change the title to an immediate and permanent ceasefire. And really just in my thoughts, all the children that have unfortunately passed away

that will never have an opportunity to be a superstar like the young boy who led the Pledge of Allegiance this evening. So thank you very much.

Next speaker, Judith Fernandez.

Hola, buenas tardes. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. My name is Judy Fernandez. I'm the other sister of the awesome person that just came to speak. born and raised in East LA, Garfield High School, Go Bulldogs, ELAC, Cal State LA, very proud member.

And as you know, being a part of Unincorporated East LA means that we have no place really where our voices can be heard fully when we need to stand on these types of resolutions. So when it was brought to my attention that Monterey Park was going to have it on the ballot to vote, I made sure that I told my family and that I got my nephew and sister here to motivate you, to encourage you, to remind you how important it is to be neighborly, to be kind, that we're not well until all of us are well, that we are not safe until all of us are safe. A year ago when we were here honoring the lives of the people that got killed in the dance hall, a lot of us, a lot of the Chicanos, Mexicanos, Latinos came to support at that vigil to say we're not safe until all of us are safe. And so I hope, I hope that today you stand, you stand on the right side of history to say, not in our name. It doesn't matter who paid me to be here, how I got here, who's funding my campaign, whether or not I'll get reelected again. That doesn't matter. What matters is the values that you stand for, for how you can go to sleep at night knowing that you did what was right. A permanent and immediate ceasefire is necessary. Like I said, I'm ashamed of the city of L.A. to not be here. And I think you have an opportunity to be leaders and models of what it is to stand on the right side of history and to promote peace around the world. So I stand with the people of Palestina. I stand with all the people that have died as a result of like the unjust war. I stand with this planet who's being contaminated and bombed and destroyed. Yeah, I stand with all the martyrs, all the people. And yeah, I'm here for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Fire, sign it up. Judy Fernandez, East LA. I represent all the Latinos, like I said. And Jimmy Gomez, just put that on the record. What a shame, Jimmy Gomez. What a shame, shame, shame.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Joshua

Martinez will be conceding his time to Raida Hamida.

So that means I have the five minutes? Okay. Dear Mayor and Council Members, my name is Raida Hamida. Thank you, Thomas and Jose, for collaborating with us on the language for the ceasefire resolution and the council, all of you, for putting it on the agenda this evening. I ask for your support for a permanent and immediate ceasefire resolution. Monterey Park is my hometown. Many of my cousins are here today. Make some noise if you're from Dar Hamida. They live in this city.

I am a product of Brightwood Elementary School. Lily Chen, she's gone, but she was the mayor when I lived here. And I saw the shift in culture. And I am proud to say that I'm Palestinian. And I am proud to say that I am a product of this city because it helped me become culturally sensitive and culturally competent as an advocate and activist for change. I do want to also recognize that today I'm also the executive director of Latino and Muslim Unity, and I've joined with other cities and residents in spearheading over 10 ceasefire resolutions that have been passed in the last few months. I urge you to be the next one and be on the right side of history. I not only urge you to support a permanent and immediate ceasefire resolution, but to make the amendments to ensure dignity and respect for Palestinians that have been killed and all loss of life. And acknowledge the 2.2 million Palestinians that have been displaced and are experiencing catastrophic hunger. This is a result of 76 years of occupation, not of October 7th. I am requesting the following amendments. Change the title to adopt the City of Montebello Ceasefire Resolution title, a resolution of the City Council of Monterey Park, California, affirming support for congressional and worldwide calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Number two, add death tolls. In Section 1D, the latest death toll updated April 17th at 12 p.m. by the Ministry of Health, 34,367 Palestinians killed, including over 14,000 children and 1,139 Israelis since October 7th. And 2.2 million husbands displaced that are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger. On Section 3, please add, including unlawfully held prisoners. The City Council joins other cities in calling on Congress and the Biden administration to utilize every tool at its disposal to push for a permanent ceasefire, immediate safe return, and release of all hostages, including unlawfully held prisoners. My cousin was shot in the head this week by Israeli forces. while Israelis raided our family's village in Mizadar Sharkia in the West Bank. They also unlawfully held 13 boys in our village without cause. My nieces and nephews are afraid in the West Bank to go to school because they fear that they're going to be either shot by a settler or an Israeli soldier. While the West Bank is under fire, husbands are living under rubble with no aid and with 19,000 orphans and yet Palestinian mothers are still giving birth with no access to water or medical care. We need you to be brave tonight and stand with humanity. Palestinian humanity is all of humanity. Your decision tonight will be an example for others, and we will be taking notes of all of you of what decision and vote you make tonight, including any amendments. We have collaborated with Montebello, Bell Gardens, Pasadena, Alhambra, Bell, El Monte, and other cities that have passed the ceasefire resolution. Your tax dollars are aiding and abetting the genocide in Gaza. We are all held accountable, including everyone here. And we could say that we stood on the right side of history. We are asking you to imagine your city's hospital, schools and homes being bombed and torched, then being told it's in self-defense. Can you imagine all of the residents in catastrophic hunger? Imagine not being able to send your kids to school because they're afraid of being shot. No one is immune. This could happen to any of us. An injury to one is an injury to all. do not be complicit in genocide and vote for a permanent and immediate ceasefire resolution for the liberation of all oppressed people. We are not free until we all are free. Viva Palestina.

Next speaker, Andrew Yip, and then it will be Terry Stein.

evening honorable mayor and council members my name is andrew yip i am a veteran and i was long-time resident here in monterey park i was also born in the mentioned garfield hospital i'm

sure a lot of us were born there and i am a member of suv progressive action so i was i was here not

too long ago so i'll try to keep it short i'm urging you to adopt the resolution for an immediate

and unconditional ceasefire.

Our congressional representatives have not met constituent needs on this issue. We rely on you for decisive local action. Israel's attacks on Gaza have resulted in over 34,000 deaths, including more than 14,000 children, a worsening famine, and disease exacerbate this, with 2 million Gazans facing extreme hunger.

I would also like to suggest renaming the resolution to supporting an immediate

and permanent bilateral ceasefire to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories,

the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel.

This reflects the urgency and scope needed. Multiple United Nations votes have backed a ceasefire crucial for the safe return of all hostages and highlighting the ongoing violence in Gaza, including potential war crimes against Palestinians. Monterey Park is predominantly Asian and Latino. Recent surveys indicate that both Latinos and Asian Americans strongly favor a permanent ceasefire. As an Asian American with family members who have firsthand experience with war, occupation, and genocide,

we deeply emphasize with Palestinians.

We were told many stories by my grandparents, my parents, of war and pending genocide and death in their villages. and I only had imagination, right, to see these images that they described to me. But lately I've been able to see what was described to me as a child

and up to as an adult on the news,

on social media. It's happening now. It's happening in Gaza.

Please join other SGV cities, Pomona, Montebello, Pasadena, Alhambra, El Monte, and La Puente

in adopting this resolution to address the urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza. Be on the right side of history.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Terry Stein, and then Hidab Tarifi.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Honorable Council Members. My name is Terry Stein. I'm an immigration attorney. I've had the honor to work with many folks in this community for many years. And I am also the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees.

I am the descendant of many Jews who were murdered in the Shoah. And I am here tonight, not in spite of my Jewish identity, but because of it. Because our collective solidarity, our collective, our future, our safety is bound up in collective liberation. And my Jewish values teach me this. Genocide is not a Jewish value.

But, Zionism is not a Jewish value. As Estee Chandler beautifully stated, like Zionism, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are not the same thing. And to see anti-Semitism and the history and the trauma of my people and the memory of my ancestors weaponized in order to justify the murder, the starvation and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people is a betrayal of our ancestry, our heritage, and our values at the highest possible level.

Jews are not made safer by what is happening in Palestine. There's never been a genocide that has made Jews safer. And making the world safer for genocide isn't going to do it now. What we need is an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Why do we come to you? We come to you for many reasons. We come to you in the hopes that making more noise will get our federal officials to listen to us. And we've been begging them to listen to us. We come to you because the more that all of us speak out, the more that all of us support a free Palestine,

the more it becomes safer for people to do so. We are here because 10 miles away, there's a girl who can't give her valedictorian speech because a student of genocide is not alLod to talk about genocide. I mean, this is madness. So the more that we speak out, the more that we use our collective voice and our collective power, the safer we make people in our community, the safer we make people in Palestine.

So I urge you, when I was a child and I learned about the Holocaust, my parents told me that what happened was that good people did nothing.

You are all good people. Don't do nothing. Meet your moment. This is your moment. Stand up. Use your power however, whenever you can to be on the right side of history. Stand with Palestine. Stand with humanity. Thank you.

Next speaker, Hidab Tarifi, and after that will be Taiji Megawa.

Dear Mayor and Council Members, greetings of peace.

My name is Hidab Tarifi. I was born in Gaza, and I have family in Gaza.

I already lost more than 150 members of my family.

42 of them buried in a mass grave, as I found out from a CNN report.

