City Council Meeting — May 21, 2025

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Oh, yeah.

Let's call to order. Let's get the meeting started. I'm going to first start with our land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as the Tavangar, the home of the Gabalino Tongva people. We show respect to the Gabalino Tongva people as well as all indigenous people past, present, and future. and honor the labor as original caretakers of this land. We commit to uplifting the Gavirino town for people, invite you to acknowledge the history, and join us in caring for this land.

Okay, let's call to order. Let's do the flag salute.

We have a guest today. Would you like to please lead us in the flag salute?

Face the flag, put your right hand over the heart, ready, begin.

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

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

Thank you. You may be seated. Before we...

Yeah, council members, if you want to join me in presenting, this is Mia Pesantes, our civic superstar, and she is from...

Tell me what school. She is from what school? Brightwood Elementary School.

Thank you.

We're going to have the parents in the next picture.

Everyone's looking here.

One, two, and three. Can we have the parents in here? Here we have a sister here too.

Alright everyone, let's look in the middle, smile.

One, two, and three. One more, one, two, and three. Great, good.

Happy New Year! Thank you so much.

Thank you. Congratulations for

Madam Clerk, can we have roll call please?

Councilmember Wong.

Councilmember Sanchez.

Present.

Councilmember Lo. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Yang. Present. Mayor Ngo.

Present. We have a quorum. Thank you. Agenda additions, deletions, and changes.

Mr. Mayor and members of the council, we'd like to request to move item 7A, recognition of Eagle Scout project at Fire Station 61, to the next city council meeting. There was a scheduling conflict, so this item will be moved to the June 4th, 2025 meeting.

Thank you, and we shall do that.

Okay.

Public communications.

First speaker.

Eku Songson.

Sorry.

Hello. Okay. Hi, my name is Eka Sonksen. I'm a sophomore at Keppel. I'm a former club swimmer and a current high school swimmer. The pool at Barnes Park has always been really important to me personally because I actually took lessons there for swim as a young kid, and I also have swam there for club before.

I vividly remember that families and children would swim and play recreationally on a hot summer day.

overall I think it was a very integral part of Monterey Park and a community center a third space for people who don't know a third space is a space that's meant to be used and loitered in but isn't home or school or work with the loss of the pool comes a loss of community

I think it would be a great investment for the city and would be widely utilized I would also like to say I really like how you guys have been doing certain things like the new mural, I think those things are also a good investment regarding community.

That's pretty much all I had to say.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Rohan Baitler.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Rowan Beitler.

I am a sophomore at Markeppel High School.

I used to take swimming lessons at Barnes Park as well,

and it really has helped me overcome some fears

and also helped me first start out with my swimming career.

I am now a dare swimmer, and I also swim for Markeppel High School as well.

When I was younger, I didn't learn how to swim.

Barnes Park Pool helped me first get into swimming,

grow my career into what I am now today.

And I do feel like it would just be great if the current generation, future generation, also has this chance to grow like I did

and overcome my fears as I did when I was just as young as they were.

Thank you. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Next speakers, Alex and Jessica Lai.

Hello?

council members mayor and city managers I know most of you guys

and my name is Alex Lee I'm a resident of Monterey Park and this is my daughter Jessica Lee she's also graduated from Keppo and she's in the stream program for her whole four years in high school back in 2013 to 2016

and I was involved with the booster, the swim booster, and I was a president for a couple years during that time.

And I know the pool pretty well. Back then, we already knew it was leaking,

and we have a different council member at that time.

During that time, it was only $3 million to get it fixed. Okay, so we work on it. we all planned all kinds of strategy.

We did fundraising and car washing, big sales, everything.

The pool is very important for Montaigne Park. I don't know how many of you guys are Montaigne Park residents. I know the council does, but I don't know about the one that made the decision. Because back then, the council members, they were, we trusted them. We let them say that to fix the pool, and we did a lot of, you know, study, and they were getting the consultant, and we were thinking that they would get it fixed eventually. But now we realize that you are taking the least resistant path. You are just going to fill the hole and make a pickleball court. That's easy. Anybody can do that, you know. and you try to lump together for, Vin was telling me last week, it's going to be 70 million. We don't need to put all of them together. We want to separate the pool by itself because the pool is an icon of Monterey Park. Okay? The pool is so much pride in Monterey Park. If you want, you want to just put pickleball park, five years later, these are 20 things. Pickleball park is going to go away. Okay, but the pool is going to stay here. Okay? And look, right now, the house in Montepal, every house is almost a million dollars. You say about 12 million to fix a pool is a lot of money. Actually, it is not. It is what it is. We need to rebuild a pool. Jessica, you got something to say? Yes.

I'm very passionate about pool. Excuse me. Okay? I, you know, I'm involved in those times. My daughter was four years. I never miss a meet.

I never miss it. I went to all the meet, and we did all the competition every year. We are champions. Look at my shirt. Okay? 46 times. Okay? Look at her shirt.

52 times. And I just talked to coach.

Today, we are 91 times, championship. Okay? Where else can you get a team like that?

Okay? Only in Montepalc. And then if you guys just field it, the hole, you can make a big mistake.

Okay? Please don't do that. Jessica. Thank you, Daddy.

My name is Jessica, and he's right. I did swim with the Mark Keppel swim team from 2012 to 2016. It was a huge part of my high school career and was the only sport that I really took seriously and gave it my all in. and we did it very well like my dad says and it shows on our t-shirt and I really don't think that the high school swim team would have that reputation or even do nearly as well without the Olympic science barns pool it really gave us a home court advantage in compared to all of the other swim teams in our league and it really did become a second home for a lot of us on the swim team. And our swim team is big. It was about 100 people at the time, over 100 people. And we swam, we spent two to three hours after school year round. So we really made good use of that pool. And to see that it was gone one day, really broke my heart and really made me wonder how

the swim team could prosper the way that it did years ago without that pool. I also know that a A lot of my friends were on the club swim team at the time, and they spent even more hours at that pool and got to know the pool even better than I did, and it was a big part of their community. I also want to mention that I do see the advantage of...

recreational activity for all ages and a very essential skill to have. It doesn't matter whether

you're a baby or whether you're an adult. It's very easy on the joints. And if for people who

grow up and start having joint problems, it would be much harder for them to access a very healthy

recreational exercise that they can partake in without this pool. And I know that we have a lot

of older folks in residing in Monterey Park. And I just don't think that pickleball courts would necessarily fill that purpose.

So that's all I have to say. I really thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Armando Ng.

Hi, good evening. First, I want to, you know, give credit to where credit is due. I want to thank the city manager. I want to thank the mayor, mayor pro tem, and city council for hosting the town hall meeting that we had a few weeks ago. I thought it was great.

