City Council - Regular Meeting

We harvest if we don't give up. Believe me, there have been times when all of us up here have felt weary when giving up. Sometimes it's easier than continuing. But if there's something this Monterey Park community has taught me, it's never to give up. In the last four years, we have walked through some of the heaviest chapters a city could ever face. When the tragedy of the Lunar New Year mass shooting shattered our peace, we didn't break. Instead, we held each other up as a community. Together, we sat in dark times, we mourned, and then we stood up and we demanded change. We took that pain and turned it into purpose. We didn't just talk about gun violence, we did something about it. We pushed for common sense gun control, we banned firearms on city property, and we fought for safe storage laws within our community. We showed the country what resilient leadership looks like when a community stands shoulder to shoulder. I was mayor during this time period and I helped champion this legislation. In fact, I joined Moms Demand Action in Sacramento just weeks after the shooting and met with state legislators and demanded action because there's no better way to honor those who have died than by passing legislation that prevents future tragedies. And you know what? We didn't stop fighting. We continue to fight to protect our home here as well. Just look at what we did this month with Measure NDC. When a massive tech corporation wanted to build a giant AI data center right here in our own backyard, threatening our air quality, using our precious water, risking a massive spike in our electricity bills, we didn't just sit by. You guys packed the city hall. You educated all of us. You challenged all of us. You organized. As a high school civics teacher, I always tell my students that real power belongs to the people, and you proved it. We placed that ban on the ballot, and you responded with a landslide 88% victory. We became the first city in the US to permanently ban data centers through a vote of the people. My biggest hope now is that our grassroots effort and victory becomes a blueprint for the rest of the nation. We showed everyone that a community has a right to decide its own future and that big tech can't just slide into our neighborhoods under the cover of night without us having something to say about it. And that power now rests with the people of Monterey Park because no data center will ever be built in this great city of ours without the consent of the people. And if I know Monterey Park residents well, I know that won't happen anytime soon. So as I step back into the role of Mayor Pro Tem, I promise to keep that same energy. I'll keep listening. I'll keep fighting for transparency, for safety, for our local businesses, and for the future of our kids. Thank you for your faith in me, Monterey Park. Let's keep fighting the good fight. Dios los bendiga, God bless you all, and may God continue to bless our beautiful city. Gracias.

Now moving on to the mayoral installation of Henry Lowe. Please welcome Jeff Pring, our Los Angeles County Assessor, to do the swearing in, as well as community leader Daisy Ma to present the badge and cards.

Thank you very much. Before I administer your oath, Henry, I just had to say a couple of a couple of things. I am a politician. I've been given a microphone, so it's a very dangerous thing. But I did want to express how proud I am to have been asked to play this role this evening. I've had the pleasure of knowing Henry for 25 years. I have been very proud to watch you grow. to watch the way that you've performed as an elected official, not only here, but during your time on the Garvey School District. You have brought level of wisdom, compassion, and absolutely devoted public service to everything that you have done during your public tenure. And for those of you who are in Monterey Park, I think you all know how much we love Henry, we respect him, and we admire the work that he's done in leadership. But he's really grown. to become one of the more respected public officials throughout Los Angeles County. He shows uncommon wisdom and clarity of thought and has grown into somebody who, when he speaks, people listen all over the county. You are very fortunate as a community to have a leader such as Henry. I consider myself fortunate to have Henry as my friend, and I'm really honored to be able to play this role this evening. Just one microphone. We'll go back and forth. So if you would please raise your right hand.

Yes.

And repeat after me. I, Henry Lowe. I, Henry Lowe. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support and defend.

That I will support and defend. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance.

To the Constitution of the United States.

To the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

That I take this obligation freely.

That I take this obligation freely.

Without any mental reservation. Without any mental reservation. Or purpose of evasion. Or purpose of evasion. And that I will well and faithfully.

And that I will well and faithfully.

Discharge the duties upon which I'm about.

discharge due to upon which I'm about to enter.

Congratulations, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you so much.

Henry, I'm very honored that I would put your name badge on and also give you your business cards. I, along with Jeff Prang, I think I've known you a little bit more, maybe 27 years, since you were a little kid, just as I was. But I love you, and we have worked together. We've gone through tough times together. But congratulations.

Thank you. If I may, you know, Daisy and I, we have been co-workers. She's actually my commissioner, my constituent, but those of you who know Daisy and her husband Derek work in the Chinese community, especially in L.A., Chinatown, you know, I mean, when I think about public service, it is actually people like Daisy. I still tell myself that if I am lucky enough to do as much as Daisy has, then I will have lived a good life.

Thank you.

Thank you, Henry.

If I could also have my family come up. So I have relatives from as far as Arizona and as close as El Cerrito and Baldwin Park to join. Please, you're in the family, so come up and take a photo with me.

Okay, here to kick off our presentations, please welcome Abner Ramos to provide us some inspirational comments.

