City Council - Regular Meeting

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Seriously. Oh, country but like fake country. All right. Good evening, everyone. We're going to call tonight's meeting to order. Um, tonight is a special meeting and uh, let's get a roll call, please. Council member Go

present. Council member Wong present. Council member Sanchez present. Mayor Pro Tamllo here. Mayor Yang present. We have a quum. Thank you. All right. Um all the comment cards I have before me are for item 5A. So yeah, there's more coming. Um so there's no public communication. So, we'll go right into the public hearing for 5A. And why don't we start with a presentation from Pledge of Alleg? Okay. All right. Everyone, please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

Please place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated.

All right. Uh staff is going to be doing a presentation for item 5A and then we will go through I think we have about 25 public speakers. Yes. All right. Opening the public hearing for item 5A. Uh Tim, please go ahead.

Good evening, honorable mayor and city council. My name is Tim How. I'm the director of community development. The item before you tonight is consideration and possible action. Uh starting with a public hearing to uh one adopt an emergency ordinance to enact a citywide prohibition on data centers. Two to introduce and wave first reading of a regular ordinance to enact a city-wide prohibition on data centers. and three, introduce and wave first reading of a regular ordinance that would implement measure NDC and become effective the same date as measure NDC if adopted by voters on June 2nd, 2026. The city council has considered regulating data centers since 2024. Since that time, council has made various policy choices, including amending the Monterey Park Municipal Code to regulate data centers in Saturn Park, adopting interim moratoria on processing data center applications, and most recently placing a city sponsored ballot measure onto the June 2nd, 2026 special election, now designated as measure NDC. On March 4th, the city council directed staff to initiate a process to consider a city-wide prohibition on data centers before the voters consider measure NDC. A public hearing was noticed for this special meeting on April 20th, 2026 to consider proposed amendments proposed amendments to the Monterey Park Municipal Code prohibiting data centers citywide. If adopted, the three draft ordinances would make the same changes to the municipal code. Uh converting the city council's recent interim actions into a permanent land use policy, declaring data centers a public nuisance and removing them from Saturn Park

zoning regulations and the marketplace specific plan. They would also make it apparent that server rooms are an accessory use to otherwise lawful primary land uses. Measure JJ approved by Monterey Park voters in 2020 updated the land use and urban design element and established a general park frame general plan framework that now guides land use policy in the city. In 2023, the city adopted the marketplace specific plan which expressly allowed data centers as a primary land use within that specific plan area. In 2024, the city amended Saturn Park regulations to distinguish between data processing facility and data center with a data center requiring approval via a development agreement adopted by ordinance. This distinction matters because a data processing facility could otherwise be processed ministerially if it met objective standards while a data center required environmental review and legislative action at the discretion of the city council. On January 21st, the council adopted an interim urgency ordinance prohibiting the processing of pending and acceptance of new data center applications in Saturn Park while broader policy review is considered. The council subsequently opted adopted ordinances extending the moratorum citywide to maintain the status quo while considering broader zoning and general plan changes. On February 4th, two, 2026, council direct direction shifted from only preparing zoning regulations to also preparing a ballot proposition based on the view that a voter approved prohibition would provide stronger long-term protection. Next slide, please. On March 4th, 2026, council adopted a resolution placing the

community act prohibiting data centers on the June 2nd, 2026 special election ballot. If approved by voters, measure NDC would amend the general plan to prohibit data centers citywide. On March 4th, the council also expressed its concern that the interim moratorum on data centers, which lasts until January 2027, is not a complete prohibition on data centers. the city council not wishing to create uncertainty about whether such uses remain permissible in some parts of the city. Consequently, uh uh directed staff to begin the noticing process for amending zoning regulations within the Monterey Park municipal code to make it plain that data centers are prohibited citywide even before voter consideration of measure NDC. Next slide. All three ordinances make nearly the same code changes. Each declares data centers a public nuisance. Adds a city-wide prohibition in municipal code section 21102170. Defines data center uh creates a narrow allowance for associated data room or server room as an accessory use. removes data processing facility and data center from Saturn Park zoning regulations, repeals Saturn Park development agreement provisions, and deletes data center from the marketplace specific plan. All are retroactive to June 1 212023. Measure NDC uh was placed on the June 2nd ballot by resolution 2026 R6. If approved by voters, measure NDC would amend the general plan to prohibit data centers citywide and rema would remain in effect unless changed by the voters. The text of measure NDC states that upon voter approval, the council is

authorized and directed to promptly adopt all zoning regulations needed to effectuate the citywide prohibition. Consequently, this draft ordinance is best understood not as an alternative policy, but as the code amending ordinance necessary to carry out the voter approved general plan amendment if the electorate approves it, rather than wait until after measure NDC were to become effective, the proposed ordinance would become effective concurrently with measure NDC, which will avoid the need for further noticing and public hearings. Next slide, please. A significant feature of all three ordinances is that they do not ban ordinary accessory technology functions that are subordinate to lawful primary land uses. Each ordinance creates an associated data room or server room land use for enclosed accessory spaces containing servers and related equipment used solely in conjunction with and incidental to the primary uses on the same site while prohibiting independent commercial or third-party data processing use. This distinction matters because it narrows the prohibition to standalone or principal data center uses rather than incidental technology infrastructure within otherwise lawful businesses, offices, institutions, or other uses. This policy aim is to prevent large-scale infrastructure type data center land uses while still preserving normal building operations that rely on internal server rooms. Staff also proposes uh two additional amendments to all three ordinances to further clarify and refine language. First, staff recommends a proposed clarification to section 7 of each ordinance to add the language. Table

2112A in the municipal code is amended to remove reference to data processing facility. Removing the definition of data processing facility as it stated in the first sentence of that section renders that table reference moot and this amendment further clarifies this effect. Second staff recommends a proposed typographical correction to section 8 of each ordinance to reference a new mon municipal code section 2114055 regarding accessory uses allowed rather than the incorrect reference to existing section 2114060. Next slide. It is recommended Oh, thank you. It is recommended that the city council consider opening a public hearing to receive written and testimonial evidence regarding a potential citywide prohibition on data centers. After receiving such evidence, consider adopting an urgency ordinance that would take effect immediately upon adoption to enact a citywide prohibition on data centers. Introducing and waving the first reading of a regular ordinance to enact a city-wide prohibition on data centers. introducing and waving first reading of a regular ordinance that would implement measure NDC and become effective the same date as measure NDC if adopted by voters on June 2nd in accordance with the elections code in measure NDC and incorporating amendments to section seven of each ordinance removing reference to data processing facility in table 2112A in the municipal code and to section 8 of each ordinance to refer to adding new municipal code section 2114055 and taking any such additional related action that may be desirable. This ordinance is not subject to further review under the California Environmental Quality Act uh for the following reasons. it will not result in

a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment or that it may have a significant effect on the environment and does not constitute a project as defined in secret guidelines and is uh uh subject to a prior certified uh final EIR related to the Monterey Park land use and urban design element approved in 2020. This concludes staff's presentation and I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tim, for the very thorough and comprehensive presentation. Um, anyone have any questions or should we do public comment first? All right. So, let's open up the mayor. Mayor.

Oh, yes. Uh, I just want to clarify because uh, I know you I think you touched on it, Tim, but I received I think all of the council members received some emails today on uh, specifically around potential loopho loopholes uh, in the ordinance around data processing facilities. I just want to make clear I wasn't sure what that was referring to in some of those emails. Um, when I read the staff report and the ordinance language that's being proposed tonight, did not see any instance of that, it's very clear from the plain reading and all the language in the ordinance that this would apply. This ordinance if passed, all three of the ordinances if passed would restrict or not allow prohibit data center and data processing facilities for that matter anywhere in the city. Can you confirm that? And I don't know if you can touch on where that loophole might have come or that the perception of that loophole might have come from.

Council member Wong and uh council members. Uh yes, the uh the correspondents earlier today referred to a uh municipal code section that does note data processing facilities in a table. Um that table is ultimately rendered moot by the uh actions uh proposed in the ordinance. The uh staff recommendation for the additional amendment just further clarifies that that reference is moot.

All right. Well, um we're going to call five speakers up at a time. So when you hear your name called, please line up and uh each speaker can go one at a time. So, uh, we have David Moore, Ralph Vidor, Dave Jones, Felicia Sandival, and Yung Wang. And, uh, each speaker has up to five minutes, but again, in respect of everyone's time, you guys can be shorter if you like.

