City Council Meeting — June 18, 2025

Could you repeat that one more time, please? Sure. This is Ed with Francisco Associates. Can you hear me?

Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

! Could you repeat that one more time please? ! Sure, this is Ed with Francisco and Associates. Can you hear me?

! Perfect, thank you.

Thank you.

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

Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's called the meeting to order.

I'm going to do the land acknowledgement first. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhibit today was once known as the Tavern Guard,

the home of the Gabalino Tongva people. We show our respect to the Gabalino Tongva people

as well as to all indigenous people, past, present, and future,

and honor their labor as an original caretakers of this land. We commit to uplifting the Gabalino Tongva people.

We invite you to acknowledge the history

and join us in caring for this land. We have our...

We're going to have police explorers help us with the flag salute.

Please stand.

Thank you.

Present Colors.

Push your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. To the education is 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. Order Colors.

Upward Face. Face, forward march.

Post, color, stop.

About face. Dismissed.

Maybe seated.

Roll call, please. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Wong? Present. Council Member Sanchez? Present. Council Member Lowe? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Yang? Present. And Mayor Goh? Present. All present. Thank you. Thank you. Agenda deletions, additions, and changes?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, there was a change to Item 10B. There's an addendum to Item 10B to the Exhibit A that was attached to the resolution. There was an error, and so a replacement copy has been placed at the back of the council chambers

and also have been provided to the city council.

In addition, there was a request from Mayor Pro Tem Yang to remove item 9B from the agenda.

Thank you. Let's go to public communications. Mayor, can I request for item 9K?

I know that there's people here to speak on that item. If we can move it forward on the agenda.

Item 9K, the resolution on the Boys and Girls Club. 9K.

9K. You want to move that to the front before public communications?

Yes, please. Okay, let's do that.

Let's go ahead and move that.

for the record we're moving 9k before public communications

okay I know there's some boys and girls club people here to if you

I know we have a resolution in front of us to acknowledge Boys and Girls National Boys and Girls Club Week and wanted to thank you guys for being here today but I wanted to provide you with the opportunity to speak about the amazing work that the Boys and Girls Club do and how great it is for us to have a Boys and Girls Club just across the street and be an amazing part of it.

here within our community. So thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Curtis Sumblom, the development officer for the Boys and Girls Clubs. We are very excited to be here and thank all of our amazing council members and members of the community for the long-standing partnership we've had for over 53 years. We've served the community and our kids who are behind me here. here. So we're very proud of the community and our continued partnership in true fashion. We would bring confetti poppers, but we did not. We learned that lesson, but we thank you for your support, and we look forward to our continued partnership. So thank you for having us.

Thank you so much, and as well, many of us are excited to have you here tonight. I have just joined

my council colleagues in excitement for the Boys and Girls Club in our community and not just across the street, but for the east side of Los Angeles as well. I know this club runs a number of clubs that serve youth are doing and learning in terms of advocacy. For council meetings and other events, and I know the Boys Girls Club really tables as well and appreciate our fifth annual Pride March and Festival right behind City Hall at Bart's Park. Appreciate everything the Boys Girls Club does to really empower youth and our families here. So thank you. Congratulations. and I support this resolution.

Mr. Mayor, I also want to add, because it's now, especially in the summertime, and so you have been such a vital resource for educational and recreational activities for our community, and we just are appreciative. It's a sort of pride that we have a Boys and Girls Club in this city.

Yes, and I also wanted to do a plug for, I know you guys are having a kindness campaign, you know that some of my students have been involved with that and a lot of students in this area, so thank you. and we again want to echo what Council Member Wong said when I see other students in the audience and I'd like to move to adopt this resolution

and declare National Boys and Girls Club Week here in the city of Monterey Park. I'll go ahead and second that. My kids were both students at Boys and Girls Club and I know firsthand what great work you guys do so some place, educational place for the community. Of my colleagues here, I remember the Boys and Girls Club before the gym was built and it was where I learned how to play fuse ball that's probably 40 plus years ago in any case we have a motion by council member Sanchez and the second by pro-tem yang please take a vote approve unanimously all right public communications

Hello everyone. I come to you as a citizen of Monterey Park.

I wanted to discuss with the council because for a while now it has begun to feel as if the Monterey Park City Council struggles to properly reflect the needs and wants of its citizens.

Beginning with the celebration posts, the Monterey Park Police Department deChinatown-International Districted to Instagram, one celebrating the current president's birthday and another AI-generated post from the president's commemorating the 250th birthday of the U.S. military. These decisions reflected a certain level of ignorance I believe the council fails to recognize. If not for the fact that the single generation of an AI image could take anywhere from five to fifty. As these photos and posts were made, millions were protesting globally against the man the police department deChinatown-International Districted

to glorify. Bear in mind, when I say global, I mean there were protests in places like Spain, Australia, and Ireland against the current president's egregious and dictatorial behavior in office. Monterey Park is home to a vast majority of immigrants, children of immigrants, and those who harbor close relationships with immigrants. For the police department, a group we assume is here to protect us, to even in the smallest bit celebrate the man who intends to strip our community of its people. While our streets are overrun with unmarked cars full of people who intend to profile and detain our city citizens, the police department posts of a leader who spent $40 million of taxpayer money on a military parade to celebrate his birth. Waking up every day with the fear, I'm tired of fearing that my closest friends will lose someone they love. I am tired of my students coming to school, and I am tired of worrying I will come to work one day and one of my kids will be missing. I would also like to speak a bit on item 9B, the potential authorization and the paid-for trip to the occupational state of Israel. From what I hear, this item was effectively canceled. Blatantly ill-informed proposition to begin with. As this council was the very same I stood before a year ago who had approved for a call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Tuzza has reached a point where it is equal to the destruction of six Hiroshima's. The state of Israel has broken several ceasefire deals and has violated international law in countless ways. And these are all well-known and documented facts. To be willing to accept a paid-for trip to the Jai, a Zionist organization known for paying off politicians, while supposedly knowing the former facts, is another punch to the community's gut. When asked what the purpose of this trip was, it was stated that the trip was, quote, an educational opportunity to learn from international models of public policy making back at home, end quote. In the same paragraph, it is stated, writing, it is about being willing to learn firsthand from all perspectives, end quote.

In this context, the context of a 75-year-old apartheid occupation and oppression of a native people, this is a danger. Neutrality is to assume the side of the other. Politicians' education on foreign affairs comes from is a snowball waiting to build. for a long and heavily documented time. I'd like to learn from Israel. However, I can guarantee there is a large community of Arab and Palestinian families here in Monterey Park that could be learned from firsthand. This council is keen on, it should be willing to learn from our city. And if one needs to be informed on global issues through firsthand experience, who is providing these opportunities would be preferable. I hope that all for listening, and in the same parting words as I provided last time,

free Palestine.

because I'm not aware of any posts for the president that came from the city.

It was the other police union that posted it. Yeah, if the city attorney can clarify the accounts on the difference. Thank you.

Two matters, just a brief response. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, first of all,

it is not on any official city social media platform.

To do so would be actually a violation of the city's social media policy.

Berkeley operated social media posting from one of the city's unions. So it is not anything that the city endorses, nor does it support that particular social media platform. The other thing is, with regard to item 9B, certainly this is a general public comment, but that is no longer by the city council.

