City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome to the August 4th, 2026 Salinas City Council meeting. We're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. Patty?

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

Thank you. 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. And with that, will everyone please stand and join me in the pledge?

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

Thank you. All right. Patty, would you take the roll, please?

Council Member Barajas? Present. Council Member Barrera? Here. Council Member DiRigo? Present. Council Member De La Rosa? Here. Council Member Salazar?

Here.

Council Member Sandoval?

Here.

Mayor Donahue?

I am here.

Thank you.

All right. All right. Before we get started, I have... AN ANNOUNCEMENT. THERE ARE VIDEOS CIRCULATING FROM THE BULL RIDING EVENT HELD AT THE SALINAS SPORTS COMPLEX ON AUGUST 1ST. THE FOOTAGE IS DISTURBING AND I WANT TO ASSURE OUR COMMUNITY THAT WE TAKE THIS INCIDENT VERY SERIOUSLY. THE EVENT WAS NOT ORGANIZED BY THE CALIFORNIA RODEO SALINAS AND THEY HAVE ISSUED A STATEMENT AND ARE FULLY COOPERATING WITH AUTHORITIES. The facility was rented by a separate organization. The Salinas Police Department has also opened an investigation, working closely with Animal Control and the District Attorney's Office to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate. The involved animal was also reported to the SPCA. to ensure its welfare. We understand the concern this has created. Our city values humane treatment of animals. If anyone has additional details that may assist the investigation, please contact the Salinas Police Department. Jose?

Hemos visto videos del evento de monta de toros en el complejo deportivo de Salinas el primero de agosto. Los videos son perturbadores y quiero asegurar a nuestra comunidad que nos tomamos este incidente muy en serio. Este evento no fue organizado por California Rodeo Salinas. Dicha organización ha emitido un comunicado y están colaborando con las autoridades. El evento fue organizado por una organización independiente. El departamento de policía de Salinas también ha iniciado una investigación trabajando en colaboración con la Agencia de Control de Animales y la Fiscalía del Condado para determinar si van a presentar cargos penales. Thank you. All right. All right. Do we have some new employee welcome and promotions?

Yes, good afternoon, Mayor, Council, Lisa Murphy, Assistant City Manager. I'm pleased to announce the promotion of Matt Nelson from Airport Manager to Airport Director.

Very good.

Mayor and council, just want to happy to announce the promotion of our city clerk to deputy city manager because she does a lot for the community. So she now expands more. Thank you.

Is that it? It is not.

Good afternoon, Selina Andrews, Finance Director. I'd like to welcome Juliana Guzman. She's our new payroll supervisor in finance. Juliana was born and raised in, currently lives in the city of Salinas. She has over 17 years of experience working in local government finance and has spent the last six years working in payroll for a neighboring city. Very happy to welcome her. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Councilmember, City Attorney. I'm really excited. We have four new employees here that started at the Police Department in July. Two police recruits, Mark Alvarez-Lopez, who also will be attending the South Bay Regional Police Academy, and Fabian Narez, who also is scheduled to attend the Police Academy. Two professional staff members. They're both here present. One is our police community service aide, Melanie Gaska-Gonzalez, if you don't mind standing up. So, tremendous asset to the department. She obtained her bachelor's degree in forensics behavioral science from Fresno State and her master's degree as a crime analyst from Arizona State. And Melanie looks forward to working with this department and growing in her role with the police department. And the next position is for our police office technician. And she's also here today, Stephanie Nicole Garcia. She previously worked accounting in the AG industry for the past 10 years. She joined the police department in July and looking forward to working with our team and growing under the personnel and training unit. And lastly, I know they're effective in August, but we just promoted three police department members. Gabe Gonzalez was promoted to Deputy Chief. Stephen Gray was promoted to Commander. And Manuel Lopez was promoted to Sergeant. Those don't take effect until August 17th, but it's really good news for the entire Police Department. So thank you.

Good evening, Council. Public Works has three promotions, all moving from the Junior Engineer to the Assistant Engineer. These promotions were Gianda Gomez, Victor Gutierrez, and Jonathan Hernandez. And then we had an employee returning to us after leaving. He came back. And he's a Forestry Worker 1, and he is Jamie Solano-Balderas. Thank you. Thank you.

