Council Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody. Today is Monday, May 5. Happy Ciguldomayo. It is, Council Economic Development Committee. I'd to call the meeting order. And if mister Castro, if you could please take role. Council member Bonin. Council member Andy. Present. And mayor Salinas. Present. Thank you. Madison's public comment. This is reserved for anybody in the public that would like to make a public comment on something that is not on the agenda. Is there anybody online or in the room that would like to make a public comment?

And I don't think anyone is online. Anybody in the room that would like to make a public comment? Done by six. Seeing none, I'd like to close public comment, and I'll move on to, our item number one, which is the approval of minutes. I move, Diane. Second. Second. Move by council member Andrews, seconded by council member. When there's any objection, it will unanimously pass. Thank you. Moving on to item number two, reports and action items. This is the approval approval of the fiscal year twenty twenty six regular meeting schedule. So moved. Moved by council member.

Second, but I have a question.

Yes. So on this schedule so there's no June meeting, no July meeting on this list, or it's just

So there's a 06/01/2026. So there this is for the next council Oh, for the next

council meeting. So we will have a June 2025 meeting. Okay. Got it. Yes. Approved.

Moved by council member, secondhand council member, and there are no objections. We'll get you out of state. Next is item number three, which is an update on Sierra Leone's programming and activation in the report. And I'll do this. Has been highly anticipated. So Yeah. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, American. The committee members happy to introduce the item. This is a recent committee referral request to discuss the Heritage Plaza in terms of from an economic development perspective and community development perspective from the activation. We're happy to have library director here today to present and kick off the discussion. We also have here from main services also to introduce. Thank you, Thank

you for having me, and thank you for letting me talk to you a little bit about the update on the Heritage Plaza. Next slide. Yeah. So, you know, when the we built the Heritage Plaza, and this this is some of the focus and what it really has turned into, which are that the key features are it's a gathering and and a it's a place for gathering and families. It has an arboretum walk and native plants.

It has a green water catchment system. It has heritage elements. And another important element, it has no restrooms, which really has to a large extent covered some of what we are able to do in that. Next. And now the newest feature is the crosswalk. I do want to mention that. Thank you to Todd's team and also our public works team for doing that and for a really good reception for. It's all good. Next, please. Yeah.

So the plaza was inaugurated on 07/17/2021 with a lot of and next, please. And so the event actually set the tone for the type of events we have been successfully having over there, and which was really to have family type of events as opposed to some of the more grown up events. Next, please. So, again, some of the things, the features, the heritage features, because one of the big things about the plaza is a heritage plaza, where you recognize three rooms in the who form a very integral part of the Hayward's history. The first is a Japanese American internal memorial that was built, as you know, where 600 Japanese Americans were taken away, and they were assembled right at the plaza when they were taken away.

And then after that, coming soon, we have the tribute to the local indigen indigenous peoples, which is actually ready. It will be installed shortly. It's all been designed. And Russell City, there's still some, you know, work on the type of on the actual tribute that will be over there. So right now, there'll just be a sign. We should just put up a sign as we still work that out. Next. So use of the plaza. So at this time, there is no public rental plan as such. And this is part of what has evolved.

We have talked about it, about how it can be used. So what the library has done is we have committed to four large annual events at the Fawzik community. The first is the first trunk or treat, which is a huge success. It is a evening event. Also, remember, these are mostly daytime events. They are not late evening events. And so we have the trumpet retreat, which now the regular attendance is about 12,000 plus, largely children and their parents. Then we have the Lit Hop, which is held regularly in April. Attendance at the plaza is not huge. The library is really working with the Lit Hop committee to try to take it up, to make it bigger, improve it.

But it's been about 300 people or so at the actual down at the plaza. But then the event also moves on all around downtown. It's not just in the plaza. So that's one of the other events. The other two are events that and, know, do lunch. It might be all summer. Children who are out of school, and so we wanted to do the wrap in July with them on a regular basis. Gets very hot, so we don't do all of the events outdoors. We just want to do the last one outside because we'll have a lot of sort of, but on slightly smaller scale. And then we're keeping move for one changing event.

So this year, what we're going to do in June, we're gonna have the San Francisco Opera. It's gonna come and do do Labuan in the park over there. So we're gonna have it on two days on June, and we anticipate right now 300 to 400. I really want to say a minimum of 300 to 400 is what we've told the San Francisco Opera, but we're hoping they'll have more. If they're going to have food, we can have a case like that. But, again, this is going to be aimed at children and. So it's not going to be just like, okay. It's opera. It's all the doubts we do. It starts with the children's program, and it is a slightly abbreviated version.

And just to explain to you how it's done is San Francisco Opera puts their puts the entire stage into a truck container, and then they just bring it here, open it up, and then they present it. The plaza does present some problems because of the weight bearing, you know, capacity around the plaza, so we had to work with the with public works to figure out which like the areas which can can bear the weight that we did working out as a So it's a game too. So in the past, you know, city council members have sponsored two annual events, which is, of course, Singleton Mayo. Next, please. Mhmm.

