City Council - Regular Meeting

The meeting please come to order this is the 02/24/2026 regular meeting of the irvine city council. At this time, I'd like to note that the time is 05:42. I turn now to our city clerk who will indicate how people can participate in this meeting, particularly those who wish to participate remotely. Mr. Peterson.

Thank you, mayor. Members of our audience who wish to speak may submit their name into one of the speaker kiosks next to the city clerk or in the main lobby. We also offer the ability to provide live comments via Zoom and submit written comments through our e comment system. For those who wish to participate virtually, visit zoom.us using any web browser or the Zoom app on smartphones or tablets and enter meeting ID 1600434844. The passcode is 272906.

You may also dial in by calling (669) 254-5252 or (669) 216-1590 and entering the same meeting ID and passcode. Those who wish to provide comments via Zoom are asked to enter the speaker queue by raising their hand electronically. The city clerk will call your name and allow you to unmute your microphone at the appropriate time. Those dialing in by telephone will be identified by the last three digits of their telephone number. We ask that you please state your name for the record.

The time limits per speaker are noted in the posted agenda and are established based on the number of requests submitted. All requests submitted after the first speaker is called shall receive ninety seconds. Those who wish to provide written comments may do so by clicking e comment on the city council meeting agenda webpage at cityofirvine.org/ictv. All comments will be provided to the city council as part of the meeting record and will be uploaded to the city's website. For technical assistance with Zoom before or during the meeting, please call (949) 724-6078.

For any other questions or assistance, please contact the city clerk's office at (949) 724-6205 or via email at clerkcityofirvine dot org. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you Mr. Peterson. At this time for the record would you call the roll.

Councilmember Carroll. Here. Councilmember Goh. Here. Councilmember Lu. Here. Councilmember Martinez Franco. Here. Councilmember Trecedor. Here. Vice Mayor May. Here. Mayor Agram. Here.

At this time what I'd like to do is call upon our colleague, Councilmember Mike Carroll, to lead us in the pledge. But what I'd like to do is ask folks to please remain standing after the pledge, and I'll then announce our special guest for the invocation tonight.

Thank you mayor please place your hand over your heart ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag The United States Of America and to the republic for which stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please remain standing. Tonight's invocation will be coming to us in the form of a musical presentation. At this time, it's my pleasure to introduce and call forward Mia Grund, a native of nearby Laguna Hills. Mia is a junior at Concordia University right here in Irvine. She is studying both psychology and music in hopes of one day working as an equine therapist and or in worship ministry.

That sounds like something we could all use, a little equine therapy, right? Thank you. Mia is here tonight to perform the national anthem. And I just want to welcome her and invite you to all welcome her with a nice round of applause. That was terrific.

As I mentioned to you before, we sometimes try to choreograph a photo. So I'm going to suggest you stay where you are. We remain standing. The audience can get comfortable and take a seat. And we've got an official photographer here.

There we go. Thank you, Mia, and all the best to you. Please, everyone be seated. Now we move on our agenda to item number two which is presentations. I'd like to turn to our city clerk to announce by title this particular presentation item 2.1.

Thank you mayor we have one presentation tonight on single use plastics reduction survey results and this was agendized at the request of councilmember trecedar.

Thank you as our city staff comes forward and will introduce themselves in a moment I'd like to invite those at home who are participating via Zoom who wish to speak to this issue to enter the queue electronically at this time and raise your hand at the time you want wish to speak with that please introduce yourselves and we look forward to your presentation

good evening honorable mayor agrin vice mayor my city council my name is ryan tenny sustainability policy strategist and joining me is jocelyn fritz our sustainability climate analyst as well we have Sandrine Cassidy our senior sustainability consultant with environmental innovations and this evening will be presenting the results of the single use plastics reduction I'm

going to just interrupt you because I made a full paw here I want to, having introduced yourselves, I'd like to turn to councilmember who would place this matter on the agenda to further introduce it. Councilmember Trusieder.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate staff putting together this presentation. The reason that I asked for it is because a couple years ago the council asked for a survey to be done to ask our local businesses how they might feel about changing single use plastic policies. And we hired a consultant to do it, they came in and did it, Taxpayer money was spent on the consultant. I want to make sure that the residents get the benefit of that and hear what the survey said.

And I also if any of my colleagues wishes to respond I'd love to hear what they have to say about it I'm not anticipating making any sort of motion or having any sort of action after this just the presentation.

Thank you councilmember truceader and please introduce yourselves by name once more so everybody will know who you are and you'll be famous throughout Irvine and the entire world all right

thank you mayor agrin again my name is ryan tenney sustainability policy strategist and this evening joining me is jocelyn fritz our sustainability climate analyst and in the audience we have a sandrin cassidy our senior sustainability consultant with environmental innovations and this evening will be presenting the results of the single use plastics reduction survey.

Thank you.

At the direction of city council staff conducted targeted outreach to the local food service industry to assess the readiness for potential policy actions that would reduce single use plastic food where environment innovations Inc surveyed two thirty three Irvine food service businesses between December 2024 and April 2025 industry standard for survey collection aims for around a 10% survey response rate and we were able to get 31% of brick and mortar food service businesses in Irvine to respond to the survey. There were targeted questions to examine readiness and willingness around reusables single use compostable or recyclable materials bring your own items programs and policy implementation at the city level. The survey was also designed to determine what businesses need to make the switch to help close that gap. Results indicate a majority of willingness to adapt to a targeted approach particularly polystyrene or is also referred to as styrofoam prohibition and plastic straw restrictions while broader measures are more conditional successful implementation is most feasible with the face compliance standards procurement guidance support measures to address costs and operational impacts and for clarification during the presentation will refer to extended polystyrene as styrofoam as it's commonly known.

The City Council previously considered broader restrictions on single use plastics and received significant input from business stakeholders regarding potential costs and operational impacts. In response the city council directed staff to narrow the scope of potential plastics reduction measures to specific categories like styrofoam food wear and single use plastic straws and to conduct focus outreach to food service businesses to better understand their current practices concerns and readiness to transition to alternative products and or reusable systems. Staff had a major focus on widening outreach efforts and materials to get a diverse sweep of feedback from the community staff also began implementing some more sustainable practices internally within city facilities to be leaders in this movement looking at reusability where possible and switching the compostable and recyclable materials if things needed to be single use. The survey was 34 questions and environmental innovations conducted in person door to door engagement supported by multilingual materials and outreach through partner organizations including our local chambers and cultural business organizations such as the asian business chamber of orange County to help assist with language and cultural barriers. The survey period as I mentioned before was from 2024 December 2024 through April 2025 and we had around two thirty three completed responses.

The survey was in nine languages and the survey captured a diverse cross section of Irvine's food service sector and focused on current foodware usage, receptivity to targeted and broader policy measures, perceived operational constraints related to reusable foodware, and interest in assistant programs and implementation strategies. So some of our key findings were styrofoam prohibition shows the strongest readiness and highest support and also has a low reported current styrofoam use. Plastic straw restrictions are more moderate readiness but most respondents are supportive or open with concerns focused though however on like performance, such as like paper and cardboard straws as cost alternatives. And broader single use plastics and reusable strategies show interest but a more conditional best advanced through phased implementation and targeted assistance. Some of the findings readiness by policy area of which comes a styrofoam we see a 56% support a ban with 22% tentative and 8% currents that are currently reporting styrofoam use regarding straws as a 42% support with 25% tentative support and 24% opposed and when you look at broader single use plastics we've seen that 51% support a broader brands on food where items with 10% conditional support but also that was really interesting about the survey was that there is 80% of businesses they report using single use plastic disposables however there is also reporting of a 46% already starting to phase in and use compostables so we're starting to see businesses generically on their own start to transition to alternatives.

And then you see when it comes to reusable food where for dine in 43% report mechanized dishwashing capacity while 41% of businesses rely entirely on disposables for dine in. And then when you look at bring your own programs such as there's about 18% essentially business offer that with 9% would consider fees for that but there is a hesitant see that do bring your own programs based on hygiene and other types of safety concerns. So some information of what business need to transition the businesses mentioned that the they want city support that would increase willingness to comply such as financial assistance free technical assistance and a transition period targeted exemption waivers as well if there is a potential policy for consideration also the identified primary barriers were higher costs product performance durability as well as 30% reported unfamiliarity with various options. And as mentioned before, there's a hesitancy for bring your own programs because of the health guidance and sanitation. So overall the survey results suggest that Irvine restaurants are most willing to adapt to a targeted policy that addresses a limited set of items or alternatives are widely available and operational disruption is expected to be manageable the strongest readiness signal relates to styrofoam prohibition where support is high and reported current use is low there is a readiness for plastic straw restrictions for two thirds of respondents are supportive or open to a ban but meaningful minority are opposed and certain business types may face higher transition challenges For broader single use plastic restrictions the data indicates interest and momentum including exist all partial adoption of compostables but also confirms that a comprehensive ordinance would affect most businesses and would therefore require deliberate phased implementation strategy with clear standards compliance support and measurable transition timelines the survey also highlights that operational ready that readiness for reusable food wear is a is uneven across the sector as many businesses have the infrastructure to expand reusables but a substantial share relies entirely on disposables for dine in service.

Finally bring your own programs appear to have limited readiness at this time. That brings the end to presentation and the team and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You.

Thank you for that presentation let me just turn to our city clerk this time first to ask if any speakers entered the queue either in person or remotely?

Yes mr. Mayor we have two requests to speak one in person one via zoom.

Let' put them on hold we' keep the queue open for the time being and we' turn to council members for any questions or comments that they might have. My screen here doesn't register anything so what I'd like to do is just ask, do council members have any questions or comments to pose at this time? Councilmember Treseder.

Thank you. I appreciate the presentation. I just have one question. What's the current cost differential between your traditional plastic like utensils and other things and compostable alternatives?

I think it really varies it depends on the types of products that should that you would be procuring and the quantity amount. There is a lot currently as we've done research that are in this sector of more reusables being put into the market also with SB 54 which is mandating the producers essentially generate compostable recyclable material from the producer standpoint there's a lot more than there was a few years ago that's out there and we've seen that the cost comparisons can be equal they potentially could be more but I think it really depends on the types of products and the quantity so for example I know that might not be a exact estimate it just really depends on that business and their situation of when they're transitioning their their products

okay thank you very much

Thank you, Councilmember Treseder. Councilmember Liu.

First, thank you for doing the survey. My question, I guess, is are there more alternative, viable alternatives that are like not as costly that are readily available now then and do you foresee that coming up anytime soon

I believe so we actually here at the city we actually created an an external guide to help businesses if they would like to start that transition we actually have a guide on our city website that we just recently updated that actually shows those kind of cost comparisons that shows that it's pretty like it manageable from that standpoint and that's something that we're looking to eventually start promoting with our community engagement department but there is more and more products as we've seen come into the market especially as the state of California has been adopting more stringent legislation such as SB 54 and SB 54 right now the regulations haven't been adopted by the state but they are working to get the producers to start already making that transition or making that switch because they want to put it more on the producers than the consumers to start making these products so I would say we're going to be seeing more of these products in the market very much soon. But there is a lot more that's out there.

And my next question is, it's not in the report, are we is it still true that it's actually environmentally more sound to use say dishwashers rather than having disposable?

Yes, reusable.

Even with compostable, I'm sorry.

Don't worry

no I'm using reusable is definitely a really big component of helping not only the environment because obviously we're not generating as much waste that would go to the landfills but also it's more cost savings for the business over the long run we've seen some various reports and analysis and research we've done but initially you'll see if a business is starting to transition to away from compostable materials and trying to do reusable there's more of an upfront cost but then they see that there's more savings in the long run using like dishwashers and reusables as well

thank you

thank you councilmember lu councilmember vice mayor mye

thank you mayor and thanks for the presentation as well had a quick question here is how is this enforced and what are the procedures in terms of enforcement

well there's no policy in place currently for like enforcement for this but we've seen from other jurisdictions they've had code enforcement we've seen at the county if they for example the they they would also like through like their food inspections or things of that if they had a type of regulation like that they would include that as part of their normal inspection of like a restaurant as part of like their checklist for like enforcement but that is still to be determined we would need to do more research on developing a policy to see what specific group area how that would be enforced what exemptions would potentially need to be included waivers things of that nature

thank you

thank you Let me maybe pose a couple of questions here. Has this survey and whatever you've gleaned from what other jurisdictions are doing, has it led you to the point where you'd be comfortable in further exploring and actually recommending policies to control and eliminate plastics as best we can. Let me just more pointedly ask, is there some jurisdiction out there that's way ahead of everybody else that we could look to for some inspiration and guidance.

