City Council - Regular Meeting

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

All right. Okay. So, we're going to have public comment. Person wishing to address city council to test your housing authority on any item on the agenda may do so at this time. Mayor call the role. Oh, can you call the role, madam city clerk? Yes, Mayor Corm is present. Councilwoman Gray is uh joining us today um via telephone. Her camera is off due to her health conditions, but uh uh Qu is present for the city council successor agency and housing authority mayor.

Okay. And I will have public comment uh for any item on today's agenda. Good afternoon, council. My name is Fishia Dixon. I'm an Englewood resident living in district 2. I want to make a comment about the CDBG housing grant. Um, I'm asking the city council to use a meaningful portion of these grant funds um to address urgent, visible, and neighborhood centered needs at Rogers Park. So, we're here to ask the city to dedicate to dedicate CDBG and housing related funds to Rogers Park. That means cleaning up the park, housing the unhoused people living there, completing a safe walking track, restoring the damaged grass, planting trees and flowers, and beautifying the park so that it can serve the whole community. Right now, we have city vehicles that drive on the walkway and through the grass, creating unsafe conditions and further damaging the park. This is a public health safety and equity issue and these funds should reflect that. So, we ask that you use some of this money to make Rogers Park safer. Um, as someone who walks at that park almost every day, it is really mortifying to be at the park trying to exercise and then have city vehicles driving directly at you. Um, and it's also disheartening to go around the community and see the other parks and how they have track tracks and how those parks have been

invested in and beautified. So, we do ask that you invest some of those funds into um fixing the issues that I just mentioned. Thank you. Thank you. With that, we'll close public comment. We'll go to Mayor. Yes. Can you just Oh, we're going to check and see in the overflow if there's any speakers in community room A.

Seeing hearing none. Hearing none, we'll move on to item one, CSA1 and H1. Warrant register, receive and file. What's the next scheduled matter? Yes, mayor. The next scheduled matter is a public hearing to consider the priority community development and housing and non-housing needs of low and moderate income residents for the development of the 2026 through 2027 annual action plan. Has a notice of the hearing been given in a time form and manner is required by law and do we have the affidavit on file? Yes, mayor. Notice has been given and an affidavit is on file. Have any communications been received on the matter?

No communications have been received, mayor. Okay, with that uh we'll take public comment if there is any this this is on the public hearing you guys. Okay. All right. All right. So, with that, we'll um have the report. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Uh Roberto Chavez of HUD programs manager will be giving the report. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Welcome, Roberto.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, members of the public. Thank you for the privilege of your time. I prepared a brief presentation to go over the um public hearing. As described earlier, uh we're here to conduct a public hearing to receive the public input on the priority community needs and the housing and non-housing needs of low and moderate income residents for the development of the 2026 2027 annual action plan. The annual action plan is part of the consolidated plan. We're in the fifth cycle, fifth and final cycle of the consolidated plan. The next slide will describe the types of funding. So through the department of housing and urban development, office of community planning development, CPD, the following two grants funds are administered by the city of Inglewood. Community development block grant CDBG funds and home investment partnership act. Primary objectives to benefit extremely low, very low and lowincome persons or neighbors neighborhoods where low-income households reside to remove slum and blighted conditions from lowincome areas. This next chart is a uh the income limits uh for the current year and um they have the different income levels and adjusted for family size. budget. We'll go over the budget next. On April 3rd, 2026, HUD released the fiscal year 2627 allocations nationwide. The city was allocated a total of over $1.8 million in both CDBG and home funds. This represents a decrease of about 3.7 uh when you compare it to last year. This next slide gives you a sideby-side comparison. And at at the bottom right hand corner you can see the uh negative 3.7%.

Eligible activities for the CDBG pro program specifically. The CDBG entitlement program provides annual grants on formula basis to entitlement cities and counties to develop viable urban communities to provide decent housing and a suitable living environment and by expanding economic opportunities. principally to low and moderate income persons. Here are some eligible activities. Program administration, housing rehab, public facilities infrastructure, public services, economic development projects, microenterprise assistance, code enforcement activities, and homeowner assistance. Currently, uh this is how the funds are allocated for the city of Inglewood. 20% and these are by formula 20% is allocated to program administration public facilities and impro improvements 65% minor home rehab park facilities improvements for public services 15% and we use the funding for senior meals and fair housing counseling eligible home activities to expand supply of decent safe, sanitary, and affordable housing with a primary attention to rental housing for very lowincome and low-income families. To assist very low-income and low-income families to obtain the skills and knowledge necessary to become responsible homeowners. Home eligible activities include construction of new housing, rehabilitation of existing housing, home ownership assistance, acquisition, and rental assistance. home resources. So, this graph will just show you the total home resources the