City attorney question. There are some speakers for 9B.

And if you're here to speak on 9B, you're certainly welcome to provide public comment on it. Just understand that it is no longer on it.

Next speaker, Laura Sosa.

Ms. Laura Sosa. Many of us in this room, the rebuilding of Barnes Pool.

For decades, Barnes Pool has been a cornerstone of the Monterey Parks community.

Children learn to swim.

We're teams and we're lifelong Monterey's swim team to mark up youth of the Boys and Girls Club, who you just mentioned now.

It is a pool that serves countless families with pride.

When I say Boys and Girls Club, at that time I served of the team. And as co-treasurer, I made it possible for many of the swimmers to come and swim at Barms Pool

because parents were wanting their children to swim in a pool.

Mayor, I'm wondering, did you swim at Barms Pool while being at the YMCA? Okay. Okay. So, on November 2015, this school began, and by early, under the support of Mayor Peter Chan, the needs to preserve and renovate the pool was clearly recognized.

No doubt about that.

2018, renovations, and we were moving to the Park Pool. They underlined the water to fill up the pool. Yet this problem was never addressed.

To stay involved and informed at Langley Center. On June 13, were the community members gathered to understand what was happening with our city's vital resources.

Just of June 17, 2018, the city of Monterey Park held a special residence meeting to explore how Prop 6 funds might support the renovation of Barnes Pool.

Parents, students, and swimmers from both high school proudly attended.

Not only that, but I'm wrong, Ines, but my son, who swam in 2013 to 2020.

He was asked, what was needed in this pool? He said,

and reliable space for swim lessons, water safety, and recreation. A training ground for our local

youth to develop discipline, sportsmanship, and health through swimming. A community of wellness,

equity, and civic pride. We respectfully ask the City Council leaders to prioritize the barns pull,

ensuring its needs of our residents.

With your support, we can bring walls, but the opportunity, connections. So we ask that you place this in one of your agenda items.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, Diego Garne.

Hello, my name is Diego, and I'm a Mark Keppel High School student and a swimmer with the Manta Ray Swim Team. At that time, practice was held at Barnes Park Pool.

They are my teammates and friends to this day, and this pool has connections that wouldn't have formed without the many things Barnes has to offer. Barnes Pool has also provided me with many of my earliest memories. Prior to joining the team, my parents and I would enjoy the park together while my brother was practicing there.

Another one of the things I remember the most is going to the lessons provided by the city to learn how to be comfortable and mention how Elder Park Pool isn't anywhere.

When speaking with my peers, I've witnessed firsthand that many people don't know about the one other pool we have in our city.

Bringing back barns isn't used without needing to drive 20 minutes to know the city to be able to swim.

We need this pool to be rebuilt. Elder Pool, which happens to be the only functional pool in our city, is a terrible place to hold practice for my club team and the Markepo High School swim team. About 40 yards long, the length of the pool is not standard to any of the ones used for races find it difficult to train in a pool like this.

Unfortunately, the size of my team doesn't fit into other pool, even with two different sessions for our groups. We split up our team just so we can practice. Mers and Manoray swimmers, a standard length pool to train in, and would make it so that my team doesn't need a 40-minute round-trip drive to a pool far away. In the end, we'll be needing many to host practices and programs. Thank you.

Thank you. Melinda Ng is going to yield her time to Amanda Ng for seven minutes.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Patan, City Council members,

and I see INS is not there but I usually say hi city manager.

I'm here today because

media and I presented what you see in front of you.

This board and trying to determine if the city has funds or not or whether they have some general fund or not.

But before I start speaking about this, as I was driving home today, I came across this post on Facebook, right? And the post was about this one individual who was trying to save a legacy in Mourner Park, right?

And I saw that our Mayor Pratim supported that and actually donated funds to hopefully restart that legacy. So I'm really hoping that each and every one of you can also

support another legacy, which is Bounce Park

Pool. It's a legacy. And I hope you can all do that as well and show that same spirit that Mayor Pratim showed today in that post. But going back to the general fund, so I've been a bit disappointed because last city council meeting, I came up here and I, you know, with a couple of students from Akepa High School, we looked at the financials and we found that the city actually has general fund in its bank account. But I kept hearing the same narrative, and I heard at least from one of you that the city still has no money. And I just wanted to clarify today that the city of Monter Park does have funds in its general fund. to the tune of $45 million, as I explained last city council meeting. Out of the $45 million, you have $15 million that has been committed to emergency, catastrophic. I think one of them was business development or community development, and the other one was working capital. So that leaves you with $30 million. But on top of the $30 million, if you look at this coming fiscal year, which is in your proposed budget, you're expecting to collect about $74 million. and spent about $73,000. So you're still going to be on the block, and you're still projecting to be on the block for the next three to five years. So that's kudos to all of you. But speaking of your $30 million, it's the way, you know,

and I read the definition of what a sign is when I was here last city council meeting. It's unrestricted fund, and it's really up to your discretion to use

and how you want to use it.

and I'm just dumbfounded sometimes like I hear that the city has no money, it has no money, but let's be factual here, right? The city has funds. They have $45 million in your bank account, $15 million is reserved. I get that. I agree with that, but you do have $30 million. That $30 million, you have all voted, right? And in your financial statement, you have assigned the capital projects. and out of the 74 million that you deChinatown-International Districted that you forecasted to collect this coming year, you've also assigned an additional 4.3 to capital projects. Now, the 4.3 I was able to trace to what projects you actually plan to do because it's in your proposed budget. But the 30 million, I don't know. So I think it's fair for me to ask and for you to explain to us, the residents, how do you plan to use this 30 million? I mean, it says that it's assigned to capital projects, but I don't know what capital projects those are. And I like to consider myself to be a very fair person.

If you tell me those projects are more critical,

and you can show us that it is more critical than the pool, then so be it, right? But I don't see it. I don't know. So it would be great if you can be transparent. Let us know what those are. So for us to deChinatown-International Districte and have an open communication and discussion with all of you, right, as to what the real priorities are.

So with that said, I want to thank you. I still have three minutes. So financially, thank you.

Thank you. For clarification, we actually had this discussion in terms of what the minimum threshold is that needs to be reserved at the city from the state level.

Martha, do you have that number? In my head, it's $25 million. If you're below that threshold, then you're automatically in trouble. There's a number that you need to have a minimum threshold.

when we went through this in our budget meeting about a month ago.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Patel, Council Members, Martha Garcia, Finance Director, GFOA requires us to have a minimum of 15% to 20%. With the closing of fiscal year 2025, we will have been able to increase it to bring it to the 15% at the,

I believe it's $12.3 million that we will have for catastrophic cash flow. It's $12.3 to get us to the 15%. Now, they recommend that we can go even up to the 20, but we're not at the 20% yet. Okay. So bottom line is we haven't hit where we want to be. We need to be at least 12 and a half, otherwise you're in trouble from debt rating from agencies, and then you're considered insolvent. Then whatever you borrow is going to cost you more. But the recommendation is 20%.

Is that what I'm hearing? That's correct. And when we did our, if I may add a little bit, when we did our pension obligation bond, that was one of the requirements for us to continue our rating at the AA,

was to bring us to the 15% at the very least.