She handed me the microphone. I'm not a politician and a pastor. I could go really long, too. But I won't because it's not Sunday morning and Jose wants to go watch this game, I hear. Henry Jose invited me to pray a blessing over you guys. For those of us who are not used to going to church, when you pray a blessing over somebody, you're saying words that encourage them, inspire them, and remind them that they're made in the image of our creator. So my hope is that as I speak words of prayer and blessing over you today, that you would be reminded that you're fearfully and wonderfully made. Let me pray. Lord, I pray for wisdom over these two men. Lord, really over the whole council, but especially these two who are going to be taking the charge. Lord Henry and Lord, everything that he does is passionate. Lord, saying an oath is passionate for this brother. Lord, he is beloved in the community. God, would you give him wisdom? Would you give him and Jose wisdom, Lord? There are so many examples in Scripture of people who led communities in government, in building the community, people like Moses, people like Solomon, and people like Samuel. And, Lord, they prayed for wisdom. I pray that you would give these guys a lot of wisdom. I pray that you would give the people around them who are actually going to build them up also and be willing to work with them. Being in public leadership sometimes can feel lonely because people love to either email or give phone calls of complaint, but rarely, I think, do people affirm. And I just pray that you would bring people around them who are affirming them, helping them lead, leading in partnership, people who are opening doors, people who are peacemakers, Lord, people who have a vision to make this community a beautiful place to live in. So would you protect them? Lord, I also just pray lastly that you would help them make Monterey Park a place where all people could flourish. Lord, I'm a Christian and I hold to a certain faith, but I pray that in their leadership that they would fight for the rights of every faith in the city, of every people, of every background and every identity, Lord God, that this would be a city where people are affirmed, where people could flourish, where we could marry and raise kids and go to school and go to work and not have to worry about getting in fights with neighbors or anything like that. I pray that this would be a beloved community, Lord, that reflects goodness and peace and joy for all of us, Lord, as citizens. We thank you and we love you. And I pray a blessing over this council and especially over Jose and Henry. Amen.

Amen.

Okay, representing Congresswoman Judy Chu, our former mayor and San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District member, Mike Ng.

Well, thank you so much. My name is Mike King, and I'm representing my wife, Congresswoman Judy Chu, who is in Washington, D.C. tonight and sends her greetings to our hometown and our favorite city of Monterey Park, as well as myself, who is the vice chair of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. If you've never heard of that, we provide supplemental water to Monterey Park and three other cities. And also, I'm very proud to be here and It's been many years that I stood up here, but I'm also the former mayor of Monterey Park and the former state assembly member. First, I want to give a shout out to the outgoing mayor, Elizabeth Yang. Oh, there you go. I forgot that you go from here all the way down there. Elizabeth, during your term as mayor, the city grew in stature because of its stand against the data centers. You grew in stature because you had to preside over a very enthusiastic group of people for at least three or four hearings. And I had to preside over that type of... audience and voters as well, so I really want to hand it to you. And I also want to tell you that I grew in stature too, even as you did, because those meat, the mayor's, the meat was M-E-A-T, and I grew about 100 pounds extra in stature. So I'm kind of glad that you're rotating off, but thank you for going out to the community and meeting everything. How many of you went to some of the restaurants with Meet the Mayor? It was great to support those restaurants. I want to give a shout out, of course, to the incoming mayor, Henry Lowe, who I happen to know very well. Many of you don't know this, but Henry Lowe, our incoming mayor, well, mayor right now, right? Our mayor is one of the longest serving elected official in the San Gabriel Valley, serving on the Garvey School District for many years, and then, of course, the city council, and Henry is also someone that I'll be permanently connected to because I happen to be fortunate to have him on my team when I was in the state assembly. He also served under state senator and also the assembly member who succeeded me. And I'll tell you, those were the best choices that we made, right? Daisy Ma, who is my district director. So give a shout out to our incoming mayor, Henry Lowe. And also, our incoming mayor pro tem Jose Sanchez who's nationally known and internationally known and known in the state of California and of course here in the San Diego Valley for the amazing job you've done as a teacher mentoring all those young people as well as stewarding the nationally known

I forgot the exact term, but I better say it correctly.

The correct term is the, let's see, what is the correct term?

The correct term is the, what was the correct term?

That's right. It's a term that I never used because I was an at-risk child and I was never able to be on that. So give him a round of applause for that. I know that you, L.A. County, I believe you were the top in L.A. County and then in the state of California and then also nationally, I believe your team played sixth place. So thank you so much for that. You've also brought great honor to our city. So I don't know how you want to do this, but I think maybe the three of you should come down here, because I think the people that are going to be giving. And I want to give you my honor. Derek, be sure to take a picture of Judy. Make sure Judy knows that I was here and that there are no slot machines in the background.

OK.

So, and by the way, I have a question. I have received and given some, I don't know where they disappeared to afterwards. But I have, each of you will get a certificate from Congresswoman Judy Chu and also Jose. Okay, we'll take a quick picture and I'll quickly get off here so that other people, okay, great.

Thank you.

Give them a round of applause. Thank you so much.

Representing Senator Sasha Renee Perez-Amberging.

