City Council - Regular Meeting

Mic check. Test test test.

Test test test. Yeah, I'll I'll I'll talk this loud. Is that too loud?

Check check check check check test check Yes. Yes. Mic check. Test test. Test test test. Mic check. Test test test.

Yes, mic is on. Yes. Yes.

Thanks for asking. had a day where you come in here. But I had like one of the original World Series jackets. Hades like that, you know. Thank you.

Watch out.

We Here we go. We going to start standing up or

we can start sitting down. You want to do that? I want to be casual. Okay, good.

Good evening everybody and uh welcome to uh Mayor's Town Hall 2026. So, super excited to have you all here. Absolutely. Uh this is going to be uh a really nice evening. So, I hope you all enjoy it. Uh the water park was chosen. It wasn't the community center. It wasn't city hall. It wasn't some other venue because we thought this would be a little bit less formal and more like a a casual setting. It's beautiful out here if you look out the back window at our water park. And so the goal the goal is for this to be more like a fireside chat, I think, than anything else. Um I'm super excited to have uh Senator um Tim Grayson here with us tonight. Um yeah, that's our our state treasurer Fiona Ma is on her way and she said she'll be here in probably 10 minutes or so. So we that's why we kind of started a little bit late. Uh Senator Grayson also um has a hard stop at 7:30 and so uh he wasn't going to have a lot of time to to mingle and talk after. So I wanted to give him a minute to be able to to talk with folks. Also, uh what the what the format of tonight is going to be is we are going to do a little bit of introduction. Um Senator Grayson and and uh Treasure Ma will be able to introduce themselves and say a little bit. Um, I have a few questions that I'm going to ask of them. And then we we had the opportunity and we still have the opportunity if you would like to ask questions of the senator, the treasurer, myself, all three, um, there's cards available that you can fill out and, uh, give to Jaden. Uh, where's J? Jaden's over there in the corner. So, if you would like to do that, raise your hand. You can get a card and and put something in for us. If you don't, uh, if you don't, that's fine as well. And so I just wanted I just wanted to first of all thank everybody that came out tonight. This is uh this is really an

important event because you're going to get to hear from two of the highest level government officials in the state of California. And that doesn't um happen very often. In fact, it's very rare that a city would be able to have a senator and the treasurer come to a town hall like this. So, I'm super grateful that um that Senator Grayson agreed to come out and and do this tonight. And so, uh I think it's a real honor. Uh also want to let you know that the goal of this time is for uh to make sure that you feel like you're heard and that uh this is interactive to the extent that it can be. So, we don't want people to think that they're being talked to, but that they can walk away with information that's important. But more than that, my goal is that there's actionable things that come out of this that we can uh um at least start moving towards putting into place apart from the things that the senator and the treasurer are already working on. And then the other thing is that this is a partnership. So we know that the city of Antioch has a lot of amazing things that are happening right now, but we also know we have a long ways to go. And so we are uh working hard independently and with other partners, but at the end of the day, we really need our state partnerships and and to work together. And so that's another reason why this is really important that um we have Senator Grayson here with us tonight. And then I guess the the final thing I just want to say is that uh at the end of the day we could have all the great ideas and discussion and talk about collaboration and everything, but if that doesn't necessarily hit the ground and become a reality to the city of Antioch and to the region, then that uh then that doesn't that's meaningless. And so we want to make sure that the things that we're talking about um are able to be hopefully actionable or are in the process of happening right now. So, I'd like to introduce uh Senator Tim

Grayson. Um Senator Grayson is actually from Conquered or that's where uh I believe you live right now, don't you? And so, um Senator Grayson uh is a con he's a he's a man of many many talents and gifts. He's a contractor. Uh he is the chaplain for the conquered police department. I believe you're still a chaplain, correct? which which is amazing with all the things that he has to do in Sacramento and running around to to maintain that. But that just uh means that that's very important to you. So, and to the community. Uh he was on the conquered city council uh and was uh the mayor of conquered before he ran for um the assembly which uh he won and was on the assembly uh joined the assembly I believe in 2016 and served two terms in the assembly ran in 2024 and is now uh our senator for the ninth district which we are part of and he represents us. So we are very fortunate to have an individual who knows what it's like to um operate a city and conquer has a lot of similarities to Antioch and then also elevates to the highest levels in our state government so that hopefully that understanding can be translated back down to the local level. And so one of the things I really appreciate about uh uh Senator Gla Senator Grayson is the fact that he um was one of the founding members of the um family justice center. And that's really important to uh work with people uh women specifically that are abused, that are trafficked. And so that's something that he helped spearhead and get in place and actually has uh then fought for funding. I think it was $24 million in funding that that came back to make sure that that stays a robust um organization and operation. He also has been a champion for uh workforce development. Um he's a he's a

huge champion for housing and making sure that we have affordable housing, the housing can be quil built quickly, that any of the impediments that are in the way of housing can be streamlined to the extent possible. And then he is he's also understands the needs of just workers in general and he's very um I won't say sympathetic but very much aware to what they deal with. And so he's uh um actively uh advocating for for workforce, for workers, for jobs, for economic development. So I don't want to keep going on and on because I could, but I'd like to introduce our um state senator Tim Grayson. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that very gracious, gracious introduction. And I am honored and humbled to be with each and every one of you tonight. I see some really good friends that I have uh made over the years that are here tonight and some new ones that I just made tonight. Look forward to working with you. Uh let's real important before I forget it uh because that happens every once in a while. I want to introduce uh staff because you said you wanted some actionables

to come out of this meeting. Well, here's your first actionable, and that is we have my district director, Michael Sponsler. We have Yeah, he's he's awesome. Uh we have Dena. Dena's in Sanchez. We have Angela. We have Jacqueline. Uh I have a There she is. Teresa Bell who represents uh this area for my district. Uh we also have I think maybe outside Alejandra and Diana. And so they're all here. So, here's the actionable. We're not going to possibly get to every single question tonight. I just don't think it's going to happen um because uh of time restrictions, but I can promise you this one thing. If you will touch base with one of these staff folks here tonight, get the email address and contact our office, I can promise you, we will respond to you. You will get an answer. You will get some type. It may not be the one you like, but but you will get an answer tonight. So, and then um I'm sorry. Oh, and then the most important person in the room that just showed up is our sec our treasurer, Fiona Ma. Let's welcome California State Treasurer, one of the constitutional offices, one of seven. Fiona Ma, come on up. hand up.