And for the first time in four years since the pool has been closed, I heard a possible solution. but I don't think it's sufficient. And tonight I was actually planning on sharing my story. My story is pretty old, but I think you're going to hear a lot from the swimmers behind me. So I want to talk about something different. During the town hall we talked about funding. What can we do to get the pool built? And I heard from some of you that you don't really look at financials, so I decided to look at financials again for the second, third time. And the number was put out on the screen during the town hall, about a $15 million number. And I made a comment that I'm sure you're all smart. You all can come up with the money. It's $15 million. You came up with $17 million to build a wall by Garvey. And I spoke about a surplus that the city has. And I want to give you credit because I think you've really managed the finances pretty well. You had a $13 million surplus last year. You expect to have another surplus of $3.3 million this year. And another about $18 million in the next four years. So there's definitely funding, but it's a question of whether you are willing to prioritize the pool. And I think you heard from the consultant that the pool actually now is your top athletic facility, right? That's what the community has told you already in the survey, right? It's above all the other athletic court, right? The first one is restroom, but that's not an athletic court, right? So swimming is really number one. And I really don't see why it should be lumped all together with the master park plan. I mean if everyone behind me is telling you this important it should be important for you, too And I heard all of you say and I trust you right you said you share a sentiment you do believe the pool is important You believe there is a priority right so I'm asking you to please put those words into action no more talking We waited four years already. I mean and I trust you. I mean we voted for you. You're sitting up there I mean my rep Councilman Wong is not here, but I hope he hears what I'm saying So please, I just want to ask that you consider Put those words into action Because I believe that you have the will You really want to do it If you have the will, I'm sure you have a solution I just gave you one There's funding, there's funding in the next few years So if you have the will, there's a solution And I gave you one And it's just time to put those words into action Action counts, no more words Thank you Thank you

Next speaker Beatrice Colosa.

Good evening, Mayor Nguyen,

Mayor Yang,

Council members and staff. My name is Beatrice Colosa. I am a resident of Montero Park since 1984. I'm here to make my plea to ask you to commit to building a pool for us at Barnes Park. First of all, I wanted to extend my appreciation to the city for hosting the last town hall meeting on May 5th, specifically to address the pool issue. We appreciate

that. I thought it was really helpful to have those conversations. And I would also like to thank Mayor Ngo for offering to reach out to the local pools around Mauna Park to facilitate a permit for the manta raids. I appreciate that. So a little background. I have two boys. They have been swimming all their lives since they were four or five years old. My husband was also a competitive swimmer, and he firmly believes swimming is one of the best sports there is. It promotes lifelong skills, water safety, and health. So my two sons joined the manta raids about when they were 9 and 10 years old. They also now swim for the Mark Keppel High School swim team.

And I think I stated at the last town hall meeting, one of my tasks as a parent volunteer for the Manta Rays is to coordinate pool permits. Since the closure of Barnes Pool during COVID time, we have had such difficulty securing pool permits around the cities of Monterey Park. On an average week, our kids travel to three different pools to practice. We practice at Elder. We practice at Montebello as far as traveling to Lincoln Pool, to Smith Pool, to Belvedere. I think we have pretty much used all the local pools in the area whenever they give us a lane here and two there for the team. In the summertime, it's very difficult to even have poor access at Elder

because we're the last priority for the aquatic programs.

It goes to swim lessons, mom and me, aerobic classes, so we have very little time to practice on weekdays. On the weekends, that goes to lab swimming for the community. so we have to also travel to Lincoln Pool again to other pools to practice on the weekends. In the winter times, that's when outdoor pool heater tends to break. It's a very old pool. And so again, we're having to scramble looking for other pools to have the kids to practice.

so what I want to ask is the city to commit I think I've been to so many town hall meetings since 2021 I've been in behind the door meetings with past mayor past city manager Mr. Ronbo

Ms. Inez to talk about this situation. This is the first time I'm here standing in front of you to talk about this publicly. If you have a pool at Barnes Park, it's a very centralized location.

It benefits a lot of people, not just the manta rays or the couple kids. I remember my kids,

they used to go to Chaoxin Chinese Language School. Every summer, we would sign up and they

would just get bused out to Barnes Pool to have their summer swim pool a couple hours a week. And I used to work at the Boys and Girls Club right across the park, and we would just have kids walk over in the summer to have water time inside Barnes Park.

So I remember I attended a town hall meeting when UDRI tried to promote the sales tax to 10.25%.

In one of the meetings, there was talk about we can use that money, the $6 million we save a year from the sales tax, to go toward the pool.

I'd like you to tell me if that is being done right now, since we have the sales tax for

over a year. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Next speaker, Adeline Lam.

Thank you.

Honorable members of the Monterey Park City Council, I'm Adeline. I'm a swimmer. I'm a parent. And I'm a resident here at Monterey Park. Strongly urge you to rebuild our community swimming pool rather than convert the space into a single-purpose facility. This is more than recreation. This is a life-saving, inclusive, and essential community resources for our city's health,

education, and social connection.

The need for expanded access and economic growth has never been more pressing for us. Remember, drowning remains the leading cause of death in the United States, yet it's 100% preventable. For children under age 5, it's the number one cause, and between ages 5 and 14, it's number two after motor vehicle car crashes. Since 2020, drowning deaths have continued to rise 28%, and the CDC believes this is due to pull closures and limited swim access. Beyond drowning risk, remember certain populations such as children with autism face even greater dangers,

160 times more likely to experience fatal and non-fatal drowning than neurotypical peers.

Even for adults, the CDC recommends and emphasizes water safety, and not too long ago, I remember our community members from Monterey Park directly affected by this. The U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan 23-32 urges cities to expand public pools to prevent drowning fatalities, and research confirms that learning to swim reduces drowning risks by 88%,

especially in children who will lose critical access to life-saving swim lessons. Swimming also provides physical and mental health benefits unmatched by other recreational spaces.

Low impact and non-weight-bearing exercise reduces strain on joints, benefiting those with arthritis, back pain, and muscle injuries.

Water rehabilitation aids stroke survivors, post-surgical patients, and injury recovery.

Swimming exercises Lors blood sugar, cholesterol, and weight. Mental health benefits include stress relief and anxiety reduction.

Jonathan Haidt describes our anxious generation, particularly for those born after 1995, significantly impacted by the rising rates of anxiety, depression, and isolation among adolescents. We need to focus on disconnecting more with electronics

and reconnecting with society. Public pools create career pathways, lifeguarding, public safety,

health care, and education.

Lifeguard training builds CPR skills applicable to emergency response, Swimming instruction fosters leadership, crisis management, and observational skills, supporting careers in firefighting, health care, and law enforcement.

The cities with strong aquatics programs report improved emergency preparedness, reinforcing community safety.

Swimming is one of the few activities to include people of all ages.

All abilities and fitness levels, yet limited pool space restricts participation. Morning lap swim at Elder is overcrowded. Only seven lanes accommodating over 40 swimmers in a two-hour window.

