City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello, everyone. Just want to let you know that we're ready to get started, but we're having a couple of technical issues, so they're cleaning that up. So as soon as we get that going, we'll begin, all right? There's a few more minutes. We're not just going to be sitting around here and doing nothing.

That's why I made sure to make that announcement.

Okay, we've fixed our issue here. Thank you. You guys are so quietly waiting this stuff. I love it. All council meetings should be like this. Pleasant crowd here. So welcome to our City Council meeting. I want to start off with roll call. Madam Clerk.

Council Members Garcia?

Here.

Lara?

Here.

Lutz?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem, Dr. Sanchez. Here. Mayor Camacho.

Here.

All present.

Thank you. I'd like to ask Councilmember Garcia to lead us in invocation. Please rise. Thank you, Mayor.

Lord, we are meeting today to conduct matters of business, guide our hearts and our minds in the spirit of fairness, right thought and speech, IMPART YOUR SUPREME WISDOM UPON THE ACTIVITIES SO THAT OUR AFFAIRS MAY REACH A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION. THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR SOURCE OF GUIDANCE TODAY. AMEN.

AND WE HAVE A SPECIAL GUEST TO LEAD US IN THE FLAG SALUTE. WE HAVE SAMANTHA LEON, EIGHTH GRADER AT STEAM ACADEMY AT BURKE. SAMANTHA, PLEASE LEAD US IN THE PLEDGE.

Good morning, Mayor, members of City Council, and members of the community. My name is Samantha Leon. I am an eighth grader at STEAM Academy. It's my honor to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand and join me. Face the flag, place your hand right over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, invisible, of liberty and justice for all.

All right. Good job, Samantha. Thank you. Why don't you come up here and join us and give you a certificate here. You can go around. This is for you. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Join us. Come over here. We're going to take a picture, okay? Okay. Where's mom? Come on, mom.

Come up here.

We'll share our pictures with you.

Thank you. One, two.

I WAS GOING TO DO SOMETHING BEFORE THE PRESENTATION, BUT I, SINCE WE'RE ALL UP ALREADY, I'LL JUST CONTINUE WITH THE PRESENTATION. BUT BEFORE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE ASKED A LOT OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE STUDENTS HERE AT PICO RIVERA TO DO THE THE FLAG SALUTE, AND SO IF ANYBODY'S INTERESTED, PLEASE SIGN UP AND JOIN US TO DO THE FLAG SALUTE. SO I WANTED TO SAY THAT. ALSO WANT TO RECOGNIZE OUR PARKS AND RECS COMMISSIONER, KIMBERLY GARCIA, THAT'S HERE WITH US TODAY, AND ALSO OUR CITY COMMISSIONER, BOB PEREZ. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. SO WE HAVE SOME YOUNG LADIES WHO HAVE DONE SOME GREAT WORK OUT THERE IN SOCCER, SOCCER FIELD. WE HAVE SOME TROPHIES HERE. WHY DON'T YOU, COACHES, WHY DON'T YOU BRING THEM UP HERE SO EVERYBODY CAN SEE THEM AND SEE WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE DONE. PUT THEM RIGHT UP FRONT AND CENTER. I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. OKAY. WHERE ARE THE RED MOMBA'S IN THE HOUSE? All right. So why don't you, all the Red Mambas and coaches, come up here. We're going to give you a recognition. Coach Alex Campos secured first place. Yes, please. Let's give him a big round of applause. Come on up. Everybody. Everybody, come on up. Yeah. Come on up. While you come up, I'll read this out. Do I have a microphone here? Oh.

Excellent job.

Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Girls, you're amazing. Amazing. Good job.

Coach, thank you.

All right, we got these wonderful ladies. So this is, so Coach Alex Campos secured first place in both the Commissioner's Cup and area playoff tournaments. The team advanced to the Sectioned playoffs and finished in the top four among nine competing cities.

Let's give them another big round of applause. Congratulations, ladies. Thank you.

There's a certificate for you for your accomplishments. I know you will continue to be winners and doing big things, not only on the field, but on your school. Coach, want to say a few words?

Sure. I put you to the test either way. I'm always ready for the test.

