City Council - Special Meeting

recording in progress. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We're having a special meeting tonight to uh review the city's uh emergency training and the opportunities that we have to ensure that we provide a safe community and responsive community should we be confronted with any type of disaster uh here in the Newark area. So, I'll call the meeting to order and reflect that the entire city council is here and I'll turn it over to our city manager for some opening comments.

Yes. Good evening, your honor, members of the council. Uh in tonight's special meeting, the council will receive a presentation on best practices for communications uh during emergency operations, and we will pay particular attention to the council's role uh during those operations. We have two presenters this evening, including our emergency preparedness coordinator, Mr. Richard Martinez, as well as our communications and public engagement manager, Miss Colleen Latir. We'll start off tonight's presentation with Mr. Martinez. You have the floor, sir.

Thank you, city man. Good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor, city council members. My name is Richard Martinez. I'm the emergency service coordinator for the city of Newark. Um I'm also the uh emergency service coordinator for the city of Union City. Tonight um myself and Miss Latir will be speaking to you about the city council's role during uh emergencies. Did something just happen? Presentation just went away. Sorry. Uh there we go. Uh so that's our first emergency. Uh crisis averted.

Crisis averted. Um everyone stayed calm. Um tonight uh we'll be uh speaking to you about the standard emergency uh emergency management system or SIMS. We'll also uh discuss the incident command system which is ICS, our emergency operations center, EOCC, and uh the city's uh city council's responsibilities before, during, and after a emergency, and then we'll talk a little bit about staff training. So, to get started, we'll talk about the five levels of SIMS or standardized emergency management system. Uh as you can see in this um in this slide uh it all disasters start and end locally uh at the field level. Uh we have our first responders whether it's police or fire. Um if the uh incident becomes beyond what they are able to to handle uh they will contact the local government and the local government will then activate an emergency operation center or an EOC and then if uh we are not able to support that we will then reach out to the operational area which is actually the county office of emergency services. we'll speak to them and we'll get uh information about um coordination of resources um to our our our members at the field. Um if a operational area is not able to uh support us uh with the request, we will then move it up to California's office of emergency services region 2 uh which is the coastal region. That's the region that uh city of Newark uh sits in. If the if the region does not have the supplies or the resources that we're are looking for, then it will be moved up to the state and the state will then reach out to the other regions to see if we uh have those resources. And as you can see with the arrow, all the uh information and coordination of resources flow up and down uh these five levels. It will only go as far up as we need uh and

it'll always come back down to our field uh field IC. So within SIMS uh there's the incident command system. Uh this is made up of uh five different uh sections. Uh the first is our management section and that's generally uh the deciders. Those are going to be the people who um like our ELC director uh David or Linka uh our city manager and our assistant city manager. They will be the ones who make the decision on um what the plan is to respond to the disaster. Our operations team is the are the uh doers. Those are going to be our law branch, the the fire branch, the public works branch, um, and even our care and shelter uh, branch. And they're going to be receiving information from, uh, the the people who are responding at the incident command post or at a shelter or a point of distribution. And they're going to be making sure that within the uh, EOCC that we're uh, getting all the right information that we need to support those people in the field. our planning and intel group. Those are the thinkers. Those are going to be the ones who uh create our incident action plan. They're going to be the ones who uh do advanced planning. If we go uh beyond one operational period, uh so we're constantly thinking about what what is next? How do we get to recovery for our city? Our logistics team is the are the getters. So when we uh get the requests in from operations that we need uh people, we need equipment, we need food, transportation, our logistics team is going to be the team that goes out and gets it. If they're not able to get it, that's when we use SIMS and we move it up to the operational area uh requesting those uh those supplies. And then our finance and admin team, those are going to be the people who actually um monitor how much we're spending, making sure that we we're not um exceeding what we need to. Um they're also going to be uh man managing our timekeeping. So all of

our employees, our volunteers, they're going to be recording hours of of service. And so we want to make sure that we track that so that it's uh eligible for uh reimbursement from the state or the federal. And if you notice, uh, we do have city council off to the side. Uh, city council members will not be in the EOC. They're going to be, uh, put in, uh, put, uh, in a place that is, uh, nearby so that we can make sure that we, uh, provide briefings, uh, from our EOCC director, um, on a regular basis so that you are continually being briefed on what we're doing in response. Next, I want to talk a little bit about our emergency operations center and overview. To do this, I want to uh start with some simple definitions and uh laying some u foundational information. So, an incident, it's a local emergency. It's something that happens on a day-to-day basis. Our responders uh are able to handle it within their their uh per purview. Um it's it's a car accident. It's a single family home, home fire. um they go out, they take care of the uh emergency. It may be a disaster for the individual who's impacted, but it's an emergency from our our standpoint that our city staff can handle on day-to-day operation. An event is a planned event. So, similar to Newark days or state of the city, this is something that we can plan out and start thinking if something were to happen, what would we do? How would we respond? And then a disaster is any event that overwhelms our local resources. So, for an example of that would be um a winter storm that comes in and starts to uh flood certain areas of our city uh and we need to do evacuation. We may uh need to go out and reach uh ask for for support on on that type of an event. So, with those definitions, what would we do? We would activate an emergency

operations center or an EOC. So, who can activate that? It would be our EL our city manager who would then become our ELC director or um the their designate. It could also be the police chief or their designate um or a senior law enforcement or emergency management official on duty. So the senior law enforcement or emergency management official who is on duty. This could be on a weekend or late at night. So an example of this was um in the recent tsunami uh notification uh we were holding meetings with our um operational area um team members uh from the county and there were meetings going on between 12 and 1:00 a.m. in the morning. had something uh been triggered that you know we were going to be impacted then that would be something where I would reach out to our EOCC director and let them know we we need to activate our EOC and we need to start putting a plan together. We were fortunate we didn't have to do that but that would be an example of when an emergency management official would be on duty um and make that call. So you can also uh activate the ELC in three different levels. The first is a monitoring level three. This is basically, you know, you see um a winter storm coming and you know that there's going to be some heavy rains. So, there may be a potential that there's going to be a need for our ELC to be activated. That's where our monitoring would come in. We would just continue to watch and uh once we receive uh note from PD, public works, um or or fire that hey, we're we're going to get stretched beyond what we're capable of doing. That's where we would move to level two, which is partial activation. We would have our ELC uh director uh activate the ELC, our management team would would be activated, our operations, and our logistics. Those would probably be the first three at level two. And the reason

we do that is because um our resources are going to be needed and we're going to need to hear from the field. And that's where operation and logistics come in. And again, we would be setting up a um a a space to contact the the uh city council and make sure that we provide briefings on what is going on uh within the ELC. Um and then level one is full activation. We would stand up all five of the sections and we would uh activate as many uh positions within those those sections that are necessary to ensure that our community is safe. Um each of these levels can be activated virtually. Uh we have a new uh we have a software program in partnership with the uh county. It's called VIOSI uh virtual emergency operations center uh integration. It's a web-based program that uh we can uh we have uh licenses to go in and set up a room to uh run our EOC through that. So what is uh city council's role during a disaster? First, remain informed. Engage through regular briefings from our ELC director and our PIO. They will continually provide uh updates on what is going on within the ELC, within the city on what what is happening. The uh city council will also participate in meetings to ensure the continuity of government continues. This would u make you would be making policy decisions but not operational ones. The operational decisions will be made within the EOCC and be approved through our EOCC director. You will also uh issue and ratify local proclamations and you'll serve as a liaison and a host to other visiting elected officials. So if we have elected officials coming in and they want to do a tour of our city, uh you would be the ones that would um you know help liazison on that along with our EOCC director and our PIO um ensuring that uh the safety of of our uh elected officials who are visiting. Um

and then you'll also act as a conduit between the city and the public in disseminating information that would be provided to you by the EOCC director and the PIO through these policy group uh briefings. So these briefings uh they will uh provide incident update on response and actions being taken uh within the EOC and at the uh at the incident command post out in the field. Current jurisdictional authority over the incident. So if there were any special um you know curfews you would be uh briefed on that. That's going to be coming. the status of communications, the confirmation of media procedures uh in case there are requests for media um uh media times and then schedule of required briefings. So, we would uh set up a regular briefing for the city council to ensure that you have the most updated information uh for uh for the incident. Next, I want to talk a little bit about local uh proclamation proclamations. They're going to be issued by either the city council or our director of emergency services. These are prerequisites for uh requesting state and federal assistance during uh for a disaster response and a disaster recovery. They authorize in issuance of special rules and again an example of that would be setting curfew times for the city if we if we felt that that was needed. It also allow us to enable emergency contracting and procurement u for any disasters. The timeline for this local emergency proclamation uh needs to uh issuance of of the proclamation must be done within 10 days of occurrence and again either by the director of emergency services or our city council. the ratification of the of the local emergency proclamation um must be within seven days by the

governing body. So the city council and the renewal uh needs to be reviewed every 60 days until terminated and the termination comes when uh conditions warrant the proclamation have ended. So, as we go through the the rec um the recovery uh process and once we realize that we're out of danger, we want to terminate the emergency proclamation. I want to also share uh some of the staff training that we're we're providing uh to all our employees uh so um ensure that they are ready to respond for disaster um whether they're serving in EOCC, they're serving in a department operation center, a point of distribution or or shelter. Uh we are asking all employees to uh take the introduction to the incident command system, an introduction to the national incident man uh management system and we're also asking them to take uh the introduction to the standardized emergency management system as well. Uh these are foundational trainings that all employees should take and need to take uh to understand what their role will be when they're uh a disaster service worker. Uh for our supervisors, we also ask them to take basic uh incident command system for initial response as well as the national resp uh response framework as an introduction. Um and and then we also have some recommended trainings um and that's the incident command system overview for senior officials. Back in 2023 uh we took this training in partnership with the city of Union City. Uh we had uh city council members from both cities as well as executives teams. Um it was a very successful training and uh very valuable learning uh lessons learned. Um and then also the incident command system and operation center interfa interface training. So in summary uh of the city council's role um the council's primary roles

during disaster are policy maker and liaison. City Council has an important role in helping instill confidence in the city's ability to respond and recover from a disaster. At this time, I'd like to uh turn the presentation over to our communication and public engagement manager, Miss Latir. Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Colleen Latir and I am the communications and public engagement manager for the city. Tonight I will be discussing city council's role in communications during emergencies. This section shifts from emergency operations to how our elected leaders communicate during an incident. This will be a broad overview on how council supports communication while staying aligned with the emergency management structure. Some of these points will be for roles during a regional emergency versus a localized event, but the protocols will remain the same. Emergencies are high visibility public moments where residents look to the city for timely information, transparency, and reassurance. The council's role is to help ensure the community receives clear, unified, and trusted information. And that is a great responsibility in an emergency. How we communicate is just as important as how we respond to that emergency. In the city of Newark, we operate under the principle of one city, one voice to ensure clarity. This approach aligns messaging so the public hears one clear message instead of potentially competing or unclear ones. Conflicting information during a crisis can create real harm and confusion. Residents should never have to determine which city source is correct. Consistency builds trust. Mixed messaging erodess confidence quickly. Alignment is about clarity for the public. Emergency responses include a designated spokesperson hierarchy under the instant command system. In the city of Newark, the designated spokesperson is the mayor. If the mayor is unavailable to comment, then it would fall to the city

manager who will also be serving as the EOCC director or the assistant city manager. In both a regional and local emergency, the PIO, city manager, and incident command will prepare key message points for council to share with the community if you are contacted by them. Media inquiries should also be directed to the PIO and city manager so that they can work to schedule interviews with the appropriate individuals. Depending on the crisis, it also might be appropriate to hold a press briefing that the media is invited to, and that is where they will get their messaging from the designated spokesperson. If council members are approached with questions from the public, it's important that you are only offering official and verified statements. Only say what is 100% true today and what will be 100% true tomorrow. And remember, a simple Google search can tie you to a situation forever. Avoid repeating rumors or early unconfirmed and vetted reports, even if they appear credible. All messaging should align with the information coming out of the emergency operations center. And remember, when in doubt, refer it out to the PIO or city manager. As we all know, social media is the gift and curse of information sharing. So, I want to touch on a few guidelines for best use cases. Social media is often where misinformation starts and where residents first seek updates. Scheduled posts are paused during instance to avoid appearing insensitive or off-topic. Council's most helpful role online is to amplify official updates rather than create independent messaging. Sharing verified city posts expands communications reach while maintaining accuracy. If rumors appear, report them to staff rather than responding directly. It is always best to maintain a calm, measured tone

because residents in the media take emotional cues from leadership. In emergencies, sharing is more powerful than posting. And in closing, emergencies are unpredictable, but our communication framework doesn't have to be. We prepare in advance so that we when when something happens, we are ready to respond together. Staff will provide you with coordinated updates, talking points, and support through any incident. Our goal is to make it easy for you to communicate confidently while ensuring the public receives reliable information. Thank you for your partnership and helping us deliver clear, trusted, transparent communication to the Newark community. And when in doubt, refer it out. Thank you very much. Now, Mr. Martinez and I are here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much for the report. I'm going to look to my right and see what questions, comments folks may have. Council member Doug Katancho. Yes, I do have a comment. I wanted to thank you very much for this information especially because I'm sure that we are all just waiting for the next earthquake um to happen as well as uh we did get some tsunami warning last year as well. Um and so if anything does reach the scale that it is um a large disaster. I appreciate that you're going to be here and whenever I would be in doubt I would refer that out. Thanks so much. Love it. Uh, Vice Mayor Jorgens.

No, no questions from me. It was very uh clear presentation. Hopefully our communication during these emergency events can be equally as clear and so I thank you for the presentation. You can guarantee it. Excellent. Council Little, I do have a question. Um, so I was wondering if our city has would is open to the idea just or or do we already have it put into place a citywide emergency group text? I know a lot of people do it like the Amber Alert and stuff like that. I feel that would be the absolute best way to communicate. If we could do some sort of like, you know, type of everyone's phones go off type of thing. I think that would be really really I can do that again if you need to know this. I want to refer you to refer this to Mr.

M. Okay. Council member Lil U. Appreciate that. Um, perfect sound. Um, I've been practicing.

Well, you got it on tape by the way. Yeah. Um, so we do have different communication tools uh at our um at our um availability through um partnership with the county. Uh we have uh WEIA, which is wireless emergency alert that can be pushed out into our community um if it's needed. Um and there's also IPAs and I always um forget which what the term is, but I I believe it's a a public aware uh alert and warning system. Um, so we do have tools that we can and we would also strongly encourage um, our residents to sign up for AC alert and NIXLE. Um, and AC alert you can do it in English and Spanish. I'm not sure if there's additional languages that are available, but I do know AC alert does uh, offer English and Spanish. So, we have different ways that we can communicate to our our residents. Could we possibly put that on like like our own page, but also then share it to uh the what's happening in Newark page and stuff like that? I think it'd be really great. I know I would sign up immediately to have a text message sent out. So, I think sharing that information now versus later would be best.

Just real quick. So, it uh so we do have uh AC alert uh on our city web page under emergency management page. Um, we have a whole bunch of different resources that are available to our community members um that shows um how they could put a go plant uh go bag together. They can sign up with a ready.gov uh and and AC alert is on there as well. So, I'm sorry.

No, you're good. And for the short link that is new yorka.gov/emergencyparedness, /emergencypreparedness. But um we are actually we put in an article in the Newark News that's going to be hitting mailboxes in a couple weeks um that is encouraging people to sign up for both Nixl and AC alert. So we are trying to do our best to get that information ahead of time so people can be updated and informed to receive the messages um when and not if when an emergency occurs. I really do think text messaging is the way to go. It's the instant best way to do it. So I appreciate you guys being on top of that. But I, you know, I still do think we should look at some of the community pages

that we have and have them posted on there as well because not everyone, unfortunately, social media is the quickest, fastest way to get a hold of people. So, thank you guys. That's actually a big one for me. Thank you. Just a a quick followup on Council Member Little's questions regarding uh AC Alert and NIXL. Do we have any idea what percentage of our residents currently have that um available to them? Do do we get any kind of a list that you know of the Newark households x number of folks have signed up? So so I don't have that offh hand but I I can get that number for for you mayor. Okay. Um we we have um the AC alert uh system. I can uh get that for you. Um

and again just to follow up on that I think that's fabulous and I think as we continue to advertise and suggest folks sign up for these things because you're never prepared for that disaster. more folks that are signed up and on these um different um programs the better. So, let's kind of track that and see hopefully as we continue to do our marketing and telecommunication more and more people will sign up because we emphasize the importance. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor. And I think it'd be great even not just once, maybe monthly and just put on your honeydew list for every month just hey don't forget you can sign up hey guess what make April showers come make sure to sign up in case we have massive I'm just kid you have to keep staying on top of it.

Yeah. and and uh part of our our cert um program at any of the events we always push uh Nixl and AC alert um for it's it's similar to the fire department annually reminding everybody to replace the batteries and their smoke detectors. I mean that's kind of just common knowledge now that everybody knows that they need to do that. So maybe in the near future we'll be in a position where people just understand I need to sign up for these things because I need to be aware um so that my family's safe. Council member Grenell,

thank you. Um, also echo my my council my my fellow council members comments about the excellent presentation and and and great timing. Um, I I only have one sort of question. Um, well, I have a I have a comment. I'll do the comment first. Um, your social media rules are actually good for everyday things, too. So, I agree. Yeah,

just just wanted to just wanted to highlight that. Yeah. Um, it's a it's a good approach. Um, and now I I noticed that if if the mayor's not available, it goes to the city manager or assistant city manager. Why wouldn't it be to the vice mayor or another designated council member? Why would it jump to the to the to the staff level instead of staying at the because they're going to be busy actually managing the the emergency? But I I just wondered what the reasoning behind that was.

Um, good point. I think our thought and rationale on that is that the mayor serves as the chair of of the disaster council. Um so um if the council may recall, the disaster council meets uh twice per year and that's largely led by city staff as well as in partnership with various uh special agencies and other jurisdictions and we receive regular reports uh from Mr. Martinez on on the status of emergency preparedness preparation. And so the vice chair of that entity is the uh director of emergency services otherwise the city manager. So just for consistency reasons that it would make sense to follow that pattern and process. Okay. Um thank you for that and um that's that's all my comments. Just once again thank you for your excellent presentation and very important information.

I have a number of questions. Hello. Um Colleen, are you the PIO? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Uh because I know Shabn is the PIO for PD, but when it comes to emergency situations, you're going to be the city's PIO. Yes. Perfect. Um the uh reimbursement from the state is critical when there's an emergency. Do we wait for a state declaration of an emergency or federal government declaration before we can begin seeking reimbursement from FEMA? Yes, we would need to wait for the state and the federal. Um but we would be uh before that happens, we're going to be collecting all the data and documents um within our EOCC.

Sure. Because we would ask them for reimbursement as to the when the incident began because it may take the state or federal government maybe a little bit of time to make that declaration themselves. Yes, mayor. That's correct. Perfect. Um and I think I heard you say that you will notify the council when we get to a level two if I recall correctly. So, mayor, uh, that would be our EOCC director. Um, so, um, our city manager would be the one reaching out and, uh, informing you of the the activation.

