City Council - Regular Meeting

WELCOME TO THE JUNE 2, 2026 CITIES COUNCIL MEETING. WE'LL GO AHEAD AND CALL THE MEETING TO THE ORDER. PATTY, YOU'RE ON.

This meeting is available in Spanish for members of the public in attendance and on Zoom. Translation devices can be obtained in the foyer. This meeting is available in Spanish for members of the public and on Zoom. Translation devices can be obtained in the foyer.

zoom webinar participation is available for members of the public the zoom webinar id and link are available on the posted agenda on the city website let's please stand for the pledge of allegiance right let's do a roll call council member barajas absent council member barrera here council member de rigo present council member de la rosa here council member salazar here council member sandoval mayor donahue i am here thank you all right and with that uh if there are any uh department directors running around and want to introduce new employees or announce promotions you can do that

Yeah, go ahead. I'll go ahead and get started. Sorry, Kristen. But I'm excited to let everybody know that Ernesto Lizardo Ramos, he's our new assistant to the city manager position. He was recently promoted from the library, sorry Kristen, but he came over to the Library Community Services. He's been with us for nearly 10 years, and I think Ernesto's here. He can, there he is. Has served the rest of Salinas through programs, services, and citywide initiatives as the community education manager in the Library and Community Services Department. During this time, Ernesto has also worked with various city departments, stakeholders, and nonprofits in developing and contributing to projects such as the Atlas of Privacy Plan, Salinas Youth Initiative, Bright Futures of Monterey County, El Gabon Library, and the list goes on and on. He has also six years of experience in the nonprofit sector, which includes working on transportation, education, development. Really excited to welcome Ernesto across the street to the new team. And I'm sure he'll be working with the council closely as he transitions from the library over to the city manager's department. So welcome.

So it always gives me great pleasure when we can promote within. And so I do want to recognize one of our park maintenance employees, George Ramirez, who has been working to build his skills, became a certified in backflows and other irrigation work. And so we're pleased to promote him to senior park maintenance worker.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Carlos Acosta, Chief of Police. I'm excited to announce that in May we hired two lateral officers and one graduated from the Police Academy. First one is Angel Rivera Mendoza, who's a lateral from the Palo Alto Police Department. So this is exciting news that he gets to come home where he lives in Salinas and worked at the police department here. Second officer is Victor Jesus Rangel from the Greenfield Police Department. He's also a lateral. that is joining our team in May and recently on May 22nd, Noe Vargas graduated from the police academy in the city of San Jose. So he's also joining our team. Exciting. Thank you.

Good evening, council. I'm pleased to announce that we have three new hires at the maintenance yard. We have Marcos Condoza, who's hired as a public service maintenance worker one. Jose Ortiz and Corey Pierce, who are also public safety workers ones. And then we have two promotions. We have Merced Rios, who's been promoted to a public safety maintenance worker three. And we have Zachary Williams, who's been promoted from a temporary to a regular employee. Thank you.

That's it. All right. Very good. All right. Now we will pause for City of Champions recognition, and we have a good one tonight. So the Boys and Girls Club have And then a recognition, we're really pleased that one of our own, Nyante Rojas Mendoza, has been named the Boys and Girls Club Pacific Region Youth of the Year from Salinas. So we want to- We want to recognize her. So what we're going to do, and I'm going to leave it to you all up how you'd like to, we can let her take the stage, or Ron or Jose, if you want to come up to the podium and tell a little bit about the process, the end result, how we got there, and then let Neante speak, and then we'll recognize her. So however you'd like to do it, because it's really a terrific accomplishment, and one we're all proud of.

Thank you, Dennis. So Nianti, we are really proud of her. So Nianti has been a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs for almost plus nine years. And since she became a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs, she really stood out as a young person who really invested in the opportunities that were presented at the club. And so throughout the years as she went through school and with the support of her parents and the support of our staff, she was able to successfully graduate just last week from Alvarez, Everett Alvarez, with a four point plus GPA. So what she's now looking is to go to her next stage in life, which is to join, I believe, UCLA? UCLA University, she has been accepted to UCLA. But the reason that we are here today is because she has also been the Youth of the Year for the Salinas Club, and then she competed to be the Youth of the Year for the organization for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monterey County. So she became the representative for our organization in the county by winning the competition locally. By winning that competition, she went to the next level, which was the state, the northern region of Boys and Girls Clubs. She competed, and then she won again in that region with the different organizations in the northern part of California. By winning that competition, she went to the state and then to that one, she also won at the state level. And so we became just thrilled and excited to see how from being a member at the Boys and Girls Clubs here in Salinas, now she was shining at the state level. Then she went to the regional level, which is about nine states representing, and then she won that competition. That's the reason that we are here today, because she won that competition, and that is not an easy competition. That is, the Youth of the Year Award started 1947 for the Boys and Girls' Class of America as recognition for the best possible member in the clubs so we're talking about about 6 000 clubs in the country and she is going to go to that national competition in october in new york but so far we're celebrating that she won that competition uh in arizona just recently so we thank you for for the recognition today and uh i'd really like to have nianti come and say a few words come up and tell us a little bit about it

Well, thank you for this recognition today. I'm very honored. I just wanted to say that I'm very glad to be representing Salinas, and I love to have that in my interviews to say that I'm from Salinas, California, and I carry us and what we represent as a city with me everywhere, and I'm very glad to be here, and I will represent us very well this upcoming October in New York as I compete for the National Youth of the Year title.

And you're probably used to this now. You got to do a photo op. So why don't you and your folks and the boys and girls team come up to the front, and the council will join you, and we'll give you a plaque. So front and center.

All right.

One, two, three.

One more. Okay.

All right. We are now open for public comment on any items that are not on the agenda and that are in the City of Salinas' subject matter jurisdiction. Comments on consideration, public hearing items, and the consent agenda should be held until those items are reached. Public comments will be limited to the normal two minutes. Just a reminder, each person who addresses the City Council during public comment shall do so in an orderly manner and shall not make any personal slanderous or profane remarks to any member of the city council staff or the general public any person who makes such remarks or uses threatening personal or abusive language or engages in any other disorderly conduct which disrupts or deserves the meeting may be asked to leave the city council chambers and with that we are open for public comment

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Good After Eve, everyone. My name is Kimberly Bryant, and I'm here to offer a prayer over our city. Heavenly Father, I ask for your covering. I ask for your divine leadership within our city. Lord, we have wonderful things going on in our city, but we also have violence. We have mental health issues. We have suicidal ideation. We have addiction. and plenty of other issues that our citizens are dealing with across the board. Father, we need your shepherding. We need your guidance. We need your covering and protection. So what I would ask Lord that you would open hearts and minds across the city to receive you to be protected by you and to be shepherded by you. Amen.

Karen Cameron concerns Linus Reza I'd add to that prayer safety and health for our city and that begins with environmental health since we are the egg city the salad bowl of the world. I come to you again last month I think I had an upper respiratory infection now I just left the doctor with a sinus infection it's been ongoing and I'm. Finding it hard to believe that it's not correlated to the methamil spraying that's going on near my home. I'm within one mile of University Park Elementary School, your district, Mr. Rigo, so you really should be interested in this issue. And there have been 17 methamil applications within the region between now and since May 10th. that's from spray days notification anyone who's not there we have the world's first notification system you really should sign up it gives you notifications of toxic restrictive pesticides being applied within one mile and you can sign up for every school in the city I think the council members should be tracking that what I see is a trend that our city was poorly planned And when I read through the 2040 Salinas Vision climate change plan, I was alarmed to see that they predict that 68% of the agricultural land will be converted. That really doesn't surprise me because we're poorly planned. I mean, just in this one school's case, how do you eliminate this? How do you create an effective buffer zone around a school where all this agricultural land already exists? I don't have simple answers. I'd ask you to please work with CDPR. work with your ag commissioner, speak up, be concerned. But one thing we cannot do is be apathetic about this issue because it's affecting every one of us as we speak. And there's a real time delay. For instance, we just got banned forever chemicals, but they won't be phased out to 2028. So that's the way the system works.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and city staff. My name is Lucina Navarro, and I am speaking on behalf of the Salinas Parks and Recreation Coalition. The Salinas Parks and Recreation Coalition is a group of community-based organizations, nonprofits, and partners committed to creating safer, more vibrant, and more accessible parks and recreational spaces throughout Salinas and the surrounding region. We believe that well-maintained parks, green spaces, and recreational facilities are critical to the mental health and physical well-being of Salinas residents and are a key prevention tool. The coalition has come together to align our efforts and encourage the city to bring long-term improvements to parks and open spaces that serve everyone, from kids and families to seniors and future generations. First, we want to acknowledge the city's continued capital investments in parks, recreation facilities, playgrounds, and community programming. These improvements are meaningful and have a real impact in neighborhoods across Salinas. At the same time, we want to raise a shared concern about the staffing capacity needed to sustain these investments. As parks expand and programming grows, staffing and operational resources must keep pace. Without that balance, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure parks remain safe, clean, and welcoming for the community. Our members see every day how parks and recreation spaces support youth development, physical and mental health, community connection, and public safety. These are essential services, not optional amenities. We respectfully encourage the City Council to prioritize sustainable staffing and operational support in the upcoming budget decision for the next fiscal year and subsequent years so that these investments can be fully maintained and maximized for the community. Residents need to see this kind of investment if they are to support funding measures. We believe that the budget should include at least two new staff members for parks and recreation, as the department has not received any additional staffing. Thank you for your time, and several of our coalition partners will now share brief perspectives from their organization.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, COUNCIL MEMBER, AND CITY STAFF. MY NAME IS JONATHAN DEANDA, GENERAL MANAGER FOR THE SALINAS REGIONAL SPORTS AUTHORITY AND A MEMBER OF THE SALINAS PARKS AND RECREATION COALITION. I WANT TO SPEAK BRIEFLY IN SUPPORT OF THE CONTINUED INVESTMENT IN PARKS AND RECREATION, ESPECIALLY ON CONTINUED STAFFING OPERATIONS AND PROGRAMS. that maintain them. At the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex, we see every week how important safe, clean, and active recreational spaces are for our families, for our youth, and for the overall community. And I want to thank, again, the City of Salinas for your continued investment in parks, playgrounds, and recreational facilities throughout the city, especially because we know that those improvements matter. But as someone that helps operate a high-use facility with over 11,500 weekly visitors, I also know that building or improving spaces isn't the only hard work. We know that the real impact comes when those spaces are properly staffed, maintained, programmed, and kept welcoming for our entire community. I think if you look at some of the stats of some of these programs, nonprofits, part of the Parks and Rec Coalition, as they became to operate their programming, we also saw a reduction in some of the youth crime around the city. So there really is a real correlation there. And as parks and recreation, we know that they're not just amenities, they really are prevention. They focus on health, youth development, and quality of life for the city of Salinas. So as the city continues to move forward in the budget process, we respectfully encourage the council to prioritize operations and support for parks and recreation programs throughout the city of Salinas. Thank you.

Thanks, Jonathan.

Good evening, Councilman Donahue, city staff, and of course, council members. My name is Megan Range. I'm the new government relations representative for PG&E. Some of you I've met electronically. Councilman Sandoval, you were my very first fix-it, and I was happy to be able to To fix, I also was interested last week, I saw the results of the survey saying that street lighting was so important. I think it was number two on the survey results. So happy to continue to work with you guys. I'll reach out to all of you individually. I just want you to know I exist. I replaced Jasmine. Many of you probably worked with Jasmine, my predecessor. So just wanted you to know I'm in the area and I'll be following up with you all individually. Have a great evening. Thank you. Ms. Megan.

Good afternoon, mayor, city council members, city staff. My name is Colleen Bailey. I'm the president and CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, and I am also a member of the Parks and Recs Coalition. I want to applaud the city of Salinas and its leadership for the significant investment made in recent years in parks, recreation, and open space. These investments will pay long-term dividends in public health and in Salinas' reputation as a safe, welcoming community where families can thrive. They also strengthen our local economy by helping attract and retain talent because people want to live and work in places with a high quality of life. However, when I review the city's draft budget, I see a disconnect between the investment in facilities and the investment in the people needed to maintain them. The city will assume at least partial responsibility for 67 new acres at Essendon Park, has opened the Hebron Center and will soon reopen Closter Park and the new Sherwood Center where the old pool was. Yet the budget does not add a single staff member to manage and maintain these expanded parks and recreation assets. I believe this is a mistake. I recognize there are many competing demands on the budget, but failing to adequately maintain these facilities will ultimately increase repair and replacement costs. Deferring maintenance is a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish. I urge you to consider adding at least one or two positions to the Parks and Rec staff. Thank you so much.

I'm here with a little good news. As I was coming back from voting, I went on Skyline. or a boulevard and lo and behold, I had a stop and plus the men that are out there trying out new machinery to fix the potholes. I couldn't believe it. There must have been over 10 of them out there trying that and they, I stopped and they came over and told me exactly what they were doing. But I just wanted to let you know. that is beginning to maybe make some improvements out there. So thank you anyway. So anyway, I hope that everything comes out OK for the election.

No, hey, Marianne, you still have a minute and 13. Keep going. You still have a minute and 13. Keep going.

Buenas tardes, alcalde, concejales. Mi nombre es Marina Zarate. Soy del Distrito 2. Vengo y les voy a hablar un poquito de las calles. Se necesita más luz y por las calles están muy posudas y necesitamos que las arreglen. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. My name is Marina Zarate, and I'm from District 2, and I come to talk to you about the streets. There's a lot of potholes that need fixing in Gardner, William, and Del Monte. We also need more housing. And I also want to tell you that last week there was a meeting for renters protection for BHC, and we were able to get 25 written comments. Thank you.

How's it going? Daniel Munoz, East Salinas resident. Got some talking points here. So Mr. Rene Mendez, they're still spraying poison. It gets worse. It gets worse and worse. Now they're spraying it inside the sandbox at El Dorado Park. There's one weed in there, and they're spraying it with poison herbicides in the sandbox where kids play. We need to work on this, Renee, we really do. I've been coming, I don't know how many times I gotta, I'm gonna keep coming here and keep coming here and keep bringing it up. This is ridiculous, we shouldn't be having that. Another issue I wanna talk about is recently somebody sent me an old article and it really reminded me of things that are happening right now, especially with you, Dennis, so there's a few quotes that I would like to read. This quote is from Jill Lutz, a city councilwoman who served with you, Dennis. She says, I love Dennis, I do, but we're still cleaning up the messes of Dennis and we will be cleaning up those messes for a very long time. Another quote from former city councilman Steve Villegas said, Donahue always maintained the philosophy of spend, spend, and spend, and worry later about how to pay for everything. He handled the city budget like an open checkbook. remember we were just entering into a recession and we had to be careful on how the city was spending money said viegas who served on the council with donahue for four years so i'm seeing the same pattern here dennis spend spend spend and worry about it later 500 000 for the welcome center and i'm pretty sure there's something on the agenda that's going to cost us some tens of thousands of dollars here very shortly so maybe you stop giving money to your donors I mean, it's obvious, Dennis. The corruption is obvious, it's blatant. You're spitting in our faces. Please stop doing that, Dennis, we're not stupid. Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon, Jose Mendoza, District One. Real quick, I wanna point out, two minutes is not enough for public comment. That doesn't do us any justice. speaking of corruption my question for the city attorney city manager actually all you guys do you guys are you guys mandated to attend any types of ethics training because i just i'm puzzled at the stuff i read and hear the lack of professionalism the disrespect that you guys give the the public uh there's something wrong uh I know the county has a mandatory ethics training, so I would assume you guys too, unless you just don't give a damn. As far as the visitor center, I read that the council is considering giving him a huge pay raise. For what? He's in the red. As far as promotions, step increases, it should be merit-based, performance-based. Obviously, he's not doing a good job. So I'm pretty sure man in the public are against you guys given this individual, probably one of your buddies erase. The other thing I'm noticing is it doesn't matter what we tell you guys, you guys still go ahead and do it. So I'm just curious to see down the road if this executive director, probably your buddies, your buddy, if you guys are gonna follow through and give him that 70, 80% pay raise. The public is getting tired of it. The other thing, lastly, right now there's a huge push for the sheriff's office to have a civilian oversight committee. Should we need to start those discussions with the city council? Maybe we should. You guys are doing a lot of shady stuff behind our backs, behind the scenes.

Thank you.

I'm in District 3. Margaret Villarigo is our council person. I finally got her to commit to something. She says, as far as the signs and cracks, those are low priorities to trees, streets, lighting, and sidewalks. Well, all the cracks develop into potholes. So the cracks need to be addressed. The sidewalks, they fix them, and you still can't use them. So you're breaking every ADA rule out there. Your violations, I understand. I put them in. And next week, I put them in again. Because you do the work, and you still can't. My mother can't walk in this town, because her own neighbors, she lived for 60 years, because the streets are so bad, because the trees that you guys won't get rid of, because they're dead. And they replaced the sidewalk the other day with concrete. They had it down to a base of sand. They could have done it right and not touch it for 50 years. Instead, they put a sloppily made, formed, didn't even form it, of asphalt, and it's going to be there for 27 years. and in the meantime you'll be back there again next year to fix that that asphalt and i send so many pictures i've done over 20 000 pictures of this town and i go back to my very first one and i bet that street is worse than it was when i wrote it up just like acacia I live by West and East Market. That little section there has been done six times in three years. You don't take out any of the old stuff. You go right over the top, blatantly. And I get tired of this work. I get a group of 10-year-olds that do a better job than you guys do. And I would give compliments if they were due. I'd be fired the first week if I worked for the city in my day. So I don't know why you guys are letting this work, just because they work for the city, letting them work. And Mr. Mendez is letting it happen. He should have fired Mr. Jacobs or told him to fix his work the first week he got here. If not, he's as blamed as everybody else, and the council needs to fire him because he's not doing his job. But you guys all, like he said, buddy, buddy, do your job. Fire people if you have to.

Mayor, council members, city manager, good afternoon. My name is Cesar Zuniga. I am honored to introduce myself as the new general manager for the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority. I worked in the solid waste industry for 30 years, the last 25 with the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority. I am a lifelong resident of the Salinas Valley and I lived in Gonzales my entire life. So I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. I'm excited to serve the residents and the businesses of Salinas and the communities throughout Salinas Valley. As I begin my role, my focus is on building strong partnerships, maintaining excellent service, and advancing our shared goals for environmental stewardship, sustainability, and fiscal responsibility. I look forward to working closely with the city council, the city staff, and community stakeholders to address current challenges and identify opportunities that benefit our residents. The authority's success depends on collaboration. I am committed to being accessible, transparent, and responsive as we move forward together. I also want to let the public know we do offer a lot of free services to our Salinas Valley residents, such as appliance recycling, mattress recycling, e-waste, metal, rigid plastic, and up to 125 pounds of HHW at our HHLV facility at 1104 Madison Lane here in Salinas. Those services are all free to residential customers. Also, I want to give a little plug for our free tire amnesty program that we have going right now through the end of June. We are accepting free tires from residential customers for on-road vehicles and trucks. No commercial customers, unfortunately, but you can bring as many tires as you have. And I'll also put the plug out there for the city public works. If you have a collection of illegally dumped tires, reach out to us. We'll be more than happy to make arrangements to take those tires from you through the end of June. and take advantage of the services that the residents do get for free in the Salinas Valley. So I look forward to working with City Manager Mendez and also my board members here, which are the mayor, Gloria Aurelio, and Jose Luis Barajas. So I look forward to a long and successful partnership. Thank you.

Kyle Cook, District 6, Allisaw High School, Class of 93. Buenas tardes, alcalde y miembros del consejo. Asistí la reunión de Neighborhood Watch y me decepcionó la falta de información útil para los residentes. Espero que las próximas reuniones sean más prácticas y productivas. También quiero agradecer departmental de policia por atender un campamento illegal cerca de mi trabajo apoyo la aplicación de las leyes y la protección de la propiedad privada finalmente espero asistir a la cumbre de infraestructura me sorprende que PGE no tenga una participación visible

good evening mayor and city council members i recently attended the neighborhood watch informational meeting i was disappointed by the quality and substance of the presentation the meeting left me questioning how seriously The city is approaching neighborhood safety and community engagement. I hope future meetings provide residents with more practical information and clearer action items. I would also like to thank our police department for addressing a homeless encampment near my workplace. The individual involved had damaged private property, created significant trash, and occupied the area for an extended period, right in the vision of the police department parking lot. I encourage continued enforcement of local laws and accountability for those who intentionally damage private property. And finally, I'm looking forward to attending the upcoming infrastructure summit. However, I was surprised to see no apparent participation by PG&E, the utility responsible

for delivering you know our utilities our gas and our electricity and i hope that they are considered uh for future meetings thank you thank you hello uh wes weisley is modern county homeless union co-president um wondering what's legal what's fair what's just what's ethical uh There's no posted notice, yet there's a no-go zone all along the tracks, apparently, which means you don't have to post a notice, which doesn't sound legal. And it sounds very like into what's happening over in New Jersey right now. People have a right to their personal property. I put up a video about East Market Street, unnoticed and uncoordinated sweep. And in that, you see the Public Works clearing people away. And there's no notice. There's no prior notice. The lady's crying as she's leaving. She's losing everything she has. She had 10 minutes to get out. And what they say is, we're going to clean up here. You got to go. You got 10 minutes. So that is not fair or just. The casino of this culture is real property over personal property. You're not treating your citizens well. In fact, you're trying to destroy the foundation out from under this place. Because the poorer you make everyone, as people get poorer, the more victims you have. Is that just? Is that fair? Is that legal? So what are we really doing here? When are we going to do things different? I also think about the Chinatown. And this is what I mean by a sweep, because when we're talking about a sweep, this is the way it works. And the cops had no coordination. So within five minutes, they rolled up. The guy said he had only been there five minutes, and that he'd noticed public works on the side, and that he figured he ought to support. So y'all are failing in every department on purpose. And you can only fail upwards. So of course, that's the only way you're going to do things. The poor are supposed to be trodden on. There's going to be a Chinatown community open house, about a six-story building. And at the trapezoid place, it just got burned down. And it's all going to go mixed use. And there's going to be no parking. And you're going to have to park in the parking garage, pay for that. That's what a walkable community means.

So first of all, I would like to say that me standing here right now is really difficult because I have generalized anxiety disorder and I have fear of public speaking. So me being here and gathering the strength takes a lot, a lot for me. My name is Jeanette Valdez, and I'm a District 1 resident, a parenting student majoring in psychology at CSUMB, and a tenant in Salinas for nine years. I'm here today because the housing crisis in our city is not just political debate, it's human right crisis. For nine years, I've lived peacefully, always responsible with my rent. But the moment I stood up for my rights and requested basic repairs, everything changed. I just faced my third eviction that got dismissed this Monday from Paramount Properties. Fighting this hard to just live humanely has taken a devastating toll on my mental health and my energy. I would not have been able to fight this long without the support of my amazing attorney and the CRLA. And let's be perfectly clear about the Salinas rental ordinances. No landlord who is operating legally and humanely has anything to fear from these protections. These ordinances are simply designed to guarantee basic human living rights.