the city has available, which is just over $3.4 million. Home investment partnership program. So, recently, home funds have been invested in projects to construct new affordable housing. The city is in negotiations with a developer to invest home funds in the construction of 18 new affordable housing for first-time home buyers. Some more some more news. On Saturday, February 7th, 2026, the city was pleased to partner with an emerging affordable housing developer to break ground on a 60 unit 100% affordable housing development called the Community Hub at Englewood project. The city invested $4 million in home funds for the project. Currently, the city is requesting proposals for new affordable housing developments in which to invest the home funds. We currently have a notice of funding availability. Um the last day to apply for that is April 29th of 2026. I'll mention that the opportunity has been published and available for the last 60 days. Citizen participation question. How would you spend these available CDBG and home funds in your community? Currently, we have a survey. Um, the deadline to respond to the survey is May 18th, 2026. I encourage anyone interested to please log on and submit your responses. With that, I'll go ahead and entertain public comments. We we had already opened for public comment.

Oh, okay. That we'll receive and file your report. Thank you. That concludes my report. So now we'll go to the um consent calendar items 2 through 10. So move second. Madam city clerk, council members Gray I. Media I. Morales I. Fog I. Mayor Butts I.

DR1. Adoption of a resolution authorizing the Los Angeles County Development Authority to issue bonds or notes in an amount not to exceed 26 million $276,000 received from the California debt limit allocation committee for financing the acquisition development and construction of multifamily rental housing located in the city of Inglewood. Move one and two. Second, Madam City clerk. Council members Gray I. Gadilla. I Morales. Hi. Fog. Hi. Mayor Buds. I DR2.

Staff report recommending the mayor and council members approve funding agreement number 9200 0 M460206. Amendment number one between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city of Inglewood to approve minor changes to the scope of work and to extend the lapse date of fiscal year 2021-22 and fiscal year 2023 through 2024 funds to June 30th 2027. Move approval. Second, Madam City Clerk.

Council members Gray I media I Morales I mayor Buds I A1 Thank you mayor members of the city council the record to reflect that the city council recess into close session to discuss the sole item listed on today's agenda with respect to that item the city council received a briefing from outside council feedback was provided but no final action was taken today in close session thank you A2 nothing to report mayor thank you CM1 nothing to report sir

CC1 Yes, mayor. A few a few reports. Thank you so much. Just wanted to acknowledge uh this treasurer and I along with other council members were there uh Saturday. Council member Padilla for the uh fire department annual pancake breakfast and that was delicious out of sight. And so want to thank uh everyone uh that uh participated and invited us to do that cuz that was fantastic. The residents, the community, they loved it. uh this Friday uh happening first time ever here in the city of Inglewood under the uh co-leadership and and uh help here with our councilwoman Dion Faulk. Marty Gross is coming to Market Street, everybody. Marty Grass is coming and so we want you all to come out. It's a free event. It's open to our community. All is welcome. We want to see children out there. It's a family fun event. Uh bring your umbrellas. put your dancing shoes on, bring your napkins and and all of that good stuff and let's have a good time this Friday starting at 7:00 p.m. until about 10:00 p.m. And then lastly, uh our fifth annual Women Rock. We've been doing this together now, Councilwoman Faulk and I, we've been doing this together for five years. And you know they say women don't know how to work together, but for five years we've been working together, working hard, bringing ladies in, and they have been loving it. They're going to love it even more. Uh this year, you've seen the billboards. You see who will be here. Uh and so we would like to see everyone there in your beautiful high tea attire. Uh be careful cuz I don't know what I might put on, but I I'm coming with something. So high tea it is, lady, this Saturday. Thank you, mayor.

You're welcome. CR1 initiative by Mayor James T.Buds, Jr. Recommending the city council adopt a resolution approving acceptance of the fiscal year 2026 counter unmanned aircraft system grant amending the fiscal year 2026 budget approving a public safety technology package in an amount not to exceed 6 million275,772 and authorizing the city manager or designate to negotiate and execute an agree agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. Move adoption.

Second. Mr. Mr. Mayor, I do have questions and comments. Well, you'll have time for your questions after report. Um I'm going to introduce the initiative though. Um

thank you. the city has um experienced um a real long-term progress in terms of public safety and uh we've had we've had uh a a tremendous decrease since 1981 of of our peak in violent crime and in homicides. But we have to continue to move to the future. We are an international destination and uh there's a real need to have drones and airborne security because people are using drones for all kinds of nefarious things. We also need to increase our public safety technology package and modernize it. And the police department for the last year has been doing research and in the last 6 months we settled on a package and right now the chief of police is going to give a description. Well, good afternoon mayor, council, uh city administrators and uh citizens. Um I'm really excited to put forward this uh technology presentation for uh for everyone. As the mayor has indicated, uh it's an honor to put together this technology package, which is an office of safety, public safety, uh technology, um package. So, what this does is it absolutely enhances our crime fighting abilities as they now stand. Uh we've had great um success, as the mayor outlined in our statistics, but we always say one crime is one too many. and this ability to um quite frankly put us on the cutting edge of uh crime fighting as a certainly for our citizens but also we are now a world uh community