Sorry about that mayor a grand thank you for the question there are plenty of other cities and jurisdictions within the state of California that are that do have more stringent ordinances and policies I have a couple here in Orange County that touch on similar things that our survey covered I would say the Bay Area is definitely leading the way though when it comes to that they have polystyrene which is styrofoam bands and ordinances they also have dine in and reuse policies that they're working on which is definitely you know pushing the boundary right there but some jurisdictions that we have that are local allow me to pull it up so Laguna Beach they have a citywide styrofoam and plastic reductions ban they also have a plastic drinking straw and utensil ordinance as well in terms of just looking at styrofoam restrictions citywide we have San Clemente and Newport Beach right here and then looking at styrofoam restrictions only at the government facility level we have Huntington Beach, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, and San Juan Capistrano.

Don't we have in place a policy for our own city hall and city facilities

that was directed that was an internal policy by direction from the city manager's office about us making that transition so we can show that you know we're going to try to be leaders in this in this aspect so we are currently within all of our city facilities there has been that transition away from single use plastics to compostable items to you know just to really remove that component I could highlight at one of our facilities CCW over here off of Armstrong we actually just implemented a mugs mug drive so essentially for like coffee mugs everybody brings in their coffee mugs and essentially starts using those as you know reusables instead of us having to buy other types of like products and so far we've it's been pretty successful and it's a one one aspect of something that we're looking to do. But overall throughout the city, yes, we are reducing that.

All right. Thank you. I see none of my colleagues wish to be heard further at this moment. Why don'92t we turn to public comment at this time. Mr. Peterson would you tell us how many people wish to be heard.

Thank you mayor we'92re up to six speakers still one in person and five via zoom.

They will have up to three minutes each Go right ahead.

Thank you. If I could call forward Jason Garfield.

Welcome.

Thank you. So I'd like to say I'm against any sort of single use ban or mandate. This stuff keeps getting forced on us on the state level, and every few years the standards get changed. It feels like the sort of soft despotism that Alexis de Tocqueville warned about in Democracy in America. And I think there's an element of humiliation ritual to it.

It's as though folks like Gavin Newsom enjoy playing Twister with what they can get us to use. So, the single use straws, they get soaked, they're highly inconvenient, and now the marginal inconvenience to any citizen is small, so is the marginal benefit to the environment. So if we're going to consider the aggregate benefits then we cannot reduce the costs to an individual concern. If this is such a small thing, then it is not worth doing. The fact that a city is going to put such effort into this shows that it is not small, it's not trivial, and the negative consequences of these things are not trivial.

So this is a choice. This is between businesses and customers. You can encourage businesses to make different decisions. The consumers will respond to that as fits them, but I fail to see how this is in the interest of Irvine residents who are the priority of this council. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Jim Kearney. Jim, you may unmute your mic. Hello, Jim, can you hear us? Our next speaker is Alice McNally. Alice, you may unmute your mic.

Alice, can you hear us?

Yes. Can you hear me?

We can hear you now. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. I'm speaking today in support of Mayor Aynchron's plan for improved local storage at San Onofre. It is

Ms. McNally, excuse me. Is the city clerk. We are not on general public comments yet. We are still on presentation item 2.1. So you'll have an opportunity to speak next.

Okay, don't forget me.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Eric Nashanian. Mr. Nashanian, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you. Council members, mayor Agram. Mayor Agram, I think you're right. Think the last time this came up when a president had this on the agenda for the actual ban, instead what was proposed and what you directed the city was to put in the ban, try this city, in house city. And I think that was actually passed by the council.

But in any event, you know, rather than worrying about banning things, how about we keep things out of the ocean and the water systems? You know, it's one of the simplest things for all of us to clean up after ourselves regardless of what it is, compostable or not. You can have compostables, but if you throw them away and they get into the water, what does that do? What good does that do? You know, the whole thing is the simplest thing to conserve is to conserve and also to stop pollution.

So I'm encouraged that staff was actually able to complete a community engagement, community outreach project, which it seems like that does not occur. There's no follow through with these things when the community is supposed to be conferred with. So the report was actually pretty good. But at the end of the day, you want to solve things, be responsible for yourself. And encourage others to be responsible for themselves with regard to waste. It's a really simple process. You clean up after yourself. You put it away. It doesn't get into the water. It helps everybody. Thank you.

Our next speaker is telephone number 360. 360, you may unmute your mic. 360, can you hear us?

Yes, I can hear you. Thank you very much. The Serbia itself is probably disingenuous. You've used nine languages. What language did you not use? How did the translation go? Did you use three languages? Did you use Gaelic? What is the cost of this plan and these consultants? And then we wonder why there's inflation. And why not give the taxpayers financial assistance? We're thinking and talking of giving the restaurants financial assistance. Well, the bottom line is the restaurants don't want this because it increased cost. And if you give do give the restaurant assistance, financial assistance, then guess who's paying for it? Plus, the taxpayer is paying for it.

And that's not fair, and that's not right. It's a typical green scam and economic weaponization. It's time for a taxpayer rebate. Why don't you wonder and get those city buses, the Irvine Connect buses that generate fossil fuel, get them off the streets. If you really want to save the environment, take them off the street and maybe put some passengers in there. I traverse the city six or seven times every single day and I see one person maybe in those buses. Shame on you. Thank you.

And Mr. Mayor, if we could try Mr. Kearney one more time. Mr. Kearney, you may unmute your mic.

Mr. Kearney, you hear us? No luck, Mr. Mayor, and that is all the speakers.

Well, thank you. At this time, council members are free to be heard for another round of comment. But I think I'd like to first turn to council member Treseder who had introduced this item, put it on the agenda, and maybe hear from you first. Councilmember Tristeater. Thank

you. Yeah, this has been very helpful. I appreciate the questions from my colleagues up here. And this has given me a lot to think about. So I'll think about it.

All right. I don't see any other requests electronically here from my colleagues. Let me just say that thank you for the presentation. As an ordinary consumer, sometimes I'm just appalled that all the plastic associated with food, not just food, other products as well. It's sort of hard to know where to begin, how to begin.

But I am interested in what other cities, of course, the initiative really seems to come from beach cities, because they bear the brunt of this kind of pollution from the more inland cities, from visitors at the beaches and so forth. But I think it's important that we stay up to the minute understanding what other communities, what other cities have done, and the headway that they have made. I think one of the callers kind of alluded to

what

I also learned to appreciate, that sometimes these things are less a question of legal requirements, prohibitions, banishments, and so forth. And more about a cultural change that just needs to take place without benefit of formal ordinances or laws, but where best practices are just encouraged, as one caller said, decent human beings, common courtesy, some forethought about how we impact the environment, not only for ourselves but for future generations. So I'll tell you what I would appreciate is from time to time, just sending along to me, to my colleagues on the council, a report about what leading cities are doing and what seems to be successful. I mean, we do want to see policies that are successful, cities that are making progress. If we can identify what they do in a cost effective manner, Hopefully it'll inspire us.

I think I recall, Council Member Treseder, that when you had first introduced this item a couple years ago, that I think one of your very capable researchers had done a survey of other cities and so forth. It'd probably be worth kind of resurrecting that, sharing that information with us at the dais from time to time, and see if we can manage to put ourselves in the forefront of all of this by virtue of being better informed and better equipped to move the city forward. Thank you very much for your presentation and for your day to day work on this important issue. Thank you. Unless you have something further, Council Member Trusieder, this is just to receive and file.

Thank you. With that, let's turn to I think we need to turn to the various items hold on here. Alright. I think at this time we turn to public comments for non agendized items. This is the opportunity in our regular meeting agendas for members of the public to be heard as to items not on the formally published agenda.

That being the case, people can speak to any matter that is, broadly speaking, within our subject matter jurisdiction. Even though it's not on the agenda, we typically limit this segment to thirty minutes maximum. Do we have requests for citizens to be heard?

We do, mayor. We have 14 requests to speak.

14. Let's limit the speakers then to two minutes. And let me suggest that you leave the queue open just a couple of minutes more, and then close it, and we'll manage to be within the thirty minutes. All right?

Thank you, Mayor. If I could call forward Luke Pond, Susan Sayer, Aaron Lockwood, Jessica Becerra, and Adrian Heckman. And we'll start with Luke.

Thank you, and welcome, sir.

Thank you. I'm Luke. I'm a resident of Irvine for three years. Here in Irvine, we call ourselves America's safest city. But for the past year, this hasn't felt like a very safe place for me or for my neighbors, many of whom I know were not born in this country.

That's why I volunteered at the Sunday pro democracy rally out in front of the Civic Center last year. The community that I found there helped me to maintain a more healthy outlook towards the future. So, nevertheless, wave after wave of immigration enforcement is happening in Orange County and in Los Angeles. It's become clear to me that these are state sponsored terror operations that are designed to create a widespread climate of fear in places that don't support Trump. This campaign of fear moved on to Portland, Chicago, Minneapolis.

And who can doubt that in 2026, California will again be among the primary targets of the massively increased ICE budget. Expanding their anti American mass deportation quotas requires them to find locations for operational support and the lease of office space at 2020 Main Street is apparently part of their growth plan. My request to the City Council today is to support local independent journalists and providing transparency to the public about what the federal government will be doing in that office building and to practice a noncompliant policy in all cases where they may request assistance from the city. I would also suggest that the city could easily post flyers and signs in all public spaces advising residents of available legal and community support services for those who are threatened by ICE. Let's work to regain some of the peace and safety that have been lost by showing all Irvine residents some of the mean ways that the city offers them sanctuary.

Thank you for your comments.

We do

have a related item on the agenda tonight five point three but your comments were of a broader nature thank you.

Good afternoon my name is Susan Sayer and I've lived in Irvine since 1981. I'm strongly opposed to ICE offices and its troops being located in or near Irvine as we all know the agency poses a serious safety risk to all people isis rented an office space building located at 2020 Main Street in Irvine which is located near the orange county registrar of voters irvine and santa ana schools near many businesses the hotels near the John Wayne Airport and therefore ice poses a risk to the health and safety of Irvine residents the employees of other businesses located in the building including maintenance and housekeeping staff to the employees of businesses located in the vicinity of the ice building to school employees and students to airport staff and tourists to hotel employees and staff to the registrar voters staff and to the Orange County voters for the upcoming elections. As the city of Irvine has the duty to protect the health and safety of all people living and working and visiting in Irvine to protect our electoral system I believe the city has the duty to warn all Irvine residents Orange County voters schools and businesses of ICE's present and the warning should widely published and should provide the address of the office building where ICE offices are located and the name of the contact information of both the buildings owner mgr real estate and michael g rate maker the founder of mgr real estate and the leasing agency mgr property management so that businesses located on or near the property and their employees adversely impacted people and members of the public can lodge their concerns and complaints regarding ice being located in Irvine which is widely advertised as being the nation's safest city a claim that we must live

Thank up you.

Thank you for your comments. Erin Lockwood. Welcome

thank you good evening I'm Erin Lockwood I'm a political science professor at uci and I've lived worked paid taxes voted given birth in Irvine over the past nine years I too want to draw your attention today to fears in the community about heightened federal immigration enforcement including the leasing by the general services administration of property at 2020 Main Street to increase their activities to increase ice activities locally as you know because many of you have posted about it three women were arrested by ice last week at their work place here in Irvine. I see this impacting my neighbors, my students, and the community more broadly. I'm afraid for my neighbors who are not US citizens or who are but meet ICE's broad racial profiling descriptions. A man at my church told me his he he's told his wife not to speak spanish in public my friend's mother a green card holder now carries her paperwork with her everywhere she's been in this country forty years she's never done that before I have graduate students who are afraid to leave the country to do field work because they're visa holders and they worry they won't be readmitted I have some who have changed their research topics entirely because they fear that publishing on politically contentious topics will jeopardize their ability to stay in this country I have undergraduate students with undocumented family members who have taken on huge caregiving burdens for family members afraid to leave their homes on top of their already intense class loads this is no way to live no one should live in this kind of fear and it's especially distressing in a city that prides itself on its reputation for safety but safety for whom because my fellow parishioners my neighbors and my students do not feel safe here moreover this widespread fear has tangible economic costs a recent study by several of my colleagues at uci found that Orange County businesses lost nearly 59,000,000 over the eight weeks following the may twenty twenty five ice raids as a result of decreased foot traffic and closures This translates to about $4,500,000 less in sales tax revenue at the county level.

So, I too ask you to consider what we can do like Thank the city of

you for your comments. Harold Orska?