Great, thank you. All right, a couple of notes about this evening's meeting. We will be opening the public hearing at 4 o'clock, so there are two items on that. So any business that has not conducted public PRIOR TO THAT 4 O'CLOCK WILL BE CONTINUED UNTIL THE NEXT MEETING FOLLOWING THE PUBLIC HEARING. AND THEN THIS EVENING WE WILL NOT HAVE THE CITY MANAGERS OR COUNCIL MEMBERS REPORT SO FOLKS CAN GET TO NATIONAL NIGHT OUT.

I do have some comments after the meeting, so that whatever, however that looks, I mean it's on the agenda. I want to have that that part there. Thank you. That's why I don't like these meetings.

This will will. Alright, well then we'll. Figure out how to allow comments for a few minutes so we'll. Okay, that's fine. All right. Okay, with that, we are now open for public comment on 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 the items are reached. Public comments generally will be limited to two minutes per speaker. each person who addresses the city council during public comment shall do so in an orderly manner and should not make any personal slanderous or profane remarks to any member of the city council the city staff or the general public any person who makes such remarks or who uses threatening personal or abusive language or engages in any other disorderly conduct which disrupts or disturbs the meeting may be asked to leave the city council chambers with that we are open for public comment

Beautiful Salinas. I mean, I love this area. I was at Montevideo Park myself, had a barbecue there on Saturday, and all of our burners are no good. You can't even cook the meat on there. It's bad. So we just had a meeting, I believe, last week about, oh, Parks and Rec is so excellent, this and that, everything's broken. Not true. Everything is not good. I don't know how you guys pat yourselves on the back doing that. It's ridiculous. Go to all the parks right now and look at them. They're all run down. And you guys just pat yourselves on the back, give yourselves awards and raises and this and that. And our infrastructure is failing. Our streets are still bad. I'm going to keep coming here, Mayor, because you need to do your job. I'm sorry. You guys all need to do your job up here. There's people calling you guys in all districts. I'm not going to point you guys out today. But there's fire hydrants that are covered. There's things that are not taken care of. We haven't got our street light yet. I don't know how hard it is to do that, Mayor. You guys take all the money from us, Mr. Mendez. All the money they take from Montevideo, and you guys can't fix anything for us over there. It's run down. The grass is all yellow. Did we not pay the water bill? I mean, what's going on? I don't get it. Tony, get involved, man. Come see us. Come talk to us. I mean, all your parks are run down. The Arrigo's parks are run down, too. Your parks run down, too. All of them. I haven't been to yours, Andrew, but I'll make my trip out there. I'm sure it is, too. I mean, yours has been run down forever. They're finally doing something about it, thank God. Finally put some money in there. I mean, I hate to be negative. We live in a beautiful community, but we can't even keep it beautiful. When people come from out of town, it's embarrassing. They drive down here, and the roads are all messed up. Come on, guys. Get it together, please. It's not that hard. You have all the money. I know you guys are tired. I mean, God bless you guys. Have a great day. And have fun tonight. Okay? Thank you.

Hi, I'm Terry. I just want to say I honor and respect all that you do. It may not be perfect, but you're each unique, and each district has voted you in, and we're supporting you, and I support Margaret. She's my district representative. You represent us. And I think about you often, and I pray and bless you for the hard decisions that you have to make that we don't even understand sometimes. Sometimes I'm here, I don't understand half of what is going on, but I pray. And I believe that you are making, at the best of your knowledge, good decisions for us. And this is something that just helped me this week because I was making decisions. So I'm just going to address you, Andrew, Tony, Jose, even Christopher, even though you're not elected, we bless you for being our attorney. Dennis, our mayor. Renee, you're doing a great job. Aurelio and Gloria, even though you're not here. And Margaret. Okay. In the Proverbs 8, it says, wisdom says, you will find true success when you find me. For I have insight into wise plans that are designed just for you. I, wisdom, hold in my hands living understanding, courage, and strength that we all need. I empower you to reign, rulers and leaders, to make laws, to make decisions that are just and good for all of us. And I know that you're doing that the best of your ability. So thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Cheryl Darlington, and I'm here to address Salinas' canopy, the canopy on Santa Monica Way. Presently, there are five trees in total on three separate properties. There are 23 homes on the street, two liquid amber trees slated for removal for disturbing the sidewalk, one raywood ash infested with aphids, and my two trees. I had the city plant two trees in my parkway over 15 years ago, flowering cherry trees, tree collars, and planted two apricot trees about 10 years ago. One anonymous complaint and a city crew came to remove both my trees. Had I not been home, would my trees have been removed without notification? No one could answer what the complaint was regarding. After some homework, I've discovered Salinas' tree canopy is only 7.8%, but healthy urban canopies follow a 330-300 rule. Three visible trees from every home, a 30% canopy, 300 meters from a green space. Thus enhancing neighborhoods aesthetically, improve overall environmental quality, by reducing heat, absorbing storm water, and providing biodiversity. I'm requesting to save my two trees. I'm requesting a meeting with the city manager to discuss suggestions that my neighbors have shared with me, what the tree removal criteria and canopy are in this city. So I thank you for your time.