So at the end of 25, we should meet that. And then what's recommended is a higher number, which is at 20%. Okay, so we're not there yet. I want to repeat again, because that's what I'm hearing. We're not there yet. Correct. So the discussion is, if you want clarity, that's the clarity. We're not at the 20% that we need to be as part of the discussion. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, real quick, if I can add on. There is an item on tonight's agenda, and I would encourage the folks, especially the speaker that just came up, we are looking at our capital improvement projects today. So we encourage you to stay through the meeting

to take a look at some of the items we are actually going to be talking about.

next speaker next speaker Tracy good evening council members and city staff

so as you can hear from the last speaker the budget report

there is a 30 million sitting in a general fund for capital projects however we don't know the specifics of the projects So the pool is undeniable of capital projects here.

Given this, many residents are asking,

why does the city continue to claim there are no funds available for the Barnes Park pool we built?

So we understand that a general fund serves a multiple purpose,

including maintaining a financial stability.

However, essential public amenities are left to deteriorate for over decades. It sends the message that the community needs are not being prioritized. The barn park pool is not a luxury. This is a critical public resource that promotes health, community engagement, quality of life for residents of all age.

We, the resident, respectfully request transparency, a detailed breakdown of how the $30 million general funds balance is being managed and prioritized. Accountability, an explanation of why no funds have been allocated to the Park Park's pool, despite years of community advocacy. and action. We need a commitment from the city to fund the rebuilding of the Bun Park Pool in the upcoming fiscal year. The residents of Amare Parks deserve clear, honest communication about how our tax dollars are being spent. And more importantly, we deserve investment in the facility that directly affects our everyday lives. Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker, Jocelyn Jo.

Good evening, City Mayor and City Council members. My name is Jocelyn Jo, and I'm here today to talk about why we should save Barnes Park Pool. As one of the coaches for the Monterey Park Manta Rays, we are falling behind in training our swimmers to their full potential by not having the most important resource the swim team needs, a standardized pool, which is either 25 yards by USA Swimming Standards or 50 meters by USA Swimming Standards or Olympic Size Standards. Currently, Monterey Park manta rays, we practice out of Elder Park Pool, which is a 33.3 yard pool. The reason for a 33.3 yard pool goes back to the early 20th century of when a common race distance during that time was either 100 yards or 200 yards. And swimming those distances in a 33.3 yard pool was much easier to count. Since the early 20th century, swimming has evolved to the point where we race much longer distances and have become significantly faster.

Training in a 33.3-yard pool today is not ideal, as swimmers have a much harder time figuring out their race speed and expectations of their race strategy during swim meets. Also for our younger swimmers, or those who just started competitive swimming, they have actually never seen where we get questions like, Coach, why is it we need Barnes Park Pool?

Good evening, City Council. Whoa, this is really cool. Sorry, I wasn't expecting to go so soon. It was a really cool time. I didn't see this when I walked around. Anyways, my name is Dylan Coloza, Beatrice's son. I'm proud to admit it.

I swim too, and I also lifeguard for Monterey Park.

There's a couple things, but before I speak, I'd like to say that I don't actually have a script. And everything that comes out of my mouth right now is directly from my head. So, I'm very nervous right now.

I just want to talk about, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but we're all kind of reconstructing a Barnes Park pool.

Talk about this. As a lifeguard and as a swimmer, I have two times the, well, I have perspectives from both the competitive aspect of swimming and the need for Barnes Park and the need for a bigger pool, right?

The issue that we have that keeps getting brought up is that elders too small or it doesn't meet Olympic or USA swimming standards. And I agree with that. The reason being is because I've been teaching morning AM lessons to residents of Monterey Park. You know, people from five and as old as 17, one of my classmates is swimming for lessons right now. I've never seen this before, but we have an issue where we have too many people who need to be taught lessons or who need to be held back a group. And we cannot. We are not only kind of outstaffed, but because the groups are too big and the pool is too small to hold any bigger groups.

We used to have one to six in barns. Now it's 1 to 10 in Elder, so, you know, imagine me teaching. Well, I know it's not very cool. And the pool, you know, full of cobwebs and roaches. Maybe not the roaches part, but the Elder Park pool, the kiddie pool. Also, I bring that up. Actually, I met or I didn't meet with someone. I spoke to someone who had a question about the program and if they could use the kiddie pool and if it was up and running.

That pool, I have not seen water in that pool since I went there for Monterey Park around six years ago. That pool has not had water, right? Barnes Park, the kiddie pool, it did have water.

Metigate some of the overcrowding in the pools.

And as a competitive swimmer, right? Shostlin just mentioned this. My mom, Auntie Laura, I call her Auntie Laura, she mentioned this as well. There's an issue where, at some point, the kids who are coming into swimming every single day,

that's only 40 meters long, or 40, sorry, 40 yards long. You might think, oh, okay, there's no big difference between 40 yards, 50 yards. There really is. To put it as an effective, a 200 freestyle or anything around a 200. At Aldo Park, we do it as we would at a long course, 50 yards pool, with some four laps. but if you do the math of what we're actually supposed to swim this sucks because you know i

really suck at the swimmer um i get tired really easily and if i'm conditioned every single day to the fact where i believe that four laps of 160 is the same as 200 which is not then it's gonna it's gonna just really suck and i know that you guys talk about all this money stuff i don't know anything about that. I'm just a 17-year-old kid, really. But depending or not whether or not it's more expensive to rebuild the pool at the Barnes Park or like what Council Member Thomas Wong said when I met with him at the town hall meeting where he said, look, we can wait until we fill the pool. As long as something like that is continue to support these meetings every other Wednesday. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you. For item 9B, that item has been pulled. Comments.

And while they're coming up, Mr. Mayor, if I could, if the city manager, I know we drafted a response to some of these exact questions.

Maybe we can send those responses if they haven't made their way to them, to some of the folks here tonight. or if we can post some of those question answers on the website or somewhere

to make sure that they're aware of our responses. Noted.

Go ahead, sir. Hi, good evening, council members. My name is Andrew Yip. I am a member of Veterans for Peace and also SUV Progressive Act.

We're listening to our comments and meeting with some of our members and residents

and speaking to them one-on-one.

We had to act quickly this weekend because we learned about this item over the weekend due to some vigilant community members.

And many of us were shocked to discover that this trip had already been approved by the council at a previous council meeting. It is only back on the agenda now because the dates have changed from what we understand.

we were here a year ago you know working with the council and trying to get a ceasefire

resolution passed which thankfully was adopted unanimously but we are deeply disappointed that such a tradition of the city Monterey Park was ever approved in the first

place. A city that passed a ceasefire resolution with a government currently engaged in genoChinatown-International Districte and not only that they're simultaneously bombing five countries at the same time. Trust with many of our community members. Many of the Maori Park wreck the agendas because we cannot trust the city council to do the right thing.

