City Council - Regular Meeting

housing authority and joint powers authority

and a quorum is present. Um I have a proclamation for first responders appreciation day and basically it reads whereas top ladies of distinction incorporated inwood chapter through its national service initiatives is committed to uplifting communities and promoting service civic engagement and youth development. The TLOD Pink and Blue National Day of Service unites top ladies and top teens in purposeful action that exemplifies the organization's commitment to compassion, leadership, and service to others. Whereas in recognition of top respon top of first responders appreci appreciation day, this is a shining light on the tremendous work of the Ingwood Police Department dispatchers who serve as vital first point of contact during emergencies, calmly and skillfully receiving distress calls, rapidly assessing life-threatening situations, and dispatching appropriate resources, often making critical decisions that directly impact public safety and the preservation of life. And whereas as un as yet unseen indispensable first responders, Ingwood Police Department dispatchers perform their duties under intense pressure, providing clear direction, reassurance, and life-saving guidance to callers while coordinating emergency response efforts with precision, professionalism, and unwavering dedication to the community they serve. And whereas this day of service is observed in conjunction with the D Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday honoring first responders through acts of appreciation directly reflects on Dr. King's legacy of service by recognizing those who model daily commitment to the well-being of others. On Monday, January 19th, 2026, all IPDN dispatchers will receive an appreciation kit presented by the top laser of distinction Ingwood California chapter. Now therefore, be it known that

the mayor and council members of the city of Inglewood, California, hereby formally recognize and commend the TLDD pink and n pink and blue National Day of Service, First Responders Appreciation Day as a meaningful expression of gratitude and civic responsibility. We honor and thank the Ingwood Police Department dispatchers and all first responders for their unwavering service, sacrifice, and dedication to protecting and serving our communities. Is there anybody here from TP? Well, with that, I I will just Oh, okay. Well, come on over here. We're going to take a picture with you.

Yep. Let's do it. Um, my dad gave me his. So, I have three. I have an old Oyster Perpetual Gold. It's a two-tone. Have the Sam older one. My parents gave it to me 1995. Ceramic. Yeah. And it's a little small. I like this. Yeah. I put a rubber band on. Yeah, it looks a nice on your wrist. Doesn't look too big.

Thanks. This was one I always got. I always wanted this one. Go deeper. There's actually a huge one that I wouldn't

heavy. I bought it at Gary's in Santa Monica. Uhhuh. No. Oh, you have a relationship? Yeah. It's I can't remember his name. He's a guy. [applause]

Oh, okay. But I do want to date. What do you And now we're going to have u public comment. Anyone that wants to comment on any item on the city agenda and address the city council uh other than the public hearings may do so at this time. Okay, with that we'll close public comment. Seeing no nobody standing. Uh madam of city clerk, what's the next schedule matter?

Um receive and file uh PH1 public hearing to consider introduction of an ordinance designating certain portions of the city as an event zone in order to regulate certain activities in connection with the FIFA World Cup and related events. We'll continue the public hearing till January 27th, 2026 at 2 p.m. M1. Approval of the minutes for the meeting held on October 7th, October 14th, and October 21st, 2025. Move approval. Second, Madam City Clerk. Council member Padilla, I. Morales, I. Faulk. I, Mayor Buts, I. [clears throat] Consent calendar, items 2 through eight. So move. Second. Second. Madame city clerk. Council member Padilla. I

Morales. I Faulk. I mayor Buts I A1 and CSA 5. Thank you, Mayor, members of the city council. The record to reflect that the city council recess into close session to discuss all of the items posted on today's close session agenda. With respect to all of the items, the city council received a briefing from city staff and outside legal counsel. Feedback was provided, but no final action was taken on any of these items. Thank you. And I have nothing to report. Mayor CM1, Mr. Mayor, on behalf of Council Member Gray, if you could close the meeting in memory of longtime District 1 resident Maxine Toller. No other comments. Thank you. CC1,

the city clerk would like to wish everyone a happy new year. Uh she would like to wish Councilwoman Gray a speedy recovery and we wanted to wish her a happy birthday. All right. CI1 initiative by Mayor James T. Buts Jr. recommending the city council approve a one-year pilot program for $314,159.50 to implement the Inglewood Senior Center Blue Zone pilot intervention program focused on reducing the incidence of fall related injuries among seniors. Move approval.