Yes, please proceed. Good evening, mayor, city council. My name is David Moore and I'm a proud member of Labour's International Union of North America. I'm here tonight in strong support of responsible data center development. Jobs building data centers means good paying local union jobs and beyond construction. These projects bring tax revenue that supports public services infrastructure to community programs without overburdened residents. Rejecting these projects before they are even proposed is unfair. It sends those jobs and investments somewhere else. I urge the council to support data center development. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Good evening, mayor, council, members of the audience. My name is Ralphor. I'm here on behalf of Southern California District Council of Labors, our members that are here today, and the thousands that could make it. We believe banning data centers before they are even proposed is unfair. We should allow each and every project to go through a vetting process and not simply being outlawed before it's proposed. We should not have a one-sizefits-all mentality. And when it comes to any development, each and every city has a process. First, there's scoping meetings, then SQA, planning process before it's even brought forward. We need to please consider the process and let the process dictate what will be built. To close, we are passionate about building and that is how we support our families and each and every one of these jobs are important to us. Let's not take the road of banning data centers. There's a process each city has that they go through. As we all know, like every other project that's that's built, there's a scoping process, a planning process, and it's brought forward. Give the process a chance. You can kill a

project at any moment. If it doesn't fit what you guys want within your city, then you can change the project, turn it into something else. We've done that in each and every city, right? I we've done it here. If something doesn't fit what you want, we can change it. Give the developer an opportunity to make something different. Not every data center is a bohemoth project. So, let's give the process a chance and allow our members to go to work so we can build more in this city. Thank you very much.

Mayor, can we can we remind the audience for civility and respect when people are speaking? Yes. Every person who comes up here, we're going to give our full attention to. So, um whenever someone comes up, we'll uh fully respect as well. So, everyone, please do so. Thank you. Go ahead, Dave.

Madame Mayor Yang, Mayor Pro Tim Low, honorable council members, dedicated staff, my name is Dave Jones, and I live in District 5. There's been a lot of talk about whether or not we should allow data centers in Monterey Park, and I've certainly been one of the most guilty. So, tonight, I want to make it super simple for everyone. vote yes to ban data centers in Monterey Park. There's also been a lot of confusion around the subject, too. For instance, the entire city council voted for a data center before it voted against a data center. So, let me help you out. Please vote yes to ban data centers in Monterey Park. and for all the citizens of this fair city and registered voters out there. Tonight's vote is very important. But just like the city council voted for data centers before voting against them, they could just as easily vote for them again in the future. So it is critical that on June 2nd, all of us vote yes to ban data centers in Monterey Park and HMC. If you're out there listening, you caused all this. You are nobody's favorite company in this city. But I give you credit for withdrawing your application and not contesting this valid initiative. I am willing to work with you to develop a plan to change the plan from a data center to something that benefits everyone in our city. I'm not hard to find. I may not be popular, but I will work with you. And to my union friends, I've said this

before. I grew up in a union house. I live in a union house. I believe the development opportunities in Monterey Park without data centers will provide more jobs for a longer period of time. So, please join me and vote yes to ban data centers in Monterey Park. It's very simple. Vote yes to ban data centers in Monterey Park. Thank you very much. TOMORROW.

UH, while Felicia is coming up, Ellis, Zitto, Emily Chu, Herog Balian, Maline O, and Carrie, feel free to line up. Hello, city council. Hello, mayor. My name is Felicia Sandival. I apologize that I haven't been here sooner, but I was sick. Um, I watched the speeches that were stated on the last city council meeting and I'm here to tell everyone that I am also one who wants to say yes to ban permanently data centers in our community. I live in area three. I am a voter in every single election and I have been walking and knocking on doors telling each and every person that I can and I will continue to do so to tell everyone to vote yes to permanently ban these data centers. They do nothing for our communities. They do not bring anything but pollution and sound noise and the the the the reduction of our property values. I've seen the videos. I am not going to pretend that these are going to give us any benefit at all. Want to build something? Build schools. You want to build something? Build public parks and green spaces. I'm a teacher. I'm a union member and I'm a proud union member who will always be on the side of my students and always be on the side of the community. And these data centers do nothing. I have seen the videos of the horrible noise pollution and people can't even sell their homes once these things are there. They are a scourge. They are a complete scourge on every community and they destroy homes and they destroy families. They are not needed. They run by themselves and they just suck up our water and they just ruin our our utility bills. So, I am once again saying please, I am going to say this again and I'm going to continue

to walk and knock on every single door, every single one until June 2nd so that I can let everybody know to yes on permanently banning data centers. Once again, I'm Felicia Sandoval. I have been living here since 2004. I'm a resident of Mari Park and I'm a voter and I'm active and I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, but I'm here now. Hi, city council. I didn't really prepare a speech. Uh I was here during cherry blossom and shout out to Strawberry Sunday and Calvin the magician. It's awesome. Uh so so far as what we're talking about today, definitely uh yes on measure and DC. Dave just told me to be nice, as if I wasn't going to be nice up here. Um, we are where we're at. Um, you know, I I've been also canvasing in our community uh to speak to our neighbors. Just this past week, I was with uh my friend uh Yavon Wong. Tried to keep up with her. We had about 38 interactions. majority of folks do not want a data center uh in our community, at least the ones that we canvas, just FYI. Um yeah, so I'm going to keep it short. Yes, on NDC uh I support the ban uh ordinance and um you know, we're all human beings and we're all trying to do our best for our community. I I strongly believe that Monterey Park could be the crown jewel of this St. Gabriel Valley and we're all going to work our ways towards that and I believe we can do that together. So, we're all here right now and hopefully

we move forward together. And that's all I want to say.

And just a reminder to say your name up here so that um the clerk knows who is speaking.

Hello, council member. Um I'm Ellisito. Um I've been here before and I'm here again to tell you that we are we the residents of Monterey Park are in support of yes on NDC. We don't need a data center. We don't want them. We never wanted them. What we want is responsible building. Yes, but not a data center. And it's very important that you support what the residents want. And I'm here to let you know that there was a time where some of you supported the data center. In fact, um, one of you accept a campaign contribution from the developer and you know who you are.

Okay? And, um, so what I'm trying to tell you is respect the residents. Um, we've been canvasing. Um, and just to let you know, and how you do a community engagement is you actually attend to the residents. Okay. the data respects noon. So what I'm trying to say is that 10 guy. Could you vote yes on NDC? So we do. We are an army. So we're HMC army. They ran. They ran because it got too hot for them. They were being un unt unruuthful. So guess what happened? the CPU, the CEC, Cal EPA, CO ISO, all came down on them. They ran. They didn't leave because they wanted to. They ran because the truth came out. So, you know what though? Be honest with your residents. When you do stuff like this, engage with them. And you can't. We have an army here. We can engage with our residents. Thank you for your time. Have a good night. Good evening, Mayor Yang and council members. Um, I'm Carrie, a resident and from district 5. Um, I wanted to just say, um, I don't want to repeat all the arguments that have been made the past

uh, three meetings, but just urge you to vote yes on the ordinances that are before you today. I think you've had um, many, many hours of testimony explaining the reasons that the residents feel so strongly about uh, these ordinances. So, we just ask that you would go forward um, and adopt these ordinances. Um, in terms of I just had some I always have a lot of um little clerical issues, but um just to clarify um I know council member Wong was asking why the change to 21 uh 21.12A the table needed to be made. Um that was a request I made um at the last meeting and in about three subsequent emails to the city manager. So I'm really happy that it looks like um it's been heated today. Um, what I asked was that this was about the OP professional non-mccaslin business park zone where data processing facility is still listed as a permitted use. And I thought that was a a big um mistake to not have the current proposed ordinance address that. And so I'm really glad that staff is now recommending to delete that. I was very troubled by that um inclusion and I'm really glad that that is now being removed. I also did request the renumbering of the subsection that was in uh section 8 of the ordinance as we already have that subsection in the ordinance. Um I do note a few other little things. Um the there's a new definition of associated data room or server room that is proposed to be added to the zoning code definitions. And just a technical thing, but it's been proposed to add under the D definitions instead of A. It's associated data room starting with the A. So I believe it should be placed in the code in the A section and between assisted housing and attendant parking. So between 24.04101