And if we have to, um, and I can't recall what slide it was, if we have to ratify, the council has to ratify the an emergency situation and it may be a challenge to get the council together, could we do that virtually? Yes. Consistent with state law, assuming that that authorizes it, which I can't imagine it wouldn't. Yeah. But there's a seven not for my city attorney to me. Yes. Well, remember this is a 7-day period. So, in a circumstance where the director of emergency services were to declare proclaim a local emergency, then the council would then have 7 days to ratify it. Does the city have an alternative location for pulling together the EOCC should the city hall complex not be available?

Okay. Uh so, currently our our ELC is at uh station 28. Okay. If that was not available, we would be uh looking at um partnering with uh PD and using their uh their uh meeting room uh for a backup for right now. Uh we are um we are looking at um a different uh designation for our EOCC, which would be the senior center. Okay. Um it provides a lot of uh good opportunities for us to activate a a fullscale EOCC.

Yes. As Council Member Del Katancho mentioned, when you get that earthquake, you're just not sure what city facilities are going to be available for pulling together the ELC. So, the more locations we have and the more prepared we are for pulling the team together, uh, the better we're going to be prepared. Uh, the one con not concerned, uh, when San Jose and I was part of the EOC for San Jose. Uh, when we had the 89 earthquake, you can just imagine the thousands of phone calls we the government were receiving from concerned residents and rightfully so. I don't recall if we had any kind of a a messaging on our city's phone systems to advise folks. You know, we we're certainly aware of the situation. We're deploying. Any thought on that issue in terms of a message when people will call in assuming that they can make calls in?

Go ahead. Thank you, mayor, for that question. So, we are uh looking at uh put uh developing uh canned uh messaging through AC alert and then um uh posting on uh 16:10 a.m. so that um if a disaster happens uh we can just activate those, fill in the details that we need to and then we would um deploy those messages out into the community. So,

uh Mr. Ben, thank you very much and M. Martinez and thank you Colleen for the presentation. And uh it's one of those things you you can't discuss preparedness enough to make sure that we are at least ready to respond because we never can anticipate when that disaster is going to occur. And the residents look to the council and the city manager and the city organization to remain calm, address the emergency situation uh in due course and uh the more conversation and more prepared we are, I think u when that day does arise, I think we'll be ready for it. So, thank you for the excellent presentation. Any other questions or comments?

All right. Uh, that was the only item. Is there anybody in the public that would like to speak to this item? Seeing there's no folks in the audience that want to speak to this, there's no vote required. So, I'm going to go ahead and Mr. Bonunz, unless there's anything else from you, I'm going to go ahead and adjourn our special meeting um regarding preparedness. Thank you. recording.

I'm going to go ahead and call the uh city council meeting to order and uh please ask you to stand uh for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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.

City council had a special meeting tonight at 6:00 to discuss emergency preparedness. So, I want to assure everybody that's in the chambers tonight, we are safe. We are safe for the next two hours. So, I've been assured by emergency folks that uh we've got everything covered. So, we're good to go for the next two hours. Um before I move to the um proclamation for Lunar New Year, um I want to indicate that we're going to close tonight's meeting in memory of Sharon Marshack. Okay. Some of you may know Sharon Marshack or knew Sharon Marshack. Many of you may not have known her. Let me tell you about Sharon Marshia, co-founder, longtime director of operations of the Tri City Voice, who passed away earlier this year and will be adjourning the the meeting in her memory. As I mentioned, Sharon's impact on local journalism and the Tri City community cannot be overstated. Alongside her husband, Bill Marshack, she helped grow Tri City Voice from a modest newsletter into a respected weekly newspaper serving Fremont, Newark, Union City, and the greater East Bay for more than two decades. She was the driving force behind the PAP's production and design, overseeing layout, graphics, advertising, sales, and marketing. Her vision ensured the newspaper not only covered local government, business, arts, schools, and history, but also celebrated community life through vibrant design and engaging philos photography. She believed residents should see themselves reflected in their local news. Her dedication was extraordinary. Week after week, she assembled more than 40 pages with precision and care, often single-handedly. When Sharon and Bill

retired in 2024, the publication transitioned to new ownership, continuing the community institution they had built together. Beyond the newsroom, Sharon was active in community life and supportive of local events and causes. She was widely respected for her tireless work ethic, creativity, and steadfast commitment to the tri city area. On behalf of the city, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Bill, her family, and all who mourn her passing. It is fitting that we adjourn the meeting in her memory of Sharon, whose life work strengthened our community and whose legacy will endure forever uh to come. So, we will uh close the meeting in her memory. And the only story I want to share with you folks, uh, uh, I know a number of the council members here certainly, um, had the opportunity to go up to the old city council chambers, uh, in the old building up on the sixth floor. And there was actually an area set aside for the press. And again, keep in mind, we're Newark and Bill Marshack andor Sharon Marshack attended every council meeting as I recall uh right there and uh covered the city of Newark and we were greatly appreciative of that because otherwise we weren't getting much coverage um for our for our community. Small tidbit, Mr. Bon. You may not have known this, but former uh I'm sorry, current mayor Raj Sawan was a reporter for the Tri City Voice. And Bill Marshack used to send current mayor Sawan over to Newark when he was a teenager to cover Newark politics.

And he told Bill, you know, those meetings only last 10 minutes. It takes me longer to get there and get home than to cover the Newark Council meetings. I thought that was incredibly I didn't know that. Uh so a little bit of tidbit. We all have a little bit of Fremont in us as a result of that. Uh Council Member Little, um I'd like to share with this too. Um I'm actually a writer for Tri City Voice. I I write a lot of positive things and she was actually one of the first people I met and I told her I'd like to focus on writing and she goes, "Can you make sure it's positive and happy?" I'm like, "Oh, I love positive and happy." So I've been writing that for them now for about seven, eight years. and she was always the one that would come up when I would go ask her about my article. She'd always give me some good feedback and stuff. So, that is very much of a pity. She will definitely be missed.

Yeah. But she helped me kind of get started being a visiting writer as well. So, she's a really really really sweet lady.

I I talked to Bill Marshack last week when I mentioned to Bill we were going to be doing this tonight. He was extremely touched. You know, he's moved out of the area. He's now up with family and uh his health is is questionable these days. He mentioned to me that he's starting to kind of lose his eyesight and things of that nature. But I could clearly hear in Bill's voice uh he, you know, greatly misses Sharon. And uh he was touched that we the city of Newark were going to take the time to recognize her this evening. And it's, you know, that's what we do at at our council. We recognize those folks that made significant contributions to our community in a wide variety of areas. And certainly Sharon was one of those individuals. So we'll close the meeting tonight in her memory. So the next item on the agenda is we are going to be issuing a proclamation declaring uh the uh lunar new year and I would ask council member deltansio and city attorney Chris Cocatello to join me

and Mr. Hey, how are you?

Nice to see you. Council member Del Canio was kind enough to provide me with some information about the Lunar New Year that I didn't realize. Uh first of all, I am the uh year of the monkey. Now, keep your comments to yourself, okay? It it's it's just the way that my birthday fell. By the way, our city manager is Year of the Monkey as well, right, Mr. City Manager? How about you, assistant city manager? Did we figure that one out? I haven't.

Okay. Uh, it is a 15-day celebration. In the United States, we've been celebrated celebrating it since the 1850s. In 2022, President Biden signed legislation for it to be federally observed. Not a holiday yet, but federally observed. Uh, the 2023 California made Lunar New Year a state holiday through Assembly Bill 2596. So with that, we're going to go ahead and issue the proclamation number 1964. Whereas Lunar New Year began Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, as families around the world welcome the year of the fire horse. And whereas Lunar New Year is an important cultural observation for many Asian communities and Americans of Asian heritage, including those of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Singaporean, Malaysian, and Filipino descent. Whereas martial arts traditions reflect the spirit of renewal, discipline, and balance often associated with the Lunar New Year celebration. Whereas since 2020, an annual Lunar New Year celebration has been hosted in collaboration with the city of Newark, the Newark library, and local communities. Whereas recognizing Lunar New Year promotes cultural understanding, mutual respect, and Newark's commitment to inclusion, diversity, and community connection. Whereas the city of Newark is a welcoming community that has evolved over the years, now having the largest AsianAmerican racial group according to the most recent census data. Now, therefore, I Michael Hannon on behalf of my New York City Council declare February 17th as the beginning of Lunar New Year in Newark and wish everyone celebrating the holiday a happy Lunar New Year, good fortune, health, and happiness. And I'm

going to go ahead and issue this proclamation to council to Mr. Wong and ask you if you'd like to say a few words. Here you go, my friend. Um on behalf of the uh Asian community, um we like to uh express our gratitude for the city of New York to um appreciate the Lunar New Year and uh it's the year of the horse, so let's get working hard. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you.

Good evening everyone. I just wanted to say thank you not only to our newer community, but especially to the mayor and to the city for acknowledging um Lunar New Year, which is really dear to all of our hearts, especially because we are a welcoming city, which means that we want to include everyone and its diversity. And it's very important because I actually remember when I was really little and just being with my family and my grandparents and them explaining all the different animals and how there's 12 of them and how we have the different elements and how there's five and how every year is very special because it only comes up as we mentioned at our last council meeting every 60 years to have a fire horse. And so that is what we have for this upcoming year. You might notice that some of us are also wearing blue because um it is also um to help cool down the fire if it's gets too hot. Thank you. It's so important as a community that we continue to celebrate these different cultural events in our community because the city of Newark is comprised of so many different cultures, so many different ethnic groups that uh as mentioned, we are a welcoming community and it's a really a great honor to recognize these various cultures because it really makes Newark U the city that we are today. Um so thank you for that. The next item on our agenda is the urban land institute technical assistance panel presentation. Mr. Benoon.

Yes. Good evening your honor and members of the council. Uh this is the much awaited and exciting presentation from the Urban Land Institute regarding New Park Mall. Um before I pass it over to the presenters this evening like to provide some uh brief background and context. Uh the Urban Land Institute is a premier global nonprofit research and education organization uh dedicated to responsible land use and creating thriving sustainable communities. ULI offers technical assistance panels otherwise known as TAPS to provide expert multidisciplinary advice to local governments, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations facing complex land use and real estate issues. Last year, the city engaged with ULI to hold the TAP for the greater New Park Mall area and surrounding commercial corridor. The TAP is an intensive two-day process. Yesterday was the first full day that included site tours and stakeholder meetings. Today, the panelists have been hard at work reviewing their findings and developing recommendations for tonight's presentation. Although their inerson presence uh is only two days, they've been diligently doing their homework well in advance, studying the comprehensive briefing materials and background book that was compiled by city staff and submitted to them uh last month. Uh we were assigned an 8 member tap panel consisting of experienced professionals in urban planning, economic development, real estate, architecture, and retail strategy. I'm just going to pause here for a moment and sincerely thank the panel for their incredible contributions. I had the pleasure of being with them for a limited period of time yesterday and it's very clear to me that these eight individuals possess a considerable amount of experience and intelligence and we look very much forward looking to receiving your presentation. Uh these are clearly highc caliber individuals and I consider the city of New York very fortunate to have them here with us this evening. Uh with that in mind, I'm going to pass it over to the two co-chairs this evening. We have Miss Danielle Olyri, but we'll start off with Mr. Rich Dishnika.

Thank you. Mayor Hannon,

members of the city council, city staff, uh, especially Steven Turner and Angela Schu who were instrumental in bringing this panel together and members of the community, all of whom we listened to and observed. My name is Rick Dishnika and I'm a co-chair of this panel with Danielle Liry. Uh my expertise is in all facets of residential development and financing. I've also participated in over 20 ULI national panels and I've chaired half of them. Uh in addition to the various taps in the Bay Area. So, as we look at the Urban Land Institute, and thank you, uh, city manager, uh, David, uh, he gave you a good background, but I'd like to just reinforce that our mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities. Our commitments are to connect, to inspire, and to lead. We were given the overview of the TAP panel and the TAP process. And I think that the one I'd like to highlight is over 40 plus taps have been conducted in the Bay Area by the San Francisco District Council since 2006. This is the panel. Each one of these individuals will get up and introduce themselves and tell you of their expertise. And with that, I would like to turn it over to Danielle. Mayor and council members, good evening. My name is Daniellea Liry and I'm the vice president of municipal engagement, economic development for Prolis. I I have also served as an economic development professional staff with cities throughout California over my 20-year career. I want to start by acknowledging city staff for their

preparation, their openness over the past two days. The materials were thorough and the conversations were candid. The transparency allowed our panel to do great work carefully and efficiently. The city asked the panel to help with how to make the greater new park more more vibrant. Sorry, that is the slide reflected here. You wanted it revitalized not only economically but as a place. The study area in the slide reflects this place. You've been clear that this is not simply about square footage. It's about identity and it's about vibrancy. It's about creating a destination and a community that feels like the heart of Newark. Listed on the slide are the main tap scope elements. Rather than say each of them individually, I'll summarize the main intent. ULI's focus was to assess whether the specific plan still reflects the current realities and identify barriers that may be limiting progress. And underlying those questions is something deeper. How do we transform a site that was built as a singleuse enclosed retail center into a place where people simply want to be and spend time? That is the fundamental placemaking question. What we'd like to talk about a little bit before we dive into the panel's content is what we've learned. Before we walk through our conclusions, let me briefly share what we've observed over the past two days. Though the city through the city briefing and stakeholder interviews, we saw a municipality that demonstrated an ability to adapt to change and want to change. Newark has maintained fiscal stability. It has consistent and committed leadership and the institutional continuity really matters here, particularly in a transition of this scale.

We heard from a range of stakeholders, city staff, property owners, local business operators, retail brokers, and housing and retail developers. We conducted site tours to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding commercial areas prior to visiting. And while perspective vary varied, there was alignment on one point. This site has tremendous long-term potential, and there is reason to be optimistic. slide. These are some of the pictures that we took around our site tours. And we'd just like to touch a little bit about what we heard during our stakeholder interviews. There is potential, but a potential alone cannot generate momentum. Momentum requires clarity, sequencing, and a framework that reduces uncertainty. This is where our analysis focused. Over the past two days, we studied the site, participated in site tours, reviewed the planning framework, analyzed current market conditions, and evaluated the structural agreements that govern the property. And here is what we learned. The days of 60,000 foot retailers are definitely changing and becoming less common. Rents in big malls can be challenging to small, locallyowned businesses. People are hungry for events and experience. This is a family focused community and they're looking for local options, craving local options to stay locally. The city is diverse and inclusive and conversion to an outdoor mall might really be cost prohibitive. So, we need to think creatively. Specific plan goals might be hard to achieve and so some expectations may need to be adjusted. What's the right density and the blend of uses to support daily activities were some of the questions we pondered. How can we build stronger pedestrian connections and create that song that strong sense of place all these things we're bringing forward are the lenses that we approach this

assignment with tonight. To do that work, we assembled a panel with direct experience in transitions like these. You'll hear tonight from experts who have developed mixeduse districts, studied large-scale retail uh repositionings, advised cities on economic development strategies, and navigated complex land use agreements similar to the ones New Park Mall is experiencing. That experience shaped the clarity and the practicality of the recommendations you're going to hear tonight. Our focus was simple. What steps can the city take to unlock momentum and create the conditions for a place that people truly want to be? With that, we will begin and I welcome Dena from Strategic Economics.

Thank you, Danielle. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be back here in Newark. I have worked with you on industrial lands, but it's exciting to work with you now regarding the mall. Um, so in terms of the market, uh, I think that some of what I'm going to say is going to come as no surprise, but I feel like we have to say it anyway. The market trends have changed. We see that coming out of the Great Recession, this chart on the right shows employment in the San Francisco, Fremont, uh, metropolitan statistical area. Uh, and what you see is that coming out of the Great Recession, we zoomed up in terms of our employment and we were going great guns, right? Everybody thought that it would go on forever, although you can see it starting to sort of go up and down a little bit. And in 2020 when we had the pandemic, everything changed. And I think we have to really acknowledge that reality. Uh because although the employment has come back up since the 2020 troth, it's still below where it was at the peak at 2019. It's uh way above where we were in 2009, but uh still uh something to be aware of. And the fact that it's not continuing to trend up but is more or less flat is something that we should also take into consideration. So uh what we have to also know is that since the pandemic we've entered into a period of great economic uncertainty, right? We have inflation, we have tariffs, we have a lot of other situations that are going on that have really high interest rates. Some of my colleagues will speak to this in more detail. Uh the Brookfield, the mall's owner is also struggling with its own transition. It has a huge real estate portfolio uh and is trying to sort through what all they're going to do with all that real estate asset. So their role and their interest in this process has also changed since the pandemic. And then uh highdensity

housing was really the driving use in the specific plan. Right? That was the assumption that it would be a mixeduse place with some retail, but really kind of that placemaking was really built in. And the assumption was that that that housing uh density would really drive a lot of the community benefit that you were looking to see. But the housing market is not what it was. Uh and despite the fact that we've seen a lot of housing supply continue to be built in the South Bay in particular, those were all projects that were entitled uh had their financing in place and in most cases had their contracts lock locked in. So their construction costs were fixed. uh what we see and most of that product has now been built out uh since the end of 2025 and the outlook for new housing construction in the Bay Area starting now in 2026 is that we're going to see very little production for a while. I did see that uh mortgage rates went down this morning. They were below 6% finally but uh still I think it's going to be a while and again my colleagues will talk about that more. So, these conditions really indicate that the city really needs to think rethink its approach to catalyzing the mall. And to start to talk about how and what uh we're going to do that, I'm going to turn it over to my colleague Christine Fenberg. Thank you so much and good evening all. Um I'm Christine Fenberg. I am president of Metrovation Retail. Um it is a commercial real estate brokerage firm and it focuses on retail. I have been doing that for about 30 years. So um I'm here tonight to talk about um the retail environment and how it's affecting New Park Mall. And let me see how we press these little buttons here.

There we go. Uh the retail industry as you probably know has changed dramatically over the last uh years. Uh in the last the competition from the internet that we've had along with uh other structural changes in how people shop has changed dramatically the retail industry from 2013 to 2019. Brick and mortar was struggling to find its footing at that time. But after the shutdowns of CO, people understood that they really wanted and needed brick and mortar. You probably all felt that way trying to get out after we were stuck inside for so long. But brick and mortar is still morphing. It's it's trying to find its footing. So what we're seeing right now is national retail anchors are downsizing. I think you've seen it in Newark with the Sears closing in 2018 and then Macy's closing in 2015. These closures were national decisions and they were not focused on what was happening here in Newark. So again, you were affected, but it wasn't due to something that Newark did or some problem uh with Newark sales. Other retailers have downsized their footprint also and their number of stores and you'll see it in the bankruptcies and reorganizations that you hear about almost every day in the news. Retail has moved to be more experiential. That means that it's the type of use that requires a person to walk into a store. tenants like salons and restaurants, activity tenants like bowling, pickle ball and fitness tenants, and even children activity type tenants including trampoline and rock climbing. The competition has changed because people want to shop differently. They

want to shop in outdoor centers and a two-story indoor mall is no longer really desirable. So, with regards to New Park Mall, it has many constraints to development. You probably have heard some of them already. Um, there are numerous owners, not all owners interfacing with each other. There are financial constraints. So, just throwing money at the mall doesn't really solve problems. Um, it has serious retail competition. You probably know that with most of the traditional tenants are already in the trade area. You've got Pacific Commons in Fremont, 10 miles uh 10 minutes south, and you've got Union Landing in Union City, 10 minutes north. The trade area has changed demographically with much more ethnic diversity now than when the mall was built. With the competition, the trade area is no longer the size of a regional mall, but rather smaller, probably the size of the three cities of Newark, Fremont, and Union City, or what you and we call uh the tri city area. Current demand in this trade area is typically what what we're seeing is from ethnic grocerers, recreation tenants, and food oriented tenants. Lots of food. About 70% are food. So, regarding New Park Mall and the opportunities, the opportunities require that this property celebrate its ethnic diversity and differentiate from the competition. And that's the big word, differentiate. You have to be something different than what those power centers are. What none of the competition have is a strong focused place for people to hang out, a place for family

entertainment, and a place to feel connected to to your community. And that's what's so important about finding how to create that sense of place with New Park Mall. What we have seen on this trip is that New Park Mall has already started that def defense uh differentiation and the activity has already started yesterday. We heard a lot of positive things from property owners and key tenants. We heard that one tenant took advantage of the available anchor space that that was available. Another owner is was very excited about the new opportunities that they see here. And then your movie theater is so amazingly successful contrary to other many theaters in the East Bay. So we think New Park Mall can capture some of the demand that's in the trade area but focusing on experiential tenants. So I will turn it over to Alan who will talk about some of the um specific opportunities that the developer sees.