My story and my family's story are not any different from the hundreds and thousands of similar stories of families in Gaza. For six plus months, I have witnessed the horror that my family and cousins are going through.

How can I turn away from the little child telling of how Israeli soldiers shot his mom, who was seven months pregnant, in the belly?

How can I turn away from the little girl crying, asking the paramedics to give her back her leg?

Or the little child who was asked, what is his dream? And he answered, to survive.

I am standing here urging you to adopt a permanent and an immediate ceasefire resolution. And I second the requests that has made before to make an amendment to the resolution. the humanitarian crisis in Israel and Israeli atrocities in the region demand immediate

attention and action from the city's leadership the situation in Gaza has reached a dire level with numerous humanitarian disasters unfolding in front of our own eyes over the years thousands of Palestinians, including a staggering number of children, have lost their lives due to violence

and oppression for more than 76 years. Reports indicate that over 35,000 Palestinians have been

killed, with over 15,000 of them being children in the last six months alone, as well as more than

76,000 wounded. The loss of innocent lives is heartbreaking and cannot be ignored. If we are to attend the funeral of every child killed in Gaza, it will take us more than 25 years. Keep

that in mind. There is no place safe in Gaza. Gazans are suffering from the constant bombing, displacement, lack of clean water, forced starvation, lack of any basic human needs.

Imagine, imagine the images of Gaza are heartbreaking. Videos of families devastated

daily and crushed in the remains of their homes. I stand here calling on all of you to

stand on the right side of history and claim your humanity

by voting yes for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Thank you and God bless.

Next speaker, Taiji Mekawa, and then after that will be Sophia Aguilar. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Thank you for allowing the public to speak their mind tonight. My heart goes out for the sister that came here before me as well as all the people for the losses that they

have suffered in Palestine. I'm not a resident of Monterey Park. I have many friends, long-time

friends here who are like family. To me, I'm a frequent visitor to Monterey Park from adjacent El Sereno. I live near Cal State LA. Love the restaurants here, I'm sure, as everybody else does. do a lot of shopping at Ranch 99 here.

I'm really glad that Alhambra passed a resolution because at least they give you an option of a city that has some humanity that I can support, where I can spend my monies at businesses there, and I hope I can continue doing the same in Monterey Park when you take the correct position of calling for permanent, immediate ceasefire, as other people have requested. I think the reason why some of us are saying that the resolutions should include some numbers specifying that there's not a reason to equivocate between the number of deaths that have happened in that area. It's quite disproportionate. It is indeed a genocide. And just to put a little bit of a context for the number of people that have been murdered in Gaza, it's approximately 68% of the population of this city. So that gives you an idea of the scope of the death toll there that is continuously rising. There are still attacks happening in Gaza right now by some of the settler colonialists there and like others said we've come to you because we want you to help us get our opinion which is the majority of people in this country and the world up to the federal government which is unfortunately too heavily funded by forces of Zionist Israel. So hopefully you can join with us and the majority of the public again in calling for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Thank you.

Next speaker, Sophia Aguilar, and then it will be Matthew Solit.

Good evening, Monterey Park City Council members. My name is Sophia Aguilar, and I stand before you today as a Monterey Park resident whose family has lived here since 1964. Today, I implore this council to pass Item 3D in support of an immediate and permanent bilateral ceasefire in the ongoing Israel and U.S.-backed genocide against Palestine. We should not and cannot continue to stay silent in the face of what has become the most well-documented genocide in world history.

Over the past six months, I have witnessed Israeli forces forcibly starving, sniping, and massacring,

torturing, and denying the dignity of Palestinian men, women, and children.

I have witnessed thousands undergoing forced amputations because their shelters were struck by Israeli missiles. I have seen children as young as 12 and perhaps younger being pulled out from the rubble of their own homes. I have seen families forced to eat animal feed because Israel is currently blocking aid from entering the country. While at the same time, Israeli soldiers have massacred unarmed Palestinian families waiting in line for food, as well as the aid workers from the UK, Australia, and the US delivering that very same food. In every sense, the Palestinian people have been denied their very right to exist, and we cannot turn away in the face of such blatant violence and oppression, especially when it is funded by our tax dollars every single year.

At its heart, this is an issue that affects all of us. It is a local issue. It is a citywide issue. While we may not be the ones holding the weapons, everyone in this room and beyond is financially responsible for this genocide, and it is our bare minimum duty to take a stand. We are paying for this genocide. While passing this resolution may seem like a small act, Monterey Park would be joining a chorus of voices across the SGV

currently supporting Palestine, including Almonte, Alhambra, Pomona. And if history is any indication, we know that big changes start here at the local level. The U.S. government may have its own stance,

but I implore the city council to make it clear that they do not represent the interests of the people.

We must stand on the right side of history. We must speak up. We must demand, again, an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to blatant injustice and the hope that people all across this nation may do the same. Thank you.

Next speaker, Matthew Solitz, and then it will be Niran.

Hi. Thank you to the city council for having me and having for all of us, letting all of us speak here tonight.

Clearly, I'm not going to be as well-spoken as everybody else, so bear with me for a second.

I am a Monterey Park homeowner.

I'm a lawyer, and I'm Jewish, and yes, my mother is very proud of me for all of those things, particularly for buying a home, I think.

I'm here to really ask you to support the ceasefire resolution with the requested edits.

Again, I think everybody here has a lot of really great stuff to say, definitely better than me, but I did want to share a couple of things.

I've been to Israel. I've been to the West Bank.

I have not been to Gaza because Gaza has been held under a land, sea, and air blockade for well over a decade by the Israeli government.

I've seen, you know, in the press, there's a lot of talk about, you know, apartheid. Is it apartheid? I've seen the apartheid wall.

I've seen the wall that, in the West Bank, that separates communities from each other.

if you have not been to Israel

or certainly to the occupied territories I really suggest it these are the places that as Jews, as Christians, as Muslims

we're taught to revere

and what the Israeli government has done there is just completely unacceptable

and that's not even talking about what's happening in Gaza right now Now, I think that, you know, my real hope is that everybody on the city council is going to support the resolution tonight.

If you're thinking that you're not sure about that or you're wondering, you know, why are we even talking about this tonight? Why is the Monterey Park Council even thinking about this and talking about it?

It matters. at the very least what we can do as people is bear witness

to what is happening in Palestine the

me coming here tonight is the very least that I could do I wish I could do more

but at the very least I wanted to come here and speak to my city council and urge you to pass this resolution tonight thank you very much applause applause applause

Next speaker is Niran, who's Sidlali, who conceded time to you. And after that, it'll be Fernando.

Thank you. My name is Niran Tha'adadanki. My family comes from Birzit, Palestine, in the West Bank. I come before you today not as a politician or a diplomat, but as a member of a family torn apart by oppression and occupation.

My cousin, Lian Nasset, is but one soul caught in the crossfire of a struggle that has consumed the lives of far too many innocent souls.

Please, picture the scene that unfolded at 4 a.m. early April as armed Israeli soldiers stormed Lian's home.

The terror in her father and mother's eyes as they faced the barrels of their guns. The desperation of her father as he pleaded for answers that never came. Imagine the heartache of a family torn apart, forced to watch helplessly as their daughter was kidnapped away to face unspeakable conditions alongside thousands of other indigenous Palestinians currently being held hostage, not prisoner, hostage.

All while being told by one of the soldiers, and this is a direct quote, We are at war. We can do anything. We can do anything. Leanne's story is not unique, but it is a haunting echo of...

arms, fathers mourn daughters lost under the rubble of bombed homes. Children grow up if they are

lucky enough to grow up, knowing only the specter of violence, their innocence stolen by an active genocide that they did not create, that they did not ask for. The toll of this genocide, not conflict, not war. This genocide extends far beyond the statistics of what and who we have

lost. It is etched in the rubble of homes, schools, and hospitals reduced to dust in the scars of

children who carry the dismembered remains of their brothers and sisters in their school bags. It is written in the screams of mothers and fathers who would later follow their children in death.

It is in their hunger. It is in the anguish of Palestinians in America, in this room, who watch helplessly as the state of their homeland and the lives of their family, of my family, lay in the hands of people like yourselves.

over 30,000 more than 30,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israel with help from the

United States and that number will continue to rise if you all refuse to vote for an immediate

ceasefire resolution you are not the ones with the weapons or with the bombs you are not the ones but what you all are are people in power who can stop this.

But will you?

What more can be said to convince you all?

Your vote for an immediate ceasefire resolution could be what stops all of this death.

More than 30,000 people, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, executed.

Layan Nasr will be held hostage in administrative detention for four months with no charge, no due process. And she can be held for years if she's not killed.

If we continue to allow Israel and the United States to persist with this genocide.

Thousands of Palestinians, children included, are also being held hostage. All because they are Palestinian. And because, again, Israel can do anything.

Today I stand before you not to plead for politics or policy, but for the simple, sacred dignity of human life.

I urge you to see beyond the headlines and the rhetoric, and to recognize the faces behind the statistics.

Please, ceasefire resolution now. Free Palestine. Thank you.