Ma'am, sorry to interrupt you, but if these are any comments related to the referendum or the rental ordinance, they will have to wait until we get to that item, which is coming up right after general public comment.

This is my first time here, so I'm sorry.

That's OK. That's OK. So if you have just general public comments or if it's specific to the rental ordinance, if you can wait till the item is brought up after the presentation from our city attorney.

OK, so then I'll come back again.

Buenas tardes, miembros del concilio. De nuevo me dirijo a ustedes con la preocupación de las tiendas Smoke Choke que están poniendo cerca de escuelas y parques. Nos gustaría que si pudieran aprobar regulaciones. No estamos en contra de estos negocios. Lo que queremos es que no estén cerca de parques y escuelas. um El este de Salinas está rodeado de más de dos escuelas. Esta tienda quedaría en medio de todas estas escuelas a menos de 200 metros de distancia. Hemos tratado de erradicar que nuestros jóvenes fumen. Y el tener estas tiendas con mucha facilidad es como hacerles natural de que está bien que lo hagan. Entonces, si nos gustaría que pasaran una regulación para tener más control sobre este tipo de permisos que se les dan a estas tiendas, más que nada las áreas. Y de ahí en fuera, como le digo, no estoy en contra del negocio,

um good afternoon city council i'm here again because i'm worried about the smoke shops these smoke shops are being open near to schools and parks and i need and these smoke shops need regulation i'm not against them but i am against of them being located near to schools and parks there's a smoke shop that is on Puente Montoro school and there's also a park there I'm from district one in Sanborn and they also have opened a smoke shop here there at this close to the elementary schools Jesse Sanchez and Martin Luther King there's also talks about opening a new one in Del Monte and I understand that there's two schools less than 200 200 feet away from that location. So I'm worried about these smoke shops. They shouldn't be close to our schools. I'm not against the business, as I say, but I think that the location, there should be regulation and there'd be more control in what areas they're allowed to be open. Thank you.

Buenas tardes, miembro del concilio. Mi nombre es Gladys Colorado. Soy residente del este de Salinas del Distrito 1 y mamá del Distrito Escolar Alizal. El motivo de mi presencia aquí ante ustedes es la preocupación que tenemos como padres de familia. ante la construcción y el permiso que se les está otorgando para poner un negocio de cigarrillos electrónicos y existe la probabilidad de ventas de todo tipo de sustancias in nuestro distrito y esto afectará mucho tanto a la comunidad estudiantil y a los residentes del área. Les pedimos que concienticen el impacto que esto ocasionará en nuestras escuelas y nuestra comunidad. Creo que ya es tiempo de cambiar el Distrito 1, darle un trato digno, porque somos residentes que aportamos a la economía de esta ciudad y pagamos taxes cada año y creo que merecemos ser tratados con respeto y dignidad. Y nuestros hijos merecen tener una vida saludable en nuestra área y en nuestras comunidades. Por ese motivo me dirijo a ustedes con respeto, que hagan conciencia de la problemática que este negocio ocasionará en nuestra comunidad estudiantil. Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon, City Council. My name is Gladys Colorado, and I'm from District 1, and I'm also a mother from Alisal. And I'm here because I'm really worried about the permits that are being given to all these shops that are selling electronic cigars and other type of substance. This affects the students. It affects the residents. It has a big impact in the community. it is time that district one sees a change we need to be treated with dignity and respect we also we we work and we pay our taxes and we also help the economy so it's time that our children are also respected and have it and they have the right to have a healthy life and it's time to please stop permitting these smoke shops and allowing us to live in a healthy environment and a healthy environment for the students also. Thank you.

Buenas tardes, señor alcalde y miembros del concilio. Mi nombre es Mario y estoy en el sexto... en el grado sexto de mi escuela primaria. Y hablo hoy para oponerme a la... a la tienda de tabaco que se planea abrir en la calle Sanborn frente al Mercado del Rey. Esta ubicación está a solo dos cuadras de las escuelas por donde pasan cientos de estudiantes diario. Según datos de CDPH, el 27% de los jóvenes de preparatoria en California ya usan cigarros electrónicos y tener tiendas cerca de las escuelas aumenta ese riesgo. La calle San Juan es una zona familiar con mercados y casas, no un lugar para productos que dañan la salud de nuestros niños. Les pido que nieguen este permiso por completo, ya que no tener tiendas de tabaco junto de las escuelas es un riesgo. Para mi generación, protejamos a nuestros estudiantes. Gracias por hacer mi opinión en cuenta.

Good afternoon. My name is Mario and I'm from sixth grade. I'm here because I oppose the permit to open a tobacco store near Sanborns in front of the the Ray business, it's gonna be two blocks from the schools and 100 students go by that place every day. According to the CDPH, 27% of high school students are already smoking electronic cigars. So opening that type of business in Sanborn is not wise because this is a family place where there's a lot of shops and a lot of families go there all the time. So we are putting our youth in risk. We should not allow this and please do not allow the permit in that place. Thank you.

Buenas tardes, consejo y alcalde. Mi nombre es Brandon Mejia. Vivo aquí en Salinas, en el Distrito 1, y vengo a hablar del Smoke Shop, que quieren dar permiso justo enfrente de Larry Market, en la calle Sambor. Esta tienda estará a paso donde cruzan niños de 5 a 11 años todos los días. Ofrecerán productos de tabaco, vapes y anuncios en las ventanas, justo en la cara de los estudiantes. Eso no es lo que queremos normalizar para el futuro, donde padres de familia ni siquiera están informados de esto y que sus hijos puedan llegar a tener acceso a ese tipo de cosas. Yo personalmente observo a gente fumando en las banquetas a la hora de salida. Los padres y maestros están preocupados por la seguridad de sus estudiantes y sus hijos, lo cual nos lleva a que nos ayuden a que esta petición sea aceptada. Thank you for your attention and thank you for taking my opinion into account.

I was just verifying. I'm not sure if I'm understanding well. This is interpreter speaking. It's a smoke shop that's going to be on Reed in front of a store that's called Del Monte. Just verifying. I'm sorry about that. Good afternoon. My name is Brandon and I'm here from District 1 and I'm here opposing the smoke shop that is going to be in front of Reed and Sanborn. There's a lot of children that are 5 and 11 that walk in front of that store every day and this shop shows tobacco vapes on their windows so this is being put in the faces of all the children. We don't want them to think that that's normal. We want to avoid that. We want them to have a better future. We want parents to know that they' re not going to have access to all these things when we get out of school we see people smoking on benches and teachers and parents are worried about this so please do not authorize that store that smoke shop to be open in that place thank you.

good evening mayor and members of the council my name is wendy and i live here in district one i am here because i am deeply concerned about the new smoke shop plant for sanborn street directly in front of del monte avenue it's a place where families shop every day it's also within walking distance of multiple schools kids pass this corner every morning and afternoon putting a smoke shop here puts tobacco and bait products directly in their path We already know the impact this can cause in their lives. Studies show that when tobacco retailers are near schools, students' smoking and vaping rates go up. These products are designed to be addictive and many are marketed with flavors and packaging that appeal to teenagers. We should be making it harder for kids to access these products, not easier. It's about protecting our youth. We have schools, markets, and homes. A smoke shop does not belong steps away from where our children learn and grow. I urge you to reconsider the permit for this location. Our students deserve to walk to school without having to pass a smoke shop every day. Thank you for your time and putting health of our kids first. Thank you.

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Maria Chavez y vivo en el Distrito 4. No más para decir que en la calle 497, Elizal y Madeira, el piso está sumido y una persona se puede caer ahí y tener un accidente. También más adelantito de allí hay una tapa que está quebrada. También a alguien se le puede meter su pie allí y se le va a quebrar. También en la calle Marque y Maideira, donde están las luces, también hay una tapa rota allí. No sé si sea del agua o de qué tapas sean esas, pero las personas pueden tener accidentes en esas tapas porque si están rotas pueden caer allí o sus pies se les pueden quebrar. Muchas gracias por todo. Gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Maria Chavez, and I'm from District 4. I want to say that on 497 Alistair Street and Madeira, there seems to be like a hole in the ground. Somebody can fall there and have an accident. There's also a lot of, I've seen a lot of like cracked sidewalks where where people can fall there's also in market than my data there's some also some places where people can have accidents and fall because there's cracks and there's some also yeah cracks on the street where people can fall I mean she's also showing this I don't want

I WANT TO SAY I'M VERY EMBARRASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, BY THE CITY MANAGER, BY THE The actual mayor also, city attorney, he has embarrassed me, seriously. All these people ask you for these things every week. Not today, not yesterday, not the day before. Every week for the last four years, people have been coming here and telling you, you need to do your job. Why can't you do your job? Mr. Mendez, you gave yourself a $15,000 raise this year, per month. You know how many employees you could hire with that? Three, three employees in the city that might need work. Honestly. And then you give back all this money back to your constituents, the people that represent you. How embarrassing. And you know what? You got caught. You guys got caught. There's all kinds of evidence on that. And you guys have no shame. No les da vergüenza, like I say in Spanish. No les da vergüenza. De veras. Honestly. Tony, yo raza, man. I'd expect you to do better out of all the people up there. You, brother. You'd be the one that would do better than all everybody up there. Gloria, you did your time. You did a good time back in the day. You did great. I don't know where you got lost along the way, but you did. But you did get lost. Aurelio, you need to do better too, bro. I got people complaining about your district every day to me, and I don't even live there. Mr. Yarrigo, I don't know what you're doing. I don't even know if you even work for the city. Everybody complains about your area all the time. They call me and let me know. Tony, you know that, man. Everybody complains about your area. Hey, Andrew, you're the only one doing your job up there, I think, bro. I'm going to get you a t-shirt. Do your job. City attorney? I don't know, man. I don't know if you're involved in all this or you're part of it or you're making money also, but it's pretty sad. It's pretty clear that you guys do not care about the people in Salinas. You don't care about us. And if you don't, go live with your ranchers and your rich people and get out of the office and let other people run this place the right way. We have to change Salinas. We've got to run, get our city back from you guys. Sad. God bless you guys.

Good afternoon, mayor and council. My name is Nidia Soto. I am working with BHC as an organizer of economic justice. um is Thank you.

Good afternoon, my name is Nidia Soto, City Council Mayor, and I work with BHC as an organizer for economic justice. We are on the fifth semester of the fourth year of Esquelita, and that's Wednesday. All of the residents got together and wrote their public comments. of all the things that they want to express to the government. So I'm leaving here these 25 comments. They have to do with housing infrastructure and a lot of things that concern the city. So I hope you can take them in consideration. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmember, and staff. My name is Jennifer Vasquez. I work for Bixter Land Trust, who is a member of the Parks and Recreation Coalition here in Salinas. We appreciate the city's continued partnership with Bixter Land Trust and with the coalition in uplifting a lot of different parks in the city, different facilities that are going to bring new spaces that act as third spaces for community members to go after work, after school, to get out of homes that maybe have multiple families in them. And we really appreciate the strong partnership with Ensign Community Park. And we are happy to see the work that the Parks and Recreation Department and the city has done to gain funding, state funding for renovating our facilities. These are investments are critical to making Salinas a healthy, vibrant and welcoming place for residents to live in, especially as our city continues to grow. With that growth, we also want to highlight the upcoming addition of 67 acres of restoration of Ensign Community Park that will be transferred to the city of Salinas and will open to the public in September of this year. It will be an incredible asset, but it will also bring additional responsibilities in operation and maintenance to the city. We had anticipated that staffing levels for Parks and Recreation Department would have increased last year in preparation for this additional 67 acres. We haven't seen that come to fruition and I'm sure there's a lot of different aspects of the city work that have prevented that from coming to fruition. But we believe that now is the time to act on that and to prioritize that. As the city continues to invest in new and improved facilities, it is essential to also invest in the staff who maintain and operate them. Without adequate staffing, the gap between staff capacity and the work required will just continue to grow. For this reason, we respectfully urge the city to include funding for at least two additional parks and rec department staff. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon again. As you are in the process of reviewing and approving the budget for this coming fiscal year, the Boston Girls Clubs of Monterey County as members of the Parks and Rec Coalition would like to express our gratitude for your continuous commitment to sustain our city. With the understanding of the difficult task of approving budgetary requests according to available resources, we'd like to collaborate with you. to provide recreational spaces, programs, and initiatives that support youth development and wellness, especially after school hours and weekends. A recreational space or program is more than just a place or an activity. I'd like to share this poem. Our city grows like a grand tree. It is our home. It is our creed. We also grow, we also dream. A bright tomorrow is a place to be. The restless youth, the hungry mind, define our currency of time. To grow, to be, give them a place to run, to play, to find their grace. Beneath our city's unhindered star, Light the dreams that mend a city's heart. Let them discover who they are, for they'll become our future's own. Amongst our streets, an open space, let's breathe beneath an open day to imagine together once more the best story ever told. Thank you.

Good afternoon, name is Eric Peterson. Sounds like you got some folks with issues in District 1. Too bad there's nobody here representing District 1 easy enough to fix. Thank you.

Alright, any comments on zoom? Alright. Phone 3564 you're on.

Good evening. My name is Nina Beatty. AT&T is threatening to discontinue landline telephone service. It also wants to end lifeline service and its other obligations. And I asked the council to take action to stop this. Proper landlines are essential infrastructure. The system is built to work even in extended power outages and in most disasters. The lines are powered, including making your phone ring so you can reach 911 and your doctor. receive evacuation notices, stay connected to elderly and ill loved ones, and so others can connect to you. You don't need batteries. The system provides pinpoint location data to emergency responders when seconds count, a fire, a home invasion, when someone's choking, has a heart attack or a stroke. The voice quality's superior, the system's secure, and it doesn't drop calls. The lines also provide DSL internet. AT&T's carrier of last resort status, or COLA, requires AT&T to provide basic phone service to everyone who requests it without discrimination. The alternatives, voice over internet protocol and wireless, are notoriously unreliable and unavailable in many areas. They require batteries. And when the battery dies, there's no connection and no phone service. Disasters routinely knock them out. Thousands of people testified to the CPUC about how landlines saved their lives during Northern California fires around their homes. after PG&E turned off the area's electricity. AT&T is not maintaining its lines and equipment, and its rates keep increasing, unaffordable for many. AT&T has launched multiple simultaneous efforts to deregulate themselves at the FCC, the CPUC, the California legislature, and the courts to get out of Kohler, lifeline obligations, and landlines. After a recent favorable FCC ruling, AT&T filed multiple petitions, May 20th, to the FCC to eliminate landlines and lifeline in areas of California, including Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula. Those petitions will be automatically granted by the FCC if the public does not oppose them. Comments are due June 22nd. Monterey Bay Matters. Thank you.

All right, Claudia.

Claudia Rosas, two minutes, go ahead.

Good afternoon. My name is Claudia Rosas and I'm from District 6 and I'm here because I want to make a comment. Our rates decreased and honestly right now everything is so expensive. Rents are expensive, food is expensive, houses are expensive, and the field workers are not making enough to make ends meet. So I really ask you to look into that. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. All right, with that, we'll go ahead and close public comment. Thank you, everyone. And we will jump to a Youth Council update and comments. And Maricel, I think, are you leading the charge here? All right, well, we'll take the stage and then I understand we have some recognitions to follow your comments.

Good afternoon council members and mayor. My name is Marisol Medeiros and I'm the chair for the Salinas City Youth Council. I would like to provide a few updates regarding some of our youth council projects of this year. For the sidewalk project, we are currently awaiting approval for the city permit before beginning the installation process. andres and i have been working closely with artist inc for the whole process and it made a great impact on the allisaw community our goal is to complete the project before the start of the school year as many of our members will be moving this fall we are looking forward to sharing additional updates in the upcoming weeks We are excited to bring this project to a close this summer and leave a lasting legacy in partnership with Artist Inc. and the Alice Law community. This year, the Youth Council also participated in the Youth Creating Change PSA videos. In May, Maya Cinema hosted a screening that showcased the incredible videos created by youth participants, including members of our Council. We are proud to have contributed to this meaningful impact. Additionally, we have continued our efforts to raise awareness about youth violence prevention, which has remained one of our primary focuses throughout this year. Throughout this project and conversations, we have worked with youth voices and addressed issues directly impacting our community. Looking forward, the Youth Council will begin working on bringing the youth voice and perspective to economical development conversations, which was a priority in common budget service results, as well as general plan updates and Amor Salinas, and continue to work on other initiatives on the plan. As this year comes to the end, I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve as the chair of the Salinas Youth Council. This experience has opened my eyes to the challenges facing our city and has showed me how meaningful and powerful voices can be in creating change. It has helped me grow not only as a leader and professional, but also as a person. The lessons and experiences and relationships I have gained throughout this council will stay with me for years to come. Finally, I would also like to extend a special thank you to Sophia for being an incredible mentor and a source of support for this council. Your guidance has made a lasting impact on me and many other youth council members. Thank you for your time, support, and continued investment in the youth of Salinas. It has been an honor serving, and I'm confident that the youth council will continue to make a positive difference in our community for years to come. Thank you.

Thank you. I know we're going to recognize each of you. Before we do that, any comments from your colleagues? Okay, you said it all. Okay, terrific. All right, well why don't we bring you front and center and then we've got, could you introduce your colleagues and then we'll bring them up and we have these lovely party gifts for each of you.

Yeah, so there's four of us, we're all seniors. This is Sophia, she's from Rancho San Juan, and then this is Ivan, and then over here I have Clark and he's from Salinas High.

Okay, and to your left.

Oh, Ivan?

OK. Terrific. Come on up.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

OK, thank you. All right. With that, we're going to consider a few things. First up, we are going to talk about the referendum ordinance number 2687 to consider on the general election in November 3, 2026. So we will turn it over to the city attorney.

So thank you, Mayor and Council. So as a reminder, you heard of 2025 Council adopted an ordinance to repeal for rent related ordinances. That's the ordinance referred to as ordinance number 2687 or sometimes the repeal ordinance. So prior to ordinance 2687 becoming effective, a referendum petition containing a sufficient number of signatures was timely submitted to the city clerk. After considering all of the options related to the referendum petition on September 9th of last year, just as a reminder, this city council decided to submit ordinance number 2687 to the voters at the next regular municipal election, which is November 3rd of this year. So tonight's action is just the next procedural step in a decision that you've already made. It's the next step the council must take in order to have this item placed on the ballot for November. So through this action, what you're doing is formally requesting the Monterey County Registrar voters to include this item among the other items to be on the November 3rd ballot. Tonight's action is not about a reconsideration or a rediscussion of the referendum or whether or not it's a good idea. This is not a discussion whether to support the referendum or not. It's not about the repeal ordinance or the four rent-related ordinances. There really is no need to have more discussion or comments on that. The only thing we're talking about tonight and asking the Council to do is to take the next procedural step and have ordinance number 2687 placed on the ballot so that the voters can decide whether or not that ordinance becomes effective. This is the implementation of a decision that you all have already made. So included with your report are the resolution calling for the election. In that resolution, you can see the ballot question is framed there. The impartial analysis is attached and the ordinance that will ultimately be considered by the voters is attached. Just wanted to follow up on a couple of questions that the city manager and I recently received. So there's no letter or number assigned to this ballot measure yet. The registrar of voters will do that according to their own schedule. There is no additional cost to the city to have this item placed on the ballot. As you know, there are several other city items already on the November, or soon to be on the November ballot. So any costs associated with item will be minimal at best. So with that, council, we're available for any questions that you may have.

All right, that sounds good. All right, Andrew, we'll go ahead and start with you. Any questions, comments?

So for the folks who collected the 10,000 signatures, according to your impartial analysis, their position to maintain the ordinance would be a no vote, is that correct?

Assuming the council adopts what's presented tonight as presented, then yes, it would be a no.

Okay, and then as we're considering other items like Measure G, and we're educating the public to what those measures do, this is also an issue that is gonna impact a lot of Salinas residents. Will the city be providing any education or any information regarding these ordinances before the election?

We already have a lot of information on the city's website about the ordinances, what they mean, what they do. To the extent that we'll be providing or taking an advocacy position, yes or no, the city won't be doing that.

Not an advocacy position, but I've noticed a lack of information like on our social media. I'll give you an example. The mayor currently has a podcast where he addresses some city issues. I noticed that those ordinances, the benefits to residents, the information available to landlords and tenants hasn't been made public in the way that allow other information. So will any of those things be, will any of that information be shared in the upcoming months?

So perhaps we can certainly look at what we have already posted and see if there are additional resources and information that we can add, Councilmember.

Yeah, I guess I'd like a little form of commitment that we actually will share some of this information publicly other than going on to our website.

As your city attorney, I can't make that commitment, so I'm going to have to defer to the city manager.

Yeah, I'll connect with the community development director, who's overseeing this project, and we'll see if we can both set up the information that's being provided.

One of the questions I've had is, for example, the mayor has a podcast, and so my question is for the mayor. Mayor, will you also have a podcast about the benefits of rent stabilization and tenant protections, both to tenants and landlords?

I'm gonna jump in on that because to the extent that there's an active ballot measure, the city needs to be very careful that it not even be perceived as campaigning for or against an item. So I understand what you're asking the mayor to do, but I would caution not only the mayor, but the entire council that we need to be very careful as we go forward that the city not take a position one way or another on this ballot measure, assuming the council approves it tonight or any other ballot measure.

Of course, but just the same way we're doing educational information about Measure G, I don't think there'd be anything wrong with educating about those ordinances.

Educational information would be appropriate, yes.

Right, so with that, my question is to the mayor. Considering you have a podcast or Salinas Now, will you cover the topic of unstabilization and tenant protection as an informational item?

I, I, I'm not sure what you're referring to, but any Salinas now podcast I do, I, I do in consultation with, uh, the city manager. So he's, he's involved in the process and if that's deemed appropriate, then I, I have no issue with that.

Okay, great. Um, that concludes, oh, just, I just, I'll save for comments.

Okay. Tony.

Thank you, I think what's important here, I think this is gonna be one of our most critical issues right next to the budget. And I think I would concur Mr. Mendez, from here till November, whatever information, you know, we're always talking about transparent and everybody views it differently, but I think whatever information that we can give that will help whether you're a landlord, whether you're a tenant, I think information is important. I do have a question. For example, if a landlord or a tenant do call City Hall, is there an individual that answers the phone and responds to their questions? Is that happening now?

If somebody calls our office, if we can answer the question, we answer it or we refer them to the right department to answer. So if there's a landlord or renter that's got a question on the ordinances, we will send them over to community development.

Yeah, okay.

Cuz that's where the program expertise lies. And they're the ones implementing, taking the applications, processing whatever's coming in.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

What I'm being advised, what we'd like to do is just questions and comments now. So, Andrews, just so before I go down the line, if you have any additional questions or comments, why don't you go ahead with them.

I still want to make public, I still want to make comments after I hear the residents.

So the time for questions and comments is now counted.

Okay.

Okay, so, okay. I think, Mr. Mayor, just so it can be.

No, I'm not trying to. I'm just acting on.

No, I understand. But I think because this issue, we have to be very careful. We should just roll with it.