with all these worldwide events that are coming here. Uh the special events that we uh staff on a weekly basis um this this technology piece is second to none. We've done a lot of work on this. We spent a lot of time uh I sent a lot of staff out uh across the region and the country actually to look at the best equipment that we could obtain and I'm I'm very proud to say that this is the best equipment that we can obtain at this time. I must al also add that the mayor is a tough ne negotiator and got a very good price on this. I think that's worthy of noting. Uh always looking out for the taxpayers's dollars. Just a couple key components of this technology though is a what we call an evidence.com. So what that does is it takes all the data that comes in uh in the daily efforts of our officers and interaction with citizens into our what we call our uh computer aided uh dispatch system, our records management system. Uh there is a piece near for bodywn cameras. All of that data will flow into a centralized um database, if you will, with Axon being the company that we're uh hopefully going to go into business with with of course the council's approval. But that will enable us to mine that data in crime fighting uh capabilities, identifying suspects, things of that nature. And um also uh in that is the the axon fusion center which is really the backbone of this system and and th for those of you understand technology and I must admit I'm a little bit uh uh you know I'm not the most technologically savvy person but I have great staff around me uh that does all this uh research but I do understand the utilization of that uh

technology. In addition to that, uh we're also working on enhancing what we call our real-time crime center where all of this data will come in and it can be utilized by uh watch commanders. So at the at the moment of an incident or certainly our detectives in uh investigating a crime or even our frontline officers. Um we always hold police accountable. That being said, um the other component to this is the uh counter uh unmanned aerial system uh that I put in for a grant that we got from the federal government uh to almost uh $2.8 million. We were awarded that and we are in the process of once this is approved hopefully today uh we'll purchase that we'll put in the uh order to purchase that equipment which will really help us uh again in our worldwide events uh at all the venues in the city but also uh our daily events as well. We can utilize that and I must uh back to the other uh system it also includes drone uh capabilities as well. So we can we can launch those drones on a crime in progress, feed that information to the responding officers. So it's a really uh unique officer safety feature of that of that component. I must say on the on a county UAS piece, uh I I do have to make a shout out to the uh Department of Homeland Security. Uh they were instrumental in helping us with this even though they're not getting paid. And with that, I'm certainly answer any questions. Uh, and I look forward to hopefully the passing of this today.

Okay, we're going to council questions. Councilwoman Faulk, did you have any questions? Um, I don't have any questions. I just um really want to just say that I'm really excited about this technology and I'm I'm really proud that we are putting forth um this this initiative. I want to thank our mayor. I want to thank our council members for bringing this forth. that feel like this is timely and um sir you will if you do that again sir I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Okay. All right. Go ahead council.

So um I I feel like this is timely and I I'm I'm really excited to see the um the development of it and um the o overall results. And I do want to thank you uh Chief Mark from Toronto for for bringing this forward so quickly. And thank you again, mayor, for this um for this initiative. Thank you. Thank you. Council Morales, do you have any comment uh or questions

regarding this particular item? It would just be that you mentioned the cost, the finances, uh chief, in terms of how we're doing it and everything else. And uh we're going to continue to see available grant funding and and those things. That's what's in the report. Uh, I feel like, you know, every year things change. Uh, do we, uh, are we able to use some of the funding that maybe isn't used for some of the other expenses in the police department to kind of offset this going on forward? That's one. Uh, the other one is, you know, you mentioned that we currently have, this is literally the best we can get right now, which is awesome, which is great. uh we want to have the best. Um over the years, just like we've gotten to this point where technology has reached a a certain level, it's going to continue to change. Is this particular technology adaptable to what's coming in the future? And are we ready for that? Uh and then just one last question and then inhouse here, do we have someone that we can rely on that really understands how this uh can be managed?

Yeah, I mean they're all great questions. Councilman. Uh, and yes to all three of your questions.