Next speaker is Fernando, and then it will be Pranit.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, respected council members, City of Monterey Park. My name is Fernando Islas, born and raised Angelino. I grew up here in East L.A., product of East Los Angeles College, CSULA alumni. I'm also a Marine Corps veteran. I served this country from 06 to 10 to include a seven-month deployment to Fallujah, Iraq. And I'm here in solidarity with my Palestinian brothers and sisters to show my support for a ceasefire out in Gaza. As many have mentioned, these numbers are just astronomical, out of this world.

I think Uro Med, Human Rights Watch, has reported that it's 40,000 martyred if we consider those presumed under the rubble.

15,000 being children, 70% being women and children. It's shameful. It's shameful what this country has conspired in. 70% of the arms and weapons come from the United States, not to mention all the money we throw at Israel.

But yeah, I highly encourage you guys to do what's right, to help us put an end to the slaughter,

to make sure we let our federal officials know that we don't stand with genocide.

Lastly, I want to mention is that several people have said that we have taken note. We take note of who wants to continue the killings.

Montclair, I was just at Montclair earlier this week on Monday, and the panel is full of, with an exception of the ladies, of the madams, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Martinez,

And it's full of white supremacists.

And we've all taken note of it and going around to other cities that aren't passing these ceasefire resolutions.

And, yeah, we're taking account. And we're going to hold accountable when it's time. Thank you.

Next. City clerk. How many more speakers do we have?

We are on 15 and we have 34.

20.

Are there any, are they all noted as in support or are there any opposed to the, no opposed?

All right, thank you. We'll take a few more.

Next speaker is Pranit and after that it's Samir.

Hi everyone, thank you for having me. I actually wasn't going to speak today, but as I was trying to find parking,

I drove past the soccer field over there, and I saw a bunch of kids without a care in the world playing soccer, doing what kids are supposed to do, which is having fun and living a full, healthy life. And at the same time, our tax dollars are going towards bombing kids in Gaza right now. And it breaks my heart because the only difference between the kids over here and the kids over there is the color of their skin. I don't think it is acceptable for this country to be spending $400 billion sending it to Israel so that they can kill kids, so they can kill women, they can kill other innocent people because of white supremacy. This is unacceptable. We need to stand on the right side of history. And in 100 years, when we look back at this time period, we're going to ask, was Monterey Park on the right side of history or not? And that's what we're going to ask. So let's make the right decision here, call for an immediate ceasefire, and definitely make all the changes that we said, including adding the death toll.

This death toll is immense. It's 40,000 people. Can you imagine? Do you know the noise that we made when they had the shooting here in Monterey Park, right? That was, I don't even know how many people, but imagine if 40,000 people died here in Monterey Park in this area or in San Gabriel Valley.

We should be making that same level of noise because we are just as complicit in that.

Immediately, it's fire now, free Palestine.

Next speaker, Samir, and then after that, it's Erica Vasquez.

Thank you. My name is Samir Al-Alabi. I am not a resident of Monterey Park. I'm a resident of adjacent Montebello, but my family has a history in this city. In 1967, when Jerusalem was invaded, my father and the rest of his family was caught in the crossfire. My father first fled to Spain and then to the United States to a specific city in the San Gabriel Valley. He was sponsored to the United States by a Monterey Park resident, where my father lived in an apartment just off Garvey Avenue for nine years and went and got his education here nearby Markeppel. My family was educated here as well in the city of Monterey Park. Both of my sisters went to Macy Intermediate and I went to Brightwood.

So I stand here today as a resident, you know, I would say as an honorary resident of this city, as a person whose legacy was built in Monterey Park. My father worked in Monterey Park as well. He has a legacy in this city along with my entire family.

And I've come here today to let my father know who cannot speak today because he's 85 years old and I'm one of his caregivers in that home, to let him know and to let my entire family know

that I am not complicit in a genocide. To let him know that we here,

Don and Adami, is not going to be complicit in a genocide. For more than 10 years,

I was trying to work here in the city of Monterey Park. I used to speak back in Mark Keppel High

School, even before that, even in Brightwood, as one of the only Arab kids in those schools talking about my culture and trying as hard as I could to have a cross-cultural education. And this city has humbled me in so many ways. I've learned the history of so many other people who have suffered since time immemorial from the United States government, who has brought us all here today. It's not a coincidence that we're all here today. And I will say this as well.

This is becoming a rant. This is not becoming so beautiful a speech. But I will say this as well.

Well, my father and his family, we have family that were implicated in the bombings in Gaza. We have at least 13 family members who were buried in rubble in Gaza City. We don't even know where their bodies are. People say that there's 35,000 people dead.

God knows how many people really died at this point,

because we haven't really been able to keep accurate statistics for months. So what I say today, as a proud resident of the San Gabriel Valley, is that Monterey Park can stand and have faith in its future. It can have pride. I have pride in the past that I built in this city. And we can have faith in the future that things can get better. And it can start today. Pass this ceasefire resolution. And let's all send a message to Representative Chu. She's been there for 15 years, at least in Congress. And she needs to listen. She needs to know that her district is not going to be complicit in this genocide. Thank you.

Next speaker is Erica Vasquez.

City Clerk, if we can pause after this next speaker to have a quick conversation.

Next one is Kristen Mesa. Sorry, we're going to take a pause after Erica.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Erica Vasquez. I have been a resident of Monterey Park most of my life. I'm currently a resident of Alhambra, and I am here to urge you to pass a permanent ceasefire resolution. But I want to share with you what a lot I think of folks in here are feeling, is that we're not okay with participating in daily life, in capitalism, contributing to capitalism,

while making this country richer and witnessing our government aiding and abetting war crimes.

I know that you feel this too, and I know that you know this.

It feels like a joke to get up and go to work every day while our country is unconsensually using our tax dollars to fund and bomb and kill innocent civilians.

I didn't consent to that, and neither did anybody that is supporting this ceasefire resolution. I saw real camaraderie in your staff communication earlier and a lot of care in your communication and in your tree ceremony.

and it displayed togetherness. It was the most amount of camaraderie I've seen out of all the city council ceasefire resolution actions I've been to in the San Gabriel Valley. And so that I know that you share our values and wanting to stop this genocide. We need that. We need your support.

We need you to rise up and help end this genocide.

So I urge you to pass a permanent ceasefire resolution and edit the title to say supporting an immediate and permanent bilateral ceasefire to the humanitarian crisis impacting the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza and Israel. In Section D, please include the latest death toll that stands at 34,262 Palestinians,

including over 14,000 children and 1,139 people killed in Israel since October, and thousands of more lives are at risk without a permanent ceasefire and 2 million Gazans are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger. Thank you. Free Palestine.

All right. Thank you. How many more speakers do we have?

We're on 18 and we have 34.

Okay. So about half.

I'll take a pause here for public comment

and it's been about an hour

but wanted to kind of open up for any council comments on this if we want to stop it here or if we want to continue on for some more comment

I think it would be an appropriate time

to do some reflection on the council if we'd like

May I ask, again I thank everyone who's here today but of those who have yet to speak

how many of them are residents of the city?

Have you identified as Monterey Park residents? Okay, I see some hands up. Okay.

They don't list their address on all of them.

Okay, okay.

I guess I'm just trying to be fair also to our own residents as well.

Or else, I mean, given the interest of time,

and we do have other items on the agenda. I mean, if we continue, maybe just three minutes.

Speaking.

I mean have we been doing three minutes already? Have we been doing? Yeah, we've been doing three minutes. I see. I'm okay with having our Council discussion on the item now and not to disenfranchise any of the speakers. Speakers can still continue to stay and continue their talk but I think it would be worthwhile to have Council discuss kind of the resolution and see and if we are if there are there's an interest for discussion or a vote. And if people want to stick around afterwards and continue to speak, they can.

Yeah, I think we can, if the council is okay with this, I think we can open up the council conversation around this.

And we can keep public comment going

if anyone is interested later on in the meeting as well. If there are further questions or comments on this item or any others,

happy to take that down the line.

but let's open up to some council communication on this, if anyone wants to start.

Okay, I'll go ahead and start.

So first of all, I want to thank everyone who came out today to speak. As a civics teacher and civics educator, I know how important civic engagement is, and today you've demonstrated the importance of civic engagement, not just within our community but throughout the San Gabriel Valley and our state. and country and just worldwide.

There's no doubt in my mind or just in our collective thought that what is happening currently in Gaza is of concern for everyone. The numbers speak for themselves.

And so to me,

as a history teacher,

it's not necessarily about being on the right side of history, but also doing what's the right thing.

And so,

I have kids as well.

I have three daughters.

And I think one of the things

that troubles me the most, and I think I said that

in the last council meeting, is seeing so many kids suffer. I looked at the audience and I counted about five kids that are here today with their parents. And I want to thank the parents for bringing them out and demonstrating civic engagement as well, because it's so important to teach at a young age. I try to bring my daughters as much as I can as well. I am in support of this resolution.