and 2404103. Um I'm also unclear if server room should be separated out as its own definition. And I do appreciate staff um making that clarification and creating that definition as I was very concerned about not creating a carveout for associated data rooms or legitimate uh server uses. So that was something that I had been requesting uh several times as well. I don't know if uh server room should be separated out as its own definition under the s definitions of the code. So I would you know bring that up to staff to consider. Um and then another thing I noticed is the last sentence of the definition um that says associated data rooms or server rooms are allowed as an accessory use in all zones. Um typically definitions do not include any uh statement of where these uses are allowed. So it says it's allowed in all zones, but you don't put that in the definition. You put that in the sections of the code, the appropriate zones. So, I would think that each zone where the use is allowed, it should be included in those zones, not in the definition itself. But other than that, we just want to thank you for hearing us and just ask that you go ahead and adopt the the ordinances with those amendments. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Maline Okampo. I'm a Monterey Park resident. I'm a utilities engineer and I strongly support all three proposed ordinances to prohibit data centers citywide. Data centers are incompatible with our community and the evidence is clear. Data centers require industrial scale cooling systems that run 247 generating constant noise that degrades quality of life for residents. Uh water consumption is also an issue. A single data center can consume millions of gallons of water annually, a burden our region cannot afford during persistent drought. The UN already said we are in a water bankruptcy, meaning we are using water faster than it's being replenished. Another issue is energy demand. Data centers strain the electrical grid, increasing costs and reducing reliability for residents and local businesses. Diesel backup generators emit harmful pollutants, worsening air quality in a community already disproportionately impacted by pollution. And there's no community benefit. Data centers generate almost no local jobs, no foot traffic, and no sales tax revenue while consuming enormous public resources. I urge you to adopt all three ordinances without weakening amendments. I also ask that you research battery energy storage systems best and prepare a separate ordinance to prohibit them. Best present many of the same concerns. Industrial noise, massive footprint, minimal jobs along with serious and poorly understood fire risks. These facilities are already appearing in San Gabriel Valley and Monterey Park should act now before one is proposed here. Our environment and natural resources are under greater threat every day. And it is more important than ever for us to take a stand for planet Earth and for our

communities. There is no planet B. There is no there there. Thank you. There is no backup plan if we fumble mother nature. Money and jobs won't matter on a dead planet. By passing these ordinances, you place yourselves on the right side of history, and you are investing in a brighter, more safe, and just future. It would be very fitting during Earth Month, which is April. Finally, Free Palestine, abolish ICE. Uh, let me read off a few more names. Uh, I think it's Lazizi Bustos, Jose Radia, Vicente Okamo, Sam K, and Joyce Vega. Good evening, council members. My name is Emily. I am a resident of Monterey Park in District 2. I'm here tonight in support of item 5A. Banning data centers citywide is the right thing to do and I'm glad we're here tonight to discuss these ordinances. I want to commend the council and staff for listening to the community and hearing our concerns. Data centers bring no long-term benefits to local communities and they come with serious risks which we've talked about extensively over the last few months. Declaring them a public nuisance is needed. I also want to acknowledge that this has been a long and intense process for the community and one that started with a serious breach of trust by the council. These ordinances and the upcoming ballot to ban data centers citywide are a step in the right direction to earn back public trust. In this vein, I ask that you direct staff

to research standalone battery energy storage systems or best and prepare a separate ordinance to prohibit them. We can look to cities like Pomona who are approaching BEST with the thoughtfulness and caution that's needed. I hope we can continue to move forward with an open dialogue between the city and the community. As you've seen, Monterey Park is a city with residents who care deeply about how we progress into the future, and we are ready to stay engaged. Thank you. Uh hello, Mayor Yang, uh Mayor Prom Low, council members. Uh my name is Hak Balian. I'm a resident of Monterey Park in District 2. Um back in December, um during my public comment, I used an analogy to argue that data centers don't belong in Monterey Park. I don't think it landed then, but a lot of information has been shared since, so I'm going to try it again. Uh so every city sets speed limits you know usually 25 to 40 miles per hour. Most cars can go much faster but they can also drive slower at the speed limit. Now imagine a new kind of car whose slowest speed is 80 miles an hour. It simply cannot comply with our city's limits. Would you allow that car on our streets or would you call it a public nuisance and ban it? Hypers scale data centers are that car. They cannot operate quietly. They cannot operate cleanly. They cannot operate lightly. They bring industrial noise, degraded air quality, massive energy consumption, and declining property values. There is no slow mode. They should not be permitted on our streets. So, I want to thank this council for listening to its residents

and finally recognizing data centers for what they are, a public nuisance. I urge you to pass all three ordinances today. I also have that one request around uh battery energy storage systems. Um I urge the council to direct staff to do further research and uh they do they do share a lot of the similarities with with data centers. Thank you so much. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Larry Butos, and I am a proud member of the labors union. I'm here tonight to strongly and respectfully oppose the citywide prohibition on data centers. For our members, progress in construction means good local union jobs, roles that provide familyup supporting wages, health care, and a retirement security. A total ban doesn't just block buildings, it blocks doors. These developments create vital entry points into our apprenticeship programs, especially for youth and that who aren't collegebound and veterans seeking a career path after serving their country. It is fundamentally unfair to prohibit an entire industry before even considering its merits. We believe the city can address community concerns without shutting the doors on working families. We urge you not to enact a citywide prohibition on data centers, but instead to engage in the fair process of developing responsible regulations and strong local hire requirements. Please don't reject these opportunities before they even had a chance to be heard. Thank you. Good evening, mayor, city councils,

staff. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Jose Rado, and I am here today to oppose uh the citywide uh prohibition on data centers. This type of policy doesn't solve problems. It removes opportunities. Projects like data centers create good paying jobs, provide career pathways, and allows working families to support themselves with dignity. And let's be clear, these are not just temporary jobs. For many of us, this is long-term careers, building projects, and pro and projects. A full ban goes too far and takes away economic growth, job creation, and future investment. I respectfully urge you to reconsider this prohibition and support responsible development that benefits both community and working families. Um, union jobs like these allowed me and and many of my brothers and sisters to u build a career, provide for our families and earn stability with dignity. And that happens because we get uh we get training uh fair wages and strong safety standards. Um and these jobs create those same opportunities uh for the next generation. Um and it's it um and you could sure this project will be built uh but with I but you know full safety standards um we're we're um skilled trained workers and um please give it uh a review and um just don't cut off um hardworking families. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Vicento Campo. Uh Council Member Sanchez, you're

in my uh you're my representative. I'm conflicted about what I have to say today because I'm a union member. Uh as a person who has me and my wife are both um union members. And not only are we just union members, we're leaders. We've organized two strikes, successful strikes, and we just avoided a third strike because we made input with the community. We represent the community. And once again, I have to question the leadership of the union because the leadership should say it is obvious that they don't want the data center. And every time I see someone stand here and speak from the union, they're speaking against what we, the residents, want. We do not want a data center. You can build something else, that'll be fine. That'll make us happy. You build us a Trader Joe's, you guys will be heroes, but it's not what we want. We do not want a data center. So please be understand that every time you come up here, you're standing against the community.

Your union leadership should have said, "You know what? This is too hot. Let's just call it a loss and leave." But you're still here. You're still believing that somehow we're against you. We're not. We're against what you want to build. I said it last time, two months ago when I was here. Bomb makers also have jobs. They have jobs. They're probably unionized. So, I'm speaking to us. Yeah. Please speak to us. Thank you. Yeah. They got intimidated, so they don't want me to turn around.

Uh bomb makers also have jobs. They're probably unionized. They build a bomb, but they're not there when it gets sent and exploded after they built it. And that's what they're doing. If they're going to build the data center, they'll be gone. And who is going to be here when it blows up? The residents. We will be here. So once again, I'm disappointed that the union is here fighting against us. We're your your work is welcomed, but what you want to build is not. And I would hope that you guys stop coming over here and begging for, you know, please, you know, give us this job. We don't want that job. You want to build something else. Like I said, build us a Trader Joe's, build us a daycare, build us something else. You will be heroes that day. But right now, unfortunately, we see you as villains. Thank you.

All right, let me call a few more names. Caesar Lamas, Elanor, Chris Lie, Susan Garcia, and Steven Kung.

That was a hard one to follow up. Anyway, uh, good evening, Mayor Mary Yang, city council members and staff. Uh, my name is Joyce Vega and I've been a resident of Monterey Park for over 30 years and a lifelong resident of the St. Gabriel Valley. Let me be clear, AI is not a necessity. Clean water, clean air, and a peaceful environment are. As a concerned resident of the city of Monterey Park, I'm thankful that our city council listened to our concerns and took action. We're not done yet. We need the city council to pass an ordinance to permanently prohibit data centers citywide. As a volunteer of the Yes on Measure NDC campaign, we are currently making sure that every resident knows that they need to vote yes on measure NDC to ban data centers on June 2nd, 2026. I can tell you that this issue has brought left, right, and center together. It's a quality of life issue. The next issue, not on the agenda for tonight, but equally important, is to keep Bess or battery energy storage systems facilities out of our city as well. We don't need another wildfire situation like Altadena to devastate our city or the St. Gabriel Valley. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Yang. I'm Mayor Prom Henry Low, Council Member Sanchez Wong and Go. My name is Sam. I'm back again from District 3. Um, yeah, I wasn't actually going to speak today, but um, yeah, I think it's important to to come out here and be heard. Um, we knew that, you know, kind of saw that some union guys were going to be here, and I

thought we were kind of done with that. Um

um yeah, I just I just want to say, you know, we were here um February 4th and there was a lot of steam behind this. A lot of nice things were said. I think everything was moving in the right direction in terms of um you know, where you guys are going here. So, I'm just going to voice my um support for 45A to adopt the the urgency ordinance, the regular ordinance, and um if if the measure passes, which I'm I'm pretty sure it will. I know a lot of people have been in the streets like trying to make this thing happen um to to immediate to immediately um you know put that into effect in the general plan. And um I will say too, man, I was looking up Labor's rising. I couldn't find a lot of information about you guys really. And I don't recall seeing you seeing any of you guys at any of the other um city council meetings, but I do recall seeing a lot of people from the community here who have been showing up consistently um since December. And um so I just want to say that um you know we've been putting in a lot of work and showing up here time and time again. And so um you know I hope you guys continue to make the right choice and and pass this ordinance. Thank you.