First of all, we have a great staff. I have a young staff that are very technologically savvy and we work with our IT department as well. So, I'm very comfortable that one of those sergeants is in the room in the back there right now uh who works uh was was a huge help on this and uh and the lieutenant uh Marvin Aguilar in the back here as well on the county UAS piece. So, I really thank them for their for their efforts. The as far as this company Axon is on the cutting edge. I looked at several different companies before we settled on this particular uh company and they're innovative. uh that yes, they're willing to upgrade uh materials or or technology as it as it unfolds and um we have uh contingencies built in there and we have a good working relationship with this company and the uh reps that we've been working with and um and I'm sorry your third was your first question but the third piece

well I mean you got the important parts the first one was on the financing how we're we have developed uh grants that are incoming throughout the year and sometimes we don't use up those funding says we need to study on which one can be transferred over and that way it can balance everything off. I'm sure you're working on all this. This was timely and everything else. Uh but those were the three things. You know, the cost of course is always a question. Although we want the best, is it the best? And then where do we go from here? So you covered it. Chief, Chief, let me interject for one second. As far as the financing, it's a five-year package and so the first year is only $800,000. Mhm. So that's that was a real big plus. Yeah, that was huge. So uh for now that's it. Yeah, thank you.

And we we will always aggressively look for grants to pay for additional funds on this and the camera system that we put throughout the city as well. Uh since you you you reminded me about that, which is a a major piece to this, but we already have 300 cameras out there as it is and we're about to network with our public works department. We'll enhance that, double it to 600 cameras. And um but to your point, those cameras we bought what we call with UASI money. So it didn't cost any city treasury for that.

Right. Exactly. And then do they do they uh communicate with each other the technologies? That's going to be a big play coming forward. So just those are just things that I'm I was asked uh if there was any comments or questions. So that's it for now. Got did you have any comment or question? Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Yeah, I do have a couple of things to say. And first off, Chief, thank you again for your presentation. Um, and I just want the public to know that this is not something that just suddenly happened. This is something that has been going on for for quite some time, for several months. As you can imagine, when you're putting together this type of technology that's going to use going to be used by the police department, uh we need to make sure that we're getting the best buck, the best for our buck. And so the uh chief of police and his staff went out to different uh agencies and different cities to see what worked and what didn't work so that we can bring it, you know, here to the city of Inglewood and have real, you know, uh a real time crime center

that's going to meet the needs of our community for the city of Inglewood. And so, uh, I had a chance to talk with the, uh, chief a couple of weeks ago. I think we we had a conversation for quite some time just going over all this and I was very impressed with, uh, although he said he didn't have all the technology background, but he sure as heck was able to uh, provide the answers that I was asking for, you know, having prior law enforcement experience, I want to make sure that we do have the right equipment for what we're doing. And so I want to thank you and your staff

for going out there to research everything so that we can make sure here in Englewood we have the equipment and the technology that's going to be able to not only work today but in the future. And uh and then also uh being creative on looking at uh different grant funding, different uh funds that are out there that'll help us uh pay for this program because it is very costly for any city, not just here in Englewood. And it's something that's sustainable, something that we can grow with. And uh so I want to thank you and your staff uh for putting this together. I know it's been months that you guys have been working on it. Uh but I know I'm excited. I've talked to several people in the community. They're excited to see this whole program kick off. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Counciloman Gray, do you have any questions or comment?

I do. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. And uh first, let me thank the chief for your presentation. I'm very I was pleased to hear the presentation because the public really needs to know as much about this initiative as anyone on the council and the mayor. So, thank you. I believe you may have mentioned two important elements I think are important to this whole process and it would be training and policy and so hopefully at some point that can be discussed. But uh first I do want to say that I am extremely pleased as I'm sure everyone on the council and the mayor to see this on our agenda. So thank you to the chief and the uh her staff for doing the uh research and the mayor for bringing it forward. Uh this initiative is really a long time coming from my perspective and uh I'm glad again to see that it is on the agenda. Um I think that upgrading our public safety infrastructure which is including the use of our body cams, body warm cameras now is a very positive step and I'm assuming that this initiative u is approved today but you know technology is alone is does not create public trust and I think that's really important in light of the climate right now and to me for me trust is really built on transparenc arency, accountability, strong data protection, and meaningful public input and oversight. We've heard the public come before the council over the last few weeks because of an unfortunate incident. And so, some of those issues that have been brought forward, I think really needs to deserve some thought for consideration when we move forward with this um uh initiative. And I think that can be done through policy and of course

training of our police officers. So with that in mind, I just have a few questions. At what point will those issues that I've talked about be formally addressed? And what are the next steps and steps in this process? And what is the anticipated timeline for implementation? Well, anticipated timelines. Um, we're working with the company as we speak and my hope is certainly uh as soon as possible, but uh that timeline can any be anywhere from uh 2 to 3 months for some of these components, not all of it uh up until the end of the year. As far as policy and training, um, we have gone I have under led under undergone for the last as long as I've been chief cultural change of this organization and training and policy have been at the forefront of that and the good people men and women that wear the uniform. Uh, so we have made great strides in that uh, since uh, becoming your chief in in 2012. Um and we do hold officers accountable but at the same time uh we have to look at all facts of a case before any decisions are made.