Hi. Hello, everyone. My name is Amber Jang from the office of State Senator Sashnee Perez, and I'd like to begin by making some remarks to outgoing Mayor Elizabeth Yang. I'd be lying to everyone if I said you had an easy term. It wasn't. And yet, you led with grace, candor, dignity, and courage. Despite pressures from outside factors beyond city boundaries, you listened and stayed true to the values of Monterey Park and its residents, exemplifying the working relationship between constituents and their local elected officials. It's impressive that despite you wearing many, many, many, many hats, you managed to balance them all. The one thing that impressed me the most was when you led a meeting that lasted over seven hours long in January, which didn't end until 1 a.m., and then you hopped on a flight six hours later at 7 a.m. from LAX to Sacramento to see Senator Perez and make it onto the Senate floor where the Senator formerly honored the Monterey Park shootings victims on its third anniversary through Senate Resolution 70. You did a great job representing the city and you looked amazing up there. And if I recall correctly, my colleagues were open to getting you anything that you needed, and all you asked for was hot chocolate, which I love that. Very simple. We mean it when we call you Wonder Woman, and you know we do. Or you know we mean it. Sorry. And I'm excited to see what the rest of your time on city council looks like, because we know that there's still a lot on your plate as you work hard to serve the people. So thank you so much for leading an incredible term. Sorry, I'm not a politician, but I still have a lot more to say. To Mayor Henry Lowe, it's been a huge honor knowing you for two years when we actually met driving around Altadena back in 2024. Getting to know you the past year showed me that you're capable of taking on any challenge that comes your way and you're not afraid to stick up for yourself and the residents of Monterey Park. So with his background in public service, working for several of the San Gabriel Valley state legislators, Great job. I know that you could do. You'll do an incredible job leading the city as the incoming or current mayor and will be a great person to work with for these next nine and a half months to ensure that the city runs smoothly and successfully.

So I'm excited to work with you.

Now for incoming mayor pro tem Jose Sanchez or Mr. Sanchez. I am a former student of his. Not long ago. I'm still pretty young. Um... You're still pretty young.

Yeah, absolutely.

Last week, he texted me, I'd like to see what you can wing, LOL. So like a great student, I didn't listen, and I typed out some more notes as well. So Mr. Sanchez, you've done some impressive work your first term when you started off in city council, championing civics and bringing your students around to learn about city operations and historical facts around the local community, something he didn't do with me. But I'm still up here. You're a proven leader who fights to keep our students safe, well, our entire community safe. And I want to commend you for leading with your heart. And we've been reminded time and time again that you make your decisions based on what will make your daughters proud of you, girl dad, and that is what faith in the future is. You embody what it means to be courageous and stand against all odds just to ensure that our youngins grow up in a safer world. And the kids are all right because you make sure that they are. And they're going to do a CNN 10 out of 10 job up there in that very seat. And I wish you the best of luck. Sorry, I just threw in a little inside joke. We'll leave it at that. So now I'd like to present all three members with the certificates of recognition on behalf of the California State Senate and Senator Sasha N. Perez.

From the Office of State Senator Ben Allen, Sophia Poo.

Hi, everyone. My name is Sophia Poo. I'm here representing both CAUSE, the Center of Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment, and the Office of State Senator Ben Allen, who we just wanted to extend our greatest congratulations to all of the people here being celebrated here tonight, incoming mayor Henry Lowe, Mayor Pro Tem Jose Sanchez and outgoing Mayor Elizabeth Yang. I'll keep it pretty brief, hopefully. Outgoing Mayor Yang, I just wanted to say that your whole resume and all that you've achieved is so inspiring. As an Asian American woman myself, just reading your accomplishments and seeing all that you've done, you're really just a great role model for not just people like me, but everyone who wants to do the service you have. For those who don't know in the audience, she's an engineer, a lawyer, a business owner, and a mother, and a mayor. So that's quite impressive, and I really want to be you when I grow up. To incoming Mayor Pro Tem Jose Sanchez, I just want to say that I wouldn't be standing here without teachers like you who have done so much in terms of educating the youth. I had great teachers in our neighboring city of San Gabriel. and great civics teachers as well. So thank you to everything you've done for students like myself, your students in the audience, and I know all of my cohort members at Cause who are also here to celebrate your assumption of Mayor Potem. And finally, incoming Mayor Henry Lowe. We have also known each other for quite some time. Sam and Lisa from Senator Allen's office say hello, and they're really sorry that they can't make it tonight. But you've just been such an incredible public servant your whole life and really representing everything that we want to see as an API community, as a community in general, in public service. And so I am just so proud to present these certificates and also secure that whatever comes to the Monterey Park City Council's way in the years to come, you guys are all in incredible hands. So thank you so much, and I hope you will accept these certificates of recognition from the California State Senate.

Thank you so much.

from the office of Assemblymember Mike Fong, Jennifer Love Ting, District Director.