You want some help? I have I'm gonna talk about later. Okay. Okay. She's gonna talk about some stuff later. Uh well, that's a lot of reading. I'm like Santa Claus. She's like s No, I brought gifts.

All right. So, while she's getting settled in real quick, uh if you don't know me, this is the first time you've met me. I've lived in conquered for uh quite a while. I have been married for 37 years uh to my wife uh Tammy and we were five when we got married. And thank you for laughing at that dad joke. I really appreciate it. And uh and so uh I have two uh adult children. Uh my daughter Cassie and my son Joe. Joe's a firefighter for Contraosta Fire. And uh yay. Thank you for public safety being in the house tonight. By the way, we love our police department, our fire department. And then also uh my daughter uh Cassie is a social worker. And then my wife Dr. Grayson, she is a therapist, psychologist, and I am the one they all practice on. And uh still haven't gotten it yet, but it's all good. So with that, I have served on the local level. I served on the conquer city council started in 2010 ran for assembly in 2016 and uh from there I served as a council member a vice mayor and a mayor as you well know 2010 meant the great recession that we went through and believe it or not it was during that great recession that conquered was able to build a $90 million uh reserve and uh we streamlined services we cleaned uh cleaned house and did a lot of things to make it efficient and effective as a government working for the people. I went from there to uh assembly where I worked on a lot of housing issues and uh one of the things that was so important to me was housing and that is because I didn't want to have to get on an airplane to go visit my grandkids because my children couldn't afford to live where they were raised by their mom and dad. And that was important to me to go and and and work on that. So for me important things like economic development, uh jobs, housing, health

care, these are you can't silo them. They're all connected together. All of them, education, higher education, it's all connected together. So, infrastructure for California. And I think that is actually a perfect segue into transitioning over to let our treasurer talk because she really plays a huge role in all of those things and how they get funded. Absolutely. So, uh, please welcome our state of California treasurer, Fiona Ma. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Um, I was down at the University UC Santa Cruz. uh doing a tour and um the traffic was a little bit heavy. We had a little I guess accident so that's why I'm a little late but thank you so much mayor for having me. Thank you senator um for uh welcoming me to your district. Uh I am currently the state treasurer. Uh so I fund and finance pretty much everything. I'm the banker. I take in over $3 trillion. Uh we are the fourth largest economy in the world with a GDP of $4 trillion. I take in $3 trillion. I issue all the bonds for the state of California, the UC and the CSU systems. I invest the state's short-term portfolio. That's about 168 billion. Lots of zeros, right? Um, and I'm okay with it because I like to control the money. Um, I am a CPA, so I am not intimidated by uh this job. But more importantly, my father is finally proud of me

that I'm not wasting my education and my um you know, my private sector experience. Uh starting off as a CPA, working for one of the big eight accounting firms in San Francisco, then got elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, state assembly, state board of equalization, treasur, and treasure. And like uh the senator said, um three of my positions, three out of my four positions were in deficits and we are expecting a structural deficit over the next couple years unless the tech companies continue to IPO and give bonuses and mergers. Um we will do okay. And then I fund and finance everything from affordable housing to uh public transportation, green energy, advanced manufacturing, um garbage and recycling. I have lots of small business programs and I'm bringing my little uh resource guides because California, we have lots of resources, but we are not good at letting local governments and the people know uh because we just put it on a website and we expect you all to know it's there. So, that's why I wanted to join um the mayor here today just to share some of the uh goodies that we have that may perhaps interest you and your families.

All right. Thank you, Treasure Ma. That was awesome. And when I when I first met um Treasurer Moss, she uh she mentioned that she has a lot of resources that would be um attractive to the city of Antioch. And so uh here's some of them that she brought with us. There's a there's a QR code out there you can get more information on. And that's going to be really important just to make sure that we can access things. I I am remiss because I didn't call out the people that uh came to support us here from the city of Antioch. So, uh, first of all, I just want to thank Jaden for uh, raise your hand up over there, Jaden. He he he's the one that organized, uh, this whole thing along with, uh, parks and reccks folks that that helped set this room up. So, thank you for running around and doing all that. Jaden, appreciate that. Nicole, she's over there against the wall. She she helps, uh, keep everything at city hall running. Uh, we have our chief of police back there. Uh, Chief Vhill, thank you for bringing out the whole gang tonight. So, thank you officers for coming out and and being a part of uh a part of what we're doing here. We appreciate that. So, so one of the things I'd like to ask you both is uh about, you know, Antioch is although we're about 120,000 people, we have big city issues. We have homelessness and we have public safety. We have economic development challenges. We have transportation. We have uh jobs that are local for people. And one I I guess I'd like to just ask I'm going to start with housing first of all because I think that's really an important subject. Antioch has about 10 sites right now that have been converted to uh an overlay that allows for multifamily housing uh in formerly commercial properties. And so we're going to see about 2,000 units go up in the next few years. But what I wanted to ask about is when there's lowinccome financing involved with housing and uh the

developer comes in and wants to build something, we lose the property tax off of that property for forever more. They also don't have to pay impact fees sometimes because they uh after after 2020 they're exempt. And so what that does is it places part of the burden on the local government to um absorb some of that. And so I just want to know is there any legislation or anything out there that can help us a little bit with with um with that aspect of of the affordable housing? Well, if I may, we have uh the tax credit expert on affordable housing sitting right next to me. And I want to give props because there's uh to my knowledge, better understanding, always stand to be corrected, there's four tax credit uh programs that run and our treasurer is over two of them. And there uh and then there are two other agencies each over one. And when I started diving into it and trying to learn, she was the first one to come to my office and help educate me on how it works. She was the most responsive. And then after we had collaboration and conversation, she went back and on her own began to exercise the reforms that were needed to meet the needs of California. So your state treasurer has done a phenomenal job at addressing affordable housing in the state of California. Thank you. Now, having said that, and we're not here to just prop each other up. Having said that, you bring up a really good point. I'm still kind of bitter uh because when I was on Conquered City Council, I was the chair of redevelopment agency where Governor Brown shut it down and took all that money from local uh cities and municipalities. So, we lost millions of dollars that helped cover the fees that would be exempted or the loss in property tax. So, that's always been in my mind since I've been up at the state. And real quick, because I don't want to filibuster here, but I'm running a bill this year that would uh that would

