City Council Meeting_ Apr 1_ 2026

All right, good evening everyone. We're going to call our meeting to order. Let's start with our land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as Tavangar, the home of the Gabrielino-Tongva people. We show our respect to the Gabrielino-Tongva people, as well as all indigenous people, past, present, and future, and honor their labor as original caretakers of this land. We commit to uplifting the Gabrielino-Tongva people, invite you to acknowledge the history, and join us in caring for this land. Now we're going to have the flag salute, brought to us by the Monterey Park Fire Explorers. Everyone, please rise.

Thank you.

Please place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin.

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

the most trans, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Right face for Mark!

Prepare to pose.

Colors.

Flag salute.

About face.

Fort Marks.

Thank you. You may be seated.

Madam Clerk, may we get a roll call, please?

Council Member Ngo?

Present.

Council Member Wong?

Present.

Council Member Sanchez?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Lo?

Here.

Mayor Yang?

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you. City manager, do we have any agenda revisions and additions?

No, Madam Mayor, no changes.

We're not adding the data center to tonight's agenda? Tim, you have a presentation for us? No, I'm just kidding. April Fool's. But Tim was ready to go.

All right, public communications.

All right, we have a few public communications. Let's start with the first one, Micah Shaw. You can begin.

Yeah, just for having you guys. I appreciate you guys. On the intersection of Newmark and Garfield in the morning, it's really backed up. Just asking a suggestion if we can get like a turn signal there so people can turn either like 9 in the morning until like 1. sometimes people will cross and people won't be able to see them, so they might get injured. And then next thing was just if we can get some more 988 signs around the community, because I haven't seen any being here. I moved here recently, so people are kind of dying of suicide a lot. The rates are going up a lot, so if we can get some 988 crisis lines in the area, that would be really good. That's it.

Thank you. Thank you, Micah. Our next speaker is Bill Lamb?

Mayor, while the next speaker comes up, maybe we can connect the speaker to Traffic Commission. Marcus? And then I think if there are ways to continue to promote 988 and mental health resources, I know we've been doing that in the community the last few years. Whatever else we can do, obviously, would be great.

I have papers to give you the budget You all can hear me, right? Okay, good, good, good.

are currently missing need to be placed even after the changes were made. So that's the first part. The second part is seven months ago, I think I gave you the map of my own proposed

routing of the Spirit Bus. I mean, mostly at the same, but one of the ideas that came up is about Route Three because Route Three, it would have been nicer to have Route Three come back to the area around Garvey Reservoir, but not only that, I added a new proposed routing that can go around the business center right there. It would have been nicer to have a deep connection with the marketplace and City Hall. That's the second part. And the third part is, I'm not sure if the survey is still open, but I did mention about the traffic express because the vehicle, the guidebook should have picked me up even if it's closer to the end of service so that they can at least take me home as a last ride to destination. Because on December of last year, I tried to catch it from Cal State LA at around 7pm going home and the vehicle was way far from my pickup location. And when the vehicle was closer to my pickup location at Corporate Center, ready to turn on to remote, all of a sudden that's 7.30. Everything had most likely crashed in the app and I tried to call customer service to track my line. It says it's likely computerizing that the vehicle is on this way and I had to wait almost 20 to 30 minutes for that vehicle to pick me up and it's still no show. And so I had to find another way to back home in which it really frustrates me so bad. So I had to call, I tried to call to speak in the agent, but they're already done for a day. So I had to call again to cancel my ride. And lastly, I'm not sure if you're aware about what about the Alhambra's ACT service because because Alhambra is playing to bring the ACT bus service from Commonwealth and Fremont all the way down to Garfield and Hellman. I wasn't aware about this until I checked it on the city's website, but they I wasn't aware about this until I checked it on the city's website, but they did give me a paper about this because, you know, it would have been nicer to have changes to the Spirit Bus route so that a Spirit Bus route can go through Atlantic and Hellman so that you can have a second transfer connection with the Spirit Bus and the ACT instead of just only one at the Cal State LA. I didn't get a chance to watch at the Alhambra City Council meeting when they were supposed to vote on this, but because I'm not sure if you saw the news about the Alhambra situation over there where the city council was met with a large group of people protesting against this ISIS action. So I didn't get a chance to see if the Alhambra City Council approved it or not. But yeah, I mean, it would have been greater to have a spirit bus service that can go through Atlantic and Hellman because going through it could have a better second transfer connection instead of just one at Cal State LA with the Spirit Bus and the ACT Blue Line service. So I also had ideas about going to new areas, including Schurr High School, which I've seen Schurr High School students use Spirit Bus the year round before COVID, as well as, well, I could have said more ridership growth with the connection between Monterey Park and Rosemead, but unfortunately, Rosemead Explorer became Rosemead Go. So that's already out of the question. But going back to the ACT issue, I mean, it's all Alhambra's control. So it would have been, to close this off, you know, it would have been nicer to have a spirit bus route going through Atlantic and Hellman, like all the way around, so that there could be better transfer connections between, you know, a spirit bus and ACT instead of just only one at Cal State LA. So that is all. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you. Out of curiosity, For residents who use Spirit Bus or any of these services, are there a way, either on the MPK app, are there a way to give feedback, especially when there are questions or comments about services?

Shawn Igoe, Director of Public Works, is coming down to jump in here. I definitely know that we have information on the city's webpage about how to contact staff in regards to Spirit Bus communications that we could communicate back with our provider. VIA, I believe, has opportunities as well to provide feedback, but I'll let Shawn jump in.

Yes, good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor of Protem, City Council, Shawn Igoe, Public Works Director. Yes, you can provide feedback via the app. You can also call their customer service number and provide feedback.

So there are multiple opportunities.

You can even call us in Public Works, and we can relay that information to VIA.

Okay. No, that's good to know. I just want that out there that one can give feedback. And I will also just say, I realize that sometimes, you know, especially when you have scheduling, when it comes to buses and traffic, sometimes it's not always accurate. But I will say for the record that I once waited for a spirit bus at Atlantic and Emerson, and apparently it never showed up. So I'm just saying, you know, it happened to me, you know, and I'm sure it happened to others, you know, just when I put it out there.

Thank you. We'll look into that.

Yes. I just point out that we do have the point of Via and the Monterey Park transit express also to fill in some of these gaps for that exists with the fixed route system and what are we going to do to continue promote I don't know Bill if Bill is aware of my transit is best and if you're waiting for a bus most of those bus stops for spirit bus you can you can do and pick a transit express right

that's correct yes and Shawn since I have you here just as bill brought up a good point first off do you know if Alhambra did indeed pass this

I do not know if they passed that we have been in communication with them about evaluating connection point here but I do not know if they've completed that as far as councils level

I mean because I'm assuming it did because it says here service starts July 13th so

so it makes sense they did

yeah probably but my other question is are there points because I see for example that Alhambra 's ACT blue line goes through kind of close to Hellman are there points where where that you might know of where our spirit bus intersects with their ACT line

Well this this is we a new proposal from them so I don't know we haven't looked at to see if there's any intersection points because this is a reroute for them?