It's a little difficult to follow the cause intern, Sophia, so let's give it up for all the cause interns that are here today. Raise your hands if you're out there. I want to give us a shout out to our cause intern in our office and Assemblymember Mike Fong's office, Caitlin, who is also, whoo! She's also a resident here in Monterey Park. And we have a lot to be proud of here in Monterey Park. Again, my name is Jennifer. I'm here on behalf of Assemblymember Mike Fong to congratulate our outgoing mayor, Elizabeth Yang. You've heard a lot about her resume and all that she's done. And I also have the great privilege of being her constituent in District 2. And I just want to share, you know, I think all of us watched those data center meetings. And Mary Yang led with such grace and patience and poise. And she made sure that every voice was able to be heard in meetings that went long into the night, where I got to watch them from the comfort of my house, but you all were here, making sure that everybody got to say their piece. So thank you to Mary Yang for your service to our city and for showing us what it means to be a great public servant in times of great civic engagement and participation from our community. Let's give it up for Mary Yang. to our incoming Mayor Pro Tem Jose Sanchez. You know, I have such a fun job because I get to come here and say nice things about my friends. Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez, as you know, is a teacher and one of the things that he does on top of his service to this city, his students, and his family is that he's a very strong advocate for gun safety. And after the 2023 mass shooting, and actually years before that even, Mr. Sanchez has been a strong advocate and he came up to Sacramento multiple times, I want to say, to support Assemblymember Mike Fong's gun legislation. And it made all the difference to ensuring that those bills were passed and that they were signed by the governor. So thank you, Jose. You show us what it means to lead with clear-eyed values, and we know that that guides you in every decision that you make on this dais. And Mayor Lowe. So all of everybody was saying how many years folks have known Henry. Some remember Fong was in his kindergarten class. Preschool, preschool. So I think my boss gets to take the most number of years known, knowing Henry. I think all of us know him for his infectious laugh. Yes, that. But I want to share just a quick story of a quieter moment that I've noticed in Henry's leadership. It was Monday morning after the shooting in 2023. It was 4.30 a.m. And I showed up at the site of the shooting at 4.30 a.m. that day because the assembly member was going to go on live television with CNN. and it was a really scary time and I looked over and I saw Henry there at 4.30 in the morning because he was there to go on in front of every television camera and tell the story of Monterey Park. to ensure that the country didn't just see us as a place where this horrible thing happened. He told the story of our diverse community, and he shared the heart of what this place is and how special it is. And I know that's the leadership you will bring again in your second term as mayor. So let's give a round of applause to our incoming mayor, Henry Lowe, our incoming mayor pro tem, Jose Sanchez, and our outgoing mayor, Elizabeth Yang. On behalf of Assemblymember Mike Fong, I'd like to present certificates.

Now please welcome our friend and neighbor from the city of San Gabriel, council member and former mayor, Denise Menchaca.

Thank you so much. So I am homegrown in Alhambra, but my stomping grounds was Monterey Park, the Brightwood Hills, and Highland. I went to Alhambra High, so I'm a Moore, go Moores, It's great to see a lot of students here. I'm sure you're from all over. We've talked a lot about what they've done here in Monterey Park, and I don't think we talk enough about what the roles that they've played at a regional level. So I did not watch any of those meetings. I have my own meetings to watch or partake. So I won't even talk about that anymore. But at a regional level, it is so important to have presence. of these colleagues and myself and my colleagues, but because we represent the cities and they have done such a marvelous job there talking about all the great restaurants, all the great businesses. And so I want to also recognize that the role is beyond the borders of Monterey Park. They do so much more than that. and they are your representatives. And so I want to first applaud that for your roles there. I wrote something because I have a connection to each one of them, but I had to write it down because I know we have things to do tonight. But hold the applause until the end. But I will start with Mayor Elizabeth Yang. Congratulations to you on a remarkable year of leadership. As the only woman on the Monterey Park City Council, you carried the torch for all of us who know what it's like to be outnumbered at the dais. I too am the only woman from my dais. From one lone woman on the council to another, Thank you for representing the role with grace, strength and dedication. for our vice, well, we call them vice mayors because nobody knows what pro temp mayor is. But anyway, I'll do whatever you guys say. But anyway, congratulations, Vice Mayor Jose Sanchez, on your appointment. As a fellow Alhambra High School alum, I'm proud to see your continued leadership and service. I know you've taught generations of students over the years. Many are here, and literally everywhere I go, they always tell me, oh, you know, Council Member Jose Sanchez taught me. Unfortunately, I can't claim to have been one of them unless you started teaching in kindergarten. I think the math works if you were in kindergarten. But even then, felicidades, amigo, and best wishes for a meaningful year ahead in your new role. And to good old Henry. Henry and I go back, because when he was at the Garvey School District, I was San Gabriel Unified School District. I had a little break in between, but he's the continuous. But yeah, I've been around a long time, too. Congratulations to Mayor Henry Lowe, beginning your second term as mayor, since we both have had the privilege of serving twice. And it is a tremendous privilege. I can confirm that the second time around will come with fewer surprises, because you've gone through it, but a lot more emails and texts. And so be ready. Wishing you a productive and rewarding year as you continue leading Monterey Park. I am here representing the great city of San Gabriel, And, you know, we love Monterey Park. Well, I do. I'm sure my other colleagues do, too. But I just wish you all the best. And if there's anything you need in our city, please ask me or ask any of my colleagues. Thank you.

Okay, from one vice mayor to another, please welcome Danny Heng of the City of West Hollywood.