change things up. Right now, a developer and a city kind of have an adversarial relationship because the city has needs. They've got to negotiate. They've got to make demands. The developer, they have a vision and they have a job and a project that they want to bring out of the ground. And the two have been put in a position where they almost naturally are in conflict. What I want to do is remove that conflict and make the two the developer and the city partners. And by doing that, instead of just taking money and throwing it to the wind and letting it land in the hands of developers, not that the developers don't want or need the money, but the developers, they may get uh money from the state, but it comes with so many strings attached that we give them 5 million and then turn around and ask for 10 million back. And the developers like, I can't afford that. So, what I would like to do and what I'm doing with my bill is to make it to where a state agency receives the money out of the state budget and then the partnership of the developer and the city come up with a project that meets the qualifications. They go to the state. The state then gives the city, not the developer. the city the money to be able to cover what would have been property taxes or what would have been in this particular case uh improvements, horizontal improvements, new streets, new sidewalks, new pipelines to accommodate that new development so that the developer doesn't bear the cost on their shoulders and it doesn't take the price of a door of a new home from one price and double it to a higher price. It can make the project pencil out. The developer is a winner, the city's a winner, the state's a winner, and the home owner or or the person living in in the rental, either one, is the winner. So, everybody wins in this.

Yeah. So, um I would

Hello. Yeah. I I would definitely agree. Um I was in the legislature uh when Governor Jerry Brown got rid of redevelopment and we were all shocked because that was not part of the deal. And I would not have voted for it because in San Francisco we have four active redevelopment agencies. And what these redevelopment agencies did is it created tax increment financing meaning as they developed and they generated taxes that went to go back and pay for the further development. So it didn't take away money from local governments like what you're talking about which is a big concern. Um, but if we want affordable housing, like uh the senator said, it is so hard to pencil these projects. I oversee the tax credit and the bonds. And Deb to been working with her for probably 10 years trying to build her senior living uh center and it is like a a big jigsaw puzzle. It is so hard to find all the pieces and then my agencies are the the last ones in the middle. And so we have been doing our best to streamline getting the money out uh making sure that we're flexible uh um to all of the different conditions, but it is not easy to build truly affordable housing 50% AMI and below. Um I also have a bill I'm working on with Senator Cababayero uh to create an infrastructure uh financing fund. kind of similar concept because after the great recession, cities and counties didn't have the money anymore to pay for the streets and the sewers and the wastewater treatment plants. So they said, "Developers, you're going to pay for it." Impact fees, for example. And then the developers said, "I can't pencil. We're not building it." So that is part of the reason we have a housing crisis is supply and demand because it is so expensive to build truly

affordable housing. Sometimes it's a million dollars a door, right? But it takes years to put the financing, the puzzle together. And then infrastructure now is definitely uh an issue that's impeding.

All right. Thank you. Thank you both for the work you're doing on that. And we want to be excited about the affordable housing coming. At least I do and don't want to have an an attitude because I don't feel like they're they're paying their own way. And so it's it's good to hear that we have some things in place or coming in place. and also just thank you for the legislation that has helped us streamline the process so that it doesn't turn into year upon year apart from actually getting them penciled and financed. Uh, another thing I just want to ask real quickly is what what type of issues are you hearing most frequently from cities that we should maybe be aware of here in Antioch that you're working on in Sacramento? Um, just so we can kind of keep keep our eye on the ball. I know that, you know, the homelessness is obviously a big one, right, for for a lot of cities. Some some don't have it. Antioch has the most homeless in Contraosta County, uh, our numbers, and that's having come down from 413 down to 238 in the point in time count from 24 to 25. So, we've made some huge progress, but there's still a long ways to go. And we've actually been able to take advantage of ERF funding. We have $6.8 $.8 million that we're using right now to house uh an encampment that had 30 to 40 people in it. Um we're looking at some home key plus funding right now as well, $35 million. And so there's funding available that we're working on, but maybe maybe specific to the area of homelessness, what what sort of things is a legislator legisl legislation looking at and maybe other things that we can do that are ideas for us to address it beyond uh paying millions and millions of dollars for hotels to to house folks. Well, uh, just to start off and then she can, uh, clean up, uh, do the batting, clean up, batting. Uh, but to start off, the one struggle that we're still trying to fight is how we've approached many, many things through government in in a

lot of cases, and that's through silos. We've siloed so many, you heard me in my opening uh, remarks, we've siloed so many things, and we have done a lot with the unhoused. we have been able to uh take care of a lot of unhoused and get them into some kind of shelter. Uh that was the lowhanging fruit. The folks now that I believe in many cases that we're really trying to help with just giving them a front door and giving them a roof is not the only answer. It requires wraparound services. It requires the services of mental health. It requires the services of workforce training. It requires the services of health coverage. and all of those coming together. I I I can't I I I can't think of a better example of of uh a municipality that has been able to do this uh other than Redwood City. And I went and took a tour of it and I wish I could plant one of those facilities in every community that we have or at least one in each county uh because they do that approach. It's a wraparound. And so that's when it comes to unhoused. And I want to say something about housing. By the way, a couple of things. Number one, we cannot build our economy just on rental housing. We have got to build our economy on upward mobility. And there is that entry. I rented there and many here rent, but we have to have housing and and make it possible for those that choose to do so to become a home owner. And which is why I fought really really hard for hundreds of millions of dollars to go into uh um a project that uh gave assistance to those that were trying to get into firsttime home buyers uh become a first-time home buyer in California. This is important to me because my son and his wife lived in my house, my wife and I's house for three and a half years before they could actually come up with the down payment. and they just did a few months ago. And they just became

first-time home buyers in the state of California, which is miraculous, by the way, if you believe in miracles. And uh that was only done because they had a a place to go. But not everybody has that resource. So I want affordable housing, but I also want housing that's affordable. And our treasurer hit the nail on the head when she said it comes down to supply and demand. We must remove the obstacles for both the unhoused but also those that are trying to go up to that next level in housing in the state of California and it's going to require more supply. Yes. Um so uh one of the things I'm focused on is young people and trying to keep them out of high student loan debt because trying to save 20% for a down payment. If you have high student loan debt, your credit may not be that well uh not be that good. um it's going to take longer. And so I have a guide, that's what I'm brought here today. I have a guide for higher education, uh free grants and uh scholarship programs if anybody wants to come up after um to try to, you know, keep them out of high student loan debt. Secondly, uh first-time home buyer, the no place like home um no the sorry the dream for all dream for all program. Um we are going into our third uh trunch of giving firsttime um sorry firsttime homeowners whose parents don't own a home the 20% down payment upfront free no costs and we get repaid when the homeowner repays uh sells the house or refinances the house um and so that is the second trunch I think it's another hundred million uh that we are giving out so that has been successful the senator also talked about first time home buyer programs through Cal HFA. Uh those are very uh good programs. You work with a local broker who knows the programs and they can help um package uh your your um your loan so that it's