So these are just some pictures to give you a sense of how the events happened. One of the things is when we do programs in the park, we're very, very respectful of the native plants and the trees, really making sure we don't hurt what's in the park. We know that it's all very delicate, the ecological system. Just all of it is very delicate. And once you damage it, it's hard to recreate it and build it up again. It is expensive also. And so we really try to be very respectful with our environment when we do our programs, including when we have 12,000 kids in the park. So we're really very careful about that. Next. So this again, upcoming city councilor there.

Just reminding all of you, please make sure you are So Thanks. Yeah. Various other options for event spaces. So we do know there are a lot of events held in downtown, and so we have city hall offers a lot of different spaces that people can have events, and they're the huge ones. We do have the plaza in the front, which is available for Red Bull.

And in the past, we have had events over there. And then we have, of course, the downtown library meeting rooms. And, you know, a lot of this, I do want to say, do really impact. It's kind of a delicate balance between what actually affects the economics, the restaurants, and all of the but I would say our meeting rooms have, and this is true of meeting rooms in any library, like, we do have a positive impact on restaurants. Like, even today, I got this call from a meet group that's coming, and they want to know the restaurants.

Where can we eat? What can we order? So it really is that's a very, very common, like, you know, meshing together of the restaurants in the area along with the with the library meeting rooms. And then, of course, then people will know. We have large groups coming in. Again, you know, there is mixed mixed response. You all probably know better than I do about the complaints that some restaurants have about people walking up and down in the, you know, the street and not really coming into their restaurants. So that's really up to you, our state, what's best. But that's really what we do see as these are options for others that don't necessarily happen in the plaza, but actually are good for downtown. And with that, it's gonna be next.

And I need to say if you have any questions, I'm back into office again.

Oh, nice. Okay.

Go ahead. I just have a a few. Yeah. No. That's fine.

Thank you so much for this presentation. It's so good to see here at. I really appreciate all of the sort of sensitivity and thought forms that went into making Heritage Plaza, like, you know, things and everything. But, like, not having restaurants there, is that, like, a limitation or something that you see?

That is a limitation because if you have big events, you have to bring in porta quantities, or it has to happen while the library is open, which is a real impact on the live because then we have to have be cleaning our bathrooms all day. It does become a bit of an impact. For us, for example, when we're doing the heritage at the San Francisco Opera on Sunday, we will actually be opening the library that day. And because it is a library program, we will, but we we have to get security guards maintained. We will block off all the areas so people can use the restrooms and drink water, but nothing else.

So yeah. And I will say also one of the things is that in the past, we have actually brought porta potties, and usually, have to bring the porta porta potties the previous night, leaving them in the park. It is a huge, huge challenge keeping porta parties safe in the park. And we have to have actually security guard just for the porta parties. Because, otherwise, we come in in the morning. They are they're just really in bad shape and often knocked over. It just is a. So

Yeah. Why not just get regular vaccines, though?

Wow. Hopefully. That I You're right.

That it was it was a lot of discussion. It is expensive. And, you know, even regular bathrooms are not just the simple. You do have to maintain them. They are very, very, very expensive. Regular bathrooms are in an open area.

I mean, should we consider I mean, I'm not saying that the city budget has it, but if it's that big of a limitation and we're we'll we'll see more utilization of the park and it will cause less, you know, hassle for the library to have to open. It could be more of a community benefit. I mean, I've seen some bathrooms in other parks, and they don't have to be that fancy, and they could be somewhat thermal.

Right. So, you know, I would not I can't make the decision for you. I will say you can consider the toilet in the garage, and Todd can talk to that about I think it is up to the city council to decide how you want this.

If it was up to you, would you have a bathroom there?

I mean, it's okay.

You can just say what your opinion is. We're not I just want to know what your opinion is.

You know, I hope someday the library will be open on Sundays, and that would make it a lot easier. I really do think bathrooms by themselves are a problem. They really are a problem. And, again, Todd can talk about the bathroom in the garage. It is it's a difficult thing to maintain. And given our situation in Hayward, I think it's wonderful to have bathrooms. If don't get me wrong. And even for whether it's a question, and I don't want to be part the push on house population, providing them with the bathrooms. You know, in the last few years, I I remember there was a time when we were trying to, like, keep things, bathrooms available to people during the pandemic. We did so much with bathrooms, hand washing places.

It was not easy. It was an extremely expensive proposition, but I don't think that mean, if you talk from the human side of it, it is a very good thing to have bathrooms. It also can become a nuisance. So there are both sides to it. I would love to see the light blue on Sundays, but that is an even I mean, that's a very expensive proposition also, but I think the overall impact is much better if you can have the library open on Sundays.

