City Council - Regular Meeting

Before we begin the regular city council meeting open session, I would like to remind members of the audience that anyone wishing to speak during public comment must obtain a number card from the city clerk. Number cards should not be exchanged with other meeting attendees. If you decide not to speak after taking a number or decide to leave the meeting early, you must return the number card to the city staff. If you did not obtain a number and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room and the city staff will issue a number card. Lining up lining up during public comment will not be permitted and each speaker should remain in their seats until the number is called. The time clock will begin when you begin your comments. Per the city council meeting rules and for fire safety regulations, all persons shall remain seated unless addressing the council or entering or leaving the chambers. Standing in the aisle or along the walls is prohibited. There's an overflow seating available in the lobby. If there is no available seats in the chamber, please proceed to sit in the lobby. I will now call to order the regular city council meeting open session. The time is 6:31. City Clerk Darte, will you please call role? Yes, Mayor Prom. Council member Peton

present. Council member Sosa present. Council member Trujillo here. Mayor Prom Ortiz here. And Mayor Frometa is excused. Thank you. Now I'd like to uh invite Pastor Dan Dutch from Desire Church for the invocation. Good evening everybody. Good evening.

It's an honor to to be able to pray for our city leaders and over this meeting. Um there's a scripture that many of us know and it it comes from Philippians and it says uh don't worry about anything but pray about everything and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds. Uh Jesus himself said, "Peace I leave you, peace I give you." It's not the kind of peace that the world gives you. And um I say that just to encourage anybody here that maybe you're not feeling that peace uh this evening and maybe there's something going on in your life or maybe there's something going on in your heart. Jesus would like you to have that peace and you can have the peace that he gives you. And um you could just go I'm just encouraging you that you could just go directly to him. You don't need me. You don't need a pastor. You don't need a priest. You can just go directly to Jesus. So, if we could just bow our heads. Lord, we just come before you, Lord. We just thank you for these city leaders, Lord, who choose to serve you rather than yourselves, Lord, their themselves. They serve to choose your uh to serve your people. And Lord, I just pray pray a special blessing on them. I pray a special blessing on their lives, Lord. I pray Lord that you would give them wisdom as they uh go to make decisions Lord when we when we go to make decisions Lord and we and we go to you first your word says that that you'll give us the wisdom Lord that only comes from you and that you would give it to us generously Lord we just pray for that wisdom for our city leaders we pray for uh uh all of those that are here uh even in the audience Lord we just pray for just a special comfort that comes from you which is your Holy Spirit we pray Lord in an invit invite you into this place, Lord. Uh that your presence could be felt here. We pray for that, Lord. I pray for the first responders here that there are leaders here that are representing first responders, Lord. I

pray, Lord, that you would bless them, protect them, protect, do a special protection on their family. Special uh blessing on their families, Lord, because they serve again they serve your people. Uh Lord, I pray Lord for those quick decisions that they have to make in the in a split second Lord that uh the Lord that those decisions would be righteous decisions Lord that they would be good decisions Lord that would come from you and Lord that you would protect them along the way. I pray for this Lord. I pray for this city Lord. We love this city Lord and Lord we know that you love this city. So we just pray a special blessing on the city. This is a city set on a hill Lord for a purpose Lord and we just thank you for that and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you.

Please remain standing for the Girl Scouts Troop 2903 for the flag suit loop. Please stand. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance for the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Can we please give him a round of applause? [applause]

Mr. Mayor, as just a point of personal privilege, I want to thank Pastor Dan Dutch for being here and for all that u the Desert Rain Church does I don't know if um well I think I hope a lot of you know but on Wednesdays this church and I had an opportunity to visit Thank you for the tour runs an amazing operation where they feed well not necessarily feed but they give away groceries and cars line up and people line up no questions asked and you've been doing that for as far as I could remember. So, thank you, sir, for everything that you and Desire do for our community. We appreciate you. Thank you. [applause] There's no presentations this evening, uh, but there is one public hearing, um, public hearing to consider a resolution approving the franchise agreement with Mr. C's Towing for towing and, uh, storage services. that the city council adopt a resolution number 26-8337 approving a franchise agreement for towing and storage services with Mr. C's towing. The hour has arrived. The public hearing is now open. The time is 6:36. City clerk Dart, do you have proof of publication?

I do, Mayor Proton. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second to receive and file the publication? So moved. Second. Please vote. The motion is approved unanimously. City Manager Bradley, is there a staff report?

Uh, yes, Mayor Proin. We have uh Chief Lochner who's going to provide the presentation. Good evening, uh, Mayor Pro Tim Ortiz, city manager Bradley, and members of the city council. Tonight, we're here to talk about a, uh, have a public hearing on the franchise agreement for towing services. This is in accordance with Downey SE Downey city charter section 1403 which requires us to have a public hearing uh to hear all persons wishing to be heard regarding the granting of the proposed franchise agreement. So just a little bit about our our current uh franchise agreement. Uh it was set to expire on March 27th of 2026. uh in order to have un uninterrupted service, we looked and decided we'd get the the process started early so we didn't, like I said, have any interruptions in the process. For those of you who don't know, the the majority of what our tow service contract deals with is us respond on traffic collisions, whether it's owner's requests or if it's an impound, uh abandoned vehicles on parking complaints, impounds, drive arrested, etc. And a big one for us as evidence holds some of the key operation requirements uh that are outlined in the RFP. Number one thing is they have to be open all the time. Um no exceptions to that. And that allows us to come out there, inspect any vehicles, have proper timely response uh from the company. They're required to be there within 20 minutes. Uh and like I said, and I'll touch on even more a little bit later, we have to have a a secured lot that's able to accommodate us storing vehicles that we have on evidence. Some of these take several years, especially the like a

homicide or a fatal traffic collision. Those vehicles stay in our impound lot for several years. So with that, they for us alone, they need to be able to store at least 100 vehicles. That includes our evidentiary vehicles and those are vehicles that are impounded uh for other charges. And in addition to that, they also have to indoor section for it. A lot of our vehicles that are impounded for evidence can't just be out in the elements. So they have to have the access to be stored inside. And again, I'll touch on this a little bit more with the city fees, but it's all done for us at no charge for the storing of these vehicles. So, a little bit about the franchise fee structure. The uh the franchise fee is a cost recovery tool, not a revenue generator. It's intended to offset the city's direct administrative costs associated with police initiated toes and impounds. [sighs] So with that, what the city gets is they get 20 20% of all revenues generated from the tow company on vehicles that were impounded directly from us. On average over the last 5 years or so, that that dollar amount came to about $60,000. One of the things that does exclude uh and something to to help the businesses is if they do uh get the the vehicles paid for by credit card, they're able to reduce that by 3%. [snorts] As I mentioned, it's a cost recovery. It's not a a gener a revenue generation.