Welcome. Hi there. This is new for me. I've never done this before. I am not a U. S. Citizen. I'm an immigrant who spent a year behind bars at the adult detention center. I want to thank the city of irvine for the opportunities that it's giving me and the nonprofit organizations that I represent in an upcoming event. We will be helping alleviate any kind of food insecurity or anxiety that may exist. And I again want to thank you folks for allowing me to participate in this event as one of the founders in the orange county food support coalition. That' really all I have to say.

Thank you for your service and thank you for your comments. Adrian

Heckman, if I can also call forward. Darryl Gale, Cheryl Long, Julie Tapp, Allen Myerson, Jason Garfield, Felicity, and Layton Shelley.

Thank you. Mayor Egren, Vice Mayor Mai, members of the City Council, my name is Adrian Heckman. I've lived in Irvine for thirty five years. This is my first time appearing before you and I joined the previous people here in asking the city to please please oppose and do everything you can to keep ice out of Irvine and keep them out of the offices at 2020 Main Street I chose to live in this city because I always considered it to be progressive and I still consider it to be like that we are a nation of immigrants but we're also a city of immigrants and I want to ask the city to please join our congressional representative Dave Min who has written a letter to Todd Lyons who's the acting director of ice representative min has asked to Mr. Lyons to publicly explain the purpose and scope of the proposed facility and also made a formal request for ICE officials to participate in public meetings with local and elected officials and community members, that would be you.

I think ICE presents a taint to our fine city in addition to all of the reasons that the other folks here have stated, we don't want them here. And so I'm asking the city to please do whatever it can to take a stand and to oppose ICE moving into those offices at 2020 Main Street. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Darrell

Totally new topic.

Welcome. Thank

you. I'm Darrell Gayle. The NRC won't save you. For over two years I've been impatiently, guardedly, hopefully waiting for Irvine to do something, say something, propose something, activate either state, federal, or late, land local governments to make some kind of concrete effort to repackage and move the Edison nuclear waste off the Sannofre Beach to someplace higher inland and more secure do you think the federal government the nrc the doe the d o t is going to save you If so, please tell me about one municipality, city, state where they have stepped in to do something, anything. For the last eighty plus years no one wants to deal with the mountains of toxic nuclear wage waste which doesn't degrade just keeps piling up.

In October 2019 at Chula Vista, Edison convinced our coastal commission that it was safe and okay to leave the waste on the San Onofre Beach and that there was nowhere else to put it. Did they even look? I was there and watched in horror. It is not your city's or other coastal communities responsibility to pay for Edison's cleanup of this disaster. I work with a statewide statewide coalition on upcoming legislation called make polluters pay. I will tell you more about it next month but read this book Roger Gloss it's all about your city.

Thank you for your comments.

Cheryl Long.

Evening. Welcome.

I'm Doctor. Cheryl Long, a longtime resident of Irvine. And I'm also part of an extensive group of Irvine volunteers that have been raising their voices at places like the Irvine City Hall all year long. And we are working also to provide mutual aid and support for our communities. Tonight I want to thank the city council members and the chief of police, Mike Kent, for the work that has been done in creating resources online for immigrants facing challenges and for doing some educational outreach for Know Your Rights.

I was at Kathleen Tressetter's event. And also thank you for not signing the two A7G, thus declining to work with ICE, and bringing forward tonight an immigration assistance program, agenda item 5.3. We need to do more. And trying to find the words to express the challenges that we face, federal district court judge Joseph Goodwin eloquently wrote in his recent decision, aseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening across The United States agents of the federal government masked anonymous armed with military weapons operating from unmasked vehicles acting without warrants of any kind are seizing persons for theoretically civil immigration violations and imprisoning them without any semblance of due process. The systematic character of this practice and its deliberate elimination of every structural feature that distinguishes constitutional authority from raw force place it beyond the reach of ordinary legal description.

It is an absolute assault on the constitutional order. It is what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent, and it was what the due process clause of the fifth amendment forbids. On the ground what this means is that federal agents presence as masked anonymous agents who are roving literally around our cities traumatizing whole communities leaving residents afraid to go to work to go to the grocery store to take their kids to and from school.

Thank you for

your comments. Julie Tapp.

Good evening mayor city council. Thank you. Hi. My friends and I are here seeking answers really to one question in addition to knowing about the lease in question at 2020 Maine. What can and will our local government do to educate the public, protect the residents, and support those affected directly by the illegal actions of ICE agents in our community?

I am really here to ask city council for a show of unity on this. When the city council is divided, the people are divided. Irvine is an integrated multicultural model city as you all know very well. All residents of Irvine, regardless of our status as immigrants or citizens, what we look like, how long we've been here, what language or languages we speak. We all deserve to speak and move about in public and live our lives freely.

We all deserve to be treated according to our rights under the constitution and the law. I am sure you all agree with that statement. That is not a partisan issue. We want to know if we can count on our leaders on the city council to do everything that is within your power to protect your residents during this historic time. As the city's governing body, each of you has some big choices to make in this moment.

Instead of the division we see in Washington, can you unite to protect your residents against the threat of ICE operations in your city. I would ask every member of the council to go on record at some point opposing the lack of accountability and the climate of fear that unchecked ICE operations are implementing and urge you to work together. It may not be easy to identify tools and strategies, again, to educate Thank and so protect much.

Thank you.

Alan Meyerson.

Welcome. Good evening councilmembers Allen myerson. Tonight I just want to make an observational comment about the behavior on the dais. Mainly I wanted to speak to councilmember presider and tell her what I have witnessed over and over again. What I have witnessed is this. She's 99% against anything the mayor agendizes. When the mayor makes a motion, she tends to make a hostile substitute motion. And then if the mayor reacts to that hostile substitute motion, she becomes the victim. Because councilmember Tresidder is always the victim. Your judgment of character is lacking.

You aligned yourself with a former councilmember that I think is charged with six felony counts right now. Your judgment of character is flawed. It doesn' do good for the city. I don' see you agendizing any items that are good for the city. I see you making things personal on a consistent basis and it seems like when it comes to the ocpa you've now entangled vice mayor my into your web.

I see you speaking to his ear when that issue comes up. I don't know what you're saying to him when none of us do because it's between you and him. I don't appreciate that. I would appreciate you trying to work more with your colleagues instead of making things personal and becoming the victim.

Thank you for your comments. Jason Gersfield.

Welcome.

Thank you. So, the very first meeting of this council back in 2024, I spoke about a safety issue in the driveway to Cross Creek apartments. Now, this is not speculation. It's a known safety issue. It's been that way for a long time.

In 2022, it led to the death of a two year old girl. And it's an easy issue for anyone to see who drives out of that driveway. And I can show anyone who who wants to come with me and take a look. There is a large sign with the name of Cross Creek apartments which blocks the view of oncoming traffic. So, if a car wants to see the cars that are coming at it, it has to stop at the head of the line in the sidewalk which led to what happened a couple years ago.

I've spoken about this repeatedly. I gave some information to the city attorney. There has been no action. That sign is still in place. There is a similarly shaped sign at cedar creek apartments that one is even more dangerous because the driveway opens onto Alton which is a much bigger street this is it's only a matter of time before something happens again. It's not going to happen until it happens. From what I gather, I spoke to the attorney who is currently suing the Irvine company. They can't take it down now because that would constitute an admission of guilt and they don't want to pay out to the girl's father. Why don't they just shut up, pay out what they owe, it's their fault, and take the damn thing down? It would take them a day.

I mean the brand company I think is what we should call it because they are a disgrace to James Irvine's legacy and have been for a long time clearly doesn't care about anything but their bottom line but I hope maybe some of you guys can make them care. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Felicity.

Welcome. Thank

you Mayor Irvine City Council. I'm here because I'm very concerned about the presence of ICE in our community. We just heard about three women being picked up as they arrived to work in Irvine at least two car washes have been raided and people taken and separated from their families families that often include U. S. Citizen spouses and children.

Last summer a car was stopped on the corner of Main And Macarthur by ice their windshield was shattered and a husband was taken leaving a pregnant wife in the car in the middle of the road a car that was unable to move since she had no license to drive. An irvine high school student was recently abducted and sent back to China with her mother leaving the mother' very distraught marine husband to wonder what the hell he could do to get his wife and stepdaughter back. Now we have the opening of ice offices right in the middle of our city causing fear and apprehension It is also affecting businesses as a prior speaker said the uci study showed that businesses in Orange County have lost upwards of 59,000,000 because of ICE' actions in our community. In fact someone at one of the buildings near the new ice offices on Main let me know that they themselves had already lost income because their south american clients will no longer come to their offices for fear of being profiled and targeted. I' asking you to do all you can to mitigate this ice presence in any way you can including for bidding federal immigration agents on city property and I' sure you can think of many other ways thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Leighton. Welcome.

Hello. I have a bachelor's in english with an emphasis on environmental problems. I did this I did some research a while ago, and I like this quote a lot. And I didn't originally I you said our trash problem is maybe a cultural issue and someone else said like it's about how we dispose of it or whatever I want to illustrate the the severity of our solid waste program in the world. Is a quote by a study in 2022 about how much solid waste we produce.

The net annual municipal solid waste production in Europe, Asia and The United States nowadays approaches 2,500 tons and is predicted to reach 2,700 tons in 2025 those are yearly production rates to put this into perspective we can translate the mass into trees suppose a standard tree is one ton there are 200 ton there are 201 ton trees per acre of forest this makes 2,500 tons the mass equivalent of 12,500,000 acres of forest a year were productive were producing this waste and then disposing of it somewhere a year merely staying at that rate and not growing we are scheduled to produce an amount of waste equivalent to a sec Texas sized forest every thirteen point five years but the rice production is growing and and the the production is the problem and how we deal with it we can't we can't produce that much disposable stuff and then expect it to go somewhere useful when it's not made to go anywhere useful.

Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you for your comments. Joann Slabodin. Welcome.

Thank you so much. Residents across Irvine are currently collecting thousands of signatures because they believe all Irvine open space promised to them should actually be protected from Bomber Canyon to Quail Hill to Oak Creek and throughout the entire city. What I cannot understand is this the council voted seven to zero to move forward with the ballot process on these issues yet today there is no visible support for protecting the very land residents were told would remain open space. I'm respectfully asking each of you to sign the initiative petition as a sign of goodwill not as an endorsement of the outcome but as a commitment to let voters have a fair and transparent say as you promised. Residents keep asking me the same questions where is the required accepted open space easement under resolution 88 dash one why has the scrivener's error in the general plan not been corrected and why are citizens being forced to gather tens of thousands of signatures to secure protections that were supposed to already exist from the public's perspective hundreds of millions of dollars in open space value are at stake yet the city is not actively enforcing the protections that are once promised Irvine has seen major citizen initiatives succeed before showing that when residents step forward the city should support not obstruct their right to be heard we need 19,000 signatures and 300 volunteers to make this work it has been done before and we can do it again but we need your help please sign up volunteer and sign the petition and donate at Protect Irvine Open Space or come see me today after public comments thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is eric nishanian. Mr. Nishanian you may unmute your mic.

Thank you, council members, Mayor Agram. I wanted to take you back to last meeting when council member Betty Franco complained that she was new at this when she was meandering and didn't understand how the meetings are conducted during the library agenda items during council business. She's been misleading the city since she won an at large appointment at the DEI Committee in 2022. She's had two years on the DEI Committee to learn how meetings council meetings, are run. The DEI committee is also conducted under Robert's Rules of Order.

She made sure to mention that during the Great Park meeting today, and she seems to be a little more up to speed. But she had two years to get up to speed. And last meeting, she also said she was a PR expert, an expert at public relations. Yes. That's true.

She worked at FSB Core Strategies, who was owned owned in part by Jeff Flink who fled after the FBI came after Melahat Institute. Now she didn't claim to be a PR expert when she applied to the at large appointment for the DEI committee. Then she claimed that she was a senior executive for DEIXIS Group Incorporated that was created by two of Jeff Flynn's colleagues up in Sacramento, claiming to be somehow a DEI expert. And you can go to DEIXIS Group Incorporated's Facebook and see that since March 2022, there's been no activity there. Now I understand that after the DEI committee made advisory motion about how to be guided last in January to the council, that the council that their meeting this month has been canceled.

Isn't it time now that we disband the DEI committee, which I brought to the this council's attention since February 2022 that is a sham? It's a waste of time. It's a waste of resources. And in light of the fact that $500,000 was given to

Thank you. Your time is up. Our next speaker is iPhone three sixty. You may unmute your mic.