I I totally agree with libraries open on Sunday, but I was just thinking, like, you know, for an example, like, mom, she has, like, a respiratory issue, so she's not gonna be able to get from one into the parking to the library to use the bathroom. That would be a little bit of factor for her to make it work. So just was wondering if that's why. And then the next question I had was what about water fountains? Are there, like, water fountains or anything like that in the park for people? Does that mean No.

No. No. And, really, it is more of a come by, drop by, bring your picnic, have a picnic there, walk around, enjoy the green, and then, you know, if you're open at that time, can but it also is an opportunity to say come by, walk around, go to downtown, eat in downtown, buy something. You know? So sort of you're talking of that the synergy, then that's a good thing that, yeah, you send people on to the restaurants and downtown. That's sort of

an option.

Restaurants are good downtown. I'm just wondering, like, basic water. You know? Like, is there a water fountain? Is there a water refill station? Can we look at putting something like that in so that we can further activate the part? Because, I mean, I totally appreciate what it is, but I'm always driving past it. And to be quite honest with you, I never see it activated. So I love these four events once a year, and the other three hundred days, I'm like, what we're doing there. And even having access to a refillable water station would make it easier so you're not having to lug stuff across the street.

Having access to use a bathroom, you know, when the library is not, you know, is probably convenient too because I've walked people over from for an example, when we have the trunk or treat, I walked people over to use the bathroom in city hall because they needed to use it. And I'm like, and the businesses weren't gonna allow them to use it. So, anyways, just something to think about there. And then can you tell me just a little bit more about your lunch event on June it's July 16 because that sounds pretty interesting.

Yes. So it'll be sort of you know, we'll serve lunches, which are, you know, the which are the school lunches, and then we have storytimes and have a few performers, some dancing. Yeah. We don't have it all pinned down what's gonna happen? But, like I said, it's a smaller version of the Drummond Treat, you know, without the candy.

Yeah. That's I think that event is so amazing, and it's needed too, especially in the summer when our children, you know, don't have access to school lunch in the normal ways that they do. And then lastly, you know, as it relates to the reservations of both, like, library facilities and maybe even city hall facilities, have we seen, like, an uptick in that? Is, like, are those things starting to pick up again?

It is. Fear. I there is no time, I can tell you, whether you can easily get the get our meeting. Like, I myself and I keep saying, I'm the director. Can you find it is really hard. We and we say, you know, we can book up to a year in advance. It is just booked. And it is it is a challenge for us because, you know, we don't we need a full time person really managing the bookings. And right now, we are doing this in between. We have an on call for DM staff who's really pretty much working, and she does a lot of her work from home because you don't have who's been doing, and she won't be with us some, you know, July 1.

So, really, some of these things that thinking about how we manage this, it is it is a challenge for us. And it's going to go back to drug or treat. In fact, drug or treat is where we realized how difficult the porta parties are. We used to have porta parties there, and it was such a challenge to manage them. And so we said, you know, like, what and it's a really poor choice, with children, but we found it that it's just so hard. The children couldn't use them. You would just have to walk across.

If I may, I think I need to provide our library director a little bit of relief. She's done an amazing job to explain public restaurants to you. The public restaurants can be very, very challenging in in public spaces. And, know, I think that there's an opportunity to have a conversation that that I I would say will be on the other side of the street where the playgrounds, where the opportunity may lie. But happy to share the the trials and tribulations and public agencies and public restrooms, which, Yanti, I really appreciate you. You've done admirable.

I can I can add to the conversation a little? Janti made reference. There there's a garage in the walk bathroom in the walk in's garage that has not been used for years. The when the plaza opened, we refurbished it and advertised it as an open bathroom. It was vandalized within a week. We had people sleeping inside the lock in this week. Made some adjustments to ours. We ended up replumbing everything with metal toilet, metal sink, metal hand hand dryer. Still vandalism constantly. That pilot lasted a month.

The the damage cumulatively was adding up quickly. So we have piloted it a couple times. Some of the feedback to your point across the street at the park, that was some of the feedback we heard from the community about the lack of restrooms there was an opportunity across the street. I don't think it's something we really explored terribly at that time, but I know that was some of the conversation we heard.

Appreciate it. Great to be in that too. And then those are my only common things.

Sorry. It's

okay. Appreciate everything you're doing here so much.

Thanks for the presentation. I've been looking forward to it. But I had a question about the neighbors who live next to Heritage Plaza. Have you all received any feedback, comments, complaints about

I can speak briefly to that. Whether you're aware or not, we paused rentals of the rotunda in the 2024 due to complaints of noise and vandalism within our own bathrooms. We've run into the reconnaissance. This building was new. It has progressively gotten worse and worse as far as vandalism, people going outside. We've had we've had a couple of fights. Different things have gone on. The neighbors specifically that live right here are the ones we were hearing from a lot. So we paused rentals of return to be honored whenever we had. I think we have something I think June is actually the last thing we've had on calendar.