[snorts]

And uh I'll touch on some of these other things with storing the evidence, the fiscal impact on on this RFP process, there's no no cost to us. Um the franchise fee again offsets those administrative costs. And a thing that comes up a lot of times is, you know, uh, you know, how much can a tow company charge? And that's we go by the CHP rate, which currently, let me get my numbers correct, that currently is $275 a day. In addition to that $275 days, that covers the first eight hours, which is considered a short storage period. After that, it's additional $79 a day until the vehicle gets out of impound. So, we started our formal RFP process back in September 9th. Uh, we had to post it for 30 days and it closed the window closed on October 11th. With that, we received three tow companies um that met our some of our minimum requirements such as having been in business for 3 years, having the ability to be open 24/7, and again the the facility and vehicle security uh issues that we have. Once the proposal was received, they were evaluated by police department management and those three companies were tightened transportation, Astroto and Mr. Se towing. Um, I'll kind of go in a little bit off order. Astroto is a is a tow company located just outside of the city in the city of Bellflower. They did not meet our minimum requirement for the the size of the the storage lot being able to store the vehicles. They indicated to staff that they intended eventually to grow out and be large enough to accommodate the the minimum requirements other of the RFP but this time they didn't meet those requirements so they they were removed from consideration. Second company was Titan Transportation who had been doing very good service for our city since 2009.

However, shortly after the RFP uh process closed, they informed us that they were not able to meet the current requirements of the of the uh tow [laughter]

uh franchise agreement that they were currently under. The main reason for that is they lost their lease at their location. They tried to secure other locations w within the city or the surrounding cities to meet the requirements and they're unable to do so. As a result, this time they they being tight and towed were not able to meet the minimum requirements of the RFP process. That le left the third company which was Mr. C's Towing and they met all of our minimum requirements in the RFP and I'll I'll touch on on the next slide. Um but as I mentioned, we had a big issue in October when Titan Tow was no longer able to tow for us. And so at that point, uh Mr. became our emergency service towing company as of October 15th. And I'll I'll touch on that a little bit more on the next slide. So, some of the things the issues that we're worried about historically, we always had a a tow company that was inside the city of Downey. Um there's currently no no tow companies in the city of Downey. So, the requirement required them to be in or around the city and Mr. C's meets that requirement. They're off of Firestone, just north of Firestone, uh near the 710 freeway. Um, so they started towing for us in October, October 15th. Uh, they proved time and time again that they're able to respond to us in a timely manner, meeting us within that 20-minute period. Um, but even before we got them, we tried to do a vetting process to make sure that they were going to be a viable option for the city. Currently, they they're towing for a lot of the other southeast LA County agencies, including Montabelloo, Bell Gardens, and Southgate. They're also towing for some of the LA Los Angeles Sheriff's Department uh areas as well as the California Highway Patrol staff reached out to all of these these agencies to find out what their experience has been with with Mr. C's and all of them uh said that they've had nothing but positive uh results with Mr. C's. A big thing that happened for us when

they transferred them is we had about over 40 vehicles on impound holds over at Titan tow. And for us, we obviously needed to to secure a company that was going to be able to move those vehicles from Titan Transportation and then take it over to their location. Mr. Se was able to do that within a one to day two one to two day period. And those vehicles now have been stored on evidence holds for the last two months or so. this qu at this time what staff's recommendation is to grant a franchise agreement to Mr. C's and uh I'm available to answer any questions and there's also representatives from Mr. towing if anybody has any specific questions for them.

Thank you, Chief. Do any members of the council have any questions? Uh, Council Member Hector Sosa. Yeah. Uh, thank you, MPT. Uh, thank you, Chief Lochner, for that presentation. I just had a question. Um, the well, the prior incumbent, did Titan tow their bid, I know they met the minimum standards. Um, did were they bidding in hopes of acquiring uh property in the meantime or

Yeah, from some of our talks with Titan, they had hoped to uh secure a location within the city. Um, this process had been going on for a while. I believe the the property that they were leasing from, the the owners sold that location and the new business owners uh were not they had different uses for that property, I believe. So, it wasn't an option anymore for Titan. And then Titan did look at some other locations, but was unable to secure anything that certainly would turn around in within the the time period that we needed to for us being the main thing is getting our vehicles properly stored that our evidentiary holds. Thank you. And it was only and this RFP went out. How long was the RFP process for? The process was out for 30 days.

30 days. And we only had we we only had three companies. Correct. I believe and I believe the last time which was I believe it was 5 years ago. Tit it was non-exclusive. and got a three-ear and I think there was two oneear extensions. So I think they were the only one that had submitted that last time. Okay. And I just want to clarify Montabella PD, uh, Bellg Garden, Southk PD, Sheriff's, and CHP, they all had favorable reviews of, uh, Mr. C. Towing.

Yes. Staff reached out to them and and all of them, everybody that they spoke to spoke very highly of them. It was something that we were very um cognizant of because we've got vehicles on from felony traffic collisions, homicides. Um you know, certainly with that chain of custody, we got to make sure that we were put in a reputable place and we've had very good success with them.

And then one more question, uh one thing that stood out, uh response times within 20 20 minutes. That's that's pretty uh pretty quick with that. Um, and especially historically, you know, going back 20, 25 years, you know, it was always non-exclusive. So, we've had sometimes there would be two companies on the rotation, three on the rotation. Uh, some of those people wouldn't meet them, and it's just wasting the officer's time at the location, you know, then you cancel that, you call the next one, and it's been something for certainly the last 15, 20 years, we can't have officers sitting out there for an hour waiting for a tow. So that's the requirement on the 20 minutes and that was one of our concerns with them not being out you know within the city how that response time would be. They've met it every single time they have their drivers that are staged and ready to respond in a timely manner.

Thank you. Uh just jumping off one of the the questions uh that Hector mentioned the RFP was only for 30 days. Is that standard for any RFP to be 30 days or is there something longer? Uh that's generally we 30 days is kind of what we use as a a length of time. We sometimes go it down to 3 weeks even to do RFPs. So 30 days is a pretty good length of time of being out there for uh for folks to respond to an RFP. And they're still considering to be uh Titan to be here in the city of Downey. Excuse me. Is Titan still considering to be here in Downey?