Yes. The US has the largest number of unauthorized immigrants, roughly 14,000,000. And it's relatively simple. This country voted for law and order and has a mandate. We are a nation of laws. Anyone who comes to this country illegally should be sent home. It's not fair to those who came into this country legally. We are a righteous nation and people have to abide by our laws. We talk about safety in Irvine. Has anyone seen how grocery store cabinets are locked up now?

Maybe police officer and chief Kent should focus on law enforcement and stay out of politics and let ICE handle immigration and let Irvine, the city, handle services for those people that need it. It's relatively simple. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is DDT. You may unmute your mic.

Hi. Nation of law, after a few weeks of being rattled by absent files and having seen nobody get arrested or be investigated, I I really have a completely different opinion. I also wanna zoom out a little bit and say when there's been two and a half years of genocide on our iPhone, the violence that we perpetrated with our tax dollars and helped Israel commit genocide, it comes right back. ICE is trained by IDF. ICE is trained by IDF.

ICE has an office in Tel Aviv. So now we have IDF trained ICE thugs going around terrorizing people, grabbing people off the street. And once they're in the detention center, they go through the carceral system of, you know, for profit. They don't count people as humans. They count people as how many bodies have come in.

And children have died, in case you didn't know, just in the last couple of months in detention center. How where do I begin? We didn't we couldn't stop genocide happening elsewhere. Now we have people being killed here. How are we protecting anybody? I

just don't understand,

and I think it's about time everybody stops pretending like we live in some kind of a echo chamber or or bubble that everything that happens everywhere is connected. What else? So I saw another agenda item today that concerns me because there has been a member on the council who has repeatedly tried to block freedom of

Thank you. Your time is up. Our next speaker is Susan Keefe. Susan, you may unmute your mic. Susan, can you hear us?

Yes. Can you hear me?

We can hear you now.

Sorry. I don't know why I'm having phone problems. Hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak tonight. I tried to speak during the first agenda item, and I don't know. I'm having problems with my phone. Anyway, I wanna start off by saying that I support ICE out of Irvine. I I've also spent time in front of 200 Maine, and it's just I hope that everyone will do everything possible in the city of Irvine to control what's happening with ICE. But I did wanna speak about the environmental survey that was done with with restaurants. And I I wanna point out that I I know I heard other people talk about the fact that, you know, this is a cultural problem, and really we just need to clean up after ourselves.

But every year in The US, an estimated 561,000,000,000, with a b, disposable foodware items are used. That is a whopping amount of waste, and all of that waste finds its way to water. Like the nuclear waste that another commenter mentioned that continues to pile up at Olfried Beach, the plastic never actually goes away. It doesn't break down. It just breaks up.

I also wanna point out that we have state laws, and these state laws are not being followed. And while I appreciate that 56% of the, I guess, the people on restaurants surveyed supported a ban on foam, we banned foam on 01/01/2025 in the state of California for foodware, so that needs to be considered. We also have BYO programs. It's a state law. AB six one nine allows consumers to bring their own clean reusable containers in for takeout and leftovers.

We also have law AB twelve seventy six, skip the stuff, which was actually presented at council last month. And it's something that is really important. It is this is a leading cause of health care costs. Dollars $250,000,000,000 estimated in annual healthcare costs related to plasma.

Thank you, your time is up. Our next speaker is Alice McNally. Alice, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you, and good evening. I'm speaking today in support of Mayor Egren's plan for improved local storage at San Onofre. It is the responsibility of every level of government, including local jurisdiction to protect its citizens. It is imperative for the council to work with mayor Egren's proposal to move the nuclear waste at Santa Nofri to higher ground to explore options for local relocation, hardened storage of the nuclear waste, including the Mesa, higher up on Camp Pendleton. The DOE has not located a permanent storage facility, leaving Song's nuclear waste stranded only 108 feet from the Pacific Ocean, exposed to tsunamis, rogue waves, king tides, severe storms, and rising sea level.

Edison claims that it is safe where it is as they use historic instead of projected sea level data which shows the sea level rate has more than doubled from recorded dates between 1993 and 2023. NOAA tells us high tide flooding is now 300% to more than 900% more frequent than it was fifty years ago. On a pathway with high greenhouse gas emissions and rapid ice sheet collapse, models project that average sea level for The US could be 7.2 feet by February thirteen feet by 2150. Songs has no plans to begin moving the waste until 2035. It is likely the waste will remain at San Onofre until 2060.

Don't ignore, Council please don't ignore the mayor's call to action and let it be forgotten. Explore your options, take action, enlist others and develop a plan to move the nuclear waste to a safer storage configuration on higher ground until the federal government can

Thank you. Your time is up. And Mr. Mayor, I failed to mention earlier that we have one speaker in person who has a video. She's our last speaker, Mona.

Our last public commenter today.

Correct. She's here in person and has a video.

All right. The grand finale here. Welcome.

I don't know how that's going to work out. Can you hold off on that until I tell you, please? It's been like a really difficult thing to think about what's going on based on the fact what I talked about last time I was here. The funniest thing is that Eric Nyshanian brought back DEI to me, the whole thing with what happened with DEI. And, it reminded me of that meeting that I talked to all of you about, where when my name was mentioned, everybody laughed.

That's a day where I watched one of our council members, Betty, being basically belittled during that meeting. Which again brings us to the fact that we have a DEI committee that doesn't give a damn about diversity. Can you please play that? And you all know when my name is mentioned. Who's the first person that laughs on the video? She's sitting back there. She's yours, Melinda. Hi. I don't know why everybody laughed when you heard my name. This was quite circular.

And then that's it. I just wanted you to hear the laugh. When my name gets mentioned for everybody to laugh, I don't expect you to do that. You don't do that for anybody that's called. But Wendy finds it really, really funny that I called. And then everybody else in the background is laughing. You are more than welcome to view that video. That was a disaster. We talk about diversity here, and we need to really be serious about it in a way this committee killed an office that would have been really, really helpful in this time of need when we have people picked up on the street even in Irvine. It's time to move forward.

It's time to do something. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And that is all, mayor.

Alright. That concludes public comment on non agendized items. Taking us to the next item on the agenda, which is the city manager's report. With this also include a report from chief can't

just one item tonight and that' the update from chief can't.

Let' introducing you and thank you Mr. Crumby I know you' been under the weather that you' still here and soldiering on is appreciated. Thank you. Perhaps as part of the chief's comments, he can address the question of the assertion about ICE taking office space in Irvine. I don't know that that's been confirmed and maybe the chief could speak to that as part of his report as well.

Certainly mayor. Thank you city manager Crombie and good evening mayor and city council. I'll answer that question first. We have not been able to confirm that ICE has an office at 2020 Maine. We have not been able to confirm that information as of today.

And in regards to my update as far as immigrations and custom enforcement in the city, Since our last meeting on February 10, we've had one incident which occurred on February 18 in the morning at about 08:30. We received a 09:11 call from a business owner in the 9000 Block Of Toledo reporting that immigration and custom enforcement was outside the business taking several people into custody. When our officers arrived on scene, the ICE agents had already left the scene and what we learned was three adult females were taken into custody We later confirmed with ICE that that was indeed them. They were there and they took three females into custody for outstanding warrants. That concludes my report.

Thank you. Mr. Crombie?

That's it.

Alright that is the city manager's report for this evening. At this time we'll turn to our colleagues here for announcements, committee reports, council reports. I ask my colleagues to please be brief but do let us know what you've been doing and what is worthy of reporting back to us and to the larger community tonight. I have a request from council member Lou to be heard first.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm excited to share some of the things we've been doing. And first, would like to wish all who celebrate Ramadan I'm sorry, Barak. And so let's see next slide please.

Recently, OCC sanitation approved a flow agreement with the Irvine Ranch Water District. We're also partnering with OC Waste and Recycling to build a centralized food waste preprocessing facility to boost sustainable co digestion at local treatment plants. Next, please. Thank you to everyone who joined our e bike town hall on February 17 a special thanks to ipd sergeant subpoena and officer hatfield for covering local ordinances update and to doctor boroughs from uci health for emphasizing proper e bike safety procedures and the consequences of failing to adhere to them keep an eye on our social media for future events. On February 23 the city sent support letters to senator Tom umberg s b four ninety which enhances oversight of addiction treatment facility and s b seven fifty eight which classifies nitrous oxide as a schedule one substance this builds directly on the local safety memos introduced on sober living homes and nitrous oxide last year and thank you to senator for introducing these bills and to our city staff for advancing these efforts in Irvine.

Finally, next

slide

I spent February attending numerous lunar new year celebrations across the region thank you to our local organizations and nonprofits for their work in sharing this important cultural holidays with our community. And that' all thank you.

Thank you councilmember lu councilmember martinez franco.

Thank you. Good evening everyone. My office is excited to share a few upcoming community events with you. Next slide. My team and I are hosting a community town hall to address concerns, share ideas, and identify solutions to protect and preserve University Park Library. Please join us on Tuesday, March 3 from six to 8PM at the University Park Community Center. You can reserve your seat by scanning the QR code on the screen. We hope to see you there. And we also have some flyers for the people attending here, just right here. Next slide.

The city of Irvine will be holding its first event, women's conference, in honor of Women's History Month. The event will offer financial education, networking opportunities, professional development, and holistic programs to support women in our community. The conference will be held on Friday, March 13 from 08:30AM to 2PM. So stay tuned for more details. Next slide.

My office will also be partnering with Tree of New America to distribute food to our community members that are in need. The event will take place on March 23 from four to 7PM at my car community park. And we also have flyers in here if anyone is interested in that food distribution. Or if anyone wants to talk to anyone from New America, they are over there in the back. Thank you.

Next slide. I would like you to invite you to stay connected by following me on social media where I'm sharing updates about what is going on District 5 and the city of Irvine. Next slide. You can also stay up to date by subscribing to our monthly newsletter. My office is always available for your questions and concerns, so please reach out at any time. And one last thing, I want to just thank Public Works for their amazing service and for putting a stop sign in the corner of San Leon and San Remo. Thank you public works. You. That concludes my report.

Thank you. We appreciate your report. I see no other requests so let me just make a few brief announcements here. We are pleased to announce this invitation to the entire Irvine community to celebrate the grand opening of the Katie Wheeler Library on Saturday, March 7 from 10AM to noon. Guests can enjoy a ribbon cutting ceremony, a barbershop quartet, and hands on activities for all ages.

Under Irvine Public Library operation, the Katie Wheeler branch will feature refreshed interiors that honor its historic legacy as well as new programs designed to serve our community. Help launch the next chapter of the Irvine Public Library system as we celebrate this important milestone. For more information visit irvinepubliclibrary.org/events. Next, the community is invited to support the Irvine Animal Care Center foster donation Drive through the month of March. This annual event enables the center's foster program to care for vulnerable animals, including new puppies and kittens, and animals healing from an injury or post surgery.

View a complete wish list of needed items by visiting irvineanimals.org/foster. You can also join the drive through celebration event on Saturday, March 7 from one to three at the center and drop off new pet supplies. Participants will receive an exclusive Irvine Animal Care Center sticker. Learn more at irvineanimals.org/foster. And finally, two new exhibitions open at the Irvine Fine Arts Center on Saturday, March 7.

That's gonna be a busy day, March 7. I invite the community to join us, to join us for a free opening reception from two to 4PM. First day of spring is today, is a group exhibition of contemporary works across a range of media. The second exhibition offers a look at the work of Sergio Ocadiz Mactezuma, a prolific artist who helped shape Orange County's cultural landscape. Admission and parking are free.

For more information visit artsinirvine.org/exhibitions. I believe that concludes our announcements. Allowing us now to move on to additions and deletions to the agenda. Mr. City Manager, do we have any additions or deletions tonight Thank on the you.

There being none, we move to the consent calendar which is item three. Item three consent calendar items include items 3.1 to 3.8. The consent calendar is our way of dealing with a number of routine matters that are deemed to be at this stage of a non controversial nature not requiring further counsel consideration or public comment however if people wish to speak to an issue on the consent calendar they are welcome those items again tonight are items 3.1 through 3.8. Mr. City Clerk at this time do we have any requests from citizens to be heard on consent calendar items?

Mayor, there are no requests to speak.

With no requests, is there a motion to move the consent calendar?

I move a motion to move consent calendar. Move a motion to move the consent calendar.

Thank you. I didn't hear you correctly. There are no requests from the public to be heard. Correct. There is a motion to move the consent calendar item 3.1 through 3.8 was there a second?

I will second.

Seconded by councilmember lew. With the clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Go. Yes. Councilmember Liu. Yes. Councilmember Martinez Franco. Yes. Councilmember Trusieder. Yes. Vice Mayor Mai. Yes. Mayor Agram.

Yes.

Carries six to zero of the members present.

