City Council - Regular Meeting

All righty. Madam Clerk, can you prepare us, please?

Perfect, thank you. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda?

Thank you, do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, we will go into closed session, and then we'll be back out to resume. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. I know everybody's excited to see each other, but we need to get this meeting started. Apologize for coming out late. We had a very long and extensive closed session. All right, let's get started. Madam Clerk, ready to begin? Yes, please go ahead, Mayor. Thank you. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order.

Thank you. First item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Jennifer Wang, if you could come up please and lead us in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer, very much. At this time, words of inspiration will be provided by Chaplain Daniel Park. Please come to the podium.

Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda? There are none. Thank you so much. The first presentation is buying. It's a certificate of recognition presented to Jaime Velasco of Mazapan de la Rosa for outstanding contributions to the community. Sir, if you want to come up, please. Thank you, Jennifer, very much. So I'm going to speak in English and Mayor Pro Tem is going to speak in Spanish. Do you want to stand? Okay, good evening everyone. It is a tremendous honor to recognize Mr. Jaime Enrique Miguel Velasco, an extraordinary entrepreneu

Muchas gracias, alcaldesa Amezcua. Buenas tardes. ¿Cómo están todos? ¿Quién ha probado el mazapán? Come on, levanten las manos, sé que los han comido. Okay, pues muy buenas tardes. Es un enorme honor reconocer al señor Jaime Enrique Velasco, un extraordinario empresario, líder, visionario y filantropo con una trayectoria de vida que ha impactado millones de personas alrededor del mundo. Y la razón por qué no me cierra el saco a veces. Porque esos mazapanes están bien ricos. Y los pulparinos y todo, ¿verdad?

La historia del señor Velasco está profundamente en el legado de sus padres. Jesús González y Elvira Velasco Rolón. Que la perseverencia, fe y espíritu emprendedor sentaron las bases de lo que llegaría a convertirse en una de las empresas de dulces más queridas de México y el mundo alrededor. Tras emigrar a su familia a Guadalajara a principios de la década de los cuarentas, enfrentaron enormes adversidades. En 1944, un devastador incendio destruyó su pequeña fábrica de dulces. dejándolos únicamente con un modesto taller. En lugar de rendirse, perseveraron. De ese pequeño taller nacieron la in

So we're going to give this to you. This is for you and your family. A certificate of recognition. You're going to say in Spanish and English. Okay. For you and your family. Thank you very much. If you want to say something. Yes, of course. Yes, please.

Señor Velasco, ¿podríamos hacer el pulparino más grande del mundo pronto? ¿Sí? Lo hacemos, ¿eh?

Thank you, everyone. The next presentation is Councilmember Lopez presenting to the 2026 Lays World Cup Soccer Tournament for Outstanding Teamwork and Community Pride. Please come up. The Lays, 2026 Lays World Cup. Councilmember Lopez.

Hi, so if the students are here, . Okay, good afternoon, buenas tardes. My office is really thrilled to be recognizing an outstanding group of young athletes whose hard work, determination, and sportsmanship have made our entire community really proud.

As you leave, can you please keep it down, please? Thank you so much.

This year, 192 young people between the ages of 14 and 18 answered the call to participate in the 2026 Lays World Cup soccer tournament, a free six-week competition that brought the excitement of the FIFA World Cup directly to our neighborhood. Open to all the youth regardless of school, neighborhood, or skill level, the tournament welcomed aspiring athletes from across Santa Ana to compete, connect, and grow through the beautiful game. What made this tournament unique was that it mirrored the structure of the FIFA World Cup itself. With weeks of group stage competition, accumulating an exciti

And thank you to our Parks and Rec department as well. We're going to take a picture now.

All right, next up is Council Member Fan. She is going to recognize M and Ocean Youth Crossover Band from Taiwan for outstanding contributions to the community. Come on up, please.

Hi, good evening, everyone. So tonight we are honoring MNOcean Youth Crossover Band, a group of 15 Taiwanese high school students, well, student musicians. They can't all be high schoolers. These might be the smartest but littlest high schoolers I've ever seen. from ages nine to 16 or thereabouts, who spent part of their summer performing for seniors here in Orange County, including those at the Santa Ana Senior Center. Their goal for this tour is to share a special intergenerational culture exchange experience, including live performances featuring singing, rock band music, strings, and dance

I love gifts. Yay, Aaron. I love gifts. It's one of my love languages, so please remember, everyone. But also, I think because they've been performing for all of our seniors and sharing this cultural exchange, we did ask that they perform one song for us, if that's okay. I don't know any Taiwanese, though, so please excuse me. Well, okay, we'll see. If you're good, then we'll do the second song, all right? Okay, so we have to see if they're good first, all right? Okay, let me get out of the way.