I have not spoken to Titan recently. There's some other administrative stuff that we're still dealing with that are outside of the the tow requirements RFP. Um, so I haven't had any communications with Titan since the middle of November when excuse middle of October when we separated with them. Um, like I said, this this wasn't based on Titan's performance in the past. We were very satisfied with their performance over the previous 16 17 years. It just the main issue is they didn't have anywhere to store and uh, you know, impound the vehicles at. Okay. Um, Councilwoman Dorothy Peton, you have any questions?

Um, yes, I do have a couple. I think some of my questions have been already asked and answered. Um the lot it's the lot that they have is not in Downey. It's close to Downey on Firestone. Correct. It's near the South. It's near Firestone on the 710 freeway. Okay. And this agreement um it's my understanding that it's non-exclusive agreement that there could be other tow companies that wanted to come in and bid for that. is that uh once if they are awarded they could still I would maybe deflect that to city attorney funk but um we I don't know if we would actively look into it. I think a lot would depend on um the services being provided by Mr. C's if there was a need to

just just in case that 30-day period expired that there was somebody that was still considering it but this is closed for three years in a sense. Yeah. My understanding is it's a non-exclusive agreement. there was at at some time the desire for the city to pick up another provider, we could do that. I think we've had them in the past as chief had mentioned earlier. We're not necessarily looking for another provider at this point, but that is an option with a non-exclusive agreement. Okay. And the franchise fee, I think you mentioned, is kind of standard what we had with um Titan in the past.

Yeah, it's it's exact same thing we had with Titan. Um we reached out to several different cities to see what kind of franchise fee they were charging. I I can run down a few of the close ones. Bell Gardens, who I mentioned, they charge 25% of gross receipts plus a $12,000 annual fee. Uh, Huntington Park, I don't believe it to Mr. C's, but just somebody that's closer in the southeast, they charge 14% of gross receipts. Uh, Montabell's 15% of gross receipts. Southgates, 15% of gross receipts plus a 10,000 annual payment. Um so so in the majority of the the surrounding cities we want to be fair and consistent with the uh the other uh departments in our area.

Just a kind of comment about franchise fees quickly. Uh it's basically in order to have the franchise agreement there is a fee usually associated with that to uh to pay for the impacts on the rideway and other things that they have with the big heavy trucks that they uh they drive over the the street. So we recover some of our our cost through that uh that fee and it's very common for all cities to have that.

Okay. Okay. I just want to make that out there for everyone to understand. I had a friend actually who had an experience with uh towing minor accident with her daughter and the car was taken I guess to clear the area on the roads but she was upset because when she came to to get the car like in 2 hours there was a full day's charge on that car which was you know exorbitant. I think you just quoted the rate of 279 a day. Um maybe sometimes it's 300. So I looked into that contract the area it says it's you know CP CHP rates apply so I see what the standard is but uh posting I'm sorry short period storage there was something here on 24B short storage period vehicles stored 8 hours or less shall be charged no more than one day storage fee. So I was a little confused that it's not even a prorated amount like a half day. Have you seen towing companies charge a half day for a short period of of uh storage? I I don't I haven't seen it. I would think the the minimum charges to offset a lot of their costs obviously their employees, vehicles, fuel, insurance.

So, I think what the short service is talking about is once that 8 hours passes, then they're able to charge a second day total. They don't have to wait 24 hours to charge a daily impound fee. So, you have your base fee and then once it's past that 8 hours, that's when it becomes, I believe, it's $79 a day. Short period is eight hours.

Get there, get get done and back within eight hours. Yeah, I I guess uh sometimes it would be more user friendly if it was just a little shorter, but so it's 280. And then I think I had my last uh my last question was we have certain levels of um disciplinary action violations that we are watching if we have complaints or something of that nature. And and in speaking of complaints, I did go on and do my research and due diligence on Yelp and and things of that nature. and and there were quite a few that of course when your car is towed you're not happy but a lot of them was because the car was on private property too so it's the property owner that would call for the towing company to come if they are parking in their lot but um going to a restaurant next door or so and so um I just want to make sure that residents understand private property towing versus uh public road towing you know two different types of

and and those fees for the private I I spoke to represent Mr. too to get clarification on the private party impounds that we don't have a thing to deal with. Obviously, there has to be properly signed, you know, postings for no parking, tow away, everything like that. Okay. Okay. Um, but they they go by the CHP rate as well, unless there's some difference um that's uh in their contract with whatever city it is that they're they're operating in. Okay. Thank you, Chief, for all of the detail. Thank you, Council Member Maritio. Is the three-year period for the contract standard? Um uh usually we keep things in about a 5year window or 3 years. So yes, that's kind of a standard time frame. Uh that's the way it was bid. Uh we were to ch try to change anything, we'd have to go out and start over again for for bidding.

You know, I would just add council to response to your question of these types of agreements are provided for under the municipal code. Um and the three-year term is also stated for um provided in the municipal code itself as the length or up to three years, I should say, for a towing contract. Okay. Thank you. It can be no longer than 3 years under the code if we choose or if we decide to impound someone car someone's car for evidence. That's the maximum. Do they have to pay a daily fee because our car is at the tow yard?

Once we release the evidence hold on it if once we've notified the registered owner that's when it starts. So they need to come there and pick it up. But the evidentiary holds at no cost to us. So we impound it. As soon as we sign the release and we notify those people, they need to get there and get it get that vehicle out. And if they don't get it out, then they will start acrewing daily charges on that uh particular vehicle. Thanks, Chief. I just like to point one more thing I I meant to mention earlier. As part of the franchise agreement, they also provide emergency towing services to the all city vehicles. So, if there's a flat tire or anything like that, they come out there and they provide that service as part of the franchise fee agreement as well.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you for the presentation. We will now open this item for public comment. City clerk Dwarte, uh, did we receive any written correspondence to be incorporated to the record? We did not, Mayor Pro Tim. And we also don't have any public comment um, regarding the public hearing item. Seeing that there's no, may I have a motion and a second uh, to close public hearing? So moved. Second. So ordered by the mayor prom. Unless there's any comments uh, from my council. Uh, is there any other additional comments? No. No. I will entertain a motion uh and a second to adopt resolution number 26-8337 approving the franchise agreement for towing and storage services with Mr. Street to Towing. So moved.

Second. Please vote. [snorts]

The motion is approved unanimously. We still Sorry, Dorothy. Oh, sorry. I circled it in my The motion is approved unanimously.