ready to go when the home comes on the market. And then I also sell the bonds for the veterans uh Calvet home loan program. So if there's any veterans here, we have money uh that um Yep. Um, yes, thank you for your service. Uh, that loan is not dependent on your FICO sto score. It's really dependent on your ability to pay it back. And lots of folks who are on the streets may be veterans. Um, and so I also am uh sponsoring a bill with Senator Archeletta to exempt retirey military pay from state income taxes. We are only five states that tax our military veterans when they retire. And what happens? They leave. But we want to keep them here. We want to keep their families here. Um, and they create economic development. They create jobs. Many of them as they retire, they go on to a second job. And their spouses are here also working. And they want their kids to live here. So this is something that makes sense. And we did a press conference and the press kept going, "How much is it going to cost? How much is it going to cost?" And Senator Archer Le and I are like, "Listen, what about how much, you know, how how you know these veterans that put their lives on the line? How much is that costing them and their families? We need to do better. We need to do more. How much does it cost? How much does it cost?" It's not all about cost sometimes, right? We want to keep them here, especially in emergency uh situations. volunteers who are the best ones to volunteer. People who are trained, who have that commitment, you know, to helping others, protecting lives, protecting, you know, property. That's who we want to keep here in this state. So, sometimes it's not all about money. That's all I'm saying, mayor.

And that's coming from the treasure. Right. Well, that that's something that I appreciate about both of you is you're passionate about people, not not just money or power in the case of being a senator, right? But uh No, I'm just kidding. But so it's uh but it's um it's I want to talk a little bit about your passion for um people that have been abused, trafficked, things like that, and maybe some of the legislation that you've you've pushed forward. I know the um family justice center is something that you were I had mentioned earlier that you uh you had co-founded and so maybe you can talk a little bit about that.

Thank you, mayor. I uh so in the short time that I've been in the state legislature been able to secure over 30 million statewide. When I first got in the assembly in 2016, we had somewhere around 17 or uh between 17 19 family justice centers throughout the state. Now we're over we're approaching over 40. And my goal is to have at least one in every county. And family justice centers are simply a a one-stop shop. And we have one in Antioch. Uh that is for those that are victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, child abuse, or human trafficking. And they can go in and in a one-stop shop get their needs met, get the counseling, get the guidance they need, and uh be able to break free or get out and escape from that situation. So uh for me uh it's it's really important um uh to make sure that we provide the resources especially to the most vulnerable and that is not just in family trust center and physical abuse but it's also serving as the chair of banking and finance and making sure that we rise up against the scams and the frauds that are stealing uh billions of dollars from folks here in the in the states in the nation. billions of dollars uh through fraud being lost and many of them it's in every age group but in many cases it's from our aged community

and so um I remember in 2000 standing on the court steps um yeah courtroom steps with then uh Kla Harris uh and um in shock because a woman living in the Richmond district she had been fatally uh murdered in front of her children um domestic violence. She had uh filed for restraining orders. Uh this gentleman had multiple offenses, felony offenses, yet the justice system failed her. And that's because our criminal justice systems in San Francisco were not talking with one one another. And so, um you know, that falls through the cracks and it's still not working like it should. Um, fast forward, um, when I got elected on the board of supervisors, there were two human trafficking cases happening in the Korean community in my district. And I propose a conditional use permit requirement on massage parlors because they were coming in through the massage parlors. And since that passed, uh, there are no human trafficking through massage parlors, uh, anymore in San Francisco. But it just it's like a balloon, you know, you stop it here and then it just moves around to other places. So land use does really work uh in terms of, you know, um trying to cut down on this. And then my last two bills signed by Jerry Brown allowed women convicted of life without parole a second chance at having their cases heard before a judge or the parole board. Because many of these women were like my mother or my grandmother's age. um they didn't have the benefit of the of the battered women syndrome when they um were in court. Um they weren't allowed to tell their long history cases of abuse um why they were in that position, why they felt threatened, why they ultimately you know felt um or you know killed their uh spouse significant

other. And because of that over a hundred women mostly elderly very sick because the prison system does not provide great health care. um for these ladies um at least they are spending their last remaining lives you know outside of the prison wall. So um you know I've been working on these type of issues uh domestic violence, human trafficking, assault, everything um like the senator because it's about people who don't have that voice and they do need the help. Um and it's not pretty and it is pretty um ugly uh at times but they need also to have a place to go. we need to provide resources. Um, and whenever we're cutting uh the budget, usually it is for um you know these type of uh um shelters, homeless shelters, uh shelters for families, women, you know, because they are the ones that are not up in Sacramento uh and not able to lobby and they don't want to tell their stories. So that's incumbent on us and if any of you have stories and you want us to be your voice, please let us know.

All right. Thank you very much. That's that's powerful. What uh speaking of you were talking about student loans and make down payment assistance. Workforce development is something that's really important here in Antioch because we have a lot of folks that are getting out of school. Maybe they're not going to go to college. Uh we have the junior college here, the community college that that is working on that. What is I know that's a passion of yours, Senator. what what is some legislation or things that um you're working on that is helping folks in that in that realm of workforce development?

Well, just before I left the Senate or the Assembly and came over to the Senate, um I got a bill passed signed by the governor AB844 that created the green empowerment zone, which each and every one of you should be really interested in, and it's very important to the entire waterfront area. And it it it's it's about uh when a refinery closes, what do we do? We are the fourth we fourth largest economy in the world. Our area is going to be impacted when we have a refinery close. In one particular case, a refinery closed. Over 700 jobs were lost. But we were able to salvage some of those jobs because in the green empowerment zone, we use and leverage all the government resources we have from federal, state, county, and local to be able to guide and help plant economic development and jobs. So, some of those pipe fitters were able to leave a job that they had lost in a refinery and go right over to Calpine and continue to be a pipe fitter for a carbon capture company. Uh and then we're also working in partnership with the treasur's office on advanced manufacturing and green techn or uh green manufacturing and technology and running a bill this year uh to try to make it to where we create a level playing field because 43 43 states in uh the nation do not charge a manufacturer sales tax on the purchase of a piece of equipment that makes that company money that pays sales tax. but we do in California. So, we have an unlevel playing field because we charge our manufacturers that sales tax. So, I'm trying to create it to where they don't have to do that here. And instead of them picking up and moving to another state where they don't have to pay that tax, they can stay here. And by the way, that tax or the money they make off that piece of machinery creates a tax base that continues to flow in perpetuity

into the city's coffers. So, it only makes sense to do that. So between the green empowerment zone and workforce training, working with the labor center out of UC Berkeley uh on the labor aspect of it and the Turner Center on the housing aspect of it, we are doing everything we can to keep Contra Costa County economically viable and strong as we have been to keep California's budget strong. Yeah.