Are we doing one more song? Yeah? One more song, okay.

Thank you so much. Can we give the kids one more round of applause? And I'll turn this back to the mayor. Thank you.

Good job, thank you so very much. Thank you, thank you. Next up when we clear the area, Councilman Hernandez. One second. Councilman Hernandez will be recognizing July 12th as 714 Unity Day, Black and Brown in the OC. Deborah Burke and Tisha Hutchins, Utah, please come up.

Thank you. If we can please put our hands together for Ms. Tisha Hutchins and Deborah Burke. Come on over. All right. Well, first and foremost, what a wonderful day today is. Today we are celebrating a historic proclamation, and that is declaring 714 Unity Day. This is an important day because many of us in Orange County know that 714 is a very important number to us. It was once our area code here for us in Santa Ana. Many of us grew up with those numbers being very significant. Today I have the great honor to recognize two leaders from our community, Deborah Burke and Tisha Hutchins. What is

On behalf of the city of Santa Ana, we'd like to give you this proclamation declaring 714 Unity Day. Thank you.

And we're going to take a picture here, but if we can also just, I just want to say thank you to your parents, Debra, James, and Ms. Shelley Burke. You guys have been an inspiration for me to get to know, to learn your story, for you to be a doctor, for you to be a scientist, and call Santa Ana home. We're tremendously proud, and this is a reflection of your leadership. Thank you.

All right, thank you so very much. Thank you, thank you. We're gonna go on to closed session at this time. Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session? Can you speak into the mic, please?

Great. Thank you. Okay. Jennifer, there's something you needed? Jennifer? Okay. Go ahead. We just got to move. Got to be quick. Sorry. Go ahead in the front. Come on in the front really quick. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. They're looking for our names. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything. Thank you. Bye-bye. Council Member Lopez. Jennifer, thank you so very much. Thank you. Bye-bye, sweetie. Okay, now we're on to public comment. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please expla

Can you pull the mic down for me, please, so we can hear you? Thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. City Manager, I believe you'll be making contact with the constituents that came up to talk about the apartment. Is that correct, sir?

Great. Thank you so very much. I really appreciate it. At this time, we're going to the consent calendar. Items five through 18 are before us. Councilmembers, please announce any items that you'll be abstaining from due to conflict and if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion. At this time, let me go to the items. Councilmember Serra.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm going to go ahead and abstain on item 12. I abstained on the previously approved density bonus agreement due to a potential financial conflict. So for consistency, I will be abstaining on voting on this item as well. And I'd like to pull items 9 and 15. Thank you. Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to pull item 18, and that'll be it.

Thank you. Council Member Lopez? No items. Thank you. Council Member Vasquez? No items. Thank you. Council Member Fann?

I'd like to recuse myself from item number 14, only regarding the agreement involving Kleinfelder, Inc., as that is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. Thank you. Thank you.

No items to pull, Mayor. I just have some clarifying questions for item 11.

Then you're pulling item 11 for questions? Sure, why not? Okay, perfect. Yes, thank you. I have no items to pull. At this time, I'll make a motion to approve the remainder of the consent calendar. Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call, please?

Thank you. Before we move to the pulled items, Madam Clerk, if the appointed member today is present, I think her name is Jacqueline Guzman. If you'd come up, please to take your oath. And then we'll go to the other items that were pulled. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I want to thank the folks that came out tonight to speak about the upcoming zoning code update. I wish they hadn't left, because what I was going to ask staff to do is actually give your presentation on this item. I know it was just a receive and file, but I think it's important for not only the Council, but for the entire community to know the outreach that's going on. I've looked at it, I understand it, but I just want to make sure that everybody hears it because I think there's a lot of work that went into this. And before the presentation begins, I just want to

Ali, thank you for that. And I'm glad some of the folks came back in. I hope you heard Ali as he talked about some of the outreach that we've done. I would encourage you guys to definitely come to those study sessions. And I appreciate that, Ali, because something of this magnitude should not just come straight to commission and council. There definitely needs to be more public vetting in an arena like this. So thank you for doing that. And I would also ask any of you if you want to talk to any of us, please talk to our staff, schedule meetings with us, reach out to us directly. I'd be happy t

Ali, you may want to stay. I see Councilmember Lopez and Mayor Pro Tem looks like he has

Yes, first and foremost, you're a great director, Ali. Thank you. Congratulations, really, to the agency. And I Thank you. y como escucharon están más invitados de mandarlos un correo si quieren sentarse y platicar específicamente de cosas que quieren mirar cuando estamos marchando para traer este plan que es muy importante como entendemos para implementarlo en la comunidad. Esta nada más es la primera acción de recibir la información que el personal ha colectado, pero no significa que estamos diciendo sí, lo aceptamos y lo vamos a implementar. Van a haber más oportunidades, pero muchas gracia

Great, thank you, Ali. It looks like we're good. We really appreciate it. And when you said 800,000 touch points, that's the first time I believe in the city's history. So we really appreciate all of your hard work. And thank you, Mr. City Manager, for clarifying things.