Thank you. With the consent calendar behind us, we move now to public hearings. That's item four. We do have a public hearing item tonight. This is slightly complicated and therefore I'm going to turn to our city clerk as well as to staff.

First to the city clerk, I think it should go quickly, but it does involve a few procedural complexities that we want to move through as quickly as we can. Mr. Peterson, do you please take this opportunity to introduce this item by title.

Thank you, mayor. Item 4.1 is designation of the City of Irvine Community Facilities District number twenty thirteen dash three b great park improvement area number twenty and special election regarding levy of a special tax.

Thank you at this time I will declare the public hearing officially open It is 07:15PM. I will also take this opportunity to invite those who are participating remotely by zoom in our meeting tonight to raise your hand please in the the queue electronically so that we can recognize you at the appropriate time. And now I'll turn to our city staff representative to introduce himself and further introduce this item. Mr. Director, please introduce yourself.

Good evening, mayor, members of council. My name is Dale Bullison, director of administrative services. Also joining me as well is Anas Arabian. She's the financial advisor that's been helping us through this process. This is quite routine.

What we'll be talking about tonight, we'll get through the presentation fairly quickly, is the formation of Improvement Area 20 which involves the approval of designation and levy of special taxes. A bit of background for this item, back in March 2013, Heritage Field set up an Area Improvement Area 20 Thirteen-three and within the last little over decade a number of improvement areas had been set up from Improvement Area 1 through Improvement Area 18 Improvement Area 9 is still pending what we're coming to counsel for tonight is the formation of Improvement Area 20. In 09/12/2025, the Landowner Heritage Field petitioned for the formation of Improvement Area 20 to be created from the current Improvement Areas 3 and Improvement Area 13. What's in this area is a little over 59 acres of property and five seventy two residential units including 120 units of affordable housing that's planned for development. This is just a map of the different areas that borders the Great Park.

One in the Northwestern sector of the Great Park and one in the Southeastern section. There's a two step process for the formation. In January 13, council approved the approval of intention to create this area and also to intention to incur bond indebtedness in the future. I just wanted to note tonight is we're not improving the bond it's just creating the formation of Improvement Area 20. Also on the January 13 there was a call for a public hearing.

We did the required noticing published it on February 5 and that brings us to today which is step two which is the public hearing for approval this would involve designation of Improvement Area 20 also to determine the need for to incur bond indebtedness it also sets a limit to how much bonding that we can do for this Improvement Area 20 it's set at 170,000,000 and the special taxes once this is approved would go to fund authorized facilities in the area infrastructure and services also within the area and this at some point in the future would return to counsel for the actual bond issuance. And again, we're not doing that tonight and it would be upon the landowners request. At this point, we anticipate the bond issuance to come back sometime in 2029. That's our preliminary estimate. So the recommended actions before tonight, for you tonight.

Number one, conduct the public hearing to designate improvement area 20, authorize the levy of special taxes within the area, determine the necessity to incur bond indebtedness, and then call for a special election to approve the special tax within that improvement area. And the issuance of the bonds by said improvement area and establishment of appropriation limit for the improvement area. Then number five, conduct a special election request for city clerk to announce the results. And then if approved by the voters in the special election, declare the results of the special election and direct the recording of the notice of special tax lien on the Improvement Area and notice the cancellation of special taxes within Improvement Area 3 and Improvement Area 13. And if approved by the voters in the special election, introduce the first reading of an ordinance levying special taxes within Improvement Area 20.

So lots of different steps. So I'll turn it over to you now and to proceed with the public hearing and the vote.

Well thank you for introducing this item and for all the work that has gone into it. This should be pretty quick if we're led by our city clerk on this whom I'll turn to at this time to describe the procedural steps that we'll be taking to conduct the election and otherwise deal with this matter. Go ahead Mr. Peterson.

Thank you, mayor. Before we conduct that process, I do have two requests to speak from members of the public, one in person and one via Zoom.

All right. Why don't we call on those individuals now?

Thank you, mayor. If I could call forward Heidi.

Okay, let's see here.

You have three minutes and your time is now up. Just kidding. Kidding.

Okay, this is let's see. Okay. Sorry about that. That's all right. I just discovered this like two hours ago that's why I'm just kind of threw this together.

I'm concerned this is a 175 page document so I didn't have time to go through all of it and I was skimming through it. And on page 66 I noticed something that was very concerning. There's a lot of legalese in it so even if I did have time to go through it, don't think it really would have mattered. But on page 66, it was concerning because I ran it through to get a summary of it and I said, know, write this out, explain this to me like I'm a kid because it just sounded so fishy. It sounded so sketchy.

And it says, the city wants to ask this paper is about a city making a big decision for a place called Improvement Area Number 20. The city wants to ask the people who own the land own the land there if it's okay to collect special tax, borrow money, and set a spending time limit for that area. Instead of asking lots of questions, the city puts all three questions together on one ballot so people can vote more easily. Not many people live there so the city decides that landowners get to vote not regular residents. Each landowner gets votes based on how much land they own.

The city plans to hold the vote right away in the city council room and the city clerk is in charge of running it and counting the votes. Normally the city would have to wait ninety days before voting but all the landowners said it's okay to vote sooner so the city agrees to do it faster. And just in a nutshell, everyone who is allowed to vote signed a paper saying, let's do this faster and skip the usual explanations, and the city says it has that paper. None of that sounds like a good idea so this this is a very concerning resolution. I encourage you to reject it and it's looking like it's justifying skipping over voter protections and being a part of the Oak Creek campaign you know that we're very concerned about that it also allows an accelerated election and it shields the city from procedural challenges.

Will be seeking out this paper that has been submitted and just want to encourage you I want the council members to be aware of this and to reject this resolution. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. You know my thought is perhaps the city attorney could explain. Fundamentally we're dealing here with a landowner election on how to finance future development in a certain area. Is that correct?

Mayor, that's 100% correct.

It's a funding mechanism that we're voting on.

It is a funding mechanism. And the reason that that procedure is as involved as it is is because it's a very serious thing to impose a tax on individual pieces of property. And so each of those procedural steps has to exist. This is the most cumbersome thing that you do as a city council is to work through these steps, and it's for those protections in place. And to the specific question of the protection of the voters, it is the voters, all of them, that signed off on the waiver that allowed us to conduct the election and and read the results tonight.

It is the very same people that you would seek to protect are the ones that asked us to do it this way. And that's how it's been done on the prior 17 formations of implementation areas in this CFD.

Thank you. I think that's

in the past doesn't mean you continue to do it. It just sounds like the waiver is in lieu of legal procedures. And that's the concern. And if you've been doing that in the past, well that makes it 10 times worse.

Thank you for your comments. Thank you, Mr. Melchin, for your explanation. Next speaker, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One more speaker, Mirvet. Mirvet, you may unmute your mic. Mayor Vet, can you hear us?

I'm calling on item 5.3.

Don't think that's my turn yet. Do I lower my hand? I apologize.

Thank you. Yeah. We're not on five point three yet. Thank you.

Do you want me to lower my hand?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

And that is all mayor.

All right. At this point, I'm happy to defer to my colleagues for additional comments, questions and for a motion to approve the resolutions listed as recommended action items two through four in the staff report. I'll turn it over to you Mr. Peterson to actually conduct the roll call vote and perhaps with the assistance of our city attorney, Mr. Melchin, to take us through what sounds like a complicated procedure, but I think we can move our way through it quickly.

Happy to do so, Mayor. And actually, if we could first close the public hearing. I'm sorry, close If we could close the public hearing. So for a motion to we close

the public hearing. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you. Council Member Treseder, moved and seconded to close the public hearing. Would the clerk please call the roll.

Council Member Carroll.

Yes.

Council Member Go? Yes. Council Member Liu? Yes. Council Member Martinez Franco?

Yes.

Council Member Trusieder?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mai? Yes. Mayor Agram? Yes. Carries seven-zero.

Excellent.

So we turn to you. Thank you, mayor. So the first part of this process does include the city council's consideration of recommended action item numbers two through four, which are resolutions before you as Mr. Bullison noted. The first resolution is authorizing the levy of a special tax within Improvement Area 20. The second resolution is determining the necessity to incur bonded indebtedness and submitting a proposition to the qualified electors thereof. And the third is calling a special election for the purpose of approving a special tax in Improvement Area 20.

So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Moved by me, seconded by Councilmember Lu. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Carroll?

Yes.

Councilmember Goh? Yes. Councilmember Liu? Yes. Councilmember Martinez Franco?

Yes.

Councilmember Trecedor?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mai? Yes. And Mayor Agram? Yes. Carries seven zero.

Thank you. Next step.

Thank you, Mayor. So with that, I will go ahead and open the ballots. We have seven ballots, so bear with me. I'll try and get through them as quickly as possible.

This is the most exciting part of the entire thing.

It is. And unfortunately, I wish I could make it more exciting. But as you mentioned, very procedural.

It's right up there with the Oscars. You're now announcing the vote. Is that correct? Correct.

So mayor, the first ballot for landowner MRP HTM HCB LLC, all votes are in the affirmative.

How many votes was that?

That was I'm sorry, give me a moment to read through this. Seven votes. Thank you. Six to go, right? Six to go.

Again, thank you for your patience. Second ballot for landowner TPGAGH excuse me, EHC IIIPHM CA CA6LP with a total of 16 votes. All votes are in the affirmative. For ballot number three, landowner TPG AG EHC III LEN CA5 LP with a total of nine votes. All votes are in the affirmative.

Next for landowner KB Home Coastal Inc. With a total of seven votes. All votes are in the affirmative. Next ballot, landowner T. H.

Great Park five forty LLC with a total of five votes, all votes in the affirmative. We are almost there. Next ballot for landowner KLLB PROPCO IVC LLC with a total of five votes, all votes in the affirmative. We're on the last ballot. For landowner Heritage Fields, El Toro LLC, total of 14 votes, all votes in the affirmative.

Thank you. So having disclosed the results of the special election, why don't you take us to the next step?

Thank you, mayor. So the next step in the process would be for you, mayor, to call for a motion to adopt a resolution declaring the results of the election, which is listed as recommended action item number six.

All right. So moved. Recommended action number six. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by council member Lu. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Carrol?

Yes.

Council member Go? Yes. Council member Lu? Yes. Council member Martinez Franco? Yes. Council member Traceter?

Yes.

Vice Mayor May? Yes. And Mayor Agram? Yes. Carries seven zero. All right. So then the last step, Mayor, is to introduce for first reading and read by title only the ordinance before you which is action item number seven and I'm happy to read that into the record.

Yes, before we vote on that obviously it should be read it is an ordinance and apparently you're the designated reader tonight so if you would please read it by way of introduction

thank you mayor happy to do so an ordinance of the city council of the City Of Irvine California acting as the legislative body of the City Of Irvine Community Facilities District Number 20 Thirteen-3B Great Park levying special taxes with an improvement area Number 20 of the City Of Irvine Community Facilities District Number 20 Thirteen-3B Great Park.

Alright, unless there are further council comments on the ordinance or any council comments. Seeing none, would the clerk please.

Do need a motion and a second.

We have to leave this open for public comment is that correct?

We've already closed the public hearings. Now we're just voting on the ordinance that I just read in the record which is.

So then we just have the roll call vote.

Correct. I Please believe move. Yeah, I don't think I got a motion and a second for that. And if I missed that, I apologize.

I'll move adoption. You're having introduced and read the matter. All right? Is there a second?

I'll second.

Seconded by Council Member Liu.

Council Member Carroll. Yes. Council Member Go. Yes. Council Member Liu. Yes. Council Member Martinez Franco.

Yes.

Council Member Trecedor.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mai. Yes. And Mayor Agram.

Yes.

Carry seven zero and that is all on item 4.1 mayor.

Concludes the matter and that was a lot of fun. All right. Next we move on to council business, regular council business. Item five, would the clerk

please I'm sorry what? Mayor we actually have a second public hearing item 4.2.

Oh my goodness I totally missed that I didn't even read this myself wait a second oh yes the tephra hearing I'm

sorry yes

I did check that out earlier all right so we have item 4.2 which is a teffra hearing at this time I'd like to turn to the city clerk to introduce this by title and then we'll hear from staff and I think we can move through this one quickly as well.

Thank you mayor. Item 4.2 is a teffra hearing for bond issuance by the California enterprise development authority pretend city children's museum.

Good afternoon, or good evening council members, Mary Grin, Vice Mayor Mayan, members of the City Council. This is Teffer Herron for Pretend City Children's Museum. I'll run through it relatively quickly.

And just for folks who don't know you already.

Oh, Steve. Steve Torelli director of great park.