Swimmers of different speeds navigating around each other, making sessions less effective, discouraging, maybe even hazardous.

We need more swim access, and we have to remember to accommodate our swim teams and our after-school high school programs.

With no adequate pool in Monterey Park, residents lack a safe space for fitness, rehabilitation, and recreation, which are key elements of physical and mental well-being.

without expanded access, aspiring swimmers from beginners to elite athletes are left without a place to train and improve.

Remember the revenue for the city and local economy with increased swim programs, competitive events, and membership enrollments

will generate a reliable revenue stream for Monterey Park.

Families and visitors attending swim lessons and meets will contribute to local businesses. Monterey Park's nearly 100% Asian and Hispanic populations face disproportionate barriers to swimming across. Asian Americans make up only 5.3% of USA Swimming's year-round membership. Hispanic Latino Americans only 2.9%. Cultural barriers such as modesty, concerns, and lack of exposure impact participation. This demonstrates a need for greater inclusion in swim programs. Monterey Park was part of Olympic history. Preserving and modernizing Barnes Park Pool will honor this legacy, ensuring equitable access to swim education and inspiring future athletes and leaders.

Preserving the city pool will definitely ensure equitable access to swim education for all of our residents, especially our underrepresented community.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunities my community swimming pool has provided me. It helped me build my character, resilience, and passion for connecting with people.

at age 16, it gave me financial independence to find jobs

and while continue to bond with my teammates and colleagues. Now as a parent, I hope the city can choose to raise,

to see how beneficial this pool will be to help provide opportunities for our future generations to learn, grow, and thrive in a safe and inclusive space. I urge Monterey Park

City Council to prioritize public safety, health, and community development by investing and in rebuilding the community pool that serves all of our residents.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mike Songson and Debbie Yamamoto will be yielding their time to Cindy Yee.

Ten minutes.

Historical Swimming Pool to be open for discussion separately from the park's master plan.

After all, a resident found an error on that plan, which has been corrected on your website,

moving various outdoor sports below swimming.

The town hall meeting held on Cinco de Mayo was a smooth tactical exercise that was cleverly

executed to have supporters air out their years of frustration and disappointments in a packed room for an hour and a half. The dialogue was heavy, but it was officially an undocumented event and

a waste of time. We need to act now because of the cost and inflation. We had the chance five

years ago to split the cost of rebuilding the pool. A Hamburg Unified School District offered to pay half the price because the Mark Keppel High School swim team desperately needs a regulation-sized pool like other surrounding communities. Still, your predecessors failed to take any action other than approve expenditure of our tax dollars

of $17 million on private property on Garvey for a wall known as a prehistoric landslide in the early 70s. I am tired of hearing we have no money. I don't think the marketplace will be going anywhere anytime soon.

We have a stagnant economic development department with plenty of empty storefronts and empty lots sprinkled throughout our city, collecting weeds instead of earning revenue for our city. How much did it cost to hire an outside agency to study what you call the city's first ever parks master plan? The results were approximately 1,700 to 1,800 residents out of a population of over 60,000 are a waste of time and resources. Why does the city even hire outside consultants to do these little studies? Like the Sparks Town Hall discussion last fall, another unofficial event outside of these council chambers attempting to change the zoning code that had voters' approval in a city election.

Why does the city want to give its constituents a mediocre substandard pool?

It is too shallow to allow a diving board, there's an empty toddler pool, a shack for a shower, and a bathroom locker area that sounds like it is about to blow up.

Saturn Park could be redeveloped into a shopping hub like in Orange County called the District at Tustin Legacy, or a pickleball stadium with walkable shopping and restaurants. When asked what residents desire at that SPARKS meeting, I was the only one who proposed a sports complex. It's freeway accessible. Two city council members are interested in filling the pool with dirt and replacing it with pickleball courts. This unofficial but very popular sport can easily have pickleball courts installed in several of our 13 parks if we had extra revenue. Besides Saturn Park, the golf course just had the Monterey Park Steakhouse demolished. I bet you guys don't even know that. Which is zoned for recreational use forever. and the L.A. Corporate Center, with a gorgeous view, houses a huge multi-level parking lot. The problem is that you don't have the vision of tackling a state-of-the-art stadium project to entice sports developers and commercial retailers who sell millions of pickleball equipment to invest in one of those locations. We don't need another worthless outside study. Do your jobs or get fired. It's not rocket science.

Us residents are asking for a quality of life that we can be proud of to say that we live in Monterey Park, not a mediocre community where we have to drive outside our city borders for services that should be provided within our borders. Last City Council, I brought up the idea of applying for a National Historic Site on Barnes Pool, which, if granted, the state can provide the financial means to restore the property without dipping into our city funds.

All this Council needs to do is redirect the parts and rec department and city manager to apply and work in partnership with the newly formed volunteer resident group,

and some of them are behind me, to assist in working to have this project become a reality without hiring another outside consultant firm. Our newly established resident group has qualified professionals like engineers, CPA, A architect or two, a developer, a poet, a historian, teachers, swim parents who wish their child swims towards an all-expense Ivy League scholarship, and a 40-year-plus individual who was a school activist.

You have a former city council member who had served for years in our city and region and is still a congresswoman who could potentially wave a magic wand. Her home is based in Monterey Park, and the majority of you had her support in winning your seat.

Regarding exterior Olympic history proof, the official Olympic symbol is right outside our city door. in the next planter box.

Standing upright in platinum silver, you can focus your camera lens at certain angles and point it between our two flags waving in the breeze. It's a beautiful shot with the city hall behind them. There's a bronze plaque that outlines the route, the Olympic torch that started in Athens, Greece, traveled around the globe, then to the east coast, and relayed across the United States.

That same flame passed right in front of our city hall

and over to the L.A. Coliseum to light the cauldron to signal the 84 Olympics. As you enter our borders, our official city sign shows the Olympic symbol under our name.

Hidden documents and memorabilia are held in a large plastic box at the Monterey Park Historical Museum. at Garvey Ranch Park. By now, all of you city officials have received an official

notice via email sent last night around 1125 with the subject titled Historical Designation Process for Barnes Park Pool and the required elements and evidence to make this a reality for your

constituents. What do you as a city council person have to lose? Only a photo op of a red ribbon

cutting ceremony to a fully rebuilt city pool that will be legendary and in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics. After all, how many U.S. pools played a key role in past Olympic history?

that began in Athens centuries ago.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Last speaker, Don Rock.

Good evening, Mayor, city officials, and staff. My name is Dawn Rock, and as a longtime resident, I want to thank you for this year's Play Days celebration. Thursday was a fantastic turnout. Families came out, the weather was still friendly, and for a moment, it felt like the whole city was celebrating together.

Then came the heat.

Suddenly our joyful celebration turned into a ghost town. And that brings me to the reason I'm here today. Do you know what could have saved play days? An Olympic-sized swimming pool.

That's right. That's right.