So I think that covered everything. Thank you. Thank you chief. Um I do have just one just one last question Mr. Mayor. All right. Go ahead. Thank you for that response. Thank you. Thank you for that response. When we do get to the point we we address the policy issues, at what point will the public have some input or oversight to to that portion? Well, our policies are online. Anybody can look at them. They're on our website. Okay. I had direct input from the public in terms of what those policies will be.

The we we work with a company called Lexapole, which is a a nationally known company. uh was one of the first chiefs in this county to bring them on board well over a decade ago. Uh they're well recognized and respected. Um look, we we people have my email address, they can communicate with me and we can have discussions, but policies are based on the law, case law, and many of it. And so we have to operate within those parameters and the amendments to the constitution. So that's that's council woman, that's really where we we're always open to input. Um, as you know, I I I attend uh many um um public sessions uh with council folks put on and I'm there for questions afterwards. I always stick around and people can email me. Um but at the end of the day, uh our policy is available for the public view.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief. Um, one of the things that um that I gleaned from uh the councilwoman's comments is u the issue of accountability. Now I've been chief officer in three organizations and you've been the chief here for what is it 11 12 years? 14 mayor. Okay. 14. Okay. H have you found it necessary to discipline or terminate officers that were found to have operated outside the realm of policy in the department? Yes, I have.

Okay. So, I just wanted to to make that clear. And uh one of the things that um I admire about our police department and the chief is that they've been forward thinking. They brought forth a state-of-the-art package for the city of Englewood to increase public safety and to increase accountability. And I want to thank you for that. Is there a motion to adopt? It's been moved and second, madam city clerk. Council members Gray I. Padilla I. Morales I. Fog I.

Mayor Buds

I. There are no appointments to boards, commissions, and committees. Right now, we're going to have public comment for one minute on any matter uh connected with city business not elsewhere considered on the agenda. Does the city of Inglewood believe force used against Brian was justifiable? Yes or no? Will city council commit today to full transparency regarding the killing of my nephew? Where are the records that Brian was cleared from by the paramedics as you said in your statement? where the city release all footage that has been obtained from local businesses without selective editing. Will Engelwood comply fully with the California Public Records Acts regarding this custody in custody murder? Will when will the dispatch audio be released? Where will the incident reports and use of force reports be released? All the video evidence being preserved, including private surveillance, dash cams, dispatch recordings, and officers communication. That's safety without accountability is not safety. It's unchecked power. You guys need to come forward with all the all these answers. We need the incident reports. We need all these things. Please just help our family understand what's going on. We're begging the community and we're begging you counsel because I sent the videos. You guys seen the videos. You guys seen the excessive force. So, we just need answers. Are these offic Where's the names of the officers?

Yes, ma'am. Yes. Thank you for your time. Thank you,

Mayor and City Council members. We are here again on behalf of the family of Brian Bostik for the unjustly murder of Brian Bostik on March 10th, 2026 on the corner of Hillrest and Nutwood. We still have no information or answers regarding where the ambulance station that responded on the evening of the Mar of March 10th and why he was cleared and then transported to the Inglewood Police Department where he arrived unresponsive. The family needs to know who cleared Brian Bostik for transfer and where is the documentation of the clearance and why haven't we gotten the names of the police officers who murdered Brian Bostik and been have they been released? Are they still actively employed on payroll? They still go home to their families as murderers. Why does Englewood police still not have body cameras?

Ma'am, you're Ma'am, you're at time. Ma'am, we're going to have to mute the mic. Ma'am, ma'am, we understand that you're at time. You're You're at time, ma'am. Mr. Sergeant-at-Arms, could you escort her away? We'll see you next time.

We look forward to it. makes sense. And to the chief, you allowing your police officers to murder people. They just want to be bullies. Trust me. But we can all be bullies around here.

Sir, your your time is starting. This is for the people information. Between two between 2013 and 2023, there were eight recorded killings by the Inglewood Police Department. The department has has faced scrutiny and high rates of deadly force, including 11 fatal shootings between 20 2023 and 2028. I mean, I mean um 2008, five of which in unarmed individuals. It shows that eight of the police killings were done against black and Latinos individuals compared to white individuals. In 28 2008, four men were shot and killed in Englewood police custody. 4 months in within a 4 months period of 2008 and 2022. I asked Mayor Buts, how much blood is on your hands and how much blood is on the chief of police hands? I'll tell you how much. Almost 50 million. Sir, you're at time. Thank you, sir.

Hi, council. So, once again, we're here to demand transparency and accountability um regarding Brian Bosik's death. The community wants the names of the officers who were on duty that day. a public explanation from the chief of police, a timeline for when the investigation will be completed, and confirmation about whether any officers involved are still patrolling our streets. Take a seat.