First off, thank you, everyone here. I know it's unusual for me to be up here, but... thank you parents um without them they wouldn't be in the practice field and everything so um thank you so much for what you do for these girls because at the end um you know you just provide you know everything for them food washing their clothes and all the above but With all you parents, the commitment, look at the results. We did well in San Diego. We didn't even lose. We went undefeated all the way in San Diego. We tied twice. Fortunately, we didn't advance to the next round. But the girls played so hard in that heat. You think I don't remember how you guys were exhausted? But they pulled through. And no matter what, very proud of this team. They're so special. And I couldn't say any more but great things about these girls. And thank you, council, everybody that's here. And it's very special for them. And us two as coaches, Coach Eric and Coach Omar, couldn't have done it without them either. They did a great job. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. So I'm going to put these young ladies on the spot. Who would like to say a few words on behalf of you guys? Anybody want to step up? Who's the captain?

I got three captains right here. All right. Come on. Step up. Just say a quick little thank you. There we go. Thank you.

My name is Emma, and I would like to thank my coaches and all the girls for everything they do for me.

There we go. Good job.

My name is Katalea, and I would like to thank everyone who came and my coaches and the players.

Katalea, I'd like to thank the coaches and the players.

See, leaders in the making. Here's your certificate so you can distribute. Let's go ahead and take a group picture, and we'll go on to the next group that we're going to recognize as well.

One, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. And now one with just the girls and the coaches.

While they're taking the photo, I would like to say congratulations, ladies.

One, two, three.

Thank you. Thank you. So in that folder, there's a certificate for each of you. So there's a certificate in there for each of you. And what I, what we like to do is save that for your, when you go to college, when you're looking for jobs, those are part of your awards and things that you're going to collect over the years. And we're very proud of you. I know the mayor's daughters played in AYSO and my son also. So we have, you are a member of a long legacy of champions and we're very proud of you. So keep those certificates and those awards.

Yes, all my girls have played through the AYSO. I know we have board members in the back here that have been working in representation. Please stand up, be recognized, and let's give them a, Our next group here is just that AYSO is such a great sport, or should I say organization, that plays some good sports, soccer, that becomes such a big, very popular here in the city. So much so that we have more participants in AYSO than we have all the leagues put together. So it shows you where soccer is going here, not only with the men, but the ladies as well. So congratulations. Good, good. All right, so we have our next team here that is bringing you up. So let's go ahead and the coaches come back up. We should have just kept you up here. These must be some good coaches here or something. Let's give them a big round of applause. Coach Alex. We should just stay up here.

Okay.

Okay, so I'm going to give you the mic again.

All right.

All right. So this is part of the presentation. Lights go off.

Going to do a presentation.

I like the fact of the transformation here. Just like that. Are you guys playing tricks on us or something?

Yeah.

but was it... Here.

Oh, sorry.

Again, like I said, with the Red Mambas, I'm going to say this for the all-star selected group of girls. We did amazing things out in San Diego. Together, we united as a team. And we didn't lose over there either. We just didn't advance because of points. But at the end of the day, these girls played really hard out there for Pico. We really represented you guys. uh pico rivera uh very well and i think we're not done yet with this group but at the end parents thank you so much for everything that you do for the girls uh you guys put that effort um you know from washing their clothes when you know getting ready for with the food and everything and school school is probably the number one i tell them i practice all time academics is first you cannot play if you're academics or not, at a certain GPA. So that's the number one thing I address in practice, you know? So these girls, also in the heat, we're battling, and they battle so hard. And they're a special group, just like Red Mambas. They're always going to be with me in my heart. And coaches, thank you again. We had the same group of coaches. We stuck together, and we hung in there. And I hope we represented Pico Rivera good, OK? So thank you.

Love the representation. Nothing to take away from the boys, but I've seen the girls play. And, man, you talk about toughness. I was like, man, you guys are tough. But, again, congratulations to all of you. Thank you for representing the city well. Thank you for what you do. It's not easy to be champions. It's not easy to get to the success that you're at right now. If you continue that, I'm sure you're going to be successful not only in sports but also in school. So keep that up. And I wanted to make an announcement. Actually, my colleague just reminded me that Cristiano Haldane just made the US soccer team as well, so. You know, which we'll be hearing more about. And we have some activities coming for the World Cup as well. So again, congratulations. Let's take a picture. Here's some certificates for you as well. Thank you. Anyone that I want to put on the spot? Any new ones? Want to say a few words?