Thank you. No, no, no, no. I'm expecting a support.

How's it going, Council? Daniel Munoz here, East Salinas resident. I'm glad that the mayor addressed the issue with the Rodeo. Well, not with the California Rodeo, but with the group that they rented out to, because I do understand it wasn't the organization that has the lease. They rented out to somebody else. So I thank you for at least addressing that, and thanks to the police department for opening the investigation. I hope an arrest is made, though. I don't know if they can, though, because I think they're classified as livestock residents, So livestock rules are, I guess you can abuse livestock, but you can't abuse pets. So I don't know how far that investigation is going to go, if they could even make an arrest. I do want to talk about something called the bucking strap, which I just very recently learned about. I don't know if anybody here has heard about the bucking strap. But the bucking strap is a strap that they tie around. It's considered a waste, but the way that the genitalia of the bulls works is basically it's cutting off their... They're private parts. And then they yank on the rope, and then they open the gates, and then the riders get, you know, they're riding the bull that's super angry because of the bucking strap. So I always thought that they were just mad because the people were riding them, you know, but no, it's actually, from my understanding, it's because of the bucking strap being tightened around their genitalia. So I would just maybe recommend that maybe the city... maybe looks into that. Maybe they could have more humane ways to treat the animals in the rodeo. And this is in regards to the California Rodeo Association, not the subgroup. This is anybody that has any events with animals. Maybe we could just look into that. I think this is another reminder on why we need more oversight on the rodeo because they did rent to this group. At the end of the day, they are profiting from renting to this group. They did allow this group to come in to our city and do this. So they should have some level of responsibility for allowing that. So I just want to just throw that out there too. That's pretty much it. Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and city council members. My name is Roy Lopez. I live here in Salinas, California. The reason I'm here is it comes to a different issue. I have an issue with my neighbors right across where I live. They're always throwing loud music. Very annoying. I can't even sleep. The reason I'm here is that I called the police department, concerned about that issue, that problem. They don't respond to my calls. I've been calling them a few times. And they say they're going to send someone down there, and they don't. And I'm fed up. Because these people right across where I live, I live right across the street from them. And they do parties every weekend. And the music, you can hear it all the way. I don't know where I am, but it's so loud. It's very annoying. And I'm fed up. Because I called the law enforcement. Nothing. They say they're going to send someone down there, and they don't. That's what I get a response from the dispatch. So that's why I'm here, and that's why I don't see, Mr. Mayor, if there's something you could do about it, and the city council members, because that's a big problem for me. I just ride across the street. I'm a homeowner, so that's why. And so I just don't like that.

We got your name, and make sure we have your address.

Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time, Mayor and city council member. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Peter Zelai. The city attorney and city manager have said candidates may use city resources to campaign, may not use city resources to campaign. During public comment, a candidate may not identify himself as a candidate, wear a campaign name tag, or even wear campaign clothing. Fair enough. City resources should serve the public, not anyone's campaign. That is why the city's recent social media activity raises a legitimate question. Over the past few weeks, the mayor has become remarkably visible on city and city-affiliated platforms. Videos, business spotlights, community appearances, and program promotions. The mayor seemingly everywhere. Much of that is good. A mayor should support local businesses, explain city programs, visit neighborhoods, and help residents connect with their government. But timing matters. When city-supported visibility rises dramatically just as an election approaches, residents are entitled to ask where public information ends and political advantage begins. I'm not alleging that any particular video violates the law. I am asking for clear, neutral standards. Who decides which elected officials are featured? What public purpose does each appearance serve? Are the same standards applied throughout the term and to every elected official? The issue is not whether the mayor should be visible, he should be. The issue is whether city communications are guided by the public interest or by the political calendar.

Hello, council members and mayor. My concern is simple. I passed five automatic license plate readers on my way here, five. You can't enter or exit the city of Salinas without being surveilled. This surveillance system is not just for Salinas PD. I hope everyone knows that this can be searched from any police department outside of this district. My concern is simple. Where's the evidence that supports that the expansive surveillance makes us safer. In December 2023, city council blindly approved the flat cameras. Five years. In five years, which is the election year 2028, it's a big year. I need transparency from the city council, from Selena's PD. I came during the police committee, community advisory committee, and the assistant chief wouldn't dare look at me and speak directly at me when I spoke about my concerns.