Mayor, do we need to move the item or is it just receiving file?

Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank city staff for this. While I'm overall supportive of the item, I just wanted, same questions that I had previously. I know that I did bring it up when we first had a discussion about expanding this to other artists within the city, not just the two that had been identified at the time. So I wanted to just ask staff if there was plans to, and from what I recall, there was some of a consensus up here to go down that path, but now staff has presented just the two artists like originally discussed. So I want to make sure if there was anything lost in translation o

Okay, and so from what, I mean, I understand that this council request that I'm with specific to the two artists, but when the discussion happened, as it's been done in the past, once the council direction happens and the conversation discussion up here happens, that item, when it comes back at whatever date we set, becomes whatever the council discussed at that time, not necessarily specific to the council requested items. So is that something that we're not following anymore?

That'd be great. I think we should definitely focus on all of them. The other thing, just a quick point of clarification for myself, as far as the murals within private properties, specifically, for example, in the exhibit, the El Tapatio restaurant on Pomona Street. Inside. What is the plan there? I mean, does the city staff have a plan? I mean, I don't want to see... US FORCING A PRIVATE PROPERTY OR USING TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO INVEST INTO A PRIVATE PROPERTY THAT MIGHT INCREASE THE PROPERTY VALUE OF A PROPERTY WHEN OTHER PROPERTIES AROUND THE CITY AREN'T GETTING THAT SAME TREATMENT OR I SHOULD

Beautiful to hear. Thank you so much, Ali. Thank you, City Manager, for this.

Well, I didn't mention it. It was listed in the staff report.

Awesome, well thank you so much. Again, I'm happy to approve and make a motion to approve the item. I just wanted clarifying questions on that. I definitely am not a fan of seeing items before us that are specific to one person when there is an overarching topic here that we could address. But I'm happy that it's being done, so thank you, Ali, and thank you, City Manager.

Council Member Lopez, you have your make up. Thank you, yeah, I'd love to second that. And you know, I wanna, I think bank staff, because you identified 12 properties, right, from two individuals. And that's a really, I think, healthy number that we're seeking to preserve and protect. not just for people now that appreciate public art in our city, but future generations. And I think that it's really imperative that the city is proud that we host some of the biggest, largest concentrations of chicano public art in southern california it's what i think draws people when we talk about tourism and

There's a motion and a second, Madam Clerk?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So this item is to approve a designated subrecipient agreement with Caltrans to receive the raised grant funds for the Santa Ana Boulevard grade separation project. So back in April 2024, I flew to Washington, D.C., and I had the opportunity to meet with various federal government officials, including senior officials with the United States Department of Transportation and members of Senator Alex Padilla's office. And in those meetings, I discussed with them our city's funding priorities. The Santa Ana Boulevard grade separation was at the top of that list. So in June 2

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I wanted to pull this item for discussion because when we adopted the annual military equipment back in May of 2022, I brought up some strong concerns that I felt we would see in the city. What we saw continue shortly thereafter when we adopted this equipment was a city that struggled to be in compliance with AB 481. It wasn't until we saw protesters shot due to the ICE raids in front of City Hall that led our city to eventually ensure that the city and our police department was in compliance with Assembly Bill 481. But what we did see that day was rather shocking. This

Thank you for that clarification, Chief Rodriguez. Of those seven incidents, how many 40-millimeter projectiles were shot in those seven incidents?

Okay. That's pertinent information. Do you have an idea as to... When we do have these calls that there's, for instance, the ICE raids, the protests, what was the legal threshold for Santa Ana PD to decide we need to use military equipment at this point? I'm just interested, and I think the public is interested in learning that. Could you tell us a little bit more as to how Santa Ana PD decides when to utilize military equipment?

Thank you, Chief Rodriguez. Since we've adopted this equipment, is the City of Santa Ana in any litigation due to any potential misuse of the equipment?

Thank you, Chief. The reason I ask these questions for members of the public is because Santa Ana PD is is a part of the city of Santa Ana. It's a police department that serves the public. And right now, our community is in a very dire place where we are seeing immigrants attacked daily. And in very extreme cases, we see them being killed by ICE. In our city, we want a police department that mirrors community rather than mirroring something that is clearly viewing us as the enemy. We don't want police officers to show up to our backyard as if we are subjects that need to be shot at, neutralize

Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. I'll second that motion. I'm going to make a motion to move the item, except for I have some comments and questions. Go ahead, Madam Clerk. I'm gonna make a motion to remove the item to approve it, but I have some questions and comments for the police department. Thank you, Councilman Becerra. So there's a motion and a sub-motion.