Second. Uh there's going to be a report uh just real quick uh before we vote. Uh one of the things that um happens in life is that I think everybody has knowledge of or knows someone whose senior relative uh has fallen and uh we accept that just as a passage of life. But it doesn't have to be that way because having one fall doubles to triples the likelihood of falling again. And for comparative uh injury severity, uh a senior injury in an in an older adult results in head and neck injuries, chest injuries, pelvis and extremity fractures compared to younger followers. [sighs] Of the 14 million US falls and seniors annually, 2.8 8 million required emergency department care. That's nice. 800 800,000 were hospitalized and 38,742 died as a result. Now, we have a great senior center. Uh we provide services second to none. But nowhere in this country are seniors measured for their propreception, sense of balance before they have a fall and then it's too late. So uh this this initiative is to implement a a blue zone pilot program in the senior center and uh we have a doctor from USC that is going to give us a presentation brief presentation Dr. Malcolm Jones research and physiology. [applause] All right. Thank you, Mayor Buts. In re

reality, y'all's mayor is a scientist because like a lot of what you said is what I'm I'm going to be reiterating, but you really you took it home. Um, but I still appreciate you all for letting me be here today to speak to you. Um, I wanted to also first say happy Founders Day to any of the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta out there. I see y'all repping. [laughter] But, so, good afternoon. My name is Malcolm Jones and I'm a physiologist who has spent my career studying how the human body adapts, declines, and when it has the right support, it thrives. I'm here to introduce the Englewood Senior Center Blue Zone pilot project, which is a program designed to extend not just the length of life for our seniors, but the quality of it. For some background, a blue zone is a place in the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. um places like Okinawa, Japan, there's only one blue zone in the United States or currently it's in Linda. Um but today I want to show you a realistic evidence-based first step towards making Englewood the second blue zone in this country. [cheering] [applause] So that begins with understanding why people here in this community are dying from things we shouldn't be dying from. So from my research about human life expectancy, what's most discouraging isn't the fact that we have disease itself. It's where and why it shows up. In places like Inglewood, people are dying from conditions we already know how to prevent. things like heart disease, diabetes, um obesity, and chronic lung disease. And most uh most discouraging falls. Our seniors aren't dying because their bodies are different. They're dying of

these things because we're intervening to address the issues too late. Developing these conditions isn't inevitable. And that's exactly why we're here today presenting a change. In this pilot, we're starting with preventing falls because unlike many of the health challenges that we face worldwide, this one can be addressed really quickly and effectively. Falls are predictable, measurable, and preventable. Uh, and when we intervene early, the results show up pretty quickly within months and weeks. Worldwide, the data is clear. Fall risk doubles after the age of 65 and keeps raising each decade after that. Could you would you I know I shouldn't ask, but if you're comfortable, would you raise your hand if you're in here? You're over the age of 65. All right. So, y'all y'all know who I'm talking to. Will you raise your hand if you know somebody that's older than 65 that you care about?

All right. So, really, that's this is all of us. So, the main drivers of why we fall are we lose muscle um as we age, our reflexes slow down, and our bone densities decline. Um, and but these are all things that we test for. This is what I do at USC for all the time for really rich, overserved people who don't really need it. So there's no reason that I can't do it here. [applause]