We didn't actively advertise it. We took the rentals off the website and haven't heard a lot, to be to be really honest. But the rotunda, it was not uncommon that we would come in on Monday. The facility staff, the bathrooms would be destroyed. There would be stuff everywhere, and it was it's unfortunate. It's it's just unfortunate, man. For what we're charging, we're we're losing money every time that we provide that service. So we believe we've just paused it. We haven't stopped, but it's just been on pause.

Okay. And what about in Heritage Plaza?

I will say whenever we have an event, we actually go door to door and give our neighbors a heads up. So we actually make a flyer for every single neighbor. So which, you know, again, is outdated thing. And most people are very nice, and they're kind, especially for things which have to do with children. So they're generally kind about it. But we know people do you know, they're not very happy that there's gonna be noise and people tramping in and out and walking by their doors and windows. But we definitely are very conscious of making sure our neighbors know that we're be having an event and there's gonna be noise. Okay.

And then have you thought about some smaller events on a monthly basis that won't be intensive on the park or the restroom facilities inside the library? So for example, yoga, disco, those kinds of things. We well, you know, we do all of that inside the library. It can be really bought outside,

and so often it means that we have to put up a tent or something. So that's, again, you know, these are all possibilities. If we add more staff, there's a lot more we could do. But we in terms of actually activating and the issue, we're having community events. We have community to do before. That's yeah. But small events do happen, like, a a plan swaps. We do that regularly. We do the library, you know, friends book sales. So so there are small events that go on around the year, but not things that they're, like, promising. Yes. It will happen, but we are definitely doing events regularly.

And then have you thought about working with other agencies or organizations to manage the park, to events, smaller events, midsize events?

Well, you know, if someone were to talk to us, it clearly is not every event we plan with the partner is just as time consuming for us as us just doing it ourselves. I see. So, you know, yes, we could, but at this time, we're not really actively doing anything.

And then what are the timelines for the indigenous peoples in Russell City Memorials? You know, for the indigenous peoples, my understanding is within the next few months, it should be up. October will be great. That's like Yeah.

Well, I can, you know, I can reach out and find out what the plan is, but my understanding is it is almost like it's ready to go. Basically, it has been designed. Russell City, I can't speak to it. I think our city attorney's office is handling that now. They might be the people. So right now, I know that all their managers stood up aside and just say, just sort of acknowledging the history, and that's something we've come.

Okay. Vivian, wanted to know about tents outside the Heritage Plaza. I know that we've talked about how it's hard because they can eat and and and bad issues at previous events. What is the capacity of the Heritage Plaza to have a tents, like, an over a tents that's over the plaza for events? I think that's something we

would probably have to look into and research. I don't think it's something that we've spent a lot of time looking at today.

You know, like, the big

I know. Yeah. They are very expensive. I know. Even we, like, even for the for our San Francisco Opera, we were talking about. You know? And and it is it can be, like, even a reasonable fee. Like, say, $45,000 is easy for a good tent. You know, that's not very. If you're talking about the bigger we get it, it can just to give us.

Saint Louis.

Yes. Yeah. Like that.

The Saint Rose tent for one week was $50,000.

This is the best.

And

then I do have a question about water and water fountains. And so when you all have events out there, what do

you all do? Because I know there's We have water, like, these little water dispensers. You know, you bring we put water dispensers whenever we have the events out there. Okay. Alright. Those are my questions that you've worked with. That's because the facilities does that and provides it for the banks on and on.

And looking back to the design of the like, there was a robust discussion around restrooms. For for whatever reason, I don't recall the conversation about water development. It doesn't just don't develop to me for a reason that much.

Okay. And then, what about, like, just tables and chairs out there to add to the plaza for the cafe since the cafe's right there? Would they be interested in having more tables and chairs in the plaza? Or because sometimes it gets pretty busy.

Well, there is seating out there, and I will say I see people there regularly. And, you know, we do a lot of walking, and now we have the Star Trek, and our staff are out there trying to get their steps in. But it it is, like, especially at lunchtime, we really do see people there. It's not huge crowds, but small families, parents with decades, strollers. We've seen that really, like, Yeah. Yeah. But there is there is pretty nice seating over there. It's very beautiful, and the benches, I think, are really pretty. It's a good job. Okay. Yeah.

And what about passive art installations where it doesn't require any kind of that thing? Just Yeah. If you're interested in installing and people can walk by and say

We have to anything we do, we have to maintain. We have to have staff oversight over that. I would be, like, very really say it's something the city has to control and manage. We get you know, you will have to have staff dedicated to something like that. You know, we had talked about even doing, like, a story reading where, you know, you can do the pages of a story around that.