Hi, I'm Danny Heng. I'm the vice mayor of West Hollywood, but I was actually born in Monterey Park, so this is my home. I'm glad to be back home. So I am here with my commissioner, Kat Eng, who's also from Monterey Park. She's a public safety commissioner for West Hollywood. I'm happy to be here to congratulate you all. Elizabeth, you served with grace and dignity in your year as mayor. I did watch one of those meetings. A lot of yelling, a lot of screaming, some singing. You listened with compassion and empathy. And overall, as the previous speaker said, you listened. And that is the most important thing that the community needs from one of their leaders. So thank you so much for your service. And Mayor Pro Tem, You are a positive, enthusiastic teacher, and that is proof by many of your students here in the house supporting you, and I appreciate the positive energy that you bring here to the dais, because the community needs that too. The community needs that same love that you show in the classroom to our community, and your two beautiful daughters behind you. I mean, incredible. And then Mayor Henry Lowe, We go way back. When I was a little candidate, first time candidate, I reached out to Henry. And he believed in the first Asian-American to be elected to the West Hollywood City Council. He supported me. He guided me. He mentored me. And I got through the process. And I won. And I couldn't have done it without your help. And I want to thank you for everything. And thank you for your service to the community. And I wish you continued success in your term as mayor. And Jose, in your term as vice mayor. And Elizabeth, thank you for your service to the great city of Monterey Park, my home away from home. And here's my Public Safety Commissioner, Katherine Eng.

Thank you. I am not a politician. I feel like handing this back to Jeff Prang, but this is how badly I wanted to be here. I'm standing here with fuzz on my pants and a foot injury, but I really wanted to be here for you, Mayor Lowe. Again, I'm really thrilled to see the deepening connection between our two cities. I have seen the mayor march in our parades. Council Member Wong braved two-hour traffic to come to our inductions, and I'm very glad to see that our relationship is deepening. Vice Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez, I don't actually know you, but hearing tonight about your work on gun legislation is very meaningful. I did watch some of those data center meetings, and so I know the grace in which you held that position. I also want to say, as a citizen of this world, thank you for banning these data centers because I want clean water.

Thank you. Thank you. And also, our great assessor, Jeffrey Prang, served a few terms as mayor of our city of West Hollywood. So thank you, Jeff, for leading the way.

Now please welcome our neighbor from the city of Cerritos, Frank Yokoyama.

Hi, my name is Frank Aurelio Yokoyama. I'm honored to be council member for the city of Cerritos and the immediate past mayor. And I think about becoming a friend, a good friend of the city of Monterey Park because my high school classmate and friend Hans Liang is a former mayor. of the city of Monterey Park, and I remember going to conferences where Hans would introduce me to all his council colleagues. And I'm blessed to know this wonderful team of leaders. Congratulations, Mayor Henry. Congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem Jose. Good to see you, Vin. Good to see you, Thomas. I'm here because I was lucky to be the mayor of Cerritos at the same time as Mayor Elizabeth Yang, who I got to know with her wonderful leadership of Monterey Park and her regional leadership representing Monterey Park regionally, throughout the state, and also nationally. The city of Cerritos proudly recognizes Monterey Park outgoing mayor Elizabeth Yang for her outstanding service, her visionary leadership, and her tireless dedication to the residents and businesses of Monterey Park. I was lucky to be the mayor at the same time that she was and see her altruism and her steady hand in leading Monterey Park through unprecedented times so the city of cerritos recognizes your your term as mayor elizabeth congratulations on a wonderful memorable historical term as mayor of monterey park

Please join me in welcoming back our county assessor, Jeff Prang, who will also present some certificates to our incoming and outgoing members.

Daisy Ma just told me, she says, you only have one minute. I'll try to be brief because the truth is everything that needs to be said has already been said, although it hasn't been said by everybody. So, first, I wanted to congratulate our outgoing mayor, Elizabeth Yang. Now, it just occurred to me that this entire city council now all has experience as being the mayor of this city, which is a very, to be the mayor of the city of Monterey Park is a very special privilege, and you handled that extraordinary well. over the course of the last nine months. You represented the city with grace, with dignity, with professionalism, and you really earned the respect of your colleagues throughout the region. And I know that the public appreciated the calm and steady and confident demeanor that you steered the city through some very difficult times. So I put together a much nicer certificate than my colleagues. Mine is a proclamation, which, come on over here, Elizabeth. It talks about all the wonderful things you did during your term of office, so congratulations. And as I always like to say, put a copy of that in with your tax bill, see if it helps. The next certificate I will give to our... I'm not quite sure why we give certificates to mayor pro tems, because they don't really have a job. The whole job of the mayor pro tem is to wait to be mayor next year. When I was in city council in West Hollywood, we called that job the lady in waiting. But Jose, as a former mayor and a very committed public servant here at the City of Monterey Park, I know that you'll play the continued important role of leadership and be a great backup to Mayor Lowe as well as to your colleagues. So congratulations, Jose. And then for Henry, I've already said all types of nice things about you, so I'm not going to be repetitive. I would apologize that your certificate, as you notice, is much smaller. Because today is your first day. You haven't done anything yet. This one represents nine months of hard work. So when I come back for Mayor Pro Tem's time to take over, you'll get a long one as well. But I'm looking forward to you putting your special brand of leadership on the city over the next nine months. I'm really proud to be a part of this very, very special day and to continue to work and to watch you grow in your leadership of this city and throughout our region. Congratulations.