No, that's fine. I'm just trying to. Yeah, no, I'm not trying to cut anyone off. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Aurelio?

No questions at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to kind of confirm that, will a Qantas or members of his team and ECHO still be available for district specific or possibly multi-district educational meetings going forward as they have done in the past?

The short answer to the question is yes. We will be still rolling that out. So yes. Okay, thank you.

All right. We will go ahead and go out to the public.

Good afternoon, . I'm going to say, you know what? I haven't heard any of any meetings you guys have held to help people discuss this at all. And it's a big issue. Since we're giving money away to everybody, let's help our own residents. That's what we should be doing, helping the community. We're giving money to rich people. Might as well give it to the people that really need it. These people that are out here that can't afford to live anywhere because you won't build housing. And you want to, I went to the planning commission meeting over the phone. It was hilarious. You guys are trying to now make your garage, oh, you can make your garage bigger. Make another ADU to make more housing. behind your house to create more cluster in the community and then now eight feet from the right right-hand side of your front of your house you could build the you could put a slab of cement and build parking man you guys are ridiculous really i told you guys the last time i came to that meeting it's ridiculous what you're doing it is so sad that you're trying to cluster everybody in one area tony you should be speaking out bro you're the last project we had want the best 20 years ago that's the last time we built something big in salinas for people that can afford it back in the day. And that was in 2000. Crazy, isn't that? Actually, it's 2005, excuse me. That's hilarious that you guys cannot build housing. All our poor farm workers that make billions of dollars for your guys' constituents, for your donors, and you don't care about them. Sad, what about all the healthcare that they need? Then you're spraying all these chemicals and I've caught you guys. I sent stuff to Mr. Munoz that he's reported on you guys. You guys are spraying chemicals everywhere without informing the public. So I had talked to Selena from the, I guess, what is it, the landscaping, I forgot the name. It doesn't matter. She says, yeah, it's Roundup. It's something like Roundup. I said, is that legal? Well, it's legal to the Monterey County. Wow, did you guys talk to the voters about that? Mr. Yarrigo, you live in that area, don't you, where they spray a lot of stuff? You should know. God bless you guys, man. I hope nothing happens to you. Don't get sick.

Good afternoon. Name is Eric Peterson. And for the last few decades, in local elections all the way up to the presidential elections, there have been a lot of fraud. And I would like to suggest that for this, because the issues are so volatile, that the city set up some kind of fact-checking system, because essentially there have been a lot of lies, and that doesn't do anybody any good. Thank you.

back so good afternoon my name is Jeanette Valdez and I'm a district one resident parenting student majoring in psychology at CSUMB I was born and raised in Salinas but I've been a tenant for nine years in district one specifically for Paramount properties I live peacefully always responsible with my rent but the moment I stood up for my rights and requested basic repairs everything changed I face my third retaliatory eviction from Paramount Properties that just got dismissed yesterday. So fighting this hard just to live humanely has taken a devastating toll on my energy and mental health. And I would not have been able to fight this long without the support of my amazing attorney, Tyler from CRLA. And let's be perfectly clear about the Salinas Rental Ordinances. No landlord who is operating legally and humanely has anything to fear from these protections. These ordinances are simply designed to guarantee basic human living rights. So if you're a good landlord, you should welcome them. Your position only makes your intentions as a landlord very clear. As a resident from District 1, I also wanna take a moment to wish Councilman Jose Barajas a full recovery and well wishes, but his illness does not excuse his accountability. So Councilman Barajas, it is clear to us, your constituents, that you have preferred to keep your donors content and have turned your back on the very people who elected you. We do not need a leader who abandons us when the pressure is on. If you cannot or will not fight for District 1 when the majority of us are renters, then you should resign. To the five city council opposing to the ordinances, remember who you serve. The residents of Salinas pay your salaries. We pay for the roofs over your heads. And it's time you protect the roofs over ours. Do your job. Stand with the people of Salinas and support these ordinances. Do not deep pockets of special interests. And specifically, Aurelio Salazar, the audacity you have to spend more time fighting with your constituents online than doing your job.

Thank you.

Good evening Mayor, council members and city staff. I recognize that this has been a long and fraught conversation and that all of you have been very attentive throughout the process and so I just want to express first appreciation for that. I know emotions get really high and that's understandable because we're talking about some one of the essential things that people need which is housing. And we really need to come together and work on housing issues. So I'm looking forward to seeing this on the ballot. I'm looking forward to the voters making their decision on this. I'm looking forward to moving on and continue to support projects such as the rental assistance, which actually directly helps people struggling to pay their rent. I'm looking forward to moving on to, as others have mentioned, actually building housing. None of these ordinances before us that we're discussing or that pertain to the referendum, none of them do anything to create any more housing, not a single unit. Yet down in San Diego, we see that they spent two years really focusing on streamlining their housing approval process and making it as easy as possible to build. And guess what? Rent went down 5%. It works. addressing the inventory problem works. So we need to vote on this and then we need to move on to real solutions that actually solve people's problems. And I'm looking forward to that because I know this Council is ready to move forward and do that. As a former constituent in Councilmember DeRigo's district, I know that she is ready to represent and do that. Having known many of the members on this Council, I know you are ready to do that. And I just want to also clarify something on the record because it's been said a lot online and I think it's important that the truth be told. It's been said a lot that the decision to repeal was rushed. Well, the entire process of discussing the ordinances in the first place, that was all a part of the deliberation, except candidly some of the council members back at that time weren't listening to half of the room. So that was part of the process as well, but what most people don't realize is that also... Have a good night.

Okay, thanks Adam.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Amy Salmina. Tonight is not about whether someone supports or opposes rent stabilization. It's about ensuring that voters receive clear and accurate information before they cast their ballots in November. For nearly three years, the city has been implementing increasing levels of rental housing regulation. The process began with rental registration in 2023, and it's expanded in rent stabilization, tenant anti-harassment protections, and just cause eviction requirements in 2024. These policies were presented as a way to improve housing affordability and provide relief for renters. According to Zillow, average rents in Salinas are approximately $2,700 per month and have increased by about $163 over the last year. Since the city first began implementing these regulations, rents have continued to rise. These are the facts that voters should consider. If the purpose of these ordinances was to improve affordability, where is the measurable improvement? If the purpose was to increase housing opportunities, where is the increase in housing supply? If the purpose was to improve outcomes for renters, where is the evidence that affordability has improved? Housing affordability is directly connected to economic development, investment, and housing production. Communities grow stronger when they encourage new housing, attract investment, create jobs, and expand opportunities for residents. New housing supply is what creates long-term affordability. After nearly three years of increasing regulation, voters deserve the opportunity to decide whether these policies have delivered the results they were promised. I appreciate the work the staff has done in preparing the ballot language and factual and unbiased descriptions of the measure. they will be asked to decide in November. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Ignacio Fragoso, and I'm a born and raised lifelong resident of Salinas. I'm here today in strong support of the resolution calling for general municipal election regarding the referendum against ordinance 2687. The issue has generated significant public attention and disagreement across our community. When that happens on the matters, this consequential is not enough for decisions to remain solely within the council chamber. The people of Salinas deserve the final voice through a public vote. One of the persistent realities of public policy is that political incentives are short term, while the consequences of those policies are long term and deeply felt by residents. That gap matters. Decisions that affect housing, economic stability, and opportunity should not be insulated from the people who live with those outcomes. At its core, free society depends on more than political participation. It depends on residents having both political and economic agency to judge whether these policies are actually improving the lives over time. When those systems are working properly, accountability is not delayed. It is continuous and informed. A public election is the most direct form of that accountability and ensures that the people of Salinas, not just elected officials, decide on policies that will shape the city's future. For those reasons, I respectfully but firmly urge the council to approve the resolution and allow the voters of Salinas to decide this matter at the November 3rd, 2026 election. Thank you.

Thank you.

How's it going? Daniel Munoz, East Salinas resident. It's disgusting what you guys did with that rental ordinances, the way you guys shredded it up, disgusting. This isn't mom and pops trying to raise people's rents and stuff. These are corporations, billion dollar corporations that own thousands of properties across the United States. UDR is one of them in particular. They're funding Ignacio right here. Yeah, you're a puppet. This little puppet right here is being funded by those guys. They're not even from here. Why does it matter to them? Why does it matter to them? Follow the money, right? They want to raise rents whenever they want. The reason why I'm even here is because of your guys' disgusting behavior of shredding those ordinances. That's what got me mad. That's what got me involved in local politics was that move that you guys did. So that's why I'm here. I wouldn't even be here. You wouldn't even know my name if it wasn't for that. What you guys did was disgusting. It's disgusting. How many times I gotta say it? It's disgusting. This is not protecting the Constitution and all this stuff. I know he believes in capitalism, free markets, okay, but this is not rent control, okay? There's been rent control in larger cities. This is not that. This is simple ordinances to protect the residents from predatory landlords. I've been made homeless, single parent, being made homeless because of predatory landlords. This is personal for me. This is real personal for me. That's why I'm here, okay? Now, I live in the poorest district in the city, and my representative, Jose Luis Barajas, is not here. And he's getting recalled, right? Because of this rental ordinance thing. This is very serious to me. And I want you guys to understand that you're not protecting citizens, you're protecting corporations, okay? You're donors, that's who you're protecting. Protect the people.

I was born here and I live here. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Rose Clark, and I'm here in strong support of placing Ordinance 2687 on the November ballot so the people of Salinas can vote to repeal four failed housing ordinances. In 2022, a politically motivated council pushed these rent control policies forward despite clear warnings from property owners, builders, housing experts, and community members that they would drive costs up, reduce housing availability, and discourage new construction. Unfortunately, those warnings proved correct. After nearly three years, the results speaks for themselves. Rents have not fallen. Costs have gone up. Housing production has not increased. It has effectively stopped. Builder and developer interest has moved in the wrong direction, and the affordable housing that was promised has not materialized. These policies didn't just fall short, they made a difficult housing situation worse. In 2025, the new city council recognized this reality and voted to repeal these ordinances. That decision has now been rightfully referred to the voters where it belongs. Ordinance 2687 is about one thing, trusting the people of Salinas to decide their future. This is not about politics. It's about outcomes. It's about fixing what isn't working and moving forward with solutions that actually increase housing, encourage investment, and improve affordability. Tonight, you have the opportunity to let voters make that choice. Place this measure on the ballot. Let the community be heard. And on November 3rd, 2026, I urge everyone to vote yes on the repeal.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. Matt Huerta here, resident of Salinas and housing development and policy professional for over 25 years. Here to support democracy today, I am honored to have supported the referendum against ordinance number 2687. This ordinance has been the single most destructive policy that this council tried to pass, but was swiftly rejected by local residents. I highly recommend that each of you consider joining the campaign against this referendum. You don't have to participate in the divisive misinformation we fully expect from the proponents of this ordinance to repeal our renter protections. YOU CAN FOCUS ON SUPPORTING MORE HOUSING PRODUCTION. YOU CAN FOCUS ON MAKING INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.

THANKS, MADAM.

WEST WISE, CLEVELAND CO-PRESIDENT. JUST WANTED TO REITERATE THE REASONS FOR KEEPING THESE RENTAL PROTECTIONS IN PLACE. 2.7% increase. I heard something about misinformation and you don't want to, but yet she doesn't mention there's still a 2.7% increase. So of course they're making money no matter what. Of course prices are always going up, especially considering the war or whatever, the ambush attacks that are happening by our pirating profiteers. But you got unjust evictions, you know, and that's for the whole city. The rent stabilization is just for pre-95. You've got the renter protections. There's four of them. And those are so needed. And it's amazing how hard you're fighting, so hard to just get it off the books, off the papers, so then that way there's no proof of wrongdoing for the landlord, for the owner. But over 54% of our folks are renters. And some of them are actually without rent. They're paperless. They can't even afford a lease. So look at the way we're treating people. We gotta do it different, and we gotta do it now. This is actually a time where people should be starting to think about running for office, taking over districts two, three, and five in the mayor. And between all of them, dude, we need to bring back community into this space. We had it with our brand new council, now we've got our fraud five, and that's not healthy for us. It's just a power grab, all this public money for private interest. Look at the hotel that's going to go up, and the apartment complex is going to go up. Those are parking lots right now. What's going to happen? Well, we're going to have to have metered parking, and we're going to have to make people go in the parking garage. Pay, pay, pay. You want to live in this city.

All right. Thank you.

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Maria Chavez. Esta ordenanza, la comunidad la necesitamos. La comunidad que está rentando, la comunidad que trabaja día con día, que tiene dos o tres trabajos, y casi todo eso se le va en la renta. Aparte, hay propietarios. Yo no sé esos propietarios cómo son. Acosan, intimidan. Y aparte, aumentan exageradamente la renta. Yo no sé por qué hay propietarios que no están de acuerdo de esta ordenanza. Ellos no van a poner dinero de su bolsillo. Ellos están ganando su dinero. Y aparte, no hacen reparaciones. Nomás quieren su dinerito. Uno les dice, ah, esto está mal. Oh, luego lo arreglo. Y el huevo nunca llega. Nuestros hijos están sufriendo también porque hay casas húmedas y que hay moho. Y nosotros, inquilinos, tenemos que estar limpia, limpia y limpia. Le decimos al propietario para ver si aunque sea nos da pintura. Ah no, todo tenemos que hacer nosotros. Pintar, comprar pintura, todo lo hacemos nosotros. entonces no somos los propietarios somos inquilinos y gastamos más que ellos gracias

Good afternoon, my name is Maria Chavez, and this ordinance, the community needs it. The community that works every day, sometimes two to three jobs just to pay rent. On top of that, the landlords intimidate us, harass us, and when they increase the rents, they increase it at exaggerated amounts. These landlords that are against the ordinance, they're not putting any money. No money is going to be taken from their pockets. They're going to still get paid. And on top of that, they don't do any repairs. All they want is money. Our children suffer because the houses that we live in, they're moist, they have mold. The tenants have to clean and clean and clean, and the landlord doesn't even give us paint. When we ask them for paint, they tell us that it's our responsibility. We have to buy the paint. We have to paint our houses. So really, I mean, it's the tenant's responsibility, and we're not even the owners. Thank you.

Hello council members. My name is Jason Pineda. I live in district 3 and I'm calling or I'm here to just speak briefly on What you're voting on regarding the rent stabilization to put it on the ballot I just want to ask you to use your best judgment and and to make the wording on that fair and factual And just to remind you, you know, the housing situation that we're in right now is, you know, I've heard you hear people talk and they call, you know, they say that we're in a housing crisis right now or they call it different names, you know, how they refer to it as outcomes or something like that. But The reality is, like, you know, I have a landlord. They don't fix things sometimes, and I live in a nice part of town. I had a conversation with a friend who's, like, an immigrant here. He's in his 50s, and he was... I'm a low-income person. He was surprised talking about like why I don't do more things or whatever like I don't have I don't spend money like he does. But he lives in an apartment with he lives in a room with his girlfriend with like three other people. And I realized later, I'm like, I should have told them, you know, dude, that's just because you're not from here. Like, this is not how people are supposed to be living in this country. We don't, you know, like 20 years ago, 30 years ago or whatever, it wasn't like, I don't know, we would be scratching our heads and asking questions about that more. So it's not like you're not like a normalized. This is this is being normalized or it's already kind of past that. And so Yeah, I just, we already, people are talking about solutions. This was a solution. These ordinances were a solution that someone put forth. And where are the other solutions? People are asking for more help and where are their solutions? All right, thank you.

Good afternoon, Jasmine Topete, thankfully District 5 resident. Today is an important milestone because the voters of Salinas are one step closer to deciding the future of these renter protections. When residents learned these ordinances could be repealed, our community took action. More than 200 volunteers came together and collected over 10,000 signatures to stop the repeal and ensure that voters, not elected officials, would have the final say. This movement was built by community members who believe that housing stability matters. Council Member Salazar, I was recently reminded that you said that the support for rent stabilization is based on a romanticized view of housing. But there is nothing romanticized about families struggling to afford rent. There is nothing romanticized about parents working multiple jobs to keep a roof over their children's heads. There is nothing romanticized about young people putting their dreams on hold because housing costs are too high. And there is nothing romanticized about families being pushed out of the city they call home. This isn't about being against landlords. Many landlords do the right thing, but this is about making sure we have protections in place when others don't. And let's remember that rent stabilization only applies to certain housing built before February 1st of 1995. It does not stop future development. This November, voters will decide whether these protections remain in place. 53% of Salinas residents are renters. Not all of them can vote, but all of them will be affected by this decision. So when you cast your ballot, be the voice for those who cannot vote, be the voice for working families, be the voice for your neighbors, and vote no to protect renter protections in Salinas.

Thank you. All right, we'll go ahead and see who's on Zoom. Okay, I think you're here.

All right, that's very good.

All right, with that, we will come back to, we will come back to council for final comments and then this is an action item. Margaret.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I have no final comments. I don't have any comments.

No comments. Okay, Andrew.

So I pulled up Zillow right now and the area that I represent, area 9306 and parts of 9307 showed a reduction in rent of $100 for apartments, which are the ones affected by rent stabilization. Across the city of Salinas, it showed an average of minus $120. For three bedrooms, it showed a reduction of $280. I've been monitoring the Californian who tracks rental increases month over month. I think the last two months, it showed an increase of $50 from last year. But the previous two months, it showed a reduction of rent by $50. There's a lot of data that's gonna be flying around, a lot of misinformation. I also wanna talk about some scare tactics that have been used around rent stabilization. There's these arguments about property owners and their privacy rights may be violated. You can go down to the county assessors and pull up property profiles for people's properties and see them. That information already exists publicly. I remember sitting here in March of last year when we were getting a presentation on housing and then all of a sudden my five colleagues, all of a sudden all in some coordinated effort said we need to repeal these ordinances. I think there was like eight people who spoke during public comment and I thought, wow, these eight people must have a lot of power to influence these five council members. I was in shock. And just like that, the number one priority became repealing rent stabilization and tenant protections. I remember the mayor said, we need to focus on education. There's all these protections. And since that day that he said we should focus on education, the mayor has done zero education, zero community outreach. I remember that there was gonna be a big push for these eco-housing workshops. I think to this day, the only two people who have not had these workshops is one, the mayor, and second, Councilmember Salazar. So I think there's a lot of disingenuous conversations going around. I remember that when they repealed it, they said, well, we need to focus on rental assistance. And there was these promises made about a sustainable long-term partnerships and coalitions, and now we're funding rental assistance out of our general fund. I don't know how long that's sustainable, but that didn't happen. So there's a lot of misinformation. floating around, I want to talk about this claim that rent stabilization and these tenant protections inhibit new development. I sit on the Housing and Land Use Committee, and when we meet, that's when Councilmember Salazar decides to show up, I say we need to bring a round table of all the developers to the table. But let's be clear, some of the developers do not own the land which they're going to develop on. If this council wanted to take that approach, which a lot of their donors have said, well, let's focus on building and building and building, the city council does not build housing. Now, we can facilitate that, but this council hasn't taken an aggressive approach to building the way that they touted. They could have easily said, you know what? We're gonna freeze all new development costs. But no, they voted to increase those costs. We had a housing summit that resulted in zero additional housing. We had those great conversations. We heard one developer say that the average cost for a new home is gonna be, his average cost is gonna be about $700,000. So if you buy one of these average cost $700,000 homes, what's your mortgage? It's gonna be $5,000 a month. So if you build 1,000 more of these units, how is that gonna lower people's rent? Let's be real. Some of these decisions that this council has made don't reflect the supposedly shift to bringing more development. So I just want to be clear. The council could have easily, instead of moving to a shift in repeal, it was quick. They were in office for months. They didn't hold a single listening session. I remember Council Member Salazar said, I wish this was more of a town hall than a discussion. That's a disingenuous comment. Because you know how many town halls Council Member Salazar has held? Anybody want to guess? Zero. These are really disingenuous. I did have hope in our mayor that some of the things that he would actually say about engagement, education. I'm like, how's this guy gonna come up with these partnerships for rental assistance? It's amounted to nothing. So this is really a solution for now. You know, property owners also have a right to appeal these decisions, and I know that some people are moving through the processes, but I just want the public to know that we have a very good, although small, I'll say small and mighty housing division that they should reach out to them for information, both for tenants and landlords. And I'm glad that the council decided to put this out to the voters to decide. But I think it's incumbent upon our city to make sure that we're educating renters and landlords, and not just through these in-person or Zoom workshops. We have a very strong social media platform, and I haven't seen anything, anything, And I almost feel like with the small staff that we have, it's been like, this is how I feel, an intentional sabotage to not make sure we're doing proactive rental registry or proactive outreach. So I really encourage the voters to reach out to the city to ask for information and really get engaged and push Council Member Salazar to finally host some kind of community forum or educational workshop. Thank you.

Tony? You know, I think we all have very, maybe business ideas. The numbers, the numbers don't match, which I would agree with you on certain developments. There's a lot of money involved here. I do believe there's a lot of, Landlords that if they don't get their rents, they don't get to keep their properties. I know some of them. I know corporations. And I do know that as a council here, we all work for you whether you believe it or not, but we are here at your pleasure. I'm gonna put myself up there because I do believe in public service. To me, politics has always been secondary, always. Because every decision that I make up here and I vote is going to impact somebody's life. I'm up for reelection in November. This seat belongs to the people of District 2. It doesn't belong to me. Anybody that qualifies in District 2 and believes that you can do a better job than your public servant, you're invited into the ring. And I mean that heartily. The beautiful thing about Salinas is that we can start working on solutions. I just met some people from Guatemala and Honduras that are coming to work in the fields of Salinas Valley. Imagine that. Look where they're coming from. Because they're being told there's a better life in Salinas. Let's be realistic. Our multi-billion dollar industry, and I'm not putting it down because we need it to survive. it creates poverty as well because the wages are not there. However you want to interpret that. You can be making great money at the office in a farm industry because you're educated, you went to college, you understand the technology, but the person that works out in the fields in the same company, the checks are not the same. And a lot of people call it unskilled labor. Try to go out in the fields and try to do that work. You're gonna find out you need a skill to be able to do that work. We've had, since I've been a council member, we've had three police officers, we've had six teachers, and we had several high school students that have said we can't afford the rent here. Students here that have told us we have to stop our education so we can get a job and help pay the rent. That's the reality. Can you imagine we have police officers that are making over $100,000 and they still live there with their parents because they're saving money for a house. That's the reality. I think if we're gonna complain and argue about each other or try to discourage or somebody's not doing their job. I think of seven up here, we were elected by the majority. And we need to come up with solutions. And to some of you that are saying we're not building housing, we're getting ready to start building housing in about three or four months. It's a big project, housing. We're building senior housing. And you know what, it's been difficult, it really has. But let's not minimize these 10,000 signatures. You know how they got here? Imagine the work that took for some of these hardworking people. Don't minimize that. Imagine what was created there. And yeah, you know what, with Mayor Donahue, whether we agree or disagree on politics, We do agree that we need to do a better service for everybody. I believe that. So, I'm gonna ask, whatever the city council decides on doing to take this to November, there'll be a lot of people either putting big money into this or a lot of people doing a lot of door knocking. But let me just finish with this. Don't minimize the tenants. Tenants are having a very difficult time. However you see it playing out. I heard this one gentleman, if they can't afford the rent, let them get the hell out of here. Well, it's easy for him to say that. He's got his home. These people are here because this is their home as well. So I do hope... 70% of district two, 70% district two from this seat, they're all renters. I have three parents in the last week, week and a half that came to my house. They actually come and visit me and they're trying to figure out how to build a room or something because the kids that went to college are coming back home because they can't afford a good job to be able to buy their own house or rent their own house. That's the reality. So please, let's try to be civil today. Wherever I'm at politically, I'm not gonna go against you because you're against the way I believe. We gotta come up with some solutions, we really do. And a lot of people are having a very difficult time whether you wanna believe that or not. So some of you that come up and say the numbers don't match, well, yeah, but lives matter. These children that are stopping their education to help mom and dad to pay the rent, that's the reality. I hope you see that. So Mayor, I think we have a responsibility here, whether it's... And I think we're all in agreement. Hopefully we will start getting to the point where we start building more houses and figure out how to make this city better. Thank you.