Everything's expensive. Everything really takes a lot of planning, thought, money, then you just have to make sure you're maintaining and following you. But, yeah, you can pandemic film is so common that really any kind of art, you have to be careful. Even when I went out on Friday and art, that beautiful the Japanese American look pillow was just covered with stickers and flyers, and we put in a you know, have to put in a CRM to have it cleaned up. And so, you know, it is kind of Yeah. Very sad to see that, but I'm not saying you shouldn't do it. Yeah. But it takes a lot of staff time to maintain.

And and for perspective in there too, like, have round lighting that gets vandalized, outlets that are vandalized. We have LED strips that are under some of the benches, vandalized. Irrigation systems, vandalized. It's a constant ongoing we're there doing maintenance on Mondays and Fridays with three man crew in there. They are there Wednesdays solely to deal with vandals. That's the only reason they're there on Wednesday. Have three guys there for the majority of the day Wednesday. It's just to try to upkeep what's there. They've been trying to take some proactive measures to put protective boxes around some of the outlets. But, you know, still lost on you guys.

It's it's frustrating. It's a it's a beautiful beautiful plaza and stuff, and we're it feels like sometimes we're chasing our tails just trying to keep it what it is, let alone try to make it make it better. You know?

And those archways, that was vandalism. Right? That what happened to the archways? So they're not coming back. Yeah.

We It

was a beautiful archway, like wooden archways. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

On the corner here. Yeah.

Those are that was.

And they look beautiful. Yes. Fit that, and that's really where the indigenous that should be interesting. So just fit that.

Alright. Well, this is helpful. Thank you for.

Thank you. My last question.

I I know that this

is an economic development in any meeting, but it's about. I'm sorry. So how do you mitigate sort of the impact of homelessness on the or, you know, on Heritage Plaza? And then when I think about it, like, especially as compared to Weeks Park, like, I guess, you know, any perspective on that? And then secondly, do you have any concerns about kind of continuing to keep Heritage Plaza, you know, as as beautiful as what it is with or do you have any kind of concerns of implications with Saint Regis coming online?

Not really. I you know, I mean, the difference here with the weeks from my perspective and then maybe other perspectives is that we do have South Hayward Parish. There is a reason people come for food and things like that and then stay. And so it's a little bit different over here. A Regis village, from what I understand, is not going to be like a drop in or come by or, you know, feeding people that aren't there. It's it's a residential facility. There will be the medical clinics, but it's not going to be, like, yeah, free. Everyone just come. Anyone come get food. So it's gonna be quite different.

So I think my personal opinion and some of it might change as time goes along, I think this is contained and should not have the kind of impact on the park that that we see at weeks. I hope that is my strong hope, and I have talked with them. I've been talking with them regularly, so I really do hope that's it. Even the use of it, I don't see whole I mean, yes. Are some of our house populations but not to the extent you have it. There's enough.

I I was thinking as you were talking, to to homeless, you know, if if if there's a space that's not activated, they're more likely to be there, you know, to sort of hang out there and set tents up. I mean, weeks apart, and

there's other There's lot of that. I mean, there's a lot of foot traffic through here. Got sightlines from all four corners. It's it's not real attractive. Typically, if somebody sets up shop there, we'll be trying to get them services and get them moved quickly. I think it's high risk more so. They haven't had huge issues.

Yeah. Just a couple of observations. You know, one, it's clear that, you know, when the library partner the library and or when the library partners with other agencies, organizations, the park one, you you draw a lot of peep you can pull a lot of thousands. Thousands. So, you know and so drawing crowds for large, medium, and small events.

I mean, you've had 10,000 kids out there for a trunk or treat. And then you've had, you know, a a couple 100 kids out there for, you know, work for lunch or stuff like that. So so clearly, it can be activated for fun, you know, activities for, you know, all different stuff. So that's great, I think that's been really good. As, you know, as you were talking the the opera, you know, what a what a great, opportunity.

And hopefully, the Hayward Chamber of Commerce hears me when, we say that this is the opportunity where every restaurant in Downtown Hayward should have an opera menu. Right? Every downtown restaurant should have something opera. You know, you know, it should have a poster in the door. It should have a sign in the door.

Welcome San Francisco Opera, you know, and so forth. And, there should be all hands on deck about, you know, bringing people, especially, you know, with all the other events. You know, the downtown street party, you know, we had single the mile just this weekend. I mean, clearly, you know, you know, crowds are coming back. I mean, they're you know, they were they were like that last year.

So, anyways, I guess the the point is is, you know, the the city, we are doing our part in in creating these opportunities, bringing people out here. And, you know, I'm glad to see the chamber here. This is economic development. And, you know, what the library does clearly will impact. I mean, that's why we put it in downtown.

I mean, that was primarily one. The also, another observation, clearly you know, a lot there's a lot of stuff that that can't be done primarily because of staffing. And, yes, you know, that's the enduring issue, and, you know, that's something that we're cons I'm thinking about. You know, bathrooms, you know, I don't that's, you know, you're right. You're right.

