City Council Meeting — July 2, 2025

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Hi, Martha. Can we do a mic check, please?

Hi, can you hear me? Perfect. Thank you. Thanks.

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Let's call the meeting to order.

I apologize for the delay.

Let me start with the land acknowledgement.

We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today

was once known as the Tavangar, the home of the Gamerlino Tongva people. We show our respect to the Gavarino Tongva people as well as all indigenous people past, present, and future, and honor their labor as original caretakers in this land. We commit to uplifting the Gavarino Tongva people, invite you to acknowledge the history, and join us in turning for this land.

Let's actually call in our Marri Park Fires Explorers.

Please stand.

Please.

indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Fly salute, bow to face, forward march.

Thank you. You may be seated. Let me first congratulate Hilda Wilson, who is our civic superstar. And she comes to us from Murray Highlands Elementary, first grader. I'm going to actually join her in pictures. Team, can you come up with me?

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Madam Clerk, roll call, please.

Council Member Wong? Present. Council Member Sanchez? Present. Council Member Lo?

Here. Mayor Pro Tem Yang? Present. Mayor Ngo? Present. All present.

Agenda deletions

additions, deletions, changes, and adoptions I have a statement that I'll read first

and then we can go to that

I'm reporting out of closed session that the city council unanimously authorized the city attorney to take all actions needed to file a motion to intervene in the federal action filed on July 2nd, 2025, captioned Perdomo et al. v. Noemi et al. in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. That case asserts that since early June 2025, federal agents have conducted indiscriminate immigration operations in the Los Angeles area, targeting individuals based on race and ethnicity without reasonable suspicion or warrants. The raids have reportedly led to unlawful detentions and denial of access to legal counsel with detainees held in inhumane conditions. The defendants are various federal officials, including the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among others. They are accused of implementing policies that violate constitutional and statutory rights.

the other request Mr. Mayor and members of the council is for to add understaff communications fire department so if we could add that 6d and then also we'd like to the item 4a that was posted as part of the special meeting agenda. We'd like to remove that from the agenda for tonight.

Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, if I could, on the announcement you just made for the clarity of our audience, just to be clear,

this is action that sounds like LA City

and the lawsuits being led by public council and the ACLU against the Trump administration on their, what we see as likely unconstitutional activities in terms of immigration enforcement in the Los Angeles area, we are signing on to join this lawsuit that's just filed today.

Is that right? That's correct.

And also to add that actually the city of Monterey Park is joining a growing number of cities in Southern California to take legal action against these blatant human rights violations of our citizens.

And we are sending a message also to our neighboring communities, Montebello, and many other impacted communities in southeast LA, including Bell Gardens, Anina Park, who have been impacted unfairly by ICE deportations, that Monterey Park is with them, but also sending a message that we are very vigilant here in Monterey Park, that Monterey Park is an immigrant community, and that we stand behind our immigrants here.

Yeah, I hope you guys forgive us for being late. That's what we were working on earlier in the closed session. But we do stand, each and every one of us, with all our residents here against all of these unauthorized actions that we do not believe are okay.

Thank you.

So on behalf of our city, which is built on diversity and immigrants, we probably support this lawsuit. And somewhere down the agenda item, we will ask our chief to speak in terms of reporting what we have seen and heard in our community. We have made a number of announcements through our website, our communication. and we will have a discussion on that later as the agenda item comes up.

Okay, let's go to public communications.

Yes, we did have some individuals who did fill out speaker cards

hoping to speak on the item that you just pulled from the agenda.

I don't know if those individuals wish to still speak during public communication.

I will call your name.

And excuse me in advance if I say your name incorrectly.

And we also have two written communications as well. The first individual to speak is Hassel Chinos.

If you don't mind coming up, you can go ahead and speak on the mic, please.

Are you Hassel or Esther?

Hassel. Okay, perfect.

My name is Hesel Chinos, and I wanted to say that if we could follow with ICE agents being able to identify themselves.

Thank you. Next speaker is Esther Perez, folLod by Juan Carlos Ramirez.

And just a comment or a police chief, Chief Wise, is going to be saying a few words about the enforcement policy as well.

Hi, my name is Terpere.

I want our communities feel secure and don't have fear about this situation.

is my concern

because the people is afraid and don't want to be

in the city we fear

that's it applause applause

next speaker is Juan Carlos Ramirez

good evening

I just want to follow up

on everybody else's

concerns. As we know, these hooded individuals, bounty hunters, are still snatching people as we

speak. And they don't even allow many of them to present their legal status in the country.

And what is our police doing to prevent this? So far, as we can see, there's nothing that they're doing to protect us. Thank you.

Next speaker is Veronica Ciafone.

Sorry, thank you.

Good evening Mayor, good evening Council. My name is Veronica Ciafone. I'm a school administrator with our neighboring city, East Los Angeles, and I'm here to thank you for adopting this ordinance. As a first-generation Mexican-American, I am sad to say that I'm walking

around with my U.S. passport to show that I am alLod to be here. I also want to thank you for demonstrating courageous local leadership and this is what it looks like supporting not just one but all of your constituents thank you also it's times

like this that our residents need to see that their local government is not waiting on the sidelines that you are stepping out now to protect us from intimidation, impersonation, rape, and kidnapping by these organized criminal acts. Monterey Park has always been a leader in inclusion and public safety. We are a community of immigrants, as you mentioned. And by passing this ordinance, you will affirm that legacy. I will affirm this legacy, and we will continue to keep faith in the future. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Next speaker is Alex Arsberg, folLod by Mimi Lee.

First of all, I was originally planning to come here with my wife.

she didn't feel completely safe coming to a thing like this

because she speaks with an accent. In the United States of America,

I'm very happy to come home tonight and tell her these great decisions that you made.

I think that... But the obligation that you all have to us, you speak on our behalf to tell the state, tell our president that our community won't be terrorized.

and you also have an obligation to us, your community,

to show us that we can go to buy groceries,

we can go to our libraries,

we can go out and visit people without feeling like we could potentially be hunted.

We all have a right to be here and to feel safe.

I just want to clarify also my wife is not a criminal she is not undocumented

she is not she does not have a dark complexion this is an issue that affects all of us

directly indirectly

it is something that in the future

we will be applauded and recognized for speaking up against.

And it is so important to do that now,

because we're seeing what a dark turn these actions are taking in our country.

I'm really eagerly awaiting what our police department says they are going to do to protect us.

that's it thank you

thank you

next speaker is Mimi Lee

folLod by Stacy Hernandez

Monterey Park. Hi, good evening Council Members, Mayor. My name is Mimi. My family and I have been residents of Monterey Park for 30 years and we know that Monterey Park is small but mighty. For example, in the 1980s there was about to be a resolution or an ordinance that was going to be passed banning Chinese signage in storefronts and restaurants and the community members have organized to start the meeting. stopped that. And now more than ever, we need to support immigrants in our communities and our neighboring cities. And I commend every one of you that spoke out and voted to join the lawsuit against the Trump administration. So what I was going to address, you all kind of touched upon, and I'm grateful for that. So I originally was going to speak on item 4A, but now it's moved to 9F, and I specifically want to support the city of Monterey Park providing a letter of support for SB 627, the No Secret Police Act, and SB 805, the No Vigilantes Act. And I believe that our city can do so much more, and there's an endless possibility of

what we can do.

For example, the city can create and distribute Know Your Rights cards to all our immigrant communities and store owners, letting them know about their rights. We would need it in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and all the other languages that our community needs. That's something that I personally wanted to do, but I don't have the resources or the money or the time to spread that awareness. and I believe that our city can help with that. And I also think that we can follow the example of other neighboring cities, such as Pasadena, who has set up an immigrant defense fund to help with groceries for immigrants who are too scared to go out right now, or to help with legal expenses for basically kidnappings from masked agents who may or may not be ICE. And basically, I'm glad that everyone has shown unity and support for immigrant rights here. And I would just want to say that ICE is not welcome in Monterey Park. Racism is not welcome in Monterey Park.

Thank you.

City Manager, so just for the record, right now we have printed Know Your Rights information at our Senior Center, our libraries currently in different languages, right?

That is correct.

We have Know Your Rights cards at Language Center, the library here at City Hall, and they're also available on our website to be printed if people are uncomfortable being out. They're also available online.

I mean, maybe perhaps in our Cascades or even the E version, we can let people know that.

And I would even say maybe moving forward with our city events,

obviously we always have a booth from either Parks and Recs,

maybe also have that information that we've been able to post online as well.

Absolutely, we can do that.

Next speaker is Sandy Hernandez. Yes.

FolLod by Hortensia.

Thank you very much. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak this evening. Thank you all for being here as well.

And also thank you for the opening remarks, acknowledging the original peoples of this land.

And, of course, for standing on the right side of this current issue.

I will keep my remarks brief regarding these ICE raids, and I do have two questions at the end.

My name is Sandy Hernandez. I've lived in Monterey Park for over 15 years.

Prior to that, I've lived in El Serino, East Los Angeles, and South Central Los Angeles.

Really, really tough neighborhoods.

And I've never been more scared than I am today in my life.

there we've all seen videos of people being snatched up by men driving unmarked cars

with tinted windows they're not in uniform they're fully masked we don't know who these people are I know I don't need to convince you all as you you've already stated your position but

I need to stress that we need to know we need to feel we need to be confident that if we find ourselves in trouble, that we can call the police, that Monterey Park will show up for us. We need to feel confident that we can tell our elderly neighbors that maybe don't speak English as well

or have hearing impairments or other issues that may not be able to communicate as effectively as some of us can, that if they call the police, the police will be there.

we understand that you may or the police department may not be able to interfere with lawful immigration action I get that but they can at least help us verify that the person that's taking me in that's putting wire around my wrists that they know who they are that someone knows where I'm going or my neighbor's going or your neighbor's going or one of you or anybody here that we keep careful track of who's taking our people, where they're going, and if they should be taking them at all. That's my question. I want to know if we're going to be able to walk these streets knowing that the police will be there. And that's all I have today. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

I live in a sandwich generation household,

so I have my parents that live in my household, and I'm in Elizabeth's district. My parents, my dad looks indigenous,

and for people who forget Mexicanos, we are indigenous, we are native, this is our land. And if you or anybody doesn't look like us, you are guests in our land. But we love our immigrant brothers and sisters because we understand the struggle. And the thing that keeps me up at night, my dad is a citizen. He looks indigenous. The other day he took my son to Target to get him a gift for his birthday. And I thought to myself, what would happen if my dad gets racially profiled and my seven-year-old does not have a phone? And I thought, man, I didn't even send them with an air tag. I should not live with that fear. My mother has dementia. She is a citizen. She does not remember she is a citizen. And she looks Mexican. And the thing that keeps me up at night is not only my elder parents, but the Asian elder parents in my neighborhood

that walk every morning and evening.

I don't even know their name, but I know what they look like and how long they've been in the community. And they, during the pandemic, inspired us to actually work out. And they don't speak English. If they get kidnapped, who is going to protect them?

Who is going to protect them is the question. And are we doing enough? I don't think we're doing enough. And I applaud all of you for taking a step in the right direction.

Because the news that you gave us today was worth the wait. And we need that type of leadership. We need more leadership like that. We need to stand up for our community.

Because in our very own community, we have Japanese elders who have a history of their ancestors being interned, being kept in camps. And that is not okay.

And we cannot allow that to repeat itself.