Yeah, let me ask my questions before we go. Okay, so Chief, how long have you been the Chief, sir?

So when you became the Chief, Was one of the first things that you did was find that this report had not been filed prior to you becoming the chief? And so how long did it take you when you were the interim chief or you were put in this position that you moved this annual military equipment use report forward?

So just for clarification purposes, again, as we like to say up here, so people watching and listening. So you were appointed the chief. a day later, is that what you just said? You noticed that this was not done, and you directed your staff to conduct the annual military equipment use? Okay, and then we did, you did one report, correct? And then the council gave you some direction, you know, do it in the community at a time where community members can attend, provide coffee, whatnot, whatnot, and that did occur, is that correct? And how many people do you know roughly attended, or if there's a commander here that can answer that question? Commander Sorensen, please.

Thank you, sir, for coming up. Commander Sorensen, you did a community meeting, is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir. And how many people attended?

And what time, sir, did you have this meeting, and what did you provide at the meeting?

6 p.m. and you did it at the South Coast Community Senior Center? And did the police department put this out publicly to notify the community? So I don't know if you want to stay there. So, Chief, there was a comment about Anaheim PD so that we can possibly educate the community and the council. If another agency comes into our city, let me just start over. Commander Hernandez, with no disrespect, my condolences to the family. When the call came out from Anaheim PD, was it their case initially? Was it their call? Did Santa Ana PD receive a call from Anaheim PD to assist?

You had the exact same equipment. So that was going to be my next question. So we did have the equipment at that time? So Madam City Attorney, if I step out, please wave at me and pull the red card. Okay. So, yeah, pull the red card like soccer. That's the only thing I know about soccer. Okay. So, okay, so Anaheim comes in, I just want to clarify things, because this item is not about that situation, but because sometimes things are set up here and they're inaccurate, and it makes our police department look bad, and whether it's our police department, our parks, our public works, our city manager, any of our staff, I try to clarify it. So, Anaheim PD came into our city, and then Santa Ana PD assisted, as reque

Okay, so I'm going to stop there because I'm, Madam City Attorney, are we still in litigation, ma'am? I don't want to go any further with litigation.

So let me repeat what you said right now, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I want to make sure that everybody can hear it. So there was litigation, but the city of Santa Ana was not held responsible at any time. It was the city of Anaheim, is that correct? And that would happen because the city of Santa Ana did not do anything that they found us guilty of, is that correct? Correct. Okay, so I just want to clarify that. All right, so that's it on that issue. Let me go back to the military report. So, Mr. City Manager, you always answer this question when I ask. Couple years ago, how many of

Dogs. He said that like dogs. You don't want to say that. Okay. So five years ago, we were in, we're at 10.

and now we're at two a year. And two too many, right? I agree, two too many, but we're at two. Any loss of life is definitely sad, but we're at two. So Commander Sorensen, this military equipment that you provided the report on, and thank you so much, and Chief, I don't know if you wanna answer, or is Commander Sorensen up here? So what I see here, it says that you had 36 incidents that you had to deploy, 36 different incidents. And then also you were at 11 community events. So 21 of those 36 incidents were, they involved SWAT, is that accurate? And why would SWAT use this military equipment, sir?

And you've been part of SWAT how long, sir?

That's correct. Okay. So I'm going to ask for an example. So I remember reading something that was sent to the council, to myself and the council, about there was a call out and you guys spent several hours trying to get the person out without... shooting, harming, protecting the community, and protecting officers, is that correct?

Well, we've had many. We've had many, so I'm going to just use this as an example. So do you deploy the military equipment just in case?

So you used an example in here that during an incident, the suspects were believed to be either armed or in a position of tactical advantage or both. And when you use this military equipment in a situation like that, it is once again, I wanna be really clear and tell me if I'm wrong, it is to protect the community and the officers, is that correct? And how does it do that, sir? And I sound very basic because I want people to understand that are watching because sometimes they hear things or they read on social media, they get that 30-second clip like, oh, my God, Santa and PD is using military equipment. And no, there's no war on the streets. Crime has decreased, I believe, Chief. You reported in our city we have had a decrease in crime. Is that correct?

Yeah, and you know, so I just want to be clear on that. So sir, if you can just use that example. They're believed to be either armed or in a position of tactical advantage or both. So what would you do, sir, hypothetically?

11 hours our police department was out there, is that correct?

So all the officers that went out there, they stayed out there for 11 hours?

And there were officers there before SWAT arrived? Okay. So I'm not going to carry this on, but I'm saying this for a reason. So you mentioned drones, robots, phones, and the 11 hours that the officers spent negotiating with this person. And you did that so that you would not have to engage. Is that correct?