Mayor, I'd like to move to approve a resolution calling for the holding of a general municipal election to be held November 3rd, 2026. Second. Okay, thank you for that. Just...

Just a few comments. Obviously there's been, different thoughts on this issue. And I genuinely believe folks were coming from a place of goodwill, trying to make the city better. Clearly, there have been different thoughts. And I would take exception with some of the things that have been said in terms of how, just speaking for myself, how I think or how I characterize things, what I think tonight needs to be about, and I think what we've heard is, and I appreciate your comments, Council Member Brera, is let's come together on the thing that we all agree on, that And I happened to go to the Panetta Institute last night and the conversation about democracy. And I think the one thing we can all agree on is that people need to have the final say. And so that's where we're heading tonight. Being an agreement on that tonight as a starting point for the, you know, the, the conversation that's going to take place in the community for the next several months. Is is important and I think as elected officials, I'm very, very comfortable because I've been through multiple elections going back a couple of decades and I do trust the voters of Salinas to make. The right decision, so I'm, I'm very, very comfortable. Let's let's put this in in the community's hands and and. You know, and one of the things that really just became very apparent in this process, you know, when I became the mayor the 1st time. It was the lowest per capita income versus the highest per capita housing costs. several years ago, but it was very clear going through that process that it's gotten even tougher, and I certainly respect and understand the hard work, and Tony's right. It is skilled labor. I've spent the last several years involved in ag tech, and some of the smartest people in the world play around with automation and go, You're real smart, a lot of technology, a lot of money, but you can't do what folks in the field do. I haven't figured that out, so it must be skilled labor. It must be tough. It does deserve a lot of dignity and respect, and I certainly do respect that. You know, the one thing I would want to say, and I think this council has been consistent on this, when a decision was made to, and I agree with Tony, I mean, it's just very, very impressive, the work that was done in the community to get the signatures, that from my perspective, it became very important to respect the ordinances That were in place and, you know, so to so to make sure and, you know, I've attended a few meetings in the community with echo and that sort of thing. So, I think I think the city in this council has has operated in good faith on the ordinances that are in place. They're in place and we want to make sure. the city performs well, and then the community will have the conversation. And as I say, I trust the community to make the right decision. Whatever decision the community makes, speaking for myself, I certainly will respect that. And then I'll pick up on what Matt Huerta said. Regardless of the outcome of this conversation, we're all interested in the future of this community the opportunities we hope that we will all all have and that does require uh keeping our eye on the ball in terms of economic development infrastructure and the things that make make that future that everybody's working so hard for um so um you know so i'll just close by reiterating i i'm I've been through multiple elections. This community has always made the right call, and I'm confident and comfortable they'll do that again. So with that, we have a motion and a second. Let's go ahead and call for the question.

Motion made by Council Member Sandoval, second by Council Member Salazar, Council Member Barrera. Yes. Council Member DeRigo.

Yes.

Council Member De La Rosa. Yes. Council Member Salazar. Yes. Council Member Sandoval. Yes. Mayor Donahue. Yes. Motion passes.

Okay. Thank you for that. All right. All right. Thank you for that conference. We're considering ballot opportunity number one, and now we go to number two, and we're gonna talk about Measure G, and I think, Patty, we're looking for you as the city clerk.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council, and the public in attendance. I just want to provide a brief overview on the Measure G transaction and use tax renewal. We have had numerous discussions about this item, both here and at the community. But in general, the ballot measure polling, public outreach, and education related to placing the renewal of the Measure G on the ballot this November 3rd, 2026 has been an ongoing effort since 2024, for those of you that have been around through this process. Presentations have been provided to the Finance Committee, City Council, Measure G and Measure E committees. We've held community meetings and shared information to stakeholder groups regarding the revenue, expenditures, projects and city services related to Measure G. Administration staff has also continued to work collaboratively to share information through our communications and with our communications team and social media avenues as well. Additional educational information related to measure G is available on the city's home page with a number of resources for the public as well. So for today's action, similar to the referendum, we are here now request staff is here requesting that the city council consider approving a resolution calling for the holding of a general municipal election. to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026, to ask the voters of the city of Salinas to approve, restate, and amend an ordinance enacting a general transaction and use tax known as Measure G of one cent to remain in effect until ended by the voters with the use of the tax revenue to be reviewed and reported on by a citizen's oversight committee and requesting that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey consolidate the election with the established election. With that, IN ADDITION, ATTACHED TO THE STAFF REPORT IS THE RESOLUTION, THE ORDINANCE, AND THE CITY ATTORNEY'S IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS ALSO, INCLUDING THE BALLOT QUESTION. WE'RE AVAILABLE FOR QUESTIONS, OR I'M AVAILABLE FOR QUESTIONS, AND THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY ATTORNEY AS WELL.

OKAY. THANK YOU, PANI. ALL RIGHT. I'LL START TO MY LEFT THIS NIGHT. MARGARET, ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS?

JUST A QUESTION ON THE OVERSIGHT. I'M ASSUMING THAT'S THE Measure G committee that you're referring to, and if so, how frequent will we be receiving report outs from that group as far as where the money is being used and what kind of transactions are being funded by that?

So that is correct. The oversight committee will remain as our existing Measure G committee. Of course, appointments are at the council level with respect as to who serves on the committee, and those are REAFFIRMED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS AND FOLLOWING ELECTION CYCLES. WITH RESPECT TO THE FUNDING AND SERVICES RELATED TO MEASURE G, I'LL DEFER TO THE CITY MANAGER UNLESS OUR FINANCE DIRECTOR IS HERE IN HOUSE WITH THAT. AND THEN THE OTHER PORTION OF YOUR QUESTION WAS RELATED TO REPORTING. So how frequently we would report. So we do have four scheduled throughout the year, four meetings scheduled with both Measure G and E. But in particular for Measure G, we also have the audit report that will be presented out as part of our outreach and engagement. And I know we've had discussions with our city manager and our finance director of doing more frequent reporting at a minimum quarterly, Councilmember DeRigo. But if the request is for additional reporting, I'll defer to the city manager for that.

Okay, and then a follow-up is I believe we discussed at some point increasing the frequency of the meeting of Measure G because there's been several meetings where we didn't have a quorum, and that tends to be a problem. So four times a year can actually be less than that, and I think as important as this is, I think we should look at that in the future. I know we've talked about it, but I don't know if there's ever a decision made, but I would certainly advocate for that.

If I could follow up on that real quickly. Noted, and we actually have had more meetings the last few months than we, so we pivoted to an additional couple of meetings to report out. And we are struggling with the quorum, but we continue to kind of make that work. And talking to the measure, the committee itself, they did express an interest to have more frequent meetings that we can have quorum. So we have pivoted to that. But I just saw our finance director step in as well. And I know she wasn't able to make the last meeting, but she held the last update with the Measure G committee. So I don't know if she's got anything to add.

Council member, we did go from three meetings to four, and like the city manager noted, we have had a couple of extra special meetings with both Measure E and G.

Good afternoon, Council Members. Selina Anders, Finance Director. So I believe the question was, will the Oversight Committee remain to receive the similar updates? And that has been the case. And we have on occasion added additional meetings at their request. And of course, we do provide quarterly updates on all of the expenditures as well as revenues. And we try to format the information in a way that is well received. And we've gotten quite a bit of feedback. And I think we continue to adjust as necessary and really listen and figure out how to best provide the information at every meeting, at every quarterly meeting.

Okay, Laura. You've kind of answered my questions because my concern was when I was seeing that when we were having meetings, you didn't have a quorum, and I was very concerned about that. But now I feel better now, okay? Because we really need to have these meetings, you know?

Yeah.

So anyways, you answered everything I was going to ask. Thank you. Thank you.

RULE? YES. RELATING TO THE MEASURE G TRANSACTION AND USE TAX RENEWAL FOR THE NOVEMBER 3RD GENERAL MINUTES FULL ELECTION, I RECALL IT'S BEEN A WHILE VOLUNTEERING FOR THE MEASURE G, MEASURE E, I THINK AT THAT TIME THERE WAS EVEN THE SOS CAMPAIGN TO SAVE OUR SERVICES. I DON'T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YEAR THAT WAS. I DO RECALL THE CITY, I DON'T KNOW IF IT CAME OUT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PREVIOUS CITY ATTORNEY, IT WAS A FACT SHEET. AND SO KIND OF LOOKING BACK AT THE AGENDA ITEM THAT WE JUST HAD RIGHT NOW REGARDING THE ORDINANCES, I THINK WITH THAT ONE AND THIS ONE I THINK IT'S VERY IMPERATIVE THAT WE STILL HAVE THAT FACT SHEET. I BELIEVE BACK THEN IT JUST WAS KIND OF STATING WHAT WOULD BE COVERED OVER GNE. I THINK WITH OUR MEASURE G AND E COMMITTEE MEETINGS, THAT INFORMATION THAT THEY LOOK AT IN TERMS OF WHAT'S BEING SUPPORTED IS THE INFORMATION I FEEL THAT WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PRESENT. uh just the facts and not leaning in support in favor of or against but just what these two um or in this case what um you know i'm thinking you know i can't as i can't measure g you know what it is and so um i just want to bring that up and make that make that request and it was just a simple i believe it was a simple It was four pages, two pages front and back printed, and I recall it being just a fact sheet.

Thank you.

Mayor, I don't have a question, but I have a comment for my colleagues. Okay. You know, one of the things that makes it difficult for staff is when we're, as electeds, If we're not finding out if our representatives are showing up, us up here, we're the ones that create a no quorum. And then I've noticed staff is running around trying to find out, hey, are you coming or not? I don't think it's fair for the staff. I think it's our responsibility. In District 2, if they're not showing up, I talk to them and or we get somebody else. But some of my colleagues, some of your representatives haven't been showing up, period. So we need to, whether you want more meetings, which is difficult, but why have more meetings if we're not gonna have a quorum? We gotta stay on top of that. And Mayor, some of my colleagues aren't doing it. I think the Mayor is responsible to make sure that there is a representative, because it's sad to come to a meeting, and I'm talking about myself as well. So don't take it as criticism. I'm just trying to support the staff. They show up and they have to report out, and then just to find out they're not gonna have a meeting at the end. Thank you.

Andrew. There's a finance director or city manager. Can you share some of the positions that are currently funded through Measure G?

So there is 106 and a half positions funded. I don't have the list right in front of me, but I'm going to get that in just a couple of minutes. But they are funded out of the various programs. So the police department, public works. So a lot of the major departments do have quite a few positions funded. And it's within public safety is both sworn and non-sworn. positions, but I can get your itemized list.

Yeah, while you look that up, I'll ask the city manager a question. What kind of impact would it have if we didn't have Measure G funds, both on our, not just our positions, but possible future projects that we have planned?

SO GOOD QUESTION. THE IMPACT WHEN WE LOOK AT WHAT WE HAVE IN OUR BUDGET, RIGHT, THE MEASURE ITSELF, THE BALLOT LANGUAGE AND THE IMPORTANCE SHOWS AN ESTIMATE OF APPROXIMATELY 30 MILLION. WE DON'T WANT TO OVERBLOW IT BUT THE BUDGET DOES SHOW 30-PLUS MILLION DOLLARS UP TO 40 BY 2030. When you look at our budget, if we're going to just estimate rough numbers, say we're $200 million general fund, so when you do those percentages, it's a significant amount. So the impact would be we would be looking at having a conversation with the council and the community on what we need to downsize or reduce. So the key positions that have been funded are employees, code enforcement, and so those types of positions have been funded by Measure G, so we've been looking at that. As far as projects, the parks projects that have been supported over the last several years that you got a lot of feedback today upon the public comment, whether it's Cluster Park, Hebron, and future projects like the District Five Rec Center and other things like that are really, they were done because of Measure G, it's gotten over the finish line because of Measure G, And future projects are totally dependent on MSG unless we find other funding sources, grants or other things like that, which we're constantly looking for. So we would have to have the conversation about those projects. There's been a lot of conversation about potholes and streets and so forth. So some of that goes into that as well to support not only the personnel, but some of those projects. So we would just have to have a conversation about where we adjust accordingly The reality is in 2026, if the council decides to place it in front of voters and it doesn't pass, we will have another bite at the apple in 2028. But to adjust the budget, by $40 million in a year is really difficult. And it's gonna be pretty devastating. So what you'll start seeing recommendations that are at my office if it doesn't pass in 2026 is that we need to start pumping the brakes on new projects or new positions that are dependent on Measure G. The council obviously makes the final decision. If we get to 2028, then at that point, if it doesn't pass, we're really recommending we can't add more and we're going the other way. And we will begin to have those conversations with the council on how do we adjust if it doesn't pass in November 2026, should you decide to put this on the ballot.

thank you and i do have those positions here so it's within community development there's 10 positions uh within finance right that's a support department that supports all of the department city-wide there's five within fire there's about there's seven positions so that includes um both sworn and non-sworn so admin staff also within hr that as you know supports our recruitment efforts city-wide library and community services they have a lot of rec rec positions funded um Park maintenance positions funded by measure G within police. There's 29 positions Both admin a couple of admin and but most of them are sworn Positions and then Public Works. There's 38 So it's across the board, maintenance workers, engineering, so various departments. So as you can see, this is a critical component of the city's general fund in providing those core services.

Great, and Mr. Callahan, the city can only provide information about how those revenues are utilized, not necessarily spend any money supporting the campaign for Measure G. So who would be tasked, or how would that, who would support the Measure G campaign?

So the city can certainly put out factual information similar to the question that you asked on the referendum. And the city will continue to put out factual information about Measure G and the impacts of Measure G should it not pass, which is appropriate. Normally what happens with measures like this is groups outside of the city organization will take up the lead in terms of campaigning for or against the tax measure. And so I think that's what we expect to occur here.

And I know I've seen that there's been some discussions that roads could still be repaired without Measure G or things could still move along. But the reality is that Measure G supports also public works staff and those projects. Is that correct, city manager?

That is correct. And as we know, most road projects have multiple funding sources. So not only does this support construction, whether it's SB1 funding, Measure X funding, the TAMC, and then the regional, and then also our funding sources. So it's kind of a dual. IT SUPPORTS THE ENGINEERS THAT ENGINEER THOSE PROJECTS OR MANAGE THE CONTRACTS THAT SUPPORT THOSE PROJECTS AND IT SUPPORTS OUR STAFF THAT'S ACTUALLY DOING SOME OF THOSE PROJECTS.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. I'LL SEE MY COMMENTS AFTER PUBLIC COMMENT. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. WE'LL GO AHEAD AND GO OUT TO THE PUBLIC.

HI. You know, I really want to support Measure G. I know we needed to pass, but what would happen if it doesn't? What would happen to all these jobs that we've created, that we've ghost job in some areas? Ghost jobs are jobs you guys have on the books that are not funded until they're hired. What happens? What happens if we stop letting you spend all the money the way you do? Why haven't we put the brakes now, Mr. Mendez? Let's pump them now. Let's not wait two years, you know, four years. Why? Let's do it now. Why do you put us in that predicament? Why do we try to fund stuff we can't afford? And our infrastructure is failing. And I don't see anything, none of that stuff said infrastructure. I know you get money from the state, federal government to help you with some projects. But now you want to put roundabouts everywhere. And those are expensive. We don't have the money for that. There's a lot of things that you guys are just spending money you don't have to. It's not an open checkbook. This is our taxes we pay. And District 2, no disrespect to anybody else, and our other district also, we pay all the taxes in the whole city. Pretty much. Pretty much. $12,000 a year in income tax. I'm sorry, in property tax, excuse me. That's crazy for a house I bought 20 years ago. Think about that, guys. Twelve grand. And where's the money? What have you done for Montemayor? Mr. Mayor Donahue? I mean, you came over and said, oh, I'm going to fix this and this and this. Nothing. You have done nothing, Mr. Donahue. You just acted like, oh, yeah, I want to do this and that. You're not telling the truth, Mr. Donahue. And honestly, I will not reelect you, sir. You will not be reelected, not by me. Thank you, God bless you guys, and good luck to all you guys. If I could elect all you guys, I'd fire all of you.

Good evening. My name is Eric Peterson, and I was on the Measure G Committee. And I might be the only one left for various reasons. And we can't assume this is going to be easy. It's going to be an upstream swim at best. for so many reasons. I also was involved in Measure K that's got 39% of the vote. So we've got to remember we can have catastrophes like that, too. One of the flaws of Measure G that we discovered when we read the fine print after the election is apparently, and correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently one meeting is required for the oversight committees per year. Everything else is staff doing a good job of doing more than required. We really need to have more meetings required just in case someday we've got a staff that doesn't want to call meetings. Another thing is several of you mentioned attendance. We started going to the meetings. We want to show it up for one, no quorum. One of them, we haven't seen the chair of the committee yet. She can make it here tonight, but she can't make it to the committee she chairs. Bottom line is please don't make any assumptions on this. This measure really needs to be rewritten to have any realistic chance of passing. And it's going to be a lot of work. We had a lot of work from firefighters in every measure we've done, which has been great. But it's really tough to get people to go out and do human billboarding on a regular basis or knocking on doors on a regular basis or anything else like that. Thank you.

Good evening again, my name is Lucina Navarro and I'm speaking on behalf of the Salinas Parks and Recreation Coalition. The coalition appreciates the city's efforts to renew Measure G and secure long-term funding for essential community services through Measure G. As organizations that serve youth, families, seniors, and neighborhoods throughout Salinas, we see firsthand the positive impact that investments in parks, recreation programs, facilities, and community spaces have on residents' quality of life. Well maintained parks and recreation services contribute to physical and mental health, youth development, public safety, and stronger community connections. They are among the most visible and valued services that residents experience in their daily lives. As these investments continue to expand park facilities, programming, and community use, it is critical that operational capacity keeps pace. Adequate staffing and maintenance resources are essential to ensuring these spaces remain clean, safe, and welcoming for the public. As the city considers the future of Measure G, we encourage continued transparency and accountability and sustain investment in services that directly benefit residents and strengthen our community. This includes ensuring that funding supports both capital improvements and the staffing needed to maintain and operate these assets over time. Maintaining this investment is critical to ensuring that Salinas remains a healthy, vibrant, and welcoming place for current and future generations. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Jennifer Vasquez again with Big Sur Land Trust. Over at Big Sur Land Trust, we understand and acknowledge the key role that Measure G plays within the city's budget and the role that it may continue to play as Salinas grows. I would like to reiterate, as Lucy mentioned, the importance of our parks and recreation system for our residents. Ensuring that parks and facilities remain clean, safe, and welcoming is essential to protecting these investments and meeting community expectations. As well as public perception of safety at our parks, both for residents and for visitors that are coming outside for different activities within the city. As the city works to ensure long term funding for these essential services, we recognize the importance of careful planning and responsible use of public resources. and we encourage consideration of how funding mechanisms like Measure G can support not only the development of these spaces, but also the staffing and long-term maintenance needed to sustain them over time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Peter Zelaya. As a former commissioner, I support renewing Measure G this November. To rebuild public trust, the renewal should again be limited to a 15 year term. The city's own survey found less than a third of residents trust the city. That skepticism did not appear overnight. Measure G was presented to voters as funding specific priorities in exchange for a higher sales tax. Yet because it is a general tax, the revenue flowed into the general fund and was used to pay for just about everything, making transparency difficult. Residents judge government by what they actually experience, the broken sidewalk, the potholes, the dark because of a dead streetlight. Trust was also damaged by U5 repealing the rent ordinances only months into office without clearly campaigning on that intention. The city did not look good. When council members have to ask, where's the Amazon $10 million, budget practices contribute to doubt. By trying to fund everything via deficits, the city prioritizes nothing, weakening performance in the area residents notice most. Measure G is no longer optional. Without renewal, police response times will worsen, infrastructure work will slow, and parks and neighborhoods will deteriorate. But renewal alone is not enough. The city must restore trust by focusing Measure G dollars on the visible core services residents rely on every day, and by demonstrating greater transparency and accountability. Salinas taxpayers are willing to invest in their city. They simply want proof their money is being spent wisely. And that is why I support renewing Measure G for another 15 year term.

Thank you.

Mary Ann Worden, I fought through this, gee, as you well know. We did get our police station, we did get our fire station, I mean people, firemen. But the main thing that people wanted besides the police department was Baranda Road finished. and our sidewalks, and I believe we were supposed to get a swimming pool finished and put it to the senior citizen. That never happened. That has never happened. The people that were fighting for it have passed away. We never got our senior center. Now if you want me to really fight and get people to, vote for this, then our finance that you're working on now, you need to make a bigger pie of that for our roads and our sidewalks. Because if you don't, you're not going to pass that G. Because everybody that I'm talking to Wonder why where there's not more money going into bra and I don't mean that little area that you put that crazy. Intersection. We never voted for that. We voted for the road to be finished. Get that road finished if you want more help from the city, because no one wants it. San Francisco City Street, I go there every Saturday. People cannot walk on that one street across from where I park, because they can't even park in front of the two homes that are there, because the roots of the tree is out in the middle of the street. plus the sidewalk. Get those things fixed, people, if you want Measure G passed. If you don't, it's not gonna happen. I hope it does, but it's not. And your committee members, you need to get something done.