And at the detention centers right now in L.A., that is your modern-day internment camp. because a lot of people are getting rounded up and they're getting put there and families cannot even get a hold of them. We need to make sure that our elected officials are front and center doing more. You're taking a step in the right direction, but I think there is more that needs to be done.

We need to communicate with the elders. We need to communicate with the public when there is ICE activity. And the lawyer, the city lawyer, the city attorney, Mr. Berger, we need to figure out what are the legal parameters to be able to notify the public when there is ICE activity. Because even though my parents are citizens, I do not want my parents to be at risk. And I don't want my Asian elder neighbors to be at risk. We will protect each other, but we also need a commitment from the police department. and I don't know our police department I don't know who they are and I don't know where they stand but we all know that in law enforcement there's a lot of support for the Trump administration and I want to make sure that I don't know our law enforcement but I want to make sure that you stand with us

stand with us stand to protect and uphold the constitution and every single citizen and member that person that lives in this community, regardless of your status, your origin, or what you look like. They must be protected. We need that protection. Uphold the Constitution, leave, you know, whatever Trump politics aside, and support the people and be there for the people.

Y para finalizar, para toda mi gente, quiero que sepan que estamos unidos, que ese es el momento para estar unidos and be in the fight to protect us and fight for our people.

And united with the Asian community and the Latino community, we can protect each other, and even more so, if our elected officials and our police department are with us. Thank you. Thank you.

Those are all the public speakers. We do have two written communication.

The first one is from Delora Sedman. she would like to urge city council to vote no on raising the price specifically for the rare rollout services she's saying that this affects her she's a handicapped senior we have one additional written communication from Brian Ha he's urging council to take action against this unlawful unconstitutional ICE rates he's saying for council to join other cities in support of the immigrant community You have received both of these written communications via email

Yes, but that's item those are there's more that's it those are all the written and public speakers for okay of a communication

Any other comments from Council before we move on with that communications a really quick question for the same answer on one of those comments on the where comment

I know it's not on the agenda tonight when it does come back I wasn't under the impression that we were adjusting rollout prices with the potential item but I don't know what the 218 it's gonna look like if we can circle back on that through staff report somehow I was under a picture word we get something different than that I don't know if that was part of it the rollout changing some of the prices for some of the services why don't we have

staff follow up on that comment yeah I know our police chief was gonna say a

few words maybe we should have him speak now yeah we can have chief come up here

and just given us an update on what you're seeing what's your observation

Mr. Mayor, members of the state council, Scott Weiss, I'm the police chief.

This is a very difficult time for everybody, officers also.

They come from this community. They come from communities that are affected by this in their personal lives,

and they have to kind of walk the line.

Monterey Park has not seen overtly the activity that we've seen in other cities.

I'm aware of the video of an incident that took place at Newmark and Garfield.

There was no way for us to, we didn't receive a call for service for that. By the time it made it onto the internet, it was long over.

Department and ask for our assistance in trying to locate family members. We are prepared to handle that.

We have detectives assigned to those cases.

We have officers that are trained to do that.

We've tested the federal tracking system, if you will, that is available to the general public, and we found that it does work.

there's a situation where somebody that we want for a crime is in ICE custody.

We put their name into the system and it told us that he was in ICE custody.

We're trying to arrange right now to take him into our custody for a crime that occurred in Monterey Park a few years ago.

My officers have been given direction by me personally that if we receive a call from the public, We are to respond as a priority one call, which means it's an emergency call, and we are to go and keep the peace.

If that means that we have to identify potential federal agents that are taking law enforcement action, then we'll do that.

Once we've determined that they are legitimate federal officers, our jurisdiction ends. We don't have the ability to force state law onto these officers. They fall under Title 18 of the U.S. Code.

So their arrest and their power to arrest and the things that they do are controlled by that.

They have the same checks and balances that my officers have.

My officers are controlled by the state California Penal Code about how they dress, how they act, how they identify themselves.

and we have department policy. Federal agents have the same rules.

I don't know exactly what they are because we don't enforce them.

But if my officers roll up and they see masked officers in plain clothes

trying to detain somebody, we're going to intervene in that and find out what's going on.

Now, police officers in California also dress like ICE agents. I've been misidentified probably four times in the last two weeks of being an ICE agent. Everybody knows who I am. I'm the only guy in town with gray hair that looks like this. But on the Internet, people have said, oh, look, there's an ICE guy. Because I drive an unmarked car, and I sometimes don't wear this full uniform. I wear our Class C uniform, which is a polo shirt and tan or blue pants. I'm not conducting any law enforcement activity, but they may see me at John's Kebabs picking up lunch,

or they might see me at, you know, someplace picking up lunch. I understand that there's that.

No one's ever approached me so I can explain who I am, but our detectives do go out in the field, and they do dress in plain clothes. They drive unmarked cars. They drive cars that have tinted windows. We have license plates on our cars. But sometimes my officers will put on a vest over their plain clothes, and it says police on the front and back. It says Monterey Park on the front and back. My officers don't wear masks because we've accepted the fact that, yeah, we can be identified. And our families accept the fact that we are in a profession that takes a lot of scrutiny. And our kids grow up understanding that their dads or moms may not come home at the end of the day. And that's a reality that my officers live with every day. CHP lost an officer today in Los Angeles. LAPD lost an officer just a while ago, and we're all aware of Baldwin Park losing an officer. So it's a reality that my guys deal with every single day. We're going to do our best to make sure that the people in Monterey Park are safe.

that will never change. I don't know what the future holds,

but I'm committed to making sure that the people in Monterey Park feel safe.

I'm sitting up here listening to these people talk about how they're afraid to go out in public.

I wish there was something I could do more viscerally to make that feeling go away.

All I can tell you is that we haven't seen ICE in town.

We haven't had to interdict with them.

They haven't taken anybody off our streets that we know of. If you see that, call 911.

That's what it's there for. I can't guarantee I can stop what they're doing, but I can at least verify who they are. So my hands are tied a little bit, and my officers are tied a little bit, but we're here to keep the peace. And that applies to everybody across the board, regardless of what citizenship you have. We don't check that. I've been an officer for 38 years. I've never once asked somebody what country of origin or what citizenship they are. Quite honestly, I don't care. If you break the law, you go to jail. I don't care where you come from. That's the way it works here.

I don't know if that helped anybody. I don't know. I mean, I'm frustrated just like everybody else is. I don't know what the future holds. All I hope, I pray. I go to bed every night thinking about this is that my officers are not going to be placed in a situation where now we have two sets of armed people that get into a fight with each other. I just don't want that to happen. And I do worry about that. So that's where I'm hoping the line is drawn.

I'm here for any questions you may have.

Chief Weiss, thank you so much for coming up. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I think in general we want to remind our community members, city staff, including our police, our fire departments, we're public servants.

We're here to serve the public.

We want to make sure that our community members feel safe.

We understand.

We are government staff, and so I know at times people feel very cautious in contacting us for assistance.

We are here to help.

We're here to do our best to try to provide resources where we can. definitely our police department follows state law SB 54 and definitely if you call them as Chief Weiss mentioned even if they can't stop the detainment of somebody if anybody needs help after and they could come to our police department and ask for that assistance to walk them through how they could potentially make contact with the loved one we're here to help again so we just wanted to make sure Monterey Park Police Department, we don't hold any federal detainees in our jail. We wanted to make sure that our community members know our officers do not participate in any federal immigration enforcement operations. We don't need to cooperate with any of those operations. However, if we're called out, we're going to be there, and Chief Weiss has walked me through this too, we're there for helping to identify that it is a federal agent, and also Also if there's any concern about keeping the peace, making sure people are safe, we understand that a lot of people are very emotional during this time and that's understandable. So we wanted to just reiterate some of those items.

I actually have a suggestion.

Again, for those who are here in the audience or those who are listening, it's reassuring but perhaps we need to also post that as a statement as well, you know, through our social media or through our other avenues. Because I think it's also important to remember, too, that especially for a community as diverse such as ours,

where people come from different parts of the world, that they may have come from another place, another country,

where law enforcement is not held in such esteem, that they may be actually sources of human rights abuses, or corruption. And I think that's why also I think it's important to maybe if there have been instances it has not been reported. And I'll give you an example. Again, I shared with the manager. But for the past two weeks at a local business, which I frequent, I found out from

the owner that a customer that comes by all the time, that customer's wife apparently

was picked up while the wife was walking down the street near the show station on Nicholson and Garvey. Now, I gave my card to a business owner and I said if you see this customer again give that person my card because my understanding is that right now the spouse may actually be at a center in Mesa, Arizona. But nonetheless, as you said, you know, we we can at least try and help either through our Congress to find out what is the whereabouts. But again, I get that people may be afraid to reach out to our local law enforcement because for them all they see is just quoting up the government. So I think maybe it would help if we put out some statement. And also by saying if anyone is watching, again, if If an action has occurred and you're not sure who to reach out, I'd really reach out to your council members because then we can connect you

and, again, at least either direct you to either resources or try and help you figure out, you know,

again, if you have the unfortunate instance of having a loved one picked up to find out, well, where is that person? So again, I'm going to go back to that business and hope that the business owner was able to reach out to that resident. And that is my pledge, of course, as a council member.

And my understanding is that our city is going to be putting on a series of Zoom educational sessions to educate our residents on what to do if they do get approached by ICE, and what to do if their family members and loved ones get detained, as well as a lot of other frequently asked questions. They're going to be on Zoom to protect people who don't want to come in person for fear of something happening. So we think Zoom will make people feel more safe appearing and getting educated. And all of us, we're here to represent, to serve our community. If anyone reaches out to us through a business card, through an email, through a phone number, We're always ready to respond and give you as much information as we can. But if someone reaches out on a platform that's unofficial, like a private or closed Facebook group, for example, we're not responding not because we're ignoring people or because we don't care, but because there's legal reasons behind it. And maybe our city attorney, Carl, if I may put you on the spot, can explain the legal reasons behind these policies.

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

The city council did adopt a social media policy a number of years ago, which has been updated in response to various decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court. one of the reasons for not participating in a closed social media platform is that anything that is posted on as a public official is actually a public record and there needs to be access to anything that's within those closed groups which means that your communication should

be on file with the city clerk or available if a public records request comes in additionally

there's a brown neck concern to avoid any serial meetings so that is a concurrence of opinion amongst council members and that would include actually reading other people's posts or even putting an emoji in place. Recent legislation in California has actually specifically addressed emojis such that one is not supposed to be putting thumbs ups or smiley faces next to comments that you agree with. So it's a slippery slope with regard to social media as all of us know. I spend hours scrolling on stuff, which is boring.

But in any event, the concerns with closed groups are particularly heightened

because public officials and members of the public don't necessarily have access to those closed groups. So to the extent, to the mayor pro tem's point, that questions go unanswered, there's a specific reason for that,

and that specific reason is to avoid that slippery slope into potential Brown Act violations,

records retention problems, and other types of similar problems. Happy to answer any other questions.

I'm going to give you a thumbs up for that response.

Subscribe.

Again, first of all, Chief, we thank you again for standing there and, you know.

I moved over here. I'm not blocking everybody's view. Sorry.

I'm just wondering too because again to a person when they see an officer in uniform, I mean again they may think, it's true, as you said it may be hard to distinguish between a customs officer or an ICE agent or an RPD.

I don't know is it possible perhaps to wear, how do I say this, that identifies that it

is a Monterey Park police officer more clearly?