The community cannot heal without the truth. And we also encourage encourage the city council to stand up and stop hiding behind silence. Um, we are not confident in our mayor and we do ask that the city council make a vote of no confidence for Mayor Buds. It is unacceptable that anybody in this community has could be killed by the police and us not receive an explanation. The chief of police came and gave us a whole presentation today. There's no reason that he could not have given us

ma'am. Ma'am, you're you're at time. Thank you. Okay, with that, we'll close public comment. Oh. Oh, chief, sir. Thank you very much. Um, go ahead, ma'am. Ma'am, you're you're on. Yes, ma'am. Sir.

Okay. Can you hear? I'm here to acknowledge that this council is finally voting on a body camera component that was only v vaguely mentioned today. While this vote is necessary move, it leads to a bigger question. How do we know we won't be waiting another 3 years for these cameras to actually be turned on? The police chief says it's going to take time with no clear timeline for implantation. But we've heard that before. For the last 3 years, ever since Ivan Moira was killed, we've been told it's in progress. We cannot afford another delay. Cameras for the future are only half of the solution. Um, no new equipment is not an answer for Brian's death. We need the unredacted station footage from the night he was taken and the names of the Englewood six, the four officers and the two paramedics who were involved. But counsel understand that equipment doesn't heal a family's grief. The truth does. I'm calling on you to complete these journey towards transparency by giving us the names and the footage we need for justice. Justice for Brian Bostic. Release the names.

Release the names. Ma'am, if you do that again, you're going to have to go out. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. With that, uh, we'll close public comment. Um, now we go on to council comments. Councilwoman Gray.

Your comments. I would like to acknowledge the passing of a dear friend of mine, Wendy Hamilton. Uh, she was the wife of District 1 Commissioner Ed Hamilton Jr. Uh she was really a great friend. She was my neighbor and an incredible volunteer and she loved the city of Inglewood. She passed away unexpectedly yesterday morning. What was her name again? Keep the family Wendy Hamilton.

She's the wife of Commissioner Edmund Hamilton Jr. There's a picture there. Wendy, she lived directly across the street from me. Uh, also, uh, I want to acknowledge the passing of Katherine Balden Lane, L Y N. Uh, she was a force in the community and devoted matriarch and her family. I ask the mayor to please join the meeting in her in both names of Wendy Hamilton and Katherine Balden B A L D O N L A Y N E and condolences to her family. Also, uh I want to congratulate uh the LMS club on uh their sixth annual pancake breakfast which was held this past Saturday. Um, I heard it was a real success. Thank you to the lawn's president Gavin Curry and to the two co-chairpersons, Naen uh Alagon Harris and Yolanda Lean and also to um um Alita Smith. Uh also congratulations to Councilman Padilla. I understand the LA County Fire Department's pancake breakfast and all the firefighters uh that was held this past Saturday was a great success. So, congratulations to them also. And thank you to the assistant fire chief Trevon Espie and to community service leaison GG Chan. Uh please don't forget the uh to don't forget to save the date of the annual family unity day on August 1st. And lastly, I just want to say again, I'm pleased that the council and mayor has the initiative. I want to reiterate that uh policy, a clear policy are very

important that will include direct public input and I hope that that is going to be something considered moving forward. So, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman Faulk. Oh. Oh, you mixed it up today. Okay.

I did. I did. Um I'm going to go quickly. I have a lot. Um I want to um actually again um uh congratulate um our mayor and our council for u passing the initiative is a very important initiative and our chief um of police for this aircraft systems grant. So I'm really excited about it. Also, I'm really excited as well about the uh Marty Gro event with my with my my my partner in crime uh city clerk Aisha Thompson on Friday night. Um looking forward to it in women rock on Saturday at the senior center. So, please join us. We're going to have a great time this weekend. It we are celebrating 5 years of um women empowerment. So um please come out join us and um let's celebrate women also um um our Bernard our director Bernard McCumbbury is um having the building safety community forum it's happening tonight Tuesday April 28th of course it's going to be at the senior center it's the building safety community forum um him and his team and it's a pre-sales plan check permits and inspections it starts at 6:00 p.m. this evening. So, please come on out and um join him and his team. They have lots of great information that they're going to share. Um he would love to have the community come out and get that information. So, please join him. I will um plan to attend. I'm sure if our mayor and council members are able to, we'll all be there to support the event. Um also, this past weekend had a lot going on. I uh partnered with uh some of my community um uh folks. Uh on April 25th, I did the financial literacy event at the Arm Church on Imperial Highway and uh that was a really great event. We had