Uh good evening mayor, city council. My name is Cesar Lamas. I am a 8-year member for the Labors International Union of North America. Um, what could I say that my brothers already haven't said? I mean, it's just we're part of your constituents, too. You know, the concept of trying to provide food on the table for families and we have to provide healthc care benefits. Jobs like these essentially any type of jobs that kind of get fluted before it even gets to the proposition of hosting for a project. It's it holds it back, right? That cuts off work on hours for our pension, for our healthcare, for our trust and everything. And it kind of really does push back on putting food on on our table for our kids. It it it's a big part. I mean, you got everybody has their opinions here, right? We're here for the work. We're here to provide food for our families. Thank you.

Good. Good evening, mayor or the council member. I don't have any script, so everything I say will be from the bottom of my heart. Before I get started, I just wanted you to listen to something real quick. What that is is sound of a data center. You can find this out. Oh. This is what data center sounds like. Constant noise, possibly pollution, use a lot of water. Imagine you're one of the person that live on top of Saturn. That area has a lot of elderly, older population. How would they even be able to sleep? Does any of you council member live on top of Saturn Avenue, that hill area? Ask yourself, anyone of you live in that area? Property value will go down. Nobody's going to buy a house in that area. Imagine a buyer go there and all they hear is and then the fan comes on. Sh. It's not a lie. Google it. It's right on there. That's how loud they become. This thing needs to be one mile away. Minimum one mile. Um, at least one mile away. I mean, if if the if the city needs revenue,

invite spout, invite Whole Food. I just heard Trader Joe or invite Sky Zone. That'd be great. Kids, family, um kids, family, that area would be even more great. There's already a Costco. I mean, that would be excellent. We don't need something like this in Montreal. Montreal is a is a great city. It needs to be planned carefully. We can make mistakes. Okay? And for those people, let me address them a little bit. Um, do not listen to those contractors, please. Um, what they do, they're like hyenas. Hyenas come and eat, destroy, and they leave. When they done with this job, they go on to the next job. How many of them live in Montto Park? Please, mayor, council member, ask them, find out, does anyone of them even remotely live in Montre Park or live Montre Park? I can guarantee the answer would probably be no. So, please listen to your C citizen because when they're done with this job, all they going to do, they move on to the next job. do not listen to them. They're they're like hyenas and they're getting paid overtime. The boss tell them to come. That's why they're here tonight on overtime. This is how union members work. They come, they do not come for free. They on overtime. Trust me. Okay? It's all about money, money, money. But for residents, we love our city. I mean, it's a great

city. A lot of older people up there, they don't know what's going on. And imagine with the city would build something like this on Montre pass road, all the Bitewood area will show up right here. Right now, they don't come because they don't know. Please, yes. No data center. Please support all the motion, the three motions. Thank you. Good evening, council members. Mayor Yang Prom, hello. My name is Eleanor. I spoke last time. I had hope not to speak tonight because, oh, this is an ordinance meeting. We're just going to have a general public hearing and then I hear union members. It's like, wait a second, that can't be right. But I just want to let you know I do support the ordinances that were on the agenda. Um I also want you to do some more research on the battery center battery uh storage systems because that's a fire hazard. And I do appreciate and thank you that you have listened to us because hearing what has been happening across the San Gabriel Valley with all the other cities councils and some constituents are very unhappy because they have not been heard and zoning has been passed and here we're sitting in the middle of it and we need to show them that we are listening to our citizens, our constituents and I guess that's all I have to say. So thank you. Thank you so much.

Next few speakers are who Myra A, Alice Lee, Felicia Marquez, Jason Bice, and Paul Lang.

Members of the city council, thank you for the opportunity to let me speak. This community has spoken loudly and consistently. We do not want or need a data center in our city. And yet things continue to move forward. You're not listening to the people of the city. We don't need a data center. Our community will only serve billionaires. Billionaires come here because they think they can push us around. Meanwhile, to live with the consequences. We have to live with the consequences of your decisions. So, I'm asking you a question directly today. Who do you work for? The reason you are all sitting up here right now is because of all of these people behind me that voted for you. All of these people behind me can remove you from your seats. Don't forget, you sit here because we let you. We are your bosses. You work for us. And when you say no to data center, we mean no. Where are the projects for the affordable housing, for parks, for kids, for small bill businesses, and actually serve the community where we live? Isn't that why you were all voted in? Instead, we were asking to give up our land, our health, and our safety for a project that gives nothing in return so that companies and billionaires can keep making billions. So, I ask you again, who do you work for? If there is any conflicts of interest, they should be disclosed. If anyone stands to benefit directly or indirectly, they should step aside. This is not an attack. It's basic accountability

because these this isn't just about data centers anymore. It's about whether the people of this city can trust their own city council. Right now that trust is gone. If you have a chance to fix it by stopping this project and actually listening to the community or you can keep pushing it forward on a project that will destroy our community despite our concerns. That's not representation. That's dismissal. When government stops working for the people, it's called fascism. Don't let the rich steal our future. This community is not for sale. I ask one more time, who do you work for? Because I don't think it's us. Free Palestine. And stop ordering toilet paper from Amazon. Uh just FYI for folks who are waiting, we have 14 speakers left.

I had uh I have a happy speech planned, but seeing we have company today, I just wrote another speech. I'm Stephen Kung, proud union member of the Director's Guild, Writers Guild, and formerly of IATSI Local 871. I love labor. The movement, the anti-data center movement loves labor, but what we don't love is special interests. Labor flexes its power through negotiations with their employees and through strikes. In this case, there is no employer. These unions aren't functioning as labor. They are a special interest lobby in the pockets of big tech. And they are selling their poison as a false dichotomy. A choice between banning data centers or being proun. This could not be further from the truth. These are not mutually exclusive choices. We are all anti-data center and at the same time we are all pro- union. The trade unions can and will continue to build in Saturn Park. They just won't build a pollution factory. They act as if the only thing they can build is a data center. Traveling from city to city across the country on behalf of data center developers. Worse, they are missing the real money by chasing data centers. When I was at the K-ine extension meeting, there were just a mere handful of union members to advocate for the subway, which would provide $9 billion in union wages, and you would be building something that everyone wants. So to the union members here today, stop working against your own interests. Stop bullying communities around the country to force something on us we don't want. stop working against the other unions and show a modicum of solidarity.

But you council members, you all already know this. You didn't buy their then and you're not buying it now. Thank you for that. I want to give a special shout out to Mayor Yang and Mayor Promlo who each gave $1,000 to Yes on NDC. Thank you. You put your money You put your money where your mouth is and we see that and we are grateful. I also want to thank the entire council and staff for drafting a data center ban and taking our notes. We do not take this for granted. We've been to the city of industry city council and the LA County Board of Supervisors meeting and witnessed their shameful actions, but you have given voice to our community. And speaking of which, at last Wednesday's meeting, you discovered that Monterey Park has the most generous speaking times for public comment in the SGV. But that's a good thing, right? Because we're just not any city. Monterey Park is America's first ethnobb. the first city in America to have a Chinese woman mayor. And we're about to and we're about to become the first city in the nation to ban data centers via ballot measure. We are leading we are leading the way for the rest of the SGV. And the reason for that is because you have empowered us residents by giving us runway a full five minutes to actually craft an argument and find our voices and then you consider our comments and then you act. And we are asking you to act again by exploring a ban on battery energy storage systems. Thank you for banning data centers and considering our request to look into best right now. I am so proud to be a moderate parkin.