Thank you, Mary Ann, appreciate that. Daniel Munoz, East Salinas resident. I got a real good idea, right? Measure G, raising the individual, the resident's taxes, it's not very popular, right? People don't wanna vote for that, right? Nobody wants to get their taxes raised, right? So why don't you guys propose an ag tax? How about that? How about you guys try to tax ag? We've been paying since 2014 for this Measure G. I think it's about time they pitch in. Come on, Dennis, your buddy Bruce. You should talk to your buddy Bruce, right? Maybe you should ask him if it's for approval for you guys to make a motion for somebody to second it. Because I mean, it doesn't seem like anybody on here is going to want to favor that. Well, maybe Andrew. Maybe even Tony, maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Tony's a maybe. Kind of on the fence about whether Tony would support something like that. But I know for sure that Taylor, I was going to say Taylor 5, but there's only four. The fifth guy is not here. Yeah, let's do an ag tax. That could generate a lot more money than this one cent for us to pay. Let's have them pay their fair share. It's been a long time, long time coming for ag to pay their fair share. They ship millions of boxes out of Salinas. tax per box let's do some studies let's do some data let's see how we can do that instead of squeezing and squeezing and trying to milk every single person in salinas for every penny that you guys can get let's try to get a little bit off of ag they're making billions billions of dollars with a b They could totally afford it. But I know the city of the Salinas residents, it's hard for us to afford even a penny, right, on these transactions. So that's what I propose. Let's do something popular. Let's try to put something that will pass. Because I guarantee you an ag tax, it will pass. Because it's not coming from us, it's coming from them. But Measure G, it's up in the air. So let's do something that might work.

All right, let's see if we have anyone on Zoom. Jacob Sandoval. Jacob, are you there?

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Jacob Sandoval, lifelong Salinas resident, local business owner, and chair of the Measure G oversight committee. I'm here to support the resolution to place Measure G on the ballot and continue the conversation about the future of our city. Measure G helps fund services residents rely on every day, including public safety, neighborhood improvements, youth programs, and other essential city operations. Maintaining this funding helps the city continue providing these services and plan responsibly for the future. I know some Members have suggested that measure G should include a sunset date I respectfully disagree, a sunset provision creates uncertainty and takes long term planning more difficult. If residents have concerns about spending priorities accountability should come to the democratic process election gives the voters opportunity to choose Council members who reflect their values and make responsible decisions about public funds. As someone who grows up in Salinas, these funds are vital to the future of our city. I urge you to support the resolution. Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

All right. All right, it looks like that concludes public comment and we will come back for final comments. And this is also an action item. Andrea, I'll start with you since we'll keep it in the family.

Sure. Well, first, I want to thank my Measure G commissioners who have always attended meetings. Thank you, Peter and Ms. Carvett. And yeah, I do think that it's incumbent upon the council members to make sure their commissioners are attending those crucial meetings. I also want to push for the fact that for the last two years, I've been mentioning that a lot of our committee meetings meet early. So getting participation from people who work is difficult. Some of those meetings start at 4 o'clock, and I know that there's been discussions about moving those to a later time, so not only those committee members, but the public can attend as well.

You know, I'm...

I'm in support of putting Mr. G on the ballot. But as a council member who represents District 5, by the way, District 5 probably produces the most tax revenue in the entire city. We have big shopping centers like Costco, Westridge, Walmart, the auto dealers. And we are finally getting some significant investment in District 5. So finally, some of our roads and sidewalks are being addressed, as well as more rec services. It's really difficult for me to tell taxpayers to continue supporting this measure that was meant to repair streets, sidewalks, public safety. Don't get me wrong, we're probably doing more this last two, three years, four years than we have in many years. But when I have streetlights that I can't get addressed on Cherokee or this one street line on Tulane or having to wait three or four years for some red zones painted, for some of these people who have been advocating for them for 10 years, it's really difficult as a council member to say, yes, continue funding this because it's gonna repair your streets and sidewalks. And I can't get potholes addressed when I can't get them addressed the right way. I've been trying to get potholes addressed on North Davis for the last probably year and a half, and it's really difficult for me to sell that tax measure to residents. I recently did a ride-along with a resident on Colton Drive, and apparently those sidewalks were only reported in 1998. Maybe I'm mistaken on the date, but we're barely addressing sidewalks, and those are still 10 years out. I know we're going to be taking some innovative approaches, but I've seen the city of New York City in the last three or four months take a really aggressive approach on potholes and And I know that we have a big backlog of CIP projects and the millions and millions of dollars, and one of the things I've been pushing for is to get more assistance in project management so we can move some of these projects. I think it would be beneficial if we took a real, real, aggressive approach on fixing potholes in our city, an unprecedented approach to fixing sidewalks and potholes in streets would go a long way to showing residents that we're really serious. We're only six months out, so people may say, well, now they're doing things. So I'm just struggling. I'm struggling. We need to be providing our residents a better quality product and I'm in full support because the reality is we need to measure G. I asked some of the questions so the residents can understand the importance that this has on our public safety, our infrastructure, our rec services, our code enforcement. So it's definitely a necessary thing and I hope the residents can see that and as always make sure you reach out to the city of salinas it's also disheartening you know uh Peter said the statistics that only one third of the city trust our government. It's really difficult and actually this speech almost aligned with my public comments because it's really difficult for residents to trust us when the mayor has consistently cut public comment, disrespected residents. It's really difficult when we made decisions to hurt our residents like repealing rent stabilization which affects their bottom dollar and then we want them to a tax measure, it's really difficult. It's really difficult when we see funding allocations to the welcome center or the whole arch thing that was gonna come before the council. It's really difficult for people to trust us. So I asked the council to really reconsider some of their decisions they made in the past. I know Matt Huerta said maybe you can consider jumping on supporting the rent stabilization issue. But there really needs to be a shift to the way the council does things and what initiatives they're supporting. I want to help a lot of organizations. I want to support a lot of nonprofit. I do. But our budget is showing a deficit. So I heard Daniel Munoz, I don't know if he's still here, speak a little bit about the mayor's spending habits on his previous thing. And we wanna say yes to everybody, but the reality is we also have a fiscal responsibility to make sure that we're being fiscally responsible with our budget and we're honoring the promises that we made to residents. So I'm gonna support putting it on the ballot and I hope residents get engaged and ask the city questions, but I also hope that there's a big shift in this council to prioritize the residents request. And to the folks pushing for more staff for our parks, I agree. I really agree because you know what? It was a good reminder for me as well that, and I think the half a million we gave to the Welcome Center could have easily funded two or three positions for our parks and rec department. So if the council wants to make a real change, they could take that funding back. And we've got a solution right there. It's $250,000 annually. That's probably enough fully loaded for two and a half positions for our parks. So I hope our city council makes the right decision on that, although I'm not optimistic that they will. But to the residents of Salinas, this is a really important measure for our city to even continue providing the basic services that we need. Thank you. All right, Tony.

Mr. Mendez, I've been hearing positive comments about things are finally getting done. And I know we have a ways to go, but I want to say thank you to you and your staff. The best message we can give if we want to pass Measure G is that we keep doing what we're doing out there where people can visibly see that we are working on the important thing, which is the infrastructure. throughout the city. It's getting done. And I know we have a few people that say we don't do anything, but there's a lot of things that get done. And I really appreciate, I don't know if Mr. Peter's still here with us, but I see value in his logic, but sometimes as well, We have to put things in perspective. When you're in government, and if some of you folks ever run for city office up here, you're gonna find out from the seat, you say, how come you guys aren't doing this? Once you sit up here, you're gonna find out how easy it is. There's government on top of government within government. And there's money that you may feel that should be spent on this, but it can't be spent on that. It has a certain place for it. So there's a lot of things involved. Sad thing about government, does move slow. And I think, yeah, to some of our comments that we heard from the people that we serve We gotta get out there where they can see that we are doing something. And with that, I am going to make a motion to support Measure G and use tax renewal to go on the ballot on November 3rd.

Second. Okay, we have a first and a second. Thank you, Tony. And Aurelia, I'll let you take it from there.

YES, I'LL BE SUPPORTING THE MOTION TO PUT THIS ON THE BALLOT. I HAVE MY PERSONAL BELIEFS ABOUT MEASURE G. I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT IT IS IN TERMS OF PROVIDING AND SUPPORTING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES IN THE CITY OF SALINAS. like our other election item for this November 3rd, REALLY LEAVING THIS DECISION UP TO OUR VOTERS IN TERMS OF HOW THEY FEEL. I THINK IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR RESIDENTS TO CONTINUE TO COME BACK TO US AND CONTINUE TO REMIND US WHAT OUR PRIORITIES NEED TO BE. AS I HEAR THINGS ABOUT FIXING OUR STREETS, ADDRESSING OUR POTHOLES, FIXING BROKEN SIDEWALKS, ALL THAT CONTINUES TO BE VITAL INFORMATION TO US AS WE LEAD AND PRIORITIZE OUR CITY YOU KNOW, PART OF ME DOES WANT TO TAKE A POSITION ON THIS AS A COUNCIL, BUT I KNOW THAT WE CAN'T. WE'RE LIMITED. BUT I FEEL AND TRUST AND HAVE MY CONFIDENCE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS THAT OUR VOTERS WILL MAKE THE BEST DECISION AS IT RELATES TO MEASURE G AND THE SERVICES THAT ARE COVERED UNDER, IN THIS CASE, THE TAX RENEWAL. That concludes my comments.

Okay, thank you. Gloria?

I will be supporting it because it's a very important measure to continue giving services, but I want to make this comment. I feel right now that the residents of District 4 and other areas of the city they want to see more reaction you know they're tired of of not not getting things done and i understand that because sometimes we get impatient you know we want them done now and I think that every time that we do a project or fund a position, that we do that social media, that this was funded by Measure G so that the community can see where the money is going to because sometimes they don't know. And I think we need to do that. I would like to see that done, okay? But that's what I'm hearing in the community is, yes, we're taking care of some potholes, but the community wants to see more done and they want it done in a timely manner. And I'm just hoping that we can continue to do, further outreach out in the community and to let our community members know that we're gonna get it fixed. And also, they also wanna know, when are you gonna fix it? That's a big question right now for my area, but I am going to support it and I'm going to do everything I can to do outreach to help.

Margaret.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think it's a lot more than just repairing potholes. From my experience, I think there's a lot of innovative systems that are out there in filling potholes. And I think a shovel and a bucket of gravel is not the answer. We've got to come up with better solutions that last longer and are more impactful. And a lot of the complaints I see, I go out and look at them, and it's not very good. Workmanship and that has to we have to find a better way to make it a better system. We don't want to just throw money at a problem, but we have to do it right. And I agree with Tony, you know, we're on the front line. So when people have a problem in their streets or sidewalks, we're the first ones to get the phone calls and, you know. Personally, we can't fix it. So all we can do is rely on our departments to take care of it in a timely manner and then communicate back to us that it's getting done. And I think our residents have been very patient. I think we've probably tried their patience a little bit too long. And so even though we are government, we need to speed up that system. And communication is really the key, is letting people know when it's going to get done and reporting back to them so that they know that not only that we're doing it, but that we're doing it right and we're spending our money wisely. And then I think for Measure G, education, getting the facts out there is really important. I think we all in this room understand the necessity of this measure. That our city cannot continue without it. And so it's not a matter of whether we do it or not. We have to, we have to support it. But again, like, people don't when you people don't want to pay for overhead, they want to pay for projects and for infrastructure. And certainly that's where I want the money to go as far as district 3 is concerned, because infrastructure and public safety are the number 1 concern that I hear in my district. And that's where I'm going to push to make sure that that. some more money goes towards that and i think we have to show them where that were the results and i love the idea that gloria had with um funded by measure g so that we get credit for the work that we're doing and we are doing it it's just not fast enough and we need to accelerate it that's my comments thank you okay thank you margaret

JUST A COUPLE THINGS BEFORE WE CALL FOR THE QUESTION. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THIS IS NOT A TAX INCREASE. THIS IS SIMPLY MAINTAINING THE CURRENT LEVEL AND LIKE MEASURE E WHICH HAD A SUNSET BUILT IN AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME, IT WAS VOTED TO KEEP THAT half-cent tax structure in place. Likewise, what this is, is because this expires in 2030, but the value of going in 2026 to the community, and I think Jacob Sandoval said it best, that if There is assurances of city financial stability in terms of current current revenue basis that that's a good signal because. People would not like to see the city go backwards on on public safety on infrastructure on on the court, the core services. So that's the value proposition. And as the city manager said in 20. we're getting out ahead of it. And the city, when it has had tax measures, it took a second time to get measure B passed to get that stabilized. So we do have the latitude also of 2028, but hopefully the sunset gets removed in 2026 because that makes sense. And the city is not running a deficit. That's not going on. And as I said at the last council meeting, in my mind, budgets are dynamic. There are guardrails in place. The reserves are in place. One of the hidden things that, you know, oftentimes when you see we're in closed session and we have to settle things, you know, There's no liability per se near term in terms of settling things. So the things that provide guardrails as the city moves forward, until we hear otherwise for the voters, and as we said in the earlier consideration item, I certainly have confidence And Selena's voters, when they're given the facts, I think they're going to be there and say, hey, let's keep moving forward. Let's do what we need to do for public safety. And Selena's, in answer to Andrew's questions, what's the breakout? You know, we all understand that a police officer is the service. But likewise, so are public works folks. Multiple funding sources contribute, but you do have to have crews to do the job. And no police officer doesn't show up on the streets in a vacuum. There's administration and supporting. elements to that and likewise in terms of public service. So if you look at the positions, 29 public safety, 38 public works, I think it's fair to say that the emphasis of public safety, public works has been addressed. And there's been, year after year, multiple oversight committees and councils. So I think on balance. Now, this council recognized when it passed its last budget, hey, we need to lean in as much as we can on public safety. on increasing infrastructure expenditures, and then also community development, which does contain, there's been a lot of concern about permitting, which is part of the process of how we support housing and business development, but it's also where code enforcement lies as well. So the council has been leaning into the degree we, degree we can. So from my perspective, I think it makes sense to go out to the voters early and say, let's get this settled. That'll be a confidence builder to ourselves, to our residents, to the folks who work for the city, and for folks who are considering investing in the city. So I'm certainly supportive of let's take this out to the community. And as Andrew asked the question, we can simply educate. Typically, groups come together, form an entity, because somebody who's You gotta raise money to buy the signs and do those sorts of things. So as a city and as a council, we can put this on the ballot and then the community takes it from there. I hope they will, I believe they will. And so with that, Patty, let's go ahead and call for the question.

MOTION MADE BY COUNCILMEMBER BARRETA, SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER SALAZAR. COUNCILMEMBER BARRETA? YES. COUNCILMEMBER DEL ROSA? YES. COUNCILMEMBER SALAZAR? YES. COUNCILMEMBER SANDOVAL? YES. MAYOR DONAHUE? YES. MOTION PASSES.

ALL RIGHT. VERY GOOD. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. WE ARE GOING TO TAKE A 10-MINUTE BREAK AND THEN COME BACK AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO DO TWO PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS. And we are going to proceed to public hearings. And we are looking for Orlando to talk about, update us on US Department of Housing and Urban Development Plan for 26, 27. And there he is.

Good evening, City Mayor, Council Members, and members of the public. My name is Orlando Reyes. I'm the Assistant Director for the Community Development Department. Today I'm presenting the City of Salinas Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Annual Action Plan, which serves as the City's annual strategy for investing federal housing and community development funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD. The annual action plan represents the second year of implementation under the city's 2025 through 2029 five year consolidated plan. It outlines how the city intends to utilize community development block grant or CDBG home investment partnership home and emergency solutions grant ESG funding to address some of the community's most pressing needs. This plan is a result of coordination with residents, nonprofit organizations, affordable housing developers, regional agencies, public service providers, and other city departments throughout the development of the consolidated plan, which this annual action plan is a part of. It reflects both the community's priorities and the city's long-term strategic goals related to housing stability, neighborhood revitalization, homeless response, economic opportunity, and quality of life improvements. The annual action plan is required by HUD in order for the city to receive and administer federal entitlement funding. The document identifies proposed projects, funding allocations, anticipated outcomes, and compliance with federal objectives related to housing, sustainable, suitable living environments, and economic opportunities. This year's plan continues to align with several adopted city initiatives and planning efforts, including the Strategic Plan, the Housing Element, the Chinatown Revitalization Plan, Alisal Vibrancy Plan, and the Parks and Rec's Library Master Plan. The resulting plan is designed to maximize the impact of limited federal resources by targeting investments where the need is the greatest while leveraging additional state, local, and private funding opportunities whenever possible. The next slide shows our timeline. The annual action plan follows a HUD mandated public participation and adoption schedule. The public review period began on May 2nd, 2026, and included bilingual public noticing, website publications, distributions through libraries, city facilities, and community partners. The City Council today is to consider adoption of the plan and authorize for submission to HUD. The final action plan must be submitted to HUD It's due by August 16th, however, staff must submit the plan by June 4th in order to allocate sufficient time. Part of this preparation of the consolidated plan, just to reflect, did include stakeholder workshops, community meetings, pop-up events, and surveys. All of that feedback is what contributed to the annual action plan, again, which is the second year of the consolidated plan. Collectively, the annual action plan reflects for 26-27 receiving between federal funds and program income approximately $2.23 million in community development block grants, CDBG, approximately $884,000 in home funding, and approximately $191,000 in ESG. These federal resources continue to provide critical support for affordable housing, public infrastructure, homeless response efforts, and community service throughout the city of Salinas. These allocations are meaningful, but it's important to recognize that the level community needs continues to exceed the available resources. Slide on the screen is focusing on CDBG and our funding recommendations. The proposed CDBG funding recommendations focus on four major priorities. The first is neighborhood revitalization, public infrastructure improvements, housing rehabilitation, and community services. As mentioned, staff consulted with city departments, public works, libraries, community service, economic development to identify projects that could benefit from the use of federal funds. On the screen above, what you'll notice is several activities and agencies. One of the major investment areas continues to be Chinatown, the Chinatown neighborhood, where the proposed funding will support ADA curb cut ramps, sidewalk improvements, and street light enhancements. These improvements are intended to improve accessibility, pedestrian safety, and overall neighborhood conditions. The annual action plan also includes funding for the replacement of aging playground equipment. at several of our public parks citywide. Prioritizing Central Park. In terms of housing rehabilitation program, it continues to be an important component in the city's preservation strategy. The proposed funding will support low-income homeowners with critical repairs addressing health and safety concerns, accessibility improvements, code compliance issues, and energy conservation upgrades. We are engaging with Habitat for Humanity as a potential partner for this program. Additional infrastructure funding is also proposed for the Alisal neighborhood, also known as the ANZRA, which includes ADA improvements for sidewalks, streetlight installations. The investments are targeted specifically for areas with some of the highest concentrations of low to moderate households and infrastructure deficiencies. There's also funding proposed for the fair housing and tenant landlord services administered by Echo Housing. These services continue to help residents addressing housing discrimination, eviction concerns, and mediation needs. And finally, funding is also proposed for the Salinas Outreach and Response Team, also known as SORT, which conducts direct outreach and engagement with unsheltered residents and connects individuals to supportive services and helps facilitate pathways towards housing stability. Collectively, all of these recommendations represent a balanced approach that combines physical neighborhood improvements with direct community and housing support services. Next slide on the screen is home funding recommendations. There are three on the screen. Home continues to serve as the city's primary federal resource for affordable housing development and preservation activities. Approximately 90% of home funding is proposed to support future affordable housing activities, including acquisition, rehab, and new construction. Consistent with prior years, the city intends to utilize home funding strategically. We could see by the amount, $884,000, we have to be strategic on how to fill financing gaps and leverage what we can with affordable housing developments and the partnerships that we build to promote housing. The action plan also includes a required Community Housing Development Organization, or CHOTO, set aside. This funding supports community-based nonprofits with demonstrated affordable housing development capacity and neighborhood engagement. So within the home category, there's a section that is a set aside for CHOTOs. The third funding recommendation is for ESG, also known as Emergency Solutions Grant, which focuses specifically on homeless response and housing stabilization. For fiscal 26-27, the primary ESG-funded activity is the SORT team. This program will continue to provide direct rental assistance combined with housing navigation, case management, and stabilization support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. We continue to also work closely in coordination with the regional continuum of care and other homeless service providers to ensure alignment with the regional homeless reduction strategies. The receipt and administration of HUD funding supports the following City Council strategic goals. They're on the screen. Economic development, housing, infrastructure, and public safety. Again, furthering the objectives of the 2025 strategic plan, which includes revitalizing commercially blighted areas through targeted initiatives and housing objectives to facilitate the addition of low-income housing. The City of Salinas has determined that the proposed actions described in this presentation is not a project under CEQA. However, any future discretionary actions may be subject to CEQA. All projects and activities funded with CDBG will be subject to the National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA. In terms of fiscal and sustainability impact, there is no general fund impact associated with this agenda item as available to the city of Salinas as an entitlement fund will be used to support these allowable projects. Staff's recommendations are on the screen. There are four. The first is to approve the fiscal 26-27 annual action plan and its submission to HUD. The second is to authorize the city manager to incorporate any necessary modifications resulting from public feedback. Third, to authorize the city mayor to execute all related agreements. And fourth, to appropriate the funding to projects and activities described in the fiscal year 26-27 annual action plan. That concludes my presentation and I'm open to answer questions.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Orlando. And before we start, QUESTIONS, COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL? ARRILLO, YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT?

YES, JUST WANT TO MAKE A QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT. BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER, I'M GOING TO INFORM THE COUNCIL, I'M JUST GOING TO RECUSE MYSELF FROM THIS VOTE AND I'M GOING TO STEP OUT. AS JUST PRESENTED, CITY OF SALINAS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, THERE'S POTENTIAL TO DO SOME HOUSING REHABILITATION. I'VE NOT BEEN PRIVY TO ANY CONVERSATIONS REGARDING ANY POTENTIAL WORK WITH THE CITY AS I AM CURRENTLY EMPLOYED FOR HUMANITY MONTEREY BAY. SO I THINK IT WOULD BE BEST TO JUST ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION ON THIS AGENDA.

THANK YOU FOR INFORMING US AND WE'LL LET YOU TAKE YOUR LEAVE AND THEN WE'LL PROCEED. Okay, good. All right, Margaret.

On the timeline, the Housing and Land Use Committee was canceled due to lack of quorum, which we've talked a lot about that tonight. Was their agenda basically to review this and make recommendations to the council at that meeting? Correct. Okay, so they haven't really weighed in on this subject at this point and won't be able to, I guess, correct? Correct. Okay, that's unfortunate. Because I looked to those committees for their recommendations because they're much closer to it than I am. Okay, so this is year two. So compared to year one, are these similar programs that we supported in year one in terms of the three different areas? of funding? I'm just curious if this is like, because I know you said it doesn't cover.

Yes, they're very similar projects, especially in the Alisal and Chinatown areas. We're continuing that investment in infrastructure improvement. The focus, because before the Sherwood was the Recreation Center was a project that is already funded. So now we're adding a new parks and recreation project, which is the installation of new playground equipment. um replacing antiquated so very similar projects the one thing that is new is the rental rehabilitation program which is not a new program to the city in the years past we did offer this program and similar to the first time the home buyer were bringing it back Okay.

And can you tell me a little bit about that program, the rental rehabilitation?

The residential, it's a new concept. And so I will turn that back over to Orlando. He's been taking lead on the conversations with Habitat. Thank you, Lisa.

So the purpose of the program is to repair, preserve, and improve existing homes for low and moderate income households. The development of the program is still in the works, but it is, again, to keep the aging housing safe, livable, and affordable, and stabilize for those who qualify.

Okay, thank you. I have no more questions.

So is that the rehab loan?

Say that again.