I think so. I'm looking at the map Bill gave us, and I think that's line one. It's Garfield and Hellman. It's probably Kitty Corner or same corner, but it intersects with the blue line. Again, this is the new plan for Alhambra. So, I mean, if we were doing it, we would talk to the neighbor and find out where it is so we can intersect it. and I think Bill to your point if we were doing it now we would call them and say let's find out how to intersect but because we actually had our spirit bus plans out ahead of time it is harder for us actually we don't know what they're doing until they have the plans out but I'm sure you guys can coordinate yes

and we've been talking with them and that's some of these things they were still fine-tuning is that part of their reorg just like we did we re-evaluated our system they were in the same process but they followed us so again to your point it's it's challenging to make reroutes when we've already done all of ours right without knowing what they've been doing and I think just to add on in

the future when we start when we kind of we're constantly looking at routing and based on you know whatever writers are actually using or what they're requesting it might be useful for us to coordinate with Alhambra and find ways that we could intersect, for example, our Spirit Bus and their ACT lines for people who might want to connect and travel to Alhambra through our system.

Absolutely. And this is all new to them, and they've never gotten close to our border. We've always been on our borders. And again, their system operates within their realm, and we operate within our realm. And so I think that that's where we can probably have better contact with what they're looking at.

Looks like we're getting closer.

We're getting there. Takes time.

All right. Thank you, Sean.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sean.

Thank you.

All right. Our next speaker is Carla Smith-Holtmeyer. And we have the, oh, here.

There's a lot of pictures. Yeah, yeah, we have the pictures. So I can tell you afterwards, if you want me to, what they are.

Sure.

But I think they're kind of going to be self-explanatory. So, again, hello. My name is Carla Smith-Holtmeyer. I am here to represent Betty Denny Smith, the owner and resident located at 1766 Bluff Hill Drive. My mother is currently on hospice care, and so I'm speaking on her behalf. My mother moved into the home in December of 31st of 1958, when I was only two months old. At the time, Monterey Pass Road was known as Coyote Pass. The highlands had yet been developed. Lenox Square was home for J.C. Penney's, J.C. Newberry's, Singer, and Thrifty's. The property where Prado now stands was an open Christmas tree lot every year. The telephone lines were shared by neighbors and otherwise known as party lines. This history reflects a longstanding connection my mother has and my family have had with the home and the surrounding community. The reason I am here today is apparently the city does not have any CCRs in place regarding building fences or ADUs that have impacted their neighbors' views. On January 14th, and I don't know if I can do this, but Mr. Liu at 1295 Hillside decided that he wanted to build a fence around his yard. And he has a very large yard. So this white vinyl fence was built on three sides of his property. Mr. Liu just moved into our neighborhood. He and his workers brought the product through my mother's property without permission. When I arrived at the house, I discovered a 20-foot part of the fence had already been built. So I contacted Mr. Liu. I asked him if he could work with us, meaning the neighbors that were in the area, and explained how the fence would negatively impact the property by obstructing a long-established view. We're talking 67 years' worth. I also shared that I grew up in the home and the view was always an intricate part of the property. I offered a reasonable suggestion for alternate placement that I believe would work for both of us. Mr. Liu indicated he had already spoken to Ms. Linda Wu, who lived next door to my mother, and stated that he considered adjusting. He told us that he wanted to be a good neighbor. Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case. Less than a week later, the entire fence was completed.

Originally, the plan to say the situation was an eyesore is an understatement. The future compounded issue that Mr. Liu has now planted trees along that fence line and eventually will exceed that height of 6 feet. Although the city allows a maximum fence height of 6 feet, that limit has already been exceeded in several locations. The measurements range anywhere from 72 inches all the way up to 79. Despite that, the city has indicated these violations are acceptable. This situation has a significant long impact on my mother's property. I'm here today to ask the city council to protect the future homeowners so that no one has to go through this as my family has experienced. I'm deeply troubled that the city never made CCRs or similar protections in place to prevent this type of intrusion on our neighbor's property. I have spoken to local real estate agents and professionals and asked them for an estimate of loss of my mother's property due to the restriction of the view. And they have indicated it's anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000. I've submitted photos that would document the view, what it looked like in the early 60s through 25, compared with what I now see in 26. The view was spectacular. From my mother's home, you could see St. Thomas Bridge, Peavey, Signal Hill, and a clear day Catalina Island. The view is now completely gone by a white vinyl fence. If my mother was well, she would be heartbroken by what has happened to her home and where she has lived for nearly 77 decades. Given the current conditions, I feel an even greater responsibility to speak on her behalf. In closing, I am respectfully asking the city to implement changes that will have and be in place to protect long-term residents from actions taken by new homeowners who do not consider the long-lasting impact of their neighbor and the community as a whole. And on those pictures, the little one is me in 1963. The next one is a view in 1970. and then you'll see views of my from my mother's bedroom you see a view of what it looked like and now what it looks like as well as the backyard the back view and the last one is on the other side of that 20 foot fence I had to snap a picture before I lost it that's it Thank you Carla. I believe we have another speaker on this same topic Linda Wu. And we also have documents provided too. So I'm going to pass these out.

Thank you Mayor Yang and city council members. My name is Linda Wu. I have been a resident of Monterey Park for 58 years and 25 years of them at this current residence. And as Carla said, I'm here on behalf of several neighbors who have a major concern with this issue. For a little background, this past year, the new neighbor moved into the house behind mine directly. I'm located at the top of a hill, and the neighbor's home is behind mine at the bottom. The neighbor's property backs up to my backyard. On January 14th of this year, the neighbor erected an expansive six-foot fence along the backside of my yard. I was not notified in advance, so it was quite a shock to come home after work and see the structure extending the length of the backside of my property. His fence completely obstructs my view. The view is one of the reasons why I purchased the house originally, and it is one of the primary features of my home that I've enjoyed for many years. The fence not only impacts my feelings of personal space and tranquility, but it also devalues my property. As Carla said, according to property appraisal estimates, a home with a good view costs 30% more than an identical home on the property.

again at my cost. Although I was disappointed, I also agreed to cover the expense because it would at least buy back some of my happiness. When the neighbor did not get back to me with an estimate after a week, I reached out to him again. He then informed me that he was going to leave the fence at its original height, so all of us really did try to be neighborly and work with him. Since then, the neighbor has installed a fence behind the entire backyard of my neighbor to the right and obstructing their view and Carla's view, and she's lost one-third of her view. The three of us offered to pay to have the fence move down the hill a few feet, which would have provided the same degree of privacy for the neighbor while preserving our views, and unfortunately he was not interested in considering this. To give some perspective on the impact the fence has had on my property, I have attached a photo of my view prior to the fence being installed, which you have in your packet, and photos of what my view is now, and it's basically a big white fence. It's zero. So I, along with many of my neighbors, have serious concerns about how a fence or structure can so negatively impact an entire neighborhood. therefore in response we are proposing a new residential municipal code that would prevent this from happening to other residents and from further loss of our views and our property values in the future the proposed municipal code is also attached in your packet on page two in short it requires a homeowner to obtain prior consent from other homeowners whose original views will be obstructed by fencing, plantings, or structures. I want to thank you for your consideration of supporting this action and of moving the proposed municipal code forward through the approval process. And in the few minutes I have left my other neighbor to my right. He had an emergency and he could not be here tonight, but he did. He was going to speak and share these other photos of his home prior to the fence and after. and he wanted to let you know he has children, one with special needs and does her work out outside and has lost a view that brought, again, a lot of tranquility and peace for her while she worked in the yard. So just thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you both Linda and Carla

for speaking to us on this issue. Any comments from my colleagues?