Hi, my name is Hamra and I'm actually not a Pasadena res I mean I'm not a Monterey Park resident. I'm a Pasadena resident and I'm going to be really short because over there we're lucky to get two minutes. Um, even though I don't live in Monterey Park, I came to support the ordinances because it's important for Monterey Park and surrounding communities because all the negative impacts of data centers would also hit all the surrounding areas. Both cities share the San Gabriel Valleys. Both cities share the same planet. We all have to work together um to save this planet. and I came to learn. I came to see the amazing organizing um that took place to make this happen. Um and honestly, I'd like to see similar ordinances in my community. Passing the three ordinances in Monterey Park will make it less difficult for other cities to do the same. Like I said, we all got to work together. Um and on my next visit, I hope I can come and knock doors um to get this ballot measure passed. So vote yes to ban data centers.

Honorable council, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Jason Bayz and I'm a very proud member of Labor's International Union of North America and we are here to fully oppose the prohibition on data centers. Me and my family have lived here for five generations and many of my family members are LANA members. We have built our lives, our families, everything we own, our mortgages, our children's education off of the work we do. Taking this work from us is taking from our children. Not only that, there are over 24,000 members of Lyuna who live in Los Angeles County, thousands of which live in this immediate area. I wish that each of you were able to see out of our eyes all the people who walk up to our doors desperate to earn a living wage because they're in positions where they can't afford to live here, where they're going to go homeless, where they're being forced to move to San Bernardino, where they're on their last chances. And we never discriminate against anybody. people with language barriers, people who come from the military, people who uh have made bad choices in their lives, we give all of them an equal opportunity. There are thousands of success stories that come out of our union in particular. And taking this is taking from them. A few things to say. There are 60,000 people who live in this city. being generous. There's only about a 100 people here opposing this project. That isn't even 1%. That is only 0.17%

of the community. So when they say they're the community, so are we. And most of the community is not here because they don't have a problem with this. If they did, if they did, the park would be full all the way up the hill. There'd be people all outside with signs and such. Number two, my clock stopped at 4 p.m. I'm here on my own free will. I'm not being paid for nothing. Number three. Number three,

the data center brings in revenue. It brings in property taxes. It brings in you a high amount of utility taxes, business taxes, sales taxes. All these individuals want Trader Joe's, Costco. But here's the truth. We need jobs here and big business here in order to bring in those types of venues. Those types of venues have a marketing strategy. They look to see what communities are producing the most money to bring them in. We need these types of projects. Also, these projects are launching pads for local youth to start stellar careers in union construction. Every job is essential to us. It's our lifeline of work. So, please take the time to look at all things. Also, the water. If there was some type of issue with the amount of water necessary for the project, we would not be having this conversation. True or false, with all respect,

there'd be no conversation about this because it wouldn't happen. There's plenty of water.

So, there are many benefits to our community from this project. And I hope that you take a look at all angles and not just a tiny tiny fraction of our community and what they want. Thank you so much. Uh Paul Lang, Monterey Park resident. I've spoken before and I'm just here to repeat the argument that stands out the most to me as someone who is not only a resident but also a union member married to another union member. You can have differing opinions on what is best to weigh the pros and cons of job opportunities in a community. I think this community, not only at this meeting, but every other meeting prior to this one that I've attended, which I believe was all but the first one where this was heard publicly, but I apologize if I have that fact slightly off. You've heard time and time again from much busier rooms than this one on nights that went much later than this one is most likely to go of passionate community members saying this will do far more harm for them than good. I believe that this community can set reasonable regulations where there are economic opportunities, there are job opportunities and I welcome if they are union job opportunities, but private business cannot profit to the detriment of the residents of this community. That is one of your most important functions and I ask you to live up to that role. Thank you very much. Next speakers are Teresa, Crystal Lee,

Caleb, and Helica, and Patrick Shira. Hello. Um, my name is Alice. I am a Monterey Park resident. Um, and I'm here to express my strong support for all three ordinances to prohibit data centers citywide. Um, I would like to thank the city council and city staff for taking these steps to ban data centers from Monterey Park. This is a crucial step in protecting our families, including our elders and our children from pollution and strain on our air, water, and electricity um and also our quality of life. With current technology, it is impossible to build a clean or environmentally friendly data center. My elderly parents have been worried about this data center for months. Um they've even been talking about whether we would have to move away from the city where they have lived uh for over 30 years where um both my sister and I were born and raised. I am hopeful that I will be able to go home tonight and tell them that the city listened to us, that the city cares about its residents, and that you all will protect us from data centers. Um, this past Friday, I spent time with a young friend. She is three, very importantly, turning four next month, and she is about to have a Mary Poppins birthday party at the park. Um, her favorite song from the Mary Poppins movie is Let's Fly a Kite. Um, I hope to be able to tell her that she'll be able to fly her kite here for years to come. Finally, I ask that the council will direct staff to research and prepare a separate ordinance to prohibit standalone battery energy storage systems in a future ordinance. Um, these present many of the same concerns as data centers, and I hope that we can move to ban those as well. Thank you all. Good evening, mayor and mayor and city council. It's nice to see everyone tonight. Um, I hope you're all doing very well. I wanted to thank each of you and express my deepest gratitude for your time, passion and fight during this whole process which has been very long. I wanted to state that I am in agreement

of course yes to the ordinance to ban the data center and also to research the battery facilities. I want to tell you a very personal story and I hope I don't get emotional because I am an emotional speaker. Um, so bear with me. As you know, I live in my grandfather's home, but I haven't told you why I live there. I, as you know, I had a magical childhood in this house with my grandfather until I was five. At that time, my parents split for very terrible reasons, and I never went back to that house. I grew up in Orange County and I grew up with a single mom, very hardworking, no child support, apartment to apartment. I fought to go to college. I lived in my car to get my degree. I ended up getting a very coveted role at Fox Broadcasting for a decade and worked on American Idol, etc. Um, while I was working through college, I worked in Newport Beach. Excuse me. I was a server at a very nice uh French restaurant at the time and at that point destiny found me. So I was 21 and I had not seen my father or heard from my father for 17 years. A customer came in and just by chance it was Cinco de Mayo. I was exhausted with finals and um I decided to engage in a conversation with my customers. I served them wine and some appetizers and start started speaking about being Hispanic and my last name being Marquez. So during this back and forth that was very rapid, she's like, "Well, what's your last name?" And I said, "Marquez."

And I said, "Oh, you wouldn't know my father. His name is Paul Marquez." And there's another Paul Marquez. And she's like, "I know your family." And so at that point I got emotional and I sat down the bottle of wine. We run back to the bus station and lo and behold she's my aunt. So just by chance in that conversation she reunited my father and I after 17 years of my life and it was very magical obviously. So, I want to say thank you for fighting so hard for preserving the gift that my grandfather and father gave me in this house that I live in in Monterey Park. It was a lifetime of forgiveness. It was a gift of forgiveness. And I just want to tell you this very personal sto story. One second to illustrate that your power, actions, and decisions not only affect a brickandmortar structure, but they hit hard to the matter of the heart, to a legacy, and to a lifetime of continual repair of a broken love. Thank you for fighting so hard and not making me sell my house because I love living in Monterey Park. Um, so again, thank you so much for giving us all a pathway out and a pathway to be proud to be residents of Monterey Park and letting me live in the house that was so magical when I was five. Thank you. And yes to no Dave Center. Thank you so much.

Good evening everyone. uh Teresa and I am a very very proud member of District 5. I'm a resident there, long-term resident. Um the house was purchased by my uncle in the 70s. My parents purchased it in the 80s and then I bought it from my mom and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Um and I wasn't even expecting to come to this council meeting, but I saw it on social media and I thought I need to go. Uh, first of all, I want to encourage everybody out there to please vote yes. No data center. Vote yes because there's some confusion with the yes and the no. Just vote yes. Um, and I also want to address, you know, I didn't I don't have a prepared speech. I took notes based on what was being said. Um, I want folks here, please stand up. If you live in Monterey Park, stand up, please. Look at that. Okay, I want you to absorb that and hopefully and you well all of you should be standing too because you live in Monterey Park. But I wanted to show you this is your community.