some community members come out and um we uh shared out lots of great financial information there. I partnered with uh Jack and Jill of America. So that was a great event. And so, um, want to thank a lot of our community members for coming out. Um, I also did the paper shredding event. We we, uh, did a double a double take on Saturday. I want to thank, uh, our director of public works, uh, Tony Omos and his team. We did the paper shing event at Sofi Stadium. Thank you, Sofi Stadium, and also my sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, and Republic uh trash services. We had lots of um of our residents come out and um partake in the paper shredding services as well at Sofi Stadium. So, thank you uh Tony um and your staff for um helping me put that together. And then I wanted to um also acknowledge a couple of um great events that I um attended as well over the weekend. Oh, I'm at one second. Mayor, can I get one quick minute?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, really quickly. Um this is graduation year for a lot of seniors. And I just want to lift up a lot of our um senior students that are graduating. So proud of them. We I attended two events over the weekend. Uh St. Mary's Academy, they had Career Discovery Day and I was happy to um uh support Dr. Brandy Lucas, uh principal over there to support those students. And then I also attended an event where um several students are going off to college. They're going to Howard University, Morehouse, Spelman, San Jose State University, Northwestern University, North Carolina A&T University. So congratulations to uh our Englewood uh students that are going off to college and making a success of themselves. So so proud of them. So that's all I wanted that's all I have. Mayor, thank you so much.

Thank you. Uh Councilman Padilla, District 2.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh as Councilwoman mentioned, tonight at the senior center at 6:00, Building and Safety is doing a presentation. And I truly hope a lot of uh our residents can come to this meeting because you're going to be able to get some uh insight as to the process and how we go about making decisions when you come to city hall to pull your permits or hey, you know what, I want to build an ADU or I want to do an, you know, there's an addition that was done before I bought the house and now I'm being asked to upgrade or to bring it up to to code. So they'll be there to give you some really good information. Uh so please if you have an opportunity tonight 6 o'clock at the senior center for that presentation. Uh you're going to notice throughout the different streets here in I want to thank our public works director U Tony. Uh the folks are out there resurfacing our streets you know taking out the actually taking the street out and putting new streets in. uh repairing sidewalks, uh all that type of stuff, redoing we just slurry sealed, I believe, Labraa, and we'll be doing other streets as well. So, we're doing a lot to improve our community. I say that to say this, be patient with us. I know that when that happens, we have these detours and and you can't cross here, you got to turn left there, and people, we all get frustrated, but just be patient. We'll get through this. and it hopefully will be done the next couple of weeks if I'm not mistaken. So again, thank you for your understanding and thank you in advance for your patience. Uh this past weekend I certainly had an opportunity to join the Englewood Champions Lions Club pancake breakfast. Huge success. Uh standing room only crowd. It was amazing. Uh the

raffles were great. Everybody enjoyed themselves. I want to thank uh all the members of the uh uh Lions Club, especially the president Gavin uh Curry for putting this together with this team. Uh again, this is the type of community events that we enjoy so that we can break bread together. We carried it from there to the LA County Fire Department station 171 right here on Region Street where we had uh the assistant chief uh Trey was there and he was Trey Espie and also there was Gigi Chan I think Gigi was oh back there. Thank you Gigi. Uh you guys put a tremendous uh fair together. uh the kids, the community came out there to support and say thank you to all our firefighters for the service, for putting your life at risk and for helping our community out whether it's a fire, a traffic accident, a medical emergency. Our LA County Fire Department is there, mayor, just one minute. Uh I also want to thank Sydney Tugerson, District 2 resident. He did a He's an artist and did a a book, put a book together, did a signing that was over right here on Market Street. Helen Lesk was there. She was right there on to my right. Uh she works with our art commission. So, it was really good to see our our uh community come out to support uh Sydney Tugerson and our other artists here in the city of Inglewood. You're saying to yourself, what am I going to do this Saturday? Well, let me tell you, Saturday from 11 and I know you got this other event that you guys going to talk about or you did already the the uh but for the guys and the girls and everybody that wants to jump on a truck, we're having touch a truck. Touch a truck is happening right here at Rogers Park from 11 to 2 on

Saturday. There's going to be dump trucks, fire trucks, police trucks, construction trucks, all of that for the kids to come out and jump on it. and even us even us older kids to get out there and have fun. And uh hopefully we'll see you there. If you're looking for some good food Friday night, Cinco de Mayo dinner at the Knights of Columbus Hall. My wife and I will be cooking there. We hope you can come out. All the money that the Knights of Columbus make go right back out to the community. God bless. God bless. Have a great day.