I just want you guys to think about that a little more.

Thank you.

Certainly flock cameras, data centers, ice facilities, big on people's minds. Wes Weiss, lead of the Sponger County Homeless Union, co-president, as well as just community enthusiast. It's election time, so I was actually thinking about how I started in this, you know, was actually this ties, falls into it, because I'm a Christian, sorry. But, you know, you're supposed to choose a cross over the dollar, yet, timelessly, oh, man, I wish you guys would have jersey jackets that would show what your sponsorship looks like, you know, for 1.7 million or what. But it's about people, for me, community enthusiasts. And when I, prick me for a nickel, prick me for a dime, but then what happened next? You started attacking people directly. And I got to get in front of that. And that's when this homeless union thing started. Here we are 12 years later. I tried running in 2016. And what happened? I couldn't prove my address. You can register to vote, but you can't run for office. So what kind of voice does anybody living outside who's leaseless actually have? They don't have any, obviously. That's why you just run it over. What's the casino of this culture? It's profiteering pirates all the way. Hey, if you don't got a lease, well, then obviously you can't show me your papers, which means I can take everything you got. every time I see you, every day. People are not homeless, they are leaseless. And there are more people becoming leaseless because of the way the rent's rising, which is why we've got to protect salinas renters as well. Animal cruelty also plays a part in this because of how we treat people. As soon as we can dehumanize anything, everything, no more empathy, everything we need to know and use in our life, we learned in kindergarten and preschool. And society's been beating it out of us ever after because of the white man's culture with the white man's dollar. And nobody else is supposed to hold that dollar but a white man. And that's the way we're trying to make it. Just love how you guys are all MAGA crazy. You love it. Business. And who's here locally? Taylor Farms. Who's here locally? Property managers. And you guys are fully sold and bought out by it. And we need to replace you all with any council.

To the diocese, my name is Miriam Smith. And I just want to say to everybody on the diocese and even the people here, help me a minute and pinch yourself. And did you pinch yourself? And I just want to say that you're human. I'm human. And so I'm here because I want to know there's people running in this election and I want to know the people that are running in this election, do they care about every human being? And is every human being important? And what are we going to do about the human beings that we keep kicking to the curb because they are less fortunate, because they are unhoused, or because they are poor? Do we continue to kick them to the curb? Today, it's them. Tomorrow, it could be you. In many cases, it happens like that. I want to commission the Salinas City Council and Mayor to look at the program that's going on in Marin County. They have been working so diligently with the I mean, they have oppositions now. I'm not saying they don't. But they've been working with the homeless. The homeless don't have to be a sore thumb or a red flag or a disgrace or somebody to kick to the curb. If you just pinch yourself... They're human just like you. And I just want to say that this city is the largest city in Monterey County and should lead by example in what they do with the homeless. And all the things that's been done in the past with the homeless, money's running out. Find money. I don't care where it comes from. Find money because homeless people are human beings and we need to treat them as that and respect them. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, City Attorney, City Manager. My name is Joel Hernandez Laguna. I'm the Executive Director at the Center for Community Advocacy. I'm here to make two comments. First one is congratulations on the Alebrijes y Nahuales exhibition that's happening across our city. I think that's a huge partnership that continues to reinforce our sister cities with Guanajuato, Mexico. The second is on the Parks and Recs Coalition. So the Center for Community Advocacy and other organizations have come together to form this Parks and Recs Coalition. The intention behind the coalition is to really bring up to light and bring resources to our parks and recreational departments. And that's because I truly believe and the coalition believes that that really provides a safe space and provides opportunities for better health outcomes for residents of Salinas. One of the things that the Coalition really wants to express is through an analysis or an assessment of what are the staff and the resources needed to comply to make sure that our parks and recreational facilities have the adequate staff to host those. And so we know that we have an expansion of El Cluster Park. We have an expansion of now Hebron Center. We have Ensign Community Park that's 67 acres that are expanding. We have the soccer complex that's also expanding. So what is it going to take as a city for us to have the staff and the resources and the volunteers as nonprofit organizations, how can we support to provide volunteers that help maintain our parks at a good standard? So that's the reason for my public comment. So have a great day and enjoy the rest of your evening.