You're very polite. But bathrooms, they're not only expensive, but, you know, when we were planning and when we were beginning to build the library, they're also very you know? And and it was the they were, you know, it was a tough conversation, and to be quite quite frank with with everybody. And, I mean, you were probably right there along those along those conversations with Matt McGrath, but there were no conclusions to that conversation. The conversation just stopped.

And so that's why when you brought it up, I was all you know? And but it's expensive. And and, you know, and they get destroyed. We've had porta potties out there. I've driven by there, and they've been upside down.

You know? Yeah. I mean, it's it's it literally is a messy messy, no pun intended, messy messy issue. I don't know how we resolve it, but, you know, you know, we you know, people are you know, I don't you know, people are destroying the things that we're trying to do down. And so, you know, maybe we need to rethink maybe we need to think about rethink about, you know, you know, how we build them and, you know you know, and I know sometimes bathrooms that are all stainless steel inside aren't necessarily the most clean and pleasant looking bathrooms.

But, anyways, I don't know. But, that is certainly a big a big issue. So, but lastly, I just wanted to, you know, just, you know, comment that, you know, just what I think your up to your comments around the medium events, you know, just to keep keep things activated. I think that's great. So yeah.

I was asked on Saturday if, the work for lunch was gonna be back, and I said yes. That wasn't good. Yeah. You know, those we get a lot of kids, anticipating it. And so, you know, and I'm I'm a I'm a little disappointed to hear about, you know, the conditions of the rotunda after, you know, after events. Over the last couple of weekends, I mean, I've seen here. I've seen wedding. There was a wedding on Saturday here. There you know? And so but, you know, I didn't know the the extent of the damage, so I didn't know it was so much.

But, anyways, I think those are really all mine.

I just have a couple of comments and one quick question. Have we also been having Kirby just parked out there once a month, or is this is the staffing for that stuff as well?

It's all you know, it does come down to staffing, Basically. But Kurpi is very busy, just like how we general, but the busy ages really. Mean, it's we have we have our regular stops, but we get so many requests for it that one of the things, in fact, in we like we were at Cinco de Mayo, had there. It isn't necessarily the best use of or as much of as an. So a lot of people come in thinking, oh, we're gonna get free books.

Yeah. Like, you know, yes, but we really want you to use our library services, get a library card, read, you know, so that's sort of and so we are, in fact, getting more and more talking to agencies about we'd rather just do a tent and do a table like all the other departments in the city because Kirby and it is Kirby is quite expensive to run. We have to charge it. And so if we like, for example, what happens when we have it at an event in the evening, it's done two stops in the morning. We have to come back. We have to charge it and then come back. And then we have to have a whole second round of staff because we can't have the first shift of staff coming late at night. It becomes kind of difficult for us. It's not necessarily the easiest thing. And yeah.

But, you know, because they're so close, we wouldn't really want to have Gobi Park just there again. Same with Mobi? Mobi also. Well, Mobi also okay. Mobi's focus is going to be on the technology classes, digital classes. So Mobi, again, will be out a lot, but I think Mobi's gonna be just as much in demand as Kolby as soon as we. They are. K.

Well, the two things I was just gonna say is I'm I'm very concerned about library capacity and your staff capacity. You guys do amazing social media. You have a lot of events, and I know the events, the Plaza adds on to that. So I'm just gonna be sure while I was thinking about that. But I I do wanna see the Plaza activated.

So just figuring out that balance and whatever we figure out for I I do wanna put in a plug for Sunday's opening if we can't get restrooms in, like, Sunday opening is probably the way to go. Especially providing those amenities, including water, we should we should start thinking about how do we make that happen. But I know we have to consider the budget, but just a plan to get there would be really good for us. And then, I know this is gonna give some people heartburn, but Heritage Plaza does not have the best placement in terms of urban planning standards. In my personal opinion, it's very disconnected to the rest of downtown.

And it's unfortunate because I know we were trying to retain the parking structure and where the library was. It made sense to to do it this way. But the way it's located is not really helping the town businesses as much as it could. And so I think maybe in the future, next time we talk to our consultants, we're developing and connecting maybe with chambers, DHI, and other things, figure out how do we connect this plaza to downtown better. We can't physically move the plaza.

What are some things we can do to connect it today with to downtown? A little bit better. Whether it's more wayfinding, whether it's if it's art installations, if it's some more signage. It's just it's it seems like it's a missed opportunity the way the the plaza's placed. It's beautiful.

But if you're on B Street, you don't know that this whole plaza's here. If it was if we were able to flip it almost where the library is, it would have been a better connection to City Hall in downtown. But and we lost unfortunately, we have Mission, which is a, you know, high traffic street. So that also kinda hurts the the attraction. Heritage Plaza connected to downtown. So I'll be interested to see if there's just anyone that can review, like, how do you connect these this feature to the rest of downtown. I just don't know how how you can, but I'm sure I can look at it.