We'd also like to thank our neighbors at the City of Rosemead who have also provided certificates of recognition. Next, please welcome, from the Garvey School District, Andrew Yam, our president, John Nunez, and Anita Chu, our superintendent.

Good afternoon, and I'll wait for my board colleague and my superintendent to join me before we begin, but today, Andy, I'm board president for Garvey School District. I'm joined by my fellow board member, John Nunez, and my superintendent, Anita Chu. And I will pass it to John first to open up the marks.

All right. Thank you very much. First of all, I want to thank you for all the help you give Garvey School District during your past year. I know you were very busy with a big campaign down there, but still you guys kept going with Garvey School District, making sure that we were not forgotten in all the things that we had to be doing. I can't, as board members, we just can't say enough about Mr. Sanchez, about how he has done with the Alhambra School District and with his students and all the accolades that they were able to accomplish last year and this year, isn't it? Yeah. So it's amazing what kind of work he has done and still has enough time to grade papers and come down here and listen to all of the parents, all of the citizens of Monterey Park that came in and did all the screaming and yelling at you during the process that we're going. Henry has been a friend of mine for a long, long time. We helped him get into the Garvey School Board the first time when he first ran for Garvey School. And he did very well. I remember that election night, that first election night, it started off, he wasn't doing as well as he thought he should be doing. And then when we came to the second round of votes, of election results, I looked at the at the difference of the votes that were coming. And I said, Andy, I said, excuse me, I said, Henry, you got it. Don't worry about it. He says, I'm way behind. I says, no, you're not. You watch. And then by the third and the fourth round came, he was way ahead of his opponents. But we were very happy to have him in the Garvey School District. And I want to say that the Garvey School District has done a lot for the city of Monterey Park. in the way that we have had, this will be our, he is our fourth, or actually, Vin Goh is our fourth school board member that's become a city council member in this, in Monterey Park. Started with Judy Chu, was one of our, oh, I'm sorry, five, I forgot about David. Excuse me, and David Lowe is also a school board member that came to the city of Monterey Park and did a great job here in Monterey Park. And also Diane Martinez was another one of our school board members that became city council. Of course, David, I mean, Vingo, also was, and Henry Lowe. And Anthony Wong, yeah, I said that. Oh, that's right, Anthony Warren. Yeah, that's right. See, we have much more support than I thought. But, you know, it's a very good process between our school board and the City of Monterey Park. I don't know if anybody knows it, but City of Monterey Park passed the first developer's fees in this area way back in the 80s that was the developer's fees for Garvey School District. So it's been a very good relationship. And I think if my predictions are correct, we'll probably have another one real soon, in a few years anyway.

I don't know what that was referencing. But really quickly, just on, again, behalf of the Garvey School District Board, just if I could share a few words to outgoing Mayor Yang. You know, I was very fortunate to actually host a tour in my day job, and perhaps one of your last official tours as mayor of this city. And I remember telling my colleagues all the things that Mayor Yang has done, accomplished author, a lawyer, graduated college at 19 as an engineer, six years at Raytheon, and then ended up doing a dual MBA and a JD at University of La Verne. did the backgrounder on you so i i know um and i got a chance to share that with my colleagues and i realized i stopped uh for a moment i said this woman is incredible right and not only does she do this running her own law practice here on the city of monterey park but also then serving as mayor um you know and and all of this uh time to raise our two wonderful children uh and so doing all this stuff she's an incredible wonder woman and so thank you so much for serving the city for giving your heart your energy, your time, what little time I know that you have in the day that you squeeze out to make time for the city. I know that you do it with such incredible talent, passion for public service that the city is incredibly grateful. So thank you so much for your service to this city. To Mayor Pro Tem Jose Sanchez, as a school board member, we often get to see a lot of wonderful teachers. And I know that in your service, you carry the fact that you are a school teacher, that you are a teacher and a mentor to your students on your sleeve, in front of your heart, because folks know that you are an educator. You are here to take care of the children, the community, and guide folks into that next generation. And so we are incredibly thankful for you from a school district to thank such a wonderful educator that gets to also be apparently a state-winning academic coach. There we go. His team's right there. So thank you so much for your service to the city. And last but not least, to Henry. You know, I think this one is perhaps the most meaningful, being your constituent in District 4. You've been a wonderful council member, but perhaps this might be one of the first times that the president of the Board of Garvey School District lives in the same district as the mayor of the city of Monterey Park. And so that's quite an exciting thing that I get to explore and work together with our wonderful mayor. But Henry, I just want to say thank you so much. You inspire me. to want to choose public service, to want to serve the community because I had a chance to see you do it as a Garvey School Board member. I've known you for about half my life. I don't know if that puts a number on it. But Henry, I've known you for half my life and you've been an inspiration, a mentor to me for as long as I can remember that I can always go to you for counsel and seek your guidance on how to best serve my constituents and best serve the students. And so Henry, thank you so much. You're going to be an amazing mayor. I'm just full of gratitude. And so we do have these certificates to express our gratitude. But again, it's quite not so bottomless is the way that I appreciate, I think, our wonderful council here and in partnership together with the Garvey School District.