Thank you.

Come on, you can do it. There we go, there we go.

I'd like to thank all the girls and the parents, both teams, and everyone that came out to support all the girls. And I'd like to thank all of you.

The parents. It's not easy, parents, right? You know, make the commitment. So congratulations to you, too. So let's take a picture.

Shorter girls up front. Thank you. Thank you.

I think so. Yeah. Oh, it would have been nice if some of the girls held up.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

We have the World Spirit Festival coming up 26-27 during the World Cup events in Pico Rivera, so you'll hear more about it. It's all soccer here.

Thank you.

ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITELY. YOU KNOW WHAT, EVERYTHING'S ON THE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW, ALREADY, ON THE CITY WEBSITE, BUT WE CAN GIVE YOU MORE T-CHILDS IF YOU LIKE, OKAY? YEAH, YOU'RE WELCOME. THANK YOU. AND BEFORE, MY, THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT. GOOD JOB. ALSO, JUST CONTINUING ON THE AGENDA, BUT I WANT TO RECOGNIZE OUR VICE PRESIDENT, BOARD TRUSTEE, ESTHER MEJIA, THAT'S HERE WITH US FROM RANCHO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT. UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AS WELL. WE HAVE JAIME LOPEZ. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. BEING HERE. AND SO WE HAVE REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS THAT WILL CONTINUE ONTO PUBLIC COMMENT. BUT BEFORE I DO THAT, I WANT TO READ OUT A STATEMENT IN REGARDS TO THE EPIC HOTEL, JUST SOME UPDATES AS TO WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING. AND SO HERE'S WHERE WE'RE AT AT THIS STAGE. And so in order to keep the residents and community of Pico de Vera updated on the progress of the ongoing legal battle against the owners and operators of the unauthorized business located at the Epic Hotel near the intersection of Beverly and Rosemead Boulevard, I'm very happy to announce that once again, the city received a favorable ruling in our efforts to shut down the operation and activities of this unlicensed business. Last week, a hearing was held in Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. After extensive written oral arguments, the judge ruled in the city's favor and granted the city's request for a preliminary injunction. The specifics of the judge order include the following, prohibitions and restrictions against the owner and operators. ONE, ANY AND ALL UNLICENSED USE OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 4335 ROSEMARY BOULEVARD AND PICO RIVERA, OPERATING AND OR ALLOWING THE CONTINUED OPERATION OF ANY UNLICENSED COMMUNITY CARE FACILITY, RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY, DRUG REHABILITATION FACILITY OR SIMILAR BUSINESS ON ANY PORTION OF THE EPIC HOTEL. SELLING, OFFERING, DISTRIBUTING OR OTHERWISE MAKING AVAILABLE CONTROLLED MEDICATIONS OR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ON ANY PORTION OF THE HOTEL. conducting all activities or operations of any kind whatsoever which violates the Pico de Vera Municipal Code and the Pico de Vera zoning code. With this order, the city will continue to take all steps necessary to eliminate illegal and unlawful activities at the Epic Hotel location and will continue to enforce against activities which are in violation of this court order. Although the city received this favorable ruling from the court, we recognize that there remains the possibility that the operator may continue to act in defiance of the court's order. The City of Pico de Vera will continue to aggressively pursue all available legal remedies and enforcement actions until full compliance with the court's order and all applicable city laws and regulations is achieved. The City will continue to closely monitor activities at the property and will not hesitate to take immediate action should violations continue. I want to thank the residents and business community of the City of Pico de Vera for your support on this important matter. I also want to thank my colleagues in the City Council for their dedication in doing what is right for our city, as well as our city managers, staff, and our city attorney's office for their hard work in reaching this result. Thank you. This is where we're at with Epic Hotels. So we'll keep you posted. So thank you. Moving on to public comments. We have a few public comments and we'll start off with Jaime Lopez from ROP, regarding ROP.