So right now, 56% of all unintentional deaths among seniors are from falls. And the bigger picture is that Inglewood is getting older. In the next 15 years, the number of residents over 65 is going to increase from the current 13% of the population to over 20%. So, this is why we can't wait. It's not just here in Englewood, but globally. Um, this graph shows here that we're aging faster everywhere in the world than any time in history. Every nation and every city is now facing the same question. How do we help people not just live longer, but also live healthier? What we're doing here isn't just about preventing falls in this city. It's about creating a scalable evidence-based model for longevity worldwide. With deliberate local action, Englewood can go from being part of a national health disparity to becoming a leader in health innovation worldwide. So, we'll raise quality of life with this program. will extend life expectancy. And we're going to establish this international model for how cities can take charge in aging, starting right here at home. And this is because falls are not minor accidents. They're often the moment everything in someone's life changes. As we age, the systems that keep us upright, our inner ear for uh that we use for balance, our vestibular system, um the mayor early mentioned earlier, our propriioceptive system, that's your body's body's natural awareness through its joints and things. Your our vision, our brain processing and our muscle strength. It's just a part of aging. They decline the vibular system in our in our ear loses sensitivity. So 35% of all Americans over the age of 40 have vestibular dysfunction.

So we can't sense motion as clearly. Our proprio receptors in our joints they become weaker. Our visions get worse. We all get cataracts and macular degeneration. Um and this we have um our reaction time slows down and then our strength also drops. So after the age of 20, every year our strength decreases by about 8%. So when we're when we lose strength, we simply cannot recover if we have a misstep. Um the result is devastating. One fall, as the mayor also mentioned, triples the risk for another fall, leading to 3 million emergency visits and nearly 1 million hospitalizations every year. This isn't an abstract statistic. It's our parents. It's our neighbors. It's our current and future selves. One fall doesn't just mean a broken bone. It sets off a chain reaction. For seniors, one of every two people who has a serious fall never makes it back home. For the half that do make it back home, after that fall, their strength and moility mobility drops fast and suddenly everyday things become hard or impossible. That's when long-term care becomes the reality. And it's not just physical. Falls lead to depression, isolation, and disability, costing older adults about four and a half good years of life. One fall changes everything. For some people, it's [snorts] fatal within days. If a fall results in a hip fracture, a lot of people don't make it a year. And within a few years, most are gone. If they do survive, things don't go back to normal. Independence drops off quickly. Many never walk again, and a large number end up in nursing homes.

What's hard to reconcile is that falls actually kill more older adults than car crashes. But we don't treat them like it's that serious. And that disconnect is a big part of why we're not doing very well at preventing them. The way we wait to address falls would be like if we weren't instructed to wear seat belts until after we had our first car crash or if doctors didn't start to take your blood pressure until after the first time you had a stroke or heart attack. The core problem is that we step in too late. Our medical system is built to react after damage happens, not while decline is still reversible. There's no routine balance screening, no neurom motor training, and by the time someone falls, we're already behind. At that point, their ability to recover is very limited. And it's possible that we can't reverse it at all. So, if we actually want different outcomes, we have to change how we're doing it. And that's what the model that we're showing today is built around. This slide introduces our solution, the Englewood Senior Center Blue Zone Pilot Program, an evidence-based community uh driven initiative designed to help older adults reduce fall, reduce fall risk, improve mobility, and support healthy longevity. The program combines research and real world application and is built to be a measurable and scalable thing. Um, it's delivered through a collaborative team of university faculty leadership, university graduate students, and internationally acclaimed clinical and performance experts, ensuring both quality and sustainability. Ultimately, this pilot gives Englewood a practical, proven model to help seniors move better, stay independent, and live healthier lives. These are the trainable

things uh that we're going to be dealing with in the program. So, I'm going to be measuring and training your body composition, your muscle, your your your bone, your percent body fat, your reaction time, your vestibular system, how well that's operating, your inner ear, your vision, uh your brain processing and strength. We actually go back every first uh day of every first Tuesday of each month, we're going to do baseline assessments. We're going to tell you where you are. We're going to tell you if you have things that you need to be concerned about, but we're not just going to tell you you have a problem and walk off or that you're good and walk off. We have two days a week where we'll be offering training at the senior center to help you ident improve the things that you found that you had limitations on and continue to maintain the things that you're doing fine. That alone knowing that you have a potential to fall alone decreases your fall risk by 40%. So some of our core partners who are making this possible um industry partners some of them are actually in the room. I'll start with the company Embody. Embbody is a global health technology company that provides medical grade body composition strength gate and fall fall risk assessment tools used by hospitals, clinics and research institutions to objectively measure health and functional risk. So the and then our other company that's working with us is reacting which is an international human performance company that designs advanced balance and neuromuscular training systems that safely challenge coordination, reaction time and stability to improve our movement control and reduce fall risk. So we're going to have all these things within but the month in the senior center. So Zach [applause]