So, um, talking about manufacturing, you know, California used to be a manufacturing state and then we kind of decided we didn't want to do that anymore and then we went more into the service sector and now things are coming around again where we are trying to bring more manufacturing in and that means we need to have more apprenticeship type programs. the building trades are really active uh trying to create these programs in college like community colleges, but we really need them in junior high and high school um to expose our young people that, you know, maybe they're not um you know uh going to get straight A's, but they like to build, they like to create. And in this type of environment where things are changing so fast, right, these young people don't have the patience to go to a 4-year university and go into high student loan debt for a piece of paper where they don't know they're going to get a real job. And so public private partnerships have to be um the uh part of the solution. And like the senator said, we are in silos. I ask companies, why are you here? They always say, well, because of the talent pool. I say which schools do you work with? Well, we kind of do something with here or there, you know, but they don't have anything official where they are creating those paid internships, those mentorships, and then those jobs before the kids get out of school. Too many of them are taking a gap year right now because they can't find a job. That is not acceptable. So, we need to do more to create those pathways. And I think going back to, you know, working with your hands, understanding, you know, what some of these jobs are because they are good paying jobs for those that maybe can't afford or don't want to go to a 4-year university.

Thank you. And as you did, you know, we have a huge waterfront that's majorly underutilized right now, and we're parking cars on it with deep water port, rail spurs, uh, freeway access. So, we we definitely need legislation that's going to help us get that up off the ground and and also to encourage new construction because that's real tough when it comes to heavy industrial and things like that. And so, along the water, but that's that's encouraging to know that that's available to us and we're doing that. Uh I want to I want to pivot a little bit to public safety. And so, here in the city of Antioch, uh we had a spell here where we've had some real challenges with public safety. We had a a scandal that we've worked through with DOJ through um lawsuits and now we have a um a police force that's really uh focused on community engagement, focused on accountability, focused on making sure that the culture that's being developed is reflective of our community and that everybody is treated fairly constitutionally. And so we we're pursuing uh funding is always a always a challenge for us. So, we're pursuing funding through the feds, whether it's a a real- time uh resource center or something like that, and we've we've gotten cops grants in the past. What are some things at the state level that we can partner with the state on or that's available for us to be able to help fund whether it's technology, whatever it might be to help us um bolster our our low staffing and and make us a a really high quality department. Um well I bank for example uh the infrastructure bank uh we fund infrastructure improvements but not for housing. That's why we're working on a housing infrastructure uh bill. Um but that is available to local governments to um to create you know new new infrastructure uh you know new technology, new uh purchasing of of new

equipment, building buildings if you need. Um we also have a lot of small business programs that they may be eligible for uh as well as other folks here in this room and it is um it is uh with participating lenders where we provide a loan loss reserve and a loan loss guarantee. So if you as the borrower don't pay it back, the state will pay it back. And so we got this extra money from the federal government uh during uh COVID relief. And so those programs um are available and we put money the state my office puts money in uh local headquartered banks here in California so that they can loan out money as well as the CDFIs the California um uh development finance uh institutions and these are the ones that are closest to the ground maybe for entrepreneurs uh gig workers you know micro uh businesses nonprofits um that they can get some access to some capital as well. So, we do have uh programs, but law enforcement, you know, I'm glad that the trend has been changing now because we have to fully fund our law enforcement. I think all of us want to be safe. We want to feel safe in our homes, at our workplace, when we're going shopping. And I'm glad that, you know, times are changing a little bit and uh sentiments are changing as well. Thank you, treasure. And you uh hit the nail right on the head about the grant programs. There are there are programs. And by the way, I just want to give a huge shout out to the chief of police and to the command staff and rank and file for what they've been able to go through, endure here in in uh Antioch and rise to the top and continue uh to build even stronger relationship with the community. Chief, thank you very much. There are programs and I do know of

certain police departments that have tapped into state money and grant programs to do a a drone project. Uh, as a matter of fact, when San Ramon, uh, the jewelry store was hit super hard, it just so happened that, um, they were running a drone program down in Pleasanton and they got a tip that a caravan of cars was headed to San Raone and Pleasanton was able to pick that up with their drones, pass the information to San Ramon. San Ramon launched their drones and literally uh, recorded the entire thing happening on a lot. I mean, it was like live and uh they were so quick in hitting it that they were still able to get out, but the drones were able to identify every single vehicle and that's why they were able to go in and solve that crime so fast. And so that technology is available. The state of California is not an adversary to local cities and municipalities. We are partners. So, I urge any agency or or the mayor or the chief of police, if you're if you have a project you'd like to do and you're just trying to figure out where at the state level to go, contact my office. I And I'm not speaking for the treasurer, but contact her office first and then No, I'm just kidding you.

Absolutely. You can. I'm going to give you my my my And we have a flyer for you. Yeah. With my email. Yes. And so we'll help we'll help guide you and put you in the right hands to be able to get the resources to make your community stronger and safer. Thank you for that. And I I know the the highway patrol also uh was helpful with I believe it's a sideshow task force that came out and we actually had a sideshow in process and they happened to be in the neighborhood and helped us make some arrests and tow some cars and things like that. So that's another partnership that we appreciate and would like to see us, you know, continue to to work with. Thank you for that.

Uh I'd like to uh talk a little bit about transportation for a second. So out here in East Contraosta County, uh you know, there's an article saying we have one of the longest commutes in the country. Uh we have about 85% of Antioch's workforce commutes out of Antioch to somewhere else. Uh we have uh obviously BART uh board director Mark Foley's here uh that represents us in this region. We have a a fiscal cliff that we are at and if uh a sales tax measure doesn't pass this November um what we're being told is that the uh the BART line from Antioch to conquer is going to be shut down uh by July of next year. A little over a year away. So we have some we have some really ser and and then the other the other part of it is we have our tri-delta transit that uh is about three million a year short that is also funded through BART and state financing. And so to the extent that we have some real major issues even if the even if the sales tax measure does pass we still have challenges. So, what are some things that the state can do to help Antioch and East Contraosta County when it comes to just our transportation challenges? Uh, funding to help us be maybe be a little more self-sufficient, but at the end of the day, we really need to be regionally connected with the San Francisco Bay area to be able to to provide work for work for our workforce.