I'm not sure what that would look like but again maybe if it was more recognizable that

these were that the person coming in patrol car or walking around is our own local PD, not a federal agent but a local PD. Just a suggestion, you know, for everybody to identify to the public when they see an officer they know it's our officer.

Police cars are black and white. They're very visible. We've all experienced that emotion when you see a black and white police car pulling behind you and you're driving down the street.

I have the same emotion when I'm off duty and I see it. I know that the officer is just thinking about where he's going to get coffee and not about pulling me over. So that's what he's thinking about with you for the most part.

But our officers that wear external body armor, the newest thing now is to wear a vest on the outside of your uniform. and it reduces the workman's comp injuries for back problems. We understand that. We make our officers wear placards on those vests that don't just say police on them. They say Monterey Park Police, front and back, so that you can look at them from the back or the front or the sides and be able to say, oh, that's a Monterey Park officer. It says Monterey Park on the back of his vest. Barring that, I really don't know if there's anything else we can do. Our detectives, when they go out and do enforcement and they wear a vest, they wear the same vest as our patrol officers. It says Monterey Park Police, front and back.

I don't know what other branding we could do.

I've noticed, based on the videos that I've watched, that most of the federal, there's different tiers of federal agents.

The ones that you see wearing the camouflage uniforms, those are typically tactical officers.

And federal law enforcement agencies wear camouflage when they are doing tactical operations.

Their SWAT teams and their tactical teams wear that. Border Patrol wears dark green.

The Customs and Border Protection that we see at the airports, they wear blue like we do. The special agents that we've seen come in from all over the country, FBI, ATF, DEA,

a lot of those that you see running around in jeans and T-shirts, they don't have uniforms.

Their agency doesn't have a uniform like a police officer.

They graduate the academy in a business suit, and they work most of their time in a business suit. They go out in the field and do enforcement in clothes that are more comfortable,

but the federal government would have to put them in some kind of an identifiable uniform.

We wear them on a routine basis. Okay, okay.

I mean, again, I get also for your own safety as well. Again, and I know, you know, we have our own unique patches.

Maybe, I don't know, maybe the patches are more prominent on the vests just so,

again, just a thought. I mean, you figure out how it best.

But again, it's just my observation about maybe that's also why people sometimes either are afraid to approach law enforcement or can't distinguish the difference.

I totally understand that.

We'll look into that and see if there's any way we can increase the branding on our uniforms.

I don't know what that would look like, but we'll look into it.

All right. No more questions for the chief. Thank you, chief. We appreciate you. Thank you for your leadership again.

And please give thanks to the rest of the PD for my part because they're doing a good job.

Thank you. And I'll put out one more thing. We talked about it a little bit. I just want to add that if there's someone in the public that is uncomfortable coming into the station or making a call and has questions, we're very easy to get a hold of. Whether it's through our email addresses, which are all posted. My phone number and email is posted on the website through the Go Monterey Park app, through our social media, through our website. There's a lot of ways to get a hold of us. We don't physically have to be in the same room with you to answer your questions. We can interact on the phone. We can interact through email. There's a lot of different ways to get a hold of us. I mean, if you have a question or you have a concern about where somebody is, email me directly. And I'll look into it and I'll have a detective check it out and we'll get you the answer. So there's other ways to get a hold of us than physically coming in, if that's a concern for people. Again, all of council knows that they can take any constituents' concerns and pass it on to me, and they're going to get an answer in a very short period of time. Mr. Mayor, just a quick point or an end question.

The chief mentions if anyone, if their family's in Mallory Park, but they're impacted by a family member being taken up by ICE or immigration authorities, and they don't know where to turn, I'm looking through our immigration resources web page right now. I don't think we list what they can do, but I know the chief has offered what they should do and can do and how we might be able to assist. Maybe we can add some of that information just in terms of they can contact our Monterey Park Police Department for assistance in locating their relative

and the information on there.

If there are links to other nonprofits that are providing legal assistance or support for families impacted directly

by relatives being taken by immigration authorities,

maybe we can link to some of those resources as well on the immigration

resources page. Noted.

Okay.

One more thing. Everybody's heard of internal affairs, right? ICE has internal affairs. It's called the inspector general's office. It took me about five seconds on the internet to find their phone number and to find the form that you fill out if you want to make a complaint against ICE. It was very simple to find.

It looks to be a very complete inquiry. You can send it in the mail. You can print it out and send it in the mail. You can make a phone call, or you can actually go on to a populated form and fill out your complaint and upload information and send it off to the inspector general, and then they open investigation into your claim. It's the same process we have in Monterey Park. You can make a complaint anywhere. You can call on the phone, you can come in person, any of those things, and we investigate those.

So that is available to the public also. If they don't like what they see, they can call them on it.

All right. Thanks, Chief.

Moving on, library.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem, City Council members. My name is Linda. I'm the library manager.

The summer reading program is currently underway.

The registration website is down there, so you can register and get prizes for reading

if you participate.

I do want to thank the foundation and the friends of the library for sponsoring this program.

Here are some highlights of the programs that we did in June.

So you're seeing programs for adults, teens, and children.

They include Mahjong for adults, a dance party for kids.

The teens went to an entrepreneurial talk workshop.

and of course there's the Bubologist down there.

Children's programs are still underway,

so as you can see, we have a wide array of offerings

continuing through July,

as well as shows that are going to be taking place at the Langley Center next week and the week after. For teens, we are having a cart maintenance program.

This is going to have tips from our public works department, so thank you public works, as well as a teen escape room. And the junior friends are going to have an opportunity to participate in some tours of some city facilities. So if you know a teen and they're not a junior friend, look at that, look at the stuff they could do.

So for adults, we're having a food is medicine workshop, which will include a discussion of culturally relevant foods that can contribute to healthy eating. There's the housing legal clinic.

So they offer advice for renters on a number of topics. And then the classic film screening. So there's going to be a film screening and then discussion and an opportunity to purchase and get a signed book from actress Nancy Kwan. And then, of course, the literacy programs, they're going to begin in August. These are it's a 15 week semester and classes are free. You just have to have a library card.

and on July 25th you can support the public library by getting dinner from Panda Express

so if you order online the key is to enter the code that you see down here if you don't enter

the code the friends don't get a portion of the proceeds so please do remember the the code

all right that's it any questions Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the update.

I know the library is up to a lot, especially during the summer when our youth need some more activities to do. We appreciate that we're trying to meet those needs as well.

I'm curious.

My understanding is we haven't really seen a drop-off in terms of attendance and engagement with our programs at the library and senior center. Is that still the case? and I would just put out there that if we do see any changes in terms of what we expect attendance or what usual attendance is for some of these programs, I'd be interested on the council to get an update on that.

The program attendance has been really strong, and we've seen upticks in adult programming, so we're really happy that we're providing things for the entire community.

Mr. Mayor, and I can attest to that. I was there this Saturday with my girls and I've never seen the library so active.

Very, very busy.

Every room was being used for different activities. I know I went to the So You Want to Work with Books workshop. Not that I necessarily want to work with books, but it was very eye-opening. And I actually do want to work with books now. But our own librarian, Deb Takahashi, was part of the panel. And she has a teenager's book that she wrote, which I was not aware of. But it was very, very engaging. And then across the way, we saw the read-alot for the toddlers. Very, very active room as well. But great to see so many activities happening, especially, like my colleagues said, during the summer when kids are off and they were reading and they were stressing that reading is important. So thank you so much for all the programming that we have.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for all the programming. The Teen Entrepreneur Program was very well received. so if we can feature more of our local businesses and have more teen entrepreneur programs in the future I think that'd be great yes so I'm just

gonna give you guys a shout out because I noticed on a lot of the pictures it wasn't just the library I mean the library was involved in setting up the programs but you had events I saw Langley I saw Barnes Park I saw different community areas so thank you for doing that and I also want to give a shout out to Robert for planning it with the library.

So I'm not pinning you two

against each other in terms of how many events you have, but coordinating together,

so that is epic. Thank you.

No more questions? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Next,

we have Recreation and Community Services.

And yes, we're a team. We're a Monterey Park team. Good evening.

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Councilmembers, Robert Aguirre, Director of Recreation and Community Services. With me tonight is also our program coordinator, Alejandra Eswasa. And so just to kick off, I wanted to first thank everyone. We had a busy June, which we kicked off with our annual award-winning Pride Parade and Festival. I want to say a special thank you and shout out to the Alhambra Teachers Association and also the West San Gabriel Valley Boys and Girls Club for partnering with us. on making this event a success year after year. We saw a lot more participation this past year from our youth. And this year's entertainment and our emcee was just really youth-focused, so a lot of our high school students were involved in the planning of the event as well as you saw it out there. We had some wonderful emcees that were students at Mark Keppel

as well as tons of entertainment.

So I just want to thank everyone for coming out to that. And then this past Saturday we had our annual Independence Day celebration here in Barnes Park along with our free fireworks show. So we had, I know it was a hot day for a lot of folks, but we had a really good attendance out there as well. A little lighter than in some of our previous year, but there was also some additional events going on in some of our neighboring cities that also had fireworks. So, and then obviously, obviously, there's also, you know, in the community, Sapri Hinch about coming out to these extremely large events. But it was definitely a success.

No incidents, and we saw lots of positive feedback about the fireworks show and everyone coming together to celebrate.

Next slide, please.

So on the agenda tonight, you will see there's a resolution asking city council to declare July as Parks Make Life Better month. So I want to encourage you, and I'm confident that you'll join me in supporting July as Parks Make Life Better month, and not only us, but also cities across the United States that celebrate the social, the environmental, and all the mental benefits.

it really is a labor of love and so I think we've seen an uptick in attendance throughout the year and we're just trying to always push the envelope and increase and improve events and activities for the community year after year. I also want to give a special shout out to our Public Works Department. They work you know hand-in-hand with us on making sure that we do have clean and accessible parks and operational recreational facilities and so they are our partners in making sure that we can provide those amazing events and recreational activities

and resources.

And just want to remind you, we work so that you can play. And then I'm going to pass it off to Alejandra, and she'll share some of our upcoming programming.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem, and members of the City Council. My name is Alejandra Sousa, Recreation Coordinator, and I'll continue presenting some of our

upcoming events.

Starting off with Join Us Under the Stars as we continue our summer movie in the park series with the movie National Treasure tomorrow, July 3rd at Barnes Park. Each of our summer movies feature fun giveaways, so bring a blanket at your family and come enjoy a great film with your friends and family. Additionally, this summer we're proud to partner with the San Gabriel Unified School District to provide free meals for youth 18 and under. Lunch is served Monday through Friday at 1145. No registration is required. and get active and join us for open play basketball at one of our local gyms. Come check out Elder Park and our recently renovated Barnes Gym during our open play hours on Thursdays and Sundays. It's a perfect way to stay active, cool off, and enjoy some recreation fun.

Next slide, please.

We'd like to invite everyone on Saturday, August 9th to our dive-in movie night. Bring the whole family to Elder Park to swim while we show Finding Nemo on the big screen. And don't forget, we're offering swimming lessons for both youth and adults. We have a wide variety of options, so we encourage everyone to visit our website and to get more information on how to register.

Next slide, please.