Karen Cameron, concerned Salinas resident. First, I'm concerned with the meeting time change. No notice. It was very inconvenient. I scrambled to get here. I thought I'd comment on Zoom, but it's not accessible on the calendar right now, and very little information is out there, so you seem to be having some dysfunction with your website, which makes it further unaccessible to public commenting. I'm here because I'm upset about the amount of Methamil applications that are happening now as we speak. I had a conversation with our Monterey County Ag Commissioner Juan Hidalgo this week. We spoke for about 20 minutes. He admitted to me we're in peak season, and that's why I filed a complaint after receiving 10 notifications in less than a week. This is happening at University Park School. where I got all this data, over 50 notifications since May 10th. Same at McKinnon Elementary, I believe two less there. School is starting this week. We had a lengthy conversation about how this impacts school. But he admitted that we're in the peak season and that this may not die down until September, October. So what is happening right now to protect the school kids and the teachers, not to mention the residents nearby? I live within one mile, so I'm being affected by all of that. I know personally I've gotten sick seasonally. It's no coincidence, and I'm sure I'm not alone. So this is a serious problem. I urge every one of you to have personal conversations with the Monterey County Ag Commissioner since he is the one signing off on all of this and the one responsible for every bit of it at the end of the day. I understand he has a huge job trying to manage a $4.8 billion industry and to answer to each of you, not to mention the big ag companies. I get that. It can't be easy. He has the most difficult job in the world. I don't know how he sleeps at night. But we have a reality that we're dealing with here. Methamyl lanate SP, methamyl neutrin SP... BANNED IN 50 COUNTRIES FOR TOXICITY. DO THE RESEARCH.

THANK YOU.

PLEASE SPEAK OUT.

ANYONE ON ZOOM?

Yes, I'm calling to make a comment about the video that went viral showing people abusing the bull at the Salinas Sports Complex for reacting to the pain of the bucking strap. That was on city land. The Salinas Police Department and SPC have been opening their investigations, and that's great, but this isn't a one-off occurrence. What happened to that bull was shocking to watch, but the truth is rodeos are built on causing animals pain. Bucking straps are cinched around the horse through the bull's abdomen, and you know what happens now. Specifically, it's causing distress and forcing the animal to buck. That's the intention of the strap. The Animal Welfare Act does not even cover any rodeos or farm animals, and cities across the country have figured this out. Los Angeles voted unanimously to ban rodeos. Pasadena, Irvine, Chino Hills right here in California have already banned them. Pittsburgh banned the bucking strap and the electric prods. This is a growing national movement, and Salinas is sitting on the wrong side. I was protesting at the last rodeo, and people overwhelmingly agreed with us. They came for the entertainment and the community, not the displays of animal abuse and rider injury. So what happened at this event was not even a California Rodeo production, but the CRA sublet the public facility to a third party with no city approval required. The oversight committee that's supposed to govern this lease has not met consistently since 2010, and a member who asked basic questions about the money was removed. The cities already had to recover funds owed from ticket surcharges. So as a county resident, someone who's dedicated themselves to human rights and animal welfare, I'm asking this council to hold a public hearing on this lease, require the oversight committee to meet publicly as it's already obligated to do, and ensure the city has a final say over who uses the public property and what happens to animals on it. Thank you.

Thank you. Lydia?

Me escucha? Sí, te escuchamos. Okay. Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Nidia Soto, organizadora con BHC. Quiero compartir que estoy orgullosa. Participé en una junta de la reunión pasada de Alisal Vibrante, del Plan Vibrante Alisal. Today I feel very excited because the opening of the Cluster Park is around the corner and it fills me with joy to know that Su gran apertura se acerca a la comunidad. También celebramos el trabajo comunitario y los frutos que está dando en el esfuerzo con este concilio. También los invitamos a que mañana vengan a presenciar la inauguración de la obra en el Parque Gavilán. en el distrito 2 será a las 5 de la tarde en el 263 del toro avenue todos están invitados y un agradecimiento especial para la concejal de arrigo y El manejador de la ciudad, René Méndez, tuvimos una junta ayer con el equipo de vecindarios prósperos hablando sobre temas de seguridad, importancia que le importa al Distrito 5, le llama la atención a todas las ciudades salinas. Queremos agradecer por eso y pues también hacer resaltar la exposición internacional de pequeñas alebrijes y nahuales fue algo grandísimo muy emocionante muy bello la semana pasada gracias por todo lo que hacen y pues aquí estamos a seguirle en colaboración gracias