Absolutely. Well, I can tell you some good news. the state's already taken action and passed a bill and signed by the governor uh to where we gave a loan out uh to keep things solvent uh with BART and some other And by the way, can I just say this is not about this is not a BART measure on the on the ballot. This is a transportation measure. There are over 38 I think over 30 agencies there are over 30 agencies uh transportation agencies in the Bay Area. Uh, yes. All of the Bay Area legislators got together and we talked about effectiveness. We've talked about efficiency and and I know we have BART in the House and I'm a fan of BART. I tell you what, you just try it. If you're not riding it or whatever, try it. And we weren't we weren't just patting you on the back saying, "Don't worry, we got your back. We're going to take care of it." We were critical. And we called out three things. And I will tell you, BART has nailed it on all three things. And that was now we have uh we have uh equipment issues that need to be upgraded and that's why they're they went down a couple of times. Uh but that's that's not a BART fault. That's equipment that needs to be upgraded. But we called out three things. Timeliness, safety, and um what's the third one? What?

Cleanliness. And I will tell you, I have noticed a a a significant difference when I've gotten on BART. It's cleaner. it's on time and it's safe and that's what we're looking for. So, uh, with that, we do need BART and, uh, we we need all the other agencies, but we also, and here's what they responded to as well. I believe that all the transportation agencies or many of them came together and created a task force to coordinate their schedules so that you weren't standing there waiting for 30 minutes for the next ride in a different agency. They are coordinating. So they're doing everything they can to become efficient and effective. And folks, we need to we need to make sure that we support transportation because transportation is economy.

It is. Um but after 30 years, um no transportation agency makes money. It's just the fact of the matter. Okay. The only way transportation agencies like the Shinkansen in Japan, highspeed rail in Japan, they make money is because they own all the real estate. And so they have tenants that are paying them every single month to subsidize the transit system. That's the fact. Okay. So like highspeed rail in, you know, California, had we bought land, for example, to build apartments to, you know, um, you know, to make money off of our transit stops, then perhaps we would be um better fiscally, but that's not how these systems are set up. And so it's not the B board members, but you know, it really is the way we um we set this up. Um, the only way to really make money on transportation really is if you did like congestion pricing. You know, when more riders want to ride, you can charge a little more. When there's not a lot of riders, you charge less. Or you don't have as many frequent uh, you know, um, trains that are out there. But that's not the way government works, unfortunately. You know, Amtrak doesn't work that way. They never will work that way. So, um, I'm supporting a high-speed rail system, all electric from Ranch of Cucamonga to Las Vegas. It's going to be two and a half hours, and they're going to have exactly that, transit, uh, you know, congestion pricing. They're going to be able to run more trains when there's Raider games or concerts. Um, and then when they're not, they're just not going to. So, they're going to be able to control their costs a little more, but that's just not um, the way these systems work. and the fact that it is more efficient, it's cleaner and uh it's effective. We need to advertise it because co ruined it.

Then postcoid and the fact that the uh tech companies did not come back to San Francisco anymore. Nobody started riding it. And who was riding it? Not really the workers. And then it got a bad rap. And so I'm glad because I haven't been on it in a while, but I will and next time post. But, you know, maybe Bart do a little PR campaign. You heard it.

All right. And Mark will be here afterwards if anybody has any questions for him. So, uh, I want to I want to, um, ask one one more question. I don't know if we've received any questions from the audience, from anybody. We have Okay, we have some of those. So, I'm going to ask I'm going to ask one more question, but uh, this this has to do with the fact that from the federal level, we have fiscal uncertainty. It goes to the state, it goes to the county, and then it it ends up in the local level, right? We're the ones that feel the effect of it. We're the ones that have the constituents that are our neighbors and come to city council meetings. So, with with all this uncertainty, shifting state revenues, what best practices, and I'm glad we have an expert in in finance here, what best practices should local governments adopt now uh to remain fiscally resilient while still delivering essential services? And in Antioch's case, we have a a significant fiscal um structural deficit. So, we're we're trying to work through that, but it's it's concerning with the uncertainty going forward if we don't get that under control. So, what what advice would you give?

So, um local governments, the only way to balance your budget is based on the revenues that you generate. Okay. At the state level, we have more tools. We can issue bonds. We have, you know, rans and RAWs. These are notes and um, you know, warrants that we can issue that we have during the great recession. And then the federal government, they just print money, right? They don't balance ever. They're printing money. So, they are really like the golden goose that we all depend on because we all have limitations in terms of how we're going to generate money. So, uh, it is not easy. I would also say diversify, right? You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. So, you need to make sure you're generating enough through property taxes, but also through commercial uh sales taxes, um through, you know, other types of uh you know, revenue sources because if you just have homes in a community, you will never get out of that structural deficit. So, having jobs, having good paying jobs, um people in the community that are spending money staying here, right? that is also going to uh be important because you can't actually save money for a rainy day. That's not part of the local government's uh you know uh ability. Whereas at the state level, we do have four rainy day funds. We have about $36 billion in that rainy day fund in case anything happens. And that's maybe to support local governments.

Exactly. Uh let's revisit the green empowerment zone and Antioch is a part of that. So you have representatives a representative on that uh board and uh so it's it's multiple cities uh that come together about every other month I think it is the green empowerment zone we have invited gobiz to come in and uh they are the kind of the economic development arm of California the agency and they are coming in here in the near future I believe in May uh April or May uh to be able to give us um some examples of some model legislation and model ordinances that cities can adopt that will attract. They're constantly out there reaching having conversations with business. And our treasurer talked about how does a city inc uh or create a more solid uh budget? It's revenue. How can you generate more revenue? And a lot of times it's just easy to say, well, let's just go to the ballot and tax. Well, that's not the answer. Or let's just cut. Well, that's not always the answer because safety net programs suffer first in that. It's it's also it's a three-legged stool. It's also creating uh revenue and economic development. So, go business coming to green empowerment zone. Your representative will be there. They will hear about some model ordinances that companies outside of California are looking for. uh and if they have the if a city has that in place that company would then consider that city as some place they would want to come in California and start their business. So model ordinances having that in place diversity or diversify awesome advice. All right, thank you. Before we go to the the questions from the audience, I have I have one one more. Uh it's it may seem small, but it's a quality of life issue that really plagues Antioch. And it has to do with illegal dumping and the fact that, you know, it doesn't

appear that the laws or the legislation is strong enough for us to really deter that behavior. Is there anything that is being worked on can be done to make that stronger so that we can have better compliance?