Okay. Okay. Any other questions? Comments. Excuse me. Okay. Thank you for that. Next item. We'll move on to our next item, which is item number four is future meeting topics. Oh, you know what? I need to me back up before we move on. Public comment. Is there public any public comment related to Heritage Plaza either online or in the? No public comment. Close public comment and move on to the next item. Thank you.

Just as a reminder, counsel, on June the June meeting will be a toward the. We'll stop here at City Hall. Next meeting will be a tour of City Hall. That's a corridor. We'll start we'll start the meeting like we did with the downtown one here, and then we will all load up in a van, I chose, managing logistics.

So we'll take a a brief tour of Tennyson. We're trying to deteriorate the number of spots where we the council can engage with a couple business owners, potentially a property, like, broker rep for all the corners, talk about the the vacant US banks that community has bought up before. So there'll be an opportunity to get some narration on some information and demographics and business statistics on the corridor, the overall economic health of the corridor from ED staff, and then we'll have stops where we can interact with businesses, talk about their experiences and their their expectations and vision for the corridor, also on the private brokerage as well.

What day is this? June 2.

Would be.

And so

then for July, we don't have a July meeting scheduled. July 4 holiday, but we may be exploring a special meeting. Mister Kasual probably set out a call once we confirm a special meeting in July, if possible, with the city's planning consultant or zone consultant that that is doing the work on the strategic economic items regarding business friendly changes to our regulations. Hopefully, that will come in July. If not, we might push back on the bill.

A a a possible future economic development and also chamber chamber economic development at or meeting. Yesterday, I was talking to chamber leaders from up and down the East Bay. I was also talking to mayors from up and down the East Bay, the Alameda County border. And we were talking about having planning out a Alameda County mayor's conference, planning out one mayor's conference meeting, one of the cities in the future of month, where chambers, economic development, chambers, economic development, heads and and mayors and city managers all come together, and the focus of that one Alameda County mayor's conference meeting is economic development. And it would not be, you know, June, July, or August.

But just something to think about, if we were to pull a meeting together, say, fall, what could be some frameworks? What could be some some talking, you know, some some themes to cover, and, you know, just kinda toss that around. Yeah, that's it.

Thanks for making a downtown activation.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. All of them. Yeah. You know? And and and and we can compare and contrast to other cities and see what other cities are doing. It could be a interesting sharing kind of event. You know? And you guys would be like I don't think Mike did. Okay.

That's it. Anything else?

So the standing item will start you?

We'll circle back with the system and system submitter, Dawson. Just gave you just an update on two. We gave an update to the infrastructure with, yeah, infrastructure committee. So there's a video on a brief update we gave to that committee. Okay? If not A

video on the

From the meeting. He presented at the meeting status update, but we will get it. If not, we'll we'll invite him we'll invite him and provide an update. Close. K. Okay.

Yeah.

I think it was the finance meeting. I'm sorry.

Okay. Yeah. Oh.

Oh my god.

I know. Oh I know. I know. Know.

We see a thing? Did we see a video? Oh, it did. I'm seeing.

Yes. We did see a movie theater update. Anyway, was it a video?

No. It's a video, so you could watch it.

Okay. Oh. Oh, okay. Alright.

Oh, yeah. We do, know, do you know?

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. We had a whole conversation. Yeah.

Okay. Good.

I thought you I thought you said that there was a video on it. I don't know.

Recording of their meeting person. Yes. Okay.

Okay. So I can look at finance to get in. Okay. Good. Alright. Thank you.

Okay. Alright. Anything else? Staff announcements. Yes.

Well, Peter, great to get you up here. Just happy to report that this, so tomorrow, actually, the economic development team will be traveling to the great city of Ontario in Southern California to attend the state, the big state economic development conference organized by Talend of California Association for Local Economic Development. Proud to report that, they have four years running. Four years running, we'll be going and bringing home some hardware. I see two awards, in their award of access programs, two awards of merit.

The first one is in the digital media category. They're the hashtag Hayward program. We'll just cancel authorized for a second year additional budget allocation, which is underway. We will have a report to back on our 2025 impacts later this fall, but it's a huge win for us to go to this conference and get recognized for this kind of thing. So I believe it's probably most one of most groundbreaking ED programs the world's seen.

You know, it's a little braggy or humble brag on it. No one is doing it like this. The stats that a specialist now here shares every week on the on the ROI that we're seeing, you know, businesses and and the traction you see on social media. Instagram, just type in Hayward. I guarantee that the first 20 posts are all related to businesses that receive funding through our hashtag Hayward program.

The the content there, it will ramp four mill. Over 4,000,000. Over 4,000,000 views on on social media content developed by bonafide influencers with the city in the background kinda. So it's a really cool innovative program. And the second word of merit under the programs promotions category, the highlights are partners highlight recognize our partnership with the city, Castle East Bay, neighborhood, Chabot College, and the friends of Chabot under our earn to learn and hire programs, which you guys received a update a few months ago. So pretty cool. We'll be traveling down there to. So they bring back the hardware, and then probably do a presentation with talent, board members, and get on council.