Councilman Miller Morales, District 3. Um, so a lot has been uh said already that, you know, I'll probably repeat, but I'm going to start with with the progress that has been made here uh today. Sometimes it's very visible and sometimes, you know, we it's it's a picture of progress. The um the body cams, you know, the initiative actually was huge. Uh it's been long talked about. It's obviously something that has a lot to discuss, but today we made progress. It's been it's been approved and we're going to move forward on it. Uh, of course the questions in regards to timeline, how it's going to be laid out, where we go from here, um, the training, those things have to get worked out, but but today I don't want to not acknowledge the fact that that the city has taken a a huge step here. Um, secondly, uh, the CDBG funds, great progress. And, and the reason I mention that is because when I first started on the council here, we are a city that used to leverage our CDBG funds to really operate some of the the the normal basic functions that a city pays for. We would leverage them in areas where they qualified to do services that we could not afford to do. And you know, we've uh surpassed that era. And now, while we're playing catch-up on still some areas, we're we're there. We're at a point where our city has grown to the point that now our CDBG funds can be leveraged for extra things. You know, some uh resident came up and talked about a park. Of course, it can be used for things like that. The home funds, Robert Chavez has done just an excellent job of that. But I want to focus on some of the things that are already happening. I can uh uh tell you that at Rogers Park, there's a hu huge project that's beginning, I believe, in August, a capital improvement project

that's beginning in August that includes a lot of those things. Uh but it's just a sign of where we are. Uh so, you know, I have to say that while, you know, things seem so routine and and it just seems like it's moving right along, uh there's significant progress with the way the city has improved and its use of funds and where we go from here. But thank you for the comment on that. Uh now, in regards to uh some of the events that came up in the last two weeks, all great events. I'll talk about the uh sports science. I believe uh you know Thomas and his team but just an amazing amazing program there to bring them out. Now this particular organization is nationwide goes to events nationwide but we're actually the only city that they do an event in. Usually it's just like the Dodgers or some major sports team that is actually doing uh this program. but we get it as a city and that's that's to commend uh uh Thomas and Teresa for really bringing them on board and having them believe in our city. So that's huge. Uh and then of course we we've gotten to the point where we celebrate just all of the extras which we did a tree planting for Earth Day last week. Those are things that it's a message. It's about how long we've progressed. So, I don't want to uh these these events, they matter and but you know, when you've been here to the degree when you grow up here and you start seeing kind of what we're adding and how we're playing catchup, I mean, it's huge. It's huge. So, I want to really commend staff and and overall the progress that is being made every week here. Uh and then quick shout out to the same building safety community forum that Bernard is doing with his with his crew. Uh it's the first of many. Uh today is the one where they introduce everything and I'm sure you know it is important to give input because as you

give input, he's going to start to really isolate what's needed out there and show up with programs that that make sense to everybody. The goal overall is to make the function of our planning department more useful to our residents and any developers that want to invest. So uh with that, mayor, that's all I have. Thank you.

Okay. So, first I want to um tell the uh city clerk and councilwoman Faulk I don't have any high tea attire so I won't be coming to Women's Rock. Secondly, uh you know, I heard a comment about u one of our parks and I I would tell you that you would really have to be reaching to find shortcomings in the capital development infrastructure of our city. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on roadways in the last 10 years. We've spent tens of millions of dollars in our parks. Just to replace a bathroom in a park is $400,000. The city could never have considered replacing bathrooms before and it's all because of the way the city's been managed. And let's talk about transparency and accountability. Now, one of the things being the mayor, the council to a lesser degree, but the mayor is that um people see you as the power source and and the person responsible for everything that happens. And I accept that when you have an incident that was as tragic as the loss of life of Brian Bostik, it's tough because one, there have to be investigations. The district attorney has an investigation. Whenever there's a death in custody, the police department holds one. But the most key investigation is that of the LA County Coroner's Office because until they produce a final report, evidence has to be preserved in the

event there was uh an allegation of foul play. And so no one wants to know more than I and the council do what was the cause of death. And so it's our responsibility to sit here, wait, and not make premature comments, but to give comments based on evidence. Now, I asked the chief a question. I've been a chief officer in three different organizations. I have had the responsibility to terminate officers that acted out of policy. But one thing one thing that's key, you have to make a determination that something that was done was out of policy. And so we more than anybody want the coroner's office to release their final report. Accountability is key. Justice is paramount for everyone involved. And with that, I'm going to close the uh meeting. Well, first I want to congratulate Chitaara Smith and housing protection. She received her bachelor's degree while working terara Smith and uh we're going to close in the name of Katherine Balden Lane Wendy Hamilton Carlos Viegas who was a contractor that was struck by a vehicle at 109th in Krenshaw

and Clare Francis Collins The mother of Scotty Collins passed at 87 on April 15th. She's a 60-year resident and Scotty is a police lieutenant in New England Police Department. And with that, we're adjourned. Thank you, mayor.