There you are. You're the big you're the big man over there right?

Yes sir.

Okay. Go right ahead.

So way back in March 2024 the city council authorized a pre development agreement and a lease with pretend city children's museum and the pre development agreement outlines the necessary steps to execute the lease at this point we have run through almost all of those steps. There's kind of two steps outstanding. One of them is regulatory clearance for the site and the other is full project funding. And the item before you tonight is to help finish out that full project funding item. So Pretend City Children's Museum is going to be a total of 70,000 square foot facility, it's right on the corner of Skyhawk and Marine Way, it's kind of got that key location.

It's got 52,000 square foot of indoor space, as well as some outdoor learning space. Is kind of a collector of early childhood development collaborators as well as some offices and administrative space with a total project budget of around $68,000,000 with just less than a two year construction timeline This is a continuation of their existing facility that currently is in East City that is outgrown its current space, that's going to be moving here to the Great Park. So the Protestant City Children's Museum financing is funded primarily through facility donations and operating revenue and it's facilitated by some financing and there's kind of two pieces of financing on that one of them is the bond issue this before you tonight that's what the teffer hearing is for and the other is a loan that the city council had approved back on the 03/24/2024 when that was originally approved a private activity bond is an instrument that is issued through the California economic or sorry California enterprise development Authority for $25,000,000 The reason why we're here before the city council is as a statewide entity it needs to be heard in the local jurisdiction where the money is going to be spent which is the city of Irvine and it has to be publicly noticed which is why we're here.

Under the private activity bond, there's no obligation of the city to repay any of the bond. We are already a member of the enterprise authority. There are many other Irvine issuances including Great Park Ice, Korean Lutheran, and again, Protensities fully responsible for that repayment. Again a public hearing is required to initiate that financing along with a resolution and those are the two recommended actions before you this evening are to conduct that public hearing and then following the public hearing we recommend to adopt the resolution before you. With that happy to take any questions and I know representatives of pretense you're also here.

Thank you I'd like to call the public hearing open now. Clerk do we have any public comments?

We do vice mayor we have one person here in person who would like to speak.

Okay. Please call them forward.

Thank you. If I could call forward Ellen Paes. And Ellen, you have three minutes.

I'll be quick. Good evening council members, city staff. Oh my gosh. One step closer. We are so excited about being able to build this world class facility for children and families in the Great Park.

This is a procedural effort or initiative so that we are able to get nonprofit financing for our project I'm also happy to share that we were able in December to receive a 1 and a half million dollar donation so every day we're getting closer to putting shovels in the ground hopefully April and hopefully in the end of twenty twenty seven we'll be able to welcome all of you everyone in the audience everyone in the city of Irvine to an amazing new children's and family and early childhood center in the Great Park thank you so much for your support and I hope that you will continue to support us this evening thank you

and that is all vice mayor

and also do we have any comments from my fellow colleagues Seeing that we have none I'd like to close the public hearing now. We will move on to council business.

Before we do, we have a couple of procedural items. If we get a motion, a second to close the Oh, public I'm sorry.

Can I get a motion to close the public hearing?

So moved.

I'll second.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Carroll. Yes. Councilmember Go. Yes. Councilmember Liu.

Yes.

Councilmember Martinez Franco. Yes. Councilmember Trusieder. Yes. Vice Mayor Mai. Yes. Mayor Akron. Yes. Carry seven zero. And just one last step would be to adopt the resolution that's before you, which is listed as action item number two.

I'll move the adoption of action item, what was it? Action item two, which is the Action item two, the resolution. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Mai. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Carole? Yes. Councilmember Go? Yes. Councilmember Lu. Yes. Councilmember Martinez Franco. Yes. Councilmember Trezieder.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mai. Yes. And Mayor Egren. Yes. Carry seven zero.

Thank you. That takes us to item five, council business. Anybody need a break? No? We'll power through. All right. Here we are. Item 5.1 with the clerk please identify this item by title and subject.

Consideration of a request by councilmember to cedar to discuss a request for action on city council speaking procedures policy and twenty twenty six appointments to the policies and procedures review subcommittee.

Thank you councilmember to cedar I'll point out before turning to you that items five point one and five point two relate so the subject of the public understands relate to internal procedures that govern us here at the dais and otherwise with that I'll turn to you.

Thank you. Actually I, looking at the folks in the audience, I imagine several of them are here for item 5.3 And I would have no objection to having, that's the immigration assistance program. I actually have no objection to Do

have the proof of that? I'm happy to grant that request, absent objections that we take five point three first.

Yeah that's fine.

All right I think the people who have come here to speak to that will be grateful. With that why don't we move to item 5.3 with the clerk please identify this item by title and subject.

Consideration of a request by mayor a grin and councilmembers lu and martinez franco to discuss an immigration assistance program for Irvine residents and employees.

Thank you. I'll take responsibility for kind of introducing this subject. I was happy to be on a committee of three that included myself council members Lou and Franco Martinez Franco. We had the opportunity to consider with the help of staff and our legal counsel, our city attorney, our chief of police, special counsel, what we might do by way of an immigration assistance program. We took a number of weeks and months actually to produce what I hope will have support from people at the diocese here tonight.

Let me just kind of read something into the record that gives us context. The city of Irvine's mission is to create and maintain a community where people can live, work, and learn in an environment that is safe and welcoming for all. The city of Irvine continues to focus on providing exceptional services to all in our community regardless of immigration status. The irvine police department is not involved in any federal immigration enforcement and remains dedicated to protecting public safety and serving everyone in Irvine. On 06/03/2025, the city council voted five to one with one abstention, or was that an absence, I think it was an abstention, to direct staff to develop an immigration response readiness program coordinating an effort to ensure due process rights for all within the city of Irvine.

Again, that's due process rights for all within the city of Irvine. This is a time of extraordinary stress for those who may be undocumented or not properly documented. Therefore, the immigration assistance program for Irvine residents and employees comports with and furthers the work of local nonprofit organizations and legal aid groups that specialize in immigrant rights. The coordinated program would provide for the exercise of due process rights as it applies to Irvine residents and employees of Irvine businesses unless there is a targeted enforcement through a valid judicial warrant. A judicial warrant.

Unless there is targeted enforcement through a judicial warrant, the referral system that you'll hear a little bit more about here, that referral system program would serve to connect Irvine residents and employees of Irvine businesses with legal assistance. The proposal was reviewed by the city attorney's office. Mr. Melchin is here with us tonight as is Chris Erickson who is special counsel assisting us in this matter. And also it was reviewed by an elected director of the american immigration lawyers association board of governors who is also the past chair of the immigration section of the orange county bar association.

With that, what I would like to do is turn to our staff at this time to further introduce our work product, And then I'd like to turn to my colleagues who are part of the committee to speak a little bit as well. And then we will have a discussion here, public comment, and move to a vote. With that, should I turn to you Mr. Melchin or Chris Erickson, our special counsel?

I guess that is me.

Thank you. Also, I assume you'll introduce Liliana, who has been an invaluable help as well. Thank you.

Thank you.

Go right ahead.

Sure. I'm sorry, did you want me to go ahead and do give a brief synopsis of what the program is right now?

Yes, I think so to try and explain it in a little more detail than I did.

Sure. So obviously, as Mary Grin set forth, this has been kind of an ongoing process. And it's been based on an analysis of what's happening on the ground and what develops. Because this is all developing very quickly. This program really is meant to continue with the idea that the city wants to stand with its community, with its constituents, and with those that are employed in the city of Irvine and help them to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected, that due process is protected.

And that's completely consistent with what you stand for as a city. You stand for constitutional policing. That's why you have a very safe city here. And it's consistent with that mission. This program is a relatively modest program.

We're just kind of starting with this. And what we did is we talked to other organizations that do this kind of work to find out where there may be gaps in service. And one of the things that we really found was that when a family, a person, or a family is in crisis, they really just need somebody to talk to, somebody that can give them legal advice, that can explain to them what the process is, that can explain the next steps for them, and then potentially connect them with legal counsel if that is what they wish to do. And we don't want to reinvent the wheel because there are really excellent programs out there and people doing this work. And so the city attorney and I basically came up with this program where the city attorney will bring on a qualified professional to be able to provide this service.

Then the next steps from there will depend on what that interview and intake looks like. One of the issues that's out there is there are some, I would say, bad actors. There are some attorneys that are not necessarily acting ethically and are taking advantage of a lot of these individuals that are very in a bad situation and are vulnerable. And this is also sort of a protection for your constituents and the people that live and work in Irvine to sort of guide them and protect them from those bad actors as well. So again, it is a relatively modest program.

It's a start. It can certainly be scaled to include more services should the council wish to do that. But we feel like this meets an immediate need for you and is consistent with what it is that you're you're looking for as a city.

Thank you. Liliana did you want to add anything? Alright. Our city attorney Jeff Melchin, make it clear Jeff too if you would that we are not providing the legal services as a city but we are connecting people with resources. Is that correct?

It's a 100% correct, mayor. The the core of this program is trying to put ourselves in the position of somebody, either a family member or a person, who has been thrown into chaos because of an intervention with ICE or an encounter with ICE, whether that's the person that has been detained or their family. And the goal of this program is to put in place a person, a central person that receives a phone call, understands the circumstance and knows what the resources are. So, first thing is knowledge. It's just to move out of the experience of chaos and into the experience of speaking with somebody that knows what to do.

And then the second thing is to then have that person take responsibility for connecting the people that are in crisis with resources so that it isn't just a list of phone numbers on a website. It is, I got you. I will find a way to connect you up with resources. And we can't guarantee that 100% of the time we're going to be able to connect somebody up with a live body, but that is the goal of the program. And that program would be run through the city attorney's office, but to emphasize your point, it isn't legal services.

It is our office hiring a consultant to do that job. And I think of them as a hub. They do the intake, they find the resources, they connect the people. That's what the program is. We think that that's a great starting point for a program like this. I'm sure we'll learn lessons as we go forward.

Thank you. And the proposal calls for an initial fund of $100,000 to be deployed in this startup program that no doubt will grow with time, with the resources that are now made available to deploy ICE personnel throughout the whole country. We can expect I think this year a scaling up of federal activity here that calls for stepping up our commitment to due process. As you know as a lawyer this is the bedrock. This is the bedrock of our entire American democracy with the rule of law that people just don't get picked up and carted away without a chance to be heard, without a chance to be connected to representation under the fifth amendment, under the fourteenth amendment.

I could speak to other amendments as well that are implicated in what's been going on, violations of the fourth amendment, and the First Amendment with respect to protesters, the right to assemble, and all the rest. This is a time for us to be committed to what we swore to, which was to support and defend the constitution of The United States and the constitution of the state of California, which provides for the protections, the rights that all people are entitled to, citizens and non citizens alike. I also want to emphasize, the city of Irvine has and will continue of course to respect proper judicial warrants for the arrest or seizure of individuals, property, whatever. But that's quite different from what's been going on. And let me just numerically put this in context.

We've had so far I believe it's seven or eight incidents involving 13 people who have been swept up, sent to detention centers, some of them then presumably to Texas or other major facilities here. We don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if some were sent to, what amount to gulags in El Salvador, Uganda, you name it, Sudan. And this is a time of real crisis. And this whole program, the idea is to do what we can at a very basic level to see to it that due process rights are respected, and that in this the safest city in America that we are indeed supporting and defending the constitution of The United States every single day. So with that, let me just turn to my committee colleagues, council member Lou and then council member Martinez Franco.

And I think there might be one or two we want to bring into this, perhaps the chief as well, and of course others who might have some thoughts or comments. Councilmember Liu.

Thank you. First I want to thank Chris for working with us all these months. And this has been something that we've been working on for quite a while. And obviously, with all the evolving current events and movement, we're constantly getting more information and trying to adapt to what is going on and trying to provide that basic help to provide our residents and people who work in Irvine the very very basic protection under our constitution. I want to make sure that everybody understands that under the constitution and also our precedents that due process rights are afforded to anybody present here.

We're not talking about just citizens. We're not talking about people with status. We're talking about anybody here. Imagine if you go to a different country and they can just sweep you up and do whatever to you. That's what we're talking about.

We're a country of law and order. Due process rights are very basic. That's why it's important for us to offer this program for anybody who works and lives in Irvine to make sure that they are protected, they're not just swept away, and we don't disregard their basic rights. And so I want to thank mayor for inviting us and starting this discussion. And I want to thank councilmember Martinez Franco for participating as well.

We are often bragging about how we are the most diverse and integrated city. And that is why this is so important for us. 13 people I mean, we're not impacted by a lot, but 13 people have been detained in Irvine that we know of. And I've heard that there could be more that we are unaware of because, obviously, they're not giving us all the information. It is very concerning, considering especially what's happening all around the country.