Push buttons for me. Okay, thanks. Good evening everybody. Um, my name is Alan Shimaro. I'm executive vice president with Low and I oversee the Bay Area market uh for my development firm which is a national firm. I'm a developer and I'm here to speak tonight about the residential, retail, and mixeduse development opportunities. Today's development environment is very challenging in all product types unless you're doing data centers. Um especially that's especially true in for residential in for rent apartments. It's really a result of higher interest rates, years of inflation. The costs have gone up through the roof. Uh construction costs are higher and more importantly the increased yield requirements from real estate investors. These are the these are the investment groups that invest in our our projects. The current capital market environment and these are the this is what we call the the investment climate for for real estate is generally frozen right now for development. It's thawing a little bit. It's starting to which is really good, but it's really generally frozen. The circumstances where developers are making investments, they're generally focused on distressed opportunities. You see that in the press all the time. And investors are generally not investing in groundup development except in very select markets like San Francisco and on the peninsula where they've experienced significant rental growth. To translate this in markets like Newark, residential groundup rental properties, and I mean with structured parking, not service parking, um will not happen until rents increase, which is just how the math works. Additional forces working against apartment development included uh high city fees, off-site requirements, affordable housing requirements, owner's design standards,

and other community benefits. These requirements simply make projects more costly and thus they're more difficult to capitalize and develop. And while this is difficult for developers like us to go forward with projects, it can and really should be viewed as an opportunity for the city. And what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to potentially relax some of those requirements to facilitate the housing that you're encouraging and the type of development and projects that your community values. For retail development, the same forces apply. tenants, especially local and more entrepreneurial, and I mean non-chain service and small business types, they simply cannot afford to pay high rents that the national tenants can pay. So, if that type of tenency is desired, as Christine mentioned, is an opportunity for you all, then it means that structured parking does not work because that gets very expensive for the project and you're not charging for that parking. So, it's a very difficult cost. It's just too costly to build. And the market reality is that this is in conflict with the more dense style development outlined in your specific plan, which relies on mall style parking structures. The structures are not feasible for New Park today. And more importantly, the tenants coming here and their customers, they want the surface parking, which is plentiful in traditional strip and neighborhood centers. That's why they're there. As an alternative, the city should view a project like New Park with its placemaking, community building, neighborhood serving feel, and the community focus that that produces your community. It to think about that as a community benefit.

If this is what you want, then you as city leaders should consider making these investments in your community along with the development community. And we're talking about things like infrastructure. I don't mean pipes underground. I mean sidewalks. I mean uh parks, retail parking, lighting, signage, sidewalks, neighborhood connectivity. It's an opportunity for you to invest in the community in a different way rather than pushing this to the developer which makes project less feasible and it may be in conflict with what the community wants. The bottom line here is that if you want to create a special environment, it may require community investment as well. From the perspective of site planning, we believe that higher density housing and what I mean by that again is housing with structured parking is appropriate within the inner ring site. However, as previously mentioned, this type of development is still out without subsidy. We believe you should still plan for higher densities within the ring road. However, there could be opportunities for lower densities, and I mean town homes, so nonstructured parking outside of the ring road. Inside the ring could also, or excuse me, outside the ring could also accommodate advanced manufacturing, office and/or hotel uses. These uses are all symbiotic with retail services, and mixeduse environments. So in summary and before we show you a very rough we did this in two days highle site plan from my experience and perspective as a residential mixeduse developer I'd like to share a little bit of a vision with you for the center that we believe is appropriate and would be successful at New Park. Your current framework and guiding principles are sound. However, the retail vision and constraints must adapt and be more accurately represent the

community and the demographics within the tri- city area and as Christine mentioned to differentiate the project, satisfy the voids and the opportunities that are there and really capitalize on what is working, what's starting to work and is working. So from our perspective, this could be an ethnically based grocery store with a with a mix of local and hyper local and national retailers, local services for small businesses and entrepreneurs, which your local business community and the communities want and they're actually supporting right now, which is really good. The plan will should also have significant entertainment component built around the very successful movie theater and a differentiator from some of those other projects. Enter enter entertainment uses could include for example a smallcale music venue or a music hall which could be a comedy club hosting local events, plays, children's events and dancing. could have a banquet hall and experiential retail like bowling or botchi, a place for fun and family to serve the Tri Cities unmet entertainment needs and pull from a much bigger area. Finally, and very importantly, it should have an outdoor programmable and playful community area, an open space area to visit, sit, play, have a coffee or a tea for smaller frequent visits and everyday visits. This space could be programmed with community events, craft fairs, etc. And it might have a small stage and a play structure, something you're going to come to every day. This the importance of the outdoor space can be a catalyst for the development and especially as the project is phased. These projects are not they're rarely done all at once and

so they happen in pieces and so that could be a really good community catalyst that you think about investing in which would could really spur some significant development. The importance of this should not be cannot be understated. The space should be central to the smaller community and food driven retailers and should be located in an area which can flex into a larger venue for bigger community events. We heard that in the community from some of the stakeholders. This vision is consistent with your stated vision and provides an opportunity for this much needing needed and differentiated placemaking. We heard that very loud and clear in our stakeholder meetings. residential development as the market allows it will only add to the vibrancy of these types of mixeduse developments. And with that, I'm going to pass it over to our architect, Yan Taylor.

Thank you, Alan.

My name is Yan Taylor. I am a principal at Fuel Pale Architects. We're a a Bay Area firm that's been uh designing and planning uh mall and retail projects for about 40 years, even though I've only I've only been there 32. Um so what could we do here at at New Park Mall? I I do think there is a a great opportunity to create a wonderful gathering place for for the tri- city area, a wonderful destination, a place that can actually be activated by events even before it gets activated by new tenants. These could be events organized around food, around dance, around music, around cultural festivals, Luna New Year for example. And this could be done in a in a number of ways. And the and the bubble diagram that you're seeing on your on your screen is just one of a number of of of possible solutions. So, just to orient folks for a for a second and I don't know if you can see my mouse cuz I don't see it on the screen. So, so we we we've got the freeway running along the the top of the page and then just below that there's the AMC movie theater in in the kind of the baby blue. The parking garage. Um Costco is in orange. The Macy's box is in pink facing towards the bottom of the page. Um on the on the left hand side in yellow is you can just see the the the the Sears box. Then down at the bottom of the page is the Shirley Cisk Grove. And so one approach would be to take what we think are actually very successful active spaces and see if there's a way of connecting them together and using that connection to create the the community area that that Alan was talking about. Um, so the cinema has has very active and then the the restaurants at the entrance to the

mall, you know, a lot of care has been been been, you know, paid to to to that area. And then the Grove, which which, you know, features a lot of musical events perhaps that that could be uh improved. Uh maybe more of a a permanent sort of musical stage could be there. And then you could create this event space and actually line it with retail uses that could be permanent or could be temporary. They could be pop-up kiosks. They they could be food carts. Uh but the key is you want to be able to create it not with the the hundreds of thousands of square foot of retail that that formerly was in the mall, but with a with a more limited focused amount of retail. This plan has about 60,000 square foot square feet of retail which is which is very manageable we think in in in the current uh retail climate and and you're surrounding the space uh with with restaurants with activity. You have to pay attention to lighting to seating to landscaping. Um if if you have restaurants you want to create shaded outdoor patios. you're trying to create a place that can really work both as somewhere you you you want to take a date to on a romantic evening or it's a place where you take the whole family uh on on a Sunday afternoon. Uh but this this Tri City destination, we we want it to engage the new community not just as customers but also as potential retailers and business owners. Wouldn't it be great if the mall uh could could provide places for local businesses to set set up shop for instance on on the second floor? I mean, could it help incubate local businesses by providing very affordable starter space? Uh whether that's office or whether that's education or whether that's food. Uh but above all, I I think we need to be flexible. We just don't know enough about market conditions right now and how those will evolve to be able to to dictate specifically how how the whole

site will lay out. Nor do we know whether this might involve demolition, partial demolition, or maybe we can we can rehab and actually have have a minimal amount of of impact on on on the existing bowens of the building. So for now this bubble diagram simply identifies the tremendous potential of of the multiple opportunity sites uh that there are around the mall you know based on you know certain limitations imposed by parcel ownership. We've got a couple of different different owners here. Uses themselves should not necessarily be constrained since a number of uses could make sense. They could be residential office even manufacturing. Uh for instance, a number of office related or educational uses could work well on the mall second floor utilizing the existing parking structure. Or maybe that's where you you you convert uh some of the space and create the comedy club that that Alan had mentioned. There may be a great recreational use that you could put in the Sears box that would require minimal remodel. or perhaps you just decide that it doesn't make sense and let's demolish it and actually create more dense residential right there. The key thing about these uses is that they should all be market driven and and respond to the market and they should also all bring people to the to to the mall whether as customers as as workers or residents. Um, and I think taking advantage of this this entertainment destination which is built around assets that exist today and and I think that will create a place that will make everyone who comes here feel connected. So just to summarize it, it's really about taking existing assets and leveraging them to to create a wonderful event place inviting the community not just as customers but also as actually active business owners wi within the property and then thinking about a flexibility of

uses and approaches. Let's see. Yeah,

excuse me. I'm short. Good evening. My name is Lesie Parks. Uh I am currently director of economic development for the Good City Company. Uh my presentation tonight focuses on non-technical findings and recommendations. First, I'd like to establish some credibility. I am a veteran of regulation process wars. I have walked in your shoes. I have worked for more than 12 cities and I have more than 35 years of experience in economic development. I started my career when I was 12. I have served as a department head for three cities. I've served as a planning commissioner and I've also served as staff for five cities. I've authored or managed teen economic development workforce specific and retail plans, many of which never got implemented. I played a role in the entitlement process for major retail centers such as Santana Row and Valley Fair. The mall is really an exciting and opportunity to build community and honor the city's vision, but there are challenges. The old pro approach we have used driven by process and regulation doesn't align with today's market forces. But we saw close alignment in Newark between staff and city council, a strong advantage for change. Using the collective we for elected officials, staff, administration, and community, it is important to consider a different approach that incorporates the following guiding principles. Be flexible, think out of the box, be open-minded, lead, take some risk, and be bold. For the short term, there are also actions outside of the plan and process that can create some positive success and demonstrate that the city is taking the initiative to change the cent's image and direction. Me many of them were mentioned by my colleagues. They include

pop-up retail activities and entertainment events on site, ideally with the assistance of the city's chamber of commerce or other partner organizations. Basic park and public access improvements should be implemented. Lighting, sidewalks, crosswalk would go a long way. I walked from Homewood Suites the other night to Jacks and I can tell you that those improvements would have made the experience a lot less scary. Realistically, the city will take some hits and criticism, and there will be more work for staff, but a new approach and initiatives will also generate excitement and start a path to rebuilding a real community place in a tired mall. Thank you, Cesaly. Good evening. My name is Cesley Barklay. I am a land use attorney and I have been engaged in working on land use projects for about the last 30 years and I uh work out of San Francisco. Uh that's where my law office is. It's a big firm Perkins Kooey. It's uh actually international but I work here. Uh and I don't just work in San Francisco. I work all over the Bay Area. I was born and raised here and I even do projects as far north as Hanbolt and down to San Diego. Much of my work has revolved around reuse and rehabilitation and particularly malls. spent many years working on military base reuse and turning those into vibrant communities and in the last decade working on uh the Broadway Plaza Mall down in Walnut Creek, the uh Cornado Village up in CO Madera, uh Great Mall not too far from here, uh Stoneidge Mall in Pleasanton. I the list goes on. And the reason I want to share this with you is because a minute ago Leslie said you're going to need to be bold. And I'm going to talk to you about how to be bold. And I

wanted to give you a little bit of my experience in in this transformation process and in writing the land use regulations that enable it. And before I move on to my specific, they're just not my recommendations, they're the group's recommendations. All I'm doing is talking about tools to implement them. uh is just to also give you a little uh additional information not only about working on the development side and sometimes for cities but also I have done a lot of writing and speaking uh and educational teaching at universities and in extension courses and land use planning and law classes and I um am the lead author of a book called California land use and planning law many of you may be familiar with it and uh I've been a co-author since 2000 and uh we have our 40th edition coming out this coming week. So, with all that background and being a volunteer with this group, I want to talk to you a little bit about uh your land use regulations and some amendments that we would like you to think about. And we think that these amendments can be a way for you to implement what I think is a vision you've always had for a successful mall as a community place, but it it will be different than what was in the specific plan. And I'm going to talk to you a little bit about how. So, as to ground this recommendation, just to remind everybody because you've all worked on these, everybody up here in some fashion, you have your general plan, your constitution of development, and all development has to be consistent with the policies and guidelines in your general plan. You also have a new parkplace specific plan that implements the general plan, but it's an overlay. It's a regulatory document, and it actually says development needs to be consistent with it. You have your municipal code, zoning, building regulations, all sorts of requirements. When when there's going to be building, you have to comply with the city's very broad municipal code. And you also have other plans for parks, bikes, peds,

circulation, etc. Um, climate change. There's a lot of other plans that that are overlaid. They all need to allow this vision to happen. I'm going to focus right now on what we recommend happen with the specific plan. And just as a reminder, your uh general plan was adopted in 2013. Uh in 2015, you had a master plan which was a conceptual document about what could happen at the mall. By 2018, that became your specific plan. And by 2021, you had uh amendments to the specific plan to implement a vision, I believe, that was shared with Brookfield at the time for substantial residential development to occur. And that plan exists today. And unfortunately uh as I think primarily because of interest rates going up and capital drying up, it became infeasible for Brookfield to move forward with that plan even though they'd actually pulled a building permit and nothing's happened in the last 5 years. And so now we look at a plan that has some good parts to it but some challenges. So um be prepared. Um the first thing that we're going to this is a you know an idea of recommendations exactly what you and your staff just might want to do in your community could be a little different but we think the specific plan itself should be converted back to a master plan something more like what you did in 2015 which shared a vision and concepts and ideas. But unfortunately right now the specific plan is actually a regulatory document that dictates in some places exactly how things have to be done. It says this is where the residential will go. This is where the streets will go. This is where the public spaces will go. And that kind of street grid detail is currently, we believe, interfering with the market and the land owners being willing to look at opportunities that will be closer to

having a future success. So, if we had that go back to more of a conceptual plan, well, what would that mean? There's a lot of things in the specific plan that should be retained. You've got many conceptual plans out there. They're just conceptual. They're ideas. that means they could be done differently and you have lots of visionary policies that uh go on for many pages uh similar to what you're hearing here but at the time they were written there was frankly a little bit more of a vision of upscale you know there's pictures of Ethan Allen and the loft and fancy masonry and you know just a different idea about what that mall would be might not work today and there's a lot of detail about residential design guidelines with you know how windows should be done and paint colors that's okay, but don't mandate it because it just scares the development community, particularly when they look at it and they know they have to change it. And if they know they have to come in and talk you into changing it, they're just going to get discouraged and go somewhere where it would be easier. So, what this would do is allow these are steps. I'm not even done yet, but this will allow you to invite uh the the market and the community and the property owners to work with you to move forward from nothing happening to 5 years to a lot happening in the next 5 years. Another thing you want to retain is the cap on allowable development. So, there's a certain cap on the number of housing units. It's 1,500 there. 500,000 square feet of office, which probably never get built, but it's a cap. And there's some other caps. keep them in there because you don't want things to go too crazy in one direction or the other and also you don't want to do a new EIR. One of the ways to make this easy is to not cause more development by making the change but just lifting some of the restrictions but not having more development and then you won't need to do any additional environmental review. Also, we think you would want to retain the uses that you have right now. They're good uses inside the ring road

and outside. The couple of minor changes I noted up here in this vision, your current specific plan contemplates the possibility of adding housing on the outer ring road. We'd recommend you do that now. Why not? I mean, instead of waiting and doing it in the future and coming asking for permission, if somebody wants to come in and build a housing project in the outer ring road, why not? And maybe that's a place where you could go to a 20 dwelling unit to the acre minimum which would allow town houses. We agree with you that it's and currently the specific plan says no mult no ownership housing inside the ring road. We agree that's a good idea to to have that limitation. Maybe in the outside some town houses wouldn't be bad, but if you want to keep the high density multif family on the outside of the ring road that works too. Um Allan mentioned that there might also be some uh advanced manufacturing. Um there's a hotel in the ring road in your specific plan. Maybe that ought to be on the outside. So there's some tweaking to do, but I think the the housing uses are very close. And the other thing that would be a difference is right now the specific plan which was very common in the teens, you know, up until recently says that all of the public infrastructure needs to be absorbed by the developer. And still, I think water and sewer and major improvements are a developer responsibility. But maybe there's some infrastructure that serves the community. I called it public infrastructure here. Like the park instead of saying to the developer by X number of units, you've got to get that park built. And by the way, there's no one developer. You have multiple property owners. The city ought to look in its capital improvement program and see if you could start funding some of those improvements. There's a lot of trees there. They're dark. They're eucalyptus trees. I don't think you have a policy against taking eucalyptus trees out. Maybe there's a way you can stimulate that. You've heard that in different ways. Some pedestrian paths, some signage. That signage says open during construction. I don't think there's any construction going on. You

know, I don't know what you can do with Brookfield about that, but you know, try to get that signage done and and invest look at these what we think are relatively small investments in looking at changing the land use and investing in the public infrastructure. When you do these regulatory amendments, there's a few I just mentioned a lot of things that are good. A few things we think you ought to look at taking out. And you're all going to get this in a report, so you'll have plenty of time to think about it. But there is one figure and that's the land use plan which I mentioned earlier has the street and the very specific locations of where land uses ought to be. I think you just loosen that up a little bit and provide more guidance and not prescription. And similarly the density of exactly where the housing would go. Let's just see what happens but allow housing. It's it's a good thing. Uh there's a lot of details about the streets that probably don't make sense anymore. And there's a lot of detail about infrastructure plans. I'm not sure they're really problems, but there's just a lot of reports about water and sewer and things. And the design guidelines, again, some of them are good, but some of the guidelines are so prescriptive that I think they would inhibit innovative market driven uses to just come in that are actually allowed by your general plan. So, you want to find that balance between having enough prescription that you're happy with what comes out, but you're not going to tell everybody how to do it. and and this is just letting go and letting the market come in with just enough parameters. So, okay, what would those parameters be? Well, if you're not going to have a specific plan and it's just a vision, how do you make sure everything is okay? Well, the two other things we think you would do at the same time would be to amend the general plan to take some of those policies that I said you want to retain, just put them back up in the general plan. You've already got a section, it's a page on them all, make it three pages. I mean, put some policies like the development caps and allowing some of the housing in the outer ring road, but beef up your general plan a bit because that is a real regulatory document. And then also look to your zoning code and maybe be a