Okay, this this is Monterey Park. This is our heart. This is our soul. This is a fabric. This is our blood. This is Monterey Park. Thank you. Um, and while I appreciate the union members and I was talking to one of them, Ralph, right, Ralph, whatever gets built there, I want it to be union labor. And I hope you guys will support that, right? Okay. I just want to make that clear. And when you talk about protecting your working families, I'm here because I'm protecting ours. I'm protecting the working families in Monterey Park. I'm protecting the kids. I'm protecting the seniors. on protecting all of Monterey Park community. Those that maybe haven't shown up because they don't come to council meetings because they're helping kids with homework, maybe because they're going into a second job, or maybe because they're just elderly and they don't drive at night. But rest assured, people don't want this data center here. And I don't blame the applicant whatsoever. They're a business. They're going to go and they're going to look for the weakest link. My concern is they found the weakest link here. And that's my concern because you all are eyes and ears. And when you see something that doesn't look right, you need to say, "Wait, stop." And you need to tell your council member, I mean your staff, you need to tell your city manager, "No, we don't want that here." You have that voice because we are we are telling you we don't want these things. you need to then express it and not go around saying oh yeah I'm going to take donations or you know go to various meetings and say yeah you support it no bologoney you need to be our voice that's why we elected you so I don't thank you because let me tell you in my eyes except for you Jose I've got your back I I didn't support you initially but I saw who you are and you're a man of true you are a man of

true integrity you know what you proved me wrong and I thank you and I thank you for speaking up for for the residents. Mr. Sanchez, Council Member Sanchez, I thank you so much for that because you're the only one that has really really stood out. But the rest of you, you know, I'm I'm really concerned. I'm really concerned that you're saying, "Oh, look, I we're going to pass this. We're going to support this no data center." It's not because of your doing. It's because of community. You pissed off the community to the point that they came out here council meeting after council meeting after council meeting telling you we don't want this. It was embarrassing. Come on. We elected you for a reason. Some of you, your terms are going to be ending soon. Please step it up because somebody said build something and I completely agree. Build transparency with your community. uh build uh due diligence with your community. Do your due diligence. Interact with staff and you all lead the city manager. You all lead staff. So build due diligence, build confidence because as I talk to folks, they lost confidence in you. So when you talk about voting yes on NDC, for some of us it means yes, no data center, but for others it means yes, no darn confidence in our city council. And that's a shame. So please heed what folks are saying here. And for that gentleman that said, uh, you know, you don't see everyone here. He obviously hasn't watched all those council meetings where we had an over overflow into the lobby. You had I don't know how many emails sent in. So yeah, watching

at home, I was going to watch this at home and decided to come in. So I I want to thank you in some part. Well, you Jose definitely, but I want to thank the community. I want to thank this community because this is what makes Monterey Park rock. This is it,

you know. And you should should all take that energy and use it to producing something freaking awesome. So that they're not talking about Monterey Park banned data centers, but instead they're talking about what Monterey Park built in that area there. That should go on the front page. Thank you so much and you have a wonderful evening. Um, good evening. Um, my name is Anelica and I do want to also thank the city council because I mean, uh, compared to other city councils, you guys have been very generous to us. So, and listen, so I do appreciate that. Um, I'm a 10-year resident of South San Gabriel and also a union member, former teamster, current SEIU member. Okay. So, I want I it really uh confuses me for union members to be talking about quality of life. I mean, what about our quality of life? What about our homes? You will not only ruin Monterey Park, you're going to ruin South St. Gabriel, all of the San Gabriel Valley, Rosemead, uh Monabalo, you will ruin it with this data center. Okay. What about our quality of life? I understand like nobody is against the unions. We love unions, but to come and build this, this is exactly like the gentleman mentioned about bombs. Like I was thinking the same thing like should we go out and rob people? Hey, that's a we're earning money, right? And and I also do want to mention I had last meeting I spoke about a president and Monterey Park has said that because article after article that I've read are referring to Monterey Park because we are the the community that is actually banning data centers. We will do this. Okay. And I'm full support of a full ban. I'm a full support of the yes on NDC and also in the the battery data storage center. Okay. So just please do the right thing. And I just mention I'm

also here on from my 12-h hour shift straight from here. Okay. Because I wanted to come and speak. Okay. So please do the right thing. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Yang, members of the council. My name is Crystal Lee and I'm a resident of Monterey Park. My family has been here since 196 1967 and I am a proud member of this community. I strongly support all three ordinances to prohibit David data centers citywide. Um I have I did also just come from work straight from work from the west side. Um, so thank you, but I want to say thank you for listening to us. It's been a little bit rough and rocky and I've come to way more council meetings than I ever thought I would in my life, but hey, we're here. So, thank you for listening. Thank you for the work you've done around um, Measure NDC as well as these ordinances. I just want to reiterate that data centers do not benefit this community. No foot traffic, no sales, revenue taxes. Our community does not want a data center. Um, we welcome building. Uh, there's nothing wrong with having builders want to build, but building where or what the community doesn't want to build shouldn't be okay. Um, and I have also just FYI, I've been canvasing on uh with the uh yes on measure NDC teams and yeah and I've been talking to people. It's been great. uh people want to talk and they want to listen and um one they've mentioned that they found the measure language to be confusing and also when we talk about what's going on they're also much in support of not having data centers in our community. But once again, thank you for your time and appreciate you listening to us. Good night.

Next speakers are Al Sanchez, Juan Cerado, and Hosen Mary. Hi, I'm Caleb. Uh thank you, honorable mayor, council members, staff. Um my wife and I live uh in district 5 with our three young kids about 500 feet from where the the proposed site was. Um so this is very personal to me. Um, and I appreciate you all listening to us um and and taking these steps to protect our city. Um, a few weeks ago, some some parents and I volunteered at Hillrest where I where my kids go to school to be recess monitors. And Hillrest, their recess is on top of the hill, very top of the hill. and I looked out and half a mile within a half a mile of where um we were at for recess I could see both sites 1977 and 1980 1980 and all I could think was thank god our kids won't have to live with the awful noise the heat and the and the carcinogens that are emanating from those data centers had the developers got in their way and in part that is thanks to you for steering us back in the right direction. Um because you weren't afraid to let uh these council meetings go well past midnight listening to the commun community members behind me and so many more who spent countless hours researching and organizing um to make sure that our kids are safe. Um and so uh Council Member Sanchez, I want to quote something you said in a previous meeting. Um, if we're serious about banning data centers, we need to take every possible precaution. And I appreciate you all doing that tonight. And I would also say that that should include banning battery energy storage systems, which could invariably lead to uncontrollable chemical fires and undo

everything we're trying to everything we've accomplished so far. And I would also request you remove any loopholes such as data data processing facilities for all zones. I was out switching out the no data center signs for the yes on NDC signs earlier this week. Yeah. Sorry if you caught I'm probably on everybody's ring camera now, but uh um I went by uh Business Center Drive in Monterey Pass and I and it kind of frightened me that like if we don't ban it there too, then all of those communities could be affected as well. Um, so, uh, anyway, um, I support the the the the, uh, ordinances, um, here tonight and thank you so much, um, for listening to us. I appreciate it.

Katherine Gua and Sam Brown, Mary Yang Promlo council members. Um I'll try and stick to script here. Your name, please.

My name is Patrick Chira. I'm a resident of Monterey Park. Um artificial intelligence promises to take time. I wish to echo Caleb's uh sentiment about the banning of batteries also included inside of this. I wish to also include uh the ban any automated machine learning, artificial intelligence and or any and all large scale operating systems hosting illegal data data aggregation at the expense of human rights. Um the philosophy of AI is to steal. This is the basis of it. Um labor uh doesn't shrink, it's replaced in the workforce. Um there there was an interesting video I saw with the Singapore uh representative speaking of um uh individuals having to take on the workload of like over 10 employees which mind you those employees are also stealing the jobs of 10 workers but they don't get paid at to the scale of it. They have to take on the workload of learning what the AI model is teaching the AI model and then having hanging over their head their replacement inside of the workforce. Further um we are seeing in the labor workforce uh the government in Black Rockck funding um trades HVAC uh plumbing uh and in the immediate sense they are doing this to build these data centers and yet we've seen this before where this funding went towards uh coding and trading um uh language models which then they had fired every single one of those people. Currently at the docks uh we see the replacement of labor. We see robots taking these positions of workforce. We see them uh currently driving way more cars that black out that during the blackout they just stall traffic. We see them taking our food, replacing jobs and they are coming for labor and trades as well. The current unions have to take into consideration that they are also uh replaceable that this is a a threat that they are facing. Um further uh when the AI bubble bursts, which it inevitably will, ISIS is stealing people. I come back to state this that they are currently building detainment centers inside of the United States and they are