If Barnes Park Pool had been open, we'd be talking about record-breaking attendance, attendance would have been through the sun-scorched roof. It was a missed opportunity to make a splash, literally. But jokes aside, Bond Park Pool isn't just a place to cool off, it's a legacy. I swam there for Manta Reyes and for Keppel. I worked there as a lifeguard. My kids played there, and now as a lifetime educator, lifelong educator, I've seen how our incredible local coaches, Coach Ish and Coach David, had built something truly special with limited resources. And yes, I'm going to ask again, can you imagine what they could do with a full regulation pool and a city that proudly supports them?

right now Barnes Park pool stands at a crossroads it will be remembered as a cornerstone of community health and pride or forgotten under a layer of bureaucratic dust so here's what I'm asking for Beatrice spoke about this on this topic a little bit earlier but I'm going to restate Our swim teams, the Manta Rays and Keppel, are still struggling to find places to train. At the town hall meeting, it was mentioned that help would be coming from city council or city staff. But so far, from my understanding, nothing has happened. So please, use your influence, your relationships, your pool, and get these teams access to pool time. These athletes need their time in the pool. Number two, act now. The pool needs advocates today. There's been a lot of discussion of the survey and a master plan being the vision for the city. Don't bury Barnes Park Pool under 12 other city parks in the master plan. The pool deserves its own spotlight. Honestly, the pool is the master plan.

Number three, pursue grants and other applications aggressively. Thank you for trying in 2016, 19, and 21. Now it's time to go after every public and private opportunity out there. Please seriously consider initiating the application for the pool to receive historical site designation. This is the designation that Cindy had just mentioned. and that I think all of you had received in the email. This pool has earned that recognition and protection.

And lastly, learn from Bell Gardens.

At the town hall meeting, Hector brought up their aquatics project. He wasn't trying to stir the pot.

He was offering a blueprint.

Bell Gardens succeeded because their city council took initiative. Their mayor talked to Senator Padilla, Representative Garcia, Senator Butler.

They got help because they asked for it. what have we done?

And yes, at this point I'm saying we, optimistically. Is saving the pool truly a priority? You say you believe in the pool and the pool matters.

Belief is great, but belief without action

is like a pool without water. Seems okay until someone dives in.

We need to see your commitment.

Show us you believe in our youth and their future. Show us you value the health and well-being of our residents. Show us that you're ready to lead in helping preserve this vital community treasure, historical treasure, that we call Barnes Park Pool. Let's not lose something so vital because we waited too long or didn't push hard enough. And I'll say it again, the time is now. We're ready to stand with you if you're ready to lead.

thank you

thank you

no more speakers

okay well this is not agenda

so it's really not up for discussion but I want to just make sure I

heard some stuff here and I want to make sure we understand

the facts

or I guess the first question is I heard that the pool is being converted to pickleball courts and I want to make sure either Parks and Recs or City Manager I've not heard of that, but apparently you guys heard of it. So do we have some kind of a quick update? It could be a yes or no answer, or it could be something in the making.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, so at this time, we explained also at the town hall meeting, there is no plans for the Barnes Park pool other than filling it at this time with dirt. So other than that, there's no other plans or project in the works or even in discussion. The rest of the infrastructure for the pool, the facility, the fence, the lighting, all of that remains.

what they committed to? So, Mr. Mayor,

Mr. the Council, AUSD has always been really good working partners with the city. And yes, they had joint use agreements for the Barnes Park pool and would often rent it for facility use for swim programs. AUSD committed $100,000 towards a pool project at the time we were looking at grant funding. That's the only indication that we've ever had from AUSD was about $100,000

of funding. And how long ago was this? The time period? Sure. The time periods were in 2019

and again in 2021 when the city was applying for grants. Okay. I just want to make sure you

understood that. And then another comment that brought up, and I'm curious about this because we just received a letter late last night it has to do with historical sites so my question to maybe city manager maybe even city attorney can help making it a historical site does that guarantee money from the state or the federal government to keep it a historical site or is that money that the city needs to expend on to keep it a historical site

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, if you would like a complete report on this, we're happy to put that on a future agenda. But I don't want to wing it at the moment.

Okay.

There is a process by which you get a state historical designation in terms of whether that gives you sudden access to state money, which, as we all know, is dwindling in any event. I don't have the answer for you right now sitting here. I should note, though, that you have to have the permission of the property owner to have the state designation. So that would have to be a city council-initiated application to move forward. And then, of course, there are certain restrictions on what you can do with a historical site once it's been designated as such, which may actually increase the costs associated with operations and what have you. But, again, if you want a deeper dive into that, that's certainly something we're happy to put together for you on a future agenda.

Okay, thank you.

And then I have one more and I'm just going to speak as as elected official here and then you guys can take the information. I think we had a town hall meeting. We share the plans of the vision of the city, the city council, the parks and recs department. That was to a master parks project, which is inclusive of the pool.

And I heard one of the speakers say, why don't we make the pool a specific project?

That is an option, too.

Now, we would have to check with city clerk's office to do this.

But an alternative, and I'm just kind of going off of what I know about these things, is an alternative is to get between 3,000 to 4,000 signatures and to put the pool as a separate ballot into the election that's coming up. The next election is a year and a half from now, next November. But you need money to get that through. So I'm sure I'm looking at my council colleagues, myself included, I'd be happy to walk and get signatures, to get signatures and then get on the ballot and to figure out the money, the bond to get that passed and to have the residents do that. But you do need volunteers to kind of run that process. And I know we have plenty of people who are sitting here who would volunteer to do that.

So that's a separate option.

You can call that option A or option B, but there is a parks master plan that we have already initiated. So we would start to continue to drive that is option A.

So this would be option B.

I just wanted to share those comments out and you guys are More than welcome to check in with the city's clerk's office on what that process is to check in with the city manager's office or the parks and rec department Whether they have the answer or not They will help you get an answer and I don't have the answer saw that but we can help get the answer So that's to help some of the discussion that I've heard tonight

Okay, okay, let's go on I do have a follow-up question.

So in one of the comments, it was stated that a previous report or study had been done about the pools,

that's been a cost.

Do we have something that affected?

Can you please talk to the speaker? I cannot hear. Can you hear me now? All righty.

All righty.

So one of the speakers said that there was a previous study for the cost estimate for the pool. Is that the case, that the staff had prepared a previous study or estimate?

Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, the last study that we have shared, it's on our public records request module. It was part of the grant application process in 2019 and 2021 at the town. And that was the grant application at that time, estimating about $8 million. And then at the town hall meeting, we had provided an updated, and we have not taken a project out to bid to get an official dollar amount, but preliminary estimates. yes we had put that we anticipated about a 15 million dollar project correct okay so again

that report is available on the website and that was is it commission 2021 you said yes no 2021

2019 2019 and 2021 the grant applications that the city uh applied for um that was estimated at that time we're requesting $8 million from the grant.

