City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening everyone. Welcome to tonight's council meeting. Let's start with our uh land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as Tovengar, the home of the Gabellino Tanva people. We show our respect to the Gabellino Tanva people as well as all indigenous people, past, present, and future and honor their labor as original caretakers of this land. We commit to uplifting the Gabellinotva people. invite you to acknowledge the history and join us in caring for this land. Um, let's uh have our flag salute. Today we have our Monterey Park Police Explorers as well as our civic superstar Shu Shu X Shi Jan Jan uh from Monterey Highlands. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please work.

Thank you so much to our Monetary Park Police Explorers and to our civic superstar Xiin Jan. We have a certificate to present to you. So, thank you for being here today to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. If any other residents or community members have children who like to be our civic superstars, you are welcome to apply and lead us in our future pledge of allegiance. Uh madame clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Council member Go, present. Council member Wong, present. Council member Sanchez, present. Mayor Pro Tim Lo here. Mayor Yang,

present. Thank you. All right. So, um, under agenda revisions and additions, the city council met in close session prior to today's, uh, council meeting to consider initiation of litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D4. After considering the matter, the city council voted unanimously to authorize the city attorney to file appropriate action to render real property located at 2537-2543 Lee Avenue in South Elmont to be marketable. This property is being sold to recover debt owed to the city. Do we have any other agenda revisions or additions?

No, Madame Mayor.

Thank you. All right, let's move on to public communications. Okay, so we have two uh public communications today. Uh number one would be David uh Goats gets David Gats from the uh fire department. Evening uh madame mayor, council members, and city staff. Uh I'm here tonight not as a captain of the Monterey Park Fire Department, but actually as the newly elected union president representing the 1014 members of Monterey Park. Uh I want to sincerely Don't put up the guards yet. It's It's good. Um, I want to sincerely thank you for your leadership and hard work on two critical priorities for our community safety. First, thank you for the recent vote to purchase the parcel of land on Monterey Pass for our new fire station. I remember 20 years ago when I started uh my career here that there was talks of a new station 62 and you know all the old guys said that was a pipe dream. Well, that's done and completed and now the the first big hurdle on our way to a second station in my career um has been passed and and it's it's really exciting. Uh that decision reflects a real and tangible investment in public safety and improved protection for our residents and it shows you're planning not just for today but for the community's needs decades into the future. Um, second really, you know, I want to say on behalf of everyone because we

did, I swear, I really swear we had everyone here and, uh, just as chance has it, uh, there was three calls that, uh, came up in the city, so they all had to leave unplanned. I promise. Uh, but when the city needs us, uh, we answer that call. Um, I want to recognize and thank uh council, fire admin, uh, city management, as well as, uh, HR, um, for their diligent efforts to bring in the largest incoming class of new firefighters our city has ever had. Ensuring proper staffing levels means our firefighters can do their job safely and effectively. It also means we are uh as we're in the midst of this holiday season, we're able to go home and focus on our families knowing that uh our brethren that are here working are safe and staffed. Uh these decisions don't happen by chance. They require commitment, tough choices, and a willingness to prioritize public safety. So on behalf of all the guys that were here um and all of uh of 1014, we want to thank you sincerely and uh have a good night and a happy and safe holidays.

Thank you so much, Captain Gats, and uh thank you to your team for all your service for our city. Um our second speaker tonight is Anthony Wong on behalf of the Monterey Park Lions Club. Good evening everybody. Honorable mayor Elizabeth Yan, Mayor Putam, Henley Low, Council Member Jose Sanchez, Council Member Thomas Wong, Council Member Wang and Go, City Manager Ines Alvarez, City Attorney Carl Burger, of course, and City Car Michelle Yei, City Treasurer Amy Lee. This chamber looks familiar to me tonight. I'm wearing a head of Montreak Lions Club. Montak Lions Club was founded and chartered on December 29th, 1937, which is exactly 88 years ago. So, Montreal Alliance Club is going to celebrate its 88th anniversary in installation dinner of all the officers and directors on December 27th at St. Gabriel Hilton Hotel. So we expect with about 600 attendees and I represent the club to extend our invitation to all of you to join us to celebrate our 88th anniversary. Montrop Park Line Club has built the amphitheater in the back of Barnes Park, the pavilion, the service clubhouse, the warehouse, the fountains, the bathroom, all of

those was built by the member of Montrop Alliance Club. And in the year 1978, the Lancel built the Alliance Manor on 215 North Chandler. Right now we are having Christmas celebration there. So I'll be going there after my speaking to all of you to present my invitation to you. And after our celebration on the 27th, Montre Park Line Club will be chairing a hunger drive program to service about 1,000 family. those need food. So, we'll be doing that drive on December 28th from 8:00 in the morning at Double Tree Hotel in Rose on 888 Monte Bellow Boulevard. So, you are all welcome to join us to help those needy people. I understand that Mayor Elizabeth will be there helping us together and you're all welcome and those are staying at home and those are here you're welcome to work together with us to serve the company to to serve the club and to serve our community helping those needed people. So, uh, Montreal Land Club has been serving the community for over 80 years and we decided and we are dedicated to continue our forefathers work the steps to continue to help whoever need help and we work together with

uh the MD4L2 under their district. There are all together 61 line clubs of a total of about 1500 p members working together. So we are dedicated to work with them and hoping that uh you will all support us and join us to work together with that. Happy holidays, good luck, good health. Thank you very much. Great. Oh, Mr. Wrong. You said it's on the Dece 27th. 27th. Okay. What time? Where in Hilton? From 6:00.

6 o'clock. Okay. 9:00. There a lot of programs. Please join us. It's our honorable guest. Thank you. The dinner is on the 27th and the food distribution is on the morning of the 28th. Yeah. In the morning from 8:00. 8 a.m. All right. Thank you. Happy holidays. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I think that's it for public communications today. So, we'll move on to staff communications, public works. Good evening, Madame Mayor, city council members, and city staff. My name is Judy Witrago. I'm an analyst here in the city of Monterey Park with the public works department and I'll be going over some staff communications from our department. Next slide, please. The city recently launched an ongoing community transportation survey to gather feedback from writers and community members of Monterey Park. It was shared across city social media platforms, Cascades, as well as Spirit Bus and MPK Transit Express rides. The survey was also shared with local school districts for distribution, including East Los Angeles College and Cal State LA. The survey is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese, and is accessible by scanning the QR codes in the slide. The feedback will also allow us to improve future writer experience. Monthly compost dates have been released for the first half of 2026. They take place once a month on Saturdays at Garvey Ranch Park between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Bagged compost is available on a first come, first- serve basis with a limit of two bags per customer for the first hour. Collection services will be delayed by

one day for the upcoming holidays. Those holidays are Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25th, 2025, and New Year's Day, Thursday, I'm sorry, yes, Thursday, January 1st, 2026. With that, Christmas trees will be collected on your normal pickup days starting December 26th through January 17th, 2026. We've also included a few tips for residents for tree recycling. Please remove strands, ornaments, lights, and tinsel. Cut your tree in half if it is more than 6 ft tall and place trees next to regular trash container. The public works department is currently in the process of updating a AMI water meters throughout the city and we anticipate the meter update completion between July 2026 and October 2026. Thank you.

Thank you so much for that presentation. Do we have any questions? Any questions? Uh just really quick, thank you for the the update on the AMI replacements. I know it looks like we've done a couple hundred already if I'm reading that right. Uh any issues with the deploying the new meters so far? Any I don't know Sean's about to get up, but just curious how the initial implementation's going. Yes, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Promma, city council. Sean, public works director. Uh, so far it's been smooth. We've done a slow roll out to test the waters. Um, so far everything's gone really, really well. I've had a couple little things come up here and there, but we've worked through those with the the contractor and, uh, ready to start the new year.

All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. And our next uh, presentation, item 7A, will be our SGV Council of Governments. Uh, welcoming President Ed Ree.

Well, good evening, mayor, council members. I'm Ed Ree and I'm proud to serve the city of Claremont and serve as your new president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. Today, I'd like to show how the COG brings together cities to tackle challenges, deliver results, and make our region stronger. Next slide, please. The COG is truly a partnership. It brings together 31 cities, two county supervisorial districts, and other many, I should say, many local public agencies across the Sangro Valley. Our mission is simple but powerful. to give our region one strong unified voice. To deliver projects that improve transportation, housing, and sustainability and most importantly to improve the quality of life for nearly 2 million residents who in part call this great city their home. The collaboration is what makes the sum uh I should say the collaboration makes us stronger than the sum of our parts. Next slide. Of course, a mission this big requires leadership, and that's where our executive committee comes in. I'm proud to serve alongside a group of committed local leaders, each chosen by their peers, to help guide the COG's priorities. They help set the direction, review policies, and make sure our work reflects the needs and values of our member cities. In short, the executive committee and the governing board keep us grounded in the realities of our communities while keep us focused on the future. Next slide. And that leadership, it extends outward through our policy committees. These committees are where real collaboration happens. They focus on issues that touch every city. Capital projects, the environment, homelessness, and transportation.

We also draw on the expertise of city managers and working groups so that local voices shape our regional solutions. And this is where you come in. If you haven't already, and I know many of you have, I encourage you to get involved. Your expertise and your perspective helps to ensure the city's voice is heard and your residents needs are reflected in our regional decisions. Next slide. Of course, leadership and collaboration is only part of the story. That's where our staff shines. Under the executive under, excuse me, the leadership of executive director Mercer, our talented team takes takes the ideas and turns them into action. They provide the expertise, the project management, and the support that makes sure that our city's priorities move forward. Next slide. Let me share a few examples of what collaboration has achieved. First, our construction authority. We're the only cog in in Los Angeles County with this authority. We're delivering 19 major grade separation projects, each costing$1 to $200 million each at little or no cost to our cities. And today, we're expanding to highway improvements, transit facilities, and active transportation projects. Second, SB 1383 compliance. This state law requires us to cut food waste going to landfills and the COG has helped cities triple their business compliance rates and at the same time help food banks to be able to use the food donation they received by providing them with refrigeration and other necessary equipment. It's truly a win-win where we're helping the environment and addressing food insecurity.

And third, measure M funding. Just last year, we directed 36.5 million to 17 San Gabriel Valley agencies for projects that make it easier and safer for people to go simply where they need to go. These are just a few snapshots, but they show the real tangible impact the COG has had in our communities. And beyond these regional wins, we also partner directly with cities. Next slide. I'd like to share a little bit about our partnership with Monterey Park. Specifically, let's I want to talk about compliance support. The COG is proud to partner with the city and local businesses to help achieve compliance with SB 1383. In the past year, the COG has worked with more than 83 local businesses to recover over 193,000 pounds of food. This program is currently funded through a state local assistance grant with the city receiving approximately $162,000 worth of benefits. and homeless outreach. The COG provides homeless outreach teams from the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse to support the city's homelessness efforts. And in resident benefits, the COG manages several programs that directly benefit the residents of member cities. And through our GO SGV e-cargo bike voucher program, 59 Monterey Park residents were selected to receive $2,000 vouchers towards the purchase of new cargo electric bicycles, all from local vendors. Lastly, I want to add add one other thing, the energy champion award. I'd like to congratulate the city of Monterey Park on winning the silver award at our recent COG Energy Champions Award. This week, the city was, excuse me, I should

say last week. I'm losing track of my weeks, but uh last week the city was recognized for its hard work and dedication to energy efficiency in the San Gabriel Valley. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment to a greener SGV. I do have an award for you. I'll bring that up momentarily. But um next slide please. At the heart of all of this is really what binds us together, our shared love for the San Gabriel Valley. That is why I launched the iHeart SGV program. It grew from my deep belief that we are stronger when we celebrate our common values in the communities we call home. This program is about bringing our member cities and through them our residents together in shared pride and appreciation for the San Gabriel Valley. For me, it's also personal. My love of public service, it's soulfeeding. And this program is a way for me to show gratitude for our region, for our cities, and for the people who make the San Gabriel Valley such a special place to live. The COG exists to serve you. your council, your staff, and your residents. By working together, our collective voice is louder, our reach is farther, and we can deliver on projects and services that no city can do alone. As president, my number one priority is listening. I want to hear from you, your needs, your challenges, your opportunities. so that we can make sure you're really getting the most from your involvement with the COG. So, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. I'm committed to working with you to keep strengthening the San Gabriel Valley we all love. Thank you for allowing me some time

today and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you so much, President Ree, for your service. I attend the COG meetings and see all the hard work you and your team put in. So, thank you for visiting us today. Any questions or comments? Yeah, thank you, Ed, and good uh to see you. Happy holidays to you and your team. Thank you for making us a great partner of the St. Neighbor Valley COG and uh thank you for providing the information that we can share with the rest of our residents in the city. Thank you, Council Member.