More than 55,000 Palestinians have since been killed since the last meeting we had here on the ceasefire resolution. Gaza is being starved. And yes, maybe if there is a, you know, to the email response, maybe if a Palestinian group can invite you to learn more, but there are no more universities left. There are no more NGOs left in Gaza. They're destroyed. This is a crisis of global proportions, and history will remember how our local governments respond. There is also now an active military conflict between Israel and Iran. I don't think sending a city representative to Israel next month is truly safe or a responsible decision. Meanwhile, here at home, our immigrant communities are living in fear as ice rates increase across the region. Myself, along with many of my family members and friends, have been patrolling the Sangre Valley. some of us have witnessed people being snatched from the streets Latino and Asian and as a community like Monterey Park where you have such a large immigrant population I only ask that some of that focus be for our immigrant communities and for how ICE is responding and about the posts by your police union we can't look at that and just say it's oh it's not representative of the city these are your police officers that are working there is a lot of trust that is is breaking down broken down when we see things like that marty park leadership should focus on protecting and supporting a residence for example rosemead is printing and distributing thousands of know your rights cards throughout the facilities. Maybe that's something Monterey Park can do, translating, printing, and distributing this information. Back to this trip, regardless of who funds it, it sends a message. It is not a neutral act. It is not educational. It undercuts the commitments the city has made when it adopted the ceasefire resolution. We are here tonight to ensure this item is fully withdrawn. So we do thank you for withdrawing the item. And we urge the council to act with consistency, integrity, and care for our people that you were elected to serve.

We don't want to come here again. There is a lot of stuff going on right now. But we appreciate and thank you all for listening to us.

And I thank all of our residents and friends that have come out just to listen, just to speak, just to meet with some of you all. So just, yeah, thank you, and have a good night. Thank you.

Next speaker, Craig Balinan.

Can you repeat the name? Craig, H-R-A-G-B-A-L-I-N. It rhymes with Prague. Oh, Prague. Haraag. I apologize. No problem. Yeah, so thank you so much, Council Members. My name is Haraag Balian. I'm here to speak on 9B as well. I'm a citizen of Monterey Park, District 2. I believe that's your district, Mayor Pro Tem. So thank you for your time, and I want to express my deep gratitude for your decision to withdraw from the planned trip to Israel. It was a welcome development, and I appreciate you listening to community concerns. I do still have a pretty big concern, however, which is why I'm here and I'm still speaking, even though I know that it's been withdrawn. So I wrote you an email early in the week on Monday, and I think yesterday I received a reply and you said and I quote there's one line that really stood out to me while I believe in the importance of education dialogue and first hand learning about complex international issues I also recognize that timing and sensitivity matter deeply so it's this one sentence I believe said two things which really concern me First, I want to focus on that word timing

So I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong You still plan on going on this trip to Israel Just not now You're saying that now is not a good time

And it's true, now is actually a terrible time to go

Or even think about going Your community is under attack And your attention should be laser focused

on pushing back on tyranny right now. But Mayor Pro Tem, I want to make it very clear. My concern is also the very idea of this trip, regardless of when it occurs. Whether this trip happened a year ago or a year from now, it would still be the same. It would be wrong. Plain and simple. You should not go on any trip to Israel in any capacity, in any official Monterey Park capacity, ever. And I will oppose that always.

The second thing you said in your email, and I'm paraphrasing here, is the importance of education about complex international issues.

The thing is, this issue isn't actually complex.

Israel's actions clearly demonstrate a pattern of genoChinatown-International Districte.

And so to really understand what's happening, you don't need to hear from Israelis, actually.

You need to listen directly to the voices of those who are suffering under their oppression.

A trip sponsored by pro-Israel organizations like AIPAC or Jewish Federation cannot...

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that this was withdrawn from consideration.

But I urge you, and I think it's imperative, reject AIPAC.

Reject succumbing to the Israeli lobby. It's very pernicious.

And I believe Monterey Park has no official business in Israel.

It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Thank you for your time. and I wasn't going to speak on this, but give these people their pool. You know, they want it.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Emily Chu.

You're going to have to repeat the name again because we... Sorry, Emily Chu. Emily, okay. I already started walking up.

Okay.

Can you hear me okay? Good evening, Council members. My name is Emily Chu, and I am a resident of Monterey Park in District 2. I understand and appreciate Item 9B is no longer on the agenda. Thank you for that, but appreciate the opportunity to still comment. I reached out to the council members via email a few days ago, and I really appreciate the response I received from Mayor Pro Tem Yang.

I wanted to emphasize today that the proposed trip is not only inappropriate because of what our community is going through right now and the urgent needs we have at home given increased ICE activity, but it is inappropriate at any time. Mayor Pro Tem Yang or any Monterey Park official attending such a trip communicates a prioritization of and alignment with Israel as its ongoing actions in Gaza have been deemed genoChinatown-International Districtal by Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Council, and many other trusted authorities. In fact, just yesterday, Israeli troops killed over 70 Palestinians and wounded hundreds as they sought food at aid distribution centers in Gaza. This is after Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza in March, meaning the population has been starving for four months. This is just one recent example among many examples. Given this, I want to respond to something Mayor Pro Tem Yang mentioned in her email. And I'm going to quote something that's already been quoted, but she said, quote, I believe in the importance of education, dialogue, and firsthand learning about complex international issues, end quote. Learning is not a neutral act. Who we learn from, what we learn, and what we choose to retain as knowledge and truth should be approached with critical thinking and content. I question what it is council members think they would learn and apply back in Monterey Park from a government that has been committing such atrocities. Coming back to Agenda Item 9B and why I'm here today, we need our City Council members here and focused on supporting our community of immigrants today, like this one, as a representative ever. Thank you.

Last speaker, Matt S.

Thank you to the council and city staff.

What we've already heard about agenda item 9B,

one thing that I want to point out or really make clear is just how deeply disappointed I am

in this body's complete lack of deliberation on this item when it was first raised at the May 21st meeting. I listened to the recording of that meeting earlier today. The city attorney, Mr. Berger, actually point out to the count's legitimate government purpose.

There was zero discussion of that at the May 21st meeting.

And yet the item was unanimously supported.

I just, like, I don't understand that at all. What is your duty to the public if you're unable to even?

I wanted to say that I don't think I want to point out is that I'm Jewish.

Both of my parents are Jewish. That people, all Jewish Americans.

And if you want to want to push that, because I understand, you know, it's hard for me sometimes to. This isn't as important to me.

but when I not all Jews support this the Israeli government does

while it claims to speak for Jewish people around the world

I think you've probably heard enough thank you very much

Mayor Portem

I thank you for taking the item off of the agenda

I would really

what the last speaker said there are a lot of educational opportunities here.

You do not need to go to Israel to learn about. Thank you very much.

Communications.

That's reflected in the record. Thank you. Have communication. And do we have business? Consent calendar?

Mr. 9A.

And I'm happy to make the motion to move the remaining items. I have a compliment on 9E. Okay. I'll second. So, Council Member Wong.

I'll second. Council Member Sanchez. Mayor. I do have a written communication for 9E.

from Lucille Roba, and she writes that she's requesting the delay or reject of areas like

Saturn Park. She referenced 2025 agenda regarding the Saturn Park. The city is planning to rezone

housing now or in the future, playing with HCD because these actions are a deliberate effort

to avoid public scrutiny. And do we have any clarification to those comments?

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, as was introduced, is approved land use element, which was on the ballot,

but to put it onto the ballot. And with regard to the housing element,

that was approved by the city council in 2020. And we have certain schedules and deadlines that we need to meet from the standpoint of the voter-approved land use element and the HCD-approved housing element.

I'm not quite sure. Vote.

Oh, we have 9.

You have a conflict, though, right?