I I just go back to my experience on city council and conquered and we had to go back and re-evaluate what the penalties were for illegal dumping. Then we had to go and see what the cost would be for enforcement from code enforcement. not taking up a police officer's time, but reaching into code enforcement and having code enforcement be the arm that enforces that ordinance on illegal dumping and then making sure the fines are in place so that um it would be a self- sustained program and they just got really aggressive and also marketing out to the people when you see someone illegally dumping, don't go and approach them, but at least document it and turn it in. And then also um I think the landfills have uh a role as well. You know, if there are days or you know it's not too expensive. I know um we have a little lake house in uh Lake County and uh it's affordable so people don't dump because they can take it to the local landfill. But when it gets too expensive that's what happens. People have to make these choices. Uh like tires, rubber tires, there's no place to to put rubber tires. uh mattresses, you know, expensive, right, to have someone come and pick it up. So, you know, sometimes it's a cost issue, too.

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh we we'll go ahead and turn this over. Are we time- wise? I don't I'm not even looking at a clock. What What time? 7:15. Oh, wow. We're way over. Okay. So, uh Jaden, do you have a couple questions you want to ask us, please?

Uh hello. Can you hear me? Great. I do. Uh so first question is with challenges and this is for anyone who would like to answer uh with challenges in education budgets how do you see opportunities being developed or discussed for youth in our city and state? Yeah. So um Prop 98 uh we passed that a long time ago and 50% of our general fund goes through goes to K through 14 funding. So that means K through 12 plus all the community colleges. That's why community colleges um you know are are not hurting quite as bad. Uh but when we put it on the ballot on a local ballot, people like their community colleges and they do vote for it and so they're able to continue to grow and um uh build. Uh but yes, uh we need more we need real more more hands-on programs for young people. uh they are being cut the afterchool programs, all the fun programs that kids go to school for, right? Music, uh the arts, uh um um sports, you know, they don't go for algebra and chemistry. So, you know, I think it goes backwards in that when times are bad, we cut all those extracurriculars and then expect the kids to stay in school. And that's how the schools get funded is per pupil attendance. So if they don't have kids sitting and going to school in a seat, they do not get funded. And we see more and more um you know uh truency because the kids the parents are working two to three jobs. They're not monitoring their kids. Their kids aren't feeling like it's productive. They're not inspired. They're not happy to be there. So we need to kind of focus on the things that kids want to um go to school for. And we need to fund those programs because ultimately it'll, you know, circle back and then the schools will do better. So I think we always think about cutting

all these extra programs, but we should be doubling down on these extra programs to keep the kids in school, get their GPA levels up, you know, give them more opportunities. That is the voice of wisdom. That is awesome because that that is absolutely right. It's like putting cheddar cheese on on asparagus or or ranch on on vegetables and to get the kid to eat it. Uh we have taken away the very things that draw our young people into school like CTE, career training education and the trades that you were talking about. You remember back in the day we called it industrial arts

and it was woodworking and I mean a class would actually build a house over the school year and then turn around and sell it to fund the program for the next year. And those were exciting programs. They didn't come to school for all the cores that they needed. They came to the school for the class that they wanted and they were willing to be there for all the stuff they needed for that one class that they wanted. And so that and back to ADA, that's how they are funded. They're funded by attendance. And so one of the things I did, that was the positive side, the uh the approach from the more legal side was when I was in um on council again, uh I moved to pass an ordinance, a daytime truency ordinance, and it didn't give the police uh the ability to go arrest a young person for not being in school. What it did was it gave the police officers the ability to pick a child up from school that should have been in school because it's a school day. They could pick him up and not take him the juvenile. That doesn't help anything. That took them back to school. Called their parents and said, "We picked your kid up off the street. They're back in school. The school gets the attendance now, so they get funded. Now mom and dad are involved." And then we had a community court setting set up to where the child wasn't punished and sent off the juvenile. the parents had to pay a little bit of a fine, but the child had to sign up in a huge list of something that they were interested in and in most cases it involved something that was being offered at the school got them back involved in school. So, it's all about funding and funding is all about school uh kids being in school.

All right. And a call out, thank you for that. A call out to Antioch High School. They are they have a class that builds uh ADUs and so they're they have some completed and they want to donate them to the community to put uh put people in them, lower income folks. So that's a great great thing. All right. Yeah. All right, Jaden, do you have another question, please? Uh what can the state do to help cities improve public safety without placing additional burdens on local budgets? Well, I think maybe the chief of police, you want to come up and help us here?

Community.

Yes, for sure. Community policing. That is important. And back then when I was growing up, they had police activity leagues where the kids were, you know, being mentored and coached by uh law enforcement. So, that built that trust. And then law enforcement, you know, the kids that wanted to go into law enforcement, they came from the community, so they had street cred and they wanted to stay here. They didn't want to move out of the communities like some law enforcement is doing now. My husband's a firefighter, so I can say that that's what happens with firefighters. But we need them back in the community. And we need the community to grow and to uh you know to um what is that? Create or grow uh the future law enforcement. um officers and that builds a stronger sense of community and trust. Um

I think maybe the state u could how can I say this? the state could create a an environment where there was more collaboration, where there was more of a a partnership working with our police chiefs association, working with what we know as PORACK and some other organizations to where we collaborate, find out what the needs are uh in in the community with public safety and then possibly be able to work out some funding that would be funneled into that. Again, it's not all about cost. In this particular case, I would call that an investment. And uh where police receive the funding to become uh an integral part of the fiber of the community.

Thank you. Thank you for that. Uh Jaden, you have another one. The arts are vital to our quality of life. Uh the arts are huge economic contributor to local and state economies. What support for the arts are available at the local and state level?