And I want to say that part of the reason why I'm in support of the resolution is given the high toll of death in this area, in Gaza, and this needs to stop. Also, not just as an educator, but also as a member of a major labor union, I would like to join the 9 million union members throughout the country who have already signed a ceasefire, including the American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, the United Auto Workers, California Faculty Association, and our own SEIU 721 in our local community. And many others to mention. So I also, before I hand it over to the council members to share their thoughts about where they are at, I would also, in our, and we can talk about the details later, But I would also like to recommend two changes to the title to add an immediate and permanent ceasefire. And then we need to also, as a history teacher, a time stamp is very important. So adding the death toll, just like some of our neighboring cities, it captures a moment in history. And so on April 17th, if the resolution passes, it will show that at that time 34,367 people have perished during this conflict. Those are my thoughts at the moment. But as I reflect on this also and think about our city and where we're going, I know that in so many ways there's very little that Monterey Park can do, but in so many ways there's so much that Monterey Park could do. And so I'll leave it at that, and I would support this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, thank you.

Well, I also want to thank everyone for coming to tonight's meeting. I hope you stay, because especially those who live here, we have a lot of interesting issues that we discussed,

because we represent, no, I'm serious. but at the time

I just want to thank everyone for their words I mean definitely very moving

and as I was listening and processing

and I know one speaker, several speakers brought up our tragic mass shooting

a year ago and

even processing what I was hearing tonight and also thinking about even our own community and what we experienced last year

I remember again

the stories of the families of the victims of our mass shooting

and I recall one person

who lost her aunt in the night of the Star Ballroom shooting. And what she said about her aunt and all the victims is that, you know, families like hers had escaped war and genocide in Southeast Asia, only to unfortunately find a violent death here. And, of course, we know that's because of the problems of guns in this country and the fact that we have not renewed the assault weapons ban.

But, you know, also, you know, what can we do to, you know, honor their memory?

And I think that there are parallels here because, again, you know, we're seeing people who, speaking tonight, who came here because of war, looking for, you know, safety, only to also continue to experience violence and war either because of friends or whether it's in news or loved ones. And I think that violence amplifies a lot of issues. And in this case, violence, I think that we're seeing in media, amplifies a lot of issues of inequality, of apartheid, genocide, racism. And so I think it behooves us to, yes, adopt this resolution, which I do support.

And I also concur with my colleague about the amendments that have been suggested.

And, yeah, I mean, those are my words.

Thank you.

I wanted to say I'm so proud of all of you to come out here. You're supposed to be at home watching TV and having a nice meal, but you choose to be here because you have your own belief.

And I'm proud of all of you to come out and stand up and speak up.

I came from Hong Kong. As all of you know, a few years ago we have big political changes. And yes, humanity and also democracy are very important.

And yes, I do support, like all of you, permanently and immediately cease fire. Thank you.

I want to thank many, if not all of you, for being here tonight for different reasons. Just showing your passion and being engaged, as my colleagues have mentioned, civil engagement, doing the right thing. and I believe history will demonstrate that many of us who are elected officials will do the right thing.

And I do support the resolution as presented.

And in closing, I as an immigrant came from a war-torn country, and all I would say is war is bad. No matter how you look at it, war is bad. And if you don't learn from history, it's bound to repeat itself.

I'll just echo many of the comments my colleagues have already expressed. And I appreciate so many of you for showing up tonight and advocating on this important issue and what's going on around the world and here in our own homes and in our community. appreciate all of you spending time to really make your voices heard and hope that you will stay and engage in other issues that are on our agenda tonight but appreciate you particularly for coming out tonight to making sure this is on our agenda for the City Council here at Monterey Park and as noted right we don't the council here and the city does not have direct authority over what happens internationally and in foreign affairs but symbols do matter and that's why I I'm also proud to support this resolution.

And join in the calls of many others, including some of our neighbors, in pushing for peace, not only here, but across the world, and in the many conflicts that are ongoing around the world, and making sure that we change our posture and see how we can leverage our tools and our resources that are at our disposal as the United States to continue to push harder for peace and to make sure that that is truly the case in every possible place. So with that, if there is a motion from the council or council members on this.

I'll move.

Second by...

And just to be clear, there's a motion to include the edits.

Yes, with the amendments, yes.

Yes, thank you.

Do you wish to

Okay, sorry Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council

if we could just get clarification, if you could repeat

Yes, just to specify the title change to include immediate and permanent ceasefire and then also for section 1D if we can add a death toll with the numbers included the 34,000 and I think the updated version was 367

casualties.

Thank you.

I believe the wording is what you just said, including over 14,000 children, 1,139 people killed in Israel

since October, and

thousands more whose lives are at risk without a permanent ceasefire, and 2 million gallons who are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic

hunger. Yes!

Thank you. Noted. I'm sorry, what? Noted. Noted. All right.

So there's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Hearing none, we'll call the vote.

Approved unanimously.

All right.

Peace out now.

Well, thank you.

Again, we appreciate everyone for coming out tonight. Again, you're welcome to stay for other items.

And for those who were not able to speak on this item, who still wish to,

we'll make time available later on in the agenda as well.

Feel free to stick around if you'd like to share some comments.

On behalf of myself and the 150-plus killed from my family, I want to thank each and every one of you. God bless you.

Thank you. So we do have a very busy agenda, so we'll get going on this.

So move on to staff communication, starting with finance.

Should we take a break?

Like a one minute just to give people... Okay.

I'm not sure, Mr. Mayor,

if maybe you want to take a one-minute break.

Sure, we can... Give people a chance to filter out. Yeah, we'll take a one-minute...

Some of us to stretch our legs, including staff.

Please be back in two minutes. I'll be back in 30 seconds. That's all I need. Thanks, Martha. Sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. All right.

We'll start with our finance update.

Martha?

Okay, well, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Patim, Councilmembers, Martha Garcia, Finance Director.

As you may recall, last November 2023, our City Council approved the open, the bond repurchasing of outstanding pension obligation bonds, a portion of them.

Well, I'm here today to let you know that we were not successful with the repurchase of any of the bonds. The contract that we had with Ramirez and Company has expired, and at this point we're not going to pursue this opportunity any further.

Any questions?

I guess my question is we didn't have any bidders, or the number was so far apart between the bid and the ask?

Let me get Michael Mejia.

He's in Zoom. Michael, can you hear us? I can, I can.

and uh you know uh council uh thank you very much and i apologize that i'm not there in person i'm

a little under the weather i mean i didn't want to get everybody sick today but uh to answer your

question uh so we were in the market uh for quite a bit of time uh and by the way can everybody hear me yes yes okay uh so we were in the market for uh quite a bit of time uh and we made an effort to procure bids from multiple bondholders. And essentially, we received two responses from the investors. The majority of investors, the response was that they really liked the Monterey Park credit. And I think the analogy that I gave when I was at the council meeting last time was that much like when you're purchasing a home, the investor, in this case, the homeowner in this analogy, doesn't have to sell the house. And very much in this particular case, that was the instance, a lot of investors, they'd like the credit and they didn't want to let go of the credit

because there's just not enough supply of these bonds out in the market. And therefore, they wanted to preserve their investment. The rationale for that, again, in the majority of

cases was that they liked the Monterey Park credit. And then in addition to that, the majority of investors were actually insurance companies. Now, why is that important? The reason why that's important is because insurance companies, they don't have to, they have very specific accounting rules that they follow. And so that meant that the decrease in value of their investment, they didn't have to report that on their balance sheets. And so from their perspective, they were holding the security to maturity and they didn't want to let go of it at a price below par, which is what they had paid. Does that answer your question? Yes, thank you. Any other questions

for Martha on this update? Just to clarify, it is because we have such a stellar credit record that it's a worthy investment to hold on to, right?

More or less?

Yes. That, I would say, was the majority of feedback

that we received from your current bondholders. Okay.

I mean, that's good to know

that we are in good credit standing in the finance world.

Well, technically, they didn't want to take a discount.

Well, that too.

They didn't want to lose money in their investment. I mean, if we had offered them more money,

I'm sure they would have said, yes, give me more money now.

But because we're asking for less money, they're saying I don't have to mark to market I can wait 15 years from now and still get the money and because it's an insurance company insurance funds they don't have to mark to market they can recognize their income and I think most of this stuff is hedge going toward 15 20 30 years because

that's how they operate hopefully that clarifies it yeah of course and then we again we work very

We were working very closely with Martha and her team,

and again, we had very specific guidelines

to deliver target savings. And so, again, we didn't have the authorization,

and again, we wouldn't have recommended offering more money.

Thanks.

Martha, so that $4 million we authorized, right, for this potential pension bond repurchase, whatever, resale, whatever it is. So that money is still sitting in that account for the pension?

Yes.

Are there any other things we can do with that to potentially decrease

increased costs?

We can give it to CalPERS to reduce our UAL because it has increased since we issued the POBs. Or we can use it to offset some of the general fund because the general fund does supplement that fund.

Great.

Obviously, let's look at other options since this one is off the table and let's see what else we can utilize and leverage those existing funds.