Okay, so the reason, and thank you. I don't know if anybody else has questions for Commander, you can stay here, but the reason I ask these questions is because this is a report, yes, that is required under AB 481, is that correct, Chief?

And Commander Sorensen, why do we do this report?

Okay, so we're providing transparency, which is what our community asks for. And I just have to say, you know, oh, I have one other question, because I see fire in here. So, yes, hello. So if fire gets called and it's a dangerous situation, for example, do you have to go in and clear for it, make sure it's safe before they enter?

Yes, you do. Yeah, I didn't have a question for you, sir. I just wanted to clarify something. So yes, you do, right? So not only do you protect the community, our constituents, businesses, all of us sitting up here, our families, but if fire goes to a call, our amazing fire department, if they go to a call and it's deemed unsafe, Santa Ana Police Department has to go in and make sure that they can enter safely. Is that correct?

And you do that on a regular basis? daily great thank you so chief thank you for this report and i want to just really say again that it's very sad what happened with anaheim police department um but that is not our legacy um you know I have coffees with the mayor every single month. I have the city manager, I have the executive directors, I have the police department, I have the fire department come out, and the two most popular people, besides Rudy, is, so then we'll say three, the three most popular people are fire, police, and Rudy. Because Rudy, they want him to fix their potholes and sid

Okay, so this item is about the annual military equipment use, and this is what the report is. And it's been done on time, is that correct, Manager Sorensen? And it's been reported accurately? Yes, ma'am. And so it was given to the Council? And Mr. City Manager, it was in our agenda review, is that correct?

And everybody who did a gender review had an opportunity to read it and review it and ask you questions and then up here they'll ask questions as well, is that correct?

And that's what this council wanted, correct? That's what we voted for. So thank you so very much, Commander Sorensen, Mr. City Manager-in-Chief. Thank you for doing that. So, Councillor Becerra, you have questions, comments?

No, well actually I'll just say this. In looking at the staff report, one statement stuck out to me. It says, each of the 36 field deployments involved incidents where the defined equipment provided the community and our officers with a higher level of safety than would have been possible had the equipment not been utilized. I mean, let's be real, none of us want to see, we love our police, but we don't want to see them deployed. I don't want to look on social media and see a bunch of our officers having to address a situation in our downtown or along one of our major corridors. But when that

Thank you. I just wanted to start with where we've been. You know, last year, very different position, right? Because we were two years out of compliance with state law, which requires reports, as we all just heard. And so we understood then that that should never happen, which is why we have this on time now and I appreciate it, thank you everybody. And this year's review is really about holding that framework, to me the way that I see it, to its actual purpose. And so I really do encourage members of the public to read the report, to read the number of times that you're describing in there t

I think for me, I would love to see that moving forward so that all of our bases are covered because we know that people in our community love to participate virtually. But I do want to acknowledge that the department did not participate in the federal 1033 surplus equipment program and that it has stated that you're not going to, and that is the right posture, Chief. And I want to thank you for that. I want to see that continue. And ultimately, for me, this is a receiving file. This is me receiving information that is required by state law that I am legally obligated to also receive. So thank

Thank you, Council Member Lopez. Council Member Fan?

Thank you, Mayor. Hi there. So a couple questions. I did ask my chief of staff to attend one of the community meetings on my behalf due to work, and there were a few comments. First, I just wanted to say it was great that we did that. I do agree with Council Member Lopez regarding the online option. I do understand that sometimes we get folks from elsewhere, but you know what? Our council meetings, we get online options, and I think in general when it comes to these community meetings, that should generally be standard. So the first thing is, in looking at the report, I do see that we have a c

Because I guess there were some comments requesting that to understand, you know, what kind of situations are we using to deploy some of these? So, for example, I see that we deploy 40-millimeter projectiles very often. You know, when would we use that? We have, you know, the Bear Armored Rescue Vehicles. I think some of these include, like, community events, right? Like National Night Out or... any of our kind of events with lots of kids so they can kind of see that. I think that's considered deployment too.

So I think that would be helpful for the community to know about, right? And because that's just a way of letting people know what kind of equipment we use. The other item I would like to see regarding the... was regarding the ICE protests, right? There's a lot of conversation regarding deployment of certain equipment during those ICE protests. I know that we have conversations around it and all that other stuff, but I think one of the concerns was what was being deployed, how was it being used? Again, we don't want to share anything that would undermine our tactics, but I think it is importan

Perfect. And I think it might behoove us to consider a separate presentation on the drones just so that we get some updated information before... I think it's important for the city to release information and share proactively rather than wait for other people to frame the narrative for us. Because the concerns that I keep hearing is that it's surveillance, is that we have Starlink in the sky in Santa Ana, you know, sharing information with the cops. And that is not at all what's happening. So I think any information that we release proactively that people can verify would be better, especiall

Yes, I just wanted to say, because it's equally important for me, that to my colleague, Council Member Hernandez, that I'm very deeply sorry for what you, your family, and many neighbors of that neighborhood experienced when your cousin was killed. And I personally cannot imagine what that must still be like, and I recognize the layer of position. So that's all.