It's important that it's in your own community. It was crazy to ask y'all to come all the way to Brentwood or USC for something that you need right here at home. [applause] So to give when y'all are in the program, we'll give you more deep a deeper rundown. Um, and also I have the the InBody team here if uh you guys after have any specific questions about the technology. But what a baseline session will include is first we want to know what your balance is.

So I'm going to we're going to be testing and giving you objective measures of all the aspects of balance. And then I want to know your body composition, the difference muscles in each of the body parts and all the things because if we do find that there's something that is an issue with your balance, your actual composition of your body gives us some information about why that could be. The other thing is we want to know your strength. So we're going to be testing your strength. So composition doesn't tell the whole story. There's a lot of people that we know who look really scrawny but are really strong. So we going to be measuring your strength in all aspects of things related to balance. We also will be we'll be measuring your gate. The way that your balance looks when you're standing is very different than when you're walking. So it's important to see how we can address you in motion. So then after those are things we're going to use to tell you what you look like to assess you. Um but then we got to get to training. So, we have this really cool futuristic board that does some moving and things that we'll be use uh uh using as you stand and uh do some exercises with us. Um that is going to speed up the process of you all getting better. Um so this is kind of what it might look like. This is what I I plan on starting in February, but this is what it looks like. February 3rd, those baseline assessments that you talk that we talked about. February 5th, you come in for your first uh training day, your nervous system focus training day. The following Tuesday, you come in for your strength testing day. Every two weeks, every two day, every twice a week, you'll have training. And every first Tuesday of every month, we'll retest [clears throat] for and we'll do this for a year. And as in our goal of continuing after that year, we also want to incentivize you

all to keep coming to the program. We don't want you guys to come one time and never come back. So, we have a weekly ch a monthly challenge. Don't worry about them never coming back. [laughter]

Oh, yeah. I heard I heard that y'all are pretty deep in there daily. But, okay. So, actually then because y'all have so many other cool things to do to make sure y'all come to this. Um I we have a monthly challenge for our first month. We're going to be doing a step count um challenge. How many of you ever monitor your step count already? Awesome. So, we're going to make sure you have that on your we have the application on your phone and we're going to count we're going to keep track of your steps for the month. But for every day you come to class, in addition to the steps that you have, we're going to multiply your step count by the the days of class you come to. Whoever has the biggest number at the end of the month, you'll be winning a theob a thera gun uh for this first month. And every month, we're going to have something different to give you all. [laughter]

So this slide shows how accountability is structured. I myself oversee the physiology and the performance data that drives decisions across the program. The data informs clinical safety oversight oversight led by Dr. Jeff Reef who's in the back. Um an individual's training [applause] and the individuals training execution will be led by Sun Lee. [applause]

So together, data, clinical judgment, and coaching stays tightly aligned the same way we do for professional sports teams. Um, so to any of our leadership who are the um the uh internationally acclaimed folks I spoke of earlier, you guys want to I'll take a second to let you say hello to everyone. So son and Dr. Ree programed.