That was part of a grant application, but have we actually, as you said, commissioned a consultant or someone to do an official estimate of how much it would cost in real dollars?

So we did a preliminary estimate, and that's what was shared at the town hall meeting.

It's not official.

We didn't do an RFP for actual bids. but preliminary estimates just to try to, you know, re-renovate the pool, we estimated about $15 million.

I mean, would it be possible in the future, perhaps, given that there is such interest to, you know, at least put aside some resources to, you know, see what is an official estimate? I think that would actually probably help answer a lot of questions.

Okay.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I think we've gone beyond brief comments at this point, but we hear the direction of the council. Let's put on for a future agenda an engineer's estimate for what it would be in today's dollars in terms of soliciting for bids on an Olympic-sized pool. I am assuming we can have two different types of engineer's estimate. One is for repair of the existing site, and one is for putting in a new one. And I think that's fairly easily done to get the engineer's estimate. That's certainly something that we can provide at a future agenda.

Okay. Well, thank you.

I just have one quick question to follow up on Council Member Lo's questions. So I know we have the $8 million numbers. Someone did mention there was also a prior estimate for $3 million. My understanding is that that does not exist, and staff has looked for a $3 million estimate.

Could you guys confirm?

Actually, that was, that was, no, no, no, that going back to that comment, we actually shared that information at the town hall.

And that was, that was the minutes of the meeting taken in 2015, if I remember correctly,

sometime in the summer of 2015, where they said to fix, to renovate the pool was 3.2

or 3.3 million.

And to build it would be eight and a half or nine, and the number is around nine million. But that was 2015 so that's that's the clarification for that

So we're gonna we're gonna actually proceed on to the next next discussion item here Because we will bring this back up for discussion as we

Instruct the staff. Okay

Now we're going to staff communications was starting with PD

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council Members, City Manager. It was previously mentioned I'm here to give you a brief update on some events that are occurring in the police department. Several members of the community referenced town hall meetings that we're having. We had one tonight down at Garvey Ranch Park. I did attend there for a brief moment because it was tonight's council meeting night, so I needed to be here. But they have been successful. The previous one we had was on May 5th at Bella Vista. that was well attended. We had one tonight I get previously mentioned at Gary Ranch Park. I think we had about 12 attendees there.

We got some good suggestions, questions, some concerns about our, you know, it is the springtime, so coyotes is a hot topic around this time of year. Some traffic issues on South Orange, which is common. We get that periodically just because of the way Orange is designed.

So that went well. And then our next one is going to be on Thursday, June 12th at Syravice Park.

They're usually well-attended.

We have staff there, well, command staff there as well to answer some questions. Again, I was there today, and I plan on being there at the next one.

We're happy to present our inaugural bubble with the badges. so it is an idea that came by at one of the recent department heads meeting

and it was suggested so the fire department and us decided let's run with it. I understand the city manager just stepped out but she is a big fan of BOBA as I am

and my kids and everybody I know so we are going to be hosting the inaugural BOBA with the badges on next Wednesday May 28th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and it's going to be at the Meat Fresh, which recently opened, and it's going to be on North Atlantic. So we're excited to host this event. We like trying different things. We've had coffee with the cops, cookies with the rookie, donuts.

So we figured we'll try a bubble with the badges and see how we interact and welcome the community and everybody there to partake. And now with the summer here, get a nice cold, refreshing drink.

That's all I have. Any questions?

Well, first of all, thank you for doing a lot of the community outreach. I went to the one at Bella Vista, and that's in my district. But great to see a lot of people come out and have a lot of, you know, public safety concerns regarding their community and their neighborhoods. I just wanted to know, I know we didn't touch on this during this presentation, but where are we at in terms of neighborhood watches? Have we seen an increase? Have we kind of, are neighborhood watches still meeting, continuously meeting?

Yes, we are still meeting. One of the trends that we have noticed post-COVID,

our people are hesitant to have us in their homes or have their neighbors in their homes.

So that's kind of been difficult. We are trying a pop-up and hosting it in the middle of the block,

although that can be a little bit problematic, but depending on the street or it is, we'd have to close it off and things like that. But I think we're pretty static as far as our neighborhood watch meetings.

And just a follow-up question. I know you said you just came back from the Garvey Wrench one, but what seems to be the common questions or themes that you're seeing community members bring up to you in terms of questions or concerns that they have?

By experience, it depends on the region. Obviously, we hosted the Monterey Highlands town hall meeting. That was really only one topic. They were concerned about residential crimes.

But typically, it's traffic control, coyote issues. Today, we had a lot of questions on the new laws and kids with their motorbikes and what they can and cannot do in enforcement on a motorbike.

Kids on motorbikes are riding on the sidewalk and, you know, not wearing helmets. So those are some of the most common themes. Homelessness, which today, as previous town hall meetings, we had our NET team.

They do a very good job at not only community engagement, presentations, and also with our homeless population in town. In regards to the homeless population, Garvey, I'm sorry, Atlantic and the 60 Freeway seems to be a hot topic all the time. we try to do our best to work with Caltrans and the state and CHP to continuously clean that area up. And we try to do our best because it's a state-controlled property. But we do go in there and clean it up when we have to.

Thank you for sharing that. Mr. Mayor? Thank you.

Regarding, I know this is brought up the last town hall on Bella Vista, but it comes to coyote reports. Generally, what is our procedure? Again, just for the public information, like when there was a report, say, coyotes after hours at a park or a residential street, generally what is our policy about either, I don't know if we apprehend or if we try to deter them?

So, yes. So we do contract.

We have a private contractor for coyote abatement.

He comes out as many times as we need him.

coyote they can always call 911. We will log it and then when

the trapper comes out we run the data and then he tries to more efficiently

place snares where we have the highest activity.

Year to date we have captured seven coyotes.

Yes, year to date and we currently do have several snares that are out and he's scheduled

to come out next week. Again, what do we do with those coyotes? when we snare them? What do we do with the coyotes? They are dispatched and he takes care of them and

turns them out to Department of Wildlife.

Are they utilized or no? In most cases, yes.

They are? Okay. I see. That's beyond our control. We do the catching, trapping, catching, and then we turn it over to wildlife and they decide. Yes, and he follows the Department of Wildlife

protocols. And I think there's usually a population of coyotes that remains, right, because there's

positive aspects. Yes, obviously there's vermin control and they are an essential aspect of the

wildlife population and of course we can't catch all of them. So again, we contract several times

a year for him to come out and reduce the population. Got it. Yeah, well, I echo my

colleagues words great job on all the events and upcoming ones are very exciting and you guys do a really good job on posting on Instagram and keeping the public engaged but I think I mentioned this before I think it'd be helpful to put these flyers on the Instagram account as well yes ma'am I think that'd be helpful so people aren't trying to look for them on the website

okay thank you thank you thank you captain All right. Next up is Public Works.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem, and City Council, Sean Igle, Public Works Director. I'm excited to welcome everyone in the community out to Public Works Day tomorrow. We're celebrating Public Works Week. We're inviting the community and all of you to participate in getting a look at what we do on a day-to-day basis at Public Works. So we will be hosting our open house at the Public Works Guard at 751 Alhambra, and it'll be from 11 to 1.30.