I'm just curious to staff. So when it comes to, like, a hillside neighborhood, I mean, do we have currently ordinance standards regarding height for those these type of properties about the hills?

Madam Mayor, members of the council, we do have standards in our municipal code in regards to height, maximum heights, allowed for fences. that is correct. There is maximums that are currently in the municipal code. In regards to getting authorization from neighbors, I think that's something that we can potentially look into, but that portion is not in the code at this time.

I know I'm saying generalizing, but I think what 76% of the city is probably hillside neighborhoods and I think that and I get you know that you know you use every few years a decade you get new owners but you know I think that um that might be something to consider like building standard especially given that people sometimes remodel or even rebuild

I would just echo what councilmember Lo was saying in terms of I'd love to look at options I know there are limits to what we can do as a city in terms of forcing what people do on their own private property and obviously we have to be consistent in terms of what we require for homeowners and property owners in terms of fencing privacy things like that so and understand your point completely and I want to note for the speakers here even if we got something on the books now if the existing fencing is was allowed under the existing there's nothing we can do retroactively to force a homeowner to change what they already built so they're really do feel for you but where we can do kind of going forward I think it would be in the community's interests to look at how we can work to preserve views so I think that's one of the main attractions for folks that are locating here in Monterey Park and particularly the hills if there are options that we can look at that makes sense that legally right with the city can do I open to those options unfortunately the city generally can't force people to be good neighbors we can try to encourage that and I think we can help to the extent that the neighbor is interested in convening in a discussion it sounds like you've already reached out I don't know that there's a whole lot we can do in this specific situation but I think we look at options going forward if there are it sounds like code and force already been out in terms of looking at the the fence there if they comply with the existing law it's hard to make them do something else but it's definitely a problem that i've not heard this come up as an issue in the city um in my time at least and so maybe this is something we can look at proactively i don't know how much how widely this would be an issue hopefully not but if there are things we we should do to learn from this experience I think would be helpful to do that but if it sounds like our staff is in touch with the speakers here already I don't know if there are other options to pursue if there are would encourage that in terms of conversations

Yeah, and I know this is not on tonight's agenda so we can't have too much discussion on it but if staff can look at this proposed municipal code to prevent something similar from happening in the future that'd be great

madam mayor members of the council of the council has a consensus for staff to investigate and see if we can bring back something for council's consideration we can definitely do that if that's the council's wishes

I'd like to recommend that I mean I feel for you because I'm looking at the before and after pictures and you guys had beautiful views of the hillside so and the community at large and I mean you were able to get up in the morning on a clear day and see Catalina Island and now can't I I feel free so I think whatever we can do to for other residents who might go through the same thing would be very useful I I do remember one time traveling to Switzerland with my wife and and they had these red flags and just items posted but there was a development that was coming and they gave people in the community a chance to see if their views were going to be obstructed and they had like a whole month to kind of not suggesting anything but I thought that was very unique in terms of how they did that so that people had an opportunity to see how their views were going to be obstructed if any and had an opportunity to to share those but I'm also kind of curious and to Councilmember Lo's point I don't know how much we can do now to try to help remedy the situation but I think we thank you for coming in and bringing this to our attention because it could potentially save someone else's view but whatever we can do on our side if we haven't reached out to the Mr. Liu and see there's something we can work out amicably between them that would be useful as well but I would I would love to see something brought forth for council to consider thank you

All right.

Noted.

Thank you all the public speakers. That's all the public communications we have. I know we have a presentation. Can we move presentation item eight before staff communications? All right. So let's do presentation because we have our Miss LA Chinatown, Victoria Yip here with us tonight. Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Elizabeth Yang, Monterey Park City Council and esteemed guests. My name is Victoria Yip and I am the current Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen. And I want to share with you that Monterey Park is not just where I live, it is where I began. I was born at Garfield Medical Center, raised at Monterey Highlands Elementary School and shaped at Mark Keppel High School and carried forward in the University of California, Irvine. Thank you, Mayor and Councilman, for not only recognizing me, but for contributing to make Monterey Park into the place that it is and for it to be continuously thriving and deeply rooted in culture. And especially thank you to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles for creating a space where young women like me are allowed to thrive and preserve heritage and stand as a beacon for what's to become. I will never forget my roots, and because that is the reason why I have wings. I'm proud to be from Monterey Park, and most importantly, I'm proud to be yours. Thank you.

And also, just on the topic of public safety, I got hit by a bike today. and so I guess it's really important to consider waiting times if you're on the sidewalk, true story my knee is kind of busted because of that

but we show up anyway thank you so much, have a good one

well thank you oh stay here, we have a certificate of recognition for you we're so proud to have one of our own residents be this year's Miss LA Chinatown queen. I know last year we also had another Miss L.A. Chinatown princess as a Monterey Park resident. So we have a certificate on behalf of the city in recognition of your outstanding grace, poise, and dedication in representing the Chinese American community and for embodying cultural pride, leadership, and commitment to community service. Thank you and congratulations on behalf of our city council.

Thank you so much.

For the record, it was in my room.

Oh, good.

Come on.

Do you want to meet your family? Yes. Yes. Your mom? Yes.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

All right, now we can go back to staff communications. First up, Public Works.

Works

Hi, good evening mayor mayor pro tem and members of the City Council so she keep on public works manager Hi. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the City Council. Xochitlipan, Public Works Manager. Next slide, please. This month is our last month for our WARE disposal survey. WARE disposal is offering the opportunity for residents and customers to provide feedback on trash services. The survey has been running for a couple months now. It's available in three languages, so we encourage the community if they haven't had the opportunity to submit any responses, to submit a response for customer service, areas of improvement, and just educational opportunities that WARE can provide for the community.

Xochitl, before you move on from that one, do you know how many responses we have gotten so far?

We have gotten, I believe, about 100 responses in total in all three languages. So, we're definitely continuing to promote the survey through our social media and our cascades and also where disposal has sent it with their billing cycle. So, we're encouraging people to continue to provide feedback if possible. Next, we have our quarterly cleanup event coming up this Saturday, April 4th at Barnes Park. This event is held quarterly and we're collecting This event is held quarterly, and we're collecting e-waste, bulky items, and also offering shredding services on a first-come, first-served basis. If residents are not able to attend, we do remind them that part of their residential trash services includes free bulky item pickup. They just need to call WARE disposal to schedule it. And they also get e-waste pickup as well. that's limited to four times a year while bulky items is unlimited throughout the whole year so we encourage everyone to attend this saturday then also on april 11th we're hosting our annual earth day celebration in conjunction with our cherry blossom festival and this year we're actually um celebrating arbor day as well so part of tonight's agenda is consideration for a resolution to proclaim arbor day here in the city of monterey park this would be the first time that that the city would be doing this, and it's part of our efforts to gain Tree City USA recognition through the Arbor Day Foundation. And the city has been working to meet the requirements, and hosting an Arbor Day celebration is part of the requirements, and so this would be the final step to be able to apply. And so if approved, we would apply for recognition, and we would be able to have signage throughout the city that we are a Tree City USA community who prioritizes tree urban forestry in the community, tree maintenance, tree management, and so we encourage you to consider the item today for approval. And lastly, we want to provide an update on the Garfield Water Main Project. So this week, crews were working along Coral View and Keller to install a new vault and a median in that area as part of the water project. It did require for reduction of traffic to one lane on both sides, and so we anticipate this construction to be completed at the end of April. We have placed social media posts about the project, giving advance notice to residents in this area to expect delays or to take alternate routes. And that concludes the announcements. Thank you. Any questions?