We could be next. We never know that. And so I want to make sure that we are ready. And with this program, hopefully we'll be able to start something. And if need be well, I hope we don't need to expend it. But if need be, we'll be able to expend it and afford everybody the very, very basic legal protections. I understand that there are some concerns, and I want to address some of it. There are some people who ask, then who are we hiring? Is this the one individual? It could be a nonprofit that has the expertise.

We're not leaving the city staff to do this intake because we obviously don't practice immigration law. And this is something to offer families or individuals who are in crisis that first initial hand to say you're okay and here's where you can go. The initial intake is what it will involve and then you know if sometimes maybe there's not a legal path forward and if there is then we can connect them to the right people. And there are also concerns about whether people with a criminal background will qualify. No we're not going to do that.

And as mayor had mentioned, if there is a proper warrant, we're not going to be involved in that. And so having said that, I am glad to see this is happening. We have obviously a pretty small program compared to our neighboring cities. Costa Mesa has a fund that I've heard has been successful in getting their residents home and reunited with family. And I believe Anaheim also has a program, which is a mutual aid program like ours.

And also Santa Ana has a longstanding program. So I'm hoping that we as a city will show our residents our determination to make sure everyone is safe in the city. And with that, I would let councilmember Martinez Franco finish the rest of her thoughts.

Thank you. And I want to also start thanking mayor and councilmember Liu for supporting this issue, mayor for inviting us. Thank you so much. So colleagues and members of our community, this conversation is not about defying federal law. It's not about obstructing enforcement. It is about something far more fundamental due process. The United States constitution does does not say that right applied only to citizens. The fifth and fourteenth amendments guarantee that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law. No person. That includes undocumented individuals.

When someone is attained in a sudden enforcement action, their family is left in crisis. Children come home to come come home from school not knowing where their parents are. A household sole provider disappears overnight. Whether someone ultimately stays or is removed, they are still entitled to understand their rights and navigate the legal process fairly. The proposed $100,000 Irvine immigration assistance program does not interfere with federal agencies.

It does not shield anyone from lawful enforcement. It simply ensures that urban residents and employees have access to legal guidance so that precedents are fair, orderly, and consistent with constitutional principles. Like council member Liu mentioned, other Orange County cities have recognized this distinction. The city of Santa Ana has funded deportation defense services since 2017 to ensure access to counsel. The city of Costa Mesa allocated approximately $200,000 for legal defense system tied to immigration proceedings.

And county leadership supported the Orange County Immigrants Refugee Liberty Fund to expand legal representation access. These programs do not override authority, A federal authority, they reinforce constitutional process. We will never send someone into courtroom alone to face complex legal proceedings without counsel. Immigration court should not be different. Access to representation strengthens the integrity of the system.

It does not weaken it. And friends, the Irvine Immigration Assistance Program is just another resource, another tool to help to help us fight injustices and protect our residents and workers. The more resources that we put out there, the more people are gonna have those tools to access the justice system. Because if we are just working in a silo, everybody is not going to know that these resources exist. So whether it's the city of Irvine, city of Costa Mesa, the city of Santa Ana, they know that they can count on their government agencies to protect them, the city that is here to protect them.

And of course, I wanted with that, Just a quick mention from Chip Kent. I know that I have so many comments about the police, if they can collaborate or how can they put the peace if they get if you get called 911 why it's important that you get called

thank you for the question councilmember I just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly. You're asking what our role would be if we were to arrive and see if ICE agents are present? Our role primarily is to ensure that we're keeping the peace to ensure that the situation does not get out of hand, out of control. If another agency is in our jurisdiction, including ICE, it's their operation and quite frankly we cannot interfere. We do have a duty to intervene if another law enforcement officer, regardless of the jurisdiction, whether it's another police municipality or federal agency, if they are in our jurisdiction and they're using some sort of force that is not reasonable by law and based on our training that we do have the duty to intervene.

Again, that is regardless of whether it's another police department that's in town or even members of our department. And that is something that is law. That's something that's in our policy. And that's something that we consistently trade for.

Thank you so much. And just to close my presentation here, I was undocumented once. I know how it is to live in fear. I know that resources like these are very important and that to be able to trust government agency takes a lot. So it is up to us to create that trust.

And this is the moment that we need to create trust when there is so much fear out there. So please, I urge our fellow council members to support this item. Not only it's we know that it's not a lot of money, but this is the beginning. And I know that no other cities knew how to start this. I don't think anybody had the expertise. This is these are unprecedented times, and nobody knew how to do this. So we are also experimenting and trying to do what is best for our communities. So please support this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Martinez Franco. And I don't, there we are. I want to give my counsel colleagues an opportunity to speak before we turn to public comment. Mr. Peterson, do we have how many in the queue?

We have 20 requests to speak, mayor.

All right. Well, I'll give my counsel colleagues a chance to say further word or two. And then we'll move to hear from the public. All right? Councilmember Treseder.

Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to start off by thanking the mayor and council members Lou and Martinez Franco for bringing this forward. This is a really critical issue, and I can see how it could be very useful. It's it's interesting. I mean, it's surreal walking around Irvine these days. So it's beautiful. Like today, was a beautiful day, really sunny. You're out there, the hills are green, sidewalks are tended, very quiet, very, very safe seeming city. And I can walk around not worried at all about getting mugged or anything. I can go even on a night night hike in the hills here.

Not worried the only thing I'm worried about is, you know, rousing. I'm not worried about anybody coming across me and hurting me. It's so safe. If you belong to a certain group you are very very safe but if you don't then I think your experience of the city is very different regardless of what's happening in the moment right in front of you, you're worried about what might happen. And especially if we have a history of ICE coming in and taking folks violently while they're masked and with no warrant, in some cases throwing them into a van and driving off and we cannot find where they've gone.

We don't even know who they've taken. That is a crisis of safety for our city and it affects how folks live in our city. So I've heard from folks who they're afraid to take their kids to Kumon or karate after school. They are afraid to even have their kids go to school. They're afraid to shop. They're afraid to come out their homes. And this is fundamentally wrong. And and also it does not need to happen at all. There's no reason for it. We are the safest city in the country because our police force is highly trained.

We select very carefully who's on our force. They work in collaboration with the community. They build up trust over decades. They keep us safe plenty. We don't need people coming in who we don't know.

We don't have any jurisdiction over, causing problems in our community. They make it less safe. I do not want to have any unrest occurring where you have ICE agents that are conducting activities and you have other folks who are very concerned about that and we have confrontations, I don't want to have a confrontation between our police and ICE agents, we would only lose. And so I think everything that we can do to first of all keep ice out get them out if they do come in and then also help folks who are being affected I think we should do it. And I think I will leave it at that for now. Thank you.

Thank you councilmember Trusieder. Councilmember mye

thank you mayor and thank you for my colleagues for your comments here and thank you for all the comments we heard earlier. I had a question for chief can actually On that incident on February 18, do we have any details, if you can provide us with any details on what type of business it was that was

targeted? Yes, it was some sort of a printing business.

Okay. And then also on twenty twenty Maine, do we, the lease, I've done some research there. I think this is a question for Mr. Crombie, is do we know who actually is leasing that office?

We do not. We do not have confirmation.

Okay. I did a little research on there. I don't know if it's valid or anything, but it was a GSA leased office which is their landlord's procurement office, IT solutions, office products. So, we really don't know what's going on there and are we going to

get that information at all?

Are we going to be able to get that information on who's going to be leasing it at all?

So, we've reached out to GSA and haven't gotten information as to who the tenant is going to be.

Okay, great. Thanks for that information and clarification. You know, want to first start off by saying that, you know, I empathize with those facing deportation and immigration. I come from an immigrant refugee family. People talk about immigration and how it's unfair to people.

Came from a neighborhood, I grew up in a neighborhood where probably around 75% of the kids that I grew up with are either in jail or have been deported out of the country so I'm not I'm not a stranger from deportation and this is from 70s 80s and 90s growing up And, you know, for example, my childhood friend shot my fireman neighbor in a robbery and he got deported. And, you know, I always I always think about these things as is it fair for them to get deported to a country where they grew up and they're teenagers and they don't speak the language? And, I always say, know, maybe it is right for them to be deported because they committed a crime in this country despite being friends with them regardless of our our personal beliefs and if things are right or wrong I feel that we don't have jurisdiction over what the fed the feds do or feds want to do I've heard from people multiple people who've commented and multiple people who have asked me what can you do as a city councilman what can you do as a city there's not much that we can do it would be different if if ice came to us and gave us warrants and said we're coming to get X for this reason, but they don't have to.

We can't force them to and most likely they won't tell us. We've reached out our chief, fire, our police department has reached out to them all the time and says let us know. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. They won't give us a reason for what they, for how they operate and why they operate and they frankly supersede us. I've witnessed ICE operations in Irvine from since I've been here for twenty plus years I've witnessed ICE operations it's nothing new.

ICE has been operating in Irvine in multiple times and I've seen it I've seen it with my own eyes. I live in a neighborhood with no HOA, no Mello Roos and for whatever reason we keep having these incidents where Department of Homeland Security, FBI, they are are taking people out of the homes there. And people can say you know they're taking innocent people, but the people in the neighborhood, in my neighborhood, streets just a few streets away from me, we know what's happening in these neighborhoods. And over the past five years I've seen four brothels, I've seen a birthing house, and I've seen human traffickers being pushed out from there. I mean I've seen one of those people with a battering ram knocking on these doors.

And no one in our neighborhood says, hey, that's wrong of you ICE to come and get them. We want them out of there because we have children around here. I have a five year old and I have a 14 year old that lives with me, of course. My children live with me and we don't want these people in our neighborhood. I fully support them going after these people.

I don't support them in other actions, but where do we draw the line between, I read this thing and I read targeted individuals. How do we how do we determine who's a targeted individual to not a targeted individual? Are we gonna say, okay blanket, we're gonna anyone who's facing ICE deportation regardless of what they're doing, they're a murderer, drug dealer, human trafficker, are we gonna provide them with legal services or not? There's so many questions here and I guess I want to hear from the public and I want to hear more from my colleagues on this. But, you know, I empathize with those facing deportations, but, you know, we have, Irvine is a very different city. Thank you.

Thank you vice mayor. My council member Lu, I'll turn to you in a moment, if somebody hasn't spoken, alright, I'll turn to you. You're the, and then Council Member Martinez Franco after you, and then let's hear from the public. All right, go right ahead.

I think I had mentioned that this is a pilot program we are starting with a small modest amount to afford residents and employees in Irvine there basically a referral service to protect their basic constitutional rights and it' a very bare minimum I did mention that we' not going to be interfering with any legitimate federal law enforcement nor are we protecting anybody who is a criminal. That had been something that we had already addressed. Yes there is a superseding authority by the federal side but our constitution is fundamental to the entire country fifth amendment protects our due process rights from unlawful activities and the denial of basic rights by the federal government and the fourteenth amendment extends that to any unlawful activities by the state against an individual. We also have fourth amendment rights against any unlawful search and seizure and all of these are things that are written in the constitution for a reason the founding fathers decided to put all those rights in there because we see a problem. This is as a lawyer especially it' disturbing that we are not going to protect that I understand that we don' have superseding jurisdiction over the federal government but our duty as the city is literally called the police power which is to protect the people's health welfare and safety.

So if we don' t do that councilmember Cecilia was right this is a safety issue and I appreciate that she recognizes that people of a different color experience a different experience experience a different life. I hate to say this but our living experience is very different councilmember mr. Franco is also an immigrant woman of color so am I and we don't have the same one as much as we would like to have equality to everybody. That is an ideal and we can all recognize that has not been happening if you pay any attention to what is happening around the world in our world in The United States. This is the very little minimum that we can do to ensure that yes law and order are observed in Irvine but at the same time we are doing our very basic minimum duty of protecting everyone's safety within the city boundary.

All I

have to say right now.

Thank you councilmember lu councilmember martinez frankl.

Thank you. And I echo Council Member Liu's words. We are not protecting here criminals. Here, I'm gonna talk about the moral standpoint. So let's just call it how it is. These are illegal kidnappings, and we need to stand for them. As a person, I cannot see someone taking a mom out of their children's hands when they are dropping them to school. A mom. A child going to school, a high school, taking them by force. A veteran punching him and taking him to jail.

That's not how we do things in America. At least that this is not the country that I immigrated. This is not the country that I dream of having a better life. If this is what we need to really say that immigration ICE comes here without any warrants. They claim they have administrative warrants.