Good afternoon. My name is Nidia Soto, and I'm an organizer with BHC. First of all, I want to say that I'm very proud. I was in the last Alice Hill Vibration Plan meeting, and I'm so excited to see that the opening of Cluster Park is here. I'm really happy because it's something for the community. It's something that we should all celebrate, and I'm happy. to see this finally happening. Also, we are working with the community, and I also want to invite you all because tomorrow, District 2 in Parque Gavilán, there's going to be a play at 5 p.m., and you guys are all invited. It is going to be in 263 Del Toro Avenue, and I really want to thank you all and invite you cordially. I want to thank Council Member Arriaga and also Manager Hernandez. Yesterday we had a meeting that brought a lot of fruit. join with thriving neighborhoods. And we talked about a lot of issues that are important for District 5. We talked about security and how we can improve that. So we're really happy and really appreciative of their time. I also want to mention about the Alevrijes Exposition. It is beautiful. It is something that really excites me and I'm happy to see it. And thank you for all you do. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Next up. Lucina, did I get that right?

Yes. Hello. Can you hear me?

Yep. You're on.

Thank you. Good evening. Again, my name is Lucina. and I'm speaking on behalf of the Salinas Parks and Recreation Coalition. Again, it's a partnership of community organizations committed to expanding access to quality parks, recreation, and open spaces throughout our city. I first want to thank the city manager, René Mendez, and city staff for meeting with our coalition on July 14th. We appreciated the opportunity to have an open and productive conversation about the future of parks and recreation in Salinas, and the staffing needed to support our growing park system. Our city park and recreation spaces have increased in the last five years. The coalition would like to encourage the city of Salinas to conduct an assessment of the parks and recreation staffing goals and targets. Establishing a long-term staffing plan is an important step toward ensuring our parks and recreation facilities receive the care they need as our community continues to grow. At the same time, the coalition wants to reaffirm our request that the city funds two additional parks and recreation positions during this fiscal year, including the senior park maintenance supervisor identified by staff as a priority. As new park land comes online, including Ensign Park, and as more residents rely on parks and recreation programs, maintenance staff is essential to protecting the city's investment and providing safe, welcoming public spaces for everyone. Our coalition represents organizations that collectively serve thousands of residents every year. We see firsthand how parks and recreation improve physical and mental health, provide opportunities for youth and families, strengthen neighborhoods, and contribute to Salinas economic vitality. These benefits are only possible when our public spaces are properly maintained and supported by adequate staffing. We appreciate the city's continued partnership with our coalition and your- Okay, thank you.

Hey, Jennifer.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. This is Jennifer Vasquez. I am speaking on behalf of Fix Your Land Trust as well as the Salinas Parks Coalition and Friends of Ensign Volunteers and our interns. I am here once again to respectfully request funding for two additional staff for our maintenance of parks within the city. This request we've made before and we continue to do so because we really see this as a vital function within our city. These positions are critical not only for maintaining the parks we have today, but also for supporting the continued growth of our park system, the quality of life of our residents and the city's broader economic development goals. These additional staff would help reflect and support the ongoing partnership between the city of Salinas and Bixby Land Trust, which has been wonderful over the years that we've worked on Anson Community Park. This will also be essential as the city prepares to take ownership of 67 additional acres of parkland, representing a $40 million investment in our community. These 67 acres will be transferred to the city this September ahead of the grand opening celebration on September 20th. We invite all of you and the public to join us in celebrating this milestone.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jimena Mesa, and I had the honor of serving as a mentor for our, I participated in the program. And this year we had five interns. The internship is designed to introduce young people to local government.

My name is Shiv Patel, and I'm a sophomore accounting student at Cal State Monterey Bay.

Social media communications plans. Oh, sorry. Social media and research support. We evaluated past social media content to identify what was working well and where there were opportunities to improve engagement and within the community. Based on our research, we recommended a new social media strategy focusing on creating more engagement informative and community-centered content. We also created a 4th of July safety campaign to educate residents on celebrating responsibly and keeping both people and pets safe during the holidays. One of my projects was partnering with a local animal shelter to create a video promoting pest safety. As an animal lover myself, this project was especially meaningful to me because it allowed me to spread awareness about protecting animals and encouraging responsible pet care these projects over a help straight thing my communication skills content creation and connecting within the community itself next up is Audrey.