Uh thank you, President Ree. Really appreciate you and the team joining us today. Uh and we've really enjoyed a very strong partnership between the city and the COG over the over many years over 30 years now. Uh but also through the housing the regional housing trust uh which the COG staff helped to uh implement and to operate. Really appreciate that uh continued partnership over the last few years as well. Um so thank you. Look forward to that and did not know the that's first time seeing that 59 ebike vouchers were here from here or or delivered have been delivered here to residents in Mari Park. I really appreciate that update and uh the COG for helping to promote uh clean electric transportation in our community. So, thank you.

I also wanted to thank you for being here tonight and for sharing a lot of the hard work that the COG has been doing. Um we really appreciate the work that you've done to help our city. Um we hope that that relationship continues to grow. On a side note, I really I really love the pins that you guys have. I think it's they're the best pins that I've seen any organization have. So, uh, hope not better than my but not better than ours, of course. Of course. But I really appreciate, uh, all the work that you guys do to make the San Gabriel Valley, um, just a much more pleasant place to live, but also address a lot of the needs that we have in this in this area. So, very appreciative of the of the work that you guys do and looking forward to see that award that you mentioned earlier. Yes.

Well, thank you, council member. You know, I I went to the staff and said, "Hey, I have this idea about uh really bringing the SRO Valley together." and it's about loving our communities and our valley and out of that came the iHeart SGV program. So, thank you.

Thank you. Um, you know, I I must say that I um as a resident of Sangro Valley, I'm really proud of the caliber of the talent at the Sangville Valley Cog. I mean, I truly believe um that we're probably one of the best COGS um in California and and that's because um we work closely together. we collaborate and as my colleague mentioned uh we've worked with the COG on policy issues from housing to energy transportation um in uh in Monterey Park and um um certainly we're also very proud of those on your staff who actually live in our city as well Ricky Troy and and and and again you know it's a partnership and um we look forward to working with the COG and and again thank you for the um recognition um of the silver award for our uh work in energy efficiency. Well, Mayor Pam, your um your perception is accurate. We are the best cog.

Of course, we are. All right. Shall we come down and accept the certificate? As you come down here, um I will hand off to the clerk that tonight, as a token of our appreciation, I have brought you your own lapel pins to wear both around town, around the St. Gabriel Valley, and beyond to show your pride and your love for the St. Gabriel Valley. So, I have the pins for you and then if you want to come down, um, my staff will come up and we'll bring the award. Thank you.

See you. Hi Hi, Carl. One, two, One, two, three. Thank you.

Okay. All right. So, um we'll move on to item 8A. Uh while Mayor Prom is, um coming back. So, Garvey improvements project concept approval. Um three of us have conflicts. So, we're going to do a name draw to see who's gonna be able to preside over this project with um the other two council members. Okay. So,

so Council Member Wong, Council Member Go, and myself are the ones that have conflicts. All right. So, Council Member Go drew the short stick. Yeah.

So, he's gonna sit in on this vote and uh mayor prom will preside over this item and council member Wong and I will recuse ourselves. And madame mayor, members of the council, just for the record, the uh conflict is a property related conflict. You're within 500 ft of the property or the project. Right. All right. All right. Good evening, honorable mayor or mayor prom I should say. Um and council Sean Igo public works director. I also have Josh uh Josh Cosper for with uh our design team from Mark Thomas. And tonight you'll be hear from us on the efforts thus far in our Garvey Avenue improvement project uh and go through the conceptual designs the community has provided input on. We will uh also be asking council to provide staff and the consultant team with direction on what concepts they want to move forward with uh for the full design. And with that, I will pass it over to Josh.

Thank you, Mayor Prom and honorable council members uh for giving us the opportunity to speak about the Garvey Avenue capacity or Garvey Avenue improvement project. Um, I do have a longer version of this that'll be posted on the city's website by the end of the week. So, it'll go into a little bit more detail, but in the spirit of brevity, we'll we'll go through this relatively quick. So what we're going to cover tonight is a little bit about the project itself, the initial community outreach efforts, the how the project concepts were developed and what they were, the uh concept focused outreach, a second wave that occurred a little bit later and then kind of the next steps of the project. So to the left you could see the limits of the project. There are three streets within the footprint primarily between New Avenue to uh Atlantic Avenue. Garvey Avenue in red is going to be the majority of the improvements we speak about, but we'll also discuss some bikeway improvements along Emerson and Newark within those limits. The project is funded with SR710 mobility improvement project funding through LA Metro. So the three main goals you see in the green are to enhance the traffic uh capacity improvements to improve pedestrian and mobility for for non-vehicles and then how to uh enhance and improve the downtown uh community atmosphere. So out of that, the outputs that you would expect to see through the project would be uh vehicular improvements and roadway improvements, pedestrian safety, transit, bikeways, EV charging stations, and traffic signal and lighting type improvements. And then in the upper right hand corner, the timeline, we're we've just concluded the public outreach component of the project. We're we're cruising through the preliminary design and hoping to get the direction from you

to complete the preliminary design uh uh now and then moving into the final design such that the project will be construction ready by fall of next year and finished with the construction by the end of 2027. So the initial stage was how do we develop features to prioritize in the project or what are we going to include that meets all these goals and outputs. And so in in no particular order they included plazas, seating areas, beautifification and aesthetics, site amenities, planting, irrigation improvements, seasonal lighting and lighting safety improvements and what to do with the on street parking. All of this went into a big set of uh analysis and developed a lot of the framework of the vision boards and the presentation and exhibits that were used to start the actual initial community outreach. Again, this was to really help prioritize what to include in the project. So, it started with some branding and project awareness. That was including developing a project logo, fact sheets, door hangers, a website, interactive map, including, you know, how to partner with the San Gabriel Valley COG. They had a bus rapid transit uh project that spans a portion of our project that uh we'll talk a little bit later in the presentation, but a lot of this effort was to to gain traction and make the project the public and the community aware. It included a survey, a 10 to 15 minute survey that uh helped a a ask several questions uh both virtual and in paper uh and also since that was going to be more of a community-based type outreach doing door-to-door canvasing so within the actual project footprint where we could talk primarily to the businesses and the residents right on the project corridor.

Uh, additionally the project team attended the with a booth the city's independence day celebration to promote the awareness. We conducted two inerson meetings and a virtual meeting all in September. All of this was advertised through a lot of the city's social media and other platforms. Uh, some of the big major highlights though it was multilingual. This was done in Chinese, Spanish, English. Uh, you'll see on the next slide. Uh I'll start with the lower right hand corner, but over 400 surveys were received from the public. Uh 175 business owners and occupants, employees, residents through the door-to-d dooror canvasing spoken to and we connected with 50 people in the community meetings. So what were the inputs and uh from the actual especially the survey? If you look to the left, there were two resounding items that we heard from everybody at the top two. Adding walking areas and and really the pedestrian mobility, but also adding the site amenities and the features that are going to h enhance the downtown uh uh uh community. Um but kind of second tier to that that we're really close but a little bit behind maintaining the four lanes, bikeways, improving transit and maintaining parking. So when we uh some of the other features we heard especially from the businesses is how can we improve the landscaping especially the um something more modern but uh the parking is very uh vital to the downtown businesses and that create potential for down dining uh areas. So, we took all that, heard it as we were developing what to consider into the project con uh uh concepts. And so, looking at the left, what does Garvey Avenue generally look like? There's 10

to 12 foot sidewalks, four lanes, a median parking, revisiting the LA Metro goals of how to improve traffic capacity, enhancing the non-motorious safety and mobility, and then the improving the downtown. And so really we we we bottled that up and it was okay, how do we optimize the sidewalk and those downtown amenities and all of the alternatives? What can we do to make it as future proof in case the city has other projects that they're evaluating or or likes the idea of maybe switching alternatives in the future because priorities change. So making it future proof and so with that we developed the first concept. As you can see, this is consistent with all of the alternatives on the outside, 14 to 16 foot sidewalks. That additional 4 foot is is very big. Uh it allows uh the opportunities we talked about previously with the dining, the more mobility. Um but how did we accommodate the extra footprint? It came with reducing the roadway lane widths to something there. There are several standards out there that will justify slower or lower lane widths equal slower speeds equal better traffic flow equal more safe uh conditions. It's also consistent with uh the city's vision zero plan as well. So this alternative was really maintaining the roadway and the sidewalk. Uh, I will note though that the sidewalk to fit within the budget that was allowed with the project for LA Metro, the the sidewalk widening would only occur between Lincoln Avenue and Atlantic. The rest of it would be more of a pavement re refresh ADA compliancy, get things up to speed and and uh uh re improve to to refresh. So then this is what it looks like in

the actual plan view at the Garfield Avenue intersection. Um the main component you can see that then we'll talk a little bit about this as the the presentation goes on but some of the other key features that we did is we improved the the the the bus stops those will be a component of this but also adding what are called curb extensions. The idea is is the the bulbs out into the road slightly that helps reduce the speeds. It helps reduce the the the length between the crossings for the pedestrian so it makes safer crossings as well. Um, so that is primarily the the first alternative. The city the city partnered with San Gabriel Valley uh coalition of governments. They have a regional bus rapid transit project that they're preparing for and looking at in the spirit of looking at the 2028 Olympics that connects downtown LA to Pomona. There are several stops and Olympic uh events that'll be along this corridor, but this is also to improve regional transit. So this alternative maintained those same wide sidewalks, maintained the parking, but rather than having four lanes, it took the outer lanes and reduced those to bus rapid transit. So it's two lanes plus a bus rapid transit dedicated lane that you see in the uh the orange red. This is a plan view of it. Uh one of the key components though is as you approach intersections, you see the dashed red striping that allows uh through traffic to cross over. it's conflict striping to to use as right turn pockets. Uh so there's still the ability to access uh uh the the side streets easily. Lastly, uh heard about what to do with the bikes. Uh additionally, the city separate from this project is evaluate a parking structure project in the downtown area. So, this was more looking at, okay, same sidewalks, four lanes,

but converting the parking to class 2 buffered bikeways to have a bicycle facway or new bikeway along Garvey Avenue. Uh, very compatible with that future parking structure project. This is the plan view. Uh nothing really different, but you can see some of the the bike striping improvements we'll talk about from a safety perspective to help with left turns and connectivity. Additionally, with that, we we adopted or we prepared three different aesthetic and architectural themes to evaluate with the public. This is what's called the urban vitality. This is like a colorful, fun uh architectural theme. the the where you'll see this is the downtown arts district in Los Angeles and you can see a lot of the vibrant colors. Uh then there's the more timeless classic, the urban serenity that's more earth tones, metals, stone, kind of blends in everywhere that you could see in the pictures. Uh these are pretty popular. The Playhouse District in Pasadena, also the Grove in Los Angeles. And then lastly, the contemporary oriental that takes a blend of the heritage and some ability to take uh ornamental architectural features and put it together as you see. And where you see the the Blossom Plaza in Los Angeles is probably the closest place is this uh uh to to where you see this kind of architectural theme. We also developed a project specific planting pallet that was consistent with the urban forestry plan of the city and the uh city's sustainability plan. Um but some of the key components of this is drought tolerant also taking the street trees and what can we do to make them alternating from evergreen to flowering and colorful that might complement something seasonal like the Lunar New

Year festival downtown. Uh and then lastly, what to do to complement and improve the colors from the architectural themes we just talked about. Um also we talked about bikeways. Emerson and Newark along the corridor. Those will be on all alternatives of doing what are called class 3 shared bikeways which where the bikes and the uh vehicles share the traffic. That those are usually done in kind of smaller two-lane slower speed lower volume areas. That will be common to all of them. Additionally, we will provide some bikeway improvements along Atlantic Avenue that will connect to the Monterey Pass Road bikeway improvements that are going on in the design phase currently and that you could see some north south connectors to provide some connectivity to Garvey Avenue. All of this is consistent with the city's planned bikeway network. These are some of the features uh specifically and like I said that you could see pictures along Emerson and Newark or renderings of what the bikeways would look like for the class 3 as you approach any kind of turn situations. Along the right, there's the ability to add safety elements for bike boxes or two-way or two-stage left turns. And then the ability for wayfinding signage and bicycle racks uh uh along the corridor, especially at the Garvey connections consistent with the city's vision zero plan, uh pedestrian safety elements. I already talked about the curb extensions and the bullouts, the improved ADA sidewalks and making sure all the ramps are ADA compliant, the high visibility crosswalks that you'll have at the major crossing areas and any kind of striping features we can do to really alert drivers to pedestrian conflict areas. Lastly, signals, uh, lighting improvements from a safety and an operations, but also there's the opportunity with that seasonal, uh, features like Lunar New Year to do LED programmable lighting that might be able

to complement any kind of city festivals along Garvey Avenue. So, we took all that, packaged it into several boards and exhibits and strip maps and whatnot and developed a second more detailed survey more focused on helping prioritize the concepts to the community as well as the architectural themes. Again, knowing and seeing that it was more community-based folks participating in the bis the uh surveys. We did a second round early November of door-to-door canvasing really targeting the businesses and the employees of the businesses. Did more community meetings and popups including the monster mash booth, the farmers market shortly thereafter and uh and two inerson meetings early November advertised all through the city social media. And so what did the public say? As you can see, not everybody of the 59 people participated in voting for the alternative. Some voted for none, but the majority provided some sort of vote. And alternative one and alternative three, the the roadway with the parking and the roadway with the buffered bike lanes were the two primary favorites by the community. But stepping back of those voters only 8% of the voters either work or own a business along the corridor. So it was again more community centric. Um, additionally from the uh next the the architectural there we go the results overwhelmingly the urban serenity was the favorite from the community and ultimately it was the most flexible of the three alternatives with in terms of options that you can integrate with it and cost effective but also it's got the most compatibility with the existing and future architecture.