One question for the Garfield water improvements project. Once the water improvements are done, is Garfield going to be repaved?

Good evening again. Yes, the plan is to pave that section of Garfield from Graves down to Coral View. So that will be completed shortly after the water main project.

Great, on both directions. Correct. Great. And yeah, Councilmember Sanchez. Sean, I just had a quick question for you. Well, first of all, thank you for all the information, and great to see a lot of great work coming. But do we happen to have any future date in mind for hazardous waste collection? I think that's part of this. So the city participates for hazardous waste collection through the county's program. Last year we were able to host hazardous waste collection through a grant. So it isn't part of our quarterly cleanup events, but we are looking at grant opportunities to be able to host it again. So residents do have the opportunity to go to the county's pop-up events, which they're held in different cities in the San Gabriel Valley, and we usually try to promote all of their events as well.

Do we know of any that are coming?

I believe the next one I saw is for this month, but it's in Maywood. But there is a website for the county hazardous waste that has all of the upcoming for about the whole year.

I have a couple cans of paint that I'm trying to get rid of. Thank you, Sean.

Thank you both. Next up, 7B Community Development. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to present. I'm excited to share the economic progress and momentum we've built since our last update to City Council in October 2025. Next slide, please. Although we've had several new businesses open since October, we have officially welcomed six of those new businesses to our community with formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies. These range from wellness and beauty businesses like Swank Hair Salon and Rework Me Fitness Center to unique culinary additions such as Yihui Coffee, Thai Houses' second location in Monterey Park, La Diosa de los Moles Mexican Restaurant, and the Asayoru Made Cafe. Each of these ceremonies represent a new investment in our city's future. Next slide, please. Since October, we've had five successful meet-up with the mayor sessions at local landmarks like Litz, Shinano Japanese Restaurant, and Jump in Lobster. These informal gatherings provide a casual but vital platform for the city to hear directly from residents and business owners while showcasing our local businesses. Next, please. We've also been active in broader community engagement. Highlights include coordinating business visits with Senator Sasha-René Perez, our first Christmas tree lighting at Atlantic Times Square since before the pandemic, and the Economic and Business Development Commission's co-hosting of the Lunar New Year Festival. We are constantly looking for ways to blend commerce with community spirit. Next, please. Just yesterday on March 31, we convened a roundtable for shopping center and asset managers at the Broggemeyer Library. We brought together commercial stakeholders to brainstorm creative, long-term solutions for filling vacant spaces and revitalizing Monterey Park's commercial properties. A key part of this session was the market intelligence briefing from CoStar to ensure our strategies were data-driven. CoStar, a leading provider of commercial real estate information, reported a general improvement trend in Monterey Park's retail market. Next, please. I am also thrilled to announce that nominations for our second annual Community Choice Awards open today April 1st. This year we are especially excited to add a new sub category under favorite restaurant, favorite coffee, or tea spot. We hope this edition will generate increased Instagram and Facebook activity and excitement among our younger residents and foodies. Residents can scan the QR code to nominate their favorite the establishments through May 31st and we will announce the winners at the state of the City event on June 9th. Next, please. Looking ahead to the Olympics, we are hosting another LA28 readiness or supply readiness webinar on April 7th. This session, co-hosted with the new Women's Business Center, will help our local small businesses navigate the procurement portal and understand the certifications needed to land Olympic-sized contracts. Next, please. Our meetup with the mayor continues next week at Crystal Palace Restaurant on April 9, followed by a meetup at Marie Callender's on May 12. We invite the public to join us for these casual conversations and support the host businesses. Next, please. Finally, please mark your calendars for April 17 for the grand opening of the ELAC, or East Los Angeles College, Susan Rubio Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. This is the first of its kind partnership between ELAC and the City of Monterey Park, providing an innovative hub and a no-cost resource to drive economic growth right here in Monterey Park. Next, and that is it. Thank you. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay.

Joel, congrats on presenting and thank you for all that great news on, I think there are more than the six businesses that opened, but you highlighted the six that we actually attended and that was part of the city's ribbon cutting. That's kudos to the team, your staff for helping organize that and help them generate the business so that they can have longevity and continue to stay. Now, I wasn't at the meeting with the business owners and asset managers, but I see a room full of people who continue to contribute and create that positive for maintaining and growing their business in the city, so thank you for that as well.

I'll add my kudos, appreciate all that we're doing, the economic development team is doing. Just a quick question, how, I know the new chamber, rear chamber is in action. Have we been able to collaborate a lot? I'm just curious your views on how that's been going from our perspective on the city side.

We have been, we continue our direction and trajectory on what we've already started beginning from the last couple of years. So we continue doing our webinars. We continue doing our workshops and our ribbon cutting ceremonies, you know, and so far we have not had any opportunity to consolidate any of those activities with the chamber. Hopefully the events will go, but right now we continue to do what we've been doing to support our community.

So has the chamber reached out at all to partner on anything? I'm just curious.

Not to my knowledge. Not on our specific events. Let's put it that way.

Have they invited the city to support or participate in any of their events, other than inviting the council members?

Councilmember Wong, I'm happy to just do a little bit of brag for Joe here because he's so humble. Yeah, absolutely. We have a, we're in consistent communication with the chamber, the new chamber's leadership. We meet with them regularly. And we like to think of them as advisors, providing them feedback as they are still in their sort of nascent infancy stages of, you know, forming that organization, determining pathway and which direction they're going to go. But Joe actually had the opportunity to be their keynote at their Lunar New Year gala. So the relationship is strong there, and we look forward to seeing them progress. And as they progress, we'll look for opportunities for collaboration.

No, I appreciate that. I hope that we can. It makes sense for us to partner.

Obviously, we should do that.

I appreciate being able to, that we are doing that. and where we can plug them in, where it makes sense. Let's look at that, too.

Thank you, Joe. Oh, sorry.

Sorry, I was just going to comment, Madam Mayor, members of the council. We could ask the chamber to come back to council and provide an update so council could hear from the chamber on their membership and activities. That way we have an understanding, too, of potential partnership opportunities that we can engage with. So if the council's interested, we can definitely reach out and see if they're available to come to a future council meeting.

I think that'd be great. We'd love to invite the chamber to come report out.