During our eight-week summer internship, we created a strategic communications plan for the Public Works Department. We began by evaluating public works communication on our city's social media. This helped us identify strengths, communication gaps, and opportunities to make the Public Works Department more visible and engaging. We then researched best practices for social media help us develop our plan we outline main goals for the campaign including visibility and education we also create a plan to showcase different areas of public works including maintenance operations and employee spotlights we also developed a posting schedule through a structured content calendar with reoccurring posts we then presented our plan to the city manager for review and recommendations Recommendations from our team include increased timeliness in sharing information so residents can learn about Public Works projects as soon as possible through multiple media formats. This includes content like highlighting staff through images, short and long form videos, infographics, and articles on the city website. We also recommend a monthly communications report, an annual communications update to city council, and use of the title Service in Action to allow us to expand content beyond public works. Next up, Marisol's gonna talk a little bit about our strategic branding initiative.

Our biggest project that we oversaw as interns was creating a strategic branding initiative. We focus on the question, how can the city align community identity with its economical development goals? As the city grows and more art exhibits start arising, our vibrancy plan, and we have more community opportunities, we want to focus on future city branding becoming fundamental to create a connection aligning with community culture and the growing city. Our goal for this initiative is to create community pride and market the city's economical development. So as we started this project, we conducted researches on lessons to be learned and things to incorporate in this initiative. We found that community engagement and outreach is very important through the whole process. We also found that visual representation and creating a roadmap is also pivotal for this project. Some cities that we researched for best practices include City of Corona, which had 2,200 and plus residents with different demographics being represented in a rebranding process, which showed a positive impact. Then after, we researched City of Visalia, where they had minimal community input, which caused them to have two branding initiatives. Furthermore, we also researched 50 plus cities, and we connected with seven. We also met with Elk Grove's graphic designer, which had more than 30 years of experience, which suggested our city to have a circle shape to be easier to transfer for digital marking, while she also evaluated our current city logo, which she applied the color theory and design incorporations to the new branding. So our proposal and recommendation would be a six-phase initiative. Our first phase would be the planning and research of the city where we would grab information and define the goals for the project. Our second phase would be the community engagement, which is the most pivotal phase. We recommend collecting feedback through surveys, workshops, and public meetings to ensure that residents feel like their voices is heard through the whole process. Then after our third phase would be the logo concepts using the community feedback that we gathered from phase two and create three ops to the logo. Our fourth phase would be to have the community have a vote on which logo they would like to be implemented to the city. We would consult with graphic designers in order for the logo to hold basic standards as well. Our fifth phase would finalize the design and adopt a new logo and get it approved, while our final six phase would be the rebranding, which would include the website, social media, and digital branding. By establishing a cohesive city brand, the city can support local business, attract new investments, and stimulate economical development. As this project demonstrates how strategic branding can support community pride and economical development. And I would like to now transition to our economical development interns who would share their project.

Good afternoon, council. I'm Aiden Cruz. I led as the customer research and experience lead.

And I'm Shiv Patel. I led as the community engagement and analysis lead.

Shiv and I chose economic development as a way to connect our current business education to a rural opportunity that could serve our community. The opportunity ended up being our final project, which revolved around one question. How can Salinas become easier to do business with? As we tried to find the answer to this question, we wanted to look at it through the eyes of a business owner. So we held 17 total interviews, including businesses ranging from type, age, location, and non-English speaking, meeting with other economic development departments to learn their process, and then finally internal departments to learn the Salinas process.

After speaking with these After speaking with these business owners, we learned that the process itself is functional with real opportunity for growth. Internally, we created a journey map and the opportunity analysis across the four core phases, permit, plan, permit, launch, and grow, which provided insight into where specifically these opportunities exist. One such opportunity is increasing awareness of the resources already available so business owners know exactly where to turn at each step beyond that. A second opportunity we found is making sure business owners feel more connected and supported by the city throughout the process. In benchmarking other cities, including Long Beach and Mountain View, we found they addressed the same information gap through having a single point of contact and proactive outreach. This confirmed the value was in navigation and relationship building, which is exactly what shaped our following recommendation.

That recommendation being what we built, the Salinas Business Success Toolkit. It came from real interviews and is from active business owners today. It's designed to be used day one and it has been designed with ease of use and plain language. The first page you're gonna see is a startup roadmap. It's supposed to be a brief guide, especially as we design the packet to progress in depth of information page by page.

From there, the toolkit moves into the business navigation guide, which lays out each of the nine steps across the four phases in plain language so a business owner can follow the process step by step without needing prior knowledge of city procedure.

We then have a map of city limits. We found that there was a common question of MI and Salinas from business owners, so we created a visual answer. Not only did we save time from city staff, but also for business owners as well.