So you know we actually had more success with surveys uh many of which were new survey participants not just all old uh 509 166 businesses over 400 people connected with and discussed in person at the the different various events all multilingual again same uh Chinese Spanish English um between October November. So in terms of next steps, what we recommend uh to the city council for direction is approval of alternative one. It seemed to have the most support when you consider both businesses and the community. It also didn't have any kind of proclusion to the ability to incorporate the bus rapid transit improvements that uh St. Gabriel Valley COGS team has been discussing with the city over the last month and into the early part of next year. Uh, additionally, it doesn't take away parking or impact any of the businesses. So it it would be maybe the least impactful in that situation but also easily integrable with the future parking structure project. Um the option two the urban serenity from an architectural theme for your approval. Any input that we can receive from you uh at the end of this and any questions we're happy to answer. Again, just from the re the uh refresh on the timeline, we're trying to conclude the preliminary design so we can get the project construction ready by fall of next year and winter of 2027 complete construction. With that said, thank you for your time. I really appreciate the opportunity to present this project and open it up to any questions uh or input you have.

Thank you, staff, for that presentation. members. Oh, hello. Um, members, um, any questions or comments?

Yes. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Uh, I think I would been to like three of those in the market just and, uh, saw a lot of participants who actually were involved and they came with the second time, third time they came with the markers, pens and really drew up the diagram. Uh, I I like the presentation. I like what you guys had to focus on, which is alternative one. I mean, again, uh, consistently for me, my my top three priorities here are safety, flow, and aesthetics in that order. And I think you have that, and it looks like it's consistent to what you guys are presenting. So, I'm I'm in supportive of what you guys got there.

Thank you, Council Go Sanchez. I have some questions. Uh, first of all, thank you for the presentation. I think it's very exciting to see uh what potentially uh the Garvey downtown district um will look like and I know a lot of people are are very excited uh to see this uh project come to fruition but also uh what it potentially holds for us as a city. I think it's going to be a great uh marker for us in terms of where where we can be um in terms of so are we being asked tonight just to clarify uh to give direction are we are we taking a vote on a particular plan? I know that there was three options that were provided.

Correct. Um Council Member Sanchez, yes. Tonight we are asking for uh direction from the council. So yes, um our staff and consultants made recommendations um for the councils to consider. However, we're here to also hear your feedback. Um but yes, we are looking for direction with this direction. We would uh move the project into its next phase, which is actually to uh go through the design work. So yes, we would need um formalized direction. Okay.

Yeah. And just if I might add to that, so the other benefit as Josh pointed out earlier is that going with the first alternative gives us the opportunity in the future should we decide that we want to add bike lanes to um this segment of Garvey. We can do that with simple striping. There's not going to be a huge construction cost um to redo sidewalk, asphalt, um anything like that. So this is a nice alternative that gives us options for the future. Um, additionally, I know Josh pointed out that the construction cost um in the sidewalk at Lincoln, we are actively working with Metro to look at extending that the full duration of this um segment along Garvey to new. So, once we hear back from Metro officially, then we can add that segment of sidewalk to the full portion of Garvey.

Can we go back to the Sorry, can we go back to the um four the three um options? Yes. So, the option that got the most amount of votes and I mean there was 400 you said 400 votes in total, right? Um and I I like council member go I I also went to a lot of these um uh and I like all of them but um the um one with the bike lanes which is um alternative three. Is that correct with that?

Um I know that this council and has talked in the past about extending and adding bike lanes um not just um down the Garvey district but throughout the city that would connect the city. So, I think this is a great opportunity for us to be able to add uh bike lane passes to our city um especially in the downtown district district to be able to encourage uh residents uh to be able to bike down to the downtown district especially as this project comes to fruition and to explore uh this area. U so I personally would like to see bike lane paths. I know that I also serve on the metro council um and service council and I know that the importance of and of the of the metro bus lane path um or dedicated path. But I had some questions about that. I know we discussed this in the last council meeting, but should the COG move forward with or or should we move forward with the potential um project encouraged by the COG uh to add a dedicated bus lane path, would that lane the all 24 hours a day be a dedicated bus lane path?

That's still up for debate. So that's really going to be council's prerogative if they want to support that as an option. There are are other alternatives. You could do um durations during certain periods of time. Uh if you want to, you know, have that during peak flow going toward LA in the morning and coming from LA in the in the evening, that is an alternative. Um the COG would need to provide those statistics to show the benefits uh to either option. And I know that the only drawback with adding the at least the way I see it that the bike lane path would be the loss of the dedicated parking spaces that that are already there. Right. Correct. Um but we are planning to add a parking structure to this area.

Yes. Long long term the goal is to add a parking structure. Um again I think that's that's why we're um recommending alternative one because right now we don't have a parking structure. And so by doing alternative one, it allows us to uh retain the parking that's existing and then in the future when that parking structure is built, then we can look at and evaluate removing those parking spaces to put bike lanes back in. Okay. And then Sean, I'm not sure if you can uh if you might know this off the top of your head, but um when is our expected um date for completion for the structure structure?

Structure. So, we're we're finalizing our parking study uh um to give to Metro. We anticipate giving to Metro anytime soon. Now, once we get there, okay, then we can start looking at um getting those funds allocated to us to build the structure. So, then we'll go out to design, then construction. So, I would say we're probably at least three plus years out um before that would be completed. Three years, you said? Three plus. Yes.

Three plus years. Okay. So in three plus years um if we moved forward with let's say alternative one which is what you guys are recommending um we can come back and look at removing the parking if the council wishes to and adding the bike lane path.

Correct. That is correct. And then I also might point out um this the the the project that we have before you tonight doesn't preclude people from using Garvey for their bikes. Now um they can use Garvey as a pathway for their bicycles. Additionally um alternative one does have sheros um which is bike lanes in essence along um Newark and

Emerson. Thank you. Um so again there there is still bike connectivity along those thorough affairs and then also you have um thoroughares that come down to connect from Emerson and also up from Newark to connect to Garvey. So there's still alternatives to use bikes uh for for con alternative one. Um, I mean, given that most of the votes, if I'm reading this correctly, were alternative three with the dedicated bike lane, um, I'm I'm just, uh, I'm I'm wondering, um, if we still need to potentially do more community input in terms of, um, option one or alternative one and three,

um, I I mean, I understand where where why the alternative one would be recommended. Um but I still feel that this is a great opportunity to add um a bike lane path and given that the majority of the people who did did complete the survey um want the dedicated bike lane path that is the if I'm reading this correctly is that right? Yeah. Go ahead. Um mayor prom if I may.

Yes. So, uh, correct, Council Member Sanchez, the the survey results does indicate that, uh, the the, um, community members that took the survey, um, yes, alternate alternative three had the highest votes. 8%. So, at the bottom of the slide, 8% of, um, those respondents work uh, or own a business in the the area. So, uh, I wanted to ask again about, uh, businesses in the area and their responses to, uh, the the potential of lost parking. Can you reiterate that portion, please?

Yeah, overwhelmingly of the 160 plus and and both, uh, down downtown canvasing uh, efforts were against the bikeways and wanted the parking. It just they didn't fill out the survey. So, it's a little bit misleading when you see the actual results, but when discussed verbally and with them, there was a very adamant we want parking uh as part of this project. Don't touch our parking. So, just for clarification, we we wanted to make sure that um the the recommendation tonight for alternative one allows some flexibility in the future to um potentially either remove the parking and allow for bike lanes in the future or um potentially allow for a bus rapid transit lane. So, yes, there mixed reviews from businesses versus uh community members and taking the survey. Um, and so that's what we were trying to capture when we're thinking about the removal of the parking lane as well. So, alternative one was the recommendation at this time because it allows some flexibility as we're still planning for potentially the the uh bus rapid transit lanes and uh potentially for hopefully the parking structure comes sooner than we anticipate. Um, and then there'll be some additional parking uh available on the parking structure. Uh, as a reminder, the parking structure uh is uh slated to be at the Lincoln Garvey area. Um, so that's the only parking uh structure that we're looking at at this time. So there would there would only be that one access to that structure. So some of I think the businesses were concerned about losing that uh frontage parking. So I wanted to make sure that we're sharing that those comments back from the businesses as well. Yes. I'm sorry. Do you have any additional comments there?

Yes. I I I just one more uh question actually. Um do we know um and I'm not sure if you know have this data Sean um available, but um how many businesses either have or don't have uh their own available parking space? U because I know that a lot a lot of businesses on Garvey do have parking space. I'm thinking like just the ones that I visit regularly like Bronto Donuts for example. Um, uh, they have they have plenty of parking there, right? Uh, I never have I never have trouble parking, uh, in their, but but I know that there are potentially some other businesses that don't.

Yeah, I I I don't have those numbers off the top of my head, but what I can tell you, it's definitely mixed. Even some of the ones that do have parking, they're limited. So, there are many businesses along Garvey that will only have a few parking spaces that don't accommodate for the needs of them. So, people are parking on the street. So I think that you know again um looking at today's environment um alternative one retains that parking but gives us the flexibility with minimal costs to expand out should we uh so again I think that once the structure is built then we can go back out to the to the not only the community but the businesses and talk to them about the structure being built the additional parking that's available now we have additional um sidewalk space where people can walk through the downtown area. Um so again I think that you know either either option would would work but ideally one gives us more flexibility down the road.

Thank you. And then just one more question on the can we move to the next slide with the aesthetic options. Um I personally because I have kids really like the first option uh because it just seems a lot more familyfriendly. Uh but I do understand that the um I think it's the urban serenity. Is that what it's called? Urban Serenity um is the one that got the most amount of votes by far and and the one that I like is the one that got the least amount of votes. Uh so but but the all of them look amazing and all of them look great. So I think any of those would be a great improvement for for our city. Um but was there a separate page just for the urban serenity slide? Was there a separate slide for that one?

Yes. Just so I can see a little bit more in detail that is that this is urban renity. Okay. Um and just so I understand is there a lot more vegetation and in this one compared to the other ones?

No, it's it's all going to be a similar spacing of trees, spacing of landscaping. It's more of the accent features around like the tree grates will be more of a copper or bronze or it might be some sort of decorative earth tone type hardscape uh along the way. Uh but but the landscaping and the plushness is going to be the same regardless of the alternatives. It's it's more just the accent features around what kind of colors, what kind of styles are going to be.

I see. Okay. I just don't know why the one I voted for didn't get enough votes. I'm just kidding. But uh but I'm just being wise. But anyhow, they they all look amazing. They all look great. I'm just more concerned about the the parking situation. I completely understand where businesses are coming from. Um and then um yeah, that's all my questions for now. Thank you, Council Shant. Council Go. Yes,

thank you. I have a followup actually. Um looking at the maps right now where you have uh help me understand here. So if we went with alternative three, the bite lane will be on Garvey, not on that would be it based on based on that that alternative. Correct. No, the the Emerson and New Mark will get the Cherros regardless of the alternative. This would just provide a bike thoroughfare down Garvey in So there would be three bike lanes if if you went to alternative three. Now, if you went with alternative one, you would still have the two bite lanes on Emerson and Newark.

That is correct. And one thing to re remember too, there's three streets, McFaren, uh, Alhhamra, and uh, Orange that will have north south Sherro connection connectors or class two. And then at those junctions with Garvey, that would be the most ideal place for for wayfinding signage, bike racks, any other kind of bike amenities too. So the idea is still to provide at kind of half mile, quarter mile intervals, connectivity such that you can still be very bike friendly with alternative one.

Okay. Well, my mind didn't change. I just wanted to confirm that because it's still to me the safety is the most important thing here. And I just worry with Garvey being such a heavy flow traffic route, if you put bike lanes there, uh, unless you do dedicated, otherwise you it's just bound to have accidents. Um, versus you put them on Emerson and Newark. I think it's probably a smoother ride, less car, less flow. And I still like the fact that well alternative one you still have the flexibility should something happen with the bus lanes and the bite lane you convert that later you still have that flexibility. And I think we really need to consider the the downtown area business district area with the with the parking. I know they have the parking lots but in the scheme of things that's not enough. That's why it overflows to the street and I I've seen that. So and I'm glad we still have time to do this. So, I think we still go with what's flexible, but taking the order of safety, uh, flow of traffic, and then aesthetics to me is nice to have, but not critical at this point. So,

yes, Council Sanchez. Yes. Can I ask one more question? Um, for the alternative three, um, did you say that was a class three bike lane?