little more specific. So right now you have regional commercial, that's one category. Maybe you create regional commercial NP for New Park Mall or NM. You just have a separate zone. They're not hard to do. I do them all the time. It's a little darker orange. But maybe there you say we're not going to allow all those community uses. Maybe there's some things, I'm sorry, commercial uses. Maybe there are some things in the commercial uses that you don't think are appropriate in the mall. So you can use your general plan to add more policies. You can use your zoning to do some additional regulation, but you don't need this really detailed specific plan. So, one of the opportunities that I'm saying to you is you don't need to spend 5 years redoing a specific plan. Well, all you really need to do is move your specific plan back to a conceptual plan, beef up your general plan, look at your zoning code, and allow this to happen and and not be in the way. We're hopeful that the Macy's uh building, which, you know, they have a pretty big parcel there now. It's not all one owner, but whatever uses can incur in that if if in fact that new owner brings some tenants forward, plus what's happening with AMC, plus what's happening with Costco, plus you have very active fitness 21, plus you have an active jack. If by doing this you could just get every year a little bit more development, grab another good tenant or two, your mall will not be shuttered and hopefully it'll be in Brookfields, you'll just make it easier for them, too. So, this is going to take a lot of partnership and communication, but we've all come to believe that it's doable, and we really appreciate the opportunity. I I look forward to tuning in to watch your meetings someday as you all move forward with this project. Uh, thank you very much. And I'm going to bring it back to Dena. Okay, I'm going to bring it home for you tonight. Uh, first of all, we want to

give you sort of our key findings. This is kind of a recap. Um, you know, people to really talk about New Park Mall as a dead mall. It ain't dead. It's in transition, right? And it's already in transition. It's very positive. It's too soon to tell what might happen with the inline shop space, uh, as Alan and Yan said, but the building has value. And as Yan said, maybe it part of it would be taken down. Maybe you punch out some walls and make some windows, reconfigure the space. It's very flexible. there's a lot that could happen there. So see it as an opportunity, not as a challenge. Right? We think that placemaking is really critical. I think this is really the thing that is leading 21st century cities is placemaking. Um and you think about the transformative nature of the Highline in New York, some of these other really big places. And I think that's that's a vision to sort of shoot for at a New York scale, right? And I think that this, as Christine said, the real differentiator you have here is the opportunity to make a place. Your power centers to the north, to the south, they took the big box. You're going to you're going to lead the way in the next iteration of retail and you're going to do it with the placemaking. Um, but the city has to be open to these approaches that Cesaly just laid out for you on your land use policy. And in the short run, you need to lead. No other party is necessary. That's not true that no other party is going to act, but the presumption in the specific plan was that the developer would basically do all the heavy lifting. And I think now the city needs to really think about how to step up and take back some of that responsibility focused on the placemaking. So in summary of our recommendation, uh first pursue the incremental pl uh placemaking that includes the Shirley Cisk Grove. Honestly, I thought that was

a vacant lot and then I heard that was a park, right? So, it's sort of and there's a chain link fence next to it, right? So, really think about that as a valuable asset in an anchor. You don't have to acquire open space. You've got it. And then, as Yan showed, there are lots of ways to connect up into the mall. uh look for other public sector or institutional partners who want to be might want to be investors or tenants in the mall and are not looking at it as a business model but are looking at it for a use that they need. They're a user, not an investor. So, for example, you uh when we went on our tour yesterday, we saw the beautiful Aloney College campus. Well, maybe Aloney College needs more art studios. Maybe they need some maker space. Maybe they have other kinds of activities where they can bring students down as a way to animate and activate some of the space in the mall. Um, consider providing money andor support to increase the programming at the mall. We talked about the chamber as a partner, but also the mall itself. We heard great things about the woman who's the manager, the property manager out there. Those asset managers are actually some of your best friends, right? And we heard that the events that they're doing are fun. They're getting ready to do a big Easter egg thing. I didn't or an Easter like they did the Halloween haunted house and they did a Christmas thing and now they're going to do an Easter thing. How fun is that, right? Um so really build on that. But you have the concert series in the summer. Keep it going. Do it all year round. Right. So again, people are coming. Uh um and then look to other mall development for lessons. And the thing the place that I think is the most interesting is Bayfair Mall. And we said earlier, well, Bayfair Mall, it's not very nice. Like is that that's not really a class A space like your space was out here. The thing about

Bayfair is that the guys who bought that mall are uh redeveloping that shop space, that inline shop space as lab space, as innovation space, as maker space, and they have a lot of small tech and life science firms in there. And the thing about it is they have power, right? How many times have you heard developers complain about PG&E and how long it takes to get power? And for your small businesses, your small innovators, that power can issue can be insurmountable. So you don't have to worry about bringing power into a big space in some of your industrial area. You have it here. So how did San Leandro make that happen? How did they work with that partner? That's what that's what we're thinking about in terms of looking at that as an analog. It's not about the placemaking. You all understand that. And it's not about the retail. You all pretty much understand that too. This is something completely different. This is what Lesie was talking about when we said be bold and be out of the box, right? Okay. Um, uh, Cesaly just gave you, uh, what I thought's a very compelling, uh, case on your land use policies. So, think about that. Uh, something we talked about this afternoon with some of the staff was the need to really broadcast your successes. We said, "You need a Newark influencer who's on Instagram 20 24/7 showing all the cool things that you all are doing because it's a really great community. It's not just the mall, but it's a very wonderful uh place to be. So, you want to really communicate that and communicate it again creatively and innovatively and broadcast it beyond the city's boundaries. And then finally, we want to tell you to really uh stick to your community vision. You have as as Cesaly said, you have great goals and great vision in the specific plan. Uh and inclusivity, the Lunar New York program earlier again was a real

demonstration of that. Your community's vision is to be a welcoming place for all. You really value families. You value hard work. You uh and people want a place where they can gather here because they like to be together. And that's a huge value. So build that into the specific plan and take advantage of the opportunity where everybody can live, can work, can play, and can thrive. Thank you very much,

Danielle. All right. We recognize that this site carries history. It served as a regional retail center for decades. Markets evolve, retail formats evolve, cities evolve. Ultimately, this is a moment of direction. We believe Newark is positioned to build what's next. And thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful city. And with that, we are open to take any questions from the panelists and the council.

Questions and comments because I know that there'll be quite a number of them. Uh, I want to make sure I say from the onset, uh, real big thanks, Mr. Bon, to the city staff, uh, for pulling the, uh, tap together, uh, to identify a real need in our community, one that we've heard from our residents, uh, one that this council's been concerned about now for quite a number of years. So to have the initiative to pull what I described yesterday, folks, was uh I'm a minor league baseball manager and I'm trying to run a baseball team and I have no idea what I'm doing. So I pulled in all these Hall of Famers who have significant experience. I'm not talking a year or two, I'm talking 20 to 30 years of experience dealing with these issues uh from a variety of uh professions. And uh so we pulled this uh hall of fame team together and they've done nothing but to to really uh cement that uh the direction that we are moving as a city to try to unlock kind of the the situation at New Park Mall. I think we're really moving in the in the positive direction. It's it's not going to be something that we're going to accomplish overnight. It's going to take time. It's going to take a vision and it's going to take our commitment to be leaders in this area and and not simply wait for things to hopefully happen. Uh so I I really do want to thank the team uh that came together and really did outstanding work in two days. And uh uh before I turn it over to my colleagues for comments, I just want to make a couple initial comments for those that are watching from home. Uh this council is open to any and all ideas for New Park Mall. Uh it's not this or nothing. It's we've made it clear to the property owner that we're open for any and all ideas that they want to have conversation with us. Um we do

appreciate Brookfield and what they've done at the mall in the past. Um uh I know that they are as as mentioning they got a kind of a lot of things, you know, in the pipeline that they're trying to navigate through. We certainly want to do our best to maybe be leaders in terms of the direction that we think we can work collectively together to hopefully develop that vision together and and work to make sure that we can get it implemented. Uh, a couple just clarifying questions for those listening. You mentioned that there's a number of property owners out there. So, I know we have the Costco owner. We have certainly the MC owner, I would imagine. I mean, what different ownerships are we talking about out there, Mr. Benoon? I just want to make sure we have a full understanding on that situation.

Costco owns their own uh pad and then Macy's of course and Macy's was bought by the Charles company recently. AMC is actually a tenant, but their lease has a lot of uh regulations in it. So the lease is it goes until I believe 57 207. She that puts me at 101. a challenge and you're still going to be going. I can tell

they're going to be showing those Irish movies. Um, so they uh the lease goes to 57, but it is a lease. So all of the other parcels are owned by some form of ownership of uh of Brook Brookfield. Okay. There is one that was a JMBB or owner, but they've conglomerated it all. So, it's GGP Brookfield JMBB.

Great. I know my family at one time owned some commercial property out in Walnut Creek and it was multiple owners and to try to pull multiple owners together to come to a consensus on anything was always a challenge. So, at least the primary tenant that we're going to be dealing with here is Brookfield. How how open is uh Brookfield in your estimation, neither Mr. uh Bon or or the TAP folks, how interested are they in sitting down with the city as we look at the current specific plan and say, "Well, look, we're going to just put that aside and we're going to start all over again and we want to work with you on your vision for your mall and our vision for what we want the mall to be." How did you get a sense as to how open they would be to that conversation? The best way I can say it is they probably are in more transition than you are.

I don't know that they can answer that question today.

Okay. I think that what I've observed in the generality of what's going on in the real estate markets and institutional holders is until they figure out the direction until they understand in a portfolio what the best mix is for them they probably are going to be just sitting there watching the action I do think that what happens on that Macy's parcel as it evolves and if something happens that may stimulate some things that will generate some connections within their company and within the bureaucracy that evaluates this asset from an asset management point of view, from the development point of view. There's an opportunity and I suspect probably in the next several months might be worthwhile reaching back out and doing an inquiry and we'd certainly be happy to try to make introductions where we might have some connections that you don't have.

Great. And as I heard the conversation, there's certainly some things we can do in the interim in terms of re-examining our this the plan that we had, go back to the master plan and do some of those things incrementally that hopefully demonstrates to them that uh we're flexible on this side to certainly entertain multiple multitude of uses out there at that location. So we have some work that we can certainly do in the meantime and uh maybe we can begin working on some of those ideas as we kind of think this through. So, let me turn it over to my colleagues. I'm going to start to my left and see comments, questions, feel free to uh have at it. Council member Little,

thank you so much. Um, first of all, freaking fantastic. This is so freaking cool. I can't keep it together. I feel like a little wiener dog right now trying to hold it together. Thank you so much. This is so freaking exciting. I have been waiting there for this a long time and this is just a really big deal. Uh, I do want to say on record, one of the biggest things I think that could really just ignite this on fire is a bowling alley. I've been talking about it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And the biggest thing situation with this is is I've done the numbers. I've crunched them myself. We're talking Hayward to Melpedas. We are looking at over 350,000 people that do not have access to a bowling alley within 15 minutes. I think that is going to be our big I think that's going to be our mill ticket to get up and running. So, please to I mean officially on the record, you know, city manager, this is something I really really really really really really would like. Um, just in case you don't know, I'd really like

She still only gets one vote though.

Um, and I do want to say for the record, I was at the mall last week and I purchased my son some new shoes and I was pretty pretty saddened by what I saw in it. But, you know, I did get the shoes that he was looking for that we could not find in Milpedas nor in Fremont. So, that was pretty exciting that he found the perfect Nike shoes there. Um, another idea I think that would be fun that I think is really popular and Treadful right now is I think we should be considering doing once a month a food truck get together or a food truck festival where everyone that's the super hot popular thing right now. So, I think that would be another idea of an event that we could easily put together. We just give them a parking lot and an area for people to park and I think that would be a really nice cultural food and that kind of encompasses a lot of things that you guys brought up. So, I do think bowling and food trucks is the way to go. Um, and there's something else that you guys didn't talk about that I think is really important is the ripple effect. And that's something that we need to talk about because when you get that shopping mall up and running, it's going to ripple out, especially to like the Stevenson area and all that area in, you know, that that those two main areas there because just as of today, Soul Mama's Korean restaurant, right off Stevenson said they were going to close because not enough business. So, hopefully when we can get them to come in, it can ripple and get bigger and bigger. But oh man, let's just go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's just cancel all the rules. Let's move forward. Like, let's get her done. I'm so excited. So, I mean, just get her done as we say in Texas. So, thank you so so so so so so much. Bowling alley food truck day. Thank you.

I just want to make it clear the council is not paid by every word that she uses. Council member Gundal, we will get a bowling alley. I I Dude, I got Let's go. Let's go. Council Gundall,

let's go. I'd like I'd like to echo my colleagues excitement about the efforts you're putting into this into this process um and u and the the ideas you're bringing forward. I do have a couple of uh comments and questions. Some of some of them a little bit critical but um the um so first of all um this has to do with the the lower density housing on the outside of the ring road. Um wouldn't what I what I've seen is in other places where this happens the the lower density housing has two effects. One, it pre it acts sort of as a damper in terms of the energy of an area and in in addition it it the the uh the residents of that area become nimbies being that object to the very things that we want to do to activate activate activize activate things. So, so for example, in the Great Mall, I'm sorry, not Yeah, in the in the Great Mall in um Militus, they built town homes supposed to be creating activity back and forth. In fact, they ended up fencing it off. There's a 8ft tall fence, so you can't even get from that town home area into into the mall. Now, that mall's fairly successful. I'm willing to make that trade-off if we can get the great mall. That's I want to be clear about that. if they're willing to do another great mall here, then all bets are off. But um but so I guess my my question is why why wouldn't why why wouldn't that um act as a damper on what we're trying to do? And why would the city want to do it? Why why would it we have lots of places in town where we we have built and can build um low lower density housing. Why why would the city want to Um I think I agree with your assessment.

I mean it can be a barrier. They it's a reason why um you don't want for sale housing close to you know major things like this. Um I think we were looking at as a potential option something you might you might want to evaluate. I know there's a lot of pressure to produce housing. I think our our opinion was that you don't keep that housing on the inner side and that it could be an option on the outside, but I don't I can't I don't disagree with your assessment.

I'm going to counter or suggest what what another way to think about it is and I can't speak to Malpus. haven't been there, but I've seen a lot of master plan communities where the theory is that you build from the edge to the center. So, you start with your low value areas uh and you design them. You set design guidelines, whatever. Um uh but you what you're doing is signaling to the market that there's transformation going on here. You start to bring population into the area. I think the placemaking is also really important because you want the streets and you want the other kind of activity there. Um, but it begins to increase property values. It incre it begins to increase the idea of the fact that this is a place that has value to it. So that's just a counterargument. I think it's one of these situations where both things can be true. But I just wanted you to have the kind of other side of the kind of way of thinking about it. And I I I have seen this work successfully in a lot of places again where you move from the edge to the center where you're ultimately your highest value where you're going to rely on the highest rents to produce the highest density product.

Okay. Um and that actually leads to another question I have. Um which is and by the way the idea of creating pedestrian connections and and a sidewalk around them. I mean, what a what a revolutionary idea to have a sidewalk near near Shirley Sis Grove. It's I I'm strongly in favor of uh doing that. It makes it more adaptable, usable, um and it's already a fantastic community resource in terms of having having concerts there. So, utilizing it more and having better infrastructure around it, I I think is is great. Um, when it comes to connections though, what I'm concerned about is without a land use plan that sort of dictates where things go, how do we know where to build the sidewalks? How do we we, you know, we we could end up building a sidewalk across the parking field for that Asian market that you that you guys were talking about? Um, how do we how do we know where to to place those investments? Because we're in good fiscal situation, but we're not in a good enough fiscal situation to be throwing money away. So, um, we don't want to be putting in a sidewalk and then tearing it out. That's bad news. So, um, how do we how do we know where to put these improvements? Because being able to walk as a pedestrian from the from Cedar to the mall without walking in the street would be really great, but where do we where do we put it? How do we make that happen?

That's why you're the chair, Rick. Unfortunately, that's it. Yeah. Uh, first of all, there's no easy answer to any of these questions. And I appreciate you don't want to put money in a place where you're going to end up having to change it down the road, but the reality is you may have to. The answer here is we're trying to energize and stimulate and be a catalyst for change. That may not last. I mean, sidewalks don't last forever anyhow. You'll be back out there in 10 or 20 years after the weather beats it and all the rest of things that happen and you'll have to fix it. You may just come back and tear it all out. But try to do it in such a way on the front end where you don't spend a hell of a lot of money. Excuse my French, but I think that you can do it effectively and get and accomplish the goal without spending a tremendous amount of money. As an example, talking about a crosswalk, you already have a stop sign or you have the ability to put a stop sign. You get into the parking lot, you have the pavement there. All you have to do is stripe it. You don't have to go put in a whole sidewalk. So, think about these things very very flexibly and creatively. I mean, it's the dilemma. Do you want to spend it with a lot of money or spend it with a little bit of money? If I just said go paint the sidewalk and you accomplish the same goal, that's not a lot of money. So, I just think if you think it through and you ask a few people in the city, ask your public works department, you know, city manager can work through all those things, you might be pleasantly surprised. The problem is we get blocked with a thought process without really digging into it. As a developer, I grind into every little single detail, try to find out where I can save the money, and sometimes it's easier than I think. So, I offer that to you just as a construct of how to work through the process.

Thank you. Okay.

Okay. I just have one I have I have one other question which is which is quite narrow. Sorry, but um we're looking to be able to to make this happen, right? Not to not to just put a another plan on the shelf and and um and then use that to try to attract bowling alleys. We we know. Um so um but I I noticed that you you didn't really mention any kind of tools about how we can make it happen. For example, um I'm I'm interested in an enhanced infrastructure financing district to to generate tax tax increment in the area and to be able to sort of direct investment. Um why didn't you look into things like that or can you can you directly address that um right now? So, we did not put that in tonight's tools because the enhanced infrastructure financing districts depend upon increased property tax and it's those increased property taxes that or tiff as we all hear that you can then draw from to reimburse yourself for those funds. They depend on having increased property taxes. The way that you get increased property taxes is somebody goes out and spends a lot of money on the property. And we were suggesting that these short-term things be done upfront and they're just isn't going to be any tax increment to fund them until you get further down the plan.

But we need Sorry to So some Yes. So later we need to set it up now to generate the inc increment later.