Thank you. [clears throat] Uh, now this is a time for public comment uh regarding agenda consent calendar and non-aggenda items. Uh, the city council will now take public comment on agenda, consent calendar, and non-aggenda items. If you did not receive a number card and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room to be issued a number card by city staff. We will be calling blue number cards for the public comment period. Before we begin the public comment period, we would like to remind members of the audience that the city's meeting rules contained in the Downey Municipal Code prohibit any conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. Copies of the meeting rules are located in the back of the chambers. Members of the audience and speakers who violate these rules and cause a disruption will receive one warning and then may be removed from the meeting. Violations of the rules of decorum for council meetings may also result in an administrative fine under the municipal code or citation for a misdemeanor under penal code section 403. The city council acknowledges the right of the public to address issues that are within the city's jurisdiction and invites the public to do so during the city council meeting. However, this right must be balanced with the need of the city council to conduct the public business in a fair and efficient manner free from disruption or disturbance. We expect that everyone who participates in today's meeting from the members of the council here on the deis to staff to the members of the public in attendance do so with respect and dignity. Please refrain from using profanity, name calling or behaving in a way that disrupts this meeting. This includes yelling, whistling, booing, screaming, and any other outburst that disrupts or disturbs the meeting. Any conduct that interferes with or disrupts persons who are addressing the city council. Any conduct that interferes with, or

disrupts council members while they are speaking. Any other conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. and attacks of a personal nature on city staff or city council members that have no connection to agenda items or non-aggenda items. We remind speakers that your comments must be addressed to the mayor and not to any other council member, city staff, or the audience. City clerk, did we receive any written public comment to be incorporated into the record?

We did, Mayor Prom. We received written comments from Greg Schwarz, captain of the LA Fire Department, station 42B. And he would like the council to consider installing a speed camera at Brookshshire Avenue between Florence Avenue and Gallatin Road. And that is all. Is there a motion and a second to receive and file written public comment? So move. Second. Please vote. [clears throat]

The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you. City clerk dwarte. How many speakers have taken a number? We have 10 speakers. Mayor Prom. Based on the number of speakers, each speaker will have three minutes to address the city council. I remind all speakers that you must remain seated until your number is called. Speaker number one, please come forward. Hi, welcome. Hello.

Uh, good afternoon, council. My name is Deia Espinosa. I'm here again on behalf of my school, the school right across the street, the school I, much like many other students, walk to every single day. Downey High is 90% minority. It's what makes up my school's population. This includes our teachers, our custodians, our counselors, our soon-to-be principal, and even my coach. A 15-year-old was detained by ICE on Californian soil heading to school. A student trying to obtain an education the way our country intends. He was unjustify kidnapped. Who's next? Is what I and everyone of Hispanic background ask themselves every single day. ICE knows no limit to prejudice, no limit to aggression, no limit to hate. Nor my age, nor my intellect, nor your humanity will be my savior against these grasps of an ethnic cleansing. Who are we, the people of Downey, to look to in this time of terror? We are told the city's hands are tied, that they cannot get involved in federal enforcement operations. Yet, 66% of our citizens approved of Measure D on November 5th of 2024. The Downey Public Safety and Local Control Measure is a quarter cent sales tax increase that generates approximately $6 million annually for local services, including police patrols and crime prevention. Are the Downey Police unfamiliar with their obligation to protect the very citizens funding this measure? I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat [clears throat] it. When all said when all is said and done, when our city no longer fosters the sounds of footsteps which our hardworking immigrant neighbors fought for. When our streets still celebrate community on the same grounds where we left people to be stripped of their identity, will you all be able to say with the utmost uncertainty that you did absolutely everything in your power to aid and relieve us of these crises and fears? This is not simply about politics. It is how our mayor says her opinions and views are her own and they do not reflect her own city's views nor her employers. Yet, we are seeing a surplus of ICE activity. This whole

scenario is a reflection of the type of city our mayor wants Downey to become, which we should want no part in. We are dealing with a humanitarian crisis while our country is built by immigrants. Last I checked, our mayor herself shares a background with the very same people she is not protecting. Thank you for your time. [applause] SPEAKER NUMBER TWO, PLEASE COME FORWARD.

HI, WELCOME. [snorts]

Good evening, uh, city council members. My name is Eduardo Sanal. I'm calling regard I came here in regards to Downey PD where I was, uh, racially profiled. I've came here a couple of times. Nothing came of it. So, I took it upon myself to file a complaint on the two officers that arrested me. And uh the facts are the officers do not have to read you your Miranda rightites. And they could change certain statements, certain dynamics of my statement to make me look more guilty without any repercussions cuz uh it got overlooked. So, I filed another complaint on a completely different matter. And I was told by Captain Clemen, badge number 11503, that all my complaints are not going to get looked at. They're going to get filed in her drawer never to be looked at. So I called the chief and he was so politely that he hung up on me when I was trying to keep a amic amicable conversation with him as well as Captain Clemen. [sighs and gasps] They both hung up on me when I was just trying to prove get my point across to them. Um, I don't know if you've heard the police oath that they spoke when they became a police officer, but it says uh a solemn pledge to never betray one's badge, integrity, character, or public trust. And I believe that that is flawed because of my experience with them. Unfortunately, especially with the police chief, he was being very uh what's the word I'm looking for? Just my personal experience. It seems like he was just did not care what I had to say. And nothing I could say would change that. And uh I hope the city council take it upon themselves to really look into this matter before it really escalates. because it's just a simple

matter and thank you for your time. [applause] Speaker number three, please come forward. Hi, good evening. Welcome.

Hello, my name is Sarah. I am a Downey resident. I wanted to make a public comment regarding human wildlife conflict within our city. As we may know, there have been more reports of coyote sightings given the fact that winter is breeding season as pup season will be in the spring. So, they are going to be more active during the day as well. I've seen sightings from neighbors and I've provided resources on how to report them. I always got feedback from the neighbors that they weren't even aware of these online sources. They just stand and film and sometimes these coyotes don't react at all. And unfortunately, there have been posts of coyotes killing our pets. I've made my own reports with our city hotline, including with the LA County Department of Agricultural Commission and with the California Department of uh Fish and Wildlife. The county inspection offered to check my neighborhood since they suspected neighbors have let food out for wildlife, whether it's intentional or accidental, which I also ask if this ordinance is strongly enforced. Coyotes are native to California that have been misplaced due to suburban expansion, forced to move into urban areas. According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, coyotes are part of the ecosystem to control rodent population and small wilds animal population. However, the county has emphasized to me the long-term solution would be if our city were to make community programs or workshops on how to safely deter and haste coyotes. They said that online information is just not enough. The more neighborhoods are made aware of how to safely deter haze coyotes, the more likely coyotes will avoid humans. The long-term goal is that we want to make sure that they have their natural fear of humans. Once they associate us with food, that's when they can become aggressive and that's when they may have to be euthanized. The fact that coyotes are being less afraid of humans when that's not their natural behavior. I

can't even open my windows completely because I've seen coyotes open window screens when they see our pets. As a resident, I don't feel safe at my property anymore. My proposal is that the city provides outreach programs and workshops possibly from public resources. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also provides a a program called wildlife watch almost similar to neighborhood watch but for wildlife. Uh so I asked does the city would if they could reach out directly because that's the only way to contact. Uh so I asked for the city provide uh community outreach and help to minimize human wildlife conflict. We don't want to wait until someone gets hurt. Our community should be safe and well informed. Thank you.