Board Member Esther Mejia and ROP Director of Technology and Operations Services, Mr. Dan Barajas. First and foremost, congratulations on this beautiful yet powerful council chambers. Pico Rivera is a special place for me because there is a family member in my household that grew up here and she attended local schools. Now she's a school teacher. In addition to that, my kid participated in AYSO. So those trophies look very familiar because she won through this organization, through Pico Rivera AYSO. So I just want to thank you for all that you do for the residents and including ROP students. The mission of Tri-Cities ROP is to prepare students for college, and careers by providing high quality career technical education that leads to employment, industry certification, or post-secondary education. Tri-Cities has a strong relationships with Pico Rivera's Chamber of Commerce, Rancho Unified School District, and let's not forget Sapiens Salsa Grill, where they allowed ROP culinary students to participate in our work experience program. We are grateful for their partnership. At this time, I'm going to have Mr. Dan Barajas provide you, the council, with a comprehensive report of the great things we are doing.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, staff, and the Pico Rivera community. Like Mr. Lopez said, my name is Daniel Barajas. I am Director of Programs, Technology and Operations for Tri-Cities ROP. Tri-Cities ROP was established in 1974 to provide career technical education programs to high school students and adults in the city of Pico Rivera. For over 50 years, we have remained committed to preparing students for both college and career success. Through our regional instructional model, we connect students to a broad network of business and industry partners that provide valuable work-based learning opportunities. preparing students for college and the workforce. This past year alone, 233 students completed more than 24,440 internship hours at local businesses gaining hands-on experience while building meaningful connections to the community's workforce. We also proudly partner with Rio Hondo College to provide high school students the opportunity to earn college credit through their ROP courses prior to graduation. These opportunities help students accelerate education and career pathways while reducing future college costs. In addition, Tri-Cities RRP recently recognized 66 outstanding students from the Whittier and Pico Rivera communities during the 33rd Annual Evening of Excellence Recognition Ceremony held at the Whittier Community Theater. This event celebrated students for their dedication, achievement, leadership, and commitment to preparing for the future workforce. The success of Tri-Cities RFP reflects the strength of our partnerships with local school districts, colleges, businesses, and community leaders who continue to invest in students and workforce development. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share the positive work Tri-Cities RFP is doing for the City of Pico Rivera. I look forward to sharing additional information with you at a future meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you both. AND I KNOW BOTH OF YOU SIGNED CARDS. THAT'S WHY I CAN LET YOU CONTINUE. YOU GOT TWO SECTIONS. SO, WELL, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE, MR. BARRAJAS, MR. LOPEZ, AND MS. MEJIA ON THE ROP BOARD. I KNOW THE ROP HAS DONE GREAT WORK AT ROP. LET'S CONTINUE DOING THE GREAT WORK. THANK YOU. LAUREN TALBOT, SPEAKING ABOUT THE LIBRARY UPDATES.

REVERA LIBRARY AND THE REVERA LIBRARY. HERE ARE OUR UPDATES FOR JUNE. WHILE THE REVERA LIBRARY IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION, THE PICO REVERA LIBRARY WILL BE OPEN ON MONDAYS FROM 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M. WE WILL RESUME OUR NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS ONCE THE REVERA LIBRARY REOPENS, HOPEFULLY IN THE MIDDLE OF JUNE. CROSSING OUR FINGERS. The Summer Discovery Program is LA County Library's annual summer celebration of reading and exploration. From June 1st to August 9th, customers of all ages can read and complete activities, earn badges, and win prizes such as books, tote bags, and more. You can participate in person using paper games and activity lists, which can be picked up at your local library or online at lacountylibrary.org slash summer-discovery. Families are invited to our Let's Play program at the Pico Rivera Library on Tuesday, June 16th at 2 p.m. Kids can get moving and play with Big Blue Blocks and the library's board game collection. Come join us for a fun afternoon. Thank you.

Thank you for those updates. Next, we have Veronica regarding bus stop lighting.