Thank you, and Mr. City Manager, I agree with Councilmember Fown, I would hope all of us up here would agree that a separate report from the drones, Chief, would be appreciated, yearly. weekend to start. I'm sorry? Oh, I didn't see your mic. Go ahead, Council Member Vasquez.

Thank you so much. And I want to thank the chief for the work that you put in and the police department. And we've brought down crime in Santa Ana. This is all true. But what I would want to see is the evaluation of each piece of equipment through the police oversight and see which ones we want to bring back and which ones we want to not use anymore. You want to evaluate the use of the public safety with each one. Some of these, I'm not going to paint a broad brush on it, but I would want us to see through the police oversight, evaluate each piece of equipment we have and how we can make bette

Thank you, Mayor Mesk. I just wanted to thank city staff and Commander Sorensen for this presentation and for keeping us on track, Chief, and to my colleague, Councilmember Phan's point in regards to the drones, I definitely support a separate report, and maybe we could also use that report to highlight the massive savings we're seeing as a city by us not using Airship Duke as often as we once did. When I first got on this council, I remember It was every other month there was an appropriation request for additional funding to pay the Orange County sheriffs for their use of that helicopter. An

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Madam Clerk, we have two questions. Yes.

Thank you. We're gonna now end the consent calendar and go into the business calendar. Item 19 is regarding the proposed reentry center at the former youth guidance center site in Santa Ana. Do the council members need the presentation up here? Yes, please. Mr. City Manager, can we have the presentation, please?

Thank you, let me give a bit of information. So first of all, I really want to thank Council Member Becerra, the City Manager of course, Council Member Becerra, Council Member Lopez, Congressman Correa, Senator Umberg, and Assemblyman Avellino-Valencia for submitting letters of opposition. And you know, the City, the County of Orange, after we appeared at the Board of Supervisors meeting, and sharing our concerns as the mayor and Santa Ana residents and asking them to not move forward with this item, the interim CEO sent an email to the city manager and basically sent one email asking to meet

Okay. And then there's something else in the email that says Michelle Aguirre had also sent out emails to the city Michelle Geary called me the day before the Board of Supervisors meeting, and I believe she sent out an email to the city manager the day before, about 5 p.m. And so, basically, they are moving forward with their reentry program. They're saying, you know, there was an article with the voice of OC that the county sent in some information about there's nothing happening yet, but $21 million was approved in the budget for the county. to move forward with this. Whether it's testing th

Madam City Attorney, did anybody call you? No. Okay. So it's great they're gonna have programs in Orange and Touchy Feely, but we get the residential one in Santa Ana. And we get the one where they get to come and go. So that, I oppose this because, and like I said, Council Member Lopez, Council Member Becerra, myself, the city manager, Congressman Correa, Assemblyman Evelina Valencia, Senator Umberg, we all submitted letters of opposition, not because we don't believe in rehabilitation, I won't speak for them, but because we cannot continue to allow Santa Ana to be the only city where these s

Yes, thank you. You know, I think it's really important to be clear from the outset that this is not about opposing second opportunities for people, reentry services, you know, reducing recidivism, which in principle I wholeheartedly support. I think it is incredibly important for our community and our society as a whole. I think that the issue here is that this site, as I now know, was selected in 2021. So there's been almost a five-year gap since this commission, this committee that has a chief of police from Guard and Grow, you know, Don Barnes on it, probation on it, other members of our c

Okay. And are those meetings made available to members of the public?

Got it, understood. Well, I think it would be in the best interest of our city and the community to have questions for us to publicize those meetings whenever they are happening because this is nothing new, right? It is a clear pattern of the county, and again, this was approved in 2021, particularly under Andrew Doe, The way that the city has always been treated, I think, is really the core issue here. I'm making a judgment call without consulting us, without asking us for our opinion, without other partners that we actually work with, provide mutual aid, not taking us into consideration once

Thank you, Council Member Lopez. Chief, just to clarify, they invited you to be part of the committee after this item was brought up. Is that correct?

Could you verify the date for me, please? Yes.

Thank you. Councilman Becerra. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank you, Mayor Mesquite, for bringing this item to our attention. And I want to also thank the community who came out and not only came out, took your time to speak to us, both tonight and back in June at the mayor's invitation over at the Santa Ana PD headquarters, but also your letters and emails. So I think it's fair to say that there's been a lot of thoughtful dialogue in regards to this issue. Now, it is important that services are provided to individuals that are reentering the community following incarceration. In Santa

Do you support this facility in Santa Ana?