Okay.

All right. Cool. Thank you. All right.

If not, we'll move on to the next staff update, economic development.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Proto, City Council, and committee members.

My name is Janice Huang, Economic Development Specialist.

Today, I am delighted to introduce and promote three essential initiatives aimed at fostering economic development and community engagement.

Next slide, please.

I would like to invite members of the public to participate in the Economic Development Strategic Plan Community Feedback Sessions. Our city is embarking on reshaping the economic landscape for the next five years. Our community's input is invaluable in ensuring that this plan reflects the aspiration and interest of our diverse community.

We have organized two sessions on April 25th at the Langley Center. Session one from 3.30 to 5 is tailored for businesses and commercial property owners,

while session two from 6 to 7.30 is designed for residents.

This will allow our community to share their perspectives, collaborate with fellow residents, business owners, property owners, and contribute to a plan that promotes a thriving community.

Chinese and Spanish translators will be available on-site for Q&A.

To register, we urge everyone to scan the QR code on the PowerPoint slide.

Next slide, please.

As part of our strategic plan initiative, we are conducting a business needs assessment survey. This survey will help us gain deeper insights into our business community's needs, challenges, and opportunity. This feedback will help us identify areas for improvement, develop target programs, and initiatives to feel growth in Monarch Park. You can simply scan the QR code on the PowerPoint slide, and the survey is available online in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Business owners, your participation will make a real difference in shaping the future of our business landscape.

Please take a moment to complete the survey. Next slide, please.

Beyond physical storefronts and traditional commerce, the digital landscape plays a vital role in business operations. I am thrilled to announce the city's free ADA website compliance workshop on May 7th from 3 to 4 at Langley Center. This workshop, in partnership with Click Refresh, a website consulting firm located right here in Monterey Park, will provide insights into ADA website compliance requirements, assess your website's accessibility, and offer practical steps to protect your business. Business owners and entrepreneurs can learn about ADA website standards and attract a broader customer base with an inclusive website. Chinese and Spanish translators will be available on-site for Q&A.

To register, you can simply scan the QR code on the PowerPoint slide.

In conclusion, I urge community members to participate in these initiatives and spread the word. Let's work together to build a stronger, more vibrant Monterey Park. Thank you for your attention. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Jen. Any questions from Councilman?

Yes, thank you so much for sharing all of this information with us. If you can go back to the last slide on the ADA website, I really want to thank you for doing this. I know that some business owners have reached out, and I know of business owners that have been impacted by, you know, ADA-related lawsuits because they weren't compliant. So it's very important that we work with our community, especially small businesses who might not be aware, might not know how to do it. I'd be interested to see how many business people show up to the workshop and if the need and desire is there, also be able to host more but also share a lot of this information. So my follow-up question was how are we sharing this information to make sure that especially a lot of our small business owners here in Monterey Park know of this, especially for those who have actual websites, right?

Absolutely. So right now we've actually been promoting on social media.

We actually shared it on our upcoming Cascades paper for the maze issue.

And also I've sent out a frequent e-news alert

and this will reach out to all the businesses in our community.

Excellent.

Thank you so much for hosting this and for doing this for a lot of our business owners.

Oh, Mr.

Actually, I have a follow-up question.

Actually, it was also for this ADA website compliance workshop.

And again, thank you for doing this because I think as my colleague...

College said, a lot of businesses who probably don't understand the issue of conforming to regulations for ADA compliance, they can find the social lawsuits. Having said that, is this a live, I mean, in other words, like, when it's over, will there be a recording for anyone who can watch, or if not, perhaps, is there any resources, because, again, a lot of businesses use web sites now to promote and market their businesses, to get customers, but, again, I don't know if, if all businesses understand that they have to also adhere to ADA compliance rules

or possibly face subjects of lawsuits.

Is there a way in which we can post more permanent information about ways in which a website can be compliant?

Absolutely.

So after our workshop, I can definitely work with our consultants to get more information, and we can share that on our city's website.

Right, and in language as well.

Yes.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, just one more point to Councilmember Lo's point. If there's a way to do some type of webinar or self-help, almost like a YouTube video, that we can post on our website, whether it's ours or one of our partners, so that we can also redirect businesses to our website.

That's a great idea. I will talk to the consultant and see if we can work something out.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

If not, I'll just add my appreciation for economic development team hosting and starting to put on programming like this.

I know it's much needed in our community and particularly for our small business community. And would love to see us continue to see what other resources we can provide to the business community here in Monterey Park, especially as they continue to feel pandemic and work from home and telecommuting kind of impacts to other businesses. If there are other resources we don't provide, I know we've been promoting other regional resources that are available, including grants and other loan programs and technical assistance programs as well. So I appreciate all the work that our small but mighty economic development team is doing and leading on and look forward to what else we can do, other ways we can continue to support the business community here in Monterey Park.

But thank you so much.

Thank you.

If there's nothing else on this item, we will move to a police department update

Good evening, mr. Mayor members City Council Scott Weiss chief of police

Go over the first slide for the second slide. There we go A couple things coming up in our community relations bureau. One of them is a business watch meeting That one actually these are the two past business watch meetings for March crime prevention and quality of life issues. This is down at NBC Seafood.

We met with all the people in the plaza, and we're trying to deal with some of our local misdemeanor crime issues and burglary issues in that area. So our CSB Bureau got that group together. We're going to help them kind of reimagine what security will look like in that center to try to stem some of the problems they're having. The other one is with M&M Management over at the Marketplace. We met with all the businesses in the marketplace and talked to them about their parking issues, their driving issues, all the things that are affecting that marketplace. It was very well attended. Everybody was present. And we were able to kind of work our way through some of the, I guess, the things that they didn't quite understand about the parking issues down there and the enforcement that we can have. Go ahead. Next slide, please.

Coffee with a Cop next week, Tuesday, at Starbucks down in Atlantic.

It's always well attended there. We are a big partner with Starbucks in the Atlantic Square and in our regional area, the regional manager. Very supportive of the police department, and we expect quite a few people there. So I invite everybody to come out for that.

Next one, please.

So April 5th and 6th, our police department, along with Montebello Police Department, participated in the Baker to Vegas Run Relay. It's a relay that takes place between Baker and Las Vegas. there's 14 different legs that range from 10k up to seven or eight miles and the officers run it it's a 24-hour race so it starts at eight o'clock in the morning and runs all night long and we

participate in that this year we were 12th place in the 150 division which is pretty good for our

first time coming back after being away for a few years so I just want to shout out to the officers on our department at Montebello for participating in that. They did a great job.

Next slide, please. Here's some net stats for you. This is for March. Our homeless contacts and follow-ups for March of 2024, we had 78. In comparison, March of last year, we had 96. So a little bit down this year. However, our stats are up by 53% from what they were in

2023. So we're still seeing an increase, but March we saw a decrease. Could have been weather, could have been the rain, could have been other issues like that, but we did see a decrease.

Homeless criminal investigations, NET team handles their own criminal investigations involving the homeless, whether they're victims or suspects. I have a detective assigned to the NET team, and that's what her job is, is to conduct those investigations. And there's the stats for our

investigations. We're down 22%, which is good. We're keeping our homeless, both as victim and

suspects, down. So it's an ongoing fight with the police department. Repeat contacts,

a lot of repeat contacts, 43 compared to 11 from last year, and we're up 72%. So we're making contact with the same people over and over again. And this council's, I think, intimately aware of the net team's need to make contacts with an individual multiple times to gain their support

and their understanding. We do it on a regular basis. It's a first-name basis, quite honestly,

with our net team and some of the homeless in the community. So our numbers are up 72% there. 25 people declined services this in March, as opposed to 12 from last year. We're showing They're up 23% in that. We still get quite a few people that, regardless of how we present them with sheltering and with support,

with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, everything that we can do to help them get out of the homeless crisis that they're in,

we still get quite a few people that refuse.

We housed seven in March, which is, I think, a pretty good stat for us. Those stats reflect either permanent housing or housing where we're getting them into a shelter bed somewhere in Los Angeles County. And as you know, Spa 3, the spa we're in, has no shelter beds. So we have to go outside of our area to find shelter beds. So we've sheltered seven in March as opposed to March of last year. We're only four. And we're up 93%. So we're doing pretty good with sheltering our people, working that problem. And then mental health investigations. These are follow-up investigations done by the NET team. They could have been generated through patrol or through any other means. We had nine this month, which is down from March of 2023, and we're down 15%. So we're dealing with mental health on a regular basis, but we are down in our numbers of follow-up investigations. Next slide, please.

Sorry, before we move on on the housed numbers, is that, to the extent you can tell,

Is that indicative of LASA actually having more resources available for us to house? Or is that, can we not say that?

Or is that not?

I would say we don't, we can't say that.

We have a permanent housing coordinator that works for us.

She used to work for LASA and now she works for us. She has the same resources that LASA does. So we don't go through LASA to find housing. She works the same system that they do. She has access to the same computer system that LASA has.