All right. Good evening, Alamago Public Works Director. Tonight you have an album.

Currently we're looking at working with Ferguson Enterprise, doing business as Ferguson Waterworks, to deploy their Neptune R900

at a cost of $9.8 million from the this empowers the customers to see their data also if leaks come up they can be notified of these leaks to hopefully help reduce NOS

supports remote meter reading so we can collect this data remotely we don't have to read all these meters independently we'll have customer portal access to improve not only transparency and hopefully see Also, as I pointed out, from the water bond, this aligns with the city's water bond improvement for the water infrastructure. Any questions? I appreciate the quick one to highlight this because this is a huge deal to transition to AMI smart water meters that will just track their real-time water usage to encourage conservation,

just to be able to see where their water is going a little bit.

specific Neptune water meter have around us that have gone to AMI already? So I can speak as there are other agencies that are using the, and as a whole, there are other agencies around us that are using it. I can't tell you specifically the industry, again, to the point of helping customers to see real-life usage, hopefully identify historically. Water agencies over the years, whenever they have leaks, they can't notify the customer until usually 30 days time. This can give them real-time data application immediately if they have a water leak. So on the leak detection piece, will the new meters, do we need to roll anything or is this just data that's going to be on the bill or how is that going to work?

No, there will be a new customer portal that will be able to sign up and receive notifications. And some of that has been repairability and replacement parts and things like that. We don't anticipate that being as much of an issue since this is more widely used. Africa, we've noted a 12-month timeline in terms of replacing all our water meters. That's right. customers over this 12 month period, are there going to be any impacts to customers as we can be transparent to them? Generally speaking, there won't be a significant impact. However, replace the water meter. Some of the larger water meters for apartments, we will be notifying them and sending and anticipate the changes. And a couple weeks or what's the timeline? What's the process? Are we planning any other community outreach on the AMI changes?

of the customer portal yes great perfect uh and then uh the staff report noted i think a five

percent or up to fiber trade tariff things do we expect that to two parts most of the parts we do

anticipate the five the five percent we don't also important to get the sun sooner rather than later

correct uh were the this type of meter last up to 20 years so usually a meter will last up to 20 That's not something typical.

All right, that's helpful. The term of the water bond. Yeah, I do apologize.

I'm sure they're lined up because if they're not lined up,

if we had a turning off these old meters while we were these types of equipment and want to continue to encourage this and this is part of our process

to make sure we're planning in a responsible way for costs that we know are gonna come up. And so hopefully we don't have to, we can do what we cost in borrowing costs for projects like this going forward. That's all I have. Support this project. Very excited. Hope that we can get some updates as during the changeover. Obviously, I'm sure the council will be celebrating once we finish the changeover too. Yeah. But happy to make... Oh, go ahead. I asked you a question, Sean. How old are the existing systems that we have? The existing unit is about 10 years old. 10 years old, okay.

Correct. And I would well to a major because we're seeing a pretty high fit By company one I'll second it Approved unanimously

Hearing

In 1993 the city formed citywide maintenance district number 93 eating and landscaping

The law requires the city to renew the assessments to the district every year for the past 32 years.

The revenue generated by the district is estimated to be approximately $1,020,067 for fiscal year 7th, 2025 meeting.

The city count 5R34.

The resolution of intention with the public hearings on June 5th, 2025. To date, no majority protest has been received against the proposed district renewal for 2025.

that concludes my presentation. My Espinosa with Francisco and Associates is available via Zoom. Let me close the public hearing. Comment, questions? Just to confirm what it is. That is correct. Motion by Council Member Wang Lo. Please vote. Approved unanimously.

Thank you.

10b. Capital improvement. Yes, I'm back.

All right.

All right. Good to counsel, Sean Igoe, Public Works Director.

2026 Capital Improvement Plan, or CIP. As you're all aware, Public Works is responsible for managing the CIP and improving the city's infrastructure. For fiscal year 24-25, we have completed approximately 15 projects at $5 million with approximately $29 million in approved projects.

Just to note, this item is 10B on the slide. It's noting 10C, but we are on item 10B. Just for clarification, that was a typo. Apologies, no. So going back, so if this is going over our fiscal year 24-25 completed projects, so again, we've completed about 15 projects at $5 million with approximately $29 million in approved projects now that the AMI project has recently been approved.

Of these projects, approximately $2.3 million come from the general fund with $15 million in general fund of approved projects.

The remaining projects are from dedicated funds such as gas tax, CDBG, bonds, enterprise funds such as water and sewer.

Last year's projects included roof replacements, the library, HVAC system, Barnes Gym flooring, Petrero Grande signal improvements, Garvey Ranch painting rehabilitation.

And we also did improvements for ADA, concrete work, and then citywide repaving projects. We also completed restrooms at Barnes, Jim and Langley Center and then we're currently wrapping up our Russell Reservoir Rehabilitation Project.

Here's some of the pictures that we've completed for some of the various projects. So as you can see the ADA improvements, concrete improvements for sidewalks and then also street improvements. And then here's some of our more community-wide improvements as I mentioned.

So Barnes, Jim flooring, Russell Reservoir and then Garvey Ranch Museum painting.

So for the 2025-26 project, here's a few of the items we have listed.

Water meter replacements, completion of Atlantic and Garfield water rain replacement project, which is currently underway. City facility HVAC replacement, just our phase 2 project. And then City Hall roof and scylet replacement. And then also our 710 projects, Monterey Pass complete streets and Garvey capacity improvements, which are currently underway. way. I also want to note that as part of the 710 projects we have noted in our CIP Atlantic,

Garfield, and Ramona capacity improvements. These projects are currently being reevaluated to determine what we want to do with these funds as these projects were not deemed to be allowable just based off of the size that we have and the available right of way we have. Next year we have approximately $4.3 million in general fund for some of these projects including the roof replacements, re-keying, HVAC, alleyway improvements, and concrete improvements. There are several carryover projects for the general fund, which include fire station, Pacharo Grande, and then council chamber rehabilitation.

And these are all already committed and approved. This is approximately 30 projects that we have listed for our CAP. And again, we do our best to improve not only our infrastructure,

but the overall feel of the community,

with like we've done in the past several years with our parks improvements and things like that. So again, we're excited to work on these projects and we've done a great job in trying to really improve how our community feels about Monterey Park and our engineering team. They put all these projects together, the staff step in and they do a lot of this work. Questions? If I'm, math was, but if I'm looking at the SIP list, all of us, 157, and unified capital improvement projects in the city. Is that correct? That's correct. Community capital improvement projects. So those would generally come out of water funds, sewer fund. Yes, some of those would. Earlier speakers, we've got about $45 million in cash. We'll get Martha if she wants to confirm this. But $45 million in capital to 15, a little more than that million traffic emergencies for capital projects like those listed here. There's $130 million on general fund, much more than $30 million we have right now, or $45 million even. Yes, there will be a significant asset. I think $3 million for Station 63. Those will very likely, because we haven't done the engineering, we know offhand very likely will be much higher than those, essentially. Yes, that's correct. So a lot more than what's actually listed here. And this does not include improving and We haven't even identified the potential funding to have to replace That require funding from the general fund to do in the next few years. That is a possibility correct But that's all I wanted to I just want to make that good clever I have good clarification by the way just follow up to that So what is the price tag that we have allocated to see or I want to say about no problem

Go in. Got it. Thank you. Other questions? This is available to the public as well, right? Yes. All right. I just want to make sure that everyone sees.