Over at our Langley Center, we'd like to remind everyone ages 50 and over that we continue to offer ongoing health screenings for glucose and blood pressure. Come every second Thursday at 9 a.m. if you're interested. And we keep the party going at Langley Center with our red, white, and blue dance on July 24. So we invite all seniors to enjoy an afternoon filled with food music and plenty of fun with friends and neighbors Next slide, please And due to popular demand our MPK night at Dodger Stadium continues to grow We still have a few tickets left not many so if you are thinking about going Definitely don't wait register if you're interested And last but not least our Cindy Lauper trip on Saturday August 30th is officially sold out So thank you to everyone who signed up. We plan to have an unforgettable experience while we're out there. So that concludes our presentation. If you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer them.

Question, comments? Thank you.

I really appreciate everything the Parks and Recreation Department are doing. Great to have a full slate of summer programming up and going. I just wanted to commend, and I thought it was a great touch to include the youth in the entertainment portion of the Pride Festival. I thought that was super cool and great to have them more engaged in that way, too, and would love to continue that.

Absolutely.

Fully support the Parks Make Life Better Month resolution.

I look forward to voting on that.

And just quickly, if you can save two tickets to me for Dodger Night.

Yeah, so just really quick.

So the update on that we're I think at over 250 tickets sold and so we just added another batch of 50 tickets

I think we've already sold we're down to I think maybe 30 or so left

I will pay all right figure out I will get whoever needs to take the money. Just let me know where but all right Colin's good

Yes, me too

I think I need like more like four to six or something but I'm still trying to get a final count, Robert.

That's fine. All right.

I wanted to thank you for all of the programming. My daughters really loved the firework show on Saturday. It was really, really well done, very well coordinated. So thank you for all of the effort that was put into that. But also, I got an opportunity to go to the movie night last week and watch Seoul.

That was a lot of fun.

Thank you for handing out cookies to the kids. The kids seemed very excited, a lot of families out there. And tomorrow, right, we have National Treasure.

So tomorrow will be National Treasure.

Come before the movie.

There's going to be a scavenger hunt that the kids will be able to participate in. So before every movie, you do have some activities that families and children will be able to participate in. I know for Moana, we have a hula dancing group that's going to come and perform before the movie. So try to keep it interactive.

So come early. There's a farmer's market going on.

Get your dinner and get some snacks and get ready for the movie.

Yeah. For Seoul, you guys had a saxophone. Saxophone player, yeah. That was amazing.

and National Treasure is one of my favorite movies. I don't know who came up with that, but very good job.

So thank you for that. Just wanted to do a quick plug.

And then you also have the farmer's market, obviously, so grab dinner as well.

So thank you so much.

Looking forward to the other activities throughout the month, and I will also be supporting the resolution.

Awesome. Thank you. Mr. Mayor?

Oh, can you see me a ticket as well for Dodger Night?

Thank you.

I may have just ran out of tickets.

I also wanted to take some time to just thank your department and your staff.

First, with the Pride Festival, this event gets larger and larger each year.

And I think what, for me, from that first one we did now five years ago to now, I think that people in the community are, well, first of all, I think after our first year, people were surprised and shocked to see the city really embrace pride. And I think that what really is surprising, I know to this day what people are always impressed with was the big inflatable rainbow. In fact, the other day I had a conversation with Bambi Salcido.

Bambi Salcido, for those of you who may not know,

is the executive director of the organization Trans-Latina Coalition. It's a trans-Latina organization. And even Bambi Salcido asked, where did you get that rainbow?

So it has a great effect.

But I think it also speaks volumes to how, you know, the community does.

We don't just walk the walk. We actually, I mean, we don't talk the talk.

We walk the talk, meaning that we celebrate pride and we have a festival that gets bigger and bigger. And I think it should be a sort of pride, too, for us that in some ways we kick off the season. Just like how our Lantern Festival kicks off the Lunar New Year season around the Singapore Valley and L.A. and it's true. Our Lantern Festival is the first event before everyone else does the Lunar. But for some reason, and maybe it's just the stars line, but for some reason, our prior event kicks off the season because ours comes first before other communities in the Singapore Valley.

So just keep that in mind.

I wanted to echo my colleagues' comments about all the amazing events you guys are putting on for the city and wanted to personally thank you and Robert, your amazing staff, for month after month just having these amazing reports and so many events in our city so thank

you all right thank you robert outstanding events and just we are the city of parks we have 13 parks and parks do make lives better and i'm going to echo your sentiment we work hard so that community

can play absolutely thank you mr mayor real quick if i can request uh the only thing i would change I think we need a bigger arch for the balloon arch for the stage for the stage okay next year done and a smaller smaller sign for leading off the the March from Keffel so we don't have to step smaller banner for the for the lead okay

gotcha

you're done we'll work on those details okay thank you thank you okay next up is public works

Sean all right good evening mayor mayor pro tem and city council Sean I go public works director

I just wanted to highlight our new composting giveaway. So typically we've done this on a quarterly basis. We're transitioning into doing this on a monthly basis. So our first event kicks off July 12th. It's going to be at our typical spot, which is right across the street from our public works yard at 751 Hambra. The idea is to provide more opportunities to connect with our community, provide them with additional composting. Additionally, we're working with our new waste hauler to provide bagged composting. So no longer do you have to bring your own buckets, you have to bring your own truck. You can take these bags individually. We will have an additional station as you turn around to load up your own if you so choose. But the idea is to provide more accessibility because I know there are community members that don't have access to put just live or open composting in a vehicle. So again, this is a way that we can hopefully connect with our community while also providing this additional service. So, again, we're excited to kick off this type of event July 12th, and then we'll also have this posted on our website to allow our community to see when these events come up.

With that, I will take any questions.

Questions or comments?

Oh, actually, I actually want to thank your staff.

So, on Maestro Mooney, last week, there was a leak, a pipe had burst on Mooney and Sefton, and I want to thank your staff for patching up within 24 hours.

That was very impressive. And my neighbors were impressed too, by the way.

Thank you. We appreciate that. I will pass that along.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next up is the fire department.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. My name is Ryan Weddle, the town chief from the Minerian Park Fire Department. I'd just like to start by reminding everybody as we approach July 4th this Friday, I have some important firework safety messages.

So first off is that I want to remind the community that only safe and sane fireworks are alLod to be used in the city.

Safe and sane fireworks are easy to identify. They're the ones that are for sale here by our four firework stands.

And then all of those fireworks also have that seal as shown on the slide from the state fire marshal's office.

And I'd also like to remind the community that even though you can purchase those right now up until 9 p.m. on July 4th, they're only alLod to be used between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Friday.

and if anybody in the community is caught using illegal fireworks without this seal they could face fines of up to two thousand or from two thousand to five thousand dollars next slide please the four locations that are have authorized fireworks stands are at these following addresses, 320 West Garvey, 1501 South Atlantic, 1600 Monterey Pass Road, and 2150 South Atlantic. Next slide, please. Also this Saturday, I'd like to remind the community that Captain Getz and his crew will be at Garvey Ranch Park, and they will be offering a community preparedness clinic. We will have the CERT trailer out there, and we will be, it's more of an open house type of setup. Community members can stop by at any time between 9 and 12 on Saturday morning and receive information about what to do in a disaster, what type of items they could have in their home, and then how to shut off utilities in case of an earthquake or other type of emergency. That's all I have on behalf of the fire department. Any questions? Questions or comments? Stay safe through the weekend Thank you Thank you

Presentations

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem, and Council Members.

Joe Torres, your Economic Development Manager, and Beth Chow, your Planning Manager. We are pleased to present an update on the City's major development projects. We can all agree that land development is essential for our City's success and imperative for our community's prosperity. These development projects generate more jobs, bring desired curb appeal, unite community members and maintain or increase home values, not to mention additional revenue opportunities for the city.

Next slide, please.

Before I begin my presentation, I'd like to take a moment to familiarize City Council and members of the public with the city's project development process. This process typically moves from the initial application to entitlement, which may include design review, folLod by plan check, permit issuance, and finally the beginning of construction.

Next slide.

Fire significantly damaged the building located at 601 West Garvey several years ago. Construction is now well underway, which includes demolishing the rear building that you see on the upper portion to make way for a new parking lot to enhance accessibility for the site.

Next slide.

At the 1800 West Garvey Building at Casuda Canyon, a jiu-jitsu school has recently leased the space. Tenant improvements are currently in progress, which they expect to complete by end of August, allowing the school to open its doors soon. Next slide. Work has resumed at the elite restaurant on 700 South Atlantic after experiencing delays due to insurance claim issues.

The owner now plans to subdivide the building, creating space for two potential tenants, which will bring more diverse offerings to the area.

Next slide.

Thumbling Dumpling Restaurant is a very popular restaurant in West Covina, known for its variety of authentic Asian dumplings and noodles. They are expanding and coming to Monterey Park, bringing their popular culinary experience to our city. They are taking over the former Caris restaurant at the Prado Center.

Next slide.

The former Monterey Hill restaurant building is gone, demolished to make way for new potential businesses. Your economic development team is actively marketing this premium site to attract suitable developments to complement the existing golf course and, of course, Luminaria's restaurant.

Next slide.

A proposed data center at 1977 Saturn is currently undergoing environmental review. This review is a crucial step to ensure the project aligns with our environmental standards and community well-being.

Next slide.

The owner and developer of this vacant land is the Charles Company, and they are currently reviewing the city staff comments on the conceptual plans they submitted for a mixed-use project. With 173 residential units and over 5,000 square feet of commercial space, this project aims to integrate living and retail opportunities.

Next slide.

The city has also responded to a conceptual plan submitted for the Deerfield Plaza Mixed Use Project. This significant development will address both housing and commercial needs.

Next slide.

The Happy Days School, located at 507 North Chandler, is about to see happier days, with a proposed 32-unit townhome development set to replace it. City staff are currently reviewing this project, which will bring new housing opportunities to the neighborhood.

Next slide.

Like the Happy Days, a 48-unit apartment complex will replace these two residential homes on Hellman Avenue. City staff have reviewed the initial application and are currently awaiting a response from the developer regarding the changes the city has requested.

Next slide.

The new drive-thru Starbucks at 1969 South Atlantic is currently in plan check, moving closer to its opening and providing another convenient option for our residents.

Is that the former Bank of America? Yes. Oh, I see. Okay.

Yes. Former Bank of America.

we're pleased to report that the developer has submitted a revised project design for the celadon

mixed-use project situated on the prominent corner of garvey and garfield city staff is currently

reviewing the revised design next slide the city has issued the permit for the 40 unit senior

housing condominium project at 188 South Chandler, meaning work is about to begin. This development will provide much-needed housing options for our senior community.

Next slide.

At the A1 self-storage site at 2500 Davidson, progress is being made with retaining walls and foundation work currently in progress, signifying significant steps forward for this

project.

Next slide.

The 5,000-square-foot commercial building at 283 East Garvey is almost complete, with exterior and interior finishing work currently in progress. This new commercial space will soon be ready to welcome businesses.

Next slide.

Work is also in progress at the downtown Lincoln Plaza Shopping Center. I wanted to provide the council with a glimpse of what the new shopping strip will look like when completed, showcasing the revitalization efforts in this area.

Next slide.

The Whitmore Villas, a development featuring 63 townhomes, is starting to look like its initial concept design, with completion projected for winter 2025 and 26. This project is adding valuable housing stock to our city.

Next slide.

Beth and I are excited to share several new businesses that are either opening or have recently opened. At the south end of Atlantic, at Atlantic Square,

we will soon welcome Einstein Bagels,

Exact Orthodontics, love their bagels too,

and Latina Med Spa.

