Remarks by Harry Steinmetz
60 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 8:05
“Yeah. If we keep referring what we do back to the point.”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 11:26
“no I just that's why I didn't have anything because that's what will come out if you ask me okay start with the money okay should I write it up there or should I was that nope nope okay I think that's a big piece of it we have to have the resources available to do what we want and we have to have a reasonable plan to have those resources available”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 26:21
“I like it. I recognize our end is the left side of the page. We're setting the direction, a little interaction with the initiatives, but the details over here on the right hand side of the page I think I agree I don't need weekly updates on those and I'm fine with like a quarterly”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 29:07
“a thumbs up we got it one thumbs up and then second thumbs up okay just yeah considering that you know the first six months is drinking through a fire on council i mean there's just an enormous amount of information coming at you and so every six months would make at least from a time standpoint uh sense to me that that would be the time to update and take a look at it”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 46:18
“Yeah, I actually think key performance indicators are actually exactly what are called for here. But they also have to be realistic over time. Because, I mean, we can say, look, we want to get drawings to the average number of cops per thousand in the state. We just want to get to average. And that's a very definable number that we talked about. That's been part of the discussion before. But over what time period can we get that done? And is it even realistic that we can hire enough officers to get there? Because there are a lot of other departments that are trying to hire officers. going…”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:02:12
“Just kind of picking up on keeping the entire community informed and making sure we're doing that. I don't know if we have this data, but for the city manager reports, do we know the location of the people that have subscribed? And is there a way to just look at that in a matrix and say, wow, here's an area that just isn't doing that. maybe it's the cab, maybe it's something else, go out and try to promote. And it would allow for some targeting within the neighborhood. I think that's probably a really good idea. And then we need to make sure we have broad-based communication formed. And we…”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:10:04
“Well would. Would it make more sense to do the annual review and measurable discussion in January.”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:29:23
“Yeah, I mean, one thing that does in the little box down at the bottom is what are the norms, what norms are important to this city council? And I think there are several here that sort of jump out to me. I think assuming good intent. I do think this council does a pretty good job of assuming that everybody on the council is operating with good intent. And so I think that is one that is at least the way we have developed that's one. Let's see. I think we also, you know, right next to it, I think we do a good job of focusing on the issue and avoiding personal attacks. I don't think we do that…”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:31:52
“And when there have been, it's pretty rare that we get incivility by audience members, but it has happened. And we simply haven't accepted it. I think that's good. That's a positive thing from this council.”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:39:07
“Yeah, one of the things I don't think we do very well, and it's a broader, it's not a fine line, but is commit to the final decision. We need to do a better job of, you had a chance to explain your vote, but you don't undermine the council's final decision. And I think we just need to do better at that.”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:41:42
“I think there's a huge tension between the state's open public meetings law and our ability to get to a bigger majority because we're not supposed to be talking to one another too much. It happens. But there's this tension between that. That makes it difficult sometimes to get there. And sort of the other side of that coin is even when you do try to reach out, sometimes people are just lined up for three. And we've got to accept that those are decisions of the council and move forward.”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:56:13
“Go for it. I don't really see this as an agenda item. I think it's something to keep in mind. I like the mayor's idea that we can talk about one piece at a time as they come up. It's more of the... reminder to us maybe maybe a little placard covered in plastic it's yeah”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 1:57:01
“I've got that little common Robert's Rules card that we got laminated. Daddy's”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Play at 30:51
“There are two separate areas. Yeah. What you just described about the affordable housing and getting the unions in there, that sounds like a wonderful idea, and that much more affordable housing is needed. There is a bow wave to that, however, because then the cities have to provide services to all these new residents that are moving in. And there can't be a disconnect between those two, because the cities do not have the ability to expand services to that many more right now because our budgets are shrinking. And twofold. One is that we need help from the state just simply to provide those…”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 32:59
“Yeah, and I wasn't meaning to suggest anything about low income versus market rate housing, but just more.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 33:32
“And then the other thing is sort of my, I think the criminal defense caseload standards for public defenders, you know, that is an incredible... burden on cities. Cities do not get any state funds at the moment for public defense. And it's all got to come out of our court budget to pay for public defense, which is a constitutional right that everybody deserves. And Sound Cities Association has asked me to be on a task force that they're putting together that's going to look not just at the sheer numbers, public defense per population, but the disparate impacts. When you have, for example,…”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 56:56
“Yeah, there's a whole lot going on there. But a very nice presentation. Thank you. Kind of trending back, in Redondo, the cameras seem to be working until the month of July. Is that accurate, that we're actually seeing a change in behavior, do you think?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 57:30
“But infractions equal revenue. There's a correlation between the two. Well, it's nice to know it's worked up until the summer. Yeah. But yeah, I've at least heard from people in Redondo that it's been really noisy again. So maybe August will be another high revenue month. It'll be interesting to see. And then the one other thing is I think it's great we're using the law enforcement sales tax to help partially offset the public defender costs. But that's probably the biggest thing that's rising right now. Is that correct?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 58:42
“And is there a chance that the public defender costs are going to swallow up all that additional revenue?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 59:03
“Okay, so it pushes... Yeah. We have the budget set for those funds, which includes public defender and officer and animal control, and those are going to carry forward into the next budget, is that correct?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:24:55
“I also like the high, medium, and low, but I do, I would like to see something of a time, you know, near-term, mid-term, short-term factored into that. I don't know if that's part of, I would expect, you know, a high correlation between near-term and high priority, but it just gives me a little better sense of what's the time frame that we're looking at getting it done. But I think that would help make things a lot clearer. I do appreciate all the work that went into this.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:25:30
“And boy, when a lawyer starts understanding a finance guy, that's rare synergy. But I think this is a good plan.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:38:23
“I'VE GOT A NUMBER OF CONCERNS THAT ARE KIND OF, I DON'T WANT THE CITY TO BE IN A POSITION WHERE WE'RE SIGNING A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AND THEN WE END UP WITH THE PIT. YOU KNOW, WE WANT SOMEBODY TO HAVE TO TAKE ACTION, AND I GET THAT DIFFERENT PROJECTS HAVE DIFFERENT COMPLEXITIES, AND SO IT DOESN'T GO BY SIZE, BUT WOULDN'T, INSTEAD OF WRITING A 20-YEAR maximum, however, wouldn't it be better set by the Planning Commission as to what the duration of that development agreement would be?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:39:20
“But potentially there could be a project for 20 years, more than 20 years might be reasonable. I guess it seems to me within the function of a planning commission to really understand the project and come up with the reasonable timeframe.”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:40:32
“Who is it that then determines whether, I'm assuming a developer will probably want 20 years to amortize their expenses over it. Who is it that determines then when we do less than 20 years or not?”
City Council · Aug 27, 2026