No. Great. It was that easy, right? I just, you asked the question, I said, no. So I had to endure, along with many members of the community, our supervisor giving us 40 minutes of dialogue for me to at the end have to just say, can you just clarify? Do you support this facility being located in Santa Ana? And he said he didn't. And I appreciated that. But then after that, I saw social media videos and then a letter today where he says, during that meeting on June 18th, I reaffirmed my position that I could not support funding the project until there had been meaningful engagement with the cit

Thank you very much. Council Member Friend?

Thank you, Mayor. I did receive the letter from Supervisor Sarmiento, and I want to say thank you to everybody who's spoken on this issue and raised concerns about it. But I just want to make sure I have my facts straight. Currently, at the county, there is no reentry center that has been approved, correct?

Thank you. So I do see the letter from the CEO dated June 22nd, and the supervisor's letter dated today mentioned the June 23rd board meeting did not approve any reentry center and that the budget did not include any funding for this reentry center.

Because I understand that there has been planning and discussions on the staff level. I mean, that's very similar to for example, our public works department or our parks department that might have staff-led parks or building, but of course, ultimately, they have to come to city council for approval of design plans, et cetera, as well as funding, correct?

Okay. I guess I wanted to say that because we're, I think we're all on the same page of wanting to make sure that the city of Santa Ana is at the table regarding anything the county does that relates to us. But I also want to make sure that, you know, we don't I guess I just want us to lower the temperature a little bit. We can have a conversation with the county. We have a supervisor, let's talk to him. It seems like, at least based on his letter, we're all on the same page. And whatever happened in the past, we need to move on from that, and we're gonna demand that they continue to have that

And I guess before I finish up, I want to say that I am not opposed to the idea of a reentry center. I am not opposed to institutions or structures to help people rehabilitate and reenter society once they've paid their dues. I've worked with those who've been convicted of both minor and major crimes, and many people who have turned their lives around. We all deserve that opportunity. However, it is not our fault that we can't trust the county when they have in fact failed to provide the funding necessary, the security necessary, and the staffing necessary to take care of Yale, take care of th

Thank you, Mayor Esquan. Thank you, city staff, for bringing this forward. And Mayor, for your ringing the alarm bells on this. That's definitely something that is a never-ending and reoccurring episode that we see here in Santa Ana with the County of Orange and their continued support. that's dumping, literal dumping on our city and our residents of all those social services and these types of programs that exist out there. And I want to thank Council Member Becerra for bringing up all the previous instances where we've fought tooth and nail these different issues with the County of Orange, w

I'll second. Thank you. Councilman Hearn, go ahead, finish. I apologize.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to make sure we could include those other cities and reach out to them and see if they could join us in these resolutions and bring a resolution of their own that this should not exist in Central Orange County. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pritchard. Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank my colleagues and members of the public who have used their First Amendment right to voice your opinion. Your opinion on this subject is very important. It's critical. I am in agreement with my colleagues that any decision that is to be made in Santa Ana should be made with Santa Ana in mind. When we exclude dialogue, and we lack the opportunities to, when we exclude that dialogue, we lack the opportunity to truly establish a partnership. When we look at reducing recidivism, reentry is very effective. But the effectiveness comes with partnership. I want

Council Member Vasquez. Thank you, I'll be brief. Thank you, staff, city manager for bringing this forward. Thank you for all the work to our council and mayor and I'm gonna be in agreement with you. I support this item. I have visited Yale Center multiple times and they had given us promises, good neighbor policy. The first time we went, it was a hot mess. I went back and it was cleaned up on the outside and I asked the staff what happened. The city took care of it. We cleaned up the good. We were the good neighbors. So that's why I'm in support of bringing this to Santa Ana. Thank you very m

Thank you, Councilman Vasquez, and I know you sit on the Housing Committee, correct? Did the Supervisor put you on there? Is it the Homeless Committee? Thank you for doing that, and I'm glad that you went out to see Yale, because when it's clean, it's because we do it as a city. So I want to echo, and I'll close with this and we'll vote, I want to echo what Mayor Pro Tem indicated. It's not time to turn the heat down, it's time to turn it up. So we did with the needle exchange. I want to thank my colleagues that were standing there at that time with me, Councilman Becerra, Mayor Pro Tem Penalo

I'd like to thank everybody up here for their support. And thank you to the community that came out tonight and all the neighborhood leaders. Thank you so very much. This is the end of the business call. At this time, we're going to go to closing comments. Mr. City Manager, can we hear your comments at this time, please?

That was his comment to me, right? Deputy city manager, you have no comments? All right, no, okay.