Class two, it's a buffered bike lane. So there'll be a two-foot striped buffer between the bike way and the traffic. And then we talked about curb extensions. As you get closer, those would bulb out normally where the parking would be into the roadway. But what you do is it's called a protected intersection where effectively in alternative one, they can act as additional ADA ramps and maybe you could even take some of the parking and convert it to ADA parking. But in the ultimate, the cyclist would go through that. uh there's like a ramp that would effectively go or a cut through that they can go and have their kind of protected zone as they're crossing through intersections. So it would be even the curb extensions we talked about would be compatible with both bikes or keeping it parking.

I see. And then what would a class three bike lane look like then? This would not meet state law for class three. Uh unfortunately your volumes and your speeds are too high for class three where you share the traffic. Okay. Um, when you guys talked to businesses um about extending the sidewalks, how did they feel about that?

They actually generally liked it. They thought the idea the most, especially the ones that were more with food or dining opportunities were thrilled about the idea, but uh many thought about, you know, you start putting benches or lights or others and it starts crowding that 10 feet and really narrowing the walkway areas. So, generally, they were all in favor of wider sidewalks. Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Any other comments, colleagues? Okay. Uh thank you. I have some questions. Um uh let again I know it's in a staff report, but again just so for public edification. This funding is coming from Metro funding for uh 710 uh um mobility, right? Again, that was the money that was set aside for communities like Monterey Park with the elimination of what was then the 710 uh tunnel project. Correct. That's correct. Okay. Have we and I know and and again, thank you for doing this what seems like a very comprehensive survey. Have we also been conferring with Metro about these results? Have we been also communicating with Metro about this?

We we we update Metro on progress on these items. Yes. And the reason why I I bring it up is because I know that on the previous project which which the council at the time ultimately rejected. You know, I know Metro had concerns about that project. And so I think it's important that we also make sure that we are communicating with uh Metro so they know and and they get feedback because ultimately they are the grtors meaning right that that that they still have to approve what we give to them in terms of getting the money to fund these projects. Correct. That's correct. And I will tell you that Metro is pleased with how far along we are with our projects. So they are definitely supportive.

Okay. No, no, good. And and again that's important to me because again it it I I I since I think we had to be very careful to make sure that since Metro is the grand tour that you know we work closely with them. Um having said that I I also want to ask I guess call it hypotheticals. In a hypothetical, if we were to say adopt alternative three, the buffered bike lanes, and then in a hypothetical, the COG who presented before with the BRT project comes back and says, "Hey, we got the funding." What does that mean for alternative 3? Should the call come back and say, "We have full funding. We want to implement BRT with the city's blessing." But what does that also mean though given in a hypothetical should we adopt alternative three I'm curious what does that mean in practicality

luckily for us the parking is the exact same width as the bikeway so it is entirely interchangeable um that and ultimately whether we adopt three and it changes to two in the future or one and it changes to two in the future it is more or less just a restriping exercise no reconstru construction.

Well, it's a rest striping. What I'm trying to get at is that again, you're still striping um what is I guess now parking for um the bike lanes. And in the event that we then had to restripe again for a BRT, doesn't that mean though we would have to essentially remove the bike lane or at least minimize it because in favor of a bus? I'm I'm curious. No, the parking is the the idea with the difference between uh two and three with respect. It's the parking or bikeways. It's the same difference between one and three. And so the width is exactly the same. The cross-sectional footprint is exactly the same.

So think about it this way. You there hypothetically could be an alternative four which would include the BRT and bike lanes and one through lane. Wait, wait, wait. Say again. Say it again. So you one through lane. Yes. One. So So take take alternative two. Wait, wait. Take alternative two with one through lane on Garvey the BRT and then remove that parking and add Yeah. each direct. So one one in each direction. Not one lane, but two lanes. one lane in each direction for but that does mean though that you are essentially then

in order to accommodate a BRT and a bike lane you would essentially be removing then a lane for vehicular traffic that you yourself said it's two lanes but one going west one going east correct that's correct you're doing that with alternative two as it is though it's it's alternative two is one lane each direction and the BRT and the parking so it bas Basically, alternative 2 is already what you're you're concerned about uh in that capacity. It's uh one lane each direction vehiculars BRT on street parking. What we're saying is that on street parking could also be bikeways instead. Yes.

U Mayor Pim if I may. So yes, spacing uh is the issue. Correct. So um right now with alternative one, this still allows for some flexibility for the future. So, uh, you maintain parking for now if the council chooses in the future because you you're still having your, um, sherros on Emerson and and Newark. If in the future, whether that's for a BRT lane or potentially bike lanes on Garvey, um, that parking lane could be either one. If if council, the community is interested in having both a a bike lane and a parking, sorry, a bike lane and a bus lane, then that would reduce the space to just one lane for vehicle traffic.

Okay. I think that's something that the public needs to understand as well. And the reason why I and and believe me, look, I I I I support the pedestrian safety measures. I think that's important. And again, we all are told about, you know, safety on Garvey is important. We want it to be pedestrian friendly. However, again, I I going back to the previous project, which the council rejected. You know, as well in a biking a parking structure is, you are talking about proximity. Meaning that if you're say Divines Antique store, well, that parking structure is still a few blocks away on Lincoln. And that still means that someone, you know, either the vines or even the restaurants close by. I mean, even if someone parks in this parking structure, it's still a couple blocks of walking. And I think and I think this is also probably why with the previous project, why those objections from those businesses who were further away from Lincoln and closer to New Avenue. And I think those and and and right now Garvey is still used by commuters getting through um Los Angeles to the other thing you know by cities and and so certainly I and I wonder too if the business understand that that that depending on what we choose it could mean a reduction of of um vicular flow and and and and here's where I I I wish we had a better physical layout. So because we're only six six lanes that means again depending on what altern we choose we are talking about taking away um lane for vehicular traffic. Now in neighboring Los Angeles in the community of Elserino they have adopted my understanding is a BRT and a bike lanes. The difference though is that it is eight lanes. And so they essentially have the luxury of putting basically uh well actually keeping

parking, adding a BRT and a bike lane and still allow for four lanes of veicular traffic. We unfortunately because we're six lanes I think that's something that we need to really think careful about you know and also because Sav said the parking structure project is three plus years away and and therefore um depending on what we choose there is going to be some impact to businesses and I think that that's going to be very careful about thinking given that our businesses are still recovering and not to mention the uncertainty about some of the other development projects which I know we've approved But they seem to be lingering like the Celadon project, like like the other projects and and and and again a lot of these projects um which I do support they are centered mostly in what we car downtown which is an intersection of Garfield and uh Garvey and yet the further we go away I think the impacts will be felt more and so I think and also as I and again you know I I do like what the Congress presented with the BRT proposal. However, my understanding is that it's still not a done deal. There's still question about funding and two even if we were to approve a BRT project. I don't know what Rose will do because it will imp because and nor will Neighboring Elmont and and so I I I think that's something we need to keep in mind as well. In other words, what we decide again, especially given that there are there are factors and externalities that are in some ways beyond our own control. And and having said that and again look I I mean I I I think we need more bike lanes and again I as someone who takes the bus to work sometimes I I I favor actually having more alternatives. However, given some of the externalities, which I think we're still unknowns, I would say that alternative one gives us the most um um flexibility to be honest.

One thing I might add is that the idea too behind the parking structure is also a potential transit hub. And so that could provide some interconnect with businesses that may be further away with utilizing our microtransit program um or having other alternatives to get to those businesses. So there are opportunities to connect businesses to that that um parking structure that we have at our fingertips today. I'm not saying that that's the end all beall to fix the challenges, but it is an opportunity to to utilize the things that we have at our fingertips today. So the other thing I want to talk about too is that we we really have four lanes uh of travel through through Garvey. The two outer lanes are not really lanes, right? your parking their potential bike lane, but to put a rapid transit lane through the parking lane is really not feasible. Um, part of that is because our goal for this project is not just looking at vehicular travel, but pedestrian travel and pedestrian safety. So, these bulbouts that we we're constructing, it's really to provide significant pedestrian safety to shorten those those times that the pedestrians are crossing those intersections. And by doing that, that doesn't allow for a through lane for for that rapid transit line. So, um, that's something the council really needs to think about, too, is that really we have four lanes that we're able to use for vehicular travel, whether that's bus lanes or vehicular travel.

Mhm. Okay.

Okay.

Sure. Okay. Well, I mean, again, well, I I thank you so much. Um, I think this is actually a really good robust conversation and and again it it it and again I think it's important that we need to have continue these conversations because look the money is very scarce. I I mean I mean it's it's it's it's it sounds like a lot of money but again it's it's really limited because it's it's what was allocated by Metro for what was then a different project and it is also as a reminder it is being allocated to several cities in the same valley. So I think you know um let's I I think until we have a lot of these externality issues resolved I would say I think for now the staff recommendation is something we should probably look at given that we also have flexibility when we have more clarification on these other projects and with that question I'd be happy to make a motion to continue forward with the project given what we heard today. Um the most flexibility and safety being the key here. So I'll I'll make the motion.

Okay. And um I I think as we move forward with this I regardless of which option is chosen um I I think that um we still need to come back and revisit this um especially with the bike lane paths because we also have to realize that that is the alternative that received the most amount of votes. So, we have to take into account that there's a lot of residents that came out and voted um wanting to add bike lane paths to the downtown district. Um and so some of them I've I spoke to um and you know are really interested in being able to bike from their home to the downtown district and be able to bike back. But um I think that we need to council to Mayor Prom's uh point uh I think a lot of a lot of this stuff still needs to be answered especially um with the dedicated bus lane. Um I I will say that that particular bus line which I believe is the 70 line is probably one of the most transited lines.

Yes, it is. Um and so it's very important for us to um find a way to be able um if we can. Um but I understand losing a lane of traffic would be uh very troublesome I think um or cumbersome. But anyhow um I I would also second um council member Go's um motion but uh with the um if we're going with alternative one I'm assuming we're going with the aesthetic of the urban serenity. Is that correct?

That would be correct. um which I'm fine with. Um but uh and uh the which is very nice and but anyhow um my daughters who were just here earlier I think are going to be upset at me. Hopefully they're not watching at home right now. But um anyhow so but but I think uh my last comment is just to make make sure that we find the time to be able to uh have those conversations with Metro about the end the COG but also with um with our community about those bike lane paths. Sure. Is that a second? Okay. Uh okay. Well, um no further comments or questions and I will um a motion is made. It's been second. Uh members, please vote.

Approved unanimously.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, actually um I know we just approved it, but but can I also make a suggestion to you is that as I mentioned, I know presentations been made to our neighbor like Roseme and I'm assuming El Monty. It would probably be helpful to us as well to know what they're thinking or whether or not we need to even entertain having some type of joint conversation because again it I would hate for us to go through this exercise and again thank you staff for being thoughtful in serving businesses and residents. I I I'm just concerned also is that you know because again you know as much as we celebrate that the single valley is 21 plus cities but it's because it's 21 plus cities that we also need to make sure that we communicate more with neighboring cities to coordinate and so I would strongly suggest that with especially with the BRT we have some conversations with the neighboring cities which cog is proposing for this project. it would be helpful to me and I'm sure to my colleagues about what they're thinking, what their input is on that project which will run through their cities as well.

And if I could say one more comment, um the I really appreciated by the way when we um did the community outreach um that we engaged the community. I I saw a lot of people come out and share their thoughts, but I really appreciated the side family table that you had for kids. Um, I I think that was probably one of the first times I've seen us implement that. And I think that was very um very well done. And I think for parents who um who want to come out to a lot of these events and be able to share their voices sometimes um don't because they don't know what you know what they can do with their kids. So I really appreciate that we we do that and we take that example when we do our own community outreach. Um we could you know have potentially Shawn back there or the police chief. my my kids came out earlier and they were looking to be engaged. So, I'm just kidding. But I'm just joking on that part. But but I think that was really well done. I wanted to make sure that I mentioned that to you.

Um Mayor Prom, just to reiterate, we did note uh speaking with uh Roseme and Almani to uh ensure that if if the bus rapid transit lane uh concepts move forward, I understand that the connectivity is important for council. So we did note that and and just to reiterate so um the council's uh recommendation was to uh move forward with with staff recommendation for alternative one and option two. Yes. Alternative one that's a traffic pattern and then option two which was the urban serenity. Yes. Perfect. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Hello. All right, let's move on to the consent calendar. Item nine. Do we want to pull any items? No. Uh,

I I'll pull 9B. 9B. Okay. Any other ones? Sorry, I'll pull 9E. 9. Yes. Okay. And if there aren't any other items being pulled, I'd be more than happy to approve or make a motion to approve the remaining items. And then just uh for Carl for item 9 F, I think there are council members that are have a conflict. Is that I don't remember that is that I think there are three of us. Do we keep the strolls?