Additionally, the Thai House Restaurant is about to begin work on taking over the former Mr. Potato or Mr. Fried Potato unit next door to meet its expansion needs. further expanding our local offerings. At the north end of Atlantic, at Atlantic Times Square, we're excited to share recently opened new businesses as well as businesses that will be opening soon.

Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council members,

thank you for the opportunity to present this development project's update. Beth and I are available to answer questions.

I'm going to hold my comments. I want to hear your comments for this. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the update.

Been looking forward to this update. I knew about some of the projects and the proposals that you mentioned. Didn't know about all of them, so very helpful and appreciate the update. Would love to make sure that these are regular, maybe on a quarterly basis, especially some of the new business openings I think would be great to continue to highlight. I know we are doing some work to highlight some of the new businesses that open in the Cascades and other avenues and channels that we have. Obviously, we have our Monument Park Business Alliance as well. So whatever we can do to help support and promote new businesses and existing businesses in the city. I think there are a lot of residents that don't know even some of the newly opened restaurants and businesses have opened and are looking for customers. And so whatever we can do to continue to promote new businesses opening in the city, get them to join the business alliance and to be able to access resources that we have to be able to offer for businesses to thrive and succeed in there for as they open.

Let's continue to do that.

And if there's if there if we can do more and I think I mentioned I don't remember what the item was. But if we need to add another page or two to the Cascades to be able to highlight more of our newly opened businesses.

I'm all for that.

I think that would be a very valuable use of our funding or our resources and the budget here in Monterey Park to continue to help promote new businesses and do a little more. or even if it's just a list with what they're doing, I think a monthly or however often we publish the Cascades to just list new business openings in the last month or sometimes two months would be great to just help residents

and the community know some of the businesses they should go

and check out with some kind of bigger call-outs and highlights too as appropriate. But I think it would be great to just continue highlighting what we've been doing. I appreciate all the effort the Economic Development Team has been putting forward to continue to support the business alliance

and the businesses and the small businesses

here in Barnes Park. Let's continue to look for ways that we can do more and expand our efforts to support businesses because I know a lot of them continue to struggle, especially as we're seeing consumers

start to pull back on some of their spending more

recently as well.

on Monterey Hill I know we've demolished the restaurant

so we're essentially marketing just blanks late just an area but there are limits to what can go there is that right? I don't know if you know offhand what's alLod there and what's not in terms of the uses

the portion where Monterey Hill lies

has a general plan designation for, I believe, corporate center,

which does allow for supporting commercial uses of the golf course,

which aligns with the marketing plan that Joe's team has started implementing.

But there are housing, right, wouldn't be alLod there. Hotel would maybe not or would or would not be alLod there.

Are there other uses that are restricted or not alLod in there?

I'd have to take a deeper dive into our general plan as one of our newest updates to our code reflects that we are applying what our general plan allows in that land use destination versus the zoning if there is an inconsistency.

Cool. Thank you.

On the Charles company the Christmas tree lot that I remember buying Christmas trees from.

When did Charles company submit or resubmit their latest plans? I'm just curious.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, while Beth Chow looks that up, We did want to point out definitely some of the projects are further along in development. Some of them are still more in conceptual phase. So Beth will be able to probably clarify that one for us with the Charles Company. But some of the projects that we covered tonight, we wanted to provide a more comprehensive update. But definitely some of them are in the beginning stages of development versus ready for it. I wouldn't qualify this one as ready for construction.

That's helpful to know.

Councilmember Wong, based on my records, last time Charles Company submitted for review was back in November of 24.

Okay. That's sooner than I even thought. I mean, that's more recent than I even expected. I know we've gone through a lot of stops and starts over, I don't want to say years, because it's actually been decades on that specific site and so I'm frustrated this is a prime parcel and a prime intersection in our city and whatever we can do to encourage and urge real action and activity and development to really utilize that parcel which is a prime parcel I would encourage us on the staff side on the city side to explore all avenues to accelerate any development and utilize potential there. Kind of similar vein on the Celadon project. Was that just in the last few months in terms of their revised plans?

Council Member Wong, we as the city had just sent out a letter to them

responding to their request. We sent that out about a week ago

So they had submitted about a month ago prior, so in May.

All right, yeah.

I mean, again, whatever we can do to encourage development and moving these things along the pipeline as quickly as possible and accelerate some of these actions I think would be helpful. And if we can support any of those efforts, obviously I know we're doing a lot on our end to the extent we can, but we'd love to see more of our vacant, empty, ugly, vacant parcels really live up to their potential where we can.

Across from the diagonal to the Charles Company site,

it wasn't in your update, but the Seven Leaves building,

for those who can't see the air quotes because they took the sign off, I know we've been working to push them to finalize and finish the building and be able to get it ready for tenants and leasing. Any news or update on that that we were able to share?

No news, okay.

No new news.

but we are doing what we can on the back I mean exploring all avenues to push the owner and

developer there to finish the building definitely Mr. Mayor members of the council for 795 West

Garvey we didn't include that as part of our development update because obviously we haven't seen much movement but absolutely we understand the council would like to see that finished and I know the community members have been waiting as well so noted absolutely

thank you so yeah it would be great to see that whole intersection Atlantic and Garvey really revitalize and some of those vacant areas live up to the potential and what the community really expects for for that intersection so appreciate the staff's efforts in helping to support our businesses and supporting property owners and in Monterey Park helping to fill vacancies as quickly as possible and then helping to revitalize and utilize to the fullest extent possible and the potential possible of our underutilized and undeveloped parcels in primaria. So thank you so much. And whatever else we can continue to do, let's continue to do that

on our end. Thank you, Joe, for that presentation. Great to see that a lot of businesses are coming to Monterey Park. Also great to see a lot of housing projects that are in the works and others, you know, further along than others. But to echo my council... Council Member Wong's comments and City Manager if we can get these reports a little bit more regularly. But also for the housing development projects if we can get updates on those as well in terms of where we're at with them and whatever we can do to Council Member Wong's point. Whatever we can do on our end to help push these projects forward. I think it's within our interest as a city to make sure that we do that. But thank you Joe for everything that you do to highlight a lot of our businesses, promote small businesses as well. I know we do a lot of the meetup with the mayors which are very great in terms of highlighting businesses in Monterey Park and other incentives that we do to encourage residents to go out and shop in Monterey Park. But great to see Einstein Bagels is coming. I know a lot of people are excited about that. I am as well and in my district. So thank you so much for that. But also the Dumpkin Place. So thank you so all the hard work that's been done behind the scenes to make a lot of these projects come alive.

Thank you. That's it, Mr. Brown.

Again, similar sentiments. Quick question.

For the Lincoln Plaza Commercial Center, do we have a timeline as far when the new retail space will be completed?

You're talking about Celadon, right?

No, no, no, no, no.

I'm talking about what was Xiaomi next to ABC Cafe that had the fire and is now being rebuilt.

At this time, I don't have an estimated timeline. We can check in and report back.

I know people have asked me, like, what's going on? And I'm glad to hear that they are starting movement, but I know that probably some of us who are dying there will get those questions. Actually, even from ABC Cafe, who have asked me what's going on next door, and I said, I will find out. And then, for my clarification, the parking lot of that plaza, a section of it is our city, and the section is private, right? And I only ask it because I do get comments about the condition of the parking lot,

and I'm going to make an assumption it's probably the private side. That's probably where that complaint is.

And again, it's the section that's probably adjacent and near ABC Cafe, and not to mention the space that's being rebuilt. And I just bring it up because I think brethren have also asked, again, I'm glad that the owner is finally doing some thought improvements, but I think that if we can also encourage them to do parking improvements,

I think I would also add to the overall feel of that plaza

and that it's not dilapidated. as I think is how some people feel its current physical look is.

Thank you, Councilmember Lo.

So, correct, there is a portion of the parking lot that is city-owned. I believe that there was some potholes that were recently reported to us

that I believe we patched.

But there is sections that, you are correct, they're privately owned, but we can definitely work back and request to see if that's something that can be done. from my understanding I know we don't have an actual timeline for the complete project to be finished but from my understanding they're working on that the restaurant that was fire damaged first then once those improvements are complete they're going to come back and do the rest of the facade

improvements for that center. Thank you. Mr. Mayor if I can

just I forgot I had a follow up question but for the Happy Day I had a question about the Happy Day site. It's my understanding that Happy Day the Happy Day School has been around now for 80 years and I know that they're gonna be closing soon so whenever that does happen I do want to make sure that as a city we recognize Happy Day School for providing that type of service for our community I know that a lot of community members sent their kids there I mean I know I send my kids there too over the years but a lot of families have sent their families their kids there or went themselves there so whatever we can do to recognize that business before it closes, before development happens there, it would be great if we can do that on our end to recognize them.

Yes, definitely.

Duly noted, Council Member Sanchez.

Thank you so much for the detailed report.

That was super informative.

And I do echo my colleagues' comments about having these updates on a more regular basis. and also like if we can provide these updates to our residents as well so that they can know what's happening in our city because I know we get a lot of inquiries, you know, what's going on with this piece of property or that business. So I think Cascades is a great idea. I don't know if these updates are already on one of our Monterey Park websites, but maybe somewhere where it's regularly updated.

That would be helpful.

So once community members know where to look, they can look there regularly whenever they have a question. And there's also two other businesses that recently opened. There's a new restaurant inside the Lincoln Hotel called the New Leaf Bistro.

It's on the second floor.

And I know the Lincoln Hotel is undergoing a lot of renovations, too. They have a new banquet room and some other private dining rooms. And then also we just did the ribbon cutting for the Crystal Palace, which replaced Chef Tony inside the Courtyard Marriott Hotel.

Joe and Beth, thank you for the report.

Great update.

It shows the business environment is actually progressing in our city, which is a very positive sign given what we see in the economic status of not only the entire LA region, but just overall economic stability of the country.

So thank you.

was that 7a and 7b combined right oh we still got 7b okay all right for our next presentation

mr mayor mayor pro tem and council members i'd like to present an update on our progress with the city's new five-year economic development strategic plan

next slide please the edsp is comprised of nine key focus areas or fas designed to address various aspects of economic growth and community well-being. Since its launch in August 2024, we've made meaningful progress across all nine focus areas. Next slide. As the plan is comprehensive, we have strategically prioritized these focus areas into three tiers, with priority one representing our highest immediate focus. This strategic approach allows us to maximize our impact and deliver tangible results efficiently.

Next slide.

We've activated multiple programs to elevate Monterey Park's visibility and reputation as a business-friendly city. Highlights include launching the Monterey Park Business Alliance, Taste of Downtown MPK program, and Love Monterey Park campaign. These efforts drive business engagement, increase food traffic, and build community

pride.

and we will take our compelling business message or business-friendly message to the International Council of Shopping Centers or ICSC Convention in Palm Springs

this coming September 2025.

To attract quality investment, we've held two developer roundtables, digitized the permitting process, and launched a user-friendly, online, one-stop building center. Upcoming integration with our GIS hub will further support transparency and opportunity site marketing.

Next slide.

Business retention remains a top priority. We've introduced new support structures, including business visits, newsletters, ribbon cuttings, and the small business assistance program. A business needs survey will provide direct data-driven feedback from local business owners to identify emerging challenges and opportunities and guide tailored technical assistance, future grant programs, or process improvement. We've partnered with LA County's America's Job Centers, or AJCCs, to provide resource for job seekers and businesses looking to support workforce development. We are developing a broader incubator and accelerator program with East Los Angeles College to support the next generation of Monterey Park entrepreneurs and skilled professionals.