The public is encouraged to come out, see what we do on a daily basis, see the projects we've been completing, see the projects we have coming up, interact with our team members.

We're also excited to highlight some of the EV equipment that we've purchased over the past year. We actually just picked up our first EV lawnmower today, so we'll be displaying that tomorrow at the event. and so we're just excited to really celebrate our team and the hard work that they do on a daily basis. This year's theme, which is sponsored by the American Public Works Water Association, or sorry, American Public Works Association, got water in my brain, water is what I did a long time ago. But again, it's people, presence, and purpose, and again, this is the things that we do on a daily basis. We love serving this community. We love being a part of the community and really being able to not only repair, but show the things that we can accomplish, like the playgrounds and things like that. So again, excited to have you guys all come out. If you have any questions,

I'd be glad to answer that. I'm going to ask first. So 11 to 1.30, which is lunchtime. Correct.

So hot dogs and burgers on the house. Yes. Great. Okay. Now you guys can ask.

Will there be veggie options? Veggie options? Yes. Maybe some chips.

without the meat

we'll have the buns

extra lettuce, extra tomato

no water

excited to come tomorrow thank you

thank you Sean

old business we don't have any old business

consent calendar

is there any item

the team would like to pull

for discussion

Any public comments for any other items?

Do we have comments? No comments? No public comments.

Okay. No comments. Can I get a motion?

Move for approval. Consent of the agenda items.

Okay. Council Member Lo with the motion and second. Pro Tem Yang is the second.

Let's vote.

Approved unanimously.

All right, so moving along now we are public hearing.

No public hearing.

New business, 11-1-A.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I'm going to turn this item over to Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Yang.

So this item is I received an invitation from AIEF, American Israel Education Foundation, to attend a conference in July. And I believe other council members received the invite as well. I am available to attend and I think it would be beneficial to go there and get educated in person.

But it doesn't require any reimbursement from the city, but it does require a vote because I'll be going there using the Mayor Potem title.

Questions? Questions, comments?

So my only comment is I know they invited a few individuals from the city, but I think they will extend the invitation to the rest of the city council. So my view here is authorizing not only the pro tem, but anyone in council who would be interested in going should be able to go. And I think they should be okay with that. And if that's the case, I mean, do we need to make an amendment or do we need to?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. So if the council wants to do a blanket authorization for this trip, that would be fine. As a reminder, there needs to be a public purpose behind it, which I think the council has already noted. And also that it does have to be reported on your Form 700, even if it's sanctioned by the city council. So if the council wishes to do that, then the recommended motion would be to approve travel for any council member who is invited and chooses to do so.

Again, for the record, there is no cost to the city, correct?

Yeah. Correct.

Not to my knowledge and not to the knowledge of the city manager.

I have a follow-up question.

Carl, I know that AEIEF is not the only one that offers trips like this. I know the other organization that I think some of us were contacted with was the Jewish Federation of L.A. And I know I was considering doing that, but in that blanket statement in terms of approving, would we have to include other organizations that offer similar trips like this?

Mr. Mayor members of the council if there's a list of organizations that the council is interested in authorizing then my recommendation would be put to be to put those together ordinarily we react on an invitation by invitation basis there are two ways obviously of going on this trips one is at the council members own cost in which case no reporting is necessary or the alternative is TO COME IN FRONT OF THE CITY COUNCIL RECEIVE AUTHORIZATION AND THEN REPORT IT ON YOUR FORM 700 IF YOU'RE NOT REIMBURSING THE COSTS AGAIN THERE'S NO COST TO THE CITY THIS IS A REQUIREMENT OF THE FBPC IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD WITH IT SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION EITHER WE HAVE SIMILAR TO YOUR AB 1234 RESOLUTION WHICH HAS A LIST OF APPROVED ORGANIZATIONS OR WE DO IT ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS

Okay, understood. Thank you.

I'll go ahead and let the mayor.

Do you want to add the other organization? We can bring it up.

We'll bring it up as they come up because we don't know what they are yet.

But today's motion would be just a blanket motion for anyone in the city councilman. Again, emphasizing there's no cost to the city.

Right. Okay, I'll make a motion.

Okay, motion by Pro Tem Yang.

I'll second.

Second by Council Member Sanchez.

Let's take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Okay.

11B.

Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, Philip Lanzafame, your Interim Community Development Director. The item before you is one of efficiency in terms of how we deliver service, our process,

and then how we use our citizenry as advisory in terms of advisory commissions. With a shift of responsibilities and state laws that continue to place limits on the number of hearings that we can have on certain development projects, staff is proposing that we dissolve the Advisory Center Design Review Board and leave that responsibility to the city council and the planning commission where it currently exists. With respect to our economic development advisory boards, we recommend consolidating our two advisory boards into one to provide a more efficient and coordinated advisory group that can comment on citywide economic development as well as business improvement district management. Planning Manager Beth Chow and Economic Development Manager Joe Torres will now give you a brief presentation on some of the details of these proposals.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the Council. Beth Chow, Planning Manager, here to discuss the Design Review Board, which was originally formed in 1984 and advised both the Planning Commission and the Council related to design standards for development projects. In recent years, most recently in 2020, the Design Review Board became an ad hoc committee and it last met in February of 2020. Since that change in the ordinance, when City has called joint meetings,

There was unfortunately not a quorum, and we essentially have not had a meeting since February of 2020.

As Mr. Lanzafane stated, many of the duties have shifted from either the design review board to our city planner, planning commission, or city council itself. So dissolving the DRB helps to support the city's business recovery program by streamlining the development process. and also aligns with the goals of the state aimed to get faster approvals for projects, especially housing developments.

So therefore, ATTACH is an ordinance for your consideration this evening to dissolve the DRB. It should be noted that after the publication of the agenda, staff recognized that there are still references that are included in the Municipal Code in Title I related to appeals and Title 21 related to definitions. So just modifying the written recommendation a little bit is to have staff revise to include removing those references in Title I and Title 21 and then waive the first reading of this ordinance to dissolve the Design Review Board.

That concludes the portion related to Design Review Board.