Uh, madame mayor, members of the council, I did look at the conflicts list. I did not see those were potential conflicts, not actual conflicts. Okay. So, the fiber optics will be under the ground. Uh, will not be triggering any of the requirements under the FPC regulations. Okay. All right. All right. So, council member Sanchez moves. Do we have a second? Council member Wong seconds. Let's vote. Approved unanimously. Thank you. All right. So, let's discuss item 9B.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, and Council. Laura Bourjon, finance manager with the city of Monterey Parks Finance Department. The city's auditor, the Pune Group, an independent auditor and one of the nation's leading certified public accounting firms, completed the audit of the city's annual financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. The audit audited financial statements are incorporated into an annual comprehensive financial report or acter. It's my pleasure to present the annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 2425. Today we'll be uh doing a brief review of the annual comprehensive financial statement, the general fund re revenues, expenditures, and fund balance. I am proud to inform you that the city received an unmodified or clean opinion which means our third party auditor is able to provide a reasonable level of assurance that the financial statements pres present a true and fair refle reflection of our city's finances for the reported period. Another achievement that I'm proud to present is a GFOA certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting which we have received for 36 consecutive for 36 consecutive years. We're confident that the fiscal year 2425 acter will be the 37th. The city's general fund revenues came in at 74.2 2 million of which 4 million was for uh toot or hotel tax, 19.8 million was sales tax and 25.1 million was property tax. General fund expenditures

um came out to 70.3 million along with 0.7 million other financing sources. General fund balance for a fiscal year ending um June 30th, 2025 is 46.5 million which is 40 4.6 million over the previous year. This concludes my presentation. Um staff is here and available to answer any questions.

Thank you for that presentation. Any questions? uh as I find my questions. Um can you remind me because I may have missed it. The so the act for for the well first appreciate staff uh and the audit team. I know a lot goes into making sure the full audit uh is completed and completed on time in particular. Appreciate the pung group and and all the work that went into this on uh can you remind high level what are Uh what I don't I trying not to call it surplus because it's not uh but what our net revenues were last fiscal year from the audit.

The net revenues were uh I'm sorry was $3.6 $6 million. And then um for I noticed that in the act for right the current after as of June 30th 2025 right uh the breakdown for the general fund reserve right 40 that's about $46,500,000 13 close to 14 million of that is for catastrophic events um 32 million is assigned for capital projects but or committed to or assigned to capital projects, excuse me,

uh for projects that are already on our SIP list, but those can be changed on because we have a SIP list that's much larger than that, right? And then there's only about $650,000 in unassigned funds that already does that general fund reserve already include the the net revenues that we generated from that year from the last fiscal year. That's correct. So those are just assigned to SIP projects generally. Correct. 3 million of the surplus was assigned to CIP projects. Um they are not uh yet allocated by council.

Great. Um and then the so I just want to note that right the kudos to the city staff my fellow council members as well on the council for achieving that net posit right the positive net position in terms of the the the acter and our financials in our budget here in Mari Park. Uh great achievement particularly compared to some of our neighboring communities that are not doing as well and are dealing with cuts. Uh so appreciate that and our city hall workers and everyone that's been working collaboratively with us on a very conservative um and responsible financial management uh in a position to do that. Um but I'd also note right if you can uh help me to highlight uh our existing liabilities right are oped and there's also other liabilities. Can you just detail? I don't know if you have a slide on that at all. Um, but I'm going to find the page where it's also listed when I am able to, but if you can kind of just talk through our existing liabilities for the city, long-term liabilities.

Are you asking about a debt service or just different liabilities? Because we have like workers comp liabilities. We have um and then we also have debt service. If you have well not debt service because we've got a function to pay that right down but existing liabilities right we we have the pension operation bond but our our uh liabil we still have net liabilities to pers for unfunded liability or unfunded pers liabilities right

we we do have a U that which I will bring back at um during our budget workshop but we are still we still own uh over 90% of our pensions which is we're in really good standing and yes we do have a U but I understand that with uh because CalPERS is always two three years behind on their interest and reporting we are expecting a reduction in our U for next fiscal year and crossing fingers that that happens but we are expecting a reduction on the U for other liabilities that we have that's non debt service uh we have workers comp and general liability and we do provide that um an actuarial actuarial number in our ACER of potential what it would be valued at a point in time if we were to have to pay everything out, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be paying that out. But that that that liability amount uh includes workers comp, it includes um other general liability uh issues that we may have. So, it includes quite a bit of things. It's not uh it's an actual aerial report not um uh that can then can go to fluition but not necessarily.

Great. So are I'm hopeful as well that the PERS unfeded acrewed liability will shrink. Uh but als that that stays the case. Of course if the market changes that that may not happen. Um so we have to be cautious about that and continue. I know PERS and and we will continue to to manage and operate as conservatively as possible and we're obviously going to report the numbers um in our re essentially in our rears uh for OPED liabilities. Can you do you have an idea as I look for it as well in the act for uh of what the scale I'm 10 20 million in terms of what our oped liabilities are. So with our OPED, we also have a trust that uh that we also um um invest a million uh a million general fund dollars a year and it's through the budget process that we do that. uh but we are currently um own probably about 40% of it and I I don't have the number in front of me to know what our current uh UAL is for OPED but it's still um strong in our uh based on our um assumptions of of possible calculations that we have. We still have a very strong um ownership of our OPIB.

No, I appreciate that. And so I'm looking at page 86 of the agenda. I don't know what page of act it is, but uh if I'm reading this right, please tell me if I'm not. Our current net pension liabilities, it's are listed at about $19 million. Our net open liabilities listed about $16 million as of June 2025. Uh and then there's also uh right those the claims um and you you mentioned kind of workers comp and other claims we have liabilities there. I'm just curious. So, I just want to give one point I'm trying to make here is that we may have been net positive in terms of our annual financials, but there's still long-term liabilities that exceed even our existing general fund reserves.

That's correct. So, yes, we're not we're not there's still a lot of things we need to pay down in terms of long-term debt. That's correct.

And then I'm just curious on the liabilities. Um, can you detail how that works? I actually don't know. Uh and I'm trying to understand right so we have workers comp and other claims against the city that have been made right settle lawsuits and settlements but people is that number that's listed as our liability is that existing settlements that we're paying out over time or is that right now what we owe and assumptions there assumptions of the we do have current claims and other potential claims but they're all it's an they're assumptions that are used and then they have our actual aerials have um a calc a format that they use to calculate what that number is.

Okay. So, there are claims in process. We just we've assigned potential costs, right? Liabilities for some of those claims. Some of that is also claims that we have settled that we're paying out over time. Is that right? Correct. Oh, no. She's we don't have any saying that we just pay them directly.

Hi, uh Christine Tommya, director of human resources and risk management. So based on any of the city's open claims, that's what the actuarials look at. So general liability usually has a shorter lifetime than workers comp claims because workers comp claims usually go for the lifetime of the employee. Even if they're no longer employed by the city, we still potentially pay out over time. So any usually for general liability claims once we settle a claim, we don't pay it out over time. We pay it out in one lump sum. So, but any open general liability claims that maybe are in litigation or we're still working through, those are what are included in that actuarial number. So, majority of that number is probably based on workers comp liabilities.

Help. That's very helpful. Thank you. Um, so majority of the liabilities listed in the act for in that sense is workers comp. Some of it is also right trip and falls those kind of settlements that were were and other claims against the city in terms of our infrastructure or other issues uh external parties right not employees correct uh suing the city because of something and potentially we're estimating potential payout for some of those things.

Yes, that would be the general liability. Yes. So, one helpful to make sure we're addressing infrastructure replacement and maintaining our infrastructure to reduce liabilities, future liabilities for for those kind of incidents and also whatever we can do obviously internally to continue to address uh workers comp and other claims internally. That would be whatever we can do um and whatever we we can bake into our budget for the next fiscal year and future fiscal years to make sure we're I know we already and I know staff are already thinking through what programs we continue to implement. We have our insurers and others uh the insurance pools that are making sure that we're in compliance and we're at the cutting edge of whatever programs we want we need to implement to reduce these liabilities going into the future. on the so with the the net revenue that we've generated this past fiscal year and I know we'll address this in the budget discussion for next fiscal year if that gets teed up in the next few months. Um we have certain amounts set aside for uh capital projects. I'd love to tee up a discussion at a future agenda item uh as we get into the budget to potentially set aside some funding for uh specifically the pool or pool design because I think that will be a next step that I think logically makes sense. Um I don't know if I need to throw out an amount or if we can just tee that up as a

we can bring it at midyear. We can bring a discussion at mid midyear for that and it'll be uh either the first or second council meeting in February.

Great. So yeah, if if there's a general estimate from us from an internal estimate about what a pool design might be, I know we're getting ahead of this because we're waiting for the concepts to come back from uh the consultant that's working on that earlier on in the new year. Uh but if there's an idea of that, I think that'd be helpful to guide discussion in terms of where we want to go in terms of midyear budget and potentially set aside money for for moving a pool project forward potentially. Um at least having that discussion. And also I know uh right this this fiscal year we have uh 200 we had we have had $200,000 set aside for small business assistance fund uh for businesses. I'd love to get a report back when appropriate in the next few months on how that's going. I would love to explore uh depending on the feedback from that program uh either re-upping that or finding additional funding to either supplement that existing program or uh and I'm actually more interested in potentially exploring a revolving loan fund where a loan fund is for small businesses that just need more capital to to do some expansions but also being having that be able to replenish uh the fund so that other business can can function or take advantage of that fund on an ongoing basis so that we're not we don't have to put up the city doesn't have to put up capital every year for a program like that support businesses but would be very interested the feedback from uh from this program and this year as we're uh seeing implementation for the first year of that the the grant program um I'd also with the additional funding I know that we're looking at a long list of capital improvement projects that we don't have enough funding for but I as uh right the market continues to change and interest rates are coming down, uh maybe we can look at through the budget process as well. Um if there is funding available, what options there are to potentially pay down additional debt and long-term liabilities uh since we're not going to

be earning as much on the market going forward. probably um if if it starts to make sense to pay down higher interest uh loans or debt or liabilities uh that aren't generating the same amount anymore that don't make sense for us to be le or arbitrageing that way. Uh maybe come back we'd love to have staff come back with potential options to pay down some some debt and other existing liabilities that might make sense for us if we have a little money to play with if that makes sense. Okay, with that I don't I'm happy to pass it on or make a motion. Thank you. You want to make a motion?

I'll make the motion to adopt the staff recommendation uh receive and file the pay for I'll second. All right, let's vote. Approving unanimously. All right, thank you. And then the other item we pulled was 9E, the Bugmeer Library Project. Can we get a presentation on? Yeah, if you would like Sorry, council member, if you'd like a a report, we can do a report or we can answer questions or we can do both. If you have a report, that would be great. Thank you.

All right. Uh, good evening, honorable mayor. Mayor Bro, City Council, Sean Go, public works director. Um, I also have Kristen Oliver, our librarian. Um, and so I will start off with the presentation. I'm no librarian by any means, so if there's any technical questions, she can chime in. Um, but tonight you have before you an item uh for architectural designs for the far the city library. The overarching goal is to evaluate the design for various spaces throughout the library to be more efficient for not only operations, but also for programming opportunities for the public. um services have evolved over time and so this is an opportunity for us to utilize grant funding that we have available for these architectural designs to plan for the future and hopefully um move forward with some additional work um using utilizing grant funding. So part of these include uh new dedicated spaces for passport services uh installing new multi- language signage uh throughout the library uh creating dedicated spaces uh that separate not only uh public spaces but also staff spaces so there's a clear designation on where the public and staffing can be. So um with that I will take any questions.

Okay. I just wanted to highlight some of the uh renovations that we're doing with the library. Um so thank you for thank you for that. And is all of that being done um in-house? Are we contracting out? No, this this does this architectural firm there will be um contracted out as a consulting firm. And then do we have an expected date in terms of when the project would start and end? So this is really for the design. So this is really to come up with concepts on how we move forward. Um opportunities to again be more efficient with the spaces we have. Once we have those then we can actually look to go out to construction. Um and if needed official uh engineering designs and will some of these concepts come back to council for approval or or to share

as as as we go to award some of these contracts they would come before council. Yes. Okay. And then and you said that the cost of this was all grant funded. This the for the architectural designs? Yes. Okay. And then do we have an estimated amount in terms of what this would cost? Not at this time. Once we have the architectural designs then we hope to be able to put some engineering costs toward that. Okay. anytime I see um renovations for the library, I'm always very excited because I know there's a lot of great stuff that's happening in the library. So, just wanted to pull this item to highlight some of those. So, as this progresses and you know, it's we get some more architectural designs, I'd love to be able to see some of this stuff. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Anyone want to make a motion?

Uh well, I'll leave it for council member Sanchez to make a motion. But, uh really quick on the library project one, I just want to appreciate the library staff, public works. I know the the ideas that are that germinated into this initial PSN contract award potentially today uh came out of the library strategic plan process and a lot of discussion that came out of that from the community and the stakeholders that were interested in just improving and improving the flow and the utilization of space and we know that things have shifted a lot to more digital and less physical kind of things. Uh but really I'm really excited particularly too uh like council member Sanchez in just creating more community gathering space at the library which is part of uh this plan. So really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this and all the stakeholders in the community that contributed to to getting us to this point. I know there was there's been a little bit of a a time delay between when the strategic plan was um adopted and and this point. Uh but really looking forward to uh the construction and hope that stakeholders will continue to engage in the process as moves forward. Uh and Sean is going to make sure this gets done as quickly as possible, I think.