In fact, if we can schedule them regularly, they'll come at least once or twice a year and give us updates. But Joe, I'm secretly always excited to see your presentations because I like seeing what new developments, what new businesses are coming in. So thank you for your presentation. And I know that a lot of us were at a lot of the ribbon cuttings and meet up with the mayors. But I think that for the last couple of years, we've done a really good job, or you've done a really good job of promoting business in the city and promoting a lot of the businesses, and some of them that I haven't even visited but now regularly do. And I think those are really working for people to become familiar with new restaurants that they might already even be in the city or new ones that are just coming in. So just very thankful for all the work that you're doing.

Thank you.

Again, thank you as always for making these updates for not just us but the community as well. What I also just encourage too is that where capacity is possible, I think that some of these updates, you know, we should probably also always post on our city's website as well as like a summary just for people when they want to ask us as council members, oh, what are some of the economic development progress? We can always point to say, oh, go to the website.

Center for Economic Development. We know what are some of the economic development progress. We can always point to say, oh, go to website. There's a section in which we have updates, and it's regularly updated. Yeah, thank you so much, Joe, for all your efforts in organizing so many events. The last few months, the meet up with the mayor, supporting our local businesses, ribbon cuttings, your team really make an impact in our local businesses. I would like to see, I know last year around July, there was an economic development presentation where projects like Dumbling Dumpling or the ABC Plaza, Celadon, even the drive-thru Starbucks were presented to us. We'd love to have another follow-up presentation since it's been almost a year. We'd love to have another follow-up presentation since it's been almost a year to see the follow-up on some of the developments that were covered back in July last year.

Madam Mayor, members of the council will be happy to put together the most recent update and present it to city council when the opportunity arises.

Thank you so much. Yeah, great job to you and your team.

Thank you.

Thank you also, Tim.

All right, next up is the library.

All right, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. My name is Summer Blake, and I am the Senior Librarian for Children's Services at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library. Just to recap some of what we did in March, across all departments, we held a total of 161 programs for the library, with a total attendance of 3,043 community members. All right, and then this slide just shows a little sampling of some of what we were able to do in March. We have an image from our monthly program, Toddler Art and Play. In the top middle there, there's a picture from our Bridgerton-inspired tea party. And then the top right, that is from our monthly program, Science Squad. On the bottom, we have a picture from a teen crafter noon program. Next to that is a picture from our monthly Dungeons and Dragons program for children. And then we have a picture from a toddler dance party, which is for children ages 0 to 5. And then finally, in the bottom corner, we have a picture from a program that was a workshop called Smart Shopping with CalFresh, culturally relevant nutrition made easy. All right, so coming up this month in April, we have quite a lot on our plates. First thing we want to highlight is our celebration of National Library Week, which will take place from April 20th to April 25th. The theme this year is Find Your Joy. So to celebrate this, we will have a few different events going on at the library, and then we will also have this right here, which is our passport to reading. So in this, this will be available for all ages. we have just a few little fun things in there and then the highlight of it is a few different activities that we have listed which are going to highlight some of our programs and services and different things that people might not be aware of and encourage them to explore throughout the library and if they complete all of the activities then they can get a little prize from any of our service desks. So I have this if anybody would like to look at it. And yes, so that is our National Library Week celebration. All right, for adult services, we have a few programs that we wanted to highlight. The first one is the Bird Walk and Talk with Pasadena Audubon Society. That will be on Saturday, April 25th at 10.30 a.m., where participants can meet in the friends room and hear a talk about birding and kind of give an introduction to birding for the public. And that talk will be followed by venturing outside into Barnes Park, where there will be a walk and kind of birding session for the participants. And then the participants also will have an opportunity to win a birding backpack, a beginner's birding pack, which will include binoculars and a pocket guide, and also a copy of the book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan. So this program does require registration, just to let everyone know. All right. And then this next program is also an adult services program. This is the spring gardening workshop. This we are doing with a University of California master gardener. It is a hands-on workshop. And for this one, they will have the chance, all of the participants will have the chance to learn a bit more about taking care of flowers, vegetables, and other companion plants in small gardening spaces. spaces. There is also registration recommended for this one because it does have a limited capacity. All right, moving on to our teen services, we have a program, Prepare for Your Future Success. This is a career preparedness workshop for teens presented along with the Chinatown Service Center. This program is a workshop where teens will have the opportunity to learn about different career paths, they will learn interview skills, and connect with professionals from Chinatown Service Center. All right, another fun teen program we have is the chance to visit the Vincent Price Art Museum. There is no cost for this program. Teens do need to provide their own transportation, but this is just another great way we have of highlighting some of what Monterey Park has to offer. I think some teens might not even be aware of this museum, so it's a chance to go through with our teen services librarian and see some of what our city has to offer. All right, in the realm of children's services, we have our Books and Buccaneers Pirate Party. This will be taking place on Thursday, April 23rd at 4 p.m. We'll have activities all throughout the children's department. We're doing this in conjunction with that National Library Week celebration that I mentioned earlier. There will be all sorts of fun activities in different areas of the children's department, including a scavenger hunt, crafts, and a walk the plank sort of obstacle course, which will be really fun for kids. Then we have a craft story time in celebration of Dia de los Niños, which is also known as Children's Day or Book Day. This is a national literacy initiative which encourages children and their families to connect with diverse books. and languages. So this is a bilingual English and Spanish storytime, which will be followed by a craft. And this is encouraged for children of all ages who speak any language. And it will be held on Thursday, April 30th at 4 p.m. in the storytime room. And then the last thing we want to make sure that we mention is the upcoming Play Days Read and Ride reading program. This is a reading program that we do alongside the recreation department. So we are encouraging children to read, as always, but of course, extra this month from April 6th to May 6th, if they track their reading through our program, Beanstack, which you can find on our website. If they read four hours over the course of that month, they can earn a ticket for a free ride at the Play Days carnival. and so that can be picked up at the library and any questions, people can call the children's desk and they just have to track their reading online and come into the library to pick up their reading ticket. All right, so that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Mayor, may I? Summer, great presentation. I just love what the library has to offer. I mean, I heard 110 programs, over 3,000 people, and just personal. I was just there about an hour ago. I needed to print something, but my printer was down, so I went to the library. I was able to print, and I realized something. I was talking to Kristen, and I said, wait a minute. Where are all the students today? Because there were probably 10% students tonight at around 5, 15 p.m. Then I realized they're on spring break. but the library is still filled with adults so you got people from all over the community using the library so good job in doing that thanks

I mean just the fact that we have a calendar I'm running out of wall space and in our office at home I have so many calendars put up but I have a new one to put up. To add to the data center joke, I don't understand why we need a data center in the city when we already have one across the street full of books. Not just books. A lot of the programming that we have is just really amazing from bird watching, story time. Every time I go to the library with my girls, there's always something happening. It's just so vibrant. It's such a great space to be in. I really appreciate all the work and all the programming that you guys put together to make this happen for families in the city. I still say it to this day that we have the best library in the San Gabriel Valley. So thank you so much for all that you guys do.

And just to add to these voices of positivity, I always appreciate that our library also is a space to educate the community about important services such as CalFresh. and not just CalFresh, but also when we do the free legal clinics and other services. It just, I think, reinforces the idea that this is not just a library, but also a vital community resource as well for not just the city, but for the region as well. So thank you very much and keep up the good work.