Again, it's divided by, we have parks, recreation, at least in your presentation, it's in here, is right, correct? That's correct. Okay. If we, if the council desires during the course of the year to add a different project or another project to the SIP list, we can, it would just take council action. That's correct. Yeah, it also identifies. And we can reprioritize capital improvement projects throughout the year at any time? That's correct. That is council's prerogative.

So if, say, a parks master plan process were to be completed in a few months in potential projects in terms of capital,

but if there are projects that come out of the house, if we want to add that to the list, council can do so at that time after those things are identified? That's correct. I'll make the motion to approve the SIP as presented and staff recommendation.

Let me open up the public hearing. Thank you, Mayor. We have two speakers.

Margaret Lone.

Mayor and City Council Member and...

Yeah, I am a little bit of the presentation and I'm hoping for Henry Lowe. You know, you know, patient is going to make public so we can work together to move up there. There's copies. It is also attached in the budget document as well. But the budget document, it's included in the end, but also it's included in the agenda packet that was posted online publicly on the agenda item. But you're saying there are copies up there.

okay okay yeah we'll take a look at it this is the first time that I've I'm hearing this so that's great that we have a list to work from so for me is that from from a city's planning standpoint some of the items that you brought up those are critical items I'm just wondering have you done a an engineering assessment because there is a life cycle. I think, Thomas, you're right on point with the meter. We are very surprised. I go over 10 years, never heard of it. So I would recommend the city take a look at the preventative. I don't know why we bought these units from, but that is a big surprise. But in the same line of thinking, and I know that you've been representing us at the water department. So you understand some of these elements with regards to taking care of the long-term longevity of this equipment. So having a good preventative maintenance program is one of the key to making sure that these equipment stay in shape and have a long life longevity. With that said, so with the row and whatnot, so these are key elements. I could Google it. What do I need for a good running city?

These are all elements of it. But I'm just curious. Have the city done an engineering reliability program on these rows? I mean, I could say the road needs to be paved every 10 years to keep it nice.

But I've been living on my street, I don't know, over 15 years. It's never been paved. It's been taught it, maybe, service. So with that said, I'm not sure we're just putting this big whole balloon on the table to say we don't have money for the pool. That's my concern.

My concern is that these elements needs to come from an engineering report. Have we done that? Can we answer that tonight? We have how many feet of piping that needs to be replaced? How many percentage have we replaced? This is something that I learned at the public work open house that day. You guys have a lot of talents. You have a lot of young talent, good ones. I hope they all get promoted soon because they have Monterey Park City. They have the heart for the city. They really do. But they need to be guided, right? I asked them eight years ago, ten years ago, you guys took money from my water bill to replace all the sewer because it's been over 100 years or 50 years, whatnot. We can't kick the can down the row. We're going to replace. Nobody could answer me. How many feet of sewer pipe did we replace with our money? Nobody could answer that question. But then I came to learn we didn't replace the pipe. We just lined the pipe. So we're just kicking the can down the row. How many feet of pipe, sewer pipe, did we line? And how many feet of pipe did we replace? With that, no answer. I went to the next booth, which is the water department. We are in the process of replacing water pipe. Great program, great idea. And they showed me a broken pipe and they showed me a PVC that they're going to replace it with. Again, we don't know how many feet we have or how many. I think it was only 10% that we've replaced to date. So with that said, is that the goal of the city to replace 5% of the pipe this year? 5% next year? So it's a long-term plan, right? I don't want to have a balloon right now. I want to understand that the city is maintaining the infrastructure in an orderly manner, not using, I don't know, bay and switch, because today we're going to be figuring out that we need to replace all the roll. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Armando?

Hi, it's me again. And I'm actually glad I stay. And thanks for offering us to stay. And I'm glad that Councilmember Thomas Wong brought up the capital improvement project. And I think I do know what you're referring to. toward the end of the proposed budget. There is a few pages that actually list all the capital improvement projects

for the next five years.

If my math is correct, and I think I was pretty good in math when I was in high school, but it added to about $239 million. I didn't even break it between street and some of the other projects, but I think it added to about $239 million. And at the last, last page, it actually breaks down the source of funds, where you're actually going to find money to do those projects. and it also added to about $239 million. So it actually matches. It's great, right? But there was one line that I saw in there, and it says general fund, and it didn't add up to $133 million. It actually said $29 million, and a lot of it was accounted for in your regular $70 to $80 million budget for the next five years. If you add up that, the 4.3 that the director mentioned, right, is part of the 74, not part of the 30. And if you go through each of those years, is also part of your regular 70 or 80 million dollar budget, not the 30. So, but again, you know, I'm just trying to look for answers and trying to understand how you're allocating your budget, how you're using your general fund. I'm open to having a discussion with every one of you just to try to understand. But I did see those pages. I just wanted to let you know. Thank you. Thank you. So let me ask a couple of clarification questions because to my understanding, in the last two budgets, I said in two or three budget meetings now, every time we have those meetings, we've gone through, oh, three books, so three budget meetings. Every time we go through that, we go through the list of all those items. And this year, that total pop is $158 million.

Last year, it was probably around that number, more or less. The year before that was more or less. But these are kind of ongoing five-year projects. So if you had come to the budget meetings and suffer with us through five hours of going through the budget and Pre-reading it that was in there in terms of transparency. I will tell you that is the transparency part of it Since that one that subject I'm going to ask Sean When we when we look at these things 158 million kind of rolling for the next five years rolling back a few years these are things that is part of council we kind of help prioritize and dictate what do we fix is that the water system actually did that get fixed the water distillation system did we fix that already or did we already fix is not really upgraded that or basically improve that system that we really do that yes part of our training facility yes we did we did and that was how much the whole cost I think was about 20 or 30 million dollars 20 or 30 million and then what was before that we also repaved in the last now I can say this because I know because I've been running in the area in the last two and a half years we've probably resurfaced and repaved more of the city than I have seen in the last 40 years because that percentage is at least 40 percent and you can if that's a fair assessment it was a little less than that I believe but yes it was pretty close and how much did we spend on that part of that that was about 20 million that was another bond and a lot of that repaving resurfacing happened because we had bad rainstorms going back five years four years ago which created a lot of havoc some liability issues with potholes but we fixed what we did and then

that's two piece of that what was the other priority things that we did

in the last two years

so currently is water

water is the current focus with the $20 million bond prior to that was streets those are the two things we've been focusing over the past probably three years then in the next two three years going forward what are the big ticket items we'll continue with water water is a big one in the 710 So those 710 projects for Metro those are gonna be the big projects so the Garvey capacity the Metro

So the Monterey Pass complete streets. Those are the big ones What about sewer sewer yes is another one so I want to address the

engineers evaluations so The water master plan was recently completed a couple years ago

We use that as a tool to help guide us on how to manage an operator system how to replace our infrastructure the life cycles of those things that's all based off of data that is you know provided by our by not only our staff but also the experts that we hire to evaluate our system so they look at water main break leak data they look at type of pipe age of pipe and you know so that was recently completed we use that as a guide we have a payment management plan that we're currently wrapping up that will help guide us on the next several years on how to replace and improve our streets and roads. We also look at our sewer master plan and updating that over the next year or two and then our storm drain master plan. So we use these as tools and guides to help us and help you as council to make hopefully informed decisions on how to allocate these funds. So one more question for you. Yes. In terms of kicking the can down the road, which is a commonly used term, granted some of these projects are a lot older and I can probably say we probably did that on a couple of projects because we didn't have funding so now that we have a reserve built out and you know we have a surplus this year and last a little bit last year more this year prior to that

it was a deficit so now that we have a little surplus can we do more of these projects absolutely we can okay thank you any other actually i have a follow-up actually um so i know that we had a speaker who came up who had asked some of our staff to the public works open house some questions And, you know, and again, I'm not sure who in your staff was asked, but given that there was questions, which I know you partially answered, would it be possible for you to perhaps make it a problem with Ms. Lerong and go over that engineering study regarding the infrastructure?