coming for the tradesmen and they are coming at schools and at Home Depot because they are targeting people to specifically fulfill the positions when AI loses its mind to then take them and put them into positions that is at the exploitation of human rights continuing to promise to do so. Lastly, there's been a recent report of cognitive development which has been in the very first time in in US history in decline against its previous generation. Meaning that we are literally creating mind slaves. We are enslaving our children at the expense and at at the expense and at the progression of AI. Um this whole development is at the expense of humanity for the small profit or for the even theoretical profit of these billionaires who are terrified of quantum computing which gets into their banks accounts which exposes all their lies and treason which then shows that basic human rights is not dependent upon the value of labor is dependent upon the value of our time and our livelihoods. Um there is no promise right now with AI for universal healthcare. There is no promise for housing, environmental studies or protection of human rights. uh it is only the promise of stealing our time and lives for the illusionary infinite growth of the stock markets and promises that have just tricked everyone. This city in particular um has been highly studied. Um uh Pico Rivera has also been studied. There has been massive studies to see which cities that they could exploit and steal our labor, our labor, our rights, our resources. And and and we're left to try and catch up to that. And we are only human. I I I understand how advanced AI can be where it says that it could it could solve six years worth of studying uh to solve cancer that scientists that scientists would take years in studying and yet it also takes six years worth of resources which only give us more cancer because of all the carcens that it puts out into the air. So they're solving an illusionary thing that they're killing us with in the first place. So I I again I'm trying to rush this because there's so many different thoughts that I'm trying to

get to. But um this is the promise of a technocratic fascist future. And we have to be very specific about this. This is a race against a oligarchy which is trying to enslave us because they don't know what they're doing with AI. And and clearly they don't know what to do with their resources because they've been exploiting our environment for the longest time. This is the minds of a select few who only know a infinite growth model inside of their own minds because the AI agrees with them on every single curve and that AI is only destroying it saying yes, yes, yes. And that is insanity. We have to stand a little bit stronger and and I I I'm thankful that this bill is here. I I wish to propose that we take further measures to state the grounds that we can to protect our neighbors, but even further to state very clearly that we are against this oligarch technocratic future. Yes. On NDC, please ban the data centers. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Yang and Low and Council Member. Originally, I was thrilled to hear that HMC withdrew its application, but seeing the union members here clearly goes back to well, did they really withdraw the application or if something happens that they're going to come back and reapply or others from uh seeking approval for data center in our city. With that in mind, I'd like to share the findings from the recent study on data center. Aside from the data centers requiring massive amount of electricity, water to

run and cool the thousands of servers and and the need to protect our limited water supply in our city, which will undoubtedly increase the rates for our residents. And the gentleman earlier who said that our city does not have a problem with water. Yes, we do. We we are on restriction. We can only water Mondays and Thursdays. Okay. So, um I just want you to know because you're not a Monory Park resident. Um the other thing is that not to mention the uh drop in home values and air and no uh noise pollution that affects quality of life. It has turned to the study has turned to the turned the heat the data center release into the surrounding areas possibly altering the local climates. Andrea Marioni from Earth Observation Group at the University of Cambridge examined two decades of temperature data from remote sensors and compared it to the locations of data centers. The findings show that data centers create heat islands with surface temperature rising by an average of 3.6 6° F after operation began and in some extreme cases by up to 16.4 Fahrenheit. Um, surprisingly, these heat impacts are not limited to immediate fenity of the data centers. Temperature increases have been detected as far as 6.2 two miles

away from the uh data centers posing a new environmental challenge beyond the traditional concerns we have with carbon emission. Allowing data center in Monterey Park could affect nearby cities like Elhhamra, St. Gabriel, Rosemeat, Montabelloo, East Los Angeles, South Pasadena, San Marino, South Elmont, Commerce, Temper, Temple City, Elmonte, Pico, Rivera, Ma, Maywood, Bell as they all fall within the proximity of 6.2 miles from Monory Park. This is one of many reasons why it is important to ban data centers in our city and to protect our city from any potential liabilities. And we hope that the mayor and the city council member will stand with the residents on this issue by permanently banning the data centers within this city. And as to the battery centers, if Mayor, would you direct your staff to research the city of Vernon that had the ma uh battery leakage that seeped into the waters and many of their residents got sick and both LA County mental health, public health, and the uh health department had to reach out to those residents. So it would it would behoove us to take that into consideration. So finally, thank you and please vote yes on NDC.

Good evening, madame mayor and council members. My name is Katherine Agavara and I haven't been able to attend the past several me council meetings about this manner. Um I'm a single parent and I also take care of my elderly parents. So I'm that sandwich generation person that you that magically lives amongst you all. and I decided to spend my time here this evening to advocate for my family and those people who can't be here because they do have young people or elderly people that they need to take care of as well. and I live in district 3 and that is about a mile and a half away from the data center. And I was pres present at theformational meeting that was organized by the developer like one Saturday afternoon or morning on um a couple weeks ago and I was floored at how much of the information they were providing was theoretical. Um more so than the water and sound usage, I was concerned about the generator use. um if there was a systemic power failure and um the power structure would depend ultimately on diesel gas generators and would you want to live near several stationary diesel trucks just running for how who knows how long. Um because again we're this is a theoretical situation which if something breaks then who knows what the ETA is on just fixing the matter like you're stuck with a next to living a diesel generator. Um and you know according to the developer the issue of stationary diesel trucks had not been studied like with as far as the admissions are concerned because primarily diesel trucks are traveling. So I frankly don't want to the city of Monterey Park to serve as this case study regarding uh gen like generator use in a single area. Um more so the

proposed data center didn't have a user. Um and what if the data center uh ended up not having user? What's the route to redeveloping the area? I mean look at the area right now. It's gone without a user for several years. So who knows what the turnaround time or the redevelopment would look like on um the area that would be a data center. Um and lastly like data centers are a speculative industry and the bubble is going to burst. I am for thoughtful sustainable development that has a long the long-term interest of the city and its residents at heart and a part of that sustainable development is to study battery energy storage facilities. Um I appreciate your time. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Samuel Brown and I'm here on my own behalf. However, I am a member of the No Data Center St. Gabriel Valley Coalition.

And what an honor to be a part of that coalition. But it would not have existed had it not been for the example of Monterey Park. And to the residents of Monterey Park, the San Gabriel Valley owes you a tremendous a tremendous amount of support because it is your effort in engaging in the civic participation in raising this issue and escalating this issue that we have taken notice. And so I just want to say we can't thank you enough, Monterey Park. And what a beautiful city. I love the smell of the food as I passed by the homes on the way over here. You're showing what it looks like here in Monter Park when a city actually listens to its residents, takes their concerns seriously, and acts before harm is done. The No Data Center Monterey Park community didn't just organize locally. They inspired a regional movement. Because of your leadership, cities across the San Gabriel Valley are waking up to the very real threats that industrial scale data centers pose to our water supply, our air quality, our energy grid, and ultimately the quality of life. That's why we're proud to stand with you today, not just as allies, but as partners in a growing coalition. And that's why we support yes on measure NDC and we support the ordinance that's being considered today. This measure represents something bigger than a single policy. It's local control. It's about drawing a line and saying that our communities are not sacrifice zones for speculative infrastructure driven by hedge funds and private equity. It's about protecting workingclass neighborhoods from bearing the costs of massive energy and water consumption that primarily benefit corporations elsewhere. In the city of industry, where many of these projects are being pushed aggressively, I've personally been

removed from meetings. Public comment is often reduced to one minute. Community members are interrupted, sidelined, or shut out entirely. And this is what it looks like when decisions are being made behind closed doors. So, it's different being here in Monterey Park. And I want to really applaud the city council for being able to address the concerns raised by the community because that is not the scenario in city of industry and it's not the scenario in Vernon and other similar industrial cities, but it could have just as easily been. On the energy side, these projects are not standalone. They require major grid upgrades and are often paired with the battery energy storage systems. And so what you have is essentially a cluster of not just data centers, but the infrastructure to support those data centers. Those clusters impact communities. And we know across the St. Gabriel Valley, but also in areas adjacent to the city of industry that there's residents that are impacted by this. So, I just want to just close this out by saying what you have here in Monterey Park in more ways than one is not just unique, it is essentially the example that we aspire to. and I couldn't be more grateful and more appreciative to be standing here before you and seeing the tremendous leadership that you've taken on by prioritizing your residents first, your stakeholders. And while I may not be a constituent, I am a member of the I am a resident in the San Gabriel Valley and I do consider myself a stakeholder as well. So, please continue the good work. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU everyone who spoke. Um, has anyone turned in a comment card and not been called to speak? Everyone who wanted to speak got a chance to speak. All right. Well, thank you everyone for taking the time to come out and to speak with us. we will close the public hearing and uh comments.