Thank you. I'll go ahead and u make a motion to move um to approve this item. All right. Council member Sanchez moves. Council member Juan seconds. Let's vote.

Approved unanimously. Madame Mayor, if I may, uh, if if the council members or the community members have not seen the library in the last few days, the painting project is about complete and it looks, I think, really nice and refreshed and new. So, if you haven't stopped by to take a look, uh, please do so. The the library painting project is just about completed, and the carpet uh new carpet uh replacement is on underway. Not quite completed, but almost. So library is looking um nice and fresh.

Amazing. Thank you so much. All right. And that's it for our consent agenda. Um no public hearing. So new business 11A Atlantic Boulevard bike lanes. All right, I'm back again. I actually didn't go anywhere, but um Sean Igo, public works director. Um thank you council uh mayor mayor, mayor prom city council. So tonight you have before you um an item that is related to proposed bike lanes along South Atlantic Boulevard. Um this is going to be between Newark Avenue and Harding Avenue. So this is the current configuration of Atlantic as it sits today. Um this is uh that's a four lane, two lane in each direction with a center lane and then also we have um parking lanes on both sides. So this is again this is the current configuration. Um the proposed improvements along this corridor would allow uh for a bike lane again from Newark to Harding. Uh with that would come the removal of 56 on street parking spaces um which is typical for existing uh roadways. Whenever you add bike lanes, typically you have a a reduction in parking lanes. So, um this if if many of you know, uh South Atlantic Boulevard is part of the regional uh bike network. Um this is part of the San Gabriel Valley bike master plan and this is a critical north and south corridor. Um along this plan, it also allows uh long-term if we're able if we're looking to possibly extend for the full uh extension of Atlantic Boulevard would connect to Avenue Se Chavez and Rean and then also uh First Street then to Mednik and then LA uh regional bike lanes. Uh also this this current project actually will connect to our uh Garvey project which we talked

about earlier and then also Monterey Pass Road which will eventually Monterey Pass Road that bike lanes would uh cut through and connect uh to Mabel which intersects at Atlantic Boulevard uh opportunity. So this this is coming up for council because as as you've seen we recently completed a water main project along Atlantic Boulevard. Um so with that comes resurfacing um of the roadway and so now we have an opportunity to restripe um the lanes as they sit today or we can put the the striping back in its current configuration. So um again right now if we do it today there's no additional cost um and allows us to uh get this project completed um in the near future. If we decide to defer this down the road uh because we do have the existing plans, then we would need to remove the striping which requires grinding uh which damages the asphalt uh requires additional land closures and impacts to not only the public but businesses and then um we'll have to pay for the restriping costs for this segment of roadway. The current cost right now if we were to restripe this um would be about $60,000 uh for today's cost. Down the road obviously you can anticipate escalation. So we did uh talk to the businesses along this uh this thoroughfare this section of of Atlantic. Um out of the 13 businesses that we had direct contact with 54 54% of them express expressed no objection or support for the bike lanes. Uh and then the remaining percentage uh brought up concerns about not having it because not having bike lanes because of parking and then also safety concerns. So tonight you have before you two options. Uh option one is to move forward with uh the restriping and add the class 2 bike lanes. Again, the advantage of this is it allows us for the regional master plan that connectivity portion. Um it allows us to um complement our complete streets commitment that we have uh within our um our current um policies. Uh the challenge is that it that does come with the loss of 56 on street parking spaces. Um the the businesses do have parking.

um however they have expressed impacts to their businesses. Um option B would be uh to keep the existing striping the way it is. Um however that the disadvantage of that would be it leaves that gap in our network uh for bicycle lanes. Um there is a cost savings obviously um if we do it now as opposed to pushing it out in the future. So with that I will take any questions. Thank you Sean. Yes.

May I mad mayor? Uh Sean, quick question. If we put the bike lanes, and I'm looking way ahead now. If we put the bike lanes between Harding and Newark, that's 56 spaces in that little corridor. That's basically a block and a one gigantic block or block and a half depending on how you look at it. That would be for me that would be the anticipation of making Atlantic a bike way all the way from the 10 freeway all the way to the 60. How many parking spaces would we potentially lose if we went kind of like south of south of uh Garvey and north of Garvey? Just for my understanding. So, generally speaking, it's going to be probably three to 400 parking spaces. One thing to keep in mind is that some of these, I'll call them parking spaces that we would lose. Um, they're not currently utilized because they're in front of uh businesses that like um the gas company where they don't utilize a lot of on street parking. Uh so, you could anticipate a few being um not really impactful to the community. However, it's a significant impact to the areas where we do have multifamily and even single family um along that corridor. Um there are frontage roads that you see people utilize um not only the frontage road on Atlantic but also Atlantic. So there would be a pretty significant impact along this throwfare. Uh one thing to keep in mind as well uh that will be uh coming forward from the COG is the BRT on this segment. So there is a a proposal from from the COG which they will be doing community outreach next month I believe. Um they're confirming the date on that one but um that will be uh to do a BRT lane along Atlantic. So again same same situation as Garvey where you could either lose a travel lane or the parking lane.

Yeah. So that's my that's my concern and I I don't know what position I have today because part of me tells me as I'm driving down Atlantic during the day parking's being used by the businesses not so much the residential beyond what I call the commercial strip the residential toward pass Harding toward the 60 or before you get to Atlantic However, as you're driving at night, the residential residential areas get parking cuz it's the overflow for the small streets. They park in the front. So, I I I mean, that's a lot of parking to lose, three or 400 all the way through. Um, and I think what you said was we surveyed the businesses who are going to be impacted by just Harding and Newark. Have we surveyed the residents that will be impacted or that's too early?

We did not survey the residents in that area because again this this opportunity came to us pretty quickly when we looked at an opportunity for this. So um the businesses we were able to to contact them. The residential property um or call properties or multif family that live that are across the street from the businesses. Um there's about 48 units that we did not contact. Um, what I can tell you is that that they do use Atlantic in the evening. So, it doesn't seem like they're using it because usually we're seeing that that usage during the day from the businesses, but it is heavily used by residential in the evening. Yeah.

Do we know if the traffic commissions kind of have hearing on this in terms of the business situation? Are we aware of that? We have not presented to the traffic commission. Again, this is this came up pretty quickly and so uh we again we have an opportunity to stripe it now um as part of the paving project. So that's why we brought it forward um to the council. I I'll let my colleagues ask more questions. Let me drove about this a little bit more.

Uh I am similarly kind of torn. And I appreciate and very much appreciate staff bringing this to us as an opportunity to potentially save money if we're going to do something like this. I'm a little worried about the lack of the opportunity and ability to do some more robust community engagement around this. Even though I know this was part of the the regional bike master plan. We identified these things, but I think a lot of people don't remember that I wasn't on council at least then and I think most of the residents and businesses that were that may have participated in this process probably don't remember. Um, and so I'm I'm very hesitant to move forward on this even if it's what might cost us more if we want to revisit it. Um, without having done some more outreach to some of the folks there. Um, but u other question here and I think council member Go brought it up as well, right? The COG has approached this with the BRT proposal um, at least for the design which uh, my my understanding right that only we only have enough space for one of these things to really go through on Atlantic. So if we do a bike lane, we might if the BRT moves forward and if we move forward with the BRT connecting from South Atlantic to further north of Garvey or whatever, um that would probably take out the bike lane that we just paid whatever money to to stripe anyway, right?

That's correct. And then what we're looking at right now is just striping. We're not It's not a protected bike lane class two. It's just just a marks. Correct. It's just striping sharers. Yeah. or sorry not sher but chevrons

which I'm also concerned with to the extent possible we if we're going to do bike infrastructure um it makes the most sense to where we can physically do uh protected bike lanes just because I think that's what would actually make people feel safe to bike. I think even marking bike lanes is still going to be tough for most people who want to bike. And I think it's just it's in my mind likely going to just continue to push people on the sidewalk, which they're doing now, which is how they ride bikes now for the most part on on our streets. Um just because of that physical separation, which I think would be difficult if it's just a painted lane. So, I'm convincing myself right now as I talk out loud to probably hold off on this. I'm leaning towards holding off on on this opportunity even if it's it potentially saves money. Um just because there's too many uncertainties here with the BRT and our timing of our Garvey project if that might potentially bring some bike lanes that might connect to this but we just don't know yet. Um and and the lack of right ability to do some robust engagement with the likely impacted neighbors and neighborhoods uh for this specific project. We can always revisit it. It might cost a little bit more. Um, but I'm I'm as I talk out loud, I'm I'm okay with that.

I have some I have some questions, Sean, for you. Um, first of all, thank you for for the report and for the opportunity to be um potentially save some money. Um is there um a sense of urgency to get these um if we are adding if we choose to add bike lane path or or bike lanes to decide today whether or whether we wanted to move forward with that? Yes. Be because we're ready to restripe with with Atlantic now um delaying it would we would have to do some temporary striping um which could push out until probably later next year. So talking about January later, like the end of January. Okay. So there is a sense of urgency to

so to some degree. Yes. Yeah. And then I mean I' I've driven since we've done the resurfacing after and I I know that there's dire need to add some stripes there. Can we go back to the map um that you had projected earlier? So this this is going from Newark to you said Harding. Harding. Hardin. And I'm trying to remember. So Hardin is kind of where the Bank of America and um that's John John Kob and Chase and Chase. There we go. Chase. Um so that is like one very large city block in essence. Yeah.

Okay. And and I'm just trying to refresh my mind. Um most of those businesses because I've walked through um that business district several times. Don't most of them have parking? Yes, most of them do have parking. And then on the other end, which is where the apartments are at, and I think those are condominiums, if I'm if I'm correct, most of them have their own already reserved parking, right? Like they have their own parking. I can't speak to that, but I they should have garages and their own parking, but that doesn't mean that they utilize them.

Yeah, they might have extra cars or whatever. They might need there might be extra need for for uh for the parking. Um so my my concern um with so I I share some of the you know hesitancy with my other council members but at the same time I I really think this is a very unique opportunity to be able to save whatever the 60 70,000 at least at 60,000 rightous um to if we

were to um implement the um our SUV bike lane p or bike lane master plan that we had uh worked on in the past. Uh, and part of the reason why is because I, in my district, we have a bike lane path that goes, and you're familiar with this on Reagan, which you mentioned earlier, and one of the constant reminders I get from residents in my district is they always tell me that this is a bike lane path that leaves no leads to nowhere. And uh, and that it's not connected. And so, and they constantly remind me that it just goes from Garfield to Atlantic. And when are we going to connect it? Um, and so to me, uh, this seems like a very unique opportunity to be able to finally be able to connect that particular bike lane path to, um, to Atlantic. Um, that said, um, if we head further south, and I know that's not the region we're looking at, but if we head further south, and I know we were just there, like a Shinano, for example, last night, um, there are some dedicated parking. I'm not. There is some parking in that area. Um and I know that if you head further south, there's some apartments. Um and and I in the mornings I see a lot of parking. Correct.

Um in that area. Um but then as we head further south, a lot of the businesses on Atlantic have parking and there aren't dedicated parking spots on the street. That's correct. It's typically going to be south of Brightwood, right? That's my district. So, um I I I personally um wish we um could have um surveyed potentially residents, but I don't know that we necessarily need that. When was the San Gabriel bike lane master plan completed? What year was um don't recall off the top of my head. I don't want figure

I don't want to misspeak, but I I want to say 2014. I want to say 2014 about 10 10 11 years ago something like that. Yeah.

So um I guess what I'm trying to trying to think is is that bike lane or is that bike master plan outdated? Um does it need to be updated? Um or can we just say that that's still I mean obviously that's still what we're looking at when we're when we're making these types of decisions, right? Um, so if that is the case and that is the master plan and that is what we're doing and if that if we're still trying to connect the city with um with the bike lane that already exist in the city and the ones that potentially could exist, then I personally would want to see this come to fruition. Um, and that's kind of where where I'm at at the moment.

Madam Mayor, Sean, question. Um again it actually it's it's a really interesting um exercise and contrasting since we just spoke about another project on other major boulevard um compared to Garvey isn't Atlantic wider though it is slightly wider but into the lanes. Yes.