Good evening, Mayor, council members and residents. My name is Veronica and I live near Paramount Boulevard and Beverly Boulevard. I'm here tonight to speak about an ongoing public safety and quality of life issue affecting my neighborhood. There is a bus stop on Beverly Boulevard with a large grassy area beside it. While it may not officially be considered a city park, for the past 15 years, the surrounding families have treated it like one. There are four homes directly behind this area, and over the years, it has become a gathering place for local residents. Families bring their children, neighbors walk their dogs, and people sit under the shade to enjoy the space together. the city itself maintains this area by coming out about twice a month to cut the grass which shows that it's still recognized and cared for as part of the community unfortunately despite the maintenance the area has increasingly become unsafe for the residents who lived around it like many communities we have dealt with occasional homelessness in the past especially during the summer months however the neighborhood has always came together to clean the area maintain it and keep it safe The situation has changed significantly over the last few weeks, especially since the issues surrounding the epic property began affecting our area. We now regularly see groups of men purchasing alcohol from the 7-Eleven across the street and gathering there day and night. Trash is left everywhere, including beer containers and drug paraphernalia. People openly drink, use drugs, and at times camp overnight in this area. Families no longer feel comfortable or safe using what was once a peaceful neighborhood and gathering space. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of lighting. For the last two years, I have repeatedly contacted Public Works regarding the bus stop light not functioning. Each time I am told that a ticket has been submitted, but nothing has been resolved. The entire grassy area remains dark at night, which only encourages illegal activity and creates a serious safety concern for residents. There is also very little visible police presence or patrol in the area. Just a few weeks ago during the middle of the night a transient knocked over an electrical box nearby. I contacted the sheriff's station the following morning and Edison had to come out to address the damage. I understand this may not be an official designated park but to the families who live there it matters. It is part of our neighborhood and residents deserve to feel safe in their own community. I RESPECTFULLY ASK THE CITY COUNCIL TO PLEASE LOOK INTO THE SITUATION. I INVITE YOU TO DRIVE BY THE AREA, ESPECIALLY DURING THE EVENING HOURS, TO SEE FIRSTHAND WHAT RESIDENTS ARE DEALING WITH. OUR COMMUNITY IS SIMPLY ASKING FOR BASIC SAFETY MEASURES, WORKING LIGHT, CLEANUP ENFORCEMENT, AND INCREASED PATROL PRESENCE SO FAMILIES CAN ONCE AGAIN ENJOY THE NEIGHBORHOOD SPACE THEY CARED ABOUT FOR YEARS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU, VERONICA. MR. CITY MANAGER, I KNOW THAT WE HAVE A LIST OF UNFUNDED PROJECTS, BUT I'M FAMILIAR WITH THAT AREA. THAT'S A LITTLE POCKET PARK, IF YOU WILL, THERE. MAYBE IN THE FUTURE WE CAN LOOK AT some lighting or so forth. But as it relates to the bus stop lighting, that's already there, it's just a fixture. Can we address that and make sure that that is taken care of?

Yes, we'll go ahead and take a look at that. In addition, we can have Southwest also have some patrols, increased patrols in the area as well.

Can we do that? And of course, Captain, if you can address that issue, I can see how that area can turn into the evening hours, so we can address that. So thank you, City Manager and Captain, for that. NEXT, WE HAVE LUISIANA. I'M GOING TO GET IT RIGHT. AND I SHOULD BE GOOD WITH THAT AND STUFF. I SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BRING IT. OKAY, ANA DELGADO, REGARDING OUR ROJONDO HANDBALL COURSE. THANKS FOR COMING.

I'm good evening mayor and council members as you guys know, I'm here to speak in regards to will handle part. The humble court. You guys are different stories already that I mentioned how much the mayoral and the humble courts mean to me. I did want to just bring up a little bit of more things that I was looking into. So as I was looking into when the proposal was made that 8.5 million was going to include new playing field, courts, fitness areas, and playgrounds to Rio Hondo Park. We're still waiting for that to be processed. As well, I was reading here that some of that funding was supposed to go towards the Humboldt Court to get fixed in 2021, 2022. However, you know, nothing has been done since. Humboldt courts are still in bad condition. Not a dollar. We have not seen a dollar besides the mural since the mural was created, painted there that I was part of. Another thing I wanted to bring up was that, let me see, I was reading the report when this took place. You guys mentioned to me that the community was there the day of when this proposal was made and that the residents agreed to have the humble courts removed. However, it seems like reading the plan and from that speech that was made that day by Pamela Yogurt, it's not mentioned about the humble courts getting removed. Again, I looked at a picture from that day and it looks, I could probably count like two handful of people that were there. So again, everybody that has spoken to the Pico Real community is not aware that these were getting removed, but we're gonna get fixed instead. I started petition forms. I have 10 pages already full. This is without me going door to door, without me standing in front of the market getting signatures.