Thank you. Before I call um speaker number four, uh city manager Bradley, do you have anything you want to mention? Uh we we do have information that we put out about uh dealing with coyotes. Uh we can have our assistant city manager provide uh contact information to engage with the city on that, but we're happy to continue to uh do a increase in public information, other things to help with that out there. We understand it's difficult here in Southern California. Coyotes are part of uh the natural environment. Obviously, we do recommend that folks do not feed them and other things so they don't get to be used to uh to humans. Uh but uh we do have best practices and things that we can put out for folks in the community to to realize and how how to effectively interact with wildlife and make sure that they're not coming around your home and and creating a nuisance.

Thank you. And lastly, we also have a comment from our city attorney. Oh, to the members of the audience and through the office of the chair and in in accordance with the Brown Act, I just wanted to offer a friendly reminder that booing, clapping, and any other type of behavior in between um members of the public making public comments violates the rules of the city's decorum as those rules were read at the beginning of this comment session. Continued behavior like that can subject individuals to removal if they continue it. Um, again, that type of behavior disrupts um, city council meetings and we ordinarily offer reminders to anyone engaging in that type of behavior before they are removed. So, thank you for your observance of the city's rules.

Thank you for that reminder. Speaker number four, uh, please come forward. Welcome. Good evening, members of the city council. I'm here to speak to you on item number six on tonight's agenda. My name is Carmen Vosquez Andreusk and I am the president of the Downey Kowanas Foundation. On behalf of the Downey Kowanas Foundation, our board of directors and the members of the Downey Kuanas Club, several of who are here present tonight, we are thrilled to be here this evening to celebrate this new partnership with the city of Downey. As many of you know, the Downey Kowanas Foundation has been part of this community for over 40 years. [snorts]

It was established as a way for Kanians, friends, and other community members to contribute to a managed perpetual fund dedicating to advancing philanthropic and service goals with a special focus on supporting the youth of our community. When the foundation was created in 1985, our initial goal was simple, to award six scholarships to local students. 40 years later, we are proud to share that the foundation has awarded more than $6 million in grants and scholarships to the residents of Downey. I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally invite each of you to our annual scholarship banquet on May the 7th, 2026 at the Rio Hondo Event Center, where we will be awarding over 45 scholarships totaling more than $140,000 to our Downey youth. The new children's playground at Rio Hondo St. Gabriel Park will be the second playground that the Downey Kowanas Foundation has had the privilege to provide for the children of Downey. The first was at Ferman Park donated in 2014. An idea brought to life thanks to then Downey Kuana's president down Don Quvas and our former foundation president the Larry J the late Jerry Wedstein. I know Jerry would have been so proud and excited to see the continuation of this work tonight. We want to extend our deepest thanks to the city staff, especially city manager Roger Bradley, parks and recreation director Jason Chaon and city attorney Jason Fong for their enthusiasm and collaboration in bringing this project forward. We cannot wait to see the children of Downey enjoy the new S Rio St. Gabriel Park playground and we commend the city council for your unwavering commitment to our community's youth. It is truly inspiring to live in a city where our leaders share the same vision as our Kowana's mission to improve the world one child and one community at a time. Thank you.

Thank you. And on behalf of city council, I I can honestly we might discuss that later, but say thank you for um such an amazing organization. Thank you. Uh speaker number five, please come forward. You're welcome. Before do you need a translator? Um, do we have a translator today? Sorry. Give me one second. Okay. Do you have anybody on?

Yes. Okay. We'll give you a little extra translation. How much? Five minutes. Five minutes. Maria Lopez.

Um, good evening. Um, before anything, my name is Maria Lopez. Thank you for giving me a few minutes to um present my um issue. Um, I bring before the council an issue that I'm having with um, city trees in front of my house that are causing an issue to me and to my community. Uh so this is the third time that uh I bring before the city this issue that I'm having and um that is affecting uh me and my neighbors and um nothing has been done. because of language constraints. Um I have a document that I have written uh so that I can present to you all the details

in English in English.

It's in English. Thank you and good night. Okay. Speaker number six, please come forward. [clears throat] Welcome. Good afternoon. Uh, council members. My name is Zan Shu. I am a student of Warren High School. I am also the newly appointed co-president of the studentled human rights and youth advocacy organization, Rally the Youth, which has operations throughout the greater Los Angeles area, but primarily our largest chapter being in Downey. My primary concern today is regarding a reported incident on the 17th of this month, uh, which involved an ICE detention in front of the Downey Courthouse. Yes. Um to what extent has the uh city looked into this incident and were any violations made by the federal agency and considering that this event had has gained much traction online. I would like to also ask what legal measures can the city take to ensure the safety of residents and to what extent will the city allow ICE to violate such safety of public property such as the courthouse? Thank you.

Thank you. Speaker number seven, please come forward. Speaker number seven, please come forward. Speaker number eight, please come forward. Welcome.

Thank you. Uh my name is George Guzman. I'm a resident here in Downey for 70 years. I live on Fifth Street. My concern is the traffic going from Brookshaw to Lakewood. It's a speeding zone. Uh I know that the police is doing a great job in controlling it, but they can't be there 247. Uh there's a school down high school and they exit behind the fifth street and there's so much traffic that uh it's dangerous even for the students going across the street. There's no uh crosswalk for for school, nothing. Not even a uh sign stop sign. I noticed that from [clears throat] Parammont west, I mean west from Parammont, the zoning is 25 miles an hour and every corner has a stop sign. From Parammont all the way to Lakewood is 30 miles an hour. It's like a freeway because people don't respect the the highway. [snorts] Um, no. Between Perma and Brookshire, there's at least four stop signs. So, it slows down the traffic. But between Brookshshire and Lakewood, there is no stop sign. So, they're zooming there to the streets. It's a residential area. It It's not commercial. Our neighbors cats and dogs get killed. My brother got hit. Uh, and I went two years ago complaining to the

engineers that there's a big problem. They need to solve it. They told me we will look into it. I went Friday and they said the same thing. We will look into it. But nothing got solved. There's still a big freeway there. So, I petitioned our neighbors to see if we could slow down the traffic to 25 miles an hour as a residential zoning and to have a stop sign on the corner of Brooks and and Fifth Street to slow the traffic down so it won't be so dangerous for the students after school. That's my only concern. I know I petition for speed buns, but the engineer says no, that's not logical. So, my concern is to slow the traffic down to 25 miles and to put a cross scoop crossing there on that corner behind Downey High School. Okay. Thank you. [snorts]