Because, again, I realize that, you know, unless you go to every council meeting or you watch every agenda, it's hard to keep up with all the documents we put up. And I know these documents are probably posted on the website. But, again, at the same time, you know, you have to know where to look. And so what I would ask, and if Ms. Long is willing to, perhaps you can have a meeting with her and go over the current and past CIPs, and especially related to some of her questions. Can we do that? Absolutely. Okay. Ms. Long, are you willing to do that? Any other questions or comments from the council? Of course. Really quick, just to echo what Councilman Rouleau was saying, I think not just Ms. Young, but anyone who's interested in our capital improvement projects, I think staff would be happy, the budget as well, to talk through some of these questions. I know council members have done some outreach directly to some of the folks, and I think we'd love to rebuild whatever trust does not exist.

And I think the staff are happy to answer questions that you might have,

and we'll begin with posting some of the answers that we had to some of the questions we received about the pool specifically. But one thing I do want to highlight as well,

Ms. Leung when she came up talked about how her street has not been repaved. I think that I one I really appreciate you coming up to speak because I think it helps to highlight the point we're all

trying to make here tonight in that the we issued a 20 million dollar bond to accelerate some street improvements you know 30 to 40 percent of the city's streets that were in disrepair were repaired and repaved but that's just to go to show how much more that's not even a lot of these other street street repairs we're doing the pavement management study right now to get a little more proactive for doing a sewer master plan i think eventually soon water master plan uh water infrastructure master plan we've got a park system master plan about our city public facility park facilities uh to get more proactive about the renovations and maintenance that we need to do with all of our city facilities and infrastructure but i think that comment made the point for me that that the money here listed in the SIP, some of those projects aren't even on here, right, the streets that weren't repaved because we don't have funding identified for those projects. And so the need, right, the need is tremendous. It's even bigger than what's on the SIP list. The SIP list is just what we think we can start to get to. There's much more that's not on those lists because we don't have any, we don't have feasible funding sources for these other infrastructure projects at this time. And so I just want to highlight that point and how we are trying to get to every street, the alleyways as well, I believe, and all these other city facilities and infrastructure that need to get to that we can't even put on the SIP list because we don't have the funding to do it. The other thing I'd like to highlight as well is not only just the funding, but...

we have to be very strategic in how we manage all these projects without overlapping and causing too much, you know, havoc with the community and causing them, you know, delays and detours in

their own day-to-day activities. And I'd want to highlight, thank you, Sean, I want to highlight another point that Ms. Young made as well that I think would be good. I know we do this to a certain extent, right, report out on how many miles paved every year, we do this in the state of the city address, and we try to highlight some of the public works infrastructure investments that we do, but I think it's worth breaking that down even more a little bit in terms of how we're also once we have right the pavement management plan and all these other things not only how much in the last year we've done in terms of street repavings or repairs and water miles of pipe replaced in the water treatment system what are all that all that stuff I think would be great to highlight I think if there I know we can do more in terms of getting into the data to help highlight and i think it's a good illustration that we need to do more to help residents in the community understand all the investments that are being made i know there's a lot but i think we need to do a better job of telling our story and telling the public works department's story of how how much we've seen in terms of progress just in the last few years and in the next year and we do a better job of promoting that i think we should promote that because people all of us all of them all of us are paying more in these these taxes and fees every year and it'd be good to be able to show and remind people what we're paying for and how it's actually making a difference in our community. So whatever we can do to emphasize that more and to get that kind of information out, you know, more infographics or other things and so just numbers or words that don't make sense to me, let's see that I would love to encourage us not just for public works but across all of our departments that do amazing work engaging with our community and providing services to our community. I think we should do a better job of promoting what the city is doing and our successes and our progress.

I agree that we try to do our best. We do have our CIP website, which is up and available. The public can access it anytime. We try to highlight some of that stuff within our cascades, not on a regular basis because we don't want to overwhelm the community and just have it just common.

We want to try to put it in there at least twice a year for them to see what we're doing, but also we encourage people to go to our page. Because we have so much going on, it would take up the entire Cascades. So we try to put them to a QR code, say go to a website and see that data and information. But, yes, we can look at how we can do some more outreach, whether it's through social media, things like that.

Come do more presentations to council. Whatever we can, we'll try to promote it more.

Absolutely. And I will say, and I'd ask my council colleagues as well, I feel like they would be comfortable with this. If we need to add a couple pages to the Cascades to highlight some of these projects, I'm happy to support that.

Well, actually, if I could also suggest as well, for example, when some of us who get magazines from our college alumni, we get annual reports about, for example, this is what we raised, this is what we spent. I mean, from my college, perhaps maybe we can devote a special annual issue of the Cascades just for projects like the ones that we've been working on.

So you're saying you're donating for those projects? And then we'll report back?

No, no, I'm saying we could be a special issue of the Cascades. And also, since I'm, hey, Martha, raise your hand. Okay, yes. So the person, she is our finest person. I want everyone here who has still questions about the budget, get her card. And I'm sure Martha will be more than happy to break down, you know, our budget too, right?

Okay. Thank you. Great. I think, I just want to, I'm happy to restate my motion to support the SIP list. but as i do that i just want to know right just because your project is not if you have if you're passionate about a priority or a project in the community and it's not on a sip list that's not to say it's not a priority for the city and for this council uh it's that there's a process to get things on this list all of these things that are on this list currently went through a process right a payment management plan and they're going to go through a process and we're going through a process to identify other projects so that we can start putting them on the list as well and so ask everyone to continue to engage. Appreciate everyone coming out tonight for a specific project and hope that you'll continue to engage as we move along in this process. Okay, with that said, I have a motion from Council Member Wang. Do I have a second from? Second. Second from Pro Tem Yang. Please vote.

Approved unanimously.

Thank you. Off to item 10.

10C.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, we would like to request that items 10C and item 10D be moved to July 2nd, 2025.

That's to allow for compliance with public hearing notice.

I'll make the motion to move both items. Okay. Oh, we're taking the-

I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, if you would open both public hearings and then continue to the date certain so that we have a vote on the record. Thank you.

I'm going to open the public hearing.

Did I close the public hearing?

No.

We're going to leave the public hearing open, then we're going to have a motion to continue

both items.

Council Member Wong, second by Council Member Sanchez. Go ahead and take a vote.

Approved. Approved financially.