Now welcome Alan Alexander from OCA Greater Los Angeles, Asian Pacific American Advocates.

All right, hello, everybody. My name is Alan Alexander. I am not a politician, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I am here representing the OCA Greater Los Angeles. We are an organization of Chinese-Americans who do Asian-American community work, as well as cause. So what I wanted to just say a few words. words about Henry and Liz as well as Jose tonight, which is just the outstanding, really, community work that you guys have all done. The mark of a person is not who you are in the public eye, though you guys have been great in the public eye with those seven-hour council meetings. and the data center, Shabakal. But it's how you've lifted, I guess, the youth and how you've helped the community. I've had the pleasure and had the honor of working with each and every one of you, either directly or indirectly, to work on initiatives that have helped the youth. And just listening from each and every one of them and from their stories, it's inspiring to see the work that you've put in to lift their perspectives offer them a better future. I know it's commonly said that we need better people. That's the solution, right? So I am presenting two certificates, one for Mr. Henry Lowe, and so here you go. And one for Liz, and Jose, you'll get yours when you become mayor.

Now welcome Shirley Wong our president of the Community Participation Commission Commissioner and the Chinese American Citizen Alliance of SGV Lodge.

Hello, my name is Shirley Huang. I served the City of Monterey Park as a commissioner for the past 35 years. During the Mike Ng, Judy Chu, David Lau, Francesca Lanzo, Benjamin Frank Venti, Betty Tom Chu, all these great mayors and council members, under them I served. And now I am serving under Henry Law. He is the one who appointed me as a commissioner of community participation commissioner. And we have a 10 wonderful community participation commissioner that we care about our city. And then we have a Hollywood Bowl coming up next month. That's what we do of our commission. Also, I am the somewhat non-Chinese to be elected as Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater Sangare Valley Lodge. I'm the woman president, Madam President. I was honored. And I don't speak Chinese. I don't look Chinese. But they chose me as their president. And it's a challenge. and I work hard for our CACA. And Henry is L.A. Lodge president, okay? So, we work together, try make our CACA much better than ever before. And then, also, he, He is the only child of his mom and dad that lost. So it's really touching for me to work with him. And I get emotional here now. But please, we are here. Our commissioners, community participant commissioners, and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, we are here if you need our help, OK? Congratulations. And Mr. Sanchez, you always smile, big smile. You're such a good with the children. I mean, amazing. I was once PTA president at Monterey Highland School. And I know how that is like, working with the kids. They are like amazing energy. And you do such a good job. Thank you. And then also, my friend. Elizabeth Yang, Holly and I, we said the very first time was Community Relations Commission before they changed to as Community Participation Commission. And at that time, Dora Leon was in there, Carol Sullivan was in there. We started with that time. How many years ago? 15 plus years ago. She wasn't quite married at that time. Yeah. So I have a really strong bond with her. And congratulations. You did a wonderful job as the mayor. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Oh, my gosh. Oh, OK. OK. Thank you. Thank you.

Now welcome Connie Wong, Daisy Ma, and Gay Yuen from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Los Angeles.

Thank you, Michelle. So again, Daisy Ma, and this is Gay Yuen. We are from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, LA Lodge. of which that Henry is now the current president of the lodge. So we are here on behalf of our members to congratulate all of you, and of course, Mayor Yang, thank you for your nine and a half months of service. It's been a lot of work, I know. And congratulations to Mayor Potem Sanchez, and of course, Mayor Lowe. I'm gonna keep this short, so I'm just gonna give out the certificates. Congratulations, and Mayor Pro Tem, we're gonna have one for you next year. But also, no tears, no tears. But we're also residents of Warner Park, okay? Gay and I were. And I want to have some of our members of our CACLA Lodge. We have Derek Ma, we have Honorable Mike Ng. Who else is in here? We have Honorable Denise Menchaca. Who else is on our lodge here?

CACLA, yes, Katie.

Oh, no, she can't, okay, that's okay. And is Rick Ng still here? Rick Ng. Connie left. Connie's gone. She left. OK. All right. So just a little background on our CACI Lodge. We've been around since 1915. That's how long we've been and we are a Chinese American civil rights organization. Alan, Rick, who else do we have? Diane, please.

Sorry.

Amy?

All right, I'll get one right here.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our mayor, Henry Lowe.