Yeah, so uh the California Arts Commission recently formed a creative economy network where they got certain amount of money and they have asked regions to come together and then they would give money out to those regions to distribute. I know um I've been up to Grass Valley a number of times and they are very very active. the treasur's office. We created a creative economy finance network to better uh connect those creatives with funding sources. So, I do have another resource guide for I'm just going to build them in here. Resources for small business and families and most of the nonprofits and artists uh small businesses um can access a lot of these programs. And I think um again, it's just a awareness. you know, we don't um broadcast these programs uh these grants and these loan programs um you know, uh very well in government because we don't get funded for media and PR. So, we always depend on, you know, local officials, organizations, you know, to and news to try to get the word out.

I just want to say I do have resources. They're available on that table back there. So, I want to be just like the treasure. Uh, so I have some resources. They're back on the table. Uh, one of the biggest things California did, and I can't go back to the date that that it happened, but they took STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math, and they broadened it to include another letter, and they turned it from STEM into steam. and it's now science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. We were leaving out a component that was so vitally important to so many people's lives. And art is important to all of us in some form or fashion. And so, again, going back to that core thing, but then adding in that incentive, the the ranch dressing. Yeah. Anyway,

all right. And then just locally real quick, we actually are working with a local artist uh to hopefully locate him in a downtown city building that's uh going to hopefully stimulate the economy in that area in in the area of the arts specifically. So um at one time there was live work lofts in San Francisco and I thought that that was brilliant because you know people can't afford to pay for their housing and then also a retail space and that's why I think these uh we work spaces and and collaborate collab uh spaces are becoming popular because it's just too expensive. But if you could live above and then have a retail space underneath for most of the artists that's how they um you know they could actually survive. I think we should look into that model again.

All right, maybe one more. Jaden, uh, the largest growing segment of the population are older adults. They're also the largest growing homeless population. They're aging into disability and poverty. What can state and local government do to better support them? Great question. Wonder who asked that. Support Debbie Toth right here.

Exactly. Um well I I I will I will say um I just lost my train of thought and obviously we're building more affordable housing you know for uh seniors. Um I also think I sit on Kalpers and Calsters you know I'm always pushing Calsters if our mandate is helping teachers and teachers women especially are living longer why aren't we investing in affordable housing so our teachers don't have to worry about becoming homeless. Okay that's number one. Um, and then number two, uh, I know the state passed a, uh, what is it called? A long-term aging, uh, report a couple years ago. Okay. I was part of the master plan, but there's another report that was just passed uh, more recently, and nothing has really been implemented. There were a lot of ideas, nothing implemented. We're waiting for Washington State. uh they have um created a program um to tax I think payroll and then part of that money is going to go back into helping seniors stay in their homes and I think we're all looking to see if that's going to work. But if things work out as planned for my next job, that is one thing I want to tackle because I my just Debbie knows um my my dad just passed away at 92. Uh, and I can see how difficult it was as he was aging. You know, the steps and the rugs and, you know, lights and, you know, he was he wasn't turning off, you know, the the stove and the microwave. Things were burning in the microwave. I mean, everything like that. But if we're going to keep seniors in their homes, we really need to do a better job providing those services. Maybe care um caregivers, you know, 247 caregivers. When my father came home, it was $1,000 a day to have someone just sit there and watch him and make sure that he was comfortable. I mean, that is not affordable for all of us. So, we have to

change the dynamics.

Agreed. We have to change. And by the way, speaking of change, California is going to experience massive change in leadership in California coming up this year. So, I look forward to working with our next lieutenant governor uh uh to be able to uh uh you know, our next governor, our next lieutenant governor, next treasurer to be able to come up with programs in that area. Here's what I can say right now. When it comes to aging in place and addressing uh seniors that are unhoused or facing some challenges, I think um it would be good. I'm I'm willing to go back with some partnership of some uh providers as well as some colleagues uh constitutional office colleagues to be able to uh look at how we could host anformational hearing so that my colleagues and myself can become better educated on what we're facing uh and how the legislature can better respond rather than just one-offs here and there. be able to come up with the master plan and the report that you're talking about, actually hear it presented to us and then come up with a working group that can address that in oncoming years. And what I love about choice and aging is multi-generational housing. Um that I have taken since I met with you and I have seen uh seniors, you know, um playing and um activating with our preschoolers and how it just energized both of them, right? And so we need more multi-generational housing as well. And uh just locally, we we have uh invested in our in our elderly through our general fund budget just to make sure our community center is is strong, our senior center, and then I just went on a ride along with Meals on Wheels. Um they're out there making sure that the elderly that they're interacting with are doing well and checking in and if they they sense something's up. So, I

think it's I think it's a communitywide effort. is not just any one thing, but I think we all have to make sure that we're looking out for our elderly and if we see them vulnerable, um saying something about it and finding them the resources need. All right. So, uh we are we are at um time right now and uh I just want Yes. Can I give one real quick? Not only do we need to be concerned with our our community, our aging community, but we also need to be concerned and and be watchful over our youth. And in this particular case, I want to give a special shout out to our foster youth because they need our resources more than ever.

Okay, foster youth. So, I have a program uh coming up uh this year for any foster youth in the system for 18 months or longer, or any child who lost a parent or guardian due to COVID, they'll be eligible for $3,000 in their child savings accounts. So, this is Yep. And And since I have some parents and children here, um, Cal Kids, uh, any first through 12th grader on free and reduced lunch, they're eligible for $500 in their Cal Kids account. If they're a foster youth, another 500. And if they're homeless, another 500. And this is free money. All you need to do is log on to calkids.org and put in your um your child's uh student ID and the money is there. You just have to claim it. And then any newborn born born after July 1st, 2022, they are also eligible for about $175. It's not a lot of money, but we really want parents and guardians to open up a scholarship 529 to to incentivize them to save a little bit out of their paycheck. We call it set it and forget it. Uh and then that money really does uh can add up like a $100 a month for 18 years could be $65,000. so that young people don't have to go in um um high student loan debt. But if there's extra money, you can roll it into a Roth IRA. And I'm really working on if there's extra money, you can use it as a down payment for a home because that's how I um was a I've owned a home since I was 22 years old because my parents saved money for me and I didn't have student loan debt and I had extra money to buy a home. So, it does work.

No excuse. All right. Well, thank thank you. First of all, I want to yeah, thank you everybody for um coming out tonight. This this was for you all and um appreciate your your interaction and attention and hopefully this was valuable to you. Did you want to say something? Yeah, you can help help me. I've got newsletters and I've got one more resource guide for manufacturing uh and uh startups and the technology center. I don't know if there's any tech people here, but I've got another guide for them. So, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. And we'd like to thank uh Treasure Ma and uh Senator Grayson for their time tonight. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, Senator.