I'll go ahead and turn it over to our economic development project manager, Joe Torres, to tell you about economic development commission as well as the BDAC.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council members. Joe Torres, your economic development manager. the staff proposes consolidating two existing advisory commissions, the Business Improvement District Advisory Committee, also known as BDAC, and the Economic Development Advisory Commission, also known as EDAC. We aim to merge these into a single, more efficient entity, which we propose to name the Economic and Business Development Commission, or EBDC. The rationale behind this consolidation is straightforward, addressing redundancy and fragmentation. Currently, having two separate commissions focused on economic development has led to overlapping responsibilities and, at times, a lack of cohesive strategic planning. The fragmentation can hinder our ability to act as a unified front in pursuing economic opportunities. By bringing these two commissions together as the EBDC, we anticipate several significant benefits. Number one, enhanced coordination and synergy. Number two, more proactive and agile responses. Number three, streamlined and cohesive recommendations. And number four, increased efficiency in achieving goals. Regarding the composition of the new commission, the new unified commission will consist of five members. Staff kindly request the City Council to appoint the three remaining active members of BDAC and the two remaining active members of EDAC as the five commissioners of the new EBDC. This proposed consolidation is a strategic step to optimize our economic development efforts, ensuring Monterey Park remains competitive and prosperous. Thank you. Our planning manager and interim director of community development and myself are here to answer any questions.

and participating in other planning-related boards and commissions were advised that they could make applications

as those are accepted on an ongoing basis and where vacancies would appear,

then it would be upon council members to appoint as necessary.

I mean, given that we are discussing and proposing, I mean, I know it's a streamlined, consolidated commission,

but it is a new commission.

I mean, is it possible that we invite those folks to sit on this new commission and those adding seats?

That would be at your discretion if there were any open vacant seats.

Just a suggestion. And then second question. So if I'm mistaken, this is not the same as the BID, right?

I mean, this is the BID we're talking about.

So, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, two items on this agenda.

One is the DRB. That's the item that our planning manager, Beth Schell, presented on.

Our design review commissioners were contacted, and if they expressed interest, we let them know,

Beth let them know that there's opportunities for them to apply for their commissions. They could fill out the application. We take those on an ongoing basis. So those former commissioners, if the item is dissolved, could be appointed to another commission if the council would like to do that, and if there's interest from those individuals. The second item that was presented by Joe Torres, our economic development manager, was consolidating BID Act and EDAC together, and forming a five-member board. There is some active members already that we have as part of the BID and as part of EDAC. Now, not all of them are active because there would have been 10 commissioners total. So the recommendation is the five that have remained active and that have expressed interest to stay on, those five will remain on that commission. Now, always the council has opportunities to, as life happens and maybe commissioners can't participate or there's commissioners that are termed out, Council could find other replacements for those commissioners if you'd like to do that. Or our resolution allows the commissioner to continue to serve even if they're termed out until a replacement is found as well. So two different items. But so the new commission that's being requested, there's already five commissioners that we're asking to essentially carry into this new, yeah.

And they have expressed interest?

I believe Joe had chatted with those commissioners. They have expressed interest to stay on, correct?

Yes, all five have expressed interest to migrate into the new EBDC.

Okay. And also, have any of the, I guess, current DRE members expressed interest in serving in any capacity? I'm sorry, say that question again.

Any of the current design review board members, have they expressed any interest or opportunities to continue serving in some capacity?

I had one member express interest to serve in some capacity.

However, they did not specify whether it was part of the EBDC or some other commission.

I mean, can we just make sure we follow that person just so, again, I'm not behind?

Yeah, I think, I mean, in the same thought process as Council Member Lo, we want to make sure those who serve, even though they haven't met in four or five years, right, February 2020, we want to make sure if they have an interest to serve the city, we find them a spot. And then in terms of BDAC and EDAC, we had 10 members. I know two of them have moved out. So that really is eight. And of the eight, five of them basically raised their hand and said, I want to serve.

Great.

The other three, if they show an interest, we should probably honor that and maybe keep this initial start of what do you call it?

E, B, D, C.

Keep this at either eight or seven or six. And then as time goes by, when we have annual elections, they start falling off, then we'll move forward with that.

Mr. Mayor, in fact, we looked at that.

What we found is that we had some vacant seats, we had some inactive members, and we had some that were turned out.

And so the five that were remaining kind of eligible, those are what we're recommending that we bring over.

That's perfect. So that's what it did work out nice

Yeah, and just to confirm what you said earlier the design review board responsibilities are gonna get absorbed by both Staff and the Planning Commission correct in fact they already have there was a

2020 in 2020

Those were and then the design review board became advisory and there just wasn't a lot of activity to do

And so those meetings came further and further apart

So we're bringing it forward now again as an efficiency rather than have somebody go to two hearings

They would go to just one could you guys make sure the Planning Commission is aware of this too so that they Take that extra initiative to you know look at design review board elements will do. Thank you

Hey, mr. Mayor members of the council based upon the recommendations from staff I do have a recommended change to the draft ordinance when you're ready

in order to make sure that it's read into the record correctly okay so if you're ready for that

so section two this would be on page 106 of your agenda packet this is the first page of the draft

ordinance in section two it currently reads monterey park municipal code mpmc sections 2.56.030

and 2.56.4040 are repealed in their entirety we would add in mpmc section 1.10.010 is amended to remove reference to the design review board and Monterey Park Municipal Code section 2114.140 is amended to reference the city planner rather than

the city or rather than the design review board. Okay.

Well, with those amendments from the city attorney, do I have a motion?

A motion to provide them with suggested amendments by city attorney.

Thank you, Council Member Lo. Second. Second by Pro Tem Yang. Let's take a vote.

Approved unanimously.

Great. Thank you.

And please thank our continuing serving commissioners, our well wishes. And I'm sure we'll see them in the community, but just give them our best wishes. And for those who either termed out or are no longer serving, if you guys can also thank them for us. and if we see them, we'll also thank them ourselves and ask them if we can get them around

and other commissions. And also thank you staff for coordinating

all these changes. I know it's a lot of effort behind the scenes.

Thank you.

11 C.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council. This item this evening

is going to be presented by Rebecca Bohorkas, Principal Management Analyst. Rebecca? Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of the City Council. As Diana mentioned, my name is Rebecca Pujorkas, Principal Management Analyst here in the city. The item before you tonight, the City of Monterey Park has contracted with the LA County Department of Public Health since 1963 for public health services, which primarily consists of restaurant inspections. To ensure the continuity of services, staff is recommending that the City Council approve a new contract with the Department of Public Health, which will expire in 2029, with the option to automatically renew in five-year increments. By entering into an agreement with the Department of Public Health, the county is also requesting that the city amend Title VI of the Monterey Park Municipal Code and adopt Title XI of the Los Angeles County Code regarding health and safety. In the packet before you, you will see the draft ordinance that adopts the Los Angeles County Code by reference.

I did want to note there is an error on the draft ordinance, which is attachment 2. In section 1, both letters C and E reference today's meeting date. However, the correct date is June 18, 2025. This is the waiving of the first reading of the ordinance, and the second public reading and public hearing is set for June 18, 2025. Public notice to residents will be available in the weeks leading up to the June 18th meeting. And that concludes my report and I'm happy to answer any questions.