Those are two different Two different Oh, okay.

Two plots. That's strange.

And

and what and that one's gonna be in Southern California? Yeah.

On the we're traveling tomorrow. I think the work in San Jose on Wednesday or Thursday. Oh, okay.

Are there any library social media awards? I feel like you guys Oh my god.

Hector is, like, TikTok famous. Not

not yet. Little. But she has them. Figure Figure out when they get done. But we do have an award, a staff award with that center that can talk.

I'll try to be taking since he about his lead this attraction to the city.

Yeah. So thank you, Eric, for attending the Ruby Cutting. I know our company has actually been open for quite a while, but we finally did our grand opening for them. We had a huge turnout. Appreciate a shout out to the chamber for gathering a lot of the people, especially HPD. They had a lot of snapshots. Think it was one of the biggest one we had in a while since March 7. But the owners, the Hare family, they're they're locals. They've been here for over, you know, twenty years, twenty five years. They want to open business here.

They're ready to raise their children here. And since they've been open, I think it's been one of the biggest stay in this. Know more people wanting to It's a healthy lunch option. So, yeah, I think they're actually thinking about expanding already. So they've been probably.

In Hayward? Or

In Hayward. Well, I mean, if they're reaching out to us for. We're gonna try

and keep it there.

Oh, okay. And I've definitely, like, mentioned to you that they're expanding.

Oh, so you're great. And we've adopted in our SOPs, our standard operating procedures because we we're doing all these driven cuttings now and kind of harnessing the power of social media combining the success and and branding that we've seen work for under hashtag. The economic development team led primarily led by Javier here is putting together reels, like IG, Instagram reels after these events to that the city can post online because the content is king. We're seeing a pretty steady trend among cities, particularly elected officials. If you're following May and Lori, City, or they have San Jose, they're posting three up to three or four wheels a day.

Oh, I know. What's the current they're like Sorry. People are getting on call.

I couldn't pull it out because my it's not working, but I when I did last look at the city's Instagram feed, the majority of the the post that have 5,000 plus overall views are all, I think, the development front yet, especially, like, you see the Kmart set with the Sprout Center opening, and I think the the Saberto one will play in a second. I think it has, like, 4,000 views. We're seeing a lot of interest in these things, and it is is part of the our overall mission in terms of the the branding and marketing of this need to share the stories and investment and get get the word out that Hayward is the place to invest, and we're having these really poor moments kind

of time.

With that, I'll I'll just if you entertain me for another two minutes, just watch the video real quick.

The grand opening celebration took place on April 17 at Lincoln Landing. That's at 22341 Foothill Boulevard. Guests were welcomed with balloons, big smiles, and that signature Hayward hospitality. Excitement built the air as community members gathered to show their support. Mayor Mark Salinas kicked off the event with a warm welcome to our newest business.

The crowd cheered as the celebration continued. The owners of Sourdough and Company were honored with official recognitions. They were presented by the offices of assembly member Liz Ortega, state senator Aisha Lama, and congressman Yaritz Waldau. The owners also shared their things with the neighbor community. And, of course, the moment we were all waiting for, the ribbon was cut. Photos follow the family, friends, and members of the neighbor who used to join in. Sourdough and Co. Welcome to Hayward.

This is we'll be doing this every time for an economic development. Just kinda wraps up the story and then puts it out long term, which I think we've seen as super important in this market. We have to continue telling our story, and these are little elements that takes probably a few hours to put this together just in a way that this story lives on and then kind of actives fire.

Your economic development predecessor, one of your predecessors, was there getting the sandwich one day, and he texted me. It was Uh-huh. Sean was all, dude, I'm over here at Sourdough and Company in Downtown Denver. He was he was grabbing sandwiches for, Las Colin.

I was just gonna say, you know, whenever I post, I would say that economic development posts are the most popular, but public art is the next stop. Whenever you do a crosswalk, those are the ones that get the most hits. Should be stronger than blood to recognize development.

Okay. Great. Great. Okay. Reports or announcements? Reports or announcements? Seeing none.

Oh, wait. Wait. Wait. Five one o day is happening at bow hosted by Chewy Gomez at Cheveau. So Five

zero one day? Five one zero day. Oh, 05/05/2010.

Oh, okay.

On May 10?

May 10. Five one zero day.

May 10. It's a surprise.

It's it's, being presented by West Bookmakers.

Oh, it's Saturday. That's this Saturday?

This Saturday.

What what what what is it?

This Chewy Gomez.

Chewy Gomez.

I know Chewy Gomez, but let's see.

So they're doing performances. Oh, okay.

So so we can

you know? Okay. Other than that, Thank you. Thank you. Thank