You could start to put the wheels, you know, the tool together. Um, but I wouldn't wait to do all the things we're saying until we get it. But you could put that in place so that and this is being, you know, market ready. I have to tell you one of the problems with a lot of you guys are a prime example of this but I have unfortunately I have other examples not all of them but you you have these ideas and then everybody starts working on them and by the time they get them done you know interest rates have gone up or there's a pandemic or a recession or what you know and then it's gone and then people walk away. So if you have your tips set up and then you get the opportunity where there's a new development that comes in, somebody actually takes Sears down and builds multif family or builds a new popular sporting goods store or something, then you've got your tiff set up. So I think that's a point really well taken. So I think that would be a good uh step

you think. And and just to be clear, yeah, I wasn't I wasn't envisioning that in in the least. Um, I I certainly take to heart your idea of even if it's a smaller thing to start making incremental steps and and and making investments. I I I I completely gathered that and and and strongly agree with it. I just was there are sometimes you have to you have to lay a foundation that's that's going to that's going to yield something further early on. Right. So, be ready. Yes. Exactly.

Okay. That's all I have. And to council member Gindoll's point, uh there's some real minor improvements that we the city can make to the property that sends a message not only to the community, but to any prospective buyer developer that the city's uh seriously interested in moving forward with some development at this location and are committing uh the staff and the resources to start to implement some of these minor things that really demonstrate more more specifically that we have a hopefully a vision coming down the road. Council member Deltanchio.

Yes, thank you. Thank you so much for your presentation. I actually saw a lot of you a little bit earlier at the library. Um I saw you guys meeting there. So I appreciate that you did dedicate two full days to understanding the nuances in New York, specifically our mall. I know when I was younger, especially as a teen, the mall really was a place to be. I I say was only because right now we're still in this transition. But there are still teens out there and even young adults with families and they want to have activities. They want to bring them somewhere and they are bringing them places. It's just not to our particular mall, but there are other active malls. And so I tend to echo the comments of my colleagues as well regarding the idea of a bowling alley. Um, additionally perhaps ice skating um or even other work from home activities. Um because I noticed that a lot of my neighbors are working from home and so they're just kind of inside of their own home office and then they walk out, walk around the lake a little bit and then they go back um and sometimes they go to the 24-hour fitness or they go someplace else. But what if uh we could even have a place there where maybe they could rent an office there for a day. Um something kind of easy or cheap um or cheaper I suppose and then they would be able to have the food that you were saying um have something walkable and something that they're not afraid to walk back to their car afterwards in the dark, right? So maybe if the lighting was helpful or if we even had a satellite parking um just small tiny improvements like that. I also like and appreciate how you mentioned that Aloney College, the JC that's nearby. We do have the extension campus that's near us, which is right near the Newark um Memorial High School on the on the other side. Um but also I was thinking what if we also expanded on that idea with like other universities

as an extension office um or satellite. I know like UC Berkeley, they have their extension at conquered I believe and there's also one for Cal State East Bay that's over there in other location. So maybe if we expanded our ideas. Um I also was thinking about what you were saying too that we are near um Silicon Valley and San Jose and San Francisco and so we should be able to materialize that and benefit economically and capitalize on that. And so I know that more recently the council did go to the three- ring facility um and that is more of an incubation hub. And so maybe if we could rent spaces to other places um like that facility so that we could really capitalize on the idea of Silicon Valley and bring more tech people here and have this idea of the live, play, and work model. So I really do appreciate your time. Thank you so much,

Vice Mayor Jorgens.

You know, I have a couple questions about the uh kind of market challenges and market forces at play. Um, some of the things kind of seemed at odds to me and I'm struggling to connect uh those two dots together. Um, starting with the idea that, you know, we can kind of do small things and that kind of acts as a catalyst. And I guess my thinking there is we already have a movie theater there. We have events at the Shirley Cisco Grow from time to time. We have the farmers market that draws a huge number of people. What are the I mean it seems like we have a lot of event kind of things there in that space already and it hasn't led to um a vibrancy at the mall. So I'm just when we say we're using these things as catalysts, can you help me kind of connect those dots? It's a two-part plan. It's both showing a different vision and more flexibility. So, we cannot predict this for sure, but what we're worried about is that the specific plan that's so specific is not allowing the alternative thinking and uses to come in. So it is, you know, you're absolutely, we really think you need to do both and that's what I wanted to say. So, but I think some of the catalyst is a little bit different. Um, it's building on what you've already done. So, we like this at the end of the presentation, uh, Diddy put up the, you know, the malls are not dead. So, we're talking about building on the activities are there. You have a park, maybe it's, but maybe that park needs to be opened up at night. It's very dark. It's scary. I mean it if you park over there as I did out in the in the end, you do find yourself looking around like where are people coming from? So these are things that will are incrementally helpful, but there are also things that are that are missing like not having a park, not having a

place for people to walk, not it doesn't the edges of it feel uh unsafe. And so these are things that in combination you want to be ready for the market to come. Costco, you were, you know, it worked out great, right? They found a site, they took advantage of it. Maybe somebody like that will come for Sears or maybe Macy's will find something completely different. But we're just talking about the combination of lightening the regulations and showing some investment. But it's not a certainty that if you build that small thing, they will come. But we think it's helpful.

So I guess who are we showing this vision to? Who is the vision for that we're supposed to be showing this new vision? It is for the commercial market, both residential and retail, who are thinking about where do I want to be? Developers, retailers, they they're in business to do business. So, they're always looking at the market. They look at and but you get somebody else up here to answer this because I'm a lawyer telling you this but but um they are you are marketing your you are sharing a vision that tells the marketplace this is what we're willing to do to have you be here but you're also uh telling it to your community so that your community is reinfor hearing and I don't just mean Newark but even you know Fremont across the way in Union City but you also are talking to the property owners and as we mentioned there's you know three or four plus the ones in the ring road

and this is not like a panacea these are really good next steps compared to where we are today

well it it just seems like these next steps to me and you know my thinking you know as I was going through the presentation the next steps are the things that we've already done they're the last steps you know I think going back you know looking at the last 15 years of the property which I'll choose because 15 years ago I was a student at Newark Memorial and I would say compared to when I was a student the more mall is more alive now than it was Then the Costco and the movie theater are bringing more people in the concentrate area. The anchor stores when I was um you know 15 years ago would have been a Sears that was usually empty. A Macy's that was you know it was a step above empty. Um MVINs that had gone out of business a J Penney that was closer to the Sears than the Macy's and the Target that had just gone to uh the Pacific Commons. So I look at it and I see and you know as we look at these steps um you know the mall has grown a little bit. So when I'm looking at our next steps, it feels like these are our last steps. Um so that's just, you know, where I'm kind of trying to draw the

steps of come up and talk too. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Um I I think that um it's they're not the last steps. It's the next step of the next phase would be the best way to put it.

It's always evolving. Okay. Go ahead. You have a shopping center here and whatever it was 15 years ago, shopping changes and shopping, you know, 70% of the shoppers are women. And if you look at shopping environments that have been very successful, you'll find that they there's something about them that feels good. There is not a science about shopping. We all wish there was, but there's not. And Miss Little is is is smiling. I cannot tell you why I spend more money at one shopping center versus another, but I do. And normally where I spend most money is where I feel most comfortable and the environment that is most inviting. And if you look at the physical aspects of your mall, they're not inviting. What we're trying to do is identify small things that the city can do because at the moment you do have a main owner of the mall that isn't doing anything. That's a very difficult place to be. So, what we want to try to do is identify things that a city can do that will not only show that you're open for business to the retail community, but make the the mall feel look and feel better. And lighting will do a lot. um sidewalks and lighting and um getting a path to where someone feels comfortable will do quite a bit to enable other retailers to come. And again, I do think that, you know, the little bit that I I'm a broker, so I have talked to the people that bought the Macy's cuz I have a tenant that is looking at the top

floor of the Macy's. So, I I have an understanding of what their vision is for that space, and I think that that's going to make a difference. I do believe that you're going to see more and more activity. So, now you need to get ready to open up and bring in additional retailers. I even think, frankly, that it's possible that you could get another retailer interested in going into that old Sears box. Now, you may want it to go housing, but I think that if you really focus on being the being different than the other retail places around, you can create a sense of place here, but it has to feel good.

And walking across that empty parking lot in the dark, that doesn't feel good. So, we want you to try these little things. Well, and I guess my question was more if you're saying we need to have more experiential retail. Okay, let's bring in a movie theater, right? We need to have, you know, a big successful business to anchor it. Okay, we'll bring in Costco. We need to have more successful spaces. Okay, let's bring in a farmers market. And it hasn't acted as that catalyst. So, you know, I'm looking at this list and it feels to me like, you know, in these steps that we've taken many of them, and there are some rules with the zoning that we can change, but, you know, there is still available retail at the mall that hasn't been filled that would be allowed under the current laws. We've, you know, approved minor use permits that, you know, have allowed for more flexible space under our zoning laws. I'm just not really seeing like where the catalyst happens is I guess the question. I understand I understand what you're asking, but I'm going to um maybe look at it a different way. Again, you've got a group of professionals that aren't here and we aren't um Newark people, so we're seeing it differently, but the catalyst, why did Costco buy the property? Somehow, maybe the theaters activity brought in Costco. Why did a developer in Southern California want to come in and buy the Macy's when Brookville didn't? You've already got Catalyst and they have started. So we you are in the process of change and may and that you have been doing the right things. You are correct. And so again, we think that this is a a positive thing and we're seeing activity that maybe was normal to you. So

no, and and that can't be underscored. We saw, you know, Costco made a significant investment because there was a lot of work that went on just before that building was uh was constructed. And of course, as you mentioned, the Macy's, you know, we saw that b vacant for for, you know, in essence for a long time because the the customer base was minimal. So you're right. So somebody's looking at that situation as an opportunity. And maybe that's something that we need to see that that is actually occurring. When when we're looking at the long term, it just seems like as we look at the overall mall itself, it it it seems like that transition is taking a long time. But you're right, it's it's happening happening incrementally. But I want to give it back to the vice mayor.

Yeah. And then I I I also have a couple questions about the housing component of this and the

Before you go, can I answer one of the questions you were talking about around the feeling of we were saying there's catalization here, but we're not we're not seeing it. I think that's part of the issue we're trying to highlight is you do have these dynamic economic hubs, but they're all acting independent of one another. You have Costco that's driving a lot of traffic. You've got the movie theater that's driving a lot of traffic. You have your hotels that are booked Monday through Thursday. People are struggling to access the center and so you have disperate parts and what we're advocating for is the city to stitch those pieces together to create and see that vibrancy. As an economic developer of a downtown that was a mile long, one of my biggest challenges was making that downtown feel alive because it was too long. It was too spread out and people would diffuse and then was never a place where people wanted to be because there was not fellow humans next to them. It was too diffused. So the thought with that pedestrian pathway is to observe where people struggle and to create those pathways to make it easier for them to enjoy the asset and stitching these catalysts you have acting independently together into one. And that's the challenge because you have this interior mall that's kind of causing some bit of a barrier until you see those activated. But there is activation happening. Your restaurant is full, your hotels are full. People are wanting to go to the asset, but at night the darkness, the lack of a path, they end up staying in or they get Door Dash brought to the, you know, you're trying to pull people out and give them a place they feel safe enough to hang out and want to be there. And those are what those little placemaking improvements can be and they can be temporary and lead to permanent. But that's what really the kind of the thought around the city's role in stitching those pieces together so that you can create

the synergy right now that that activity sparks just happening in that node and it's not transferring through the property. So because you brought up things uh being kind of spread out, how does that connect the dot that dot with the emphasis that was placed on the surface lots and the feasibility because it seems to me the big surface lots is what has been prevented that vibrancy that connectiveness, right? Because it is just a big parking lot,

right? Well, so I'm my guess is that you're going to have a more amal property manager who can open up the surface lot to you versus the interior of the mall and you can start to create that connection between the two. that that is it lends itself oops I lost my um to popups to temporary you're you're you're piloting you're trying to find what that right mix is whether that um I think it was council member little you said like off-grid to come and set up bring it in test out the concept if this is something that works then the next step the harder step is the continuity in the programming you want to create enduring entertainment actions that that community can rely on, not kind of ones off, right? One's a twoosies. So, you want to find a mix that works and then commit to that enduring excellence with your partners. And that was kind of the goal. The parking lot is that perfect open space. I've worked on a mall redevelopment. We didn't have the ability to work in the interior, so we brought up a pop-up skating rink during the holidays and had music and pictures. it was the freedom of the parking lot to set up something different that we didn't have access to in the interior of the mall. So that was kind of my thought with the focus of that and I'll turn it over to

Alan point to that. Yeah.

One other thing is I would also make the suggestion that it's actually a slightly bigger picture and it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. When a retailer or when a developer comes to a site, think of what happens. It's the approach. And when I come to a site, I come to it multiple days, no multiple times in a day. So, if I'm a tenant who's going to move into Sears or something else, if I'm going to drive around that ring road at night, have you you've all done it a thousand times? Drive it again. There's no lights on the street. The first light pole is 50 feet away from that ring road. The the street is dark. There's no sidewalks. So when I think about that as a developer, when I think of that as a tenant, I say, "Wow." So my tenant, my my my customers are going to come here at 8:00 at night on a dark street. Walk. We stayed in the hotel across the street. Go for a walk at night. There's no sidewalks and there's no light. Go for a walk during the day. So, these are things I think that the city can invest in that allow those perimeter property owners also to to start investing and once the area starts improving, I think you're going to see that become a catalyst for getting a better tenant in here. So, we're just talking about off-site improvements and things like that. As a developer who approaches a mall like this, I walk around and say, "What do I need to do?" We talk about a major land use change. I walk up there and say, "Wow, look at all these problem. This this land use policy is so restrictive. Do I really want to take that on with the city and say, "Oh, you've done all this great work. Now I want you to change it." If you get ahead of that, like Cesaly was recommending, I say, "Wow, I've got a proactive city.

They're interested in change. They're interested in working with us. Good thing." I also drive around the ring road and say, "Wow, I have to put lights around this whole ring road. I got to put sidewalks around this whole ring road. I want to invest in a mall. I'm not sure when I want to invest in an entire city because it gets very expensive. Don't take me literally on that." You know what I mean? Um, so what I think what we're suggesting is you taking on some opportunities around the site as well, which which help as that catalyst for other investors, other property owners as they approach into the mall. And I think those things should start to lead to better outcomes for you. That's what that's what we're suggesting.

Well, and also, you know, I don't think the surface lots I've taken that walk many times. I don't think the surface lots are a couple street lights away from feeling safe. So, I do think, you know, we do want to consider that a little more carefully. Um, do have a couple questions on the housing part of it. Um, so we were looking at the high density may not be high density rental may not be feasible. What is our designation in our housing general plan? Housing element of the general plan and how flexible are we to like, oh, we want to change this to, you know, downgrade our zoning.

Thank you for the question. Good evening. I'm Steven Turner, the community development director. The city's housing element lists the new park mall site uh for residential. Uh it indicates that uh up to 1500 residential units could be built for the cycle of the housing element that we're in up to 2031. There was a fraction of those units. We didn't expect all 1500 units to be built within. So I think it's somewhere in the realm of 5 to 700 units. Um they're not set aside necessarily as for sale or apartments. They're just units. So that's all the specificity the housing element provides. So, if we were to change that element when we go through and do or whoever's on the council goes through and does um the housing element the next cycle,

would they have to then put those housing units of housing somewhere else in Newark? No, not necessarily. Um if we decide or if the site develops at a lower density or a lower number of units, we would need to essentially make up those units somewhere else in the city. Uh now fortunately we are building houses on sites that weren't identified in the housing element. So we get kind of a little bit of buffer built in but um yes technically if we build at one site that's lower density we would have to find other places within the city to build.

And you know my my worry is always um and I guess my worry here is twofold. The first is Newark's not very big. We do not have, you know, infinite capabilities to just push some of our housing units of housing somewhere else in town. And at some point, we're going to have to hold the line and build what we say we're going to build.

Um, the second part of that is, you know, a lot of the slides, you know, mentioned that our community really wants space for family-friendly entertainment. And I would agree with that assessment. I I would say the biggest barrier to that is the fact that this community is becoming less and less affordable for families. When I was a student, going back to when I was a student at Newark Memorial, my graduating class was more than 500 kids. Uh now the graduating classes are around 350. um when we're talking about um you know 600 700 fewer kids at the high school, 600 600 700 fewer um potential um shoppers at you know retail area, you know, far fewer families. You know, the demand side um doesn't necessarily work out for businesses unless we can find a way to make Newark affordable for families. It's, you know, pretty simple. If we want family-friendly entertainment, we got to have families. And if we're kind of punting the, you know, or just kicking the can down the road on building housing families can afford, the familyfriendly entertainment is not going to be sustainable. So,

thank you. And that's the end of my question. Uh, just a couple comments on the vice mayor's comments. Um you we do have a lot of young families that are moving into Newark and and the the position I've taken is that these are young families that would love to live in Menllo Park, Redwood City, PaloAlto. They're not the h there's no housing over there that these folks can afford for their families. So a lot of those families are moving over to the Newark area. So that certainly works to our benefit. We talk about the outside the ring area. Uh we've had some discussions with that owner regarding some residential opportunities there. uh can you provide the community that might be listening in as to where where we're at with that and and what are the prospects for housing being built in that area?

Uh certainly I think the parcel you're talking about is New Park Plaza that's outside of the ring road. Um that is an area and the specific plan that was identified u not for housing but for hotel office and other commercial uses. Um the developer is looking to build a residential project on that site. Um and had come to the city to propose a project. Um has since come back to propose a slightly different project, but has not submitted a formal application for uh for that second project. So we have not heard about um a specific project in quite a while on that site. Um, however, we are certainly working uh and willing to work with the property owner uh for that project or any project that would be consistent with the specific plan and achieve the city's vision and goals.

Excellent.

Um, I'm going to go ahead and open up the um conversation to anybody uh any members of the public that would like to comment or um on the on the presentation that they just heard. Any member of the public, please come forward. Okay. I think my colleagues um asked all the questions. I guess the next question I would ask Mr. Benoon is, you know, we we as council member Gendall mentioned, we certainly don't want this to end up on a shelf somewhere. Can you give just conceptual ideas kind of next steps? Where do you kind of see this going in terms of the city council and taking these uh excellent ideas? You know, what how do you see kind of next steps for us to uh begin this discussion?

Great. Thank you very much. Um well it's an exciting point for sure. Uh we have very much appreciated the input that we received from uh this panel of experts uh that uh it's unprecedented to get this level of advice in just a two-day period. So we're really appreciated with what we have. Uh I think that by um focusing on sort of those quick wins, the things that we can do quickly um to be able to make a difference, I think that would be helpful for sure. We are working on a daily basis with um property owners to identify potential tenants uh for that for the mall and the surrounding areas. We do that every day. We'll continue to work on that. I think a big part in terms of next step in terms of distilling the advice that we have into a workable plan also includes as city manager and I talked about uh today is community engagement uh and going back out to the community and making sure that the that what the plan and the vision that the council and the community have is still valid and if there's new things that we should be considering to include uh in a plan, a master plan, a vision that we hear from the community about that and that is something that we can do immediately. So we don't have to wait uh for anything to happen before we start that. I would also mention that um the vision and the plan that we have for this area is the city's vision. It's not necessarily tied or dependent upon a stakeholder property owner. the city can go out and do a process and envision what we believe would be successful for our community uh and lead uh in that way and bring property owners into the conversation, have those tough discussions with them. But ultimately, the plan that the city council chooses to adopt uh is the city's plan. Uh and we're very much willing to work with property owners to help envision and implement that plan.