Next slide.

This focus area has seen strong community engagement. We hosted a Women in Business panel and co-organized the SBA Lending Expo. This month, we're excited to co-host a three-day entrepreneur training program at El Encanto in partnership with Cathay Bank and the Chinatown Service Center. and looking ahead, a quarterly entrepreneur training program with the Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment or PACE.

Next slide.

Retail revitalization is underway, starting with inventory of retail opportunity sites for ICSC. We will conduct roundtable sessions with shopping center owners and managers to collaboratively address vacancies and reposition retail centers for success. We're initiating a proactive campaign to attract high-value industry clusters. This fall, we'll attend the California Craft Beer Summit, and not to worry, we'll make sure that we have a designated driver after the summit, and host a targeted roundtable for industry reps and site selectors in early 2026.

Next slide.

Working closely with the planning division, we're reviewing land use and zoning codes to support adaptive reuse and activate key corridors, aligning regulatory tools with place-making goals. We continue to work with the new Economic and Business Development Commission, or EBDC, to explore the possibility of expanding the downtown bid boundaries to increase its business membership and assessment revenues. We began building international relationships through our participation in the recent Select LA International Summit. Next steps include organizing inbound or outbound investment briefings with foreign trade and consular offices to highlight Monterey Park's advantages for foreign direct investments.

Next slide.

As implementation moves forward, your economic development team remains focused on responsive and data-informed strategies. We are actively collaborating with the EBDC and other stakeholders, leveraging cross-sector partnerships to ensure momentum and measurable impact. Mr. Mayor, Mayor, Pro Tem Council members, again, thank you. We are open for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Joe.

Appreciate all the update in there, and clearly there's a lot happening. And since the year has passed since we've adopted the economic demonstration plan,

we've stood up a lot of programs.

Kudos to you and the team for getting all these new, and I know how difficult it is to start up and stand up new programs. And so the fact that we've stood up so many things in such a relatively short amount of time really commend the staff for getting together and really prioritizing economic development and business attraction retention and support in our city. I'm really heartened by the level of support that we've been able to provide. But I also know that our businesses continue to need more support and there are more things on the economic strategic plan that we have yet to get to and understand the need to prioritize actions and our limited resources and ability to do so much at one time. but appreciate the progress, the significant process we've seen and made, and look forward to seeing as we have just started a new fiscal year, how some of these programs continue to, as we've kicked them off, how they can run and get a report on how they're doing over the next six months to the next year as well. But also look forward to seeing us continue to move into the upper parts of that pyramid and other programs that we talked about and approved through the strategic plan in terms of exploring and moving forward. We'd love to see those additional supports happen, especially as the economy starts to – we're starting to see more and more impacts, tariffs, how those are impacting our small businesses and workforce impacts as well. No one knows for sure where the economy is going. certainly seems like we're getting to a tighter and tighter place as opposed to a better place in terms of the economy. And so whatever we can do, I know, and I think we all acknowledge and recognize the need for more support for small businesses in the community and to keep the progress going. The city, I think, will need to do more and more than it has in the past. And so if there are other and additional resources is that the economic development team and other city departments need to continue to move forward and see progress and implement some of these programs. Look forward to having those come to council for approval if needed. But I know we've baked some of that into the budget as well this year and going forward. So look forward to even more progress to come. And I know we're doing a little bit of this in terms of promoting our progress, but not just the economic development team but parks and recreation and every other department do great work and have a lot of programs and resources available for our residents and for businesses whatever we can do to continue to get the word out about these resources I think there's still a lot of businesses in the community that don't know that these things exist and that there's assistance available through the business alliance through the staff team and through the partnerships with CBOs like PACE and China Health Service Center

and others in our community.

Let's continue to look at where we can, where the communication channels and other avenues and venues to help spread the word about these resources and get businesses that are in need connected to the resources.

the staff time and effort that are going into all these programs would love to see packed rooms and more people interested in being connected to to these resources so kudos and look forward to more i know there's more and more work there's so much more still uh the city can and can do to help connect people in our businesses uh to the resource they need and to help help support a more thriving business community in the city so thank you just one thing on the right digitizing building permit process and permitting process for the city I'm wondering if we can do a look back at some point would love to see if we can if there's quantifiable kind of results from some of these efforts one would love to see us continue to integrate more new technologies and and automate some process and streamline some processes for businesses and community members who are coming in to that need approvals from the city where we can. We obviously want to keep things safety top of mind and make sure things adhere to requirements that we need. But if there are ways that we can integrate more technology to make some of these things or even change some of our policies that may be outdated. I know we're doing some of that already to make it easier and faster to get small businesses going and open when they start to open from concept to design and approval and all that stuff. We'd love to see us continue to integrate more of those technologies and policies to make it easier to open and operate a business in the city. And if there are additional things, we'd love to have council bring some of those ideas to council for approval that can help speed that up. But we'd love to see if we can quantify some of the impacts of some of the policies we're seeing. And just as an example, right, the business permitting, online permitting process, if we can kind of do a look back the last couple years to see before we implement these programs what the average, I don't know what the metric is.

This is just what pops up in my mind.

If there are a better way to measure this, very open to that. But we'd love to quantify and show off to people who are opening businesses or looking to open business in the city that we've shrunk, say, from before this program was implemented. It took, whatever, six months to go from application to approval on average, knowing that every application is unique and there are challenges, many of which are outside of the control of the city, but to be able to show at least it used to take six months. Now it takes three months to go from application to approval and to opening. would love to see if we can quantify some of those efforts out of the economic strategic plan where it makes sense and where we can quantify some of these things because I think it'd be great to help tell the story of how we're making it easier to open a business to start a business and to operate and have a thriving business in the city so the more we can do that I think the more helpful we can be in terms of having a narrative about how the city is making

it easier to actually open and have a business that thrives.

Yes, duly noted. Council Member Wong.

Hi, Joe.

First of all, thank you for today's presentation. Obviously, the fact that we, you know, won the award for best friendly city for small businesses, you know, it's proof to a lot of the great work that we're doing. I wanted to thank you also for the updates earlier and, you know, the strategic plan. I did have just a question to Council Member Wong's point. I'm kind of interested also in hearing from businesses in terms of how we can support them. I'm not sure if there's a way to be able to streamline that, but also businesses that might potentially leave, just why they left. I'm interested to hear from businesses that potentially are shutting down or are struggling, how we can support them or how we can help mediate some of that to ensure that, you know, that we have, you know, really good business retention here in our city and that they feel supported as well. So to that point, if we can work to try to figure some of that portion out, that would be great. But great to see that we're doing a lot of great work here in the city and that we're working towards building new businesses but also new projects. So thank you so much for that update.

Mr. Mayor, thank you.

First of all, my compliments to the staff and those from the community who are involved in this plan's completion. I think the last time we had such a plan was when I was on the Economic Development Advisory Commission, which was over 10 years ago.

So I'm glad to see this update.

You know, one of the things, and again, I enjoy reading it,

And, again, I appreciate your department, again, just, you know, the update and also ideas.

You know, one of the things that I remember bringing up also, which probably can cross over to other departments, is that I think especially in our downtown area, I think there's still a perception that it can improve in terms of its cleanliness.

And I think that probably could go a long way,

especially when we're talking about attracting customers into the downtown area. You know, one of the things that, in fact, I remember a few weeks ago some of us were involved in a community cleanup on Lincoln and Garvey. And boy, I did not realize how many secret butts were littered all over the parking lot of Fatty Dean Plaza.

But, you know, and I know I brought this up as well.

I don't know if we should put up signs or even ask, you know, if it falls within the BID area, you know, whether or not we want to have them pay for extra genital services to, I mean, it was a lot of secret butts. I just think that over the years,

the other thing that I've heard from residents is that the overall facade,

the physical state of the downtown area, I think that's where we could do some improvement.

And even if we are encouraging businesses

to make improvement,

I don't know if that means programming or funding,

but there are some businesses that have signed,

I won't mention which one, but there are some businesses in our downtown that have signs that are faded, that are not even properly lit, and that's a shame, you know, because, again, it makes the downtown look a little grittier than it should be, and I think probably that's something that I think would in itself be helpful as we are talking about enhancing our businesses and our retail environment is just facade improvement and cleanliness as well.

Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro-Time, Council Members, just for the record, our new small business

assistance program does provide for facilities improvement.

And we will make sure that our local downtown businesses are aware of it.

Thank you for the detail report.

I'll keep my comments short. I'm excited to go to my first ICSC in Palm Springs in September. So hopefully we'll bring in some even more businesses like Ice Time Bagels into our city.

So I'll keep my comments real short. I wrote down kind of three main points of what you guys did. And one is resources, which is providing resources to our business alliances,

having them help each other and us providing the help to them.

connecting the people, our residents, our community, our businesses, and that's your love, Marley Park, Shop, and Dine Local because it brings the people out to show support

for our local businesses.

And then one thing that we will need to continue to work on, we started and I wrote down the word efficient.

So I want you to

take a look and take a guess, but efficient really for me is, you know, we started this a few years ago, which is the one stop building permit center. And that was started about a year ago. And the result is showing because you look at all the pipeline of deals that we have in production, businesses getting permit, it's getting there. And you sit back here a year and a half ago, two years ago, you didn't see a pipeline of 50, 20 or 10. You saw maybe three or four projects going online. Now you see I counted 20 plus and there are probably a lot more and the more efficient we get the more we're gonna get people coming to our city doing business. So I commend you for that. Thank you for all the good work and let's even make it more efficient so that we can keep that pipeline going and make the city even better. Thank you.

All business none consent calendar.

We're on the consent calendar.

Is there any item you guys want to pull for discussion?

Are there any public comments for any items?

Yes, Mayor. We do have some public comments. All of them are for 9F.

Okay.

We'll pull 9F.

We'll pull 9F, and then you want to...

I'll make the motion to move the remaining items.

I'll second.

A motion by Council Member Wong, second by Council Member Sanchez.

Please vote.

If you can vote again, so sorry.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, now item 9F.

Our first speaker is Yun Wang. Yes.

and he will be folLod by Juanita Medina.

Test. Hello, Mayor No, Mayor Pro Tem Yang, Council Members, thank you for your time. I'm here today because I'm standing with my community.

I've never demonstrated I've pretty much gone fishing so for me to be here it's pretty bad

I'm standing with my community to say what's happening right now is wrong

I have friends who are afraid to get groceries who stay at home I listen to the Monterey Park police officer who I am a fan of the police department. I was nearly carjacked, and the police department came within minutes when that happened outside my house about a year ago in Monterey Park. So I support the police department. However, the police department aren't wearing masks, and I can tell the difference between a police officer and a thug.

They don't have identification. They may not provide identification.

And I would like to mention that I was born and raised in America, and I'm carrying around my passport just in case.

That says a lot. But even if someone were to approach me that asked for my ID,

I'd keep it in my pocket, and I'd see how far they'd stretch it because I'm an American, and that's what Americans do. They fight. Okay? I do appreciate all that you all are doing,

and I just want to make a statement.

Clara from Congresswoman Judy Chu, and I'm sure you all know Judy Chu from Monterey Park Office,

relayed today that the Congresswoman unequivocally condemns anyone who is taking advantage of this situation to engage in destructive behavior,

which is unacceptable, and she supports local law enforcement efforts to make arrests and hold those people accountable.