Okay. So I think in that regard and again why I wish Garvey was wider. I think in that regard, Atlantic gives us more flexibility to be able to accommodate a bike lane or um vehicle traffic and a BRT. And I would also just remind everyone too that we still have not gotten I think a lot of clarity about you know is the money really going to be there for this BRT and timelines you know and as I said also remember that that you know in a in a perfect world you know we approve it u we don't know um what our neighboring communities are u um um feel about that project you know and I will say this though that that whether or not there was the BRT it already there already gives um public transit. Again, it's bus 70. It runs through Garvey. It goes down Atlantic. It makes right on Cesar Chavez into Boil Heights in Los Angeles. And as Councilman Sanchez says, I mean, we already have an existing bike lane on Rian. Um um which Rian which becomes Cesar Chavez, you know, and again that bike lane then continues on to what is Mednik and then a gold I'm sorry, a metro uh transit station. I think that and again ideally yes we we we I wish we had more time to do more outreach but given that you know we the region has committed itself to a bike plan and one that's now over a decade old I think at some point you know we need to um you know look at actually how do we implement it and so I think that given that Atlantic is wide enough I'm okay with you know at least moving this project forward and I would just say is that you know as we're moving forward we should continue to make sure that we outreach community to let them know this is happening. So,

um I have some follow-up questions. So, if you go to the future slides, there was one that says most almost all businesses have their own parking, but not all. Right. Most businesses have on-site parking. Which which businesses don't have on-site parking? Because I know this is where the NBC Seafood is, um LA Fitness, the Monarch Park Mall. So, those all have their own parking plazas. So, if you look, I'll call it in the center of here. Um, there is some parking that I think is in the back and that's why I think people park on street as opposed to in the back, right? All those businesses have their own lots. Most of them do. Yeah.

Yeah. Which which ones don't are they? I think it's the one Well, I'm talking about frontage to the street. I don't think that they have frontage to the street. Frontage parking. So like you look at like here like NBC like right they have parking here that's on Atlantic where this structure here it's going to be in the back. So they have parking. Oh the back like um the I think the Mr. Bette and Jyn's Bakery. J Bakery. Yes. Correct. Yeah. John Kebabs as well. They have extremely limited parking um for their property. I think they have two spaces. Um, so they rely upon you can't park in front of their property anyways, right? Yes, you can. Oh, you there is a spot there. Okay.

Okay. And then on the other side of the street, I know Chase has their own parking lot. What about Action Sales? They do.

They have their own parking lot as well. And um right now the proposal is to stripe both sides of Atlantic, right? which would take out um parking on both sides. Yeah, I I feel like we need I understand the urgency of the project. You know, we can save money if we make a decision right away, but I feel like this is going to have a pretty big impact on the community. And I feel like like council member Juan says, you know, whenever we have a project like on Garvey or similar big streets that's pretty impactful to our community. We usually do a lot of community outreach to see what the opinions are. And I feel like if we just make a rapid decision right now, it we might get a lot of complaints. So I'm I'm leaning towards holding off and doing more research. Maybe we can, you know, even have an idea where we can have bike lanes and parking, you know, like how we are doing for the Monterey Pass Road project. Um, or maybe like put bike lanes on one side and not the other side, you know, exploring different options to create a win-win. Any other questions or comments?

I would just if I can add I just dovetail a little bit of that as we're having this discussion too. I'm a little worried about uh one the lack I well I agree with some of my colleagues in terms of I think we do need to update the bike master plan and especially the obviously the parts in Mar Park um we're already working on these different segments right Mar pass potentially long RV um this one and there are other existing ones that don't really connect right now um it might be worth revisiting since the plan is more than a decade old uh to refresh this in some way shape or form for the community to have some additional input about what that might look like, especially as we're starting to build out segments of this in the next few years. U so that might be something to take on um on this particular segment of potential bike plan or bike route uh bike lane. Um, I'm kind of worried that if we stripe this and create a bike lane on just this one segment that at this point and probably for the near term will not connect to other bike lanes. Um, and so it'll become like Alhammer Avenue and other bike lanes that go from one place one place to another but don't really connect anything. uh could also draw one potentially we could upset some neighbors that are going to lose some parking um without having done I think a little bit more outreach that I think would I would like to do um and then two if we upset them here with a bike lane that doesn't connect anywhere might engender to me is not worth the potential savings here uh that might invite some backlash to bike lanes in general in other parts of the community that we really already have plans to and want to implement Um, and I'm a little bit worried about inviting that kind of criticism and concern that we just spent this money to build a bike lane. We didn't get their input doesn't go anywhere. Why is this city wasting money on this or whatever?

Um, when we know it'll be part of a larger network, but that network's not timed to to connect to this one in the in the near term. I'm a little worried about how that might undercar efforts to build this this wider network in a more strategic fashion, too. If I may add real quick. So one thing to consider um is as we discussed with the previous project um additional outreach in the future to evaluate bike lanes um we could do the same thing as part of this and if you make that a larger restriping project then economy of scales right we could potentially reduce the cost um on this portion if we add this to a larger restriping project. So, um, that could be an opportunity in the future.

I have some questions, Sean. So, if if we um Oh, sorry. I think Yeah, go. If if we don't move forward with this with the bike length, we I'm assuming the striping is going to be pretty much the same as we had before. That's correct. It would go in identically as as as it was prior to construction.

Okay. And then uh to council member um sorry to the mayor prom's uh comments earlier about Atlantic being a much wider street um if we restriped I'm sorry once we stripe again uh to its former uh self um would it um would there still be enough room to add a bike lane path without disrupting the other lanes without having in other words to resurface the other lanes? Would it be um Would there still be ample room? Like let's say we would lose obviously the the parking, but we would just add in the bike path without having to touch the other already restriped line.

So I um I'll give you a car answer. It depends. So there there's there's opportunity to do that. I will tell you the challenges that come with that is the way the current configuration is is we try to when we do engineering designs we try to narrow lanes to reduce speed and so by doing what you're proposing we would in essence widen uh one of the lanes which would typically give the optics for people to speed. So, we did something similar if you know if you notice years ago uh Marie Calendars that curve where we added the chevrons. We did that as an I'll call it an optical illusion to help control people's speed. So, by pinching the lanes here um and allowing for the future for the for the addition of that bike lane, you would probably see an increase of speeding.

See? And then um um I had a question about the bike master plan that we um that that we have. So I know it's about 10 years old, but when we create master plans like let's say like our parks master plan for example. Um I I'm I know that at some point that park master plan's going to become outdated. Right. Correct. Um and and that's because our needs as a city might change. Right. Um so would you say that our current bike master plan that we and I know it's a regional bike master plan, right? Because I've seen it before. Um would you say that it's outdated?

So not necessarily. So typically when you have a master plan, the idea behind a master plan is is that you your goal is to implement what has been provided within the master plan. And if you don't, it's not outdated until you've hopefully built out or designed most of those projects. For us, we have not done so. And so the master P plan, although maybe our community has changed a little bit, the master plan is still a valuable resource for us to and a guide to continue to move forward with the designs for bikes, bike lanes within the city.

Okay. Because I'm assuming that 10 years ago, I was I was in on the council then they took the time to be able to create this master plan along with other communities, right? Uh to be able to connect it. So, um, if we are saying and we're not going to add these in because, you know, things have changed and, um, you we're not following the bike master plan, but let's say our neighbors Roseme and Alhamra still are following it, um, then we're not doing them justice either by not by not moving forward with a with what has already 10 years ago uh, been approved as potentially um, adding these or by adding these these bike lane path these bike lanes because then what I'm thinking is 10 years from now, every plan that we have, climate action plan, our parks master plan, our environmental sustainability plan, um will people will people still be looking at that as guides? And if not, then you know, then then what's the point in doing uh these master plans if we're not using them uh to help guide our decisions like today, for example. So, I I'm still in favor of of adding the bike lanes because I trust that 10 years ago, there was a council here that worked on this master plan. Uh, and they looked at this Atlantic corridor and said, "This is an area where we could potentially add bike lanes." Um, and so I understand that some of there's some hesitancy uh to add them because potentially stuff might change. We haven't done engagement. Um on the business uh aspect, I feel like most of those businesses have already adequate parking uh to be able to um uh sustain their their clientele. Um but I think that if we are serious about creating a bike master plan in this region and in our city, then it's important and it behooves us to be able to use um this bike master plan and and

implement it. And if not, then are we going to update it and create a new one or we're just not going to be a type of city that adds bike lanes? Um, and to that point, if that's the case, then the corridor in my district that goes really nowhere between Garfield and Atlantic, perhaps we might need to revisit as well. Thank you, Mayor. So Sean, outside of this strip, are we anticipating re striping from Atlantic Newark to the 10th freeway and then Harding to the 60 anytime soon on on

as of right now? We don't have any plans to do so. However, it is within the master plan, the bikes master plan to do that. Um, again, that would require because this would be a significant project to do some significant community outreach. So if we were to continue this down going south um probably where would almost terminate at Brightwood unless we looked at eliminating travel lanes um to connect it down to the 60 then we would need to do some significant community outreach. So the plan is not to move at any time in the near future unless council gives us direction to do so. So what's uh so it's mid mid future or mid middle well not near not near term but somewhere but not approximately 5 to 10 year time period it's kind of like the mid

it it could be as soon as council gives us direction to evaluate that and put money aside um

okay well I won't dwell on that where where I'm where I'm thinking on this is I I'm I share a very similar thought to Councilman Wong here which is I rather have a comprehensive comprehensive strategy to think through and build out the entire Atlantic from one end to the other end with the bite lane if that is what we want as a city with the residents input business and council's decision. I'd rather do that if we kind of strategically think it out, think it through, than to kind of be pennywise, pound foolish, and say, "Hey, we're gonna save 40,000, 60,000. Let's stripe here." And then this thing gets stuck for 5 years, seven years, and then the expectation of the residents saying, "Hey, what's the rest of the stuff?" Conversely, you have the businesses and other residents saying, "We don't want to take away parking." And then you're stuck in that conundrum. So for me, I still think let's have the strategy laid out then to spin the wheel, save a little money, and then focus on doing something due to saving the money rather than having a full-term strategy. So, I I I I kind of thought it out here just like council member one just talked myself through and I know where I am now.

And I think to council member Go's point, um we also have a strategic planning session coming up. Um something to maybe add potentially in terms of future projects is maybe looking at um how we can connect um our city if if that is the the direction we want to head in and how do we engage the community to be able to have a robust bike lane path in our or bike lane you know connectivity in our city. Um which might include Garvey in the future. um might be worth looking at and then also revisiting the bike master plan and seeing what still works, what maybe doesn't work, and what options we have. So, on that note, I I I do I do I I do agree with council member uh go on that as I reflect on this a little bit more um that we perhaps uh start making that maybe a future priority. Uh thank you. I I have a question though. I mean again in in a staff's own background it says in 2014 city of Monty Park partner with bike SGV city of Baltimore Park San Gabriel Elmani etc etc etc um to adopt this bike plan and so I'm assuming that means that at the time we did do you know community outreach surveying and again it wasn't that long ago because some of the councils who adopted 2014 probably were on the council till 2022 so not that long ago so I mean I mean so to be fair to the worked on before. We did though do surveying. We did talk to residents and so I so it's not as though this is going to be surprise you know I I I mean I mean we did do the due diligence and and and my concern too though is that that that we delay then at some point yeah it will become a little outdated and I just think that you know per it's also a missed opportunity as well. So right now there's no striping between Harding and Rian. Correct. There's no

bike lanes there. No, that's correct. Okay. So even if we did put striping in between Harding and Newark, it still wouldn't connect to Rian as as of right now would not connect to Rian. However, um the there is a connection point with the Monterey Pass Road complete street project. So that will eventually connect um to Atlantic and so and then again long-term you have um what's being evaluated now and proposed is the connection on Newark with Sheros. So there there will be connectivity in the next year or two once those two projects are completed. So it just will end at Harding.

Got it. Yeah. Yeah, I I do agree with Coun uh Mayor Prom Low that if there was a master plan, you know, and with community input, we should follow it. But I feel like it should be done all at the same time because if we're taking away parking for a year or two when it's not connected, it's inconveniencing the residents. Um whereas in one or two years when the other projects are finished and we put in the whole lanes then everything connects and the residents can still use the parking for the next one or two years.