But it is the the city's plan, a plan that the city should be proud of, for sure. Excellent. Uh I certainly don't want to put a um a date as to when the council can kind of get an update as to kind of how this process is working, Mr. Bon. Only to suggest that uh first of all, I want to thank the economic development staff. I know you're out there shaking the trees, talking to uh possible retailers all the time, and and I certainly want you to know that we know that's occurring. We know and appreciate those efforts. um we can only do what we can do to try to attract people to come, you know, create a business opportunity here in Newark and uh certainly make it an opportunity that uh they know that we're willing to work with them on whatever their vision is. So I I I don't think we've ever been a barrier. I think we've always been out there working with the community to uh uh for the best interest of our community. So thank you for that. U Mr. Mr. I would ask um and certainly let me know if this is unreasonable, but maybe in 90 days maybe come back to the council and just kind of provide us an update as to what we heard today. You know, what are some of the steps that you're taking to try to begin implementing some of the ideas that we heard tonight? Uh uh you do you find that to be a reasonable time?

I think that's probably a reasonable time period. Uh obviously the um panel is going to put together a a report. I don't know when we will receive that report, but Well, it took them two days. I we should get it by tomorrow. I I would suggest all the points that are Yeah, there you go. Mayor, can we bump up that? Can we bump up? If you don't mind, I would prefer something closer to 120 days so we can have a little more time to review. I was going to ask for 60 or 30. I guess we can end on 90 then.

Can we Can we meet in the middle at 6 at 90? I guess. Well, I'm going to ask the city manager because it's it first of all, let's remember it took an incredible amount of staff time to pull this tap together. We began working on this process. Mr. Manoon, when uh we engaged the tap last year. I don't recall an exact time period last year. It's been probably close to a year that we've been working on just getting to this point. And we, you know, we want to do it right. We want to make sure we we I mean the the mall's not going away, you know, and I know Brookfield's going to hopefully continue to look at opportunities for uh for um retailers and developers to come out there. So, u you know, if if you think 90 days is a reasonable time period for you to come back and just report to the council

and maybe it's 90 days after we get the report uh from from the tap. I I I I think council staff were very cognizant that this is high priority uh for the council. So I think that much is very clear today. I I think the best way to say this is that uh upon receipt of the report uh staff will move in deliberate speed to bring this back to the council. I think that's a fair way of saying it. Okay. That's that's that's that's agreeable. So that's two weeks, right? 15 days.

Again, uh Rick and Danielle as the chair and the co-chair uh and and staff, fabulous job. you know, um I'm not surprised that uh it only took two days because we're dealing with real experts. This is not something that you're unaccustomed to working on and dealing with. Uh this was um it's a new city, it's a new environment, it's a new council that you're working with, but a lot of the uh issues and u ideas that you raised today are undoubtedly not new based on your experiences with other communities. So, uh just from this council's perspective, we thank you for the hard work you did. We're going to take your comments seriously. Um, as we stated, we're open for business here in Newark. We want them all to be successful. We're going to do whatever we can to help them and encourage them to to to ensure that that happens. So, you know, just from this council's perspective, we want to thank you uh for all the hard work you did and uh certainly feel free to check back with us in a period of time and and we'll let you um you know, we'll give you an idea as to how we're doing. With that being said, ladies and gentlemen, it is 9:00. I'm going to take a five-minute break so the folks with a tap can get home and get some rest. So, we're going to re um adjourn in we get back in five minutes.

Not this evening, your honor. Not tonight. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and pull off uh item D4, Mr. Benoon.

Okay. Is there anybody in the public that would like to pull any item off? Let me tell you what the consent calendar consists of first. One, and I'm going to speak slowly for my other colleagues to get in the room. So, the first item on the consent calendar is the approval of the audited demands. Two, the approval of the February 12, 2026 city council minutes. Three was to adopt the resolution ratifying the fifth amendment and approving the sixth amendment to the contractual services agreement with Yosh Enterprises Incorporated doing businesses orient guard services and amending the 2024 2026 bianual budget and capital improvement plan for fiscal year 2526. And four, adopt a resolution accepting work with Vid Lobos and Associates Incorporated for the 2025 curb gutter sidewalk replacement project number CIPA 10007 FY 2026 and 2025 citywide accessible ramps projects number CIPA 10001 fiscal year 2026. Uh, Vice Mayor, I already pulled off item F4 for your information. Is there anybody in the public that would like to pull any of the consent items off other than the F4 that's already been pulled?

I see you need D4. I'm sorry, D4. Uh, Council Little, were there any items on the consent calendar that you would like to pull? I pulled item D4, which is the sidewalks. Okay. Nobody in the public. Um, can I get a motion to accept items D1, two, and three? So moved by the vice mayor and seconded by Council Member Canio. Let's please vote. So items D1, two, three all pass unanimously. If we go to item D4, Mr. Manoon.

Yes, your honor. This is a recommendation from city staff to accept a adopt a resolution that accepts work. This is related to our annual curb, gutter, sidewalk replacement projects. Uh happy to answer any questions that the council may have.

Great. Ladies and gentlemen, I asked this item to be pulled because I want the residents to see when we do improvements, infrastructure improvements, that they actually can see what it was and what it became. Uh we did this with the recent uh street paving um item that we pulled and I wanted to do that with the sidewalks as well. Um, I actually had an opportunity to talk to the folks from Vila Lobos, um, as they were over in my neighborhood and they did some really outstanding work and I wanted to show our residents that may be watching, you know, some of the before and after photographs and I think Mr. Man, you loaded up four or five photographs that we could take a look at.

Yes, correct, your honor. We have four items uh, for the council's and the public's viewing this evening. The first one is on Prada Street. Uh, the second one is on Blackburn Drive. The third one is on Port Sailwood and the fourth one is on Kon Konos Stoga Place. And and for the audience that may be listening, Mr. Bon, we we the city kind of do an internal survey of the condition of our sidewalks, but we certainly do rely on residents to bring uh sidewalk concerns to our attention that we can add ultimately to a list of sidewalk repairs. That would be a fair assessment. Correct, Mayor. Information related to our program is posted on our website as well as our contact information.

Great. And as you saw in the staff report, folks, there were a lot of streets that saw some sidewalk improvements. Can we take a look at the next photo, please? Yes. Our city clerk is our city clerk is advancing to the next photograph. Thank you. This is on Blackburn Drive. And and next, this one is on Port Sailwood.

The question I would have on this uh particular item, Mr. And I saw this in a number of the photographs that were part of the staff report. On the left hand side, you'll see kind of the asphalt uh repair work that's been done, which I think eliminated the trip hazard. And on the right hand side, you'll see that that asphalt uh improvements been removed. In some cases though, I saw uh where the sidewalk repair work was done yet some of the asphalt uh improvements stayed. Is there is there a um reason as to in some cases why the asphalt would be there and in some cases the asphalt had been removed? Thoughts on that?

Uh the determination on the appropriate remedy is generally based off the totality of the circumstances um based off information known to staff. Mr. Carmen, I don't know if you'd like to add to my statement or comment. Um this is Michael Carman, an engineer in our department. Uh he's the lead uh staff member on this project. Mr. Carman. Hi, Mr. Carmen. How are you? Executive team. I'm the project manager for the 2025 curb gutter sidewalk replacement project. Um first I'd like to thank you for highlighting some of uh the great work that Voboos Yes. has done as you noticed. Um they're they're good guys and good news is they're going to be here again in 2026 doing our 2026 curbcutter sidewalk project.

Great. and and not only did they do good work, but in some cases I saw not only were the sidewalks repaired, but the park strip area where trees may have uplifted a park strip area uh either that was removed and then um landscaped uh in some respect. So it wasn't just sidewalk, not quite landscape, but the the deal was with the property owner is we would remove the side the the concrete lift, but we wouldn't put any improvements back. we would put soil back in to to eliminate any future stripping hazards in in the plant. If you had a chance to look at those photographs, um some of them were really eye opening. And I think there's another photo here. Um Miss Me too.

Yes, we have one last photograph. Uh this is on Konos Stoa Place and this is the before and after of the um Yeah.

Yeah. So this was um the photo on the left is was taken at Knesogga Place. The traffic circle out there has been repeatedly driven over by um Republic Services, garbage trucks, and this is what you get after repeated heavy loads over and over and over again. Um so we were able to help them out um put in new curb at this circle and everything looks great. We were able to pull out some of the uh concrete, the aggregate concrete in within the traffic circle as well to to clean things up a little bit. And it looks like in this particular example, excuse me if I'm incorrect, where you see the white line on the right hand side, was where was that where it protruded initially and you moved it in to maybe eliminate any further traffic over that area?

No, that that white line is just a marker of the limits of the repair. Okay. So the workers know. Well, I'm glad to hear that V. Lenobos is going to be the contractor again. Um, I saw them working over on Mayhe's Landing and uh, I thought the work that they did was outstanding. Um, I can only imagine as I walk and my colleagues walk around the city. Uh, and folks, as you walk around the city, certainly if you see uh, sidewalk separation of what what's the uh, amount of separation that we need to see that we should be concerned about? Greater than an inch. Where's the dividing line? I mean, technically, if it's a quarter of an inch, it's a tripping hazard and it needs to be dealt with.

Um, but the key number is 2 in. If it's more than 2 in, um, I would work with maintenance staff to put asphalt cut back in. I think you had a comment on the the cut back that was that remained after they did the repair. Sometimes they they couldn't they can't really get everything out, so you see remnants of it. Okay. Um, but that's typically the magic number. Two, greater than 2 in. I work with maintenance to have asphalt cut back put in place so that we don't have a sidewalk lift. We we minimize the tripping hazard. It doesn't, you know, it it technically should be in compliance after they put the cut back in place. If it's under 2 in, we have a vendor, precision concrete cutters that that comes in and grinds it out. I'm sure you've seen that. Welcome. Excellent. Around the city.

Mr. M, I think this is an excellent opportunity. You know, as we again continue our excellent communication with our residents who may or may not know what to do and how to do it, maybe we could put something in one of our future newsletters that maybe gives an example or two of what was and what is and then encourage residents if they have a condition that necessitates some type of improvement to bring those to our attention because certainly u that's our responsibility is to make sure our residents feel safe when they walk uh walk down the street. But uh excellent work by the team. Um excellent work by Vita Lobos and uh you know thank you for letting me pull this u to to again compliment staff on a job well done. I have a quick question. Let me go to council meal first.

Thank you. Um I wanted to have a chance to compliment Mr. Carman on the on the great work as well, but I did have a question as well. um the um the trees that are lifting up the sidewalks when they when the when a repair is done, do they put a root barrier in to a avoid that in the future or or not? Uh for this project, it was a case by case basis if um if our arborists felt the need to put root barrier, we did. Um a lot of times these trees, and I'm not a tree expert, a lot of times these trees are mature already. They're not going anywhere. The roots have already been established. Great. Um, but in theory, the root barrier should have been installed with the tree. Sometimes they're not. Sometimes they are. Or it might have been 30 years ago, too.

Yeah. Yeah. And when that's the case, you don't you don't see damage. The roots have are they hit the bear, then they go underneath, and the fine. Yeah. Everything's fine. Well, thank you. For for mature trees, it's sometimes not not the best idea to put a root beer. You do have to go down 18 to 20 or so inches. Then we then in that case we trim roots and when you trim roots it it becomes somewhat of a hazard if you trim too much of that. Well it certainly makes sense to to follow the advice of our expert arborist. So thank you. You're welcome council little.

Um so I have a quick question. I'm looking at this picture here and I see there was a path on the left hand side at some point and maybe some some broken up cement. Was this at one point like a cover for this area and those things were pulled and then just dirt was left. Do you see what I'm asking there? Uh the broken concrete there. So, I see like there was like a path at one point and now the path. So, I'm just kind of curious. I I don't know what it was. To me, it's just decorative concrete that's been broken. It's not really pretty. Yeah. Uh it could have been a path, but there's there's shrubs in the center of the circle. Okay. That would prevent someone from going through it. I think it's just a poor landscaping job on their part when they first put it in there, maybe.

Um yeah, I don't know why. I I did contact Republic Services to let them know, hey, your your drivers are running over this. We we just improved it. So, hopefully the the message got across and we won't have to come back here anytime soon. Any other questions, comments? Yes, Vice Mayor. No, I just these pictures are impressive. Uh it's an scale, scope, uh quality of work is, you know, very impressive. So, thank you. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and uh support item D4. Can I get a second? I'll second it by Council Member Little. Please vote. And that passes. No, I got it. Oh, I didn't. It passes unanimously. Council Gallal, I'm assuming you're voting.

Yes. I was voting yes. Yes. So, that passes unanimously. Also, mayor, I'd like to just to tell the public if they see a sidewalk that they feel that needs to be repaired, go ahead and um contact public works general email. Uh call the public works, call maintenance. There's also text mygov and um we'll get out there right away and try to remediate things quickly as soon as possible. Great. Make sure you let the team know and Mr. Mun the team know that they're doing great work out there and we appreciate it. Thank you. We'll do it. Thank you. Thank you, mayor.

So that was ladies and gentlemen, that was our consent calendar. We have no public hearings. The next item F1 is adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a side letter agreement with Republic Services regarding credit to single family account holders to resolve costs incurred due service disruption. Mr. Benoon.

Yes. Good evening, your honor. Members of the council, uh, this is a recommendation from city staff to resolve a dispute between the city and republic services stemming from a disruption of garbage collection services that occurred this past July. In summary, staff will be recommending that the council authorize a partial settlement, which includes an automatic $15.26 uh credit to all residential account holders here in Newark, as well as $25,000 payment to the city for staff time uh in exchange for a waiver of liquidated damages. Uh staff is still negotiating resolution for our commercial account holders and we hope to bring that uh item to the council sometime soon. With that in mind, I'll pass it over to our environmental services manager, Mr. James Scanland who has a brief presentation this evening. Mr. Scanland.

Thank you again. Yes, this is a good evening honorable mayor and city council. Uh this is presentation regarding a proposed side letter agreement between the city of Newark and Allied Waste Services of North America. So, Allied Waste Services of North America, also known as Republic Services, provides for the collection, processing, and disposal of solid waste, recyclable material, and organics to single family, multif family, and commercial customers in the city under an exclusive franchise agreement. A labor dispute resulted in a disruption to collection services in Newark from July 8th through July 18th, 2025. Several other Bay Area municipalities are also affected including Fremont, Union City, San Jose, San Monteo County, Daily City, San Pablo, and San Jose. Three public services is proposing to provide a credit to single family residential customers that is equivalent to their their cost to to collect the three stream residential waste for two weeks. This comes to 1526 $15.26 per household for the standard 20 32gallon cart. The total amount reimbursed to single family residents is $24,293. The credit does not cover the cost of disposal as all the waste was eventually disposed of and Republic Republic Services incurred the cost the disposal cost. This agreement also does not cover multif family or commercial accounts. staff is working to reach an agreement for those for those accounts. Under the agreement, Republic will reimburse the city 25,000 for the city's cost related to service disruption. So with that, uh, staff recommends that council adopt a resolution to authorize the city manager to execute a side

letter agreement with Allied Waste Services of North America LLC, requiring Ally to provide a credit to all residential customers, single family residential customers, for the disruption of waste collection services during July 2025 and a reimbursement to the city for disruption related costs. And with that, I'll take any questions or comments. I'll look to my right. Are there any questions to my right? Council member Deontachio. No, I don't have questions. Thank you, Vice Mayor. No questions at this time. Council member Little. No questions, comments. Great. Go ahead and make comment.

Um, I'm I I like the idea that we got put together. I agree with it. I think at the same time, you know, we all have to work together to find a good answer. And I think this is a good happy medium. So I'm glad to see that this is a good opportunity by providing credit also to the cities and the individuals but the same time we want to continue moving forward with good relationships with the companies. So thank you so much for putting this together. You're welcome. Thank you. Council Gundall. Thank you. Um first I have a qu I have a question for the city attorney. The um my understanding is the contract um the contract includes a damage amount of the contract that the city had with Republic Services includes a damage amount liquidated damages for over $5 million. Is that is that accurate?

There is a liquidated dam damages provision. I'll defer to uh Mr. Scanland in terms of how that was calculated and the the amount the exact amount. Yeah, we estimated that um based on our understanding of how many um sorry, how many um carts were not collected for which periods of time that it would be approximately $5 million if if um the city did seek liquidated damages for those missed collections or delayed collections.

Okay. Thank you. Um that was that was helpful. Um, and it it appears that the the $1526 figure was based really on the on the period of time that the service wasn't being done that that it was being paid for but not being taking place rather than on the inconvenience or the costs that were experienced by residents. It was really more of a time, you know, it's 50 $50 a month was the collection part for two weeks period. Something something like that. Correct. Exactly.

Um and but there really wasn't any reference to the um the actual inconvenience that although recognizing very difficult to in a in a to to substantiate that that impact. Um and and that's and that and that's why it's it's very hard to prevail on on damages when they're based on something ethereal like annoyance. Um correct. Um but um but some residents actually did spa um my understanding is some residents actually um hired hauling companies or or or took or spent money to deliver and and h and take it to the transfer the trash to the transfer station

and there is no reimbursement for for in in this in the side letter that's envisioned there's no there's no reimbursement included. Is that accurate? That's that's correct. There was free disposal at the transfer station during the twoe period. Um but there's no reimbursement for other costs associated with that if someone paid someone to take it to the transfer station.

Okay. Thank you. So, um I I I certainly think that um that there should be an amendment to this where where public services would at least reimburse the demonstrated expenses that that residents went into to to remove the garbage from piling up in front of their property. So, um if it if a I I I I think that this should be renegotiated to allow um to allow for um residents to be able to demonstrate that they spent money to deal with this this issue and and to have that that amount reimbursed. So, I I believe that would I believe that would be a more fair to those to those um folks understanding we can't really put a price on the annoyance that was that was involved. Um, but at least at least that far would be um something I'd like to see.

That was a comment, not a question. So, thank you. Are you making a formal request for an amendment to the uh staff recommendation? Uh, sure. In fact, I'll when it's time I'll make that as a motion if you if you desire.

Okay. Um, I'm not going to, with all due respect to my colleague, I'm not going to support the amendment. Um, we have a great relationship with public services. I certainly want that to continue. Uh, I know our residents were inconvenienced. That's certainly not acceptable. Uh, we have liquidated damages in place for a reason. U, but we also recognize that we want that relationship to continue and the amount of $5 million is not a reasonable amount to seek through liquidated damages. Our residents, if they uh suffered greater financial loss, can certainly uh seek uh independent civil action against Republic at any time if they so choose to do so. I just think it would be um real difficult to try to establish um additional costs that somebody may have incurred uh in terms of receipts and things of that nature. Um I think as the council member Little mentioned, it's time to uh you know, you know, put it put put this uh to rest at some point. Um city attorney, city manager, help me understand, we don't get too too many amendments. Do we take the amendment first or do we take the motion with the amendment and vote on how do I handle that? Have

we done public comment? I will um someone just wants to to make the motion. Whoever makes the motion first um you know I think that my suggestion would be to either see if there's a second if there's no second you move on to the next motion. If there's a second take action on the motion if it if it passes it passes. If it fails move on to the next one. Thank you. Before I um provide colleagues with further comments or questions is there anybody in the public that would like to speak to this item? I can. Yes. May. Yes, you may.