The rehab loan that we give to our community members if they qualify.

It's called a housing rehab program.

Yeah, it used to be called that. I don't know. Is that what it is, Lisa?

I don't know.

Yes, we're in the initial stages of exploring bringing something similar back. It may not be in the exact format, but we're focusing on how we can provide service through rental rehabilitation. It may not be through a loan, it may be through a partnership, other type of program. Well, that's wonderful that we're doing that. Yeah, and in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Yes. And then my question is, because there's community members here, going back to the LSL, you mentioned the LSL vibrancy plan, okay. And we said that the monies were going to go into that area for, it says here, lighting and the sidewalks. We're seeing some of that being done now in the LSL area. just so that community understands where the money is coming from. See, those are the important things that we need to get out because then people say, oh, you didn't do anything with that money, right? But here it is. That's what we're doing right now in the LSL area with these monies, right? Correct. Great. That's my only question right now.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Reyes, on the public works on the Alisal neighborhood revitalization, are you targeting a specific area in the Alisal, or is that just kind of broad?

There are mapped out locations where these improvements are taking place. So there's been a study, and from that study, there are locations that identify both the ADA, the new street lighting locations,

Great. And you know what, being that we're mentioning streetlights, you feel we're doing pretty good now in fixing all the lights now?

We're working on it.

Yeah? I mean, when we're working on it, do we still have several neighborhoods that are black?

So what we've been doing in partnership with Public Works is we're coming up with a strategy. So we did a lighting needs assessment for the entire ANSTRA, which covers East Salinas, the Alisal area. And we are coordinating with them to be strategic in aligning budgeting with projects so that we can move forward throughout the entire area to address lighting needs. And we're going to be taking a similar approach of creating a master plan, as you said, identified areas of need improvement for curb cuts, sidewalk repair, et cetera, in both Chinatown and the Alisal, so we can be queuing up our CDBG budget to align with projects and be completing them within that fiscal year, demonstrating progress.

Also on the Salinas Outreach and Response Team, under CDBG funding, how many people are on your team on the sort?

So currently there is a one sort coordinator and eight sort team members that conduct the outreach throughout the city and support housing navigation and services to our unsheltered community.

Okay, because I know on the other funding source, the ESG, you also have the SORT, but it's called Rapid Rehousing Program. Is that different?

Correct. And so the cost of the SORT program and providing the housing navigation services, which can include deposits, storage, even acquisition of some basic furniture for them to then move into a new home is all factored into the sort budget. So it's not just straight salaries.

And you know what, some of our critics, because there are some people who say that we're just going after the unhoused and making their life miserable. It sounds like we're being progressive as far as trying to assist them as best as we can.

correct we are that is that is the um the connection to resources and housing navigation is a priority for those that are ready for that step we the sort team when they're working with the individual they try to connect them with the resources that they're ready to receive yeah thank you andrew

What would it take for next year for us to consider applying for funds for like a tiny home village?

I would think some evaluation and research of what programs are out there. We would have to do a study on it to better understand what that looks like.

So I'm on the Housing and Land Use Committee, and we had a special meeting called, I didn't know Council Member Salazar was gonna step up, but at the two council meetings ago when we approved leave for Council Member Barajas, one of my concerns was that we would not have quorum to meet with some of these committees. I was assured that that would not be the case. And then bam, we have a housing and land use meeting, and then it gets canceled. There was a special meeting. So it was especially frustrating to see that canceled due to lack of quorum, which really just means Councilmember Salazar didn't show up. Because some of my feedback and questions related to that would have been, I'd like us to look at tiny home villages or The discussion for a sanctioned encampment has been discussed for many years and properly requested to be on an agenda. So has tiny home villages. And for the playground equipment replacement, was that for Central Park you mentioned?

Correct.

And is that project in line with our parks master plan? As far as our priorities?

I do not have the Parks and Master Plan in front of me, but we did coordinate with Director Lundquist on the selection of parks. So we did coordinate, and so I am working under the assumption that she, working through the Master Plan, identified those parks that were in need.

Yeah, and I only mention that because I know that I've had requests about improvements to Sherwood Hall and other parks. And I'll give you an example. One of the things I've been asking for is ADA compliance for a park in my district. And so, I mean, there's needs across our city, right? But I just wanna make sure, and I'd like to get some clarity if that is in priority order to our parks plan. And then for the eco housing, I know we're gonna be applying for an additional $100,000. for those tenant-right and tenant-landlord services. One of my previous questions was have we utilized all their services for this last year? I know that they were supposed to do district-wide meetings. I know Salazar hasn't had his. I don't know if we were also entitled to do a mayor's eco-housing city-wide. So do we know if we've exhausted those services for this year? Or do we still have credit for those services?

In terms of credit, I'd have to get back to you. We are actively using their services now. Again, the purpose of this is to continue helping both tenant and landlord service administration. It is part of their added scope that we're recommending this use.

I mentioned that just because I want to make sure that we're utilizing all our funding that we have allocated for that. Can you speak a little bit more about the housing rehabilitation and specifically what that program is actually going to do and the scope and a little more information for residents because the information you provided was just a little vague. I don't think the average person would understand what that entails.

Sure, as Director Brinton mentioned, again, it's a program that the city has had in the past. It is a program we're looking to launch again in the current. We are evaluating what that program looks like. In essence though, again, the initiative is really to help those that income qualify for health and safety repairs, repairs that preserve, improve their aging housing, provide livable conditions, help stabilize their homes. So as we know, there's in many other cities, as one example, again, the program is still being developed and formulated. Some cities tend to use these programs for those on fixed income seniors, for example. whose homes may have some conditions of deferred maintenance that they have no means to address. So these programs can be focused in that direction or they can be focused on a family direction all again in the context of being able to income qualify and that they're due to their limitations of funding they're able unable to address the life safety issues that are prevalent.

And Habitat for Humanity would be the facilitator of this program?

That is the conversation. Sorry, I didn't catch the last part.

So Habitat for Humanity would be the facilitator of this grant funding? I didn't understand the correlation.

That's right. So the conversation that's actively happening right now with Habitat for Humanity exploring their Exploring their knowledge because they are doing similar programs for other cities and being able to leverage their expertise for both the management of it in terms of the project management associated with each of those repairs and the oversight and intake process. So that is an active conversation that we're working through now in terms of understanding how they leverage their programs for other cities and what information we have from our previous experiences having held that program within the city. So by combining those two, we'll continue to explore a path on how that gets developed. But the intent is to have and lean on their expertise on this deployment.

We don't have a framework or an exact, like, did they give us a proposal? I mean, we're applying for funding, you know, we're applying for funding, and then if we get the funding, then we'll allocate it to this, but we don't have a full proposal what that will look like.

That's part of the conversations that are taking place now. They've begun to share some of the material of how they framed the program in other cities. I think Seaside is one of them. And between that and our program from the past, we're looking to see how we can merge those two to better outline the program.

Just from where I'm sitting, it's a little difficult to vote on an item when I don't understand the full scope of what the program may look like. So what clarity could you provide, Lisa?

So I think, from a perspective, I would approach it that you are agreeing. You're saying, in this plan, we are going to allocate the $450-some thousand towards this type of program. You're not blessing the program. You're not approving it at this time. We would be coming back to you when we have a program in place for your consideration and approval. This is just saying, yes, this is a program that we want to fund, an activity we wanna undertake, and we're gonna allocate X dollars towards that activity.

Okay, thank you for clearing that up. And then would it be possible to get an answer if, If in fact our parks master plan is in line with this playground equipment replacement.

So, council member, I did get a text from Kristen that says it is. It's part of the park master plan, and it's very high on the priority she's checking, but it was very high on the ranking from that plan. I just want to make sure, thanks. So I'll give you that specificity to the council, but that's what we have right now.

yeah yeah just just because you know we're all advocating for our district to get improvements now we have a plan and one of us is being told well that's really low on the priority list it's really important that we're we all have that uh that same opportunity to get funding so i'd really like that that clarity and if it's not then we probably need to re uh realign ourselves to that parks master plan

We will, similar. And the question on the lighting, this is for new lighting analysis, so it's not, you know, because it's one of our needs in that area. So this will provide new lighting for that area.

Okay, thank you. All right, let's go out to the public.

That you'll say that a multiple community. I just have a couple of questions So the LSL vibrancy plan So do we resubmit everything to? Selena City Connect to get proper Items repaired in that area. How does that work? I submitted many and never got any any Resolution on any of them. They just says oh it's been resolved and I call them I come down here and talk to you and permit center, and they tell me, oh, I went to a different department, and it gets lost. So how do you get that information of where to start? Do you want me to resubmit everything? I could do that tomorrow. I mean, I'd be happy to. That's one of my questions. Also, the project for seniors. Who applies for those projects for them? Is it their social workers? Do the seniors? Most of them are kind of out there. They really can't do a lot of that tech stuff you guys do now online. So who helps them with that? Good question, huh, guys? Nobody asked that. Also, park equipment. Who decides on the park equipment? People that don't live there? Have you guys asked the community what they would like for their kids there? Is there any community involvement? Ms. Britton, I mean, Mr. Reyes, is there any talk with the community? See what I mean with the transparency with you guys? You guys don't reach out to anybody. This is why nobody trusts you. Don't take it bad. It's not disrespectful. Don't take it personal, any of you up there. It's just you need to come real with people. You make up all these projects you want to do, which I'm for 100%. But you don't talk to anybody else but yourselves. And not even half of yourselves know what's going on either. You need to be transparent with the community. You guys have lost that touch. Please find your way back. Find your way back to Salinas. Thank you, guys. God bless you.

Buenas tardes, concejales y alcalde. Mi nombre es Marina Zarate. Vivo en el Distrito 2. Me gustaría ponerle su atención en la situación de vivienda en Salinas. Tenemos una situación difícil donde la economía es difícil. Si pudieran considerar en proveer terrenos asignados para construir viviendas para bajos ingresos donde la ciudad apoya con terrenos con precios accesibles para que para comprar y construir para nosotros poder comprar y construir con la ayuda de la ciudad donde hay ganancias para ambos ambas partes El residente de Salinas se compromete en pagar y trabajar para construir su casa. La ciudad apoya en tener terrenos de bajo precio y ayudar para construir. La vivienda es la prioridad número uno para esta comunidad. Esto fue el resultado de la encuesta del presupuesto fiscal 2026-2027. Por favor, escuchen, incorporen un plan de cómo este gobierno puede apoyar. Que los inquilinos sean dueños de su vivienda siendo Part of the una cooperativa de vivienda gracias.

Good afternoon city may city. Councils and Mayor, my name is Marina Zarate and I'm from District 2. And I want to ask you to please focus on housing in Salinas. It is very difficult. Economy is very difficult. And it is really hard because housing is so expensive. And there's no way to be able to buy a house. So I'm asking you to please help us so we can buy a piece of land that is affordable. because what we wanna do is we wanna commit. We wanna commit to be able to buy and be able to build our own houses, but we need the city to help us, giving us affordable land. um so the residents of salinas can stop being tenants and be owners so what we want to do is that if you can help us the city can collaborate with us so we can have an affordable piece of land so then we can build and we can commit to work and build our own houses this is something that is going to be beneficial for both parts and this and seeing that when we did the surveys for the budget of 2026 2027 housing was our number one priority so we want you to please help us so we can have a housing uh the community land trust or have a co-op of housings thank you thank you

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Nidia Soto. En la escuelita tuvimos una sesión informativa acerca de formando cooperativas. Nuestra comunidad está bien entusiasmada de poder llegar a ser dueños de su propia vivienda, dejar de ser inquilinos. Sabemos que participamos duramente y persistente en la encuesta del presupuesto y como dijo Marina, Vivienda sigue siendo la prioridad número uno para nuestra comunidad. Agradecemos la presentación de vivienda, pero ¿cómo podemos incorporar en este plan del presupuesto fiscal 2026-2027? ¿Cómo podemos representar y escuchar las voces de la comunidad en el tema de vivienda? Como pueden incorporar a ese plan, un tipo de apoyo para formar parte de cooperativas a nuestros inquilinos de Salinas y que pasen a ser dueños de su casa. Entonces esto, Tiene muchos beneficios. Beneficios como pasar más tiempo en el edificio, en la comunidad, disminuir la criminalización en el barrio, el vecindario en las cooperativas permanece más tiempo. miembros como muy comprometidos en formar parte de la toma de decisiones so entre otros pero tienen muchos muchos beneficios entonces como podemos hacer valer esta voz de la comunidad en este presupuesto vivienda es el tema número uno y escuchamos las ordenanzas escuchamos a las rentas están muy caras pero como podemos dejar de ser inquilinos y pasar a ser dueños. Gracias.

Good afternoon, my name is Nidia Soto. And a few days ago, we had a training about housing co-ops. The community is very excited about with that prospect, the fact of stop being a tenant and now being an owner. So we wanna know how we can help, how you can help us so this can be part of the budget. As we said, and Marina mentioned when we did the survey, housing was the number one priority. So we are thinking, how is it possible? We appreciate the presentation that they gave about housing, but we want to ask you in what way you can incorporate in the budget 2026 so that we can have a co-op of housings and we can incorporate this plan so you can support Salinas. This brings a lot of benefits to Salinas. First of all, we would stop being tenants and we would be part owners. It would be a building where people would last longer living in these buildings. Criminalization goes down. Neighborhoods are more stable and people are more committed because they're part of the decision making. So this brings a lot of benefits. So I would like to see how we can incorporate this in the budget, seeing that housing is our number one priority. And we've heard it on and on again about the ordinances, about rents being so high and how housing is one of the biggest priorities and troubles that we have in salinas so we want to ask you how you can help us to incorporate it in the plan so we can have co-op housings all right anyone on uh anyone on zoom claudia

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Claudia Rosas y vivo en el Distrito 6. and I am part of the Prósperos neighborhood base. I want to talk about the importance of our community being taken into account by this government and that based on the results of the polls of the budget 2026 2027, number one is housing. My family and I were evicted and now we face great challenges for the requirements to qualify to rent a house. It is very, very difficult. That is why this council must take into consideration the surveys. Housing continues to be priority number one. If they add to this housing plan, as tenants, we can stop being tenants and we can be owners of our housing, taking, forming housing cooperatives. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Claudia Rosas. I'm from District 6 and I participate with Thriving Neighborhoods. It is very important for our community and for the government to hear us. We need to let you guys know that you have to take in consideration what we say and also listen to the results of the survey that was done for 2026-2027. The biggest priority is housing. uh so you have to find a way of how we can stop being tenants and being owners my family was evicted and we're struggling to be able to find another house so the city council has to help us because we need to have a solution to this housing to this housing issue and add a way that we can become owners and have a housing co-op that will help us have a more stable home. Thank you.

Thank you.

Adriana. Adriana, you're on mute.

Keep moving. Thank you very much.

I didn't get most of that, but I got a little bit of a gist. Okay. And Adriana Garcia, she's asking for programs so we can learn how to be able to establish housing co-ops, that we need trainings that show us how to establish these co-ops so we can become owners, and hopefully you'll take this into consideration.

Okay, thank you. All right, that'll close public comment and we will come back to council for any final comments and then we'll be looking for a motion on this item. So, Andrew.

Sure, perhaps maybe next year we could look at ADA improvements, I know in our parks master plan, it lists ADA improvements and really, I think the word in our master plan is ADA enhancements, but it's not really an enhancement, it's a necessity for folks. There's a lot of issues at Laurel Park, walkways and restrooms are not ADA compliant. Also city manager, when you get a chance, if you could follow up, what happened with the $500,000 investment in the housing land trust? What that was utilized for and a status update on that my comments for the future are that I'd like to see funding for a tiny home village and I'd also like to ask the mayor to appoint another person to the Housing and Land Use Committee just to, in case we do have meetings, which I don't think we have anything scheduled, but if we need to have a special meeting, it would be helpful to have an additional person on that committee in case I need to miss or Salazar needs to miss. That way we can maintain quorum. Sure, absolutely.

Tony? Mr. Reyes, thank you for your report, and Ms. Brinton as well. Mr. Callahan, I want to make a motion. We have four points here. Do I have to read the whole thing?

No, you can just make a motion to approve staff's recommendation.

Thank you. I would like to make a motion to approve the staff recommendation. And I think we're off to a great start. I'm glad we have a good group of sort. You know, I would like to, because we do get criticized a lot that we're not good with on house, but it sounds like we're doing a considerable amount of work trying to protect people as well. And you know, I just saw a report from Los Angeles just real quick where they did a cleanup and they found an infestation of rats and I mean, where people were getting sores because of these rat bites while they were asleep or intoxicated or under a substance. And these are serious things. So I just hope along with this work that you're doing, I hope people take it into consideration when there is cleanups is because of health issues, pretty serious. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony.

Gloria. I like the idea. I think going back to in the past, we have talked about tiny homes and housing are unsheltered. And I agree with you, Council Member Sandoval, but that, I think we need a report from Economic Development, Lisa, I don't know when, but in the future, soon, on tiny homes, because this was brought up years ago, probably Council Member Barrera I will remember. We need to be updated on how could that happen? How could we get the funding to make that happen? Because we could just talk about it, but we need to know. An acquisition of land, where would we get it? All these things that need to be talked about, I think that's, I'll support Council Member Sandoval on this, that yeah, we need to bring this back and we need to be educated on what other cities are doing presently. Yeah, because right now we're just moving our unsheltered and we have them in the neighborhoods. And right now I have a big encampment behind Laurel Heights. And I know the city is doing everything. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you to SORT. but the residents, they want action now, like I said before, and I don't blame them, but we have to remember that there's a process to everything, but I'm doing everything I can, and I know the city is doing everything they can resolve the problem, but again, we need to look at that and where would we get the funding? And I like the idea about what was brought forward right now by BHC on looking at co-ops, but maybe it can happen in this budget, but I think we need to bring that back also. How could that happen? I know there used to be Joe Serna funds for farm workers. That needs to be also that information given to us as a council because it has happened in other cities. And CCA, they were able to build Morocoho. They built their homes. They were farm workers. So those kind of things, I think maybe in that committee, the land use, maybe those things can be brought up. You know, I'm just talking about it. But anyways, those are the things that I see. But I thank you, Mr. Orlando Reyes. And thank you, Lisa, for the report. And yes, I'll go ahead and approve. But before I approve it, sort. the comment on sort, all I would like to see is periodically for them to come and give us a report. How many did they house quarterly? Because that's what the community wants to hear. And also I wanna hear, what did you do in three months? That would be nice for them to do. Give us a report. How many did you house in three months? But I will be supporting it, thank you.

Margaret. I'm assuming that was a second for Council Member Rivera, okay. Otherwise, I was gonna do that for you. Okay, I agree. I like the creative thinking of the co-op. Again, there's a lot of questions behind that. Where do we find land in the city of Salinas right now? But these kind of things are great, and I think that it's wonderful that the community's coming together and looking for different opportunities. Obviously, $700,000 homes are not in everybody's budget, for darn sure. We've got to get creative with mobile homes, modular homes, tiny homes, and a variety of all of the above. So hopefully we can begin to work on that going forward because we need a variety of different types of housing out there. And I think those are my only comments. So thank you for the report. It was very thorough and look forward to getting some new playground equipment. I think Central Park is a very highly utilized area in my district and I think they will be very appreciative of the efforts being done there. So thank you.

Um, before we call for the question, I was going to say this for my closing comments, but I. Um, I, I, you know, the B. H. C. Interest. In co-ops, uh, it so happens on Sunday, uh, the Alisal country estates. Celebrated the fact that they had become an. an owner-owned co-op and that the 82 units in Alisal Country Estates actually purchased the estates. And Joe Cerna funds were involved. And the group is the Cooperative Housing Outreach and Development Group, and they were out of Davis. The willing seller was somebody who owned the property out of Hollister. So there's willing sellers in terms of opportunities. And then the request for land and building, that's a different conversation. But I think the owner housing co-op concept I think one could easily make a case that it's an idea whose time has come. And what was interesting visiting their celebration, and they were celebrating, was besides the investment in their future and their families, and they wanted predictability of rent because now all of a sudden they're the owners. So they actually, I was told, they raised their rent a little bit because that became part of the cash flow for how you pay it off. So they were in the game, but proud as heck that it was theirs. And so I really thought that was an exciting thing to see. So I think your idea is an excellent one. Once you shift to having building, it becomes a different conversation. But I certainly, and I think you heard from the dais, there's strong interest in, hey, where could that, that concept go, because it really seems to be very timely. So I appreciate the input, and I just wanted to share that that, in fact, actually just happened in Salinas. So with that, I think we have a motion and a second. And, Patty, would you call for the question?

I have a motion by Barrera. I didn't catch the second for that one.

De La Rosa. De La Rosa, thank you.

Council Member Barrera? Yes. Council Member DiRigo? Yes. Council Member De La Rosa? Yes. Council Member Salazar? He's recused. Sorry. Council Member Sandoval?

Yes.

Mayor Donahue?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Okay, thank you. All right. We are now looking for Lisa Murphy, who is going to talk about a request for a name change for the ITC to Salinas City Heritage Park.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Lisa Murphy, Assistant City Manager. The item before you is a request for a name change of the Intermodal Transportation Center to the Salinas City Heritage Park. I'm going to shorten it to the ITC. As you know, the city owns the ITC, which is located at Station Place. The ITC is a nine-acre area located around the city's central passenger rail and encompasses several historic attractions and parking for the transit station. A request was submitted to rename the site to the Salinas City Heritage Park. It was submitted by the Heritage Park stakeholders. This item has been to the Library and Community Services Committee and they have forwarded onto you for your consideration pursuant to a process for naming city buildings and facilities in accordance with an ordinance established in 2011. So the Heritage Park location, which is the location being requested name to Heritage Park, is just the buildings that are along where the Amtrak station is. And as you know, there are several buildings there that are historic. Southern Pacific Freight Building, which houses the Welcome Center. And in a portion of the building is the storage in the back portion of the building. And the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad Museum is located there, as well as the first mayor's house. And what I'd like to do is to turn it over to the stakeholders from the Salinas City Heritage Park for a brief presentation.

to get my legs working. We've been sitting for a while. Yes.

Just FYI, five minutes. Okay, fine.

Denise Estrada, I'm the spokesperson tonight for this important issue. The stakeholders of Heritage Park know that formalizing the name of the site is critical to the revitalization of the historic center of Salinas. This is where the growth of Salinas' agricultural economy first merged with the railroad transportation towards economic development. It's the site of Salinas' first park and the location of the first California rodeo. Site businesses grew with economic catalysts of the Southern Pacific Railroad to help Salinas now become the seat of county government. Heritage tourism can be an economic asset to Salinas. As visitor numbers increase, so do the economic benefits to Salinas. Formally naming this site allows us to expand market potential. The name is consistent with city policies and the recognition of the site as a city historic park fulfills general plan and parks master plan goals and objectives. As a city historic park, there's no cost to land acquisition, and it's already being operated and maintained by knowledgeable, dedicated staff. The Salinas budget, I so well know as department director responsible for the parks, is historically always insufficient to fund this park's needs. However, as a historic park, it is eligible or would be eligible for grant funding from state and federal sources to be able to provide the capital work that needs to happen there. We are not here asking tonight for money. We're asking for a name that will allow us and possibly even a status that will allow us to apply for additional funding as one of your historic parks. The only last statement that I'd like to make is that in the review of the report, the staff report, it says, Any new signage costs will be borne by the applicants for the name change. Wayfair signage finding had been removed long ago and has not been replaced. So there's no name signing to be changed at this point. The private investors have already given us $30,000. We've spent that on the wayfinding signs for the Welcome Center. Additionally, we raised $10,000 for the historic banners that will be designated with the name along the row of the historic buildings. So thank you.