Madam Mayor, I just want to also add just a quick plug. They also do passport services. I got my passports there and applied for them there, and just the one-on-one help, because I know applying for passports can be a little stressful with all of the paperwork, so I really appreciated being able to sit with a librarian and just walk through the application and just pay them directly. It was really amazing. But just wanted to do that because I know that, I don't know if it's underused or not, but the service is there.

Yeah, I think 161 programs in one month is just amazing and impacting over 3,000 people. I personally attended the Bridgerton Tea and that was an amazing event really creative so your team is coming up with some really awesome ideas for events and this April calendar looks awesome too I'll share the Vincent Price Art Museum with my teens as well as the career preparedness workshop so really great programs keep up the good work.

Thank you very much

all right thank you library next up we have recreation and community services

good evening mayor mayor pro tem and members of the city council my name is alejandra salsa and i'm a recreation coordinator with the city of monterey park um starting off we would like to thank everyone for joining us at our annual spring aca event we had a large crowd of over 30 000 Sorry, 30,000 participants enjoying an afternoon filled with bunny pictures, craft activities, and over 20,000 eggs. It was lots of fun. Next slide, please. Next, we would like to invite everyone to join us at this year's Cherry Blossom event. It will be taking place next week on Saturday from 11 to 7 and on Sunday from 11 to 6. There will be a wide variety of food vendors, performances, cultural exhibits, and live performances. Next slide, please. Next, we have a few Langley Center activities. In honor of Mother's Day, we will be having a Mother's Day treat where the community can purchase a $5 voucher to gift a mother, a grandmother, or a loved one over the age of 50. That $5 voucher can then be redeemed at Langley Center by booking an appointment for any time the week of May 4th through May 8th for a nail polish appointment. Vouchers are now available for purchase. And then on Thursday, April 23rd from 1 to 3, we'll be having a rock and roll themed dance with live entertainment, snacks, and beverages. Next slide, please. Last but not least, please join us May 7th through May 10th as we celebrate Monterey Park's birthday at Play Days. This four-day event will consist of carnival rides, food, games, live music, and so much more. In conjunction with Play Days, join us on May 7th for our tribute to Cinco de Mayo, a celebration from 5 to 10. This will feature special live performances and also offer our farmers market vendors. And that concludes our presentation. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

All right. Great, great events. And looking forward to the upcoming Cherry Blossom Festival. Thanks for a great Easter egg hunt as well.

Thank you.

All right. That's all for staff communication. So let's go on to our consent calendar. Anyone want to pull any items?

Yes, Madam Mayor, I'd like to pull Sorry Oops

In the meantime, while Mr. Lo finds his, I'd like to pull item 10D, please.

Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, I was going to pull that one, 10D. I'll pull 10G as well.

10D, 10G. All right. Any motion to approve?

I'll move the remaining items.

All right, Council Member Wong, and then Council Member Ngo seconds. Let's vote.

Approved unanimously.

All right, let's get a presentation on 10 D Creation of a subcommittee on the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments SGV forward project proposal

Thank you. Good evening. Madam mayor and City Council Diana Garcia assistant city manager Thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council. Diana Garcia, Assistant City Manager. The evening before you tonight is a receive and file informational item and we're also asking, if desired, for Council to appoint two members to serve on a subcommittee to decide the SGV COGS SGV Forward Project proposal. So City Council members have expressed some interest in engaging with other adjoining cities regarding the SGV COGS SGV Forward Project. If interested in the city council members to decide the SGV COGS SGV Forward Project. If you are interested, cities may appoint two city council members to create a subcommittee to convene and discuss the proposed changes on Garvey Avenue. They can discuss, and those include the bus rapid transit lanes, BRT lanes, traffic signal prioritization, and enhanced stops to be completed prior to the 2028 Olympic Games. At their March 10, 2026 city council meeting, the Rosemead City Council selected two members to serve on this subcommittee. The city of El Monte is interested in participating as well and is expected to appoint members in the near future. and South El Monte may also consider proposing two members to serve on this subcommittee. The subcommittee is still in its early stages of development. There's no defined meeting schedule yet, but the hope would be to have the first meeting before the start of summer. The goal of the subcommittee would be to have the COG present directly their changes, their proposed changes to the subcommittee, and then allow the subcommittee to discuss and submit their feedback directly to the COG on the proposed changes. That completes my staff report. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for that presentation, Diana. Anyone interested in serving on the subcommittee?

You want to? Oh, okay. Okay. So our Mayor Pro Tem, Henry, is interested.

I was just going to nominate Councilmember Sanchez since he already sits on the Metro Service Council. I think it would be a good opportunity to combine those efforts a little bit.

Yeah, and I just wanted to add that we just actually, on the Metro Service Council, just received a presentation from the SGV COG about this proposal. I know that's something that Metro is heavily looking at in preparation for the World Cup, but also for the Olympics. and I know there's going to be a lot of metro things that are going to be happening in LA to accommodate for the millions of people that are going to be coming into LA for the FIFA World Cup and for the Olympics. So this is something that we're on the service council for the San Gabriel Valley already looking at. So I would like to nominate myself. Thomas already nominated me, So I would gladly accept the nomination.

All right. So it looks like we have two nominees.

Before I just want to confirm for the record, Karl, that two council members have property interests within whatever feet of Garvey Avenue. This project is potentially, I know it's a planning project and discussion, not a specific project that's going to be built, but just want to confirm that we can all engage on this.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. The agenda item has to do with appointing somebody to a subcommittee on a different to public entities, so you're in the clear with regard to any of that.

Great. Anyone want to make a motion?

Actually, I have a question. I know the question is to point to a council, but can we also point alternative? Any event that one of us cannot make it, I'm curious. Or is that something we can do along the way or later, like an alternate? If there's no answer, that's fine. I mean, I just brought it up, but that's fine. We can take action, but just wanted to bring that up.

Madam Mayor, members of the council, frankly, it makes sense. I don't know that there's any prohibition on selecting an alternate, so I think it would help from staff's standpoint if there was somebody so that if somebody was sick that we didn't have to search around for somebody else.

All right. Anyone interested in being an alternate?

I can be an alternate.

Okay.

Anyone else? No? All right. Anyone want to make a motion?

I'll make that motion nominating Council Member Lo and Sanchez as the primary and then Mayor Yang as the alternate. All right. Any second?

All right. Council Member Wong seconds. Let's vote.

Approved unanimously.

All right. Thank you. Moving on to our next item, 10G, 2025 Monterey Park General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Report.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of the City Council. Tonight, I will provide a brief overview of the 2025 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Report.

Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Eliana Muñoz. I'm the Senior Planner.

This report is prepared to meet the state requirements for an annual update on the City's General Plan. It summarizes the City's progress throughout 2025, including ongoing implementation of key policies and programs.