Hi. Good. Welcome. Good evening. Good evening, mayor and council members. So, on behalf of Republic Services, I just want to thank you for your time and as we work together to as collaborate as a partnership to uh just work with uh with you all and the residents to provide uh the credits that we need to um just continue to provide excellent service. I know it was uh uh for residents it was uh an inconvenience to them, but we want to really work together to uh um understand that it was an inconvenience, but we we wanted to make sure that they knew that they that something was available to them for those two weeks that there there was no service. So again, we appreciate your partnership and we want to continue to collaborate and work together and provide excellent service. For sure.

Well, you do provide excellent service. My grandson who lives in Caster Valley who's now 14 remembers Gary was our driver when he was two. All two-year-old boys and girls probably now know who the driver is of the car or the truck. So, um you you have great personnel and I understand what Council Member Grindall is asking. Uh you let me ask this from a more broad perspective. Is there any other community that where you've made allowances for folks that may have incurred additional cost above the $1526 where you've made allowances for that? Have you negotiated that with any other city? I I don't believe so. Those are questions that we could probably answer on a later.

I would find it hard. I talked to the mayor I talked to the mayor of Fremont today and uh he indicated that they unanimously accepted the the terms and uh so so so thank you for that.

Yes. So, um, other comments may I have a question about the motion. Uh, the question is, uh, for staff. Um, how expeditious do you think we could come back to, you know, with something there? There are certainly concerns that I have, um, with pursuing this. You know, I think it's tough. It's going to be tough to argue for any direct costs and I don't want to promise something that turns out to our residents that turns out not to be possible. I also, you know, I'm a little hesitant about the idea of, you know, we are reimbursing some forms of costs but not others. You know, someone who took time off work, someone who chose to eat out more um to avoid, you know, inh home garbage during that time. So, I have some hesitations, but I may be willing to second the motion to kind of explore this just kind of depending on how expeditious do you how fast do you think we can, you know, explore what something like this might look like.

Uh staff would be happy to explore it um as soon as we can in the next week or two. Uh but practically speaking, it'll like the the response time that we could provide the council will be dependent upon uh the interaction we have with Republic Services. Uh they obviously have to go through their legal department. uh there's a lot of pragmatic issues we'd have to iron out and speak about. Um but at the end of the day, I I can't give a definitive timetable because that's going to be depending upon the nature of the negotiations with our partner work and and let let me correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Benoon. Uh this negotiation with Republic has been going on for some time. Um and at the end of the day and again uh if Republic decided you know it was a work stoppage and um it's something that we supported and we don't believe it's uh incumbent upon us to reimburse your community at all. They could have taken that position.

Yes. and and and taking that position, then either we seek the liquidated damages and or um there really citizens could then pursue a private action themselves. That would be really the uh the course of action that could have been pursued at that point. Correct. And and as you mentioned, I think most cities uh that Republic Service provides service to have reached a similar agreement uh in terms of the cost um and no significant issues. Uh city of Fremont,

the city of Fremont uh executed a very similar agreement uh if not identical. Uh there were some other agencies in our Bay Area that executed a similar agreement as well. I'll let uh Mr. Scanland speak to any other issues that have uh arisen. Yeah, I think uh my understanding is the ones that have reached agreement are very similar agreements. Um San Pablo, I believe, San Jose have reached similar agreements and I think the others that I spoke to were tending to go in the same direction. So, and the dollar amounts about the same. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I have a question. Yes. Council Donio.

Yes. Um, to your I guess I'm just trying to think to your knowledge, has there been a claim from our residents for more than the $15?

Um, some residents uh on their own um accounted for the twoe disruption in what they paid Republic Services. I don't know if they use the same formula that Republic used. So I So some of them may have may have said half of my monthly bill is something over 15 because this was only the service part. It wasn't the disposal. So I'm assuming some residents may have claimed more than $15. Um, I think that will all get worked out in the in the future billing, but um, I don't know exactly what they what they took off their bill, but some I know that some residents did reduce their payment in light of lack of service.

Okay. I also I just had one more question. Um, does accepting the staff's recommendation preclude a resident from pursuing reimbursement over the $15 mark um or the $25,000 to the city? I I'll be I'll defer to the attorney. No, the the residents have their own independent business relationship with Republic. Okay. And so then irrespective of what we may do today then an individual would not be foregoing their opportunity to ask for reimbursement or to to go to court if if needed. That's correct. We yeah we have no ability to bind um the residents from pursuing their own action. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

We're just saying that we will not seek liquidated damages as part of this agreement. Okay. I understand. and and most importantly um residents will see a credit on one of their upcoming bills in that amount of 1526. Will Republic be putting a notification in the bill as to explaining why they're getting a credit? Will there be notification there? Sounds like there will be. Perfect. Yes. All of a sudden, I got a credit. Sweet. Any other last comments? I think I have a motion from Council Member Grindall wishing to uh amend the um staff's recommendation. Um, and

yeah, just just just for clarity, I I'm I'm actually recommending that we continue this item and and have staff work on making that change. We we don't want to amend it on the fly because we got two parties that are signing it. So, my my my recommendation would be for to to continue this item and allow staff to try to try to work with um Republic Services to address the issue that that I raised in terms of actual cost reimbursement. What is the date that you would like to continue the item to? I I would want input from staff as to what what time how much time they would need to to have any kind of substantive discussion.

Um well, as I said earlier, I think this is going to be dependent upon how uh discussions go with Republic. uh be happy to continue the matter for three council meetings to give us sufficient time to go talk to Republic uh and then sufficient time to generate a staff report. So it sounds like six weeks. That would be an appropriate amount of time. Yeah, I'll make that part of the motion.

Okay. Again, I'm not going to support the motion. Uh staff has spent a considerable amount of time negotiating the settlement with Republic. We have a great relationship with the Republic. Uh, I certainly don't want to jeopardize that relationship in any any way whatsoever. Uh, I think our residents are looking for a resolution. It's not like we're getting thousands of phone calls or hundreds of phone calls from residents every day. What's going on? What's going on? We I've received a handful of phone calls. Uh, so I don't think this is an issue that's a burning issue in our in the minds of our residents in terms of make me whole. Uh, so I'm not going to support the uh the motion. Is there a second on the motion? Uh, respectfully, I I think that will drag this issue on for too long to um potentially put in something that we may not be able to we may be creating a situation where no New York resident would be able to claim the reimbursement anyways. And so that sort of delay I think is, you know, respectfully, it's it's too long for me. And again, as mentioned by the city attorney and by council delio, it doesn't preclude the resident from taking independent civil action on their own if they believe that uh the 1526 does not adequately represent the um out of pocket uh expenses they incurred. So, uh we have a motion from Council Member Grenal. Do I have a second? It doesn't appear that I have a second. Can I get an alternate uh motion?

I'll move the staff recommendation. Second motion made by the vice mayor to accept staff recommendation. Second by council de Kandansio. Please vote. And that passes four eyes with council member Grendall voting no. Thank you. Thank you. The last item on our agenda tonight is the community preservation update. Uh, Mr. Benoon.

Yes. Good evening, your honor, members of the council. Uh, this is a presentation from our community preservation manager, Mr. Oscar CO. He's going to provide the council and the public with an update as to our code enforcement efforts in 2025. He's also going to provide an overview of ongoing staff initiatives planned for 2026. Uh, before I pass it over to Mr. Creo, I'd like to acknowledge and thank him and his small but mighty team for their tremendous work this past year. uh we he supervise a supervises a unit of two individuals plus himself. Uh and one of those positions, as you'll find out in a moment, was vacant for 6 months. So, it's been him holding down the fort with one code enforcement officer. So, uh with that in mind, I'm going to go ahead and pass it over to Mr. Curio. You have the floor, sir.

We're always labeled as small and mighty. You know, little Even when I was in San Jose, we were small and mighty. What? Little and mighty. Little. Oh, there you go. Welcome uh Mr. Curo.

Uh good evening honorable mayor, council members, uh members of the public as well. My name is Oscar Currillo, community preservation manager here in the city of New York. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to uh provide everyone with an update on our work over the past year. And I'm also just thankful for the opportunity to just simply talk about our work in general, our mission, what we do, and our process. Tonight, I'm briefly going to cover our mission, our team, our workload trends, our key accomplishments, and our upcoming initiatives. And then I'm going to open it up for some questions. Our mission is simple. We serve to partner with our community and to to preserve and enhance Newark's quality of life. We promote compliance through education and collaboration. In recent years, we have focused on improving internal processes and building relationships with property owners and managers from apartments to commercial properties to strengthen partnerships and ensure we work together to uphold maintenance standards. Our mission drives every initiative from our general code enforcement work to our tobacco retail licensing program. At the end of the day, we strive to balance enforcement with community collaboration and education. As uh Mr. Boon stated, our team consists of a manager and two community preservation specialists. As you see, we are operating with one vacancy for the past 8 months. I'll talk about that a little later in the presentation. While small, we work hard to be as efficient as possible in handling a diverse range of responsibilities while conducting ourselves with the highest ethical standards, integrity, accountability, and professionalism to ensure we provide exemplary service to our community. Now, this is the part of presentation that I enjoy most. Why? Because community preservation, otherwise known as code enforcement, is often misunderstood.

Mhm.

Many people aren't exactly sure what we do or don't do. We mainly enforce municipal codes regulating property, private property conditions and land use. We ensure private property does not accumulate trash, that vehicles aren't parking on the lawn. These would be examples of blight. We ensure that businesses are operating um in the proper business in the zoning districts or in the conditions of uh approved use permits. We ensure that landlorders are providing safe habitable housing for our residents. And we work with our building division to ensure that anyone who starts or completes work without permits follows the required permit process and undergo inspections to ensure that the work is done safely and permitted. Generally speaking, our jurisdiction ends at the property line. For example, we don't enforce parking violations or abandoned vehicles. We don't maintain streets or sidewalks, as you just saw. We don't directly handle illegal dumping. Our authority applies to property, not personal conduct and not criminal matters. While we do work closely with our partners in the police department and public works, it's important to classify responsibilities to avoid confusion as to who handles what. We mainly reside um rely on resident reports and interdep departmental interdep departmental referrals to guide us. Um when a report is received, we open a case. We research ownership and we conduct a site visit to determine if there's a violation. If there is a violation, we issue a notice and provide a reasonable time frame for them to gain compliance. That time frame is based on the risk to health and safety and the complexity of the case. If there's overgrown vegetation, we'll generally provide 10 days. If it's something more complex like unpermitted construction that might require someone to get an architect to

provide plans, we might provide a month to get those plans drawn up and then maybe 6 months to get that permit actually final. It really depends on the type of violation. Generally, most people comply without having to escalate enforcement. At the end of the day, it really depends on the owner and their willingness to comply. Our role really is to just guide, monitor, and escalate when necessary. When I last looked at the stats, we closed 399 cases last year. 91% of them were closed without the need to issue a citation. So, basically just guiding people and educating them really works. We do receive a variety our reports through a variety of means, mostly through our online reporting tool, but we do have walk-ins and we do get reports via email and phone calls. Each and every report is reviewed by staff. If it's something that falls under our jurisdiction, we'll go ahead and open a case. If it's something that needs to be referred to somebody else, we'll go ahead and do that referral for the customer and let them know that it's been referred to the appropriate department. If it's maybe an outside jurisdiction, we'll let them know how to contact that other outside agency and to report that issue. Our our investigation involves a variety of different actions. It's not just go out there, knock on the door, look at things. We got to do some research. Like I said, we'll research the property ownership. Sometimes we'll look at historic historical aerial photographs to get a timeline of when various structures start popping up on these properties. And there's all also a lot of coordination between other departments, especially the building division. Not all cases follow a simple path to resolution. Sometimes the property owner is deceased. The property's in probate. Sometimes the property owners are going through personal issues or mental issues. Sometimes they're going through financial issues. At the end of the day, some property condition the property conditions are

usually obviously visible to the public. But what the public doesn't see is the behind-the-scenes issues that sometimes prevent those issues from getting resolved. We're also bound by constitutional protections, including property rights and the right to privacy. We can't just go into anybody's property. We got to get consent. We got to get uh legal authority to get onto that property. We also have to understand that there's due process and everybody has the right to appeal our actions. As I mentioned earlier, we do have a vacancy. Uh we've had that vacancy since mid 2025 and we did have a uh unsuccessful recruitment last year um in September and we did work with the human resources to reclassify the position creating a community preservation specialist one and two. This reclassification created both an entry level and a journey level uh role and basically it helped strengthen internal career development. It also widened our recruitment flexibility. It kind of loosened some of the entry level requirements so we could cast a wider net and also increased the salary ranges so we could attract some of the that more skilled workforce that might be out there. So hopefully I can have a new person starting hopefully at the end of the March and we can hopefully introduce somebody at city council sometime soon. Knock on wood. Um now we'll talk a little bit about the workload. As you can see here, we've had a little moderate growth, a little over 10% from 2022 to 2023. These are the new cases that get opened up over time. We then saw a significant spike in 2024 and we'll see why in the next slide and then it kind of stabilized back now down in 2025. Illegal construction made up the

majority of that spike. This is largely a result of the building division noticing an increase in construction activity when they're out and about doing their inspections. We are seeing an increase in construction activity. when they see that they take that opportunity to educate the customers and a lot of times that work is just being done without permits. Generally, most of the time the building division doesn't need to refer that those cases to us. They educate the customer, advise them what they need to do to get the permits. Permits get obtained, case gets closed. We never see it. But when they don't get the permits, then it gets referred to us. We take the lead, we issue the notice, and we go through the process. But again, like I said, 91% voluntary compliance rate. See? All right. The next slide. This slide reflects the increase in documented case actions over the years. An action is basically any activity that we do in a case, whether it's a phone call, an email, a notice, or anything like that. Over the past years, we've really renewed our focus on really documenting every single action in our case. That's really to protect due process, to ensure that we've given everybody every opportunity to comply, to ensure transparency, and maintain continuity. This was key, especially when we lost a staff member. That way, anybody can just pick up that case, look at it, and immediately know where we are in that case and pick it up immediately, which was very helpful when we lost our staff member. And if you'll notice, activity levels fluctuate with the seasons, which is pretty common. It's sunny, people are walking around outside, vegetation starts growing, people start seeing what

their neighbors are doing, construction is up during the those months. The next slide, this is every month we take a count of the number of open cases that we have. As you see from 2023 when we first started to take this metric, we only had a we had 123 open cases at that time. You'll notice every month that number is steadily started to increase. Basically a 65% increase over this month. If you average it out over our two positions, so that average case load has gone would have gone from 66 to 109. Now, I would like to talk about our tobacco retail license program. When we first passed our tobacco retail license program in late 2024, Newark had 28 state licensed retailers. After we passed the ordinance, one of those retailers decided to stop selling tobacco. Another retailer closed. So, that was good. And then now we have 36 retailers. Over the course of this program, we've issued nine citations. Due to staffing limitations, however, we had to prioritize where we were do our inspections. So, we decided to target seven retailers that we suspected of selling flavored product. In partnership with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Alamy County Public Health Department, we inspected seven retailers and four of those were found to be selling prohibited products and they had their license suspended for 30 days. That was this past December. And the CDTFA in total received over 50 banker boxes full of illegal products from those retailers, which is basically a full vanful. They actually had to leave that day because the van was full and they couldn't take anymore.

So this slide outlines the framework for our rental inspection program. Proactive rental inspection program can help increase compliance with housing regulations, improve our community's quality of life, and protect our residents health and safety. For the purpose of this pilot program, we define multiple housing units as three independent living units within one building. Under that definition, we identified 185 multiple housing properties containing a total of 1529 units. The average year built for all those properties was 1967, which means most of these this housing stock is over 55 years old. So the next step was for this pilot program is we wanted to assess the complaint history and the permit histories for these older buildings and use this data to help identify an appropriate pilot program area. So with that in mind, we did find a program a pilot area. So beginning in March, we're going to start outreach for those property owners to personally meet with them to help them understand the purpose of this program. It's free of charge. We're not charging them anything. which is very important. But our intent is to let them know that we just want to identify life safety issues to ensure that their tenants are living in safe spaces. We also want to provide outreach for the tenants so they understand what the purpose is because we're actually going to be going into the property. So we want to make sure that they understand what their rights are and the purpose of our visits. We hope to begin inspections in April and this all allows time for communication and coordination before those inspections commence. As with all of our work, our intention is to have a collaborative effort amongst all the stakeholders, tenants and property owners and landlords. If you'll recall a few uh council meetings ago, uh you had a presentation about the ETC Institute which conducted a a resident satisfaction survey. Part

of that survey included some some statistics about code enforcement. So some of the notable statistics about code enforcement is that enforcement uh the the perceptions of code enforcement the enforcement of residential properties increased uh from 26.7% satisfaction to 38% which is an 11.3% increase. The perception of the overall enforcement of city codes increased from 38.6% to 49.4% which is a 10.8%. and the overall professionalism increased from 47.6% to 58% which is a 10.4%. While there's still room for improvement, I think these gains reflect a positive trend and show that our renewed focus on communication, transparency, and an education first approach is is being noticed by our community. We still do proactive work out in the community. We still work with public works to address illegal dumping in the public right away and on private property and as well with graffiti on public building graffiti and private property graffiti. We coordinate with public works and the police department to address encampments on the public rightway and on private property. We connect private property owners with the police department to help them remove unauthorized personnel from their property. Now, we're going to look ahead for some of the upcoming initiatives. So, we do have some Title 7 updates coming up later on in the year. Title 7 is our community preservation code. Um, we want to add a few sections about state of disrepair for buildings. We currently don't have that, so we can address some of those. Something that's noted there in that picture. We want to have an objective standards for overgrown vegetation, which we currently don't have. it's very subjective, which

makes it a little more difficult to enforce. We want to kind of clean up and reorganize Title 7 to make it easier to understand. Um, we also want to align with state housing codes and regarding mold and and lead paint, which we currently do not have in our code. And before I move on, we also have some zoning code updates coming in the upcoming months, which uh we're going to have language that specifically holds commercial property owners more accountable for the condition of their parking lots, their infrastructure, and landscaping. Currently, it's just uh in in the code sections on the development standards. So, when things are just being developed, it just says your parking lot has to have this and that. you have to have landscaping in certain spots, but doesn't really talk about ongoing maintenance specifically. So, we want to add that language to hold them more accountable for that kind of stuff. We also want to have an inspector academy. Um, to me, this is isn't really more of a a training academy. It's more about an investment for the future. To me, it kind of lays the foundation for institutional knowledge. Um because after I'm gone, I want to be able to have people that come up and rise through the ranks and kind of carry on that torch. In order to do that, we want to have classes like this. So we have those, as I said, that reclassification. You have the code one, that code two, that code two can then train the code one and so on and so forth. And you have that cycle of knowledge that just keeps getting passed down. So it also standardizes the onboarding process. We don't have something like that. Um, and with our recent rec reclassification, we can hire someone on potential, not just on their previous experience. Code enforcement, you don't go to school for code enforcement. There's no degree for code enforcement. To be a good code enforcement inspector, you just have to

have the willingness to learn, um, the personality and and just that customer service, that drive to be to deliver good customer service. That's what it takes. But having these classes that will really get you into this industry and allow you to thrive. But the most important part of that training academy is we want to create a module with an emphasis on officer safety. We want to train our team to be in situal situational awareness and body language. We want to let them be able to read a scene before it happens. We want to train them on deescalation and mental health that they might run into these situations in encampments. But mental health is not just about identifying that in other people but al it's also within yourself. Um we also want to train them on biohazards which they which they might enh encounter in hoarding situations and other environmental hazards because at the end of the day we want our staff to be able to go home safe. If they don't go home safe then they can't keep our community safe. And with that um I am open for any questions. Thank you.