Also, Congresswoman Norma Torres has released a video where she calls on local government to take urgent action to protect our communities from dangerous individuals impersonating ICE agents. She further asked that local law enforcement verify identification presented by those suspected of impersonating ICE officials. We must protect the badge. What will you do tonight?

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council Members, leave us out in the cold or protect us.

I ask you to please adopt the urgency ordinance. Thank you.

Next speaker is Juanita Medina.

Thank you and let the records reflect that we had already voted on in action. I think you may have missed the beginning of the meeting. So maybe someone can update you from the audience.

No, what he's referring to.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening. Hello, everyone. Thank you, by the way, for what you did before the meeting itself that started.

Even if it was late, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

Last week, my daughter and I were walking to Ralph's Market right off of Riggin and Atlantic near our home.

As we stood in front of Tommy's Market, just behind that, two unmarked vehicles, one a van and one an SGV, went past us with no license plates on, with dark tinted windows.

And gentlemen, they were hanging out the windows with their arms like this, all in tactical ear, covered with sunglasses and hats.

My daughter froze, and she looked like she was going to cry. and then she looked at me and she goes mom who do we protect first

to know my daughter would unselfishly throw her life in front of someone she doesn't even know

to make sure that they were safe for their families.

Yes, we saw them. They were here in Monterey Park. Now, did they have a lasting impact on my daughter?

Yes. My daughter doesn't want to go out of the house. She's again afraid after two years ago when we had our shooting.

It was hard to bring her out of that depression of not leaving the house.

And now she was just finally getting out of that. Now to say, Mom, I don't want to go anywhere anymore.

It's unsafe. Even if I was born here, somebody wants me gone.

Why do we have to feel this way? We shouldn't. My daughter has said, Mom, write my phone number on your arm

because if something happens in the heat of the moment, at least you have a number to call just in case. This is awful.

At East L.A. College, they hand you a red card to all the students so you know what your rights are in case you get caught or kidnapped or taken.

I've been told that no one's getting kidnapped, that we deserve to be left and taken.

And I said, really, no.

No one deserves to be treated like Lor than a dog.

I've been here in Monterey Park for many, many years, since the 80s.

And it's not just a town. It's not just a city.

It's a diverse community that I call home.

And like my daughter, I would do anything for my city to make sure that we are safe, that we feel loved, that we have faith in our community, and that we are strong.

Because what happened two years ago should have never happened to us, but it happened.

And we learned to live and grow and be a community that other people would love to be like.

We have to be strong for our children who are asking, why is this happening?

My grandson, Grandma, why? Why? Why?

What's happening now is history for them. They're going to learn this in school. How do we explain this to them?

I have faith in you. Please continue to stand for us, because if any of you needed help, I would be there,

and I know for a damn fact my daughter would be as well.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker, Teresa.

Good evening, everyone. City Council and staff members. First of all, I want to clarify. A group of us submitted an urgency ordinance for your review and hopefully approval tonight. And it is different from the urgency ordinance that was discussed earlier today. And you have the ability to review that ordinance under Section B, which allows you to discuss related items that are related to the two Senate bills which are proposed. I was hoping each of you had received a copy. We provided copies to the city clerk. Okay, now I understand the misunderstanding. Okay, so there it is. And I've scribbled so much based on what the police chief said, and it just warms my heart to know that there are discussions. And I thank you so much for joining that lawsuit. And for the record, I do recommend you submitting that letter in support of the Senate bills. The one thing I would ask is that in your letter you ask them to please make that an urgency law. because the way it stands right now, the Senate passed it, Assembly still needs to review it, and if it passes without any modifications, then the governor will go ahead and approve it in October, but it won't become law until January of 2026. Those laws protect us from impersonators. So that means for five months, we're left exposed. So this ordinance here, the urgency ordinance that is before you, bridges that gap. It doesn't talk about immigration.

As a matter of fact, there's a verbiage in here that says city resources will not be used to enforce federal immigration laws. We acknowledge that. This is an ordinance, an urgency ordinance, establishing a 90-day emergency measure to protect residents from individuals who falsely claim to be immigration agents who engage in assault, intimidation, unlawful entry, rape, abduction, human trafficking, and organized crime.

And you've heard two Congresswomen from our local area, one of which is our Congresswoman, is urging you to please take action to protect us. Now, this ordinance may not be perfect, but you have the ability to direct the city attorney to work with the police chief to perhaps modify some language in here where it talks about police department directives, emergency response, to be in line with what our police department will do. Because this was drafted before he spoke. But I'm asking you, please, you talk about making our city safe. This would make it safe because it would no longer be a statement from you. It would no longer be a wish list. It would be codified on a 90-day basis, letting residents know you don't have to worry about these fake ICE agents because we have an emergency order to protect us in the event they happen to show up. And consistent with the police chief, people are urged to call 626-573-1311, our non-emergency line, or to call 911, and our police will respond. So this is, I'm so glad that you alLod. Thank you, Mayor, for having the police chief come up and speak because like I said I crossed out most of my notes because he addressed so much of it but this here bridges the gap because if you do nothing then that means that for five months were left exposed so I ask you to please exercise your ability to pass urgency laws and to protect the safety of all Monterey Park residents, all Monterey Park residents, against these fake ICE agents. Thank you so much.

Next speaker is Astrid. I think she left. Next speaker is Brian.

Good evening, Council Members.

My name is Brian Hall. I'm a resident here at Monterey Park. Thank you for allowing me a chance to speak.

Before I begin, I do want to stand in solidarity with another resident, Yun, that I also carry my passport card. And I did tonight leave briefly before rejoining because I need to drive my parents home in in fear of them potentially, even though they are legalized, they don't speak English.

Right. So just want to, you know, expand on or bring up the current tumultuous times.

For the most part, I don't necessarily have anything new to speak,

but I do urge council members to consider running the letters and also pass as the other members have so mentioned the urgency ordinance especially if there is a wait period. I believe that would help put the committee members at ease.

and also I would like to urge a council member that there's a lot more to be done than just a letter a lot has been discussed earlier in regards to other steps that the city can take

whether or not it is not just within the city but even in collaboration with other cities including funding or even protests, things like that.

So I hope the city council keep those in mind and continue to not just make this be a one-time

thing, but take further steps in the future.

Thank you. Thank you.

Our last speaker is Alma Marquez.

I don't think she's. I think she left. Yes. Thank you. Those are all the speakers for this item.

Okay, if you want to come up and speak. Please come up. Thank you.

If you can restate your name so she can have it for the file.

Yes, Hortensia Armendariz. I just want to say that I'm both in favor of the ordinance and signing the letter of support.

I think if you review it, a lot of the things that you mentioned in your statements earlier are included in there.

And it just, it further signifies the goodwill and the dedication of the city to its constituents, you know, being in support of it.

And I think right now, more than ever, we need signed commitments, right, to reassure the public and just add it to those statements. Thank you.

Thank you.

I have questions, comments on this item, 9F.

Is there a staff report?

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I can provide a staff report if you'd like.

Maybe just a brief one to overview the two bills.

Sure.

Tonight, this item before you is for city council to consider to send a letter of support for California Senate Bills 627, the No Secret Police Act, and 805, the No Vigil Antis Act, on behalf of the city. SB 627 would require law enforcement officers to show their faces and be identifiable via uniforms when interacting with the public, with certain exceptions, such as for SWAT teams and medical-grade masks. The other Senate bill tonight in front of you for consideration of support is SB 805, which would require personnel of law enforcement agencies operating in California to visibly display identification that includes either a name or a badge number to the public when performing their duties. These are brief summaries of each of these Senate bills. The text for these bills were attached to the staff report attachments 1 and 2, and there's a draft letter attached as attachment 3 for City Council's consideration. We're available for any questions.

Thank you. A few questions, comments.

One, I want to thank everyone who showed up and those who emailed and provided public comment, written comments on this item and our discussion around federal immigration enforcement actions in our community and in surrounding neighborhoods in the region. I really appreciate that the community is showing up for each other and showing up in solidarity with each other. I hope that some of the actions we've taken today and are helpful in terms of aligning with the calls for action from some of the residents that have shown up and community members that have shown up so appreciate that we're working together on this and urge residents and those who are listening to continue to your advocacy and continue your actions to protect our neighbors and the community as I expect regardless of what we do tonight a lot of these actions will continue because there's a federal that's determined to keep this up and I expect that very much happen so whatever we can do on the staff level to sign on to and if we can continue to look at other legislation that's coming up at the state level or regionally with LA County that are potentially taking action to address some of the fears and ease some of the fears in our community and also to address some of the alleged

and reported and

things that we've seen and real things we've seen in terms of federal immigration actions that really cross

the line in terms of what's constitutional.

We should watch for ways that we can join some of these actions. I fully support signing on in support of these two bills as presented tonight. Look forward to voting in support

of both of these bills.

I think as

public comments have mentioned, we'd love to see how we can do more and look at other ways that we can continue to engage with our community to build trust and to add some safety and to add to the sense of safety that we need to continue to have in the community and I know right now we're

ways and opportunities to do that. I think one,

in the ways

that it makes sense to publicize and communicate, I assume whatever action we take on these bills, but also the earlier action in terms of the

lawsuit, where

appropriate to make those things public and to communicate that to the community that we are taking these actions.

I know the chief came up earlier into one of the public comments.

I just want to note the chief,

this may be a question Carl can answer as well but it is

already illegal

to impersonate a law enforcement officer or any

kind of law enforcement

in our community is that right?

Yes I'll have that in uniform

and if called

if a resident or someone in our community sees what they believe to be this kind of action, visualities, or someone who's

masked or even not masked,

having a gun not clearly identified, even if they are identified as law enforcement, they could be impersonating an officer as well. If people see these kind of actions happening in our community, they should call and call 911. I would say not the

non-emerging line, they should call

the emergency line, 911, so that we can respond quickly and if the chief wants to reiterate what we would do and what action we can take when that happens.

Give them a moment to do that.

Sure, absolutely. I agree. It should be a 911 call.

Dispatch can then let the person know that, yes, that is Monterey Park officers conducting an investigation because she'll obviously know that we're there. If it is an unreported interaction with another agency,

then we would respond to officers immediately to determine if it's legitimate or not and take action appropriately.

If it's not legitimate, if they're impersonating law enforcement, it's a violation of state law as it exists today. I believe it's 538 as a section.

we would then take those people into custody and follow the proper procedures to prosecute them

impound vehicles take property from them basically conduct a criminal investigation

great so just to be clear uh impersonating an officer kidnapping uh assault those things are all illegal right already and we will if residents suspect this action is happening anywhere in our community they should call 9-1-1 so that the police can be dispatched to investigate and make sure that or to stop any of those actions if they are illegal but also to verify if it is a legal action police our police department will respond to these calls so want to encourage residents and anyone in the community that's seeing this kind of stuff or suspects that this is happening in the community to call 911 so that we can investigate and make sure that we're stepping in when we need to.

Absolutely.

And our officers will take action if they see it themselves. They don't need to call.

They're driving down the street and they see it. They're going to interact. They're going to find out if it's legitimate or not.

Thanks.