Thank you. We'll have somebody from our team uh give you get their contacts so that we can get your information too. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Our public work staff's going over. Speaker number nine, please come forward. [clears throat]

Hi. Welcome. Hello. Greetings to the council in the city of Downey. Now, before I introduce myself, I have a question for you. What do I look like? What labels would you associate me with? Young, white, male, green eyes. Would you think immigrant? My name is Victor Hugo Ringone. My father was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. He came here 30 years ago and has lived here ever since, serving 20 of them in the United States Navy. He is very proud to have have escaped from his dangerous life in Colombia to come to the land of the free and fight for this nation. People like my father, hardworking immigrants and their descendants with brown skin accents and are being targeted. People who have lived here for longer than I've been alive. People born here, their parents born here, and many generations before them are being attacked. Now look at me one more time. I'm far more of an immigrant than people I've mentioned before. Should I be targeted by ICE? Should I be dragged off the street? Should I be dragged out of my home and sent to a detention center? I know what your answer was as soon as you saw my face. No, I should not. Why is that? Not because I have legal documentation. Not because I was born here. It's because of how I look. I appear to be white. What does this say about ICE? About our mayor? None of none of this was about criminals, illegal immigrants. It was about race as it always has been and it will forever be if we allow people like our mayor to hold power. Thank you, city council.

Thank you. Speaker number 10, please come forward. I welcome.

Good evening, council members. Last September, you censured Council Member Trillo for making insensitive comments on his social media in response to Charlie Kirk's assassination. Mind you, Council Member Trillo did not praise Kirk's murder, nor did he speak ill of Charlie Kirk. All Council Member Trillo did was to say that he was not going to mourn Charlie Kirk's death. Well, we now have almost the exact same situation with President Trump. President Trump did not praise the murder of Rob Reiner, nor did he speak ill of Rob Reiner, but he made the insensitive comments following the death of Rob Reiner last last December that uh that he will not be uh that he was never a fan of Rob Reiner. But Trump didn't just stop there. He also uh characterized Renee Good and Alex Pretty, the two individuals who were murdered by ICE agents, as not angels. So, what will the Downey City Council do about President Trump's insensitive comments about Reiner, Good and Pretty? Will you pass a central resolution against President Trump Trump for making almost the same insensitive comments as Council Member Trillo? I would advise you not to do that because it will make you look like fools. However, if you don't do that, you will look like hypocrites for censuring to but not censuring Trump. The reason you gave for censuring too is that the insensitive comments he made were unbefitting of a leader of someone in his leadership position. Well, Council Member Tojo agreed with that assessment. He issued an apology and took down his insensitive comments from his social media feed. What has President's What has President Trump down? He doubled down on his insensitive comments about Reiner and

went on to smear good and pretty. So, by your logic, there's an even more compelling reason to pass a central resolution against President Trump than there was against Council Member Trill. I think your best course of action would be to expunge from the record the boneheaded censure resolution that you passed against council member Trillo last September. Now, you can't go back in time and undo that boneheaded censure, but you can still redeem yourself by uh uh by expuning it from the record. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh before I make a motion, I I do want to say thank you to all the speakers, but especially thank you to the youth for coming here and speaking up. I really appreciate when we have very engaged youth coming here, especially from students from our uh education system. So, thank you. Is there a motion and second to close public comment? So moved. Second. So ordered by the mayor prom. Now this is a time for consent calendar items. Are there any council members that would like to remove or abstain from an item? Yes. If I could please ask that item number six be pulled. Is there a motion in a second to approve consent calendar with item number six pulled?

I move that we approve the consent calendar. Second. Please vote. The consent calendar is approved with item number six being pulled by council member Thujillo for separate discussion.

Thank you. The floor is yours. Thank you. Um, I pulled this item not because of concerns necessarily with the substance of the item, but more to highlight um, my club, the Downey Kowanas Club. And our council member Sosa's club is also the Downey Kuanas Los Amigos Club. I just want to highlight me too right here.

Oh, and council [laughter] member, that's right. Four of us are Downey Kanians. I want to highlight the work of Kowanas. For over a hundred years, at least in the city of Downey, Kowanas has been providing services, if you will, particularly in the area of encouraging our youth to accept a life of community service. I was one of those. As a youth in San Francisco, California, I was fortunate that the San Francisco Boys and Girls Club had partnered with the San Francisco Kuanas Club and they started a leadership club which was called the Keystone Community Service Club and they would inculcate in us the spirit of community service. We um learned leadership skills and one of the models of Kowanas is we build leaders. I want to thank Kowanas for all they did for me as a kid and I knew that when it I was ready to join a service club, it would be a Kowanas club. I found a group of amazing people where altruism really is at heart of what this club does. We're very fortunate. We have 14 service clubs. I know that um Councilwoman Peppton is a seropimist. Um and we're so thankful to have 14 service clubs. But this project today, um our club continues to give back to this amazing city and I couldn't be more proud of the work. So, I just wanted to personally welcome you, my club, and thank you for all you have done. In particular, I want to point out Connie Wedstein. I want I would like the city council to consider um naming the playground after Jerry Wedstein. Um Jerry was a special

guy. He cared for this city so much. And so I just wanted to pull the item to let you know um how grateful we are for what you continue to do for our city and to highlight the memory of Jerry who is very special to all of us. So at some point um I I I'm going to ask that we consider that discussion. I don't know what the financial implications would be to just select the playground just like we did with the dog park for former um council member Dave Gaffin Dave Gaffin. I thought that was a beautiful gesture. So, um I want to invite the council at one point to consider naming this playground. Yes, sir. No,

I agree with that sentiment and and everything you said. Uh I think we have to uh we have to ask staff to uh there's a process for that. Yes. uh to bring it back for for a discussion.