The City last completed a comprehensive General Plan update in 2001. Since then, several elements have been added or updated, including sustainable and healthy communities, land use, safety, environmental justice, and the housing element. I'll be going through brief updates on each of these elements included in our general plan. The first element is the land use element. The land use element was updated in 2019 and continues to guide development. In 2025, the city adopted ordinances to align with state housing laws, support affordable housing replacement, rezone sites for housing, and allow residential and mixed-use development. Next is the economic development element. The city continues to support a strong local economy following its 2024 economic development strategic plan. in 2025 efforts focused on small business support educational workshops networking events and shop local campaigns circulation elements the city continued improving its transportation network through street surfacing sidewalk repairs ada upgrades and traffic improvements in 2025 this included nearly eight miles of resurfaced streets and ongoing major corridor projects along with evaluation of transit services to make these more accessible and efficient. Under the safety and community services element, the city advanced emergency preparedness through staff training and community programs like CERT. The updated local hazard mitigation plan was also adopted in 2025 which improved eligibility for funding police also launched a public crime information portal and hosted community meetings and the city continued hosting major community events resource element the city continued investing in parks facilities and open space completing upgrades across multiple parks and public buildings in 2025 the city also adopted its first Park System Master Plan to guide through to guide future improvements and community engagement healthy community elements the city promoted community health through events workshops and outreach programs focused on mental health wellness and public safety the Park System Master Plan also supported this long-term health and recreation planning sustainable community elements the city continued sustainable sustainability efforts through programs like going green promoting recycling composting and clean energy in 2025 initiatives included solar permitting and expanded waste reduction programs and finally sorry not finally under our environmental justice element the city continued to prioritize equity by expanding community engagement opportunities including workshops public meetings and outreach disadvantaged communities and both in person and online now this is finally next is the housing element the housing element was comprehensively updated in 2022 and certified by hcd in march 2023 it guides actions to meet housing needs through our through this sixth sixth uh arena cycle which runs through 2021 through 2029. The city's RENA allocation is 5,257 units across all income levels from extremely low and above to above moderate. In 2025, the city issued building permits for 85 new residential units and advanced implementation of housing programs, which included the amendment to standards to ensure that our ADU and junior ADU ordinance were consistent with state law. We established a new municipal code section requiring the replacement of units affordable to the same or lower income level as a condition of development on a non-vacant site. We also rezoned specific properties included in the current site's inventory to accommodate housing. And we amended standards to provide that residential and mixed-use developments are permitted when allowed by the land-use designation. And the slide here lists all of the units to which a building permit was issued and its corresponding affordability level.

And so this concludes my presentation. We recommend for the City Council to receive and file the 2025 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Report. Direct staff to forward a copy of this report to the Governor's Office of Planning and Research and HCD by April 1st, 2026. And taking such related additional action that may be desirable. And that concludes my presentation. We are available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate the staff report on this. I know this is an annual report we have to submit to HUD and to HCD. Excuse me. I just want to highlight this because it's very important. So the 2021-2029 RHNA allocation, about $5,200, $5,200 something, right? so on to be on pace for that we'd have to facilitate the development of 570 or so units residential units in the city a year correct me if I'm wrong right the number of building permits residential building permits issued last year was 85 so far below 500 and can you remind do you know I don't know if you know offhand the last year or the last few years kind of about where we were at in terms of residential building permits. If I'm not mistaken, we were not beyond 100 either in any of those years.

That's correct. Mayor and City Council Member Wong. Yes. So actually in 2021, I'll go through some of the years that we do have. We had 10. In 2022 we reported 67. 2023 we reported 67. 2024-45. And last year today we are reporting 85.

Great. So we're making a little progress. It's going up. But safe

to say and safe to characterize that we are woefully behind

as a city in terms of

building housing and getting housing built

in relation to what the state's requirements are. Knowing that the city doesn't build housing itself generally. But even in the efforts that we have made and the progress we've made in terms of facilitating more housing residential units getting built in the city We're still only seeing far Very low amounts of housing permits being issued residential building permits being issued And even despite all our efforts were still very very behind in terms of the number of housing units Compared to what the state has set a goal for us and not to say that we're not And I don't think we're unique in this effort when you look at our neighbors, I'm pretty confident everyone is very far behind their Reno numbers.

Council Member Wong, that you are correct in your opinion on that. So to date, from the years that I mentioned earlier to today, total units to date are 305 units for the City of Monterey Park. We would like to mention, though, that we do have more than 1,000 units in the pipeline with projects that are not ready to come before you yet, but it's worth mentioning that as well.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that, and I would just know tongue-in-cheek that a large number of those units have been in the pipeline for a long time. So I just want to point out, and this is no one's fault, right, particularly for the city, But we, as a city and as a region, are just super behind in terms of meeting the state's goals and even our own goals in terms of helping to get and building more housing.

I mean, just to highlight how far behind we are, right? The vast majority, I think the last few years as well, most of the majority, at least if not the vast majority of the residence units the last few years as well were also mostly ADUs, not new condos or townhouses or even single-family homes.

You are correct, yes. From last year, most were ADUs as well.

So all that is to say, I'm just belaboring the point, not that anyone here is, there's not a whole lot of people here. But we need to build more housing in the city of Monterey Park. I think the city is making every effort. I think there's more we can, of course, do, and I know the state is pushing hard. We've signed on. We continue to monitor state legislation and policy that's going on to help encourage additional housing. But there's a lot, I think, more we can do at the local level to spur this conversation on, facilitate more development in the city that we know we need to have. if we have any hope of addressing affordability concerns both here in Monterey Park and in the wider region, and really playing our role in calling on our neighbors as well to do what we all need to do to help facilitate more residential development in the city. We are woefully behind. So just making that point. On the economic development element, I just had a couple comments slash questions. I'm on page 96 of everyone's following, but the small business financial support, right? We noted the community development, the CDBG funded as the small business assistance program that we set aside funding for. I'm just curious when we might be able to get, I know we're not even through a full year of the operation, but really eager to get some sort of report out on that program so that we can evaluate and see what we want to do, what this council might want to do and the city might want to do moving forward. I'd be interested in more of a revolving loan fund going into the future to potentially build that into the budget, but want to make sure we're getting some sort of analysis and feedback from the Small Business Grant program from this past kind of pilot year before we move forward on anything formally. And then the SHOP local initiatives, really appreciate that Joe presented before on some of the economic development programs, but specifically what else we can do I know the shop local program Love Monterey Park has been going on we have a host of small business support programs and promotion programs as well especially as we're getting closer and closer to the Olympics and we're expecting millions of visitors to come to the region in about two years would love to see how we can continue to bolster tourism and discover every kind of Monterey Park and shop local programs so that we are ready. If there are other things we want to start to pilot or experiment with in the next year or so, so that we're ready to capitalize on the influx of visitors that not only come outside of the Olympics, but that are going to be here for the Olympics, hopefully traveling on a BRT or whatever that might happen. Want to make sure we're checking out programs and ideas and kind of letting those go in the next year or so so that we can be prepared to leverage the millions of visitors that will be coming to the area very shortly.

And... Now, you know, there is... Right, along the... Back to some of the housing conversation, I know the legislature is looking at what else they can do to help speed up permitting. right we've the state has worked on streamlining sequel and environmental reviews and trying to remove red tape in obstacles to permitting housing there look like they're targeting potentially development fees as a potential source of of slowing down housing and making housing more affordable or less affordable if you have film fees I know we're looking at our development fees in that structure I think that'd be worth us having towns and and others making sure we're paid much to that conversation in Sacramento because that could that would impact our finances in our budget specifically but make sure we're monitoring housing legislation at the state level and federal level but particularly at the state level that might impact our finances and also might we want to make sure we're implementing any new state laws as they come up that can help streamline the permitting process and approval process for new housing units in the city.