Okay, so that's pushed to the July 2nd. New business?

No? City communications?

I just have two quick items, Mayor, if you'll indulge me.

tomorrow is June 19th which is

June 20th

do we already pass the resolution but you're going to speak about it

tomorrow is Juneteenth and I just want to make sure that you know I recognize Juneteenth tomorrow because I did it with my students

today my ethnic studies students today but Juneteenth is a federal holiday now and it commemorates the freeing of slaves that were still enslaved

even after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. But these slaves remained enslaved in

Texas actually for two extra years. So it became a popular holiday in Texas, but it's become now a federal holiday. So I just wanted to make sure to highlight that Juneteenth is

tomorrow, but tomorrow's also, and my colleague's going to be speaking on Vincent Chin, but tomorrow's Vincent Chin Day, right?

Yeah. And we'll ask staff if we can bring a resolution next year in 2026 for Juneteenth. And that is it. Thank you. Oh, and I do want to thank Sean for the capital improvement projects. I know our infrastructure in Monterey Park is aging, and there's a lot of items that need to be on that SIP list, but you know we're working on it but i think if i heard council member wong and council member

lowe correctly they probably want to see social media pictures of you filling like potholes and paving roads and everything else that you do uh fitting pipes and all those different things

measuring pipes so we can get an accurate measurement uh for the crowd but uh the more we inform our public and uh provide that type of information uh i know that a lot of the residents in my district are very happy about the paving of roads. I know they're still asking about alleyways, and I'm letting them know they're coming. I know that it's a continued effort, and if I heard the price correctly, something that we've discussed closer to maybe $250 million could potentially be a billion dollars in terms of how much could be identified, but thank you for public works and for all the work that you guys do. I know that we're always working to

be better. That's always what we should be working towards. Thank you.

Thank you. I guess thanks for the segue. Colleagues, I thank you for approving the resolution acknowledging June 23rd as the 40th anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin. For those of you who may not know or do know, Vincent Chin is a Chinese-American who was killed 43 years ago right before he was supposed to get married, because at the time where he lived, this was during the downturn of the auto industry, and unfortunately he and a friend were mistaken by some laid-off workers as being Japanese. And they got into an argument. I mean, both sides did get into an argument, but ultimately it resulted in the beating death of Vincent Chin. And what was outrageous to the Chinese-American community, the Asian American community is that when the two murderers were taken before court, they were given a very light sentence because it would determine that it was not a hate crime. And ironically, this murder actually gobernated the Asian American community because it was clearly from the decision of that judge that it was very clear that for Asian Americans at the time, they felt that, you know, as a community, their voices, their opinions didn't matter or didn't matter much. and that's what galvanized the community. But this is an issue that, and if you're wondering why is it that it's on the agenda, it's because the Chinese American Museum, in fact the president of the board of the Chinese American Museum, Ms. Gay Yuan, lives in Monarch Park. She actually is my constituent, and you probably know Dr. Gay Yuan. But every year the museum actually commemorates the death of Vincent Chin because it's important to remember that this was a victim of a hate crime. And I think it's even more salient right now, given the level of xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment that we are seeing from the federal government, which writ large became very clear in the past week and a half. In fact, let me just segue also to, you know, this past weekend, I know we had no kings protests throughout the Southern California area. I know some of our community members organized one here in Monty Park. I personally went to the one in downtown Los Angeles that had, I think, 5,000 people who were marching, you know, and for, you know, against the policies of the Trump administration, but also because of what has been this terrorizing by ICE and custom agents to our community. You know, I mean, I can tell you, and I'm sure probably my colleagues can attest to that, you know, almost every day I get a text from someone saying, hey, we saw a white van or SUV that says customs or border enforcement driving through Monterey Park. and now again why they're driving through we don't know maybe they're doing surveillance maybe they have picked up somebody I did actually get a video of what looked like a gentleman being picked up at the corner of Newmark and Garfield and again that could have been an ice pickup but I think it's important that and I want to also acknowledge that this city has certainly done its part to make sure that number one being very clear as a matter of policy that our law enforcement will not work with ICE agents, as well as on our website, post information that's been provided by our Assemblymember Mike Fong, our Congressman Judy Chu, our State Senator, Sasha Perth. There is information out there to protect residents about what their rights are. And I realize, too, that maybe not everyone has access to our website. And so as one speaker suggested, and I'm going to make a suggestion now, maybe we can print out some of the knowing rights cards and pass them out at Langley Senior Center or City Hall or Recurricular Facilities because it is important that people know what their rights are. In fact, I will even read those four main points. You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions about your status or birthplace to anyone that stops you. If someone comes to your door, you do not have to open your door unless they present a warrant and specifically has your name on it and signed by a judge. You do not have to sign anything, never sign documents without consulting an attorney. It may affect your right. Do not provide false information. Never falsify documents or misrepresent your citizenship status. These are very important key points that we need to make sure that our community knows. And again, I know we posted it on our website, but again, either we reach out to our elected official's office because they have part copies or else we print it out ourselves. I do think that it's important to, and for me it's also personal because as I, some people may or may not know, but my dad, when he came to the United States, he actually entered the United States on a, well he stayed with a expired tourist visa. And so technically he was undocumented. And even though he married my mother, who was a green card holder, that did not mean that he was out of the woods. It was just that a year later, I was born, and I guess when he went to INS in downtown, whoever the agent was, was kind enough to say, all right, fine, you can stay. Now, I don't know if his story would happen today, given the meanness of our immigration system, but technically, my father was undocumented, and technically, one of my parents were not even allowed to be a legal resident. So does that mean someone right now that's listening is going to come to my house today and kidnap me and take me to jail? I don't know. They can try. But again, these are our stories. And I think it's important, as some of the speakers said, that we are being terrorized. And it's important that we make sure that we do all we can to that our brothers are informed. And to the extent possible, know that they do not have to deal with this alone. And that's it for me. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, I echo my colleague, Council Member Lowe's words.

On top of that, I wanted to congratulate our Mayor Vint for being installed as the CEO, Chinese elected officials vice president last Friday.

Congratulations. Also, just a...

birthday to our council member Jose Sanchez. 25 again. Thank you. So the last couple of weeks

have been promotions graduation so I was happy enough along with several council members here to join the Garvey School District promotion ceremonies. Attended and spoke at the Rotary Club and the Lions Club they've been longtime supporters of our community they volunteer in our community it was a pleasure speaking to and reconnecting with the volunteers who paved the road for later volunteers who will continue to serve our city this past Saturday I actually also attended the the American Post held the 250th birthday for the army so there was a army fleet that was here that day I joined the group and basically had some discussions in terms of what we can do to better serve our veterans in the community not just the city of my park but using the American post the Legion to help serve and recruit more veterans in the community to partner up with them I know earlier there were some speakers talking about how we are a immigrant community here and I will say this. I can attest and I have been in more than one and I can say every one of the council members has been involved in the No King's Day's march, has been involved in protecting our civil liberty at the city and protecting our rights as individuals because we are an immigrant community. we are here to serve the community we have already sent out what the police is willing to do in terms of serving our community that's all on public records I just want to reiterate that we support our community

and we're here to serve the community with that I am going to adjourn the meeting at 8.35 applause applause

applause applause applause applause Thank you.

Thank you.