On these specific bills, one, I take note of, happy to support and eager to get to a vote on both these bills and for the city to issue a letter so that we can get on officially on record to support both these bills in terms of their passage in the legislature. I'd also ask along those lines, maybe the city, I would suggest and ask my council colleagues to support also a separate letter to reiterate these points that the bills are trying to implement in terms of urging and demanding that the federal government and federal immigration authorities live up to their constitutional constitutional duties to also implement and enforce their own whatever existing policies they might have on identifying themselves and operating on their enforcement actions in a constitutional way to urge those actions there. I'd also ask us to look at a letter, I'm aware of a letter that a number of legislators in California sent to federal immigration authorities to ask for the federal government to prioritize violent criminals in terms of their immigration actions. I'd ask that we also include that in our letter to federal immigration authorities to, and I'll forward that on to staff, but to ask federal immigration authorities really to focus their efforts not on those that are nonviolent and that have been contributing to our community, but there are violent criminals, undocumented violent criminals in our midst, in our communities throughout California that I think, and from every report I've seen, have not been the priority of immigration enforcement actions in our communities. And I think that that's where those resources should really go. And if we can reiterate that along with reiterating and urging our federal immigration authorities to focus on that and to focus on making sure that they, as they take their actions in our communities and as they continue to act in our communities, that they act according to the Constitution and according to their own rules in terms of how they engage with our communities to make sure that they're not fostering an environment of fear and scare tactics that are going to make things worse in our community and sever the trust that we have in terms of local government and government with our communities.

and I'll leave it to my colleagues. Any other comments?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, and I'm just going to keep it brief. I also support both bills and urge our council to support these, but I wanted to also thank the chief for helping clarify a lot of the questions that the public had regarding ICE potentially being in our city and for answering a lot of those questions and putting to rest a lot of those fears. But, you know, if you have any concerns, you heard the chief earlier call 911 and we will investigate. I also wanted to just for council to consider potentially partnering with maybe some CBOs in the community to be able to address some of the issues that are happening. I heard a lot from the public about being people who are scared to come out, to go grocery shopping, to do those simple types of things that we normally do. So maybe looking at what potential CBOs in our community can help us with those types of issues and potentially setting monies aside from our city fund to be able to either promote, whether it's awareness programs or whatever it is might potentially come up that we might need to help address a lot of these needs, we should start considering setting potential. and I know this is not an item that's on here and I see Carl staring at me already, but a potential future item that we can consider.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.

And again, I mean, of course I support these bills and their importance.

I would also like to add for the additional action in the future is,

I know this week the county where supervisors also adopted a motion by Supervisor Solis, again, exploring all remedies available at least at the county level to protect the civil rights of residents and prevent further federal law enforcement personnel from gaining any unconstitutional or unlawful immigration enforcement. And I'd like to see us also explain what other remedies we can do.

Again, I think the lawsuit was a great start.

I'd also like to see because you know let's be clear I mean if they do pass

you know the federal budget which is being debated I mean that there could

be more money going into ICE and customs so I think it's important that we continue to explore all legal remedies within our jurisdiction as a city and

to also echo what my colleagues have said so far is you know again also you know

where we can leverage our community nonprofits as well as even with our own own resources to help those that have been impacted. I know like in El Monte and Pasadena they've established a fund for those who have been impacted and I think that's something I would like for us to also have staff explore as

a possibility as well.

I also hard heartedly support item 9F as well. I do not think it's okay for unidentified people to be wearing masks in our city. And I want to thank our police chief for answering everyone's questions today and providing updates as to what the police can do to enforce. If anyone sees, anyone who's identified vehicles, people, please do call the police department like my colleagues have mentioned. There's been a lot of reports by residents, but like the police chief said, no one has called 911 to report it, and if the police isn't notified, they'll take action if they see it themselves, but they're only in so many places in the city, so it takes the community's help to report all of these incidents. And as for the red cards, the city has them available.

They have them on the website. They have them printed.

If anyone wants them today, we have some available, but I think we should also print them at every meeting so that people can take them for their loved ones and families as well.

Thank you.

I'm going to keep my comments briefed so we can vote on this because I know where everyone stands on this. But before I do that, I want to point out District Staff of Senator Sasha Perez, Amber Jang is here. And I want to also thank the Senator for keeping us involved. This was probably not out in the public, but at least two of us. I'll just say two, we were actually part of the press conference in Pasadena on Monday the 23rd, basically showing us support for both bills. Now, of course, it doesn't make it public because we can't do it until we have an agenda. That's the process we have to go through as part of city government. And so now we're here. So why don't, well, is there a motion for this?

Can I also make a suggestion as well, again, we've been having a very robust conversation this whole night about actions and precautions. But, you know, and again, I appreciate our chief of police speaking and answering our questions. I think also I would like to suggest, too, is that perhaps through our Neighborhood Watch Network to also use that opportunity to, again, share information. as well as, you know, if people hear something, say something, you know, again, where they can reach out. Again, it's just another avenue to get information out to the residents about the rights, but also about how they can call us, the city as well, you know,

if they see some actions that we all have known as unlawful and need to be called out.

So I just suggested as well that we maybe engage with our Neighborhood Watch Program and other community outreach,

just to make sure that we continue to let the public know, especially as we take further actions here at the city on this issue.

We'll put out to our Neighborhood Watch groups to encourage them to call us with suspicious activity.

And we'll basically verify if they have any questions about that, what suspicious activity looks like.

But we encourage everybody to call us with anything that doesn't look normal. And then we'll investigate.

I'll make the motion to authorize staff to draft and send in a letter of support for SB 627,

the No Secret Police Act, and SB 805, No Vigilantes Act, on behalf of the city.

I'd also make a motion for staff to draft a letter and send in a letter to federal immigration authorities to urge and demand that they live by constitutional requirements for how they act and to prioritize immigration actions on violent criminals as opposed to nonviolent criminals in our communities. and if that's clear enough for staff

I'll make it

Noted, we have it

Okay

Motion? I'll second Second by Council Member Sanchez Please take a vote

Motion passes unanimously

Great, thank you

Okay

Moving on to public hearing

I didn't sign up for this, but I want to say one last thing.

We keep referring and saying, yes, Carl, I hope you didn't roll your eyes at me.

Respectfully. I want to make sure that we don't keep repeating that there's a lot of things that are already

in the law and that are already illegal and that shouldn't be done

by law enforcement and the federal administration.

They're breaking laws every day in our neighborhood.

So I just want us to remember that, that they're

breaking, yeah, the law is there, but they're breaking the laws. Let's just keep that in mind as elected officials. Thank you.

Monterey Park. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the City Council. My name is Rebecca Borges, Principal Management Analyst. The City of Monterey Park has contracted with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health since 1963 for public health services, which primarily consists of restaurant inspections. At the May 21st City Council meeting, Council approved the continuance of public health services with the approval of 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 approving the new agreement with the Department of Public Health

The county is requesting that the city amend title six of the Monterey Park municipal code and adopt title 11 of the Los Angeles County code regarding health and

Safety by reference the second reading and adoption of the ordinance is recommended tonight and that concludes my report And I'm happy to answer any questions

Okay, it's

Continue the public hearing.

Okay. Is there any public comments?

No public comments.

Close the public hearing.

I'll make the motion to adopt staff recommendation.

There's a motion by Council Member Wang.

I'll second it.

Second by Council Member Lo.

Please take a vote.

Motion passes unanimously

Okay

Let's go on to 10b

Good evening mayor council members before you this evening is to continue the public hearing regarding the fire hazard severity maps that were created by CAL FIRE.

So about every five years or so, they take the maps and using analytics and modernized data

to determine wildfire mapping throughout the state of California. When they come up with the mapping, we're required at the time to bring it before council to adopt a resolution adopting the maps now. Monterey Park, since the inception of this program, probably over the last 15, 20 years, Monterey Park has never been included in the maps.

So they use a wildfire data matrix to determine how close we are to the interfaces where homes meet the mountainside

For the term and when they run those they highlight areas that are very high in medium fire severity zones So again Monterey Park is not in the fire zone, but we're still required to adopt this map as an ordinance

Mr. Mayor members of the council yes open the public hearing

Open up the continuation of public hearing.

Any public comments?

No public comments, sir, Mayor.

I'm going to close that public hearing. Now we can have comments.

Discussion?

Oh, Mr. Mayor, I'll move to approve this item.

Council Member Sanchez, the motion?

Second.

Second by Pro Tem Yang. Please take a vote

Approved unanimously

Thank you New business

None

City communications

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor and appreciate all the staff work that went into a lot of the items that went today I wanted to note what I'll follow up on One thing that Councilmember Sanchez mentioned earlier in terms of a future agenda item, I would support his call for a future item on what we've been discussing tonight a lot, the immigration actions to set aside potential funding. I will throw out $50,000 as a starting point to authorize the city manager to create an immigration support fund or something along those lines to support community-based organizations and nonprofits that are providing Know Your Rights training in the city or to bring them and fund them to do more Know Your Rights trainings in the city and other things. I know Carl will check to make sure we are doing what is within what is alLod. But if there are nonprofits providing services to those impacted by immigration raids or families here that have been impacted by relatives that have been taken away that will have economic impacts on their families to the extent we can provide services or connect them to services to fund organizations or provide some funding to organizations that are providing these services and helping to connect people to services. I would ask staff to bring back an item that will allow the city to provide some funding for organizations to do this work and maybe even reach out to the school districts to see if they have programs to support students and their families that are impacted by some of these efforts on the encryption front and to see if some assistance can be provided to that as well and if this needs to be a different number I'm open to that I'm just throwing something out so that we can have something to discuss

thank you I support the item that council member Wong said and if we do need to increase the item uh the amount um definitely in favor i also wanted to bring up a new business i'm sorry a new item uh which is um the i had um over the weekend i read the bike master plan uh that was written um about 11 years ago um and i know that a lot of the the bike lane paths that were recommended in in that plan specifically in the monterey park section um several of them have not been uh necessarily fulfilled so i'd just like an update in terms of where we're at with that um for a future agenda item or discussion or update just in terms of where we're at with that particular item i know that within my district um i i know of one bike lane path on riggan but i know that on the bike lane um sorry on the bike master plan there are several recommended bike lane paths in my district and in many other districts.

Yes, and that will be it. Thank you.

I would support that because I think the other bike lane is in my district

on Elhambra Avenue, the one lonely bike lane on Elhambra Avenue. And also just

a segue, I know we're still working with Metro regarding or 710 funding. Hopefully, we'll get something soon before us. And if we need to, again, work with our county supervisor and represent the Board of Metro, let us know. But, again, I think, well, not just because of the bike lane, as Councilman Sanchez mentioned, but also because, you know, we had also a discussion about

economic redevelopment.

And I know that at the, if I'm mistaken, you know, our proposal, Summit Metro, also include a parking structure at the plaza on Lincoln and Garvey

and also by Wyatt brought up the issue of parking.

And hopefully we'll get that soon before us as well.

Thank you.

I would also support the $50,000 minimum towards immigration.

Thank you. And so do I. Just a couple of wrap-up items.

For the last couple of weeks, transitioning to what our

community development

direct manager, Joe, had mentioned. We continue to have grand openings with the Crystal Palace restaurant

at 555, and we also held a

mayor's meetup at NBC, really connecting all the small business owners and providing them with some seed money for, it's

a grant from the city,

which, it's a loan which becomes a grant to allow them to re-update some of their

businesses if they're struggling.

We had a blast last Saturday

with the fireworks at Barnes Park.

And then I just want to end with, you know,

Marley Park has been

the front and the key into the St. Gabriel

Valley. And we are a diversified

community

with many types of immigrants. And we will continue to demonstrate and do we stand up together for not only our community, but our San Gabriel community sister cities.

So let's end on that note. Meetings adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.