So we actually reach out directly to the providers of the housing services, and then we arrange for housing, and then we transport the person and their property to that housing.

Other cities don't have the resources we do, and they rely on LASA to come out.

LASA comes out twice a week and follows up with clients, but we've never seen them house anybody. All of these are done by our in-house services.

Before I switch this slide, any questions? Great. Next one, please. Calls for service. These are calls coming into our dispatch center.

Total calls for service are March 4,025, as opposed to 4,032 in March of 2023.

About the same.

We're showing a 14% increase in calls for service across the board between the two years. 9-1-1 calls.

We're down a little bit right now. Down 1% overall. don't have an answer for that. People call 911 for all different kinds of reasons. Some of them are legitimate emergencies. Others are mistakes, and we try to educate them on how to get a hold of the police department not using the emergency line. We are seeing with the new 911 system, people have the ability to text 911. If you take out your phone and you text, you put in the number 911 and you hand it a text, within a few seconds it goes directly to dispatch and the dispatcher will text you back saying this is dispatch what's your emergency how can we help you and then your phone pops up on our screen within a couple feet of where you're standing so it's a very efficient system it's called e911

and we are online with that now and we use it we use it a lot everybody likes to text so it is a

great way. If you can't speak or you need to get a hold of us and you're more comfortable doing that,

we do do that. Medical calls, these are calls that come into the police department from citizens in

Monterey Park, via 911 or from the regular line. We then transfer those over to Verdugo and the

paramedics respond, but this reflects we're down a little bit, 192 as opposed to 241 and a 2% decrease across the year. Homeless calls were up, 151 opposed to 118 for 2023, and that just

reflects the amount of activity that the net team has, and unfortunately, maybe the amount of

homeless activity in the city. It is up across the board. Animal control calls, and there's a

significant increase in animal control calls. What we've done is we hired a full-time animal control officer, and we have now seven-day-a-week coverage for animal services, which is something we haven't had in years. What it does is it eliminates us needing to call out LA County, which is an expensive process, and they take anywhere up to three or four days to get there. So we're seeing an increase, but it means that we have seven-day-a-week coverage. Last thing is, this Friday, our three dispatchers who are involved in our Star Ballroom shooting are being awarded by the International Association of Public Safety Communication Officials, APCO, at their national conference. in Buena Park this year, and the police administration will be there representing, and they'll be there receiving an award for their service that night. Also, this is Public Safety Operators, Communication Operators Week, so all of our dispatchers are being pampered, and I mean, I'm supposed to go in tomorrow and do pedicures for all of them.

And then our Animal Services, this is Animal Services Week also, so our two Animal Control Officers, William Estrada and Laura Rodriguez,

they're being honored this week nationally, for that also. And I'm here for any questions. I tried to get through as quick as I could. Thank you, Chief. Because they'll yell at me in the back. Any questions? Yes, Chief, I had a question.

If we can go back to the 911 calls.

I thought it was very interesting that people can text now. Of the 911 calls,

do we have a number of how many are actual texts?

I don't have that number. It's a great question,

and I will find out. And I'm hoping that

the system allows us to break that out.

So it's so new that I can't tell you if I can get that stat or not, but I'm going to look for it.

Yeah, I think it would be great to know if we can, just to kind of differentiate. And maybe the dispatchers, if we can't figure out a number, maybe they can do, you know.

I'll try to break that down into smaller numbers so we have a better statistic. Excellent.

And then do you think that people know that they can text 911?

Well, there is a campaign out there that the state, because the state owns 911. We're a subscriber of it as a PSAP, it's called, a communication center.

The state has put out this information pretty robustly around to different groups.

We talk about it in all of our public engagement, and we put it out on our social media.

other than that I'm not sure how the idea can get out to people

it's my understanding because the system is so new that the state is talking about putting out PSAs on television

things like that so I think they're going to get the word out the system before did allow text but it wasn't very robust this one is really really good

that was going to be my follow up question if there's a way we can potentially through social media share with our community that calling or texting 901 is an option. And I only say that because I could imagine there might be a situation where someone can't actually call and maybe texting might be a little bit easier for them or more convenient in terms of reaching.

And safer for them, maybe, depending on the situation.

So maybe if there's a way we can find that.

100%.

And then my follow-up question was on the, I know this week is National Animal Control Officers.

Is that correct?

And I noticed that you guys made a post, or the PD made a post on social media, which is really great because I did have a call, and actually the picture that was there was, you know, and I appreciate the work that Officer Rodriguez did. She came out and rescued the dog that was abandoned.

Were you the puppy? You were the puppy call? Yeah, I was the puppy call.

Yeah, so I drove by, I was there. At first I was going to call Athens to come and pick it up because it was just a bunch of trash, and then I started,

I was like, I'll just get out and clean it myself.

And there was a puppy in a trash bag.

Officer Rodriguez coming out, assisting with that. And as we did that, a lot of community members came out and they're like,

I want to adopt a dog, I want to adopt a dog.

But thank you so much for that, and please express my sincere gratitude. I will.

I have two adopted dogs from Monterey Park that people discarded and came in.

They live with me now. So I'm a big dog lover. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Actually, my question also has to do with animal control calls. Out of curiosity, of those calls, do we know how many of them are related to calls about coyotes?

I can look that up. I'm not sure based on the number here what it breaks down into.

My animal services report, I can add that statistic to what I pass on to the city manager.

So you can have that. But we do look into that. Of course. That is something we track.

No, no, which I appreciate.

And I only bring it up because where I live, and probably it's because I live near a park, and so do my street. But sometimes the neighbors will ask me about coyote issues. And so I always ask them, let the city animal control know about it.

Yes.

Because certainly I understand concerns about safety to families, and not to mention other pets when they take their pets for walks in the neighborhood or to the park as well.

In this case, Garden Ranch Park. Right. Right. And we track those calls. We track the Monterey Park, go Monterey Parks that come in about coyotes.

Everything's put into a system and we look at areas where they congregate, if you will.

The only area that we don't really have access to is the is the reservoir area that's controlled by a metropolitan water district.

And they do their own coyote abatement up there. And we we don't get involved in that.

I know we're going to vote, but are they limited to share with us?

I'll ask William, our animal services supervisor. I'll ask him if – I know he deals with them on a regular basis.

Believe it or not, the coyote issues that are handled by the county are handled by the Department of Weights and Measures.

Weights and Measures?

They're the ones that have coyote responsibility for Los Angeles County, not animal services.

The Department of Weights and Measures.

Okay. I don't know.

any other questions comments no uh well thank you chief appreciate it

we'll move on to uh next staff update recreation community services and actually before chief uh you don't have to come back but uh appreciate the update but uh not but but if you can at some point in the future at an upcoming council me maybe an update on the neighborhood watch program and how we're doing in terms of adding new neighborhood watch groups

but recreation community services hi good morning I'm sorry good evening mayor mayor pro tem and

members of the city I know right it seems like it and members of the city council my name is

Alejandro Spinoza and I am a program coordinator for the recreation and community services department today we'll be presenting some past and upcoming events that our department has to offer so first First off, we'd like to thank everyone that participated in our Huntington Library trip. We had over 50 seniors in attendance.

They had a lot of fun. They took lots of pictures. They enjoyed the artwork.

The weather did not stop them despite our gloomy weather.

So they had lots of fun.

And as always, they were eager to know when our next trip was.

Next slide, please.

Just yesterday was our spring break dance, what we like to call our biggest party in

town.

It was sold out with over 150 seniors in participation.

We had food, a live DJ.

We played throwback music from the 60s, the 70s, and the 80s. They always come in their best-dressed outfits. And again, they had a lot of fun, and they were eager to participate in our next dance, and we had a line out for our next dance as well.

Next slide, please.

Coming up this Friday is our Spring Into Wellness event in partnership with the Chinatown Service Center Resiliency Center and the Department of Mental Health. We will be offering an event that is promoting eating healthy. This event is free and will be this Friday, like I mentioned, from 1 to 4. There will be a mobile health clinic that will be doing cholesterol and blood pressure screenings. No registration is required, and a free produce bag will be offered by visiting our booths.

So it'll be like a passport.

Those that visit each booth for about up to five booths,

they will be able to get a free produce bag while supplies last. And then we can also continue to offer seminars and health screenings. This tomorrow will be a screening on Chiropractor 101 at 9 a.m., and that is in partnership with the Garfield Health Center.

Next slide, please.

Next we have a life and culture art project. This is one of our ongoing activities that we've been doing in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club. And in an effort to bring two generations together, our seniors have been painting a canvas, which then will be given off to our children at the Boys and Girls Club to complete the canvas to create one artwork. Seniors have enjoyed participating in this class very much. Anyone interested in participating in this is encouraged to contact Langley Center for more details.

Next slide, please.

This Thursday, we will be featuring movies at Langley Center. We will be showing Jurassic Park. The movie will start at 2 p.m. Adults 50 and over are welcome, and we will be having free popcorn. On April 23rd at 1 p.m., we will be having another Taco Tuesday. In an effort to encourage our seniors to provide their feedback, we encourage them to complete the park's master plan survey, and by completing it, they're welcome to get some free tacos. We want to encourage them that their feedback is important and the tacos will be free until supplies last.