Thank you, Denise. Okay.

That concludes our presentation on behalf of the applicants. And we turn it back to the Council.

OK. Very good. All right. Margaret? Any questions, comments?

Actually, I think Denise answered my question. I was going to ask about the banners, which I think is important for people being able to find you properly. And I think there'll be more signage coming on the way as well. But thank you for raising some public funds to cover for that. So I think that's important for us as a council that we have public and private money coming in to support this project going forward. So thank you for your presentation.

Gloria?

Denise, so you'll be putting banners and so when people come into our city, they'll be able to find the historic, you know what I mean? We're going to have signs to direct them where the,

The money that we have raised is sufficient already to bring people to the Welcome Center. The money for the banners will place large banners visible in front of every one of the historic buildings. It will not fund entry signage or any other monuments that would designate that you are now in a historic site or in a transit center. That would be something for future plans. We are very optimistic that the investments that we're making in this site there will also help encourage further investments that will get the ball rolling on funding for additional improvements there, including signage.

Just to clarify, it is city owned. There are no signage markers there presently. And that would be the city's responsibility. There are no way finding signs there, so.

Okay, that was my only question. Thank you.

Aurelio? Yes, I was outside for a portion of the presentation. I did want to ask, were there any other proposed names other than Salinas City Heritage Park?

No, this was a request that came directly from the stakeholders. It wasn't something we put out there as a proposal. Somebody come forward and please name this location. That wasn't something we were pursuing.

That is correct. However, over the past three years, our community meetings and discussions have come up with a few, including naming the site after somebody who is a very prominent contributor, Ruth Andreessen, who passed away as part of that. And the name has been now chosen. CAME AFTER MUCH DISCUSSION WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND THE COMMUNITIES, THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ATTENDED OUR MEETINGS. SO WE'VE HAD A NUMBER OF OUTREACH. ALSO THERE HAVE BEEN MEDIA ARTICLES ON THIS AS WELL.

AND THEN IN TERMS OF ITS CURRENT NAME, KNOWN AS THE INTERMOTAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER, WHAT'S THE HISTORY BEHIND THAT NAME?

predates me where that name actually generated from does not predate me because i was on the planning committee at that time as a city employee that was in large part at the direction of the transportation agency that was really developing the transportation aspects there and so that went through uh community input many years ago because i've been retired for 16 years so i do know that that's a long-standing one nobody even knows what itc is now but i do haven't been on that committee with tamsie i'll go ahead and conclude my questions there thank you okay tony

Is it possible to, Ms. Murphy, is it, Heritage Park would be the historical buildings, is that right?

That's correct. It's two parcels, really. There's the parcel that is the parking lots, and then the parcel with the buildings in the Amtrak building.

Because one of the, what I would like to discuss Because I know people in the transportation business, whether it's MST, which I'm a board member of, and other entities, know it as Intermodal Transportation Center, ITC. Is it possible to keep that area that's used for transportation? I know to miss Estrada's point, naming it Heritage Park would bring market potential for funding, but would it be complicated to say, okay, the buildings and yeah, the banners and all that, that's Heritage Park, but that's ITC as well. Would there be an issue with that?

I think that decision rests with the council to decide. Do I think it might cause confusion? It could, but I think you could also structure signage that could incorporate both. I think there's a lot of possibilities.

Well, I think as far as the name ITC are people that are already using it for transportation issues versus honoring the historical buildings. from the Welcome Center all the way to the Mayor's House being Heritage Park.

You could certainly do some sort of hybrid name, if you want. You can do some type of, well, I'm going to say wayfinding, so that would have, incorporate what it is that's there, that there's a train station there, you know, there's the train, there's the bus that comes through there. So I think there could be a way to incorporate that together.

I'd like to know some of that, maybe from the I know the staff has not given any recommendation, but I would like to see how that's looked. And Mr. Estrada, Mr. Mayor, are we allowed to ask questions to Mr. Estrada or Ms. Brown?

I think the answer is yes, because Lisa's essentially brought in Denise as her staff support.

I guess, Mr. Estrada, some of the conversation has been Yeah, at this time, it's changing the name, but then later on, potentially, your stakeholders would start looking at rezoning the area. Is there a possibility on that?

That's never been something that's been discussed at any of the stakeholders meeting. And let me be very clear. The stakeholders understand that that center is very critical to the growing transportation needs here. We are not in opposition of the ITC being LOUDLY IDENTIFIED AS A TRANSPORTATION CENTER. WE SUPPORT THAT. WE THINK IT'S CONSISTENT AND HAS BEEN FOR YEARS THAT THE RAILROAD AND THIS HISTORIC SITES HAVE LIVED NEXT TO EACH OTHER IN HARMONY. WE REALLY WANT TO PROMOTE BOTH AND ADVOCATE FOR THE COMING RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS THERE. as Lisa had pointed out, there are means to identify both very clearly so that there is no conflict with that. Clearly Amtrak is almost as invisible as we are there. So there needs to be signage loud and clear that you've now reached the depot and the transportation center as well. So we're certainly not opposed to that. And how you get to that point, It could be up to engineering staff and the city council to decide.

Well, I was there yesterday at the Welcome Center. I met a family from Los Angeles and I met a family from Oregon. And I asked them, how do you know about this place? Oh, the sign's up on the freeway on 101. So people that are looking for the Welcome Center will find it. Once they're there, they'll see the Heritage Park banners. But on the other side, and I want to support Heritage Park, but I also want to support, being that I'm a member of MST, I would like to see Ms. Murphy and your knowledge and wisdom, how we can bring both together in unison. Because actually, it's like you say, ITC, a lot of people don't know about it, but it's the people that are involved in the transportation that would identify it as such. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

Well, I do think they can live in harmony together. I think it is important that we do, as a city, do the proper signage for what that location is, and that hasn't been done. So we need to take proactive steps to identify that with signage and say what's there.

Yeah. So do you think it's possible to put the right sign, hypothetically, whatever this council decides, this is hypothetically got the Heritage Park banners, you identify the mayor's house, the Welcome Center, the other historical buildings. Once you get there, you see it, but at the same time, the people that are involved in the transportation, They'll know it as ITC, whatever, they wanna say Heritage Park or whatever. That's where my concern lies as well.

Right, and I do think we need to take the steps to put the wayfinding signs and to put entry signs as you come in that say what it is so people are not confused by it and have That's our responsibility and that needs to happen.

Absolutely. Yeah. So I think we just heard from Ms. Estrada rezoning and is off the question because if that was the case, we won't have much say so on that.

You would have a ton of say so. It would go through the planning commission. It would go through the entire process. It would be a much more lengthy process.

We're not interested in that.

It's never been discussed. I mean, this is a surprise to me. It hasn't been discussed, and I don't know if there's value to that. Certainly not for Heritage Park. We're fine with the zoning that's there now. Thank you.

Andrew?

I am a little bit confused because I was reflecting back three years ago when there was a proposal to get banners and renaming and there was conversations about rezoning. And I thought in the conversations we had at our briefing, you did mention that one of their proposals was to rezone the area.

They weren't asking for rezoning. I don't know how the zoning piece came in there. The letter that we had received was to not only the name change, but it was also the idea of either making it a park or a historic designation. And those two things are not being considered.

Right. But considering it, I mean, making it a historical site would give, would cause by default restrictions on the way it could be used by the city and the public?

We haven't explored that. The council hasn't given us any direction to move forward to explore what it would mean to consider one of those options. And certainly, we would bring that before the council, if the council directed us to do the research and find out what are the advantages and what are the disadvantages to either of those options.

I guess I'd like more clarity. I mean, if we designated a historical site, what impacts does that have so council member um just assuming the council decides to change the name to salinas city heritage park that does not elevate the area to being a historical site correct i understand i'm just asking if there was a move because like i said this this kind of goes back three years and and there was an attempt or uh lobbying to make that a historical park designation so what implications would that have on use by the city and the public

I think as I stated earlier, if the council so directed us to research that, we would do that. I'm not prepared to give you what the impacts are until we actually did the research to find out what would the implications be.

Right, it's because in the presentation I heard her say that by making this change, it would open them up to funding and other possibilities and grant funding. but the name Historic Park has already existed for many years. It's already part of their branding. And so I don't see the correlation between us changing the name to open up funding. It almost seems like if it was a designation, that's what I heard in the initial presentation from the petitioners was that the park and the name would open up funding opportunities.

I think maybe what Mrs. Shutter- I can clarify. A city park is eligible for a number of grant funds. There's one open right now, $188 million is out there for city park restoration and establishment of new parks. We are not currently a park, official park. We can't apply for that. So what we're saying is looking at the needs there, if we were a city park, then we could be out applying for that to address some of the funds. Now, there's a local historic park, which isn't terribly restrictive. There are designations that the individual buildings could go to. An original idea the city floated in the 80s was making it a district. All of these would have different impacts. So as you said, that's a different discussion, but we are anxious to include this in the city parks so that there will be funding eligibility and we won't be coming and saying, you know, we need funds for whatever capital project is there. If it was the city park, the eligibility bill would be there. Doesn't mean we're going to, be able to get the funds, but at least we'd be able to apply. Currently, we are not eligible. We are not a city park.

Correct. And let me just interrupt. And even with the change of the name, it would not elevate the area to being a city park.

That's correct.

Okay. And then what was Tamsie's feedback on this? I know that that station, you know, the name and all the movements towards it. I mean, what was Tamsie's feedback to the name change?

I sent them a notification, Tamsie, MST, a number of different, and I never heard back.

Right, and what would be the financial implications, if any, to either us or Tamsie if the name change happens?

If the name change, there's no implications that I am aware of that by just changing the name.

Right, those are all my questions, thank you. Okay, thank you.

All right, let's go ahead and go out to the public on this.

Good evening. I don't see how we have to change a name on a building with stakeholders that have all the say in it. What about the rest of the city? I don't get it. We're the taxpayers. Why weren't we not included? I don't know what meeting she's talking about. I was never invited to anything. It's not on social media. It's not on your CN City Connect. It's not anywhere. Where did you guys post this? Because I don't believe we should be able to name things without letting other people have a shot at what they want it to be, to represent a stakeholder, someone to put money in. I mean, if that was true, look what we're trying to do with Cesar Chavez's name. We're trying to Get rid of it. And it's going to happen in a few months, I know, or next year or this year. We're just going to get to it. Why do we do that? Why do we name it after people or after people that donated money? Why? We wind up taking care of it anyways, right? We're doing the signage on it, how to get it there, how people are going to get there. Why change something that's good already? Why reinvent the wheel? I don't get it. But you guys allow this, and this is, we got more important things to do with our city time than rename a park. Really? Come on, guys. We have a lot of problems in this city. We're dealing with this right now? You got people past their bedtime here that shouldn't be here to rename a park. It's ridiculous, I'm sorry. I hate to be the person to bring it up. If you're going to do something like that, involve the community. Not just people you want to involve. I'm sure they didn't reach out to the residents there. And if they did, I don't see any of them here. I never see these people at public meetings. They never come to the meetings. They're never here. Do they even live in Salinas? Good question, huh? A lot of us don't. Well, God bless you guys. Have a good night. I say no.

Good evening. My name is Eric Peterson, and I just have a question. In recent years, TAMC has spent a pile of money in this area, a very large pile of money, and a lot of good work by a couple of really good TAMC employees. I'm just wondering if TAMC does have an opinion. The mayor is on the TAMC board. Maybe he could ask at the next TAMC board meeting. But I think I know everybody on TAMC staff, and I don't see any of them here. It would be a really good idea, as invested in that area as TAMC is, to get their opinion.

Thank you.

I'm Marianne Warden, and I'm probably, except for Dennis, remembers when the Mayor House was, down the street over here, and then it was on Roaming Lane, and we had it as a haunted house for Halloween and went into it. And our railroad engine was here at Central Park. Now, my kids behaved, and when we went down shopping, they got to go on the train, go right on the train. A lot of people that I speak to from out of town do not know that we have the mayor house here. People who live even in the city does not realize that's the first mayor house, and that the train and the depots is there at the depot. I think it'd be a really nice idea to call it the heritage place because we have our heritage for the county out on Baranda. We have the ones down in King City with all the other heritage things down there. We have nothing right here in town, nothing. And we have that beautiful mayor's house, which the kids from the classrooms come over here to see it, especially in the springtime. And then the trains, but a lot of people don't even, have not even been inside that train to see the men have made the tracks there, and they have sprinkles, they have all the little towns around here that they have in there. I'll bet you, and you guys haven't even been in it. But we have beautiful things over there that... We should be promoting. So don't throw that away. We've got rid of a lot of things down here. I remember the beautiful homes that were down here. I don't want to keep you guys, but Sunday is our Portuguese Pentecost. The parade's at 10. The mass is at 11. And the food's at 12. So you're all welcome. Thank you. I came back after my dinner tonight.

Mary Ann, I don't want you driving. You can clap for Mary Ann.

Okay, good evening, City Council. At this point, really, after, I don't know, what is it now, five hours? I'm probably having brain freeze, so I'm just gonna read my notes. I know I'm not popular anymore on the Historic Resources Board because I'm considered kind of a Benedict Arnold for not going with the status quo. I'm just going to say here that the factors to be considered in naming properties according to your guidelines are one, naming begins early in development. The Welcome Centre has not shown a plan for a new development. Two, name shall be appropriate. Well, ITC is transportation. It's been a train station since the 1800s, so I don't know what's inappropriate about that. It's not a park. It never has been. It never will be. Points of entry and exit on the busy Market Street, where they're going to put an MST transit center, That is just a recipe for traffic jams and non-com traffic, which is not indicative of heritage or historic resources. How much time do I have? 10 seconds. I don't know. The only justification that I've heard since November for changing the name from ITC is that they thought that Intermodal Transportation Center was a clunky name. Well, that's not enough of a justification to go through all of the implications of changing the name of a property.

Thank you.

Hi, Larry Smith from First Mayor's House. That was the first park in Salinas in the late 1880s. It was called Bremen Park. As far as the name Salinas City Heritage Park, when Salinas City first came into being, the title was Salinas City, not City of Salinas like it is today. So that's why we went with City of Salinas Heritage Park, to keep it in the historical context of the area. Thank you.

Thank you.

Salvador Munoz, I'm a historical preservationist and member of the HRB. What's in the name? Can we remember, let's have a good example. We have the Golden Gate Park. Do you remember how many entities are within the park? museums, concert halls, parks, houses with a thematic like the Japanese gardens and everything. That's in the family of getting the historical heritage of the area. And what's for Salinas? Changing the name. That's exactly the place with the first seed that was the foundation for our great city and the agricultural businesses that we have in the area. All those entities can be within the park. They will not change its identity. They will not change putting their name on it. It's part of the historical family of Salinas. we got the very first mayor's house that became a city. It was founded with the idea from the railroad, they said, we will put the depot in this spot if you create your city. And that became the very venue that change the future in the path of agriculture, creating the very first in diversified products, agricultural products and technology. Thank you.

My name is Kent Seavey. I was a historical coordinator for the County of Monterey and was involved in the initial development of the park in King City. Intermodal Transyl Center as a function of the national National historic preservation has been used throughout the country Santa Barbara if you go to Santa Barbara, you'll find it there The idea of Heritage Park is that this place via transportation was also part of the Anza Trail on which my family traveled. And it is also, through the California History Center, an expression visually and in exhibit form of the populations who have existed here over time. particularly the Hispanic portion of time, and into the American acquisition. It is transportation, it is the development of Salinas, Believe me, the Camino's Tale is gone for anybody who remembers old Salinas downtown. But now you have a center that you can see it all. You can see the product of agriculture. You can visit the trains. You can go aboard and enter cars that have been Furnished in their period style. And then you can go over to the next one, the REA building, and see the railroad games that they play. It's Monterey County on the railroad. And then you go to the first mayor's house and understand the source of the place. It is a heritage. a compilation, a heritage center, and is the City of Salinas Heritage Center, then you should name it.

Yeah, thank you. All right, anyone else from the public?

All right, let's see who is on Zoom. Okay, I saw a hand and then it disappeared. Okay, Don Chapin, please. Don, you have the floor.

Mr. Mayor, can you hear me okay? Yep, we can. Yeah, thank you very much. Really appreciate your time tonight. As you know, there's a group of local business folks who are very interested in moving forward the transportation the visitation and the the heritage of salinas we have a gem and a jewel down there we're not asking you to make it a city park we're only asking you to allow us to use a name that really represents what it is it is it is the heritage of salinas it's where salinas started we need to take that and we need to run with it we've got great opportunity got great runway we've got a great vision ahead of us and i think we have what it takes to make it happen uh we're asking for the name so that we can have something to market and so that we can really press that out all the way up and down the coast and the state of california the united states of america and the world because we want everybody and their brother to come to salinas and we want them to know why they're coming they're coming to a place that's special full of heritage, full of historic value, full of what makes America great. And that is why we need to be here. uh i i can tell you that uh denise has done a great job presenting i appreciate that denise very much and we appreciate the city and all of their partnership the city owns this property i might remind you we're tenants then we are very interested in very eager tenants to move the needle forward and we really appreciate the continuation of the public private partnership that we have began recently and we could continue to move that forward and we could really make a difference so it's a great opportunity i really hope that the city council will consider this and uh make something happen there i think it's it's we have a lot of work to do the itc is not very fancy uh it's not a great game i'm sure that there will have more discussion about that but we have to start someplace this is a great starting spot okay thank you don okay are there any

All right. Any other hands? Okay. All right. We will close public comment and we will come back to this. Well, that's what I'm trying. Colleen, are you, did you want to speak or not? I've seen the hand. Okay. You are there. Okay.

Colleen, go ahead, please.

Colleen, do we got you?

Colleen.

Mayor Donahue, can you hear me?

Yeah, now we can. You're set. Go ahead.

I'm so sorry. Technical issues. Good evening, Mayor and City Council members, City staff. Colleen Bailey here, CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce. I just want to say that I am in support of the proposed name change of the Intermodal Transportation Center to Salinas City Heritage Park. because it strengthens the recognition and preservation of an important historic resource within our community. Historic places are more than landmarks. They preserve our shared cultural heritage, tell the stories of past generations, and help maintain the unique identity that distinguishes our city. A name that more accurately reflects the park's historical significance can increase public awareness, encourage heritage tourism and support local economic activity. Historic areas also contribute to community pride, neighborhood revitalization and sustainable development by promoting the preservation and reuse of existing resources. by adopting this name change the city demonstrates its commitment to honoring local history while investing in a stronger more resilient future i encourage approval of the proposed change thank you so much okay thank you colleen okay uh we will go ahead and uh close goes public comment um andrea i'll start with you on this

Sure, well, some of my concerns about rezoning or the impact of this change seem to have been addressed. I'm disappointed that TAMSI hasn't weighed in. At the end of the day, TAMSI has invested significant dollars into the transportation aspect of it. I did see the letter from MST, not necessarily opposing the name change, but just expressing concerns about making sure that the intent of of what the intermodal station means was to be honored. You know, since we did have Don Chapin on the line and some members from the Welcome Center. I do want to reiterate that they mentioned private public partnerships, but a partnership means that you communicate with your partners. I made a request from the Welcome Center for financial information and I have not received it and it's really disheartening to not have that level of transparency and cooperation. I'm making it public here that I expect that information to be provided as we are one of your partners. I appreciate the historical information from the public speakers and those that tied in deeper history going back much more than I had considered, so I appreciate that. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I'm ready to entertain a motion on the name, but at the same time, I need, because I don't want ITC, you know, some people might not make a difference, but the people that are in that industry, whether it be busing, trains, whatever it is, that's an important name, just like Heritage Park would be important. Now, the people of interest that wanna, they're gonna see Heritage Park or hear about it, but the people that are also in the transportation business, they know where their area is at. I do have to say there's hundreds of children that go to the mayor's house. There's hundreds of children here because they get bus over there for their little trips. You know also, it's Founders Day, hundreds of people know about the mayor's house. Uh, what's rubbing, which is once a month, they give out a special ticket. If you go visit the mayor's house. You get a ticket, maybe that's for an adult beverage. I don't know, but, uh. But you do get a ticket that way you can know the history. I would like to entertain, but I need I need help here. I like to entertain to support. the heritage part, but at the same time, with the understanding, how do we keep ITC there? Is that the name of it? Yeah, ITC. How do we do that? I know some people have already said, you know, nobody knows about it, but. No, I hear it.

I'm going to say, you already have the ITC. It's already named that. I think what we're missing is the signage for that. And I think we can marry those two together. But I think what's also very important, as this process has shown, that We need to do our part in the naming to get folks there. And we can continue with the ITC name. And I'm envisioning that we can have some type of heritage park name co-exist together on some type of signage coming into the park. But I do think that you already have the Intermodal Transportation Center name. And we don't need to change that if you don't want to. No, they're only asking for a portion. They're only asking for, because it's two lots, so it's the back portion where the buildings are, just the location there. And the banners that they're talking about, I probably should have had a visual, are really along the row in front of the buildings of what they proposed. But coming into the location on the main road there, There is no signage saying what it is at all, whether it's Amtrak, Greyhound, or if MST shows up one day there. That doesn't exist, and we need to do that as well.

But to your point, I understand what you're saying. I just want to make sure, I'm looking at the interests of the people that are interested in ITC. I'm trying to respect both parties here. where the Heritage Park stakeholders, because it is important, not just for funding, but it'll look great out there for a good identification. But the other part on transportation, they should be able to see that.

I think we have a suggestion for you on the naming.

Thank you. So let's offer a suggestion. So the way that this is currently framed, it's to rename the entire area of the ITC to Salinas Heritage Park. But we can. reframe this recommended motion to say, to rename the Intermodal Transportation Center to include Salinas Heritage Park. So that way, and this was Renee's idea, not mine. So this gives you both the ITC and the Salinas City Heritage Park, as Lisa suggested, we are, I think, smart enough as a group to figure that out.

I like that. And you know what I've learned? Once you folks retire, you're gonna be good council members one day. I like that. I would like to make that my motion. Okay. Go ahead. All right.