Madame Mayor, if I may, um the So definitely cities have conversations about bike lanes all the time and how best to implement um master plans uh around bike lanes. So definitely cities that are built up like Monterey Park do struggle with um right competing spaces. I think um a lot of approaches in installing bike lanes oftent times go with reef pavement projects because it's it's a new uh you know new pavement. So you're putting in striping. It's the it's kind of the best time to to consider if you're going to make an an adjustment to striping. This is kind of the time. Um, and then as other segments get repaved, that could potentially be the the time when you add or connect bike lanes. I get that conceptually if bike lanes look like they don't connect to anything. Uh, the truth of the matter is they connect to the roadway where bikes can be ridden, right? And so people are using them to commute, you're giving them a a space to ride where where you can, right? As as we're following the bike master plan. Um, and then when the bike lane essentially ends in this situation, if the council were to consider adding it, you continue riding your bike just in the roadway. I I get that. Um, it's just, you know, does you feel as safe? I get the bike lane provides that extra feeling of safety that you have a space to ride in the in the roadway. Um, but essentially if commuters are utilizing their bikes as a mode of transportation to get to and from work, to get to and from school, they're riding in our roadways regardless if there's a a dedicated bike lane. Um, and so, uh, if council would like us to, um, prioritize this item to discuss it further during our strategic plan, we can definitely do that. Um, we definitely understand, this is why we were bringing it forward, um, to have this discussion tonight because we we do

hear council's interest in in having connectivity in in our bike lanes. Um, but we're also being sensitive to our residents and to our businesses about the potential for losing parking. So, that that's why definitely we wanted to have this discussion. Um, like I said, from from um um efficiency standpoints, the best time to do it is when you do new pavement projects because that's that's the the lines are not there. And so we're get about to put those back in. Um, in addition, let's say that there is interest from the council to um to do the whole segment of Atlantic. Uh if the other segments of Atlantic, the pavement is is in relatively decent shape. Um, and we look at adding bike lanes today. Um, the work that's done to the pavement has you have to scrape off the the the essentially the striping and there is um potential wear to the pavement that could be in relatively better, you know, decent shape. And so now you're grinding that off to fix the lines and the pavement might not be ready to be replaced. It can be done. Uh we were just trying to bring an option that's most cost-effective uh at this time, but we do understand if the council is not interested in um moving forward with adding the bike lanes today in this segment, um we can go ahead and and move to just add the regular street striping and then come back at a later date with the rest of the the whole um Atlantic segment if that's the interest. Madam Mayor, again just to clarify, what's before us is a section from Newark to Harding, right? It's just that se, not all, just that section. And again, let's just visualize for a second. So, right now on the west side, you have a bunch of town homes and and and and so most people probably just park there. On the other side, you have

NBC, you have 24-hour fitness, which has a huge parking structure underground and surface to Harding. And again, let's see. I mean, again, let's visualize. So, Harding, I mean, we're talking about a motel, a church. Again, they have their own parking already. So, I again I I guess Okay. Yes, I have concerns it was all of Atlantic but it's just that section right. So I don't think the impact is that large as as as a concern is again if you just if I in fact after the council we just go down and walk down that section. I mean again I I'm in my head I'm visualizing their locations already have their own parking anyway, right?

Do you know how um busy the townous side is at night? I know the I'm not as worried about the businesses because they have their own parking lots, but how how um how much evening parking spots? There's a fair amount of parking in the evening hours. There's plenty of There's a fair No, there's people there's a quite a few parked cars. Oh, there's quite a few parked cars. And and and again, I I don't know the nuances of how many people are living there or how many cars they have. Um I can't speak to that. Um but there there could be three or four cars to one dwelling unit.

And um Sean, I have a question. Um and actually to the city manager as well, just in terms of the comments that you made earlier about um when we resurface streets, it creates an a good opportunity for us to visit revisit the bike master plan and and see if it's a good time to add bike lane paths. Um, realistically speaking, unless we are resurfacing the entire city, um, adding bike lane paths like in the entire city, um, makes it difficult, right, without having to spend a lot of money.

That's correct. So, in my head, I'm thinking that every time we resurface a portion of the city, um that might potentially be the few times when we can actually add a bike lane path. Um that already was decided by a previous council um that was that that was needed in that particular area. So to council member sorry to uh the mayor prom's point um actually 2014 was not that long ago and I I really think that and I want to trust that the previous council and the city did some type of robust engagement of the city and I feel like I wouldn't be doing them justice uh because I don't know when we're not on the council anymore and people start looking at all of the plans that he did and they're going to be like, "Oh, Thomas Wong, Jose, I don't know, like, you know, that happened 10 years ago. We need to we need to revisit all of these plans." And, you know, anyhow, um, and I know that a lot of time and effort, uh, is, you know, expended on all on doing a lot of these plans. So, um, and I'm afraid that unless we resurface the entire city again, we might not get another opportunity to, um, add bike lanes. Uh, so I think that every opportunity that comes up like this to be able to add a bike lane path that's already scripted in our bike master plan that was robustly um researched uh and created for this particular purpose, then we should be adding those bike lane paths until the entire city's connected if that's what the plan says. And the $60,000 is the cost for the striping of that block or

that that would be if we went back in and restriped. So if if council's direction today is to leave it as existing the way it is. So no bike lanes, then the cost to restripe at a later date, today's dollars $60,000. Describe that one and a half block two. That's correct. And can you remind me for context what? So, we're re redoing the street because of the sewer replacement, right? The water line replacement. Yes, water pipe replacement. How much was the the project cost for the the sewer or the water pipe replacement and the resurfacing? Off the top of my head, I could not tell you because this is project. Yes. Overall, between that and Garfield,

so the striping, we're talking about a very small portion of what the capital project costs in the grand scheme of things. Yes.

In the grand scheme of things, right? So I I just say that to make the point, right? This is not I am not saying and I don't think those of us who are expressing some concerns around this are saying that we're not going to build or design or or in insert a bike lane. It's just I don't think it's makes sense at this point given the cost savings uh and for me at least speaking for myself uh given the concerns around the lack of outreach to these neighbors and I am particularly uh worried about these residential right those town houses that do take up parking on the street overnight that would lose their parking overnight and I very much agree right I don't want very much recognize the the need to and the work that went into the bike master plan 2014. Uh our master plan, strategic plans that have been adopted just in the last few years. But also just note, right, even with the parks master plan that we adopted, we're still doing specific outreach for specific projects like the pool and things like that separately from the master plan. And so, uh I don't remember I remember we did this bike master plan. I don't remember any of these specific discussions. I guarantee you none of the people that are going to be impacted by taking out uh parking lane or parking on the Atlantic remember the Pikemaster plan process and all the outreach that went out. I would be very I would I could not vote for this at this point without that outreach being done uh on a right what what would be a significant input or a significant impact on particularly those residential uh units that are there on Atlantic

and and you said in one or two years the Monterey Pass Road project will be completed and so Garvey will connect to this area but it still won't connect down south to Rian. That's correct. So, it will still have a dead end where the it'll go back on the street. That's correct. Unless again, against council gave us direction to evaluate that in that time frame. Yeah. Um I I'm leaning towards waiting until the strategic planning meeting to give further direction. Um it sounds like council member Go and Council Member Wong are leaning towards that as well. I don't know if someone wants to say anything.

Do we need a vote for this? Yeah. Do we need to make a motion? Yeah. Go ahead.

Yeah. Oh, if if you would like us um to give us direction, it would Yes. We would need um more specific direction one way or the other at We just need to know consensus wise if if we're not if we're not leaning towards putting the bike lanes back today or sorry, putting in bike lanes today. We we are going to move forward though with striping the street. So the Yeah. Okay. So, memory, I'll I'll make the motion to go back and stripe the street to where it was before the waterline construction project and then uh as a followup put on discussion the bike lane on Atlantic in our strategic session so that we have a more comprehensive review of that project. I'll second that. All right. So, Council Member Go moves. Council member Moan seconds. Let's vote. Approved unanimously.

Nope. Oh, no. Sorry. I forgot what I'm supposed to do. Wait up. Council member Go. Yes. Council member Wong, yes. Council member Sanchez, yes. Council member Low, no. Oh, sorry. Mayor Prom Low, no. Maryang. Yes. I just want to confirm for staff that that was clear direction. Yes, that is clear direction. We will restripe as it was existing. All right. Thank you for that thorough discussion. That's all we have for new business tonight. And uh city communications, future agenda items.

I'll start. I don't have any future agenda items. Just wanted to share we had a great snow village on December 4th. It seemed like it was a long time, but that was epic because not only was there the train and Santa's village and the food, but there were also tons of snow on the what is it? The slide, the the snow slide. And then you also had the I think there were three different areas of play area where they had snow fights where the kids can throw snow at each other I guess. But uh three different areas for different age groups. So that was that was good. So lots of snow there. Uh also attended the holiday toy drives for the congresswoman Congresswoman Chu and also Assembly Member Mike Fong who represents our district. got a chance to talk to them, network, and uh just on the side ask for money to help us fund city projects such as items that we have needs in Barnes Park and I won't say anything pool. Um also uh attended the Mario Park staff holiday. So again, wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season. spend time with family so we can all take a break and then come back refresh after January. Um, this past Monday, wanted to also thank a nonprofit uh group in our city, the Cambodian Chinese Ethnic Association, who donated uh chocolate and also gifts in support of our first responders, our fire department and our police department. and they will also host a luncheon uh for about 300 seniors on

Tuesday at the Langley Center. I wanted to give them a shout out for their continuing support of our city. That's all I have. Ditto council member Go's appreciation for staff since this is the last meeting of the year. just really appreciate uh all the city staff uh that really put in so much work to make this year uh happen and for day in day out all the work that is being put in the dedication and commitment uh to the city of the residents, the businesses, everyone here and everyone at the city really just makes sure that the city continues to be one that's desirable for people to live in, to play in, to work in. and as council member go uh when he was mayor and still as a council member likes to to say the best place to to live to work and to play. Uh so really appreciate all the the hard work and the work that goes uh unnoticed by most residents and businesses here that rely on on your coming in everyday bride services. Just really appreciate all the city staff uh for the dedication that you have to our community. Um and just reiterate uh what uh brought up during the act for discussion in terms of budget items and we have the midyear budget review come back uh if we can tee up uh potential um potentially allocating some funding uh whether that's this budget year or next budget year. Uh I'll leave it to staff to to put some sort of analysis and proposal together in terms of um potentially set aside funds for pool design. uh but also revolving loan fund for for supporting small businesses in the city. Um and I can't remember the third one that paying down potential longer term or high interest uh bearing liabilities and debt uh that might that we should consider potentially with with some funding that we might have available. Uh with that, I'll pass it on to Council Member Sanchez before my voice runs out. Um, I also want to share in the appreciation of our staff. Um,

especially as we head into the holidays. Um, I was at the snow village as well. So, and a lot of people showing showed up, including my family. So, a lot of lot of kids out there having a lot of fun. And I feel like a lot of those um events, including our um Santa's jolly journey around our city, uh really help not just connect our city, but help uh revive this idea of our um community, a sense of community in our city. So, I really appreciate all the effort that goes into uh doing that. I also um wanted to add um because I know at our last council meeting there was a lot of people here uh that were concerned about the data center. Uh and I think when we last left we um the data center applicant had um shared that he would or that they would um uh have town hall meetings. So whatever information we can get from the data center in terms of and share with the public in terms of when they are planning to uh host this so that we can share u with the public. I know that it's been two weeks now. Um so that we can share directly with the public in terms of when those events are happening um would be extremely helpful for uh all of those people who uh came out um on that particular day. So if we can uh reach out to the data center people and uh and the applicant and let them know to share those dates as quickly as we can so we can on our end uh share with the public as well so the public knows those uh items. Um, and then on the bike lane path, because I know we just had a vote, um, in terms of what d, you know, in terms of the bike lanes, um, I want to make sure to council member Go's point to be able to add this to the strategic plan. Um if our plan is as a city to still move forward with this um with our master plan, our bike master plan, uh and make it a priority, um then every opportunity that we have when we repave

like we just had a second ago, we need to be working towards adding those bike lanes. Um and if that's not a priority anymore or or the bike lane master plan needs to be updated, then we need to do that as well. Uh but obviously there are residents who still want a bike lane path. Um it was obvious in the in the surveys that that we received from the um Garvey improvement project. So I want to make sure that we do our diligence and we respect their their voice and their concerns uh in terms of adding a bike lane. And then um just wanted to share um because I know there was sad tragedies this this past weekend particularly um a school shooting um at Brown University. Um just wanted to hope that we can end uh on on that note and and be able to send our regards and condolences to families and people who were impacted. Gun violence is still obviously an issue in this country. Um and uh we also had a shooting in Australia that we saw at Bondi Beach. So, um, with the urgency of hopefully federal leaders, we'll take action to, um, continue to push forward, uh, gun safety laws that protect residents and students as well. And I speak as a teacher and as a parent as well. Um, this is a reality of things and so shouldn't have to be a reality. And I think that um all of us, it takes all of us to be able to find solutions to ensure that whenever we are in public spaces, regardless of where they are at at school um and I say schools because schools are meant to be safe places for people to be at. Um that we work towards uh creating um gun safety laws that protect students but all of us in general. So on that note, um sorry to end on that note, but happy holidays and I wish everyone happy new year. And I know that we were not going to see each other till January 21st for our next council meeting. So until then, thank

you. Uh let's see. Well, since we had such a ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v ri v rigorous conversation about our bike plan. Can we get an update on our bike plan before a strategic meeting? I mean at a future council meeting before strategic planning meeting because again I I I as as because you know as those of participate I mean it is a couple hours but we talk about a bunch of subjects. So, I figure maybe it be helpful to us. We've actually got an update on that bike plan since 2014 at some point in January. Okay. Yes. Yes, we can do that. Okay.

Thank you. Um, I wanted to thank staff for organizing a uh great meet up with the mayor last night at Shinano. Um, it was really a popular turnout. we've filled the restaurant and uh looking forward to hosting more of those in the new year. Um and I also wanted to close tonight's meeting in honor of one of our dedicated residents, longtime residents, Karen Suarez of the American Legion. Uh she passed away recently and she had just spoken at our Veterans Day ceremony uh last month. So um would love to adjourn the meeting tonight in her memory as well. Um, but thank you everybody uh for a great year and uh happy holidays. Stay safe during this holiday season and we'll see you next year.

Yay. Adjourned at 9:27. Try the reference to us.