[applause]

Everybody. pretty much everybody. [applause]

Thank you. So to fully execute the Englewood Senior Center Blue Zone pilot for the first year, the total cost is $314,000. that covers all staffing, all assessments, all training sessions, all equipment set up, and all data tracking three days a week, every week for a year. What's important to understand about this number is it's not a $314,000 equipment purchase. Our partners like Embody have [clears throat] actually provided nearly $280,000 worth of advanced advanced equipment at no cost to the city. [applause] It's important to parallel this cost that we are incurring to establish this program to the cost we incur from falls not having this program. So right now falls in thei United States cost us about $80 billion every year and this is projected to exceed exceed a hundred billion by 2030. One single fall cost $18,000 for a hospitalization. It's $14,000 additional if a hip fracture occurs and then an $80,000 or more additional if it results in the need for a nursing home. So when we look at this pilot, we're not comparing this amount to run the program to $0. We're comparing it to the cost of all preventable falls. I'll close with this. Longevity isn't discovered. It's built intentionally locally and with the leadership of the community. We already know how to prevent the suffering caused by by these falls. The

evidence is clear. The tools are here. And this pilot is the foundation. So the question is simple. Do we wait for our residents to fall or do we build the strength that keeps us standing?

Listen, I I was I was going to say some more stuff, but I I'm going to end on applause. So, thank you. I'll hand it back over to Mayor. Thank you, doctor.

[applause] Now we have the first and second. We're going to take a vote. But I I I just want I know that everyone is clear that we do things in Englewood that other cities just don't do. We think of things other cities don't even imagine. All right. [applause] So, Madam Clerk, would you call the role? First and second. He has the first and second. Council member Twidia I Morales I Faulk I Mayor Buts I [applause]

and that's that's to move the approval and now we go to the successor agency CSA 3 approval of the minutes for the meeting held on October 7th October 14th and October 21st 2025 so moved second madam city clerk successor agency members Padilla I Morales I Faulk I chairman Buts I CSA 4

staff report recommending the chairman and successor agency members adopt a resolution approving the July 1st 2026 through June 30th 2027 recognized obligation payment schedule for the expenditure of the redevelopment property tax trust funds for submittal to the second supervisoral [clears throat] district consolidated oversight board for approval consideration. Move one and two. Second. Madam city clerk. Successor agency members Padilla. I. Morales. I. Faulk. I. Chairman Buts. I. We'll journ. Successor agency of the housing authorities in session H2. Approval of the minutes for the meeting held on October 7th, October 14th, and October 21st, 2025. Move approval.

Second. Madam city clerk. Housing authority member Padilla. I. Morales. I. Faulk. I. Chairman Buts. I adjourn the housing authority. The JPA's in session JPA1 approval of the minutes of the meeting held on October 7th, 2025. Move approval. Second. Second. Madam city clerk joint powers authority members. Padilla I. Morales. I. Faulk. I. Chairman butts. I will adjourn the JPA. There are no appointments to boards, commissions, and committees. We're at public comment. Any persons wishing to address the city council on any matter connected with city business not elsewhere considered may do so at this time. Okay,

good afternoon, city council. And um I have three remarks. Uh one is we're missing a homeless lady named Mary [laughter] on uh Century. She's been missing for about two weeks. She had two dogs and she had a pushing cart and I'm really nervous. If you see me, I walk Inglewood almost every morning. I walk five to 10 miles every morning and Mary is missing. So, please be on the lookout for Mary. Number two, on the corner of uh Crrenshaw and 107th, right there by the uh fire department, when we're doing our our street work, there's no uh handicap curb there. So, we're trying to prevent falls. So, we uh we got everybody working over there now, so we could put a handicap curb there. And uh uh my last one is uh let's keep the streets in Englewood clean, people. Let's start picking up our trash. Let's you know, let's let's let's get it together for real. Englewood, we're supposed to be this great city and we're beacon to shine. You know, when you go to Disneyland, there's no trash. So, let's treat Englewood like Disneyland. Let's pick up the trash. Thank you.