I will start first. Uh I know that the item that's been asked by the audience is not on the agenda item. So I'd like to direct staff to go back to research and bring back some discussions on battery energy storage systems. Um understanding what we can do with this from the city standpoint. uh also understanding that there are certain state laws that supersede this item, but we will ask staff to research and bring that back for uh discussion. I'll just add uh again appreciate everyone who showed up tonight uh like the many meetings we've been having the last few months uh to express your your views and perspectives, your concerns around things that are happening in the city, particularly this issue. uh appreciate the continued community engagement around this. Uh and just really appreciate everyone showing up to to make your views continue to be known. Uh it's really important for all of us. I think on the council and I think safe to speak for this council in particular, we want to hear your feedback and we hope that we will continue to engage uh on a whole host of issues including this one as we continue in the next few months and the years to come. There's so many things that the council and the city are dealing with that we welcome and want to encourage the community to continue to provide feedback and engagement um to make sure that things that we do want to approve, things that we don't want in our city as well that we're fully informed as a council about what the the residents in our community really want and how we can move forward together on this. So, appreciate uh the continued I know we all have jobs, uh families, things to do as well. appreciate you all taking time out of your days and your nights uh to do this and to organize yourselves and to organize the community around an issue that you're so passionate about. Uh I will just echo what Council Go has said and what I think all of us have already said uh in a number of meetings already. I support uh the recommendation. Really appreciate the staff uh and all the work that went into putting these ordinances

and the the work together to get us to this point. It's been a lot of work. I really want to to emphasize how much work uh and appreciation I have personally for the staff team uh our city attorney and the city attorney's office um and everyone on down for the work that went into getting to these ordinances there before us today uh understanding that we are making some slight adjustments uh based on some of the feedback we've heard uh support the adopting the staff recommendation tonight with those changes uh and moving forward on the items here. I also do want to note on the as council go mentioned on the battery energy storage system concerns. I'm very eager to learn more about this. I can understand some of these concerns uh and would look to explore some of these things, but I'd welcome a dialogue from with uh those folks that have been expressing these. I know we've been getting some emails from folks for the last couple weeks around battery energy storage systems. I've been working in climate and environmental sustainability policy work for going on 15 years now. Understand the need from a broad perspective for battery storage systems. I'm curious. I understand there are some concerns from a very local uh perspective, but I want to make sure we're balancing that and would welcome a conversation for those who have been sending us this recommendation, some more background information to better understand this so that we can inform us and would support council's direction to staff to research this a little bit further. maybe we can dig into this a little bit deeper uh to better educate ourselves.

I also want to thank everyone who came out today um and for continue to engage our council. I know a lot of us have uh other things to do in the evenings and so I really really appreciate as a civics teacher um it really warms my heart to know that people are are willing to engage their community and have a lot of passion for specific issues. So really want to thank you for coming out tonight really means a lot to me. I saw in fact earlier today a young kid with their parents. So I really appreciate I I love when I see families uh together and come out and participate civically. Um, I I just wanted to also uh thank our staff uh but also thank a lot of the organizers who uh were constantly uh sending us emails and uh suggesting suggesting uh different things that we could do to tighten our ordinance. So really appreciate the communication that was happening. I think for those of us who have families and have kids, uh we know that it takes a village to do these types of things. So I really appreciate all of the effort that you guys did um and the effort that still continues. Um, I also support the um obviously the the ordinances uh and uh want to see these passed. I I really um are very very appreciative of the work that you uh the community has done. Uh I I'm also really inspired by the regional impact that it's having um not that beyond Monterey Park and I and I really hope that that continues. uh because I think that while we might have potentially today stopped uh data centers here in Monterey Park, that's data centers throughout the San Gabriel Valley are still a real threat. And so um I I think I really thank you for for doing that and for setting the example here in Monterey Park. I think a lot of us are very proud of that work and the work that you are doing um and that continue to do uh throughout the San Gabriel Valley and throughout the state. So, um that said, uh one of my students today, um in my fifth period class, uh

said that she had heard from her mom that there was a big big vote on data centers in Monterey Park going on today. And I said that's true. And she's like, um she wanted to know how you were going to vote. So, anyhow, I told her she could watch and find out, but hopefully she can uh she can I hope she's watching, but anyhow, wanted to uh thank you because those are the types of conversations that are happening in a lot of families today because of the work that you're doing. So, very appreciative of that work. Um lastly, uh just want to say that uh because I I heard a lot of people talk about the water use, the energy use, uh the pollution, um both noise and air. Uh those are quality of life issues. as I heard constantly people talk about and that is very true. So I really appreciate the work that everyone is doing here to try to preserve those types of quality lives here in Monterey Park but also throughout the San Gable Valley. So thank you so much mayor.

Yes. Um thank you for my colleagues um who um eloquently shared their uh comments tonight. I am also in full support of the items before us. Um and I also do want to thank the community um for engaging with us these many months um not just um um you know on this issue but also when we discuss you know how do we uh create better governance and better uh communications between city council um our administration and the residents and again you know government works best when residents are engaged with elected officials and I do want to thank everyone who has been engaged with us and I hope that you will stay engaged with us because um you know I I I very confident that Measure NDC will probably pass overwhelmingly in June and with all of your efforts um and architect efforts, you know, we all went to the kickoff and saw the power of the community. And I do hope though that after um you know the election when measure passes overwhelmingly that we will continue to dialogue and talk to each other because again the area that has uh been the source of conversation you know it's an area that is very valuable to the community and I think and I hope that we can have um continue dialogue about how we can have meaningful development um um in that area one that the community can be very proud of. Um and of course this will be hopefully a dialogue that will not just include residents and city but also our brothers and sisters in the house of labor. Uh because again we do understand that you know you know a thriving middle class a thriving regional economy is due in part to the power of labor and that is something I personally have always acknowledged. Um and I hope that we can continue to work together. And um uh and then lastly um again I I also in support of my colleagues comments and suggestions about looking into um the issue of regulating best systems um battery storage systems. I know that um

there has been uh previously legislation put forward um that has been enacted by the state. I think there may have been in the beginning of this year's session some additional legislation, although I'm not sure where those bills are at this moment um in time. But um I think that certainly if we want and need more guidance regarding the current regulatory framework um regarding battery storage systems, I encourage staff to um engage with our state representatives or have us speak to our state representatives. Um and and also you know if I also al also add that if there are also any deficiencies in legislation regarding um best systems and I think this is where we as a committee need to also speak out to our state representatives representatives to see how we can further strengthen and improve such legislation because after all state legislation um does not happen in a vacuum either. they are product um of of um community concerns and needs and I think that that's where we may and should um also have conversations with our state representatives in the senate and the assembly about um on this particular issue and those are my comments.

Thank you Mayor Prom and like my colleagues all mentioned um wanted to appreciate everyone for their time. You guys all have families and jobs and um busy lives. So, it takes a lot out of your time to come out and make public comment, even go canvasing and speak to neighbors about what's going on in the city. So, kudos to the entire community for all your efforts and time. Um I also want to direct staff um regarding battery energy storage systems to uh do more research on it and also wanted to give big thanks to our staff. Um we've been getting um countless emails since last week regarding the community support for today's uh special um meeting. But only today did we start getting emails about removing language regarding data processing facility. So with just a few hours of turnaround time, staff was able to immediately amend the report and recommendation. So we're here and we're able to have her leadership because our staff Yeah. So, our our staff really makes it easy to lead the city because we have such a great cohesive team working in the city of Monterey Park. And um I've also heard community members reference our city in other cities like city of industry. So, I'm really happy that our impact is not just confined to our city, but making ripples across the St. Gabriel Valley. So, keep using Monterey Park as a president. Um, so with that said, any other comments or would anyone like to entertain a motion?

I'll make the motion. I'll second. And madame mayor, members of the council, just to make sure the amendments suggested tonight during the presentation would be included with the draft ordinances. Your motion to adopt the recommendation. Not the recommendation as updated in the chart. Yes. Okay. Council member Go makes the motion. Council member Sanchez second. Let's vote. Approved unanimously.

All right. Our motion has passed and that's all we have for tonight's special meeting.

Madam Madame Mayor. Yes. Madame Mayor, before we lose the entire audience, I do want to uh plug, we have a few, we talked a lot about engagement opportunities, so I wanted to plug one more time. Um there is a communication survey that's currently active. That communication survey is about how we um communicate out with our public where you're getting information from. Are you using social media? Are you using the cascade? Are you using city street banners? We want to hear back. that will enha help us enhance the way we communicate with the public. So, if you have already taken the survey, we really appreciate you doing that. If you haven't um or you have and you have neighbors that haven't, please share the word. Uh we would like really to have a a good uh effort to get as much feedback as possible so we know how to engage and enhance our engagement efforts with our community members. So, um there was a young lady passing around a QR code. It's also on the Go MPK app. It's also on the web page. So, please take that survey along with two other surveys. The community choice awards is also going on. And um where residential commercial trash hauler services has a customer satisfaction survey as well. So, please take those surveys if you haven't already. Thank you, council. Thank you so much. Meeting. Oh, we can come and ask we'll come answer your questions. All right. Meeting adjourned at 9:02. Say what?

See you again.