Next slide, please.

And we continue to offer our spirit months at Langley Center. So every Tuesday by participating on our different themes, our seniors will get a raffle ticket that gives them a chance to win a ticket to our next dance. this coming Tuesday will be Tourist Day so our seniors were encouraged to dress up as tourists and then our next dance like I mentioned earlier will be May 2nd this is our Cinco de Mayo dance it'll be three dollars it'll have nachos

and drinks a live DJ it'll be at one o'clock and we invite older adults 15

over to join us for for the fun next slide please and then our cherry

Blossom event, our annual Cherry Blossom event will be coming up. We invite everyone to join us at our Cherry Blossom Festival April 27th and 28th. There will be music, booths, performances, free shuttle services, and so much more. And also in conjunction to our Cherry Blossom event, there will be an Earth Day celebration that will take place April 27th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Next slide, please.

And then our Play Days Carnival event will be taking place May 9th through May 12th this year. Presale tickets are now available on the website. It will be featuring a beer garden, a lineup of concerts, and then, of course, our famous carnival games and so much more. And also, we are excited to be partnering with the library for our Read and Ride program. ages 0 to 13 children who read four hours will receive one ride ticket for the play days carnival event and those who would like to participate can register on bean stack which

the website is listed on our page and i'm going to take the next slides director of recreation

community services robert agiri just want to remind everyone as the weather continues to get better and better. I know we had quite a few weeks off due to the rain. We

want to encourage everyone and remind everyone that we do have a farmers market that's here in Barnes Park every Thursday from 4 to 9. Come out get your fresh produce, some great food. I know I end up taking dinner home on Thursdays. So delicious tamales, tacos, pupusas, all kinds of great stuff and great vendors. So just want to encourage everyone to continue to visit the farmers market.

Next slide, please.

And then again, as Ali had mentioned, we're really trying to push out, and we want to get as much community engagement as possible with our parks master plan.

So the first phase that we're going through right now is a community survey.

The survey is available in three different languages, and we want to get as much input. So we want to continue to encourage residents to not only take the survey, but to invite their family members, their neighbors, their friends to take the survey. That way we can compile that information and start looking at the next step, which will be focus groups that look at prioritizing the future of the parks.

Next slide, please. So this is a big event that I know we always look forward to.

We just secured the Dodger tickets for this year's MPK night at Dodger Stadium. The game will be on Friday, August the 9th, and the tickets are only $40 this year. So $40 if you went in previous years, same seating area. and so you know that $40, you can't beat that. You can come out and see some amazing Dodger players

who have been doing well.

So the tickets are now available on the city's website and you can start buying them now.

Next slide, please.

Just a few project updates. I know people may have seen it on social media, but I did want to make sure and share

that the small playgrounds at Highlands Park

and also at Garvey Ranch Park

are now open for play. At Highlands Park, we do have a ranger-themed playground on the small side. And also at Garvey Ranch Park, we have a baseball-themed.

I think I had mentioned on social media, but the Garvey Ranch playground that's baseball-themed,

it does have a few customized items on there. So you'll notice that there's a jersey in the picture there. The back of that jersey does say Garvey, and that's to pay homage to Richard Garvey. And then the number 16 there is just to pay homage to the year the city was incorporated, 1916. So we just tried to put a little something special on there. We had the opportunity, so why not, right?

Next slide, please. And then what we've all been waiting for.

I know this has been a long time coming. Weather has not been kind to us with this project, but excited and ecstatic to announce that we will do having the Garvey Ranch ribbon cutting for the long-awaited space-themed playground. That will be on April the 25th at 430.

I encourage everyone to come out.

We do have some great giveaways that will come for the first 200 people that come out. We have something special for you. So I want to encourage everyone to come out Thursday, April 25th at 4.30 at Garvey Ranch Park.

Next slide.

And then, as always, I'd like to finish off by reminding everyone to follow us on social media at Monterey Park Rec. We try to keep everything updated, fresh, and fun on our social media. And that completes our presentation. If you have any questions, we're both available.

Wow, I don't know where to start.

So I had some questions, Robert.

First of all, thank you so much for all this amazing programming.

I couldn't catch up with all the dates, but I appreciate the April 23rd date. I get to do coffee with the cops in the morning and then tacos, Taco Tuesday with you guys in the afternoon.

So I'm pretty set for the day, I think. Thank you.

and hopefully there'll be donuts at the Coffee with a Cop too.

And then, but just kidding, just kidding.

But really looking forward to also the April,

sorry, the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Sorry, the Cherry Blossom Festival on the 27th and 28th.

I'll be there on the 28th because I can't on the 27th, but on the 27th, going on a, actually very related, but a field trip with my students to Manzanar on a pilgrimage.

So I'll be there the whole dates.

But anyhow, I was there briefly as those seniors were lining up for the spring break dance, and you guys were setting up the room. So very excited to see all the seniors ready to dance, all dressed up. It was very exciting to see that, too, but I couldn't stay to dance with them. But thank you for hosting that for our seniors. And I did have a follow-up question regarding the farmer's market. Have we been, on our end, keeping track of how well-attended the farmer's market is

or keeping track of it?

So we usually try to check in with the farmer's market producers just to see what the sentiment is from her, but also from the market vendors as well to see how they're enjoying it, see what they see on the attendance week to week. It's been kind of challenging, obviously, this winter. Winter is always challenging for farmer's markets. This winter has been exceptionally challenging because we've had numerous rain outs. And so when it does rain, either one, we have to cancel or we have to reduce the amount of vendors because of the damage to the turf. But since the change of location, we have seen the attendance uptick, definitely. And we do anticipate definitely with the weather improving, that's when people like to come out, enjoy the later evenings because the sun stays out a little bit longer,

and it's really nice for spring and summertime.

Okay, that's great.

And I saw that you guys did a field trip with the seniors. I was wondering if maybe we can do a field trip to the farmer's market with our seniors, or if we have in the past.

That would be, I think, a cool idea.

Yeah, the staff at Langley Center, definitely hats off to them. I mean, hats off to all the staff in Recreation. They've been doing an amazing job. But definitely Langley Center, they've been planning a lot of upcoming trips. We're looking at Vincent Price Museum trips. We're really just trying to keep our seniors active and busy and just having a good time.

Yeah, no, your programming at the Langley Center is amazing. I want to be a senior there.

Hopefully you're still around. Our days will come.

I know.

And then thank you again for the MPK night at Dodger Stadium.

You can definitely count me in.

I'm going to start buying some tickets a little early this year.

Yes. Thank you so much.

Thank you for all the programming. That's all for me. Thank you.

Just one word, epic, which is our theme.

And also, I appreciate, especially if I reflect from the vantage point,

back to life with our programming. And then some.

I think that's something that, you know, my compliments to your department

and all of the city staff, working with the community,

you know, who have asked, you know,

you know, like, how can we improve programming? And I think it's really appreciated all that you've done, especially for our senior community.

And, yeah, definitely I'm looking forward

to some great programs.

And also there's the grand opening of the space-themed playground

because that's right by my house.

People have asked me, when's it going to be finished?

I said, it's ready to launch soon.

I may have to use that on Thursday. I may have to use it.

I'd be remiss if I didn't thank both TransTech

and our public works department.

They've been working diligently and trying to get that project.

All of our playgrounds built. They've been doing an amazing job, so I'd be remiss if I didn't thank them.

I drove my daughters and they wanted to see it.

I told them I'm coming soon.

Yeah, I've been visiting it often.

I have a question.

Last year I attended Cherry Blossom, and I couldn't find any cherry blossom.

And do you plan to actually do a big fake one?

So we do have a few fake trees that will be at the Cherry Blossom event.

We do have a few cherry blossom trees here in the city of Monterey Park. There's some at Barnes Park. Unfortunately, cherry blossoms, it's not really the climate. And when they do bloom, it's only for a few days. There are some cherry blossom trees over at Garvey Ranch Park that were donated years ago by, I believe, the Japanese American Club.

I may be getting that wrong.

But so we do have some cherry blossom trees throughout the city. It's just a matter of if they bloom or if they do.

Because if they don't bloom, they just look like, you know, like a twig.

Right. I suggest you pick a big fake.

But we do have some fake ones that will be there.

Oh, great, great, great. Thank you.

I'll keep it simple. Great job, epic.

You guys have like 10 events on the board.

All right.

Kristen back there, I think last month you guys had seven. So the challenge is back on.

All right. Right?

You know one council member wants to make sure that there's

Taylor's actually there for his daughters Langley Center Taylor's

But I also just a reminder councilman Sanchez I think there's an age limit on some of the Langley Center programming so

first

Just make sure the seniors get you're not quite there yet

Yeah, right.