[applause]

Good afternoon, Mayor Buts and members of the city council. My name is Patricia Patrick and I am a proud 45y year resident of the city of Englewood, this wonderful city of Englewood. I am a member of the Englewood senior city, sorry, senior center advisory council. I would personally like to say thank you for supporting our state-of-the-art senior center. It is truly the best in the California area and I venture to say in the country. [applause] All because of you, mayor, and your support from the city council. We

[applause] We thoroughly enjoy the interesting programs, the informative classes, and the delicious meals that we receive for the nourishment of our bodies. Dave, for the nourishment of my bodies, [laughter] are all here today to support the mayor's blue zone PILOT PROGRAM. [applause]

WE ARE EXCITED about the new exercise equipment and thank you for always putting us first. [applause and cheering] Also, I would like to thank Thomas Ule and Bos Develop [applause] for their leadership, guidance and patience. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to everyone in this room for coming out today to support our mayor and council. [cheering] [applause]

Thank you so much, Mayor Buts, city council members, and all of us. Wish you a happy new year. [applause] I I can't take anymore. That was Oh. Oh, you guys. Whoa. So, with that, um Oh, we got one more. Okay. [snorts] I can't take anymore. Okay. Okay. That's it. With that, we'll close public comment [laughter] and we'll go to uh council comments. Councilman Padilla. Oh, wait a minute. No, we have one more. [snorts]

Don't be nervous. Who? Our mayor buts and other constituents here. I am a regular visitor at the Englewood Senior Center. I stand at this time. I am Arvis Spriggs and I stand at this time to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate any and everything that's improvement for the Inglewood Senior Center. We are in agreement and we thank you for this. I said I have been there for a long time. We appreciate the meals and everything that you do. And I just thought I would say for the con convenience of those of us who are here, we love our mayor. We love what you do for us. And when I say the last love is we love to love you. Thank you. [applause]

Okay. I don't think we're ever going to have another council meeting after this one. [laughter] So with that, we'll go to uh council remarks and start with council Padilla. Great. [snorts]

But uh I want to thank the the doctor for doing such a great job and uh you know, we really appreciate your commitment uh to working with our seniors uh here at the senior center. And I want to also thank the partners that were here uh for your commitment as well. Really truly appreciate it. [applause] Uh we are looking so forward to being the second blue zone, right? And we're going to uh we're going to tear it up. But uh again, please uh seniors if you're here and and a lot of you are, [clears throat] you know, take heed on what the doctor said. When you talk about 56% of folks 65 and over die because of a a fall, right? And then the other number, 40% of those can be prevented, at least 40%. By being self-aware of your where you're at, your own bal balance, all that. And you're going to get that training by coming these three days a week to the senior center free of charge. And I got to repeat, free of charge. So again, you know, I look forward to seeing you there. I'm in that 65 and over group, so uh I certainly appreciate it. Uh and uh now moving on, uh I want to invite everybody uh on this uh Saturday at 11:00 a.m. we're going to be hosting our grand opening of the Morningside Library uh park branch uh at 3202 85th Street. So, please come by, take a look at all the fantastic work that uh the library folks have done uh so that

we can have this for the residents and our young folks here in the city of Inglewood. So, thank you all. God bless you. Enjoy the rest of your week. [applause] Councilwoman Dion Far, District 4.

Oh, there we go. Um I I too I want to just really um congratulate um Dr. Malcolm Jones. What a great presentation. And um I want to also congratulate our seniors for coming out and being here and supporting this um presentation. I really I I have to be honest when the mayor first started talking about it. I was like explain it again. Like what is it? because I really had not been [snorts]

um exposed to someone that had um suffered, fail, and potentially died or um had been in a horrible situation like that. So, um once I I had a great conversation with the mayor and um he explained it to me and I was like, "Wow." I was like, "That makes sense." And then he kind of shared with me some some of his experiences. And then my mom recently um she hit a milestone birthday. So it really hit home how important it is. And so now I understand I see and I'm I'm just so thankful that it is here. And um I really appreciate when we do bring valuable programming here, especially for our seniors and for our kids. So thank you again for bringing this great wonderful program to Inglewood and thank you mayor for having that vision. Appreciate that. Um, I want to also [snorts] um congratulate Animo uh City of Champions uh high school. They did a grand opening on Saturday on Imperial. They are uh occupying now the uh the former Fresh Start um location. And so uh now we have life there. And for a lot of us uh residents in Englewood who drive by Imperial every day and have seen that building sitting lifeless there collecting trash. Now we have kids there and you're going to see like life there and um beautiful kids that are going to be um um obtaining their education. So it's a wonderful high school there. Uh the mayor and I were there and we welcomed uh animal children there. So congratulations Animo. Let's support these kids and let's make sure that they get their education and they're successful. Um also, um I want to uh wish a lot we have a lot of birthdays in January. It's probably some

birthdays out here, [snorts] [laughter] but um first of all, I want to wish um our city clerk who is not here today. My girl who I um made it onto this council with in 2020 a very very happy birthday. Aisha Thompson. Uh she unfortunately couldn't be here today, but uh let's wish her a very happy birthday. Also, Jose Cortez, our assistant city manager.