That's what I wanted to hear. All right, comments by the council. Council Member Vasquez, please.

Wow, I'm gonna brag about a resource fair me and my staff are organizing, but I wanna thank all the council members for bringing the resource fair and having an event, Black and Brown Unity. Everybody's been organizing, including the council member, Jessie Lopez, who's having one at Santa Ana High School. I'm having it at Jerome Park, June 23rd at six o'clock. We're gonna have the Santa Ana Teachers Association are gonna be giving backpacks, United Across Borders food boxes and clothes, Suavecitos are gonna have free haircuts, we're gonna have immigrant defenders, Cal Optima, Santa Ana Unified

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to also echo what our Deputy City Manager brought up, Sylvia Vasquez. Saturday is a groundbreaking day for the Santa Anita Community Center. We'll be opening up. I want to give a big round of applause to Council Member Phan. because that is in your district and coming into the council, you prioritized funding the redevelopment of the Santa Anita Community Center. And given that Ward 5 shares Santa Anita with Ward 1, I want to tell you thank you as a colleague because generations of families have been using Santa Anita Park since the 70s and this new redevelo

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to everyone, staff, our community. I know we had our movies in the park this past Friday, and it was such a great time. We had volunteers from Los Amigos High School, as usual, thank you. Santa Anita Park, yes. I am so excited. When I was elected in 2020, we were doing everything on Zoom. And the first meeting I had with the Santa Anita Neighborhood Association before I think I was even sworn in or our first council meeting was with Ron Ono, who has now retired. And renovating Santa Anita was, I think, the biggest, the most important thing. So we need to make sure w

But with that, I want to also wish everybody a great rest of the week. I think we have some bonus days coming up, and I look forward to some rest. Thank you.

Yes. So per AB 123 the city manager approved my request to attend the local progress national convening which has a firm focus on policies at the local level which is a little bit different than most convenings in my personal opinion. I'm also the co-chair of the women's caucus. co-chairing the Women's Caucus for two years now, and we hosted four events throughout the convening, so it was actually a lot of work to be able to host and pre-plan. All of our previous meetings have been virtual, so it was the first time that I got to be in a room with my co-chair, with the leadership committee of t

Thank you, and I really want to thank the council members that are staying for closing comments. Again, it's such a sign of respect, I really appreciate it. Council Member Becerra, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Per AB 1234, I'd like to disclose that the city paid for my registration fee, not my transport or lodging, to attend the 2026 AAPI LEAD National Summit in LA on July 17th and 18th. I will spare you the dissertation on how it went. Monthly community office hours on Saturday, August 1st. So this Saturday, let's celebrate Santa Anita. And then next Saturday, August 1st, at Eugene Grissett Park on MacArthur, next to Greenville Elementary, I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours, as I do every month, as I've done since I first got elected to the city council. And w

Thank you, Mayor Mezcua. I just wanted to also thank city staff for that wonderful event on Saturday at Portola Park for that splash pad. Years in the making, so excited to finally have it open. Thank you, everybody involved and excited for this Saturday's grand opening at Santa Anita. I did have just a... and this is maybe a question that you could answer later, Mr. City Manager and Madam City Attorney, in an email, but I want to get clarity on any guardrails that we have or any vetting that we do when we're approving City Council travel. The only reason I say that is because, you know, most

All right, well, we don't talk about women's ages, so. All right, per AB 1234, I was at Naleo in Los Angeles. The city paid for my registration. I paid for my own hotel stay. The city did not pay that. Let me say it again, I paid it because I understand the city's budget. and I'd like to save some money here. So it was a great conference and I think all of us up here, when we go to conferences, we're there to learn and to bring back things that we can do differently in the city. I will not go give you a report now because that's not what we do up here. But Mr. City Manager, I appreciate when c

No, thank you, Madam City Chair. I appreciate it. I read it. As you know, I read emails that you guys sent out thoroughly, and I understand that. I'm very clear. There are certain things that people can and cannot do, and unless you've been doing them the entire time you've been elected, and I know I'm one of those that have been doing certain things for four years, and so I can continue to do them. All right, so here we go. I'll be quick. August 9th, I'm having the resource fair with the Elks Lodge and many, many, many different organizations. We'll have over 51 booths, four healthcare, mobil

And would you share a little bit? What will the drone presentation include?

All right, so those of you that are interested in the drone, please come out with Coffee with the Mayor on August 1st, 2026. It's from 10 to noon. And once we reach full capacity and we don't violate the fire marshal numbers inside the room, we'll be closing the doors or leaving them open so the drone can come in. So I'm super excited about Coffee with the Mayor because as promised, we said we would show the drone to the community. And then at my next neighborhood leaders meeting, we'll also be doing a drone presentation there as well for the neighborhood leaders, presidents and vice president