I'm going to turn it over to the public. Is there anybody in the audience that has questions, comments regarding the presentation?

Colleagues, questions, comments? I'm going to start down here. Um, yes, Council Member Gindal. Thank you for the great presentation and for all the work you're you're doing. Um, you are um small but she wants me to say little but mighty. Um, but you you are small but mighty and uh you you know obviously the case load is is huge. Um but I do I do have a few concerns. Um so I don't know if you saw our earlier meeting but we talked quite a bit about the mall and um the mall owner Brookfield is is essentially flouting our laws um when it comes to um when it comes to complying with our regulations. Um they have construction equipment that they had staged out there when they were going to start work. This is out by Sears and it has been it has been there for more than two years maybe maybe closer to three and um it's it is patently illegal and I've reported it numerous times and it's it's not it's it's never taken care of. I mean, and and I'm glad to I'm glad to hear um that there's concerns there's concerns in terms of the the regulations that we have when it comes to private parking lots and private and and private driveways because the the Mal Loop Road and their parking lots are private and they they have some serious um potholes and um failing pavement. Um, and it really it really goes back to how what a poor property owner that that we're dealing with there because they're actually um as the as a as the public works folks will will attest, when you allow a roadway to just become a hole and and and all the pavement to be destroyed, it actually spreads and

causes more damage. So, we don't do them any any favors by ignoring that. So recognizing that your staff is really limited, I I I would have liked to have seen us go out and find a consultant, find some work while we're doing this so that we can we can do these things. Um just one aside that just that just happened a week ago. Um, I noticed for the first time a a new donation box that that was put on Brookfield property next to McDonald's and I reported it and um, it's still there and a new one, same company has appeared um, over towards Costco. Same thing. If they if and the the mall knows that that's not allowed. Um, the operators know that it's not allowed. Um, and so I don't see I don't I I hope that those folks are not be given 10 days leeway to to and and before they get fined because they're they're really just flouting our regulations. So, um, so I'm I'm really concerned about about issues like that. um particularly with this derelic property owner that's really not stepping up and and doing their part and it's holding back and may even hold back other uh as we talked as we talked at at that meeting other in other things that we are working on things that are positively happen in the area are held back by by those kinds of behaviors. So, I am concerned about the and I I I I can see why you're you've got a very small team and a lot of case load, but I'd like to be thinking outside of the box of how we can how we can get you the help you need and I strongly support your your uh your training program and particularly with an emphasis on safety. That's I think that's a great idea and I'm really glad to see that. But I I'd like to be thinking outside of the box about ways to get you more resources so

that we can we can start cleaning up our community in in uh in more places. That was that was one comment. The other comment I wanted to I wanted to sort of ask you about because the I know that the rental housing program is um work in progress and I I think it's it's exciting that that this is going forward. I just wanted to to check with you and maybe suggest that information about our new tenant protection regulations that we just worked on. Um, as well as um as well as reiterating to our to our um residents that we don't we don't do enforcement of of of immigration laws that this process is meant to help our whole community and it's and it's and it's a positive. I'm sure that's the case. But I really wanted just to to stress that those two things that as we're doing that people are are not are not feeling like there's this is part of an immigration crackdown and that the but that and that the tenants do have rights and that that we're trying to we're trying to protect those. So um thank thanks for all the work you're doing and for the excellent presentation. Um you're working very hard and it's very appreciated. Um, it's good. It's great to see the citizens are appreciating it too and the council does as well, but um I I I'd like I'd like to see some of those things moving more quickly. So, thank you,

Council Kachio. Yes, thank you so much for your presentation. I do realize that you have a small team and so it is also my hope that we can assist you um in any way that we can in order to get the vacancies filled and to have the retention. Uh so thank you so much because I think a cleaned up city and a nicel looking city is really what helps not only our residents but also our morale and quality of life. Thank you Vice Mayor Jorgens.

Yeah, thank you for the presentation. I'm always really excited to see these staff reports come up on the agenda because there's uh so much good news coming forward and this one was no different. So do appreciate uh the presentation and all the work that's being done. Do have one question about you talked about uh figuring out some way to have some code about maintenance of overground vegetation kind of on an ongoing basis. My my guess would be when each kind of commercial property was um started and had some standard um all those standards may be different from each other. So how do we how do we think about given that the initial standards were all different how do we come up with a unified um ongoing maintenance standard?

So there's two answers to that. The one I mentioned for the title 7 update is more targeted for residential where it's more objective standards such as if it's over 12 in into the public right of way, it's a violation. If it's over, let's say 12 in and 50% of that yard is dead or dry, that's a violation. Like that's an objective standard. So that would be for residential. In terms of the commercial side of things, a lot of those developments had approved landscape plans. So, we would uh specify that you have to adhere to your approved landscape plan and and if you're, you know, if that vegetation is dead or gone, you have to replace it within a certain specified time frame. So, that would be actually codified.

All right, that that makes a lot of sense and I think the right way to go. So, again, thank you for the presentation. A lot of stuff uh good stuff happening. So, do really appreciate it. This is actually the uh second presentation you've done with the council and I greatly appreciate your efforts. Um I think the code enforcement division is really moving forward in a positive direction and as we see the uh survey results from our residents you know with s you know doubledigit increases uh over the last uh survey. I think those numbers are going to just continue to go up. So um I applaud I applaud you for that. Um, I actually dealt with a landscaping issue uh through the city manager at the Carter station when one of their trees that they had planted was had simply died. It's like it's like no, that's not what we approved. We didn't approve a dead tree and um the staff worked, you know, worked with the owner to replace that tree. So, there are there are specific standards for for, you know, landscaping on these properties and and continued maintenance on these properties. So, you know, thank you for that effort. Uh, are there any additional uh technological tools that you think would be of benefit for the organization to improve efficiency or do you believe the tools that you currently have are sufficient for your needs?

I think right now I'm just looking forward to have a full staff.

Small small steps, huh? I just want, you know, as we've made it clear, uh, we're always wanting to make sure our staff works with the most efficient and effective tools to get the job done. And as you continue to work with the organization, if you find that there's, um, additional technological tools out there that would make the job um, more efficient, certainly don't hesitate to work through the city manager to bring that to our attention. I'm extremely excited about the um, residential inspection program. I've been advocating it for for some time. Uh many of our residents, whether they be uh lowincome, undocumented, whatever the case may be, are not typically going to file complaints about the habitability of their units for fear of being evicted. And uh I know when we did this enforcement in San Jose, we pretty much mirrored the state housing code, and I imagine that's what you're going to be mirroring as well. But we also made it clear in our ordinances that retaliatory evictions were simply not um that was against the law as well. You couldn't evict a tenant who filed a legitimate complaint within 6 months. Is that currently on our books as far as you know?

That was part of Mr. Kulum's presentation. I can't remember. Yeah. I don't Yeah. Okay. There is general state law. state law with respect to unlawful detainers and retaliatory evictions. Good. Yeah, there's a six-month line of demarcation.

And I'll and I'll and I'll take that because I know the state's been real aggressive on making sure that tenant rights are protected. And I believe that that was one of the the initiatives. Um, we would require the uh owner of the multifamily building to mail notifications to their tenants advising them because landlords, if I understand correctly, have the opportunity to inspect a unit upon giving 24-hour notice to a tenant. I think that's still the law. So we we we would make the we put that responsibility on the landlord that the city wants to conduct an inspection of the units to make sure that they meet minimum habitability standards and we put that responsibility on the landlord. Is that something you're thinking about as you move forward?

Yes. Then we would also notify the tenants for for that purpose and for the purpose that you mentioned earlier is to let them know this is purely an inspection for housing purposes not for any other purpose. And uh the pilot program that you mentioned uh I'm not going to ask for the specific location because I probably know exactly where they are. But how many buildings are you looking at on your initial pilot program? Right now we're looking at four buildings. We had four different areas that we narrowed it down to. Um, each with about each area had about 70 units. Um, so this one has four buildings, each with 16 units.

Okay. I I would certainly be interested, Mr. been noon in in a summary of the results, not just the inspections, but you know, the inspections, the cooperation of the landlord, the and the resolution of the housing code issue, the number of housing code issues that we determined and uh the resolution on that. So, I I don't look for anything in the near future, but at some point, I'd love to see a circle back on how that that whole process went. Um, that that's it for my questions. Um, again, just big thanks, Mr. Carrillo. It's a it's a for those that have never done code enforcement. It's it's all about communication and education. Yes. I used to tell the folks down in San Jose, you know, we had two MUN, as you recall, two MUN code books that were like that thick. And I would tell people there's so many laws that we that we are responsible for enforcing. And I'm I'm so pleased to hear that a significant number of our residents simply voluntarily comply. That's really the nature of the of the folks that we deal with. They're they're homeowners. They're law-abiding citizens who simply don't know all the rules and the regulations, and it's our responsibility to educate them. And once educated, they're going to comply for the most part. But we utilize those tools when necessary when they're when they are simply unwilling to be cooperative. So, I want to thank you for the presentation. Um, I look forward to you being fully staffed and um, again, thank you for the good work you're doing for our community. It's greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, city manager updates.

Yes. Good evening, your honor, members of the council. We have six updates for you this evening. First one, I'll wait for Miss Raj to load the slide. All right. Uh C monthly training and basic first aid. This is occurring on Wednesday, March 11th. Cert is offering basic first aid preparedness training. Learn how to treat burns, sprains, and strains, cold, and heat related injuries, and how to conduct headtotoe assessment as well as how to maintain hygiene and sanitation. Wednesday, March 11th, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Clark W. Reticer Senior Center located on Filbert Street. This is an in-person session and the public can register using the QR code there and information is also posted on our website. Uh the second announcement, Newark Gardens 1 weight list is opening. Uh they're opening up their weight list uh for housing located at 353000 Cedar Boulevard. Newark Gardens serves individuals aged 62 and up, including individuals 18 years or older with a disability. Applications must be submitted by March 18th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. And for additional information, please visit out uh Saha Homes website. That's sahomes.org. Uh paper applications are also available at Newark Gardens. Uh the next update, fishing in the city. Uh teaching kids ages 5 to 15 the basics of fishing. This is on Saturday, March 7th from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. This is at Lakeshore Park uh at the Boat House on Chelsea Drive. This is a free event. No pre-registration is required. Check in by 10:00 a.m. Uh the public can learn how to cast, tie knots, uh and fish. Uh the lake, uh has been stocked with 467

lbs of catfish. I didn't catch that. The uh next uh the next announcement, save the date, state of the city address. Please mark your calendar for Saturday, April 18th, 2026. Uh this will be the uh state of the city address for 2026 where we will reflect on our progress, share key accomplishments, and outline an exciting vision for the year ahead. Uh the location is our civic center complex. Uh highlights include uh the address of course, live performances, food trucks, resource fair, and activity for all ages. And we will continue to promote this event and post more information on our website as we get closer. Fifth announcement is um proud to announce that the city of Newark received the certified age friendly employer designation from the age friendly institute. Um, this uh organization recognizes the city for uh meeting standards associated with an ageincclusive workplace that supports employees ages 50 and up. Uh, this milestone reflects the work that we're doing to strengthen recruitment and retention, build an inclusive culture, and continue delivering excellent service to our community. And more information about the age friendly institute is available right there online at the website posted below. And the last announcement I do not have a slide for and that's why it's uh it's black and empty. Uh recently uh just within the past couple days uh learned that the city of Newark um received funding uh from federal law uh largely due the to the lo legislative lobbying efforts of our representative uh the honorable Ro Kana. This is for our Cedar Boulevard complete streets project. Uh the federal government has awarded us $850,000. Uh this project uh resurfaces pavement

as well as funds construction of new separated bicycle lane and pedestrian uh facilities on the 2.2 mile segment between Stevenson Boulevard and Central Avenue. And we will be sure to extend our sincerest gratitude to the representative for his efforts in securing those federal funds. Uh that concludes our announcements this evening. I did find it ironic that soon after I sent the thank you to uh his uh chief of staff for his aid, thanking him for his advocacy for the city of Newark, all a sudden we got some money. It's like, you know, if if id just known earlier, I would have, you know, every day.

Yes. Uh, you know, it's always amazing to me, you know, being a small city like the city of Newark is how we're able to um receive grants uh from federal, state, and uh county officials on a fairly regular basis. And uh and we're always appreciative of that uh of those uh funding sources because it allows us to do a lot of good things in our community. So, uh I appreciate the fact that we're going to thank the congressman for for that effort. I'll start down here to my left. Council member Little.

Um, so I just want to remind we have a thousand things going on on Saturday. I know that Julie will cover some, but um, we are just a final reminder, it's the yo-yo day, third annual yo-yo day. I see Stephen, he's all excited. His career's going up and down. Um, so we are definitely going to be there. It is going to be the third annual Mission Peak Yo-Yo Day from 2:00 to 5:00 on Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. We got a bunch of the famous yo-yoist. I did get confirmation that Ian Smith is coming out. I know you guys are all excited and whipping out your phones to Google him. He is the international yo-yo champion in spin top yo-yoing, which means he can do a spin top without it being tied to the rope. So, I bribed him with an entire pizza and a two L Coca-Cola. So, he is coming out for the event. Uh, and I want to make sure you come out there. The second thing I wanted to talk to, it's not an announcement, but um we have had some theft that's been happening in our city a little bit. And uh last week on Friday, we did have a big break-in that happened in a shopping center. And I had a great conversation with police chief Jonathan Arguo and he's was told me about some of the great things that they're working on. Do you want to just kind of update the public a little bit of some of the things that you guys are taking an action on? Is that applicable? Is that okay? Yeah.

Chief Arguo, please come to the podium. Surprise. I just think it's great how proactive you guys are being.

Good evening. Thank you. Uh yeah, Jonathan Aguo, our police chief. Uh yeah, unfortunately, you know, sadly to hear, uh last last week we had a a string of burglaries all one incident that occurred in our uh one of our shopping centers in the north end of town. Uh you know, as a as a uh Yeah. No, there was uh and so um in in hearing about it, uh we we automatically obviously send our officers. They clear all the businesses and they work towards the leads. Um I spent some time there with the business owners because I'm not only our police chief, but uh I I really believe in supporting our our small businesses and actually uh visit a lot of those businesses on a regular basis. My dry cleaners particularly uh a couple of the restaurants there I I go to uh every other week. Dry cleaners every week, believe me. Um we're working some leads on this. We spent some time we've got we're making some headway on uh with the property owner to set up a meeting uh for our uh our um merchant watch program. So we made those engagement connections with them and currently uh our community engagement manager Shamna Sharma is actually uh working on uh set up a date and uh trying to offer what we call crime prevention through environmental design uh assessment of the of the property so that we can um help them fortify and and best uh prevent uh future future uh burglaries. As far as cases, we're we're happy to say that we're reporting uh from our investigations unit that they're making some headway on and working some leads on on the burglary series.

Thank you. The reason I asked you to come up and speak is because sometimes people see stuff and they always say, "What's the city doing? What's the city doing?" And you and I had a great conversation. Thank you so much, police chief and and city manager as well. Thank you guys so much because it's a really big deal and people always ask, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" and I wanted to have it on record that you guys are being very proactive about it. Things are going on there and it's Johnston's just coming and writing reports. You guys are doing above and beyond and I really appreciate that. Thank you very much. Council member Grenal.

Yes. Um, uh, Council Member Ammeritus Cayaso is holding a spring festival, um, among others, by the way, Azando as well, um, on March 21st at the Magnolia Plaza, which is the plaza right in front of Tortilla Factory. Um, and of course, I also want to draw attention to the, um, family day of the park, which is obviously a city event, and this year it's gonna it's it's always a fantastic event. Um, but this year it's going to be a combination with the spring showcase for the for the our for our school district performing arts and and um and other um rocketry, some other science things. So, it's going to be a showcase for the for our schools as well as um spring fun. So, um, so hopefully I believe that's start that's going to be, um, well, maybe this I believe it starts at 9, but, um, you can you can see it on our website all the details. So, um, or maybe even the city manager will want to correct me at some at some point in the near future. Thank you. Well,

I can't let Council Member Grend Doll pass over the fact that he had a significant event uh in his home life. Did you want to share that with the with the residents of the community? Well, I kind of have to now. Um my my son's wife had a had a had a baby, so I am a grandpa for the first time. I'm um not really coming close to the to the mayor's um record, but um but she's her name is Hazel and she's absolutely beautiful. Outstanding. Congratulations, Council Mardell Contio.

Thank you. I wanted to say happy Lunar New Year. This Saturday, February 28, from 12 to 3, it is free admission at the Newark Library. I'm going to be hosting a Lunar New Year event in partnership with Senator Dr. Aisha Wahhab and the Assessor's Office. There will be 14 community tables there, including Assembly Member Alex Lee. Um, and arts and crafts uh for kids. Additionally, I wanted to also point out that NUSD Newark Unified School District teacher, Miss Chen, is being honored among others as well. So please come out to also support her. There will be line dance, uh, Tao drums, masaka music, Ernie Reyes, martial arts, and Jessica Lopez is a live painter, and she's also worked on some of the murals here in um, New York as well as at Washington Hospital. Last weekend I was able to celebrate Lunar New Year at Zillamin Center and also Sun actually not Sunday evening but Saturday even in the evening I'm going to be going to Assembly Member Alex Lee's Lunar New Year as well. And last weekend I was able to go to Dr. Aisha Wah Hob's uh town hall. So, a lot of Lunar New Year things are happening because it is a 15-day event and the end of the 15 days actually ends next week in the middle of the week. So, then it will be concluding our celebration which actually starts the beginning of spring. Thank you,

Vice Mayor Jorgens.

Yeah. So, several hour several hours ago now at this point we had talked about uh some of the uh disaster preparedness. So, I thought it would be fun my using my time to talk about New York history to talk about a uh disaster from Newark's past. So, on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, at 5:12 a.m., a 7.9 earthquake struck the Bay Area. Several houses in Newark collapsed. Uh, one eyewitness, Annie Fowler, noted that there wasn't one brick chimney left in town. Uh, the water tank at the railroad fell onto the tracks only feet away from a moving engine. and residents reported orange skies from the fires in San Francisco. Probably a pretty similar phenomenon to what we saw in 2020. Um there were some Newark residents who tried to take advantage of the situation. The schoolhouse at the corner of Derry and Cherry suffered uh some structural damage and for the rest of the school year the kids would try to push against the building in hopes that the teacher would think there was another earthquake and dismiss school for the day. Um, but the Newark community came together quickly to rebuild and the next two decades would be a period of incredible growth for Newark. And it's good to know that we're going to be better prepared for emergencies than the Newark community was in 1906 and confident that we're going to face it with the same sense of community.

Excellent. Uh, I have nothing to report tonight. Uh, so we are going to adjourn the meeting.