On the, again, add to the kudos from the other council members on the programming. I appreciate, and I think the community very much appreciates the amount of programming and the quality of programming that the department puts on throughout the year. I'm looking forward to what's coming up in the spring and the summer as well as we kind of have peak events. I know we've got, we're working with Boys and Girls Club on some of the art projects. It would be great to see and explore how we can leverage them, the Boys Girls Club and others, potentially in the city, to see how we can maybe refresh some of the art and the walls in some of the city facilities. If we can, at City Hall and Langley and other facilities, would love to integrate some of the student and other artwork into some of these spaces. that probably, I think there are a lot of bare walls, and I think if we can, if appropriate, graduate from there to see how we can potentially paint and add some murals to other blank spaces and walls in the city and some city facilities. It'd be great to integrate that into our programming. And I know our budget conversations will be coming up pretty soon. I would advocate for integrating some sort of budget ask. If that's not already in the thinking TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE ADDING ART OR AT LEAST HELPING TO PROVIDE SOME RESOURCES TO ADD ART IN THE PUBLIC SPACES IN THE COMMUNITY.

ABSOLUTELY.

WITH THAT, I'M TRYING TO REMEMBER IF I WROTE ANYTHING ELSE DOWN.

I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, ROBERT.

I APPRECIATE IT.

BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE DEPARTMENT AND THE TEAM FOR PUTTING ON ALL THESE EVENTS THE LAST FEW WEEKS SINCE OUR LAST COUNCIL MEETING And in the weeks to come, we know there's a lot going on in the next couple months.

Staff stays busy, but they do it with a smile.

They really enjoy what they're doing. Yeah, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

All right.

We'll move on to presentation on short-term rentals.

Good evening, Mayor Wong, Mayor Pro Tem Ngo, and members of the City Council. I'm Jessica Serrano, your Community Development Director.

I'm here together with my colleague, Ray Lozano, our Senior Code Enforcement Officer.

and we are here today to provide an informational presentation regarding short-term rental ordinance.

And this is a follow-up item from a request from City Council after some questions and concerns were raised regarding short-term rentals in the city. I'll start by explaining what is a short-term rental, which is also known as a vacation rental.

And a short for a short-term rental is STR.

are. And these are a dwelling unit other than a unit located in a hotel or motel that is rented to a person or persons for a period of shorter than 30 consecutive days.

In 2020, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2200 to enact Monterey Park Municipal Code Chapter 21.09, Regulating Short-Term Rentals. Pursuant to this ordinance, a short-term rental permit is required to operate this type of business. Applicants must provide a surety bond and confirmation that the applicant registered to pay the transit occupancy tax, which is paid by the occupants of the units. And also, they must notify the neighboring residences that they have an intent to apply for this type of permit, and they also must prepare a nuisance response plan which outlines how they would address complaints should they arise. Hinder, Leiter, DeLamas, and Associates, also known as HDL, they are responsible for collecting the transit occupancy tax for short-term rentals. There are currently 17 active short-term rental permits in the city.

and the process involves the applicant downloading their application from an online portal and

completing their application 30 days prior to submitting their application the applicant must send out notice to the property owners or the residences and businesses within 300 feet notifying them of their intent of the application and the applicants also must submit their application via email to the planning division, together with all the supplemental requirements that I previously mentioned. And once we receive their application, within 10 working days, they'll receive a response from staff either with a permit issuance if their application is complete, or a denial or a request for additional information. As a final step, staff notifies the police department about these short-term rentals once they're approved.

City staff did a survey of surrounding cities and found that there were some cities that allow short-term rentals outright

without any restrictions.

There are some that allow them with restrictions,

and also there's a group of cities that outright ban them. And beginning with the column on the left, shown in green, Alhambra allows short-term rentals but only requires a business license

and that they pay the transit occupancy tax.

Now, in the column in the middle, which includes Monterey Park, these cities allow short-term rentals with some restrictions.

All of these do require a short-term rental permit, similar to what the city currently requires.

And on the column on the far right in red, these cities just ban them altogether. They're not alLod.

For this next slide, I'm going to turn the mic over to my colleague, Ray, who will provide more information about code enforcement efforts. Good evening.

Whenever code enforcement does receive a complaint from a citizen, we begin an internal investigation

to verify whether or not the property does, in fact, not have a short-term rental application

that is approved on file. Following that, we will go to the property to conduct an investigation with the property owner. When and if the violation is founded, we work with the property owner to guide them to the correct passageway to obtain the short-term rental application through the planning division once the application is approved we close out that case and concludes the violation as a whole that will conclude our presentation we have any uh open up for any questions thank you any questions from council

yes i have a couple questions thank you so much for the presentation i know this was a issue that came up at our last council meeting. So thank you for the quick turnaround on the presentation. It seemed to me, based on some of the comments from people who came to our last council meeting, that it was kind of hard to figure out or regulate how or the short-term rentals that currently existed within the city. And I can imagine that if a person has a short-term rental and doesn't know that they need, for example, a permit and they need to file paperwork, that they could potentially have a short-term rental without having gone through the correct process, right?

That's correct.

So I guess my follow-up question is, is there a way for us to, and in my head, well, can't I just go on Airbnb and search all the properties in Monterey Park and cross-reference and check and see if that's possible to do and check and follow up with these properties that haven't gone through the permitted process?

Yes, Council Member Sanchez. We do work with HDL. They are our collector for TOT.

But part of their agreement is they actively search websites for these addresses.

So most popular, of course, Airbnb and VRBO, but there's other websites that they also search.

And they are looking for short-term rental advertisements in Monterey Park.

Once those addresses are identified, the property owner is notified that we do have a process.

So as Jessica has already mentioned, this ordinance was put into place in 2020 during the pandemic. So our process really hasn't ramped up, I would say, until about 2022, 2023 is really when we started to see short-term rental properties starting to come back after the pandemic years. So we now are working really closely together between our enforcement efforts and HDL to make sure that we are educating our short-term rental property owners that there is a process and they need to get permits. So the 17 permits that we have currently active, how long have we had those active, I guess?

You were correct. After 2022 was when those were approved.

Okay, so definitely in the last few years we've been more active. And then I know we have more properties that we're collecting taxes on, but we're still working with those owners to go through the permitting process, correct? Do we know how many properties we're collecting DOT on?

It's about 60, in the low 60s.

We are working with hinder lighter dilemmas to reach out to those that don't have the permit

to inform them that they need to go through that process as well?

So definitely actively looking for property owners to make sure they're educated.

At that point, they have a choice. If they'd like to go through the process, then we give them all the information. And some might not pursue going through the process. That's where our code enforcement team will come in if they're not complying with the permitting processes

to make sure that they do. Yes.

Thank you for that.

And I wonder if there's a way to maybe team up with, like, our economic development team and find a way to do perhaps even a workshop for people who either already have a STR or who are potentially interested in having an STR because maybe they have a property so that they are not just aware of the permitting process but also know what the regulations are within the city of Monterey Park. might be worth exploring and bringing to interest in combining both. I did have another follow-up question. If we can go back to the slide with the city lists. Mr. Arnold, do you know offhand why neighboring cities like Montebello, San Gabriel, Rosemead, all that surround us have banned short-term rentals?

I couldn't give you a response on those,

but I would assume that some of those communities felt that they would negatively impact their neighborhoods.

And, you know, I did hear about under the permitted group, Anaheim,

they actually are currently no longer approving any new ones.

And they've actually put a pause and said no more new ones.

So, you know, it could be that, you know, they're just seeing negative impacts in their neighborhoods.

If you had to take a guess, what would be some of your, or I see the city manager trying to jump in.

Sure, I was going to say the other thing that, from my understanding, yes, there could be some nuisance concerns in residential neighborhoods. I think the other thing, too, and I don't know specifically Anaheim's decision, but I think there's also a thought that if cities have hotels, motels, and they have spaces, they're considering having people use those spaces versus having short-term rentals allowable in their cities could be another reason.

I'd be interested to learn a little bit more about why some of these cities have banned short-term rentals and the impact that they have on community like ours, especially given the fact that we have such a limited amount of housing, especially rental housing, not just in our community but in many communities throughout the state. I'm not suggesting or in any way, shape or form, that we should ban short-term rentals in Monterey Park, but I do want to explore the idea of why some of these cities have done what they've done. And also, yeah, that's it for now.

Thank you. Any other? Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Yes, again, thank you, Jessica and staff, for, again, a very quick turnaround and a very extensive report. I'm curious, because, again, as I understand, And, you know, there is a process that when you register your Airbnb or short-term rental, you also have to include a nuisance report. So I'm curious, as my colleague mentioned, you know, I mean, this was prompted by a resident. I came and had a complaint about a party. And I'm just curious, did that, whoever rented out, did they have a nuisance? Do they fill out the information as far? And I guess I'm just wondering that how did that issue still occur nonetheless, even though we have that requirement that you fill out a nuisance, I guess like a point of contact, and how the neighbors can respond

and who did you reach out to?

I'm just curious what happened in that situation.

Yeah, that's a great question. The nuisance response plan has information about who the contact person is.

it limits number of occupants that can occupy the the rental okay um you know response time