That doesn't mean anything. That can mean that someone is very scared of diversity and they decide to say, go check if they have illegal people in there. That could be their excuse. So it doesn't mean anything if they don't show a paper. They are coming right now. And yes, we are a very different city in Irvine. We are very privileged. We don't have that many rates. But guess what? They are coming for brown people who speak Spanish.

Come on. So let's call it how it is. They are coming for brown people who speak Spanish, who work for privileged people here in Irvine. So if yes, we are different than other cities where Latinos live and they are going after them in their houses. Here they come where they are employed. So if you don't stand for what is right for people that come here for a better life, then I don't know what you stand for. Thank you.

Thank you, member Council Member Martinez Franco. Why don't we turn now to public comment? How many are in the queue? Thank you, mayor.

We have 27 requests to speak.

All right. Let's close the queue at this point. And with 27, let's limit the comments to ninety seconds each.

Thank you, mayor. If I could call forward Susan Sayer, Moer Kay, Adrian Heckman, Mona, and Cheryl Long. And we'll start with Ms. Sayer.

How many are, excuse me one moment, how many are in person and how many are remote? About 13 in person and 14 on zoom. So evenly divided. Alright please go right ahead. Ms. Ayers go right ahead.

Okay, well, I'll try to make it a little shorter. I believe that immigrant immigrant assistance immigration program should also include protected services to prevent immigrants from being victims of adverse ice actions as per irvine pd facebook publication and newspapers ice just took immigrants into custody from Irvine Shopping Center without warrants. We need to act now to take preventative measures to protect immigrant community members as well as provide service to support those who have been victimized. I suggest that Irvine create a special protective action volunteer task force and Irvine Immigrant Protection Corps that consists of both professional police and security advisors and trained volunteers equipped with brightly colored identifiable labeled uniform vests with identification name badges and communication devices to obtain immediate law enforcement response as needed. Irvine immigration protective corps members could stand guard in locations such as the airport the train station the election centers, hotel locations, major shopping centers, schools, and major business centers.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is adrienne heckman. Welcome.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of the City Council, my name is Adrienne Heckman, a resident since 1991, and I support this immigration assistance program wholeheartedly. I think the measure of civility in any community is not how wealthy it is, it's how they treat their most vulnerable citizens, residents and employees.

And I'm really proud to see that employees are going to be part of this program, people who come here to work and they benefit our city. I'm really proud to be a resident of the city of Irvine today. I started protesting about a year ago right outside the front here and met a bunch of really fine people. I'm not an activist, but everybody has their boiling point, and I had mine. And we evolved into helping people who were scared of immigration and ICE.

And this isn't about letting people who are committing crimes go. This is about due process. I happen to be a licensed attorney, but you don't need to be one to see what's been happening here is indefensible. It's inconceivable. And I'm really proud to be a member of this city that's stepping up and doing something about it, not just idle talk. And I want to just encourage you to pass this unanimously so we can make a statement.

Thank you. Time

is up. You.

You. Mona? Welcome.

Hello. Wow. James, we live in the safest city, yet you've got the brothels and the baby houses. You've got the police right there. What are we doing?

You are so anti immigrant yourself to just throw it to the law and order? That is embarrassing to hear from you As an immigrant, and I'm an immigrant, it is embarrassing. I cannot believe what came out of your mouth came out of your mouth. I was coming with one thing to say but when I heard you I was like, oh my god. How could you say that?

Yes, there has been ICE movements for years. We know that. But what they're doing now is unlawful. It is absolutely unlawful. But, if you feel unsafe in your neighborhood, maybe you should move or, you know, be calling the police more often. I am grateful to mayor, to council member Martinez Franco, and to Melinda Lou. Because this is very important for the city. We've been talking about diversity and how important it is. I know there are people around here that are racist and I know that people don't believe that we need something like this when we actually need it.

Thank you for time, Lisa.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Cheryl Long, and if I could also call forward Deborah Franza, Felicity, Dawn Hahn, Angelo P, and Byron Salvatierra. Welcome.

Thank you again for letting me speak this evening. I am actually calling I'm speaking to encourage the council to vote this evening to approve the immigration assistance program. If there are delays in doing so, there will be many that are left without representation, who may be deported really illegally, and who may be left in detention centers without even attention to habeas corpus. There is a lot of misinformation here. The statistics show in fact that native Americans are far more likely to commit crimes than immigrants, which makes me concerned about the other residents in your neighborhood who are native Americans, Councilman Mai.

Also that when we talk about legality, in fact these individuals are actually working to legally gain citizenship but this has been yanked away from their ability to do so that's why the immigration assistance program is so critical to have them appropriately represented. So this is really about lack of due process. It's about illegality. And even the DHS themselves have said that 85% of the people that are in detention currently really are not individuals that should be there have no criminal record and if they essentially denied them due process. And I also encourage you to work with the local mutual aid organizations And Reverend Doctor.

Terry LePage has reached out to the council to make sure that this isn't just a gesture of goodwill. There is an ever changing aspect to what is going on in the courts. And it is

Thank you. Your time is up.

Thank you.

For your time. Thank you for your comments. Felicity? Welcome.

Thank you again. I just want to point out that the Constitution's due process rights apply to everyone in this country citizen or not I think that's something important to keep in mind. I've lived in Irvine for the last thirty five years I strongly support the establishment of a legal defense fund to protect vulnerable residents and Irvine workers who've been attacked and or detained by federal immigration agents and I believe agenda item 5.3 is a good basis to create such a fund immigration enforcement has increased tremendously in our county over the last year and many families have been torn apart by these violent actions including in our own city with the car washes the people who are taken there and their devastated spouses and children many of them Us citizens. I personally have sat in at immigration court here in Orange County where there have been also Irvine residents where people who are following their asylum claims have been snatched up by ICE officers directly as soon as the judges dismissed their cases at the behest of ICE agents that are sitting in the courtroom. Unlike those in the criminal justice system, people detained by ICE have no right to legal counsel so they must depend on access to affordable immigration attorneys.

I also want to say that I'm a member of the orange county rapid response network and on the board of the orange county justice fund and we are more than happy to provide our very wide experience and to help with their intake process. I have much more to say but I say I only have two minutes, so please pass this and make it work.

You. Tom. Thank you for your comments. Welcome sir.

Good evening, mayor and member of the council. My name is Don Han. I'm representing groundswell, a nonprofit that's based in Santa Ana. I also want to say good evening to chief Kent and Mr. Crombie.

I wanted to come here to thank the mayor, councilmember Lu, and councilmember Martinez Franco for putting this initiative together. For twenty five years, I have been working for the Orange County Human Relations Council at the time now as groundswell. For over a decade, I'm the person that actually responding to hate crime and hate incidents in Orange County. And what that means is I am the person that actually sometimes provide a referral for people who have been impacted by hate crime or hate incidents to an entity that can help them. This is a big, big step for Irvine to embrace the diversity that you have, to tell the people that work or live here that they are safe, to allow them to know that regardless of who they are in terms of their residential status, that they are here and they are safe.

To your point, Irvine is one of the safest city and you want to continue to promote that. A warm hands off to someone that you trust and that could take care of you is a big big step and thank you so much for doing that.

Thank you for your comments.

Angelo Poparelli.

Welcome.

Thank you. I want to thank the mayor and council members lu and martinez franco for supporting this. By way of introduction I practiced immigration law for more than forty years and I have been a proud resident of this city since 1986. I want to thank Chief Kent for his description of the proper use of the police even in the face of federal authority when when legal transgressions occur. I want to address you councilmember mi because I think you may not realize that due process in the immigration law includes the right to request relief from removal, relief from deportation.

And that's why this proposal is so important because many people who are apprehended have reasons to say I may be deportable but I should not be deported under the law and that's what this is about this is about due process of law I encourage the adoption of this proposal and I'm proud to be a citizen of this city.

Thank you.

Byron Salvatierra, and if I could also call forward Courtney Weiderman, Al Meyerson, and Jay Bruce. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor Agron, Vice Mayor Mai, council members. My name is Byron Salvatierra, and my family moved to Irvine in 1984 after my parents immigrated from The Philippines. I'm part of a group who has found community in gathering and protest here in Irvine and elsewhere, and I'm here to speak out in support of the establishment of the immigration assistance program for Irvine residents and employees. I'm also a United States Army veteran. I swore an oath to support and uphold, defend the constitution of The United States, not to a party or to the administration.

That oath includes defending due process and equal protection under the law regardless of immigration status. When our community faces complex immigration procedures without guidance or access to legal resources, due process is threatened. Recent immigration enforcement activity in the city, county and nation have made it increasingly clear that we need to support the at risk population of our communities with legal assistance. Having a city provided single point of contact to navigate the diff different resources available would help streamline and improve accessibility. I would encourage the program to coordinate with other municipalities such as Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Buena Park and other programs such as the OC Justice Fund and OC Rapid Response Network.

While this first step will go a long way in protecting our neighbors, the city should also work to establish a legal defense fund providing funding to local immigration aid organizations. Please vote yes to establish the Irvine immigration assistance program for Irvine residents and employees.

Thank you for your comments.

Courtney Weiderman.

Welcome.

Sorry I'm shorter. So hi my name is Courtney I'm a resident of councilmember Martinez Franco's district and I want to say thank you for representing our district. And I want to thank the councilmember Liu and mayor Aigran for proposing this I'm in support of this measure I'm also along with being someone born raised and currently living in Irvine I am also volunteer with the orange County rapid response network and responded to many of the raids in Irvine and worked with folks who were impacted and I just want to very clearly say there has been no evidence that judicial warrants have ever been presented in any of those cases including when they knock on someone's door or pick them up in court the people that do not have a lawyer and are reporting are reporting to their meetings are much more likely to be deported and that folks with criminal records who have served their time are extremely extremely at risk of being deported with because they're just essentially sitting ducks for immigration agents. So I just want to take this time to say please pass this measure and then also please continue to reach out and engage with members of the rapid response network with folks who have been impacted and with community on the ground who can speak to what is what is happening and how afraid everyone is to leave their homes.

And I just with the last few seconds just want to reiterate that folks are to councilmember Martinez Franco's point that folks are being targeted on the basis of race and on the basis of what language they speak. And if the city of Irvine really values diversity, we need to support all immigrants including our black immigrant brother and sisters. And to please support this measure, please engage, and that we could Thank

you, time is up.

Thank you. And that we could pass this.

Thank you.

Thank Welcome. You,

I just wanted to start by saying that we're all immigrants. At some point in our lives, our families came here from another country, so everybody's an immigrant. I appreciate what mayor agrin and melinda lue and Betty frank martinez Franco are doing I think it's needed it's a it's the least we could do actually I think this all started because people got fed up with illegal immigration and so they voted for Trump because they said he said he was going to do something about it. I don't think people voted for somebody thinking that he was going to be going to car washes, pulling mothers out of their cars when they're taking their kids to school going to home depot and trying and rounding up people that

are just trying to work for

a living I don't think that was ever the idea the idea was that he was going to get rid of the criminals and the gang members and I don't hear or see any of that. So, Vice Mayor Mai, I heard what you said. I think I kind of agree with you in some ways. I just think that the government's going about the whole thing the wrong way. The real wrong way. I mean deporting illegal immigrants is one thing, but doing it the way they're doing it isn't the right way.

Thank you.

Hey Bruce.

Welcome sir.

Now this is councilmembers. Vice Mayor Mai, I thought, I suspected you were going to go against oppose this item, but I thought you're gonna be a little more clever about it. About the justification behind the ice raids, it's kind of odd to me this association between you said brothels birthing houses and human traffickers and immigrants the ice current ice actions are affecting broad sweeps based on basically race alone. And if those were happening, you would need a judicial warrant, which the city has said multiple times already that we're going to respect. He said this is nothing new.

The new thing is the Trump administration and the kind of lack of due process that ICE is when ICE is going around rounding up all these people en masse, that's the new thing you kind of read about it in the news and with regards to the role of city government you know it is there is true that there's a lot that the city can't do to stop federal enforcement that's kind of the role of the program right is to see what we as a city can do in the face of this overwhelming federal authority it's looking at what we as a city can do with our powers so I think there's no real reason to oppose the motion. Your

time is up.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is iPhone three sixty. You may unmute your mic.

Yeah, I want to support James Mai. I think you were right on in your presentation. Sadly, you're surrounded by three socialists who are not law and order people. In fact, one is probably a racist, Melinda Lou. Woman of color, Melinda? What color is not included? Is white not a color? Shame, shame on you. I'm going to file a hate report against you. And the reason many of the people happen to speak Spanish for you geniuses is because we happen to be close to Mexico.