If I could have a second, sir, then for staff to come back for us to consider naming the playground at Real St. Gabriel with this beautiful equipment which you uh which we just gladly accepted. Thank you for your generosity, the the millions of dollars that that the foundation under your leadership, Carmen, and the future presidents like Jerry, um I mean, they would do computer labs for the different schools. And so, I just want to highlight the work of the club. And I don't know if there's somebody here who wants to say a few words, but um thank you. We're very grateful. Um and I'll see you at the next meeting. [laughter] Council Mayor Hector Sosa.

Yeah. Just uh briefly, I just want to thank the uh you know, as a proud Kanian uh in the city of Downey. We're blessed and fortunate to have um two um you know, just uh two great Kowanas clubs in the city. That's a blessing. And thank you all for being here. I got to give that to the uh the Kuanas Club uh of Downey, the noon club uh credit because you guys always show up strong. Always. You guys always roll deep. Um and I appreciate you guys as a fellow Kanian. Thank you all for being here and thank you for for item number six. We appreciate you. Would you all the members of the club please stand so we can

Can we give them a round of applause to all the Kuanas MEMBERS HERE? [applause] MY Kuwanian members, I mean colleagues, I must say I'm a I'm a not an alumni but at large members. So Soptimist and Kuanist did all those plays together. So just kind of put me on the side there. So you're a great organization.

It's just amazing that we have a lot [clears throat] of organizations that really care about our community and Kuanas is one of them. And I just want to say thank you for all the work that you put in. uh we see what uh other organizations and other cities how they struggle a little bit, but here in Downey, we have two and so it's it's just a powerful message to how important this organization organization is to our community. So, thank you. Thank you. And I'll see you in next meeting. Uh I know I've been absent for the last year. I was in uh uh I was assigned some committees that I had to attend, but you'll see me at the next meeting right there. So, thank you guys so much for all you do. So, with that, I move that we approve item number six and um as worded in our agenda packet.

Do second. Please vote.

The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing that there's no administrative reports this evening, uh now this is time for city council member announcements, requests for future agenda items, conference/me reports. I'll start to my left. Uh, Council Member Hector Sosa.

Thank you, MPT. Uh, just real quick, um, I did attend, uh, the U. IA, Independent Cities Association Winter Conference, uh, this past weekend and I really enjoyed it. Um, I attend sessions I attended sessions on the uh, Coastal Commission uh, embracing cyber security and getting uh, cyber security updates. Um, also, um, we were able to witness a drone, uh, demo and, uh, got educated on some of the latest technology and drones offered. Um, and also short-term rentals. It doesn't really apply to our city because it's not allowed here, but it's good to learn on um on what uh neighboring cities are are having to deal with with respect to short-term rentals, um, aka like Airbnb, uh, those types of uh, rentals. Uh there was one um session uh smart revenue growth uh strengthening cities without having additional taxation. I was fortunate enough to uh someone was supposed to moderate that. It was a great panel. Um someone was supposed to moderate that. They they called in sick at the last minute. So they asked me to moderate that. And uh I was happy to be a part of that because I'm pretty passionate about this topic. And um and I also learned some stuff uh while I was moderating. So, I I just on that note, I just um segue um I know with respect to our city's strategic plan, I just want to emphasize and we've talked about this before, but I really want to emphasize uh bringing in private investment that fosters revenue growth and highpaying professional jobs. That's a long-term play. Um I I'm old school Downey. I've been here for a long time since I was a kid. And uh we've really grown a lot. We have a lot more retail uh that I can remember in the last few decades. Um but the a strategic long-term play to um to really um uh bring in revenue and foster that growth and bring in those high paying

professional jobs which end up you know going back to the uh to the um the small business uh sector here in the community. Uh I just really wanted to emphasize that. So thank you. That concludes my comments. Thank you. Um now I'll do Council Member Marrio.

Thank you. First and foremost, I want to thank our resident who came in to talk about coyote. I would like us to consider um and I I'm asking for a second. I think the issue of coyotes should be an integral part of our neighborhood watch program. We should get our neighborhood watch programs the trainings that they need to continue to deal with the issues of coyotes. Um, so I I would like to have some sort of live workshops where we can invite the public uh to learn about how to work with with the issues. But I think just on going forward coyotes and I think in the past already has been should be a integral issue to be considered by all our neighborhood watch programs, especially the ones that are impacted with the siding. So I was hoping we could I could have a second on that.

I've seen signage and I don't know where that came from, but we can make signage. I can and pass it pass it out during our I don't Yeah, actually I don't think we need a second on that. Mon, you want to make a quick?

Yeah. So, the city has had a um coyote management plan that is on the city's website that outlines the different activities we embark on depending on the activities that we're seeing in the public. So, that information is consistently shared on social media. Um in addition to that, we do keep in communication with the wildlife organizations, one that was mentioned here tonight. Um but internally we have been talking um to actually do exactly what you just suggested is to go provide the brochures and information and also kind of an examples of what you can do to deter coyotes because there's different like whistles or sounds various things. So that is something that we are already um talking internally and we'll coordinate with PD on that.

I'd be interested in seeing one perhaps town hall where I don't know park rangers or people from the wildlife departments I'm sure they could send someone to do a live presentation. And I think our community, especially the more seasoned folk, we like to show up and ask the questions. So, if we could have something live like that. Yeah, we've had communications with those um in the past. We've had a town hall a few years ago, but something we can revisit um speak with the city manager. Yeah, Fisher Game doesn't come out and do things, but uh they're it's fairly limited, but we're happy to reach out to them and talk to them.

Thank you, ma'am. We hear you. Also, I'd like to see if we can reach out to AT&T. I just switched over to AT&T and I find their service to be lacking. I I don't know how that would work, but perhaps if they hear it, we have had a number of conversations with them. I know that you've mentioned it to me a few times and we've asked staff to reach out. Uh AT&T is a private business that we have no regulatory authority over them, but we're happy to continue to dialogue with them. Perhaps a nice letter and then we can follow up with our government affairs and put some pressure on them. We have to do that. I actually was cautioned before I transferred over to AT&T regarding service. I made I am saving money. Thank you AT&T. But I didn't realize that I wasn't going to be able to make calls in certain areas of the city. It's

We're happy to prepare a letter to give you some appreciate. Absolutely. No problem. Thank you. Five years and I still will keep them. So that's it. Depends. Um Downey Icew Watch has a meeting um tomorrow at Downey uh First Christian Church on Florence Avenue. It's open to the public. They'll be giving away free uh alert whistles. It's from 6 to 8:00 p.m. Um so please attend if that is an issue of concern. Downey ice watch Wednesday, February 25th. And that concludes my comments. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Dorothy Peton.