And Mr. Mayor, members of the council, if I could just tag team. For the second reading, my recommendation is we will upload the 200 pages of regulations to the website and provide a link for that so that you don't have to wade through the 200 pages that are being proposed to be incorporated by reference.

Questions, comments?

no is there a motion I make a motion motion by pro tem yang I'll second

second by council member Sanchez please take your vote

approved unanimously

okay let's moving on to the next item here city communications

alright

I want to first start off by thanking Parks and Rec, but really the city for the amazing play day weekend that we had. I know that my girls, I brought my girls and they really enjoyed it. I'm kind of glad we started on a Thursday before the heat started, but I knew the heat was coming, so I made sure they got full access to all the rides on Thursday.

But the food was amazing.

I want to thank the people behind all of this. I know, Robert, you and your team, but it was so great to see so many people out there. I wanted to thank the police, fire, everyone out there. I know that for all of these amazing events, it takes a village, and it takes a lot of people to bring this together. Thank you for all of that on behalf of our residents. I know that this is one of those events that people really look forward to every year, not just in Monterey Park, but in surrounding communities as well. Also on Saturday, the fire service open house went really early because my girls get up at 6 in the morning and are hungry and requesting breakfast by 7. So I wanted to make sure to get them there to have breakfast. And surprisingly, when I got there, they had pancakes ready to go. So thank you to the fire department for hosting this wonderful event. And I know that's one of those things that community really enjoys coming into the fire stations. I think I shared with several of the firefighters that were there, my middle child, Dolly, really enjoys fire stations, fire trucks. Wouldn't surprise me if she becomes a firefighter herself. In fact, her third birthday, it was a firefighter theme with hats and everything. But she really enjoys them. She loves when we pull over and let the fire trucks go by. She always wants to unbuckle and check. So it's a really cool treat for her. So thank you for opening your doors to the community for that. And then lastly, just wanted to share, last night I had the opportunity to go to the Alhambra School District. They were a school board meeting. They were recognizing a lot of student groups, but I know we were invited to provide certificates for their student advisory council. They are one of the very few school boards that have a student advisory council. While they don't vote, they participate in all of the school board meetings, and they take the lead to share that information and to bring information to the school board. So very, very thankful that the Elhambra Unified School District takes civic engagement very seriously, just like our city does. I know we recently had our student leadership day, so I want to thank Diana for helping spearhead that. And again, a lot of the other departments that are involved as well, because it takes a village. But I just wanted to share that the state recently created what's called a state seal of civic engagement that students can earn in high school for their graduation diploma. And it's not just up to high schools to ensure that kids earn that. They have to, community members, cities have to also help school districts earn those. and the student leadership program that we have helps qualify them. So currently only 4% of eligible seniors in the state, according to this past year, qualify to get the state seal of civic engagement. So there's still that 96% that are not getting a state seal of civic engagement.

And civic engagement is so important.

So I want to echo our continuing efforts to help promote civic engagement in our city to help students earn that state seal. because I know this year, as a result of our Student Leadership Day, those 26, 30 students that participated will not qualify to earn the state seal

because of what we did.

So anyhow, I wanted to share that, and that is it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well, I also want to congratulate and thank the community for coming out to the annual Firefighter Pancake Breakfast. It was just wonderful to see so many of the community come out to say we support our firefighters.

But just want to also report that as a follow-up, we are continuing to press FAA because in our last quarterly meeting in February, we had issued a letter asking FAA who control the control towers of all airports, such as the control tower LAX, what are the current – my understanding is that their current equipment and procedures for arrivals, some of those current procedures actually can be applied to minimize some of the airplane noise that we have residents complaining about. In fact, the term is called Established Suppression Standards, or EOR, and I won't get into the weeds of it, but again, this is something that not just our residents,

but, you know, neighbors who live by Dodger Stadium, Northeast LA, you know,

they have issued concerns as well. So we continue to press, and we're asking the FAA to give us a timeline, because if there are immediate steps that even can provide some temporary relief regarding the airplane noise, and I think it's important that we press them. And so that's just something that certainly I've, at today's meeting, said if it requires, you know, action by the round table or even a letter from the city, you know, we're happy to do so. So that's just the update on the airplane noise issue. and just for record, they do fly over my house because I live right by Gary Ranch Park, so I do see the planes every once in a while. And then I would like to also finish my remarks on some rather sad news. Some of you may or may not know that our longtime city librarian who was part of the Brigham Library many years ago but was very active, Linda Wilson, recently passed away.

and I know for me, I met Linda probably in the early 2000s

when I first was a volunteer at the LAMP program

and for those of you who probably used to go to the library for many years, Linda Wilson was a very active and visible person at the program at our library but she did pass away and I want to also just for the audience information, You know, she, in 2004, was the Congressional Woman of the Year. I believe at that time it was Hilda Solis. So she was that year Congresswoman Solis' Woman of the Year. The local Monoparic Democratic Club has honored her as their people make a difference in their annual awards. And so just want to ask that we close in the memory of Linda Wilson. Also, I want to share that there is a memorial service for Linda Wilson. Linda Wilson's memorial service, my understanding is, on Saturday, July 12th at 10 a.m. at St. Paul's Lutheran Church at 2009 South Garfield Avenue, Monterey Park.

so again just

for those who wish to attend and just remember someone who was an active member of our community who contributed greatly to our library

again Linda wherever you are

thank you for your service to our community

thank you

in addition to the fire service day on Saturday

I wanted to also thank everyone involved for coordinating the annual mental health fair since May is mental health awareness month and also this coming Sunday we do have a group of sailors coming on their docking in San Pedro and they're coming to visit Monterey Park so they will be coming to see the Cascades to some of our Monterey Park restaurants and just get a tour of

our city okay well I just got a couple of items if you attended many of the same

activity so first off props to the entire city staff starting with parks and recs on play day starting with sing with a mile i know it was hot out there but i know we

have plenty of drinks including adult beverages uh then uh on the 15th which is thursday i spoke

on behalf of the city spoke at the west and gabriel valley realtors association so we kind of did a little pitch to them what our city is about our demographics more importantly our schools and how they should go out and market some of the properties because they're all realtors to make our city a little better and command a higher higher premium for pricing so they were very receptive of that uh friday the 16th i attended a round table along with several of the city mayors held by state newly elected state senator sasha perez we walked over well she shared with some of our legislation and some of the issues that the state is facing and then of course this past Saturday we had fire service day we had Taiwan Heritage Week and we had our health fair in the city so just a before we go away tonight just a remember that this weekend is Memorial Day weekend I know it's a long weekend but the purpose is really a memorial of those fallen who actually serve our country and keep us safe. So let's keep that in mind.

And to adjourn tonight's meeting, I'd like to adjourn in the memory of our

former librarian, long-time resident,

long-time civic service

for our city, Linda Wilson.

Real close. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.