Okay, I actually prepared a six page speech. But because we want to be respectful to our guests, to the people who are catering, and more importantly, the entertainment, I will try and keep it as short as possible because I understand that we're a little running behind. So let me try and do this as efficiently as possible. Thank you so much for this honor to serving a second time as mayor of the great city of Monterey Park. The last time I was mayor, and time flies, I was sworn in four years ago. And it's remarkable when I think about Well, I was elected in 2020, and to think about the last six years, and really our story has been one of challenge, but in that challenge, what was revealed was our strength, our compassion, our resilience as a community. You know, when I was sworn in as mayor the first time, many of you don't remember why, because we were still in a pandemic and we did it all on Zoom. And so I was sworn in actually from my bedroom and everyone else watched on Zoom. And the tragedy of the pandemic of 2023, January 21st, was also toward the end of my term, and we didn't have a ceremony. In fact, because at the time, it was important for me, for four days straight, speaking to America and the world about who we are at Monterey Park and how we were not going to let gun violence tell our story because we are a strong community we are a community that is diverse and we are a community that sets trends we're not defined by them and of course after that we um privately passed the gavel on to jose but you know it's important for me to just reflect on these past six years in our city i mean when i was born as i said it was in the beginning of the pandemic and it was a time of so much uncertainty, but I'm really proud that we as a community, we rallied together. We supported our residents and our small businesses, many of them are restaurants, who were struggling because of the pandemic. We made sure that we worked with our small businesses, especially our restaurants, and delivery apps like Fan Tuan, Uber Eats, to make sure that they would not go out of business, because these are community, family-owned businesses, and they really are, you know, It's true what they say, that food nourishes the soul and the body, and we have to make sure we support our businesses. I'm very proud that during that pandemic, Monterey Park had the lowest rate of infections and the highest, highest vaccination rates in the sangamon valley that was not because of one person but because of community that came together that worked with as part of the county that worked with the school districts with the fed the state to make sure that that when vaccines were available those who need the most vulnerable they had it first and i think that's probably why our community really um weathered the pandemic as well as it did. As I mentioned, toward the end of my term, we had the tragedy of the January 21st mass shooting. To this day, it is still the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County history. It was a moment that was one that, again, challenged all of us because it was the first time that not only do you have a incident of gun violence in our community, but one that's put us on the map. And as I... As my colleagues said, we showed the world. We told them our story. We told them that we were not going to be defined by gun violence. We were a community that was resilient, and we did so because not only did we support the victims and their families, but we made sure the community at large through Hope and Healing Fund was established to help the community heal. And that is something, again, not done by one person, but by a community, those who donated to the hope and healing fund those who served on the uh advisory committee such as amy lee our treasurer and also our councilman vengo who is thanks with efforts with the chantown service center we raised over a hundred thousand dollars to help our community um more recently We again, we're saying trend. Again, we were on the map because we became the first city in America to ban a data center. And that, to me, is important to discuss because when we talk about significant public policy debates for our city, it is truly an example of civic engagement because residents heard, residents expressed and we heard loud and clear the concerns about neighborhood compatibility, the impact to the environment and the quality of life. Those are issues that we deal with every day. And we recognize from all of residents, all of you who are listening in the audience or on Zoom that broad engagement in our city government and represented is important. We're reminded that meaningful public policy is grounded on trust and built on communication and listening. Measure NDC demonstrated that in these uncertain times, especially at the national level, the true things of local democracy comes through vigorous community participation. So now I say, let's take that activism, let's take that energy and work on other issues that are before us and build a more perfect city. to improve the quality of life for our residents. And I wanna say that as a city, we continue to, we prioritize that we move forward, that we know that we need to continue to support our small businesses. We need to get going our housing development projects, because housing is an important issue for our community. And again, we are a community that in times of crisis, we rally together. We are the community that passed Measure JJ that updated our priorities, our land use, our housing policy, and mobility issues. We passed together Measure MP that stabilized our finances. We worked with state, federal, and local governments in the county level to make sure that we had investments in our libraries, our parks, our fire and police. We were making preparations for the Olympics. Recovery for us was never simply returning to normal, but it was raising the bar and saying, how can we do better? And we as a community continue to be an inclusive community that embraces all of its diversity. Today is the final day of Pride Month. And for me, as the city's first openly gay council member, it has always been a source of pride that we were one of the first in the San Gabriel Valley to pass a Pride resolution in 2020 and kick off Pride Month with a festival, which is now done in practically every city in the San Gabriel Valley. And yes, I know, I know, I'm looking at the time, I know. So let me just close with this by saying I want to thank I want to thank all the residents who have been our partners in building a strong community. I want to thank our city staff who are the true heroes. Day in, day out, you come to city hall, the hall of the city hall, our police station, our fire, our public works, you make sure that this city runs. And thank you so much for all that you do. I thank the other elected officials, the community activists, because you serve the community and you show what it means to have a strong, robust democracy. And finally, to my family, thank you so much for being here. As I mentioned, you came from as far as Arizona and as near as LA and Bottom Park. But thank you so much for also being there in February when my mother passed away and just making sure that, although I'm an only child, that I still have a family. And to all my friends, my extended family, thank you so much for always supporting the work that I do these past 30 years. And with that, I am going to close our remarks. Like I said, I know I have six pages. I'm not going to go through all of them. But this is a time of celebration. But once we finish celebrating, let's get back to work. There is much to do. And let all that is good bless this great city of Monterey Park. Yes, thank you. Yes, thank you very much. There we go.

So we'd like to introduce Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles. They are an LGBTQ plus mariachi.

They are LA County's only LGBT mariachi band, so welcome them.

Thank you. ¶¶ Again, Mariachi Accordes de Los Angeles, the Rainbow Mariachi Band. Happy Pride Month, everyone.

They will continue to be entertaining us outside. And we have also dim sum provided by NBC Seafood and Capital Seafood, as well as cake and other refreshments. Please proceed to the lobby and let's enjoy each other's company. And with that, I conclude today's ceremony. Okay, good.