Thank you, Mayor Prom. Um, good evening, who's remaining here. Um, I too attended independent contract cities with my colleague, uh, Councilman Sosa. And as he said, many good information, many good topics rather, and information is given about what cities do, best practices, and anything that we can bring back here and implement. I learned a much of what the coastal commission does and so they a lot of times with developers and realtors are not a positive name to hear but they prevent housing along the co they don't prevent housing along the coast but they ensure that the beach won't be privatized by owners who wish to build on the coast. Um they also mentioned Florida already has many private beaches that restrict the general public from enjoying our beach. They have security guards all the way to the water line and that's where you have to go to walk. You can't even walk on the sand anymore. So, we appreciate them. Yesterday I attended um yesterday I was on a Zoom hosted by California Contract Cities and the speaker was Sheriff Luna. Um as we know all know already, law enforcement does that interfere with federal immigration because of Senate Bill 54 which is sanctuary city status. Um, the sheriff did also reiterate that they do uh if the sheriff department makes arrest, they do not ask for immigration status. The sheriff department will always respond to a call for help if residents feel that there are uh people being taken or kidnapped or threatened by ICE. ICE is not allowed in the jails at the LA County facility. So they had about 900 detainers issued by ICE, but he said that they did not release any of the prisoners. Then there were 168 warrants and with the warrants served for inmates, they released about 100 and they were turned over to ICE. They talked also about uh locating someone. If you wanted to locate someone who was

taken, there was a phone number and a website. So I just put that down in case we want uh those out there that want to find it. It's called the detainee locator. And the uh uh website is ICE oper intake i n t- a ke at ic.hs.gov and you can also call 8334423677. So we are always looking on council of of ways that we can interact what we can't do but know that we are also keeping informed with things that change uh daily and uh if there's something that we can do in addition to what we are allowed to do we will on the consent calendar we had a few highlights already u but I wanted to also mention that we are accepting bids for our citywide slurry project sural project as part of our capital improvements so the project will rehabilitate 55 residential streets and their segments in uh 6 the segments of our city uh equate to 6.8 miles and the estimated cost of the project is $1 million. Funding source is the vehicle impact fee. Construction to begin in May of this year and be completed in August. So some of the streets that need some slurry, you'll see us out there and making those nice. We had a great uh uh repaving project that we completed. Uh item number five, the city was approving a agreement with B Social Productions for the LA World Cup fan zone. And so this organization will assist with planning, coordination, and implementation of our official fan zone at Stonewood, which is going to be June 20th. I'm sure Jason appreciates appreciates that, right? You get a lot of help there. And uh this was recommended from the World Cup committee, and the area needs to have a capacity to handle an estimated crowd of 10 to 15,000. So we had qualified and that's why we were awarded. Uh there

were also a lot of other downey conditions. The schedule of games um was posted and the event will drive significant revenue for our local economy. It'll boost local businesses, restaurants and vendors. So it will promote Downey and the event is free. Um on our particular day in June on June 20th 20th, correct? Uh there are four games just kind of FYI. Uh it may be subject to change. There's a 10:00 game, that's the Netherlands and UEFA playoff. Then there's a 1:00 game, Germany versus Ivory Coast. A 700 p.m. game, Ecuador and uh Caracco. And the last game at 9:00 p.m. will be Japan versus Tunisia. So, you can pick a time to come come back for multiple ones. I have a couple save the dates. TLC's 14th annual 5K is this Saturday. We will all be some of us. Are you going to be running? I'll be walking. I'll be ready to go. Right. Cafe Hoya right there.

And that's 800 a.m. at Apollo Park. True Lasting Connections um is the host on that. We also have the 30th annual Ark Walk coming up on March 21st. That's a Saturday. 8:00 a.m. at Stonewood. Um I think a lot of people sign up for the Aapocco burritos. That's always a motivator, right? And we've had a great crowd for that. Uh maybe the high schools are going to have a team as well. I wanted to thank staff, our particularly our HR director, James McQueen, for labor negotiations with both our Downey Fire Management Association and Police and Police Officer Association. It was a very complex and detailed negotiation with the unions and we are very pleased to have the contracts for the next four years until December of 29. And we also appreciate the DP OA and the DFMA for acceptance of this four-year contract. We appreciate your services. you're a a vital part of this community. Um we've already spoke about the Kuanas Foundation. I was thanking them for the donation um that they have on the playground um and also for the bench at the library. So, thank you very much.

Thank you C council colleagues. Um one thing I just want to mention, I don't have much to report, is that today we did attend the ribbon cutting for our welcome to downtown mural. Uh it's such a beautiful uh so anybody watching on YouTube, please uh walk down um and and see the beautiful welcome uh sign that we added. It's just adds another art piece to our community. So I just want to thank our staff and also stay arts for uh partnering with the city and and helping us achieve this great art piece. Um I do have two requests for staff. Uh I would like to request that we can revisit our waste management uh fee uh for businesses. I know this is a state requirement and um and and we reimburse uh them afterwards. Uh but that fee for especially for small businesses really uh deters them and and kind of changes the construction or the outcome for their their their businesses. Um, and I want to I I want to make sure that we continue to be uh the center of of all business coming to uh um our city and I want to ensure it does not deter businesses from coming. So, if I can have a second so we can revisit that.

Just for clarity, I think you're asking for the uh waste management deposit. Deposit. Yes. Goes with the Yeah, correct. Second. Thank you. And lastly, I want to request um to expand our city's school zones designation uh to include all our parks and call it maybe safety zones. I've been a big fighter uh to ensure our community remains safe for our kids and our youth. Uh and I've been making sure our parks remain safe. I don't know if it's something that's feasible. I know some uh cities have that. Uh, but I don't know if we can continue having signage and reduce speed limits uh around parks and focus on uh pavement marking near areas where children play. I want to see if we can uh see we can continue making our city safer.

Just for clar that one. So, we're looking to have parks be a part of of school zones. Well, right now it's considered school zones. So, I'm hoping we can kind of change that and make it into a safety zones. So, it'll be schools and parks that will have that kind of same markings in that area. So we can look at the legal ramification and things and bring that back for consideration if that's what the council does need a second for that. Uh yeah, please second. Thank you. And with that I conclude my comments for today. Uh now it's the time for mayor uh for the city manager staff member comments. Uh nothing from staff. Thank you.

Thank you. And the city council meeting is now adjourned in memory of Reverend Jesse Jackson, 84, American civil rights activist and Sheriff Deputy Brian Sneed, 12-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department serving the West Hollywood Station, who passed away while off duty. A moment of silence. [snorts] The time is 7:45. Megan Journ.