And that is all I have.

Thank you, Council Member Wong. Noted.

Thank you.

And I'll, so, go ahead. I'll make the motion to adopt staff regulation to submit and file this report.

I'll second.

Thank you. Let's vote.

Approved unanimously.

All right. That concludes your consent agenda for tonight. No new business. City Communications.

I will start. I will start by saying we have brand new pickleball courts. Where's Robert? Robert's he's oh he's on vacation this week with spring break but thank you Robert and parks and rec staff for redoing a few of the pickleball tennis courts in the area and councilmember Sanchez pointed the fact that we actually had the national pickleball month resolution which we voted on but I just wanted to bring that up a couple of things also this past week the mayor and I actually attended the grand opening of the Milk and Company restaurant. We were also at the Saturday before, same week actually, we were at the San Gabriel Valley Pub, the celebration for the swimmers who took place a couple of months ago at the the amphitheater. Then I also visited the service the park. The Olsen company is looking to build a project and they were engaging the community input so I was third that morning as well. And then of course the egg hunt at Barnes Park. I think it was over 3,000 kids but I think it was over 10,000 eggs that was given that day. One thing I looked at this year was I tracked to see if there were complaints in Facebook compared to last year. And I absolutely didn't see any, which meant staff did an incredible job making sure not only the kids, but the parents, more importantly, the parents were able to find the kids. And I mean, you can just see how chaotic this is. 3,000 kids all over Barnes Park looking after eggs. They had a good system with wristbands, age groups, in, out, and then they had the toddlers with the Easter bunny with the prizes. So good job doing that.

And also, Council Member, actually Mayor Pro Tem, Henry Lo and I attended Monterey Vista Centennial Celebration a few weeks ago. So Monterey Vista celebrated 100 years. It's actually the second oldest school in the city of modern park next to the school of inez which is about a hundred and twelve years old something like that so we're blessed to have two centennial schools in the city of Monterey Park that's all I got

Just one comment I know we already passed it on consent calendar the resolution celebrating Earth Day in Arbor Day just want to wish everyone happy Earth Day because that will happen before our next council meeting and also to encourage people to visit our Cherry Blossom Festival which will be happening April 11th and 12th. Also on that note just a note to Sean I know we're waiving we approved just now waiving the Spirit Bus and the MPK Transit Express fares for Earth Week which I'm totally fine with I just want to note from my own perspective the mpk transit express fees uh i'm open to adjusting those fees it looks like i mean i think we could increase those moderately or slightly uh to really just toggle some demand it looks like we've got tremendous demand on mpk transit express they're still heavily subsidized rides uh and if there's a way to uh if there are adjustments that make sense for us to make on the fares for that that's still right laying on a sweet spot of making sure this is something that's it's publicly accessible, but also helps recoup some of the costs in terms of the subsidy. I'm open to adjusting the fares going forward in some way, shape, or form, too. I'll just add that note for food for thought.

I wanted to thank Council Member Wong for bringing up the housing and our RHNA numbers. but i'm also very um and and and add emphasis on the dire need for housing in the city but i also wanted to say that this it was it's it's gratifying and also hopeful to see that there's some development in terms of housing that looks like it's coming to the city um i was able to attend the olsen um meeting um at sierra vista park uh so i know there's the olsen company that's trying to build housing. I know tomorrow there's going to be a meeting at the Marie Callender's, thank you, for the Deerfield Plaza as a potential for future housing as well. So, you know, whatever we can do to help with bringing these projects forward. But I also wanted to say that recently, in fact, just yesterday, we celebrated Farm Workers Day, And there's been a recent change in that holiday. I also know that the city put out a statement regarding Cesar Chavez and Cesar Chavez Day, only because Avenida Cesar Chavez runs through our city, particularly in my district. And I know I got a lot of emails from residents in my district who are asking and inquiring about the future in terms of the naming of that city. And I'm sorry, of the street. And I know that the street, in my opinion, starts in Monterey Park and goes through the rest of Los Angeles. But whatever we can do in terms of keeping the council updated in terms of whether it's the L.A. County Board of Supervisors of the state in terms of renaming of Cesar Chavez Avenue and whatever we can do to contribute to that to keep in the spirit of the farm worker movement would be greatly appreciated. This is also Holy Week for those of us who are Christian. And this past Sunday was Palm Sunday, and Easter is this Sunday. So I just wanted to wish people a happy Easter this week. A lot of religious events happening this week. So, in fact, I promised my daughters I'd wear this blue because of pastel colors for Easter. So tomorrow I'm wearing pink, but different colors. they got me different colored shirts and sweaters and stuff like that but anyhow to keep in the spirit of Easter but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter. Thank you.

Thank you I'll be brief I mean I attended a lot of the same events that my colleagues attended but I do want to also just give a special shout out to Monterey Vista Elementary School for celebrating their centennial and as a former school board member for the Garvey School District with Mr. Vinh Ngo again it's a tremendous milestone and it's also I'd like to point out that Monterey Vista along with its other Garvey school, Hillcrest are both very high achieving schools and I think that's a credit to the very deep involvement by the parents in its PTA. I know at some point, at one point Monterey Vista boasted a 100% membership of PTA. I don't know if it still is 100% membership but given how busy parents are the fact that the school can boast 100 percent PTA membership is something to be proud of and so I think just an example where I think when it comes to great schools it is dependent on involvement by not just parents but also support of the community so again congratulations to Monterey Vista.

Madam Mayor if I can say just one more thing I forgot to mention the Monterey Park is very unique in that it has four different school districts that serve our students in my district in the southern part of Monterey Park we have three different school districts we literally have Montebello Unified, LA Unified, and Alhambra Unified that all live within my district but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that some of the high school students that live in my district attend Schurr High School. I'm sorry, yeah, Schurr High School, and some of them attend actually Garfield High School. And this year, for the first time in LAUSD history, actually Garfield High School won the LAUSD Academic Decathlon. It's the first time that's ever happened, and so actually I do have, that I know of, in my block, about four students that attend Garfield High School. So I know that we are honoring Mark Keppel High School on their second place win. But wanted to make sure that we also acknowledge Garfield High School, because a lot of those students live in Monterey Park as well.

That's a good idea.

And welcome them for their first time win as champions actually. I got an opportunity to meet them and their coach at the state competition and they did really well. So at a future meeting before the school year ends we can bring them in and acknowledge them as well.

Madam Mayor, members of the council, we do have both Mark Keppel High School and Garfield High School students planned tentatively for our April 15th meeting to be recognized. Yes noted. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you

Alright, I think my colleagues covered all the events pretty much. I just wanted to put for the record that we did get a letter from HMC StratCat yesterday withdrawing their data center application. So this letter has been posted. withdrawing their data center application. So this letter has been posted on the website for the city, and we have a special meeting on Monday, April 20th at 7 p.m.? 7 p.m. All right. Anything else? No? Okay. Then we will be adjourning right now at 8, 16 p.m. Have a good night.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.