Um [laughter] [gasps] one of my commissioners, Cheryl Mlen, happy birthday. Um and then my oldest son, Fitzgerald Faulk. And then do you guys know? Um Oh, thank you. That's my baby. My oldest baby. I know I'm out of time, mayor. Um, really quickly, uh, we have a a senior here, speaking of seniors, a senior here that's turning 105 on Friday. Uh, Gerald Brileley, Senior. Happy birthday, Gerald Brileley. And so, um, with that, I just, uh, will end. Yes, there he is. There he is. Where is he? Happy birthday. Thank you all. Yes. Where is he? He's right He's right there.

Oh, the picture. Yes. [laughter] He said he's here [laughter] in spirit. In spirit. Uh, thank you all so much. Happy MLK day and uh happy founders day to my sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much, Councilman Ella Morales, District 3.

Mr. Mayor, um, listen, first I'd just like to thank all the seniors for coming out. we have a full house of all of you and it's uh important when when we know what's important to you. But honestly, the the senior center ever since it was built, I mean, it's so it's so alive in there because all of you use it and if you weren't using it, you know, we wouldn't be so pumped up about continuing to put services in there and everything else. I mean, just to hear kind of the ownership you guys feel when you talk about it and kind of when we go to certain events, seeing you there is amazing. Um, but in regards to kind of how we provide services, you know, the city has I was here so I've been here long enough to see us lose services, lose senior services, lose library hours, lose park hours, lose everything. and to see us coming back and then to see us add to that to the point where now we're kind of walking into a different level with this uh potential blue zone walking towards that amazing you know thank you to the doctors who came out and kind of shared what they're going to bring to the table and kind of it it they take back with them the image that is Inglewood and that's a huge step forward as well. So that's what today means. Of course, the mayor, thank you uh mayor uh for your leadership in that. You know, I know uh your age had a lot to do with it. [laughter] Just kidding, man. Just kidding. Just kidding. Dang. I told him to put 315,000, but he said no, that's enough. [laughter] No, I think I you know what's important is that we do see what's needed. the mayor actually does the work. You know, believe it or not, I know he's in there reading. He figures out what's best and he reaches out for him when something when he's driven, it's happening and you

know, we all can appreciate that. So, with that, happy new year. Thanks for coming out. [applause] Really appreciate you guys coming out. I appreciate uh Thomas for getting the word about this initiative and it just warms my heart that you're here. you know, in in Englewood, um, [snorts] we've improved public safety. You know, we've we've redone the streets, re redone our trees. We have a a youth orchestra program right 50 yards from this building for the children. There's going to be 200 million pumped into Ingwood High to redo it. We're putting 60 million into the main library again for everybody and the children included. Uh we're re reopening the 85th and Crenshaw library I think on the 17th of this month. We have this $28 million senior center. It's the pride of the country. And I'll tell you that um we spare no expense for you.

[applause]

I I was over there once and uh we were had a function and and and we had, you know, we had sandwich wraps, you know, and I said, "Thomas, just not going to get it. We have to cater it and do better." [laughter] You guys, you are the foundation of what this city has become. And the thing that gets me is when I hear people say that we've done all this for the people that have woken up and found out Ingwood is great and want to move here now and paid top t. So I just want to tell you that uh I want to thank the doctor and his compatriots that are going to bring this magnificent program here and this is going to be make us singular in this nation and I just want to tell you that we love you. That's it. [applause] Good job at [cheering] the end. And with