YES, SO I'M IN THE BOAT AS OPPOSED TO ON THE TRAIN OF CHANGING IT FROM INTERMOTAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER. I MEAN, I DO AGREE. I THINK I HEARD SOMEONE SAY IT SOUNDS KIND OF CLUNKY. A NAME, YOU KNOW, LIKE MONTEREY COUNTY, I'M SORRY. The Heritage Park I support because I know that there are historic preservation groups There are foundations and there are private dollars that specifically look for organizations like you. As someone who is a member of the Monterey County Historical Society, there are affinity groups that support this and want to contribute to it. So having that name change, it does resonate with funders. It's an interesting dynamic. I've seen that there. I know that some of you here in the audience tonight have been involved with other museum and museum type projects. One of the other reasons why I support the name change is because of the Monterey Salinas Valley Railroad Museum, which is one of your neighbors. ideally wish they could be open 365 days a week. But when they are open, it's one of the very few places that is family oriented. And so I've I've gone there. I see families there. They're bringing their children. And so when it comes to like historic preservation, you know, nonprofit organizations, or in this case, you know, the Welcome Center, which plays a role in that and kind of pointing people in different directions, can point them to, you know, your your neighbor, right? The Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad Museum. I WAS ONE OF THOSE KIDS THAT USED TO PLAY ON THE RAILROAD OVER AT CENTRAL PARK AND THEN ONE DAY IT DISAPPEARED, DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO IT AND THEN REALIZED LATER ON IT GOT MOVED BECAUSE OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION THAT WAS REQUIRED. OF IT BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT IT WAS GETTING SOME REALLY HEAVY USAGE AND THERE ARE RAREROAD AFFICIONADOS THAT DO WANT TO SUPPORT HISTORIC PRESERVATION. The park, I know that it opens up the door and I think that's the conversation that we're having here is that it's really gonna open up the doors to philanthropic dollars to bring in and revitalize it. And so, yeah, there are all these additional benefits with the Welcome Center there. And as Council Member Barrera said, you know, WHEN THE FOLKS, WHAT'S GRUBBING, WHEN THEY'RE SETTING UP AND BRINGING IN VENDORS, IT GIVES PEOPLE SOMETHING TO DO WHILE THEY'RE IN THE AREA. SO I DO SUPPORT THE NAME CHANGE, LIKE THE IDEA OF WE CAN ALSO CONTINUE TO KEEP THE CLUNKY INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER IN IT BECAUSE WHAT I'M HEARING IN TERMS OF THE TRANSPORTATION SIDE, RIGHT, IT ALSO CONTINUES TO SERVE AS A REFERENCE POINT. SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO HAVE THE TWO AND BENEFIT FROM THAT. I'M REALLY EXCITED TO SEE THE POTENTIAL AND REALLY WANT TO SEE THOSE DONORS THAT HAVE TALKED ABOUT SUPPORTING IT. coming in and partnering with with all of you and your neighbors in the area including the first mayor's house so um i'll be supporting uh the the motion okay all right

I will be supporting the name change. I think that's very important. When I see Mr. Munoz here, I mean, you go back with history from Salinas way back years. I'm talking about when I first met you 30 years ago. you know the history and i know that that you're a a person that gets involved because the importance of of the historic part of it and i think it's very important to keep the name and um it's all about bringing in families into our city and and just you know having all that There, the train station, the welcome center, just the mayor's house. Thank you to the family that is here tonight. But I think we need to keep it that name. And because of the funding that will be a benefit to you because of the historical part of it. And being part of the Chinatown Revitalization and ACE and all the meetings I go to, I see how important it is to keep a name because, yeah, right now they're working on that because of the funding for the revitalization of the cafe. So I've learned that from them. So again, I support it and that, you know, it's gonna be a benefit to our community. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I also support the name change to Salinas City Heritage Park. I want a special call out to Denise, who is tireless in her efforts to support all the work that's done down there as a volunteer. I know this is a big part of your heart, and thank you for what you do. Every time I'm there, you're there. Whether there's a meeting or not, you're there. So thank you. And I want to also thank the two gentlemen who came and shared their personal experience. the history that goes along with it. I always learn so much from people like you that come to public comment to educate us on the history that we may not have. And so thank you for sharing that. That was really important part of, I think of tonight's decision to keep it a heritage project in the heritage park. So thank you for that. And yes, I do support it. I think we've got a second, but if not, I would second the motion.

Okay, so I'll make some final comments. I want to be clear on what the, so the motion is, Patty, that's what we do. We wait until somebody's either eating or drinking to ask questions.

All right, so the motion was to approve the request from the Heritage Park stakeholders to rename the Intermodal Transportation Center to include Salinas Heritage Park.

okay so that yes first and a second okay great okay uh just just a couple of things um um And I'm gonna support the motion as well. The group that has been working on Heritage Park has been working consistently and publicly for decades. And this flows from an earlier era of redevelopment. And this group has kept the faith, kept working, In public with a lot of community input and a lot of stakeholders, and that's not unusual folks who are most interested in. This type of thing tend to rally with it and stay with it. So so I certainly think that litmus test has been passed. Along the way, it is also interesting to note how long it's taken. So I want to really applaud the group because it's a group that's really been toiling in the vineyard without anything other than a love and an appreciation of the history of this city. That's a pretty pure civic motive. And so I want to applaud them and thank them for that. I think the other thing is I would just want to make this comment. More and more as we move forward, this issue of public-private and how you work with the private sector. The private sector, in order to invest and to feel comfortable, needs to see that there's some public participation in the process. And this should be fairly straightforward. The folks that are standing behind working with the Heritage Park Group have a clear track record of supporting other major projects in the city. So I think it's exciting that they're hovering around the train station, which we are hopeful that, you know, The commuter train is coming. I can tell you relative to the most recent TAMSI meeting that Capitol Corridor has indicated that the Salinas project is their top priority. But, you know, we'll see how funding from the state and that type of thing goes. The other thing everyone needs to understand is when you begin to talk about tourism, nobody's going to come here for a baby. You're not going to see the ocean here. But if you come here for whatever reason and you stay in a hotel, that begins to open up and expand revenue stream possibilities with the hospitality industry. So this is also viewed as an investment. So I think people need to understand is I think by and large the council's thinking here is this is an investment that will pay for itself with a combination of dedicated you know, great story, great history, finally getting the light of day it deserves, private investment to help enhance that. Lastly, I'll say this. This one is a little more complicated than, let's say, the soccer complex because once you get to the transportation piece, there are multiple agencies involved, whether it's MST or whether it's TAMC. And it turns out, see Monterey is also very interested because they recognize the value of if they can extend stays in Monterey County, if people will come into If we become a point where folks come into the city, that's a value proposition for the whole hospitality industry. So this one is we need to let the folks who stand ready to invest private funds into the process and let them get moving with Heritage Park. And we also need to understand this one's not, the stone needs to be polished a little bit in terms of how the other players are gonna participate and the timing of their participation. But I can tell you that TAMSI is looking at funds that could help improve the train station in terms of its appearance. See, Monterey's interested in that. So there is an element of this is a work in progress. But what we do know is the Heritage Park Group is here. We do know there are private funders waiting in the wings. And that seems to me to be a good combination and bode well for that part of the city and the story we want to tell about our community. So with that, Patty, if you'll call for the question.

Motion made by Council Member Barrera, second by Council Member DeRigo. Council Member Barrera? Yes. Council Member DeRigo? Yes. Council Member De La Rosa? Yes. Council Member Salazar? Yes. Council Member Sandoval? Yes. Mayor Donahue?

Yep.

Motion passes.

All right, very good. Mayor, if I may. Sure. For those people that say we're not working together, two consideration items, six zero. Two public hearing items, six zero.

Noted for the record.

We are on a roll.

thank you kumbaya after this meeting it would be after the meeting i think we've still got a consent calendar to get through All right. Very good. All right. So we will now get to the consent agenda. Matters listed under the consent agenda may be enacted by one motion unless a member of the council requests a separate vote for discussion. Members of the public may comment on the consent agenda items collectively during their public comment. Would any council member like a separate vote, discussion, comment on any of the consent items? No.

Let's see if we can get another 6-0.

All right.

Historic.

I want a fast one on Sherwood Recreation Center. Item 26-243. That doesn't mean you can't have a 6-0 vote.

All right. We're losing control. Okay.

What would you like, Gloria? Item 26-243 on the Sherwood Recreation Center building improvement.

All right. All right, anything else?

What's the status on that? Real quick, just tell me, how many more months?

Well, I do need to hear from the public first. So is there any public comment on the consent agenda? Okay, is there anybody on Zoom? Jose.

Hi, good afternoon, Jose Guerra, Motivia Community. Mayor, we have 18 items on consent agenda, and it bothers me that we just spent an hour to try to rename something we shouldn't. And you know what, I'm coming in. It's ridiculous, Mayor, that we spend all this time to rename something. We have better things to do. You have ATMs and consent agenda, and you have two minutes to talk about it. Unconstitutional. If you're taxing me, if I'm paying for some of these items through my taxes, that's taxation without representation. Look it up, Mr. Attorney. And yes, that is wrong. So I want my two minutes back for every item there on that agenda, and I decide what I want to speak on. Not you, Mayor. So remember that. You work for us. You work for me. Remember that. You don't work for Bruce. You work for me. Like Mr. Munoz says, you work for me, sir. Me and the community. Us, the taxpayers. You've forgotten that. You lost your way, too. Please find your way back, guys, too. Tony, I like your comments, but you never say it when I'm here. You and Mr. Arrigo like to do that. When I'm here, say something. Don't do that. Come have coffee with me. Have coffee with me, man. Stop it. Stop this little thing you guys do all the time. Why, Mr. Gary, I went into three things. Really? Come on. I talk to more people than you do in your district. All of you. God bless you guys. Good night. Good luck. Right. Thank you.

All right. Okay. So we have. Okay. Yeah, well, okay. So we had a live zoomer. So I assume public comment is now closed. And with that, David, you're going to address Gloria's question on 243.

Yes. So we're actively finishing up the project. Hopefully, I'm going to say end of July, but it might go into the first part of August. We were trying to get it done before the end of this fiscal year, but it slipped a little bit with the change orders.

Wonderful. Thank you.

All right. With that, I think I'll be looking for, there's a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. All right. Let's call for the question.

Calling for the vote on the consent agenda in its entirety. Motion made by Council Member Barrera. Second by Della Rosa. Council Member Barrera.

Yes.

Council Member DiRigo. Yes. Council Member Della Rosa. Yes. Council Member Salazar. Yes. Council Member Sandoval. Yes. Mayor Donahue. Yes.

Motion passes. All right. Very good. Thank you. All right. And the City Manager wanted to weigh in before we got to Council Member reports.

Yeah, just very brief because I think it's important. I just want to provide a brief update on Fairview and CNC where we're at with the project right now. Happy to report that Fairview got its first resident on May 15th. To date, 25 of the 45 units are leased and occupied. 21 of the 25 are city referrals from our SOAR teams and our housing teams are working kind of overtime on this. There was nobody left in the CNC Center. A lot of them have gone to Fairview. Others have gone to other placements. So we've had 20 positive housing outcomes from the population there. The ones, some have just refused housing, or there's a few that didn't meet the criteria. either they didn't want to abide by the rules or other things, but happy to report that we have placed most of these individuals already. So I think kudos to the SOAR team that you talked about a little earlier and that housing team. They did remarkable work. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. All right. All right. Margaret, why don't we start with you?

Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Given the time of the evening, I'll keep my remarks short. The one thing I wanted to comment on is I had a really nice meeting yesterday with Superintendent Galvan at Salinas High Union High School District. And it was the first time meeting her in person. I've certainly seen her out in the community. She's always wearing bright colors and smiling. And it seems like she loves her job. We had a delightful meeting. Her first comment was she would love to have a joint meeting with us. And she's going to be meeting with you, Renee, to talk about having their board meet with us. And I think that was fantastic. And I offered that anything that we can do to help support their district in any way, the two big high schools in her district that we're here to help, and middle schools as well. And they'll be looking for mentors for some of their student leadership programs. So if you're interested in being a mentor, I know she's looking for support there. And she invited me to stay for their LCAP meeting. And I've heard a lot about LCAP, but I've never attended one. And they were probably about maybe 20 parents, kind of a small group. But it was sort of their last one where they were going through the results of their survey and talking about how they were going to deal with the budget cut and where they were going to shave in different areas. So it was really interesting and the parents were super engaged. It was really a delight to be there and see how that process works. So look forward to continue to build that relationship with with with all of us as well. I know Tony, you've met with her and she'd mentioned your name as well. So that was a real treat for me. So that will be all of my remarks for tonight. Thank you.

I'LL START OUT WITH I'D LIKE TO DIRECT STAFF TO COME BACK AND I'D LIKE TO START THE ORDINANCE AND I NEED A BUDDY ON THE ORDINANCE. You know, none of us are against, I'll repeat, against small businesses, but the smoke shops that sell vape products are impacting our neighborhoods now. We heard tonight, I have one on Bernal and Natividad Road, and now we hear one on Sanborn that we didn't know about, and then another one that wants to go in, in the Del Monte, kilberth area or elkington so we heard the parents come forward and i would really like to to work with staff staff work with us on establishing a future ordinance on you know and that would be legal to to do the wording on that but I don't I don't think they belong in neighborhoods and they're impacting neighborhoods that are that are to me that you know neighborhoods that are that are low income our kids don't need that so I'd like to bring that forward and the second thing is um I attended the graduation at Mount Toro and I have to give kudos to the principal. Principal Chaitis moved quickly on getting a big tent for us because it was raining, pouring rain for the entire graduation. Kudos to all the great graduates and families from the entire Salinas Valley community. especially our city, right? But I also attended the graduation at North High that same evening. They had changed the hours because of the rain. But again, it was great to see the Salinas Union High School trustees and Superintendent Galvan and all the parents and the graduates, of course. But I want to announce that I'm having a neighborhood meeting on June 25th in the Rosarico area at Laurelwood School. And then I'm also acknowledging small businesses in the market, LSL area, mujeres, women. We know that March was the month of International Women's Month and there was just so many things going on that I decided to do it now. And it's June 17th and I'm working with our staff with economic development and bajaro cdc and some other agencies and we're we're going to have it there at hebron heights early in the morning and because i know that these women are hard-working women too and they have to open up their businesses so just for two and a half hours i'm going to do that so thank you that's it

I WANTED TO CHIME IN REGARDING POTENTIAL ORDINANCE REGARDING BAPE AND BAPE MERCHANTS. I WOULD INCLUDE OR WOULD ASK IF STAFF COULD TAKE A LOOK INTO SOME OF THE PROXIMITY OR COME UP WITH LANGUAGE REGARDING PROXIMITY RULES. I THINK THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE HEARD FROM RESIDENTS THIS EVENING IN TERMS OF PROXIMITY TO SCHOOLS, TO LIBRARIES, TO PARKS. THAT'S ONE. ALSO I THINK IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT DENSITY, DENSITY LIMITS. THERE ARE PARTS OF THE CITY OF SALINAS THAT HAVE A VERY HIGH DENSITY WHICH MEANS FAMILIES AND CHILDREN. SO I THINK WE SHOULD REALLY LOOK AT AND CONSIDER IF THERE'S A REQUEST TO OPEN UP A VAPE STORE THAT WE LOOK AT THAT PARTICULAR CENSUS TRACK, LOOK AT THEIR DENSITY. AND KEEPING THESE TYPE OF STORES OUT OF HIGH DENSITY AREAS. THE OTHER THING, THE THIRD THING I WOULD ADD TO THAT AS WELL IS IN TERMS OF MARKETING AND SIGNAGE. I THINK THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS I ALSO HEARD THIS AFTERNOON FROM THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD WHICH WAS MARKETING AND SIGNAGE. ESPECIALLY STUDENTS LIKE WALKING BY AND SEEING IT. I BELIEVE AT A PREVIOUS COUNCIL MEETING IT WAS BROUGHT UP. THERE'S A NEW VAPE SHOP BY ENSON PARK. AND THE SIGNAGE THERE, I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE MAY WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT. THEY'RE VERY BRIGHT LED OR, YEAH, I BELIEVE THEY'RE BRIGHT LED. I THINK I MAY HAVE MENTIONED TO SOME OF YOU PREVIOUSLY I USED TO WORK WITH THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF ALCOHOL BEVERAGE CONTROL WORKING WITH THEIR OR TRAINING THEIR MINORS WITH SHOULDER TAPS AND DECOY OPERATIONS AND THERE ARE A COUPLE OF STORES THAT WERE KNOWN FOR EXCEEDING THE PERCENTAGE OF SIGNS THAT THEY COULD USE TO MARKET LIKE ALCOHOL AND I DON'T KNOW IF THOSE I DON'T RECALL IF THOSE SIGNALS APPLY TOWARDS TOBACCO BUT I THINK WE NEED TO LOOK AT MARKETING AND SIGNAGE. I ALSO DON'T RECALL WHAT THE STATUS IS REGARDING FLAVORED TOBACCO, SO STAFF CAN ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT THE FLAVORED TOBACCO OR FLAVORED VAPES AND SEE WHAT'S TRENDING THERE. IN TERMS OF PARTNERS, I THINK IF WE CAN GET SOME INPUT FROM PARTNERS. THERE USED TO BE THE COALITION FOR TOBACCO-FREE MONTEREY COUNTY, THEY'RE NOW I BELIEVE MONTEREY COUNTY COLLABORATES. SUN STREET CENTERS, THE PREVENTION DIVISION, THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO REACH OUT TO THE CALIFORNIA TOBACCO CONTROL PROGRAM. AND THEN ALSO THERE'S THE PARTS, THE PREVENTING ALCOHOL RELATED TRAUMA AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN SALINAS. You know, taking that one step further, I mean, I would even support like a 90-day moratorium until we can come up with an ordinance. So I do support those efforts. LASTLY, YOU KNOW, SINCE OUR LAST MEETING, WHICH WAS ABOUT A WEEK AGO, LAST MONDAY WAS ABLE TO ATTEND THE MONTEREY COUNTY VIETNAM VITERANS MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY. I BELIEVE THE ENTIRE COUNCIL WAS THERE. AND SO AS SOMEONE WHO HAS, YOU KNOW, FIVE MEMBERS THAT HAVE SERVED IN in our U.S. military and to those that are here who have served and those who may be watching, as always, I'd like to thank you for your service. And that concludes my report.

Okay, thank you very much.

Tony?

Yeah, Mr. Callahan, is it possible, as you're working on this ordinance, or whatever, Is it possible to stop? I know there's another smoke shop that's coming to play here pretty soon. The one that really bothered me, there's a grocery store that's shut down as you enter Ensign Park. It's a grocery store converted to a smoke shop. They're sprouting everywhere. And my concern is... Yeah, and they're just right across the street from Cerro Elementary Schools. We really need to get serious about that. So I don't know at this time if we can put a stop to it. What do you call it, moratorium? Or is it legal to do that?

So we can look at a number of options, Councilmember. A moratorium is an option. There's a certain process by which you need to go through to do that. We'll look at that and report back to you.

Thank you. And you know what I don't mean to regulate business, but this type of business is. Really impacting our young people. I did appointments for 1 floors to planning commission district 2. He already had his 1st meeting, so, but I'm officially. Doing that. and uh i want to thank alexis mejia and some of the other young staff that you have here they've been pretty busy with relay for life i think it's it's great that they're participating in that taco fest was a success you know there was i'm going to say there was thousands of people there on two days i want to thank uh Commissioner Orlando Osornio and Mr. Luis Mejia, who is also Alexis' father. So Luis Mejia is a great volunteer and was very successful. So thank you for that.

Andrew.

Thank you, Mayor. I got a chance to attend the Northridge Night Market, talked to a lot of residents. Thank you, Joey, for joining me at that. Just some notes about the Housing and Land Use Committee. We had discussed bringing future agenda items to the Housing and Land Use Committee. I'd like to get some follow-up on those agenda items and the list for that, the calendar for that. and also it would be helpful for us as council members to get like an after action report after the city council meeting so we have a understanding from our city what comments were made and what follow-up needs to happen we used to have that a couple years ago and i think that would be beneficial to all of us just want to follow up on potholes on north davis road A street light, Mr. Silverman has been waiting a long, long time for his street light on Tulane. Cherokee has several street lights out, as well as there's some red zones that I've been waiting for for a while. as well as some residents. On a lighter note, me and my wife have celebrated our 26th year anniversary of dating. Yes, I know I don't look like I could have that, but we do. So yes, we have survived, my wife has survived, and we are doing well. Also, my son Ethan was chosen as section leader for the band, and my son Nathan won second place for his automatic cow feeder at the county fair. So that's so cool. And my son Sean is now in high school. So now I have three high schoolers and one in university. And my daughter is a slug and just completing her first year at UCSC. So I'm wearing my UCSC slug dad sweatshirt. I also want to follow up on a request I made for BHC students to perform a play called The Four Keys that outlines the four ordinances and how they function and how they benefit residents. And also, I'm part of the Parts Coalition for Sun Street Center, and they just had lead law presentation, which is what some of my colleagues alluded to, and 43% of businesses that they surveyed were out of compliance with that law, which has to do with signage. And so I know that they were gonna reach out to court enforcement. Obviously they want education before enforcement, but they're out of compliance and I'd like them to present their findings to the council, which is in line with some of the concerns we've had, so I did reach out to Luis, who's, I understand he's also reached out to Council Member De La Rosa, but I'd like them to present soon so we get an update, because that continues to be a concern for our community, and it's mostly related to alcohol, but I think that they've also been working on outreach regarding tobacco use, and so this all fits perfectly, so if I can get support for a presentation from that organization, that would be great. Hmm, I heard a hmm, all right. And I also had a chance to attend the Vietnam Memorial Day, and it was my honor to escort Ms. Joan Bennett. They did a fantastic job, and it was really a great time to reflect and understand the service of a lot of our residents in Salina.

Thank you. I'll just echo some of the, since we have last met, we did all have a chance to attend the Memorial Day services, and so we certainly want to take note of that. On Friday, I represented the city at the Mental Health Service Recognition Awards and Art Show at Embassy Suites, put on by Interim and Behavioral Health. That was Big turnout, nice art show, and I wanted to do that because that was personal for me. My mom was in the behavioral health, mental health system for decades. So I'm certainly no expert in it, but I always want to take an opportunity to acknowledge the really good and tough and necessary work that that community does. So I was happy to represent Salinas. And then I did mention earlier, and I was glad BHC brought it up tonight, the alisal uh uh uh states that that that co-op concept i really do think that's worth worth exploring and seeing how we can provide support and then lastly uh i will have uh tony barrera uh taking um margaret diarigo's place on the rodeo committee and uh and then i've We'll get with the city clerk and review all the attendance for the various commissions and see where there are some gaps. Council Member Sandoval, we did make three appointments. I will review the entire list again in terms of seeing where we may need to plug in a few folks to some of the commissions. We are adjourned.

We are back. I'm sorry to interrupt, but you attended, Margaret and I attended, and others. We raised the pride flag, Wendy. Oh, okay.

Yeah. That's right. We did that on Monday. We had forgotten about that. So we want to note that. Yes. The flag will be flying for the month. And so, yeah, no, thank you for bringing that up. We had a nice turnout for that occasion. So thank you. And then so we'll next council meeting will be on the 16th and then this group will be back for a study session special session on Thursday from 4 to 6 Here yes that is here and with that we're adjourned