The toolkit then expands further into a permit and licensing overview, which walks through each required permit and license in sequence, along with additional steps for businesses that hire employees, for businesses that serve or sell food, for businesses that sell alcohol, or for businesses that operate from home.

Then we also have an FAQ section. It has real questions from active business owners in Salinas today.

Rounding out the toolkit is a department contact directory and a resource directory, which gives business owners direct points of contact within the city as well as outside resources for funding, advising, and workforce support so they are never left wondering where to turn next.

Ending off the toolkit is a checklist. We wanted to create an interactive way for starting up entrepreneurs to know where to go next.

moving forward we recommend the city of salinas to publish this toolkit on a small business web page and distribute it broadly whether it's at community events workshops city offices or at the point of license renewal we also recommend translating the toolkit into multiple languages including spanish given how many of the business owners we spoke to preferred or needed bilingual materials lastly we recommend assigning ownership of the toolkit to a specific staff member or staff team so that contacts, fees, and program details are reviewed and updated regularly as those change. We came in asking how to make Salinas easier to do business with, and we're now leaving with a toolkit that we believe answers just that. And we hope that it means that the next person with an idea and a leap of faith knows exactly where to turn.

We would love to just say thank you for this opportunity to counsel to ICMA and to the city, as well as our direct mentors, Jimena Puga, Nathan Q, Sophia Rome, and Jasmine Medrano. We're all very grateful for this privilege to serve our community, and we're open to any questions and comments at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Okay, this is not an action item. If there are questions or comments from counsel, Andrew?

Yeah, this is an amazing presentation. I have seen a significant improvement, especially in information regarding our public works department and projects. It usually is my number one question I get is, well, what's happening here? And so I've really seen a significant improvement. Speaking about the toolkit, you know, I recently saw this video on Salinas Fool where Benjamin and James went around Alisal, and they were asking businesses if they knew about our facade improvement program, and the majority didn't. And so, you know, seeing how you guys are presenting the information and just having all in one place where people can find it, I think is great. I think it's also a great idea to have a designated small business website where people can go, because believe it or not, exactly the way you described it, people will contact, well, how do I get my business license? Okay, well, I got that. Now where do I go next? So this is really great. I'm in full support of the launching of the toolkit and displaying that. I think that's great. I also think it's important to have a cohesive approach to our branding. I know a lot of our different departments have different looks and even the messaging is not very coordinated. So I think that would help with brand awareness and just a better messaging to the community. So I think you all did amazing. I look forward to implementing the same kind of practice that you did across various things in the city of Salinas. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Andrew.

Tony, anything? Yes. Thank you very much. Mr. Mendez, as I'm listening to these young professionals, this awesome work, talking to the real stakeholders of Salinas, the people we work for, this is not going to go anywhere unless you embrace it. And we're here to support you as a city manager. But I have to tell you, with my experience being up here, there's awesome information that's given to this council, and it goes up on the shelf somewhere. I don't want this to go up on the shelf. I mean, this is amazing. And you know what really strikes me here? Economic development. And Mr. Mendez, your staff, I'm looking at Mr. Wiles. I'm thinking of other people. If the staff, if the professional staff does not buy into it, it's not going to go anywhere. When people come to City Hall, They should feel like we work for them, not that they work for us. But Mr. Mendez, economic development, how can Salinas become easier to do business with? I think we're just giving, this is a treasure, and I mean this, this is simple. It's easy to understand, but now the professionals that work for the city manager, they have to implement it and they have to run with it. So just really quick, Mr. Mendez, what do you see from here as far as how we're going to make it work?

Well, so if you take apart the recommendations, some of the public works messaging and branding is starting to be utilized and used. Sophia and her team is using it. Been working with the inter, so we'll continue to grow that. WHEN IT PERTAINS TO THE BRANDING, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO BE A MUCH MORE EXTENSIVE EFFORT, SO WE NEED TO BRING IT BACK. THE NEXT SORT OF PART IS SOPHIA'S TEAM WILL LOOK AT SORT OF A BUDGET AND APPROACH AND ALL OF THAT, TAKING WHAT'S BEEN RECOMMENDED AND BRING THAT BACK TO THE COUNCIL. And then when you look at the small business, that's going to be implemented by the economic development team at Nathan. So that will be up on our website. That will be pushed out. And then we also have the business navigation position that will be front and center on a lot of that. So the short answer to your question is all three things are going to be done. One, it's easier to do the... the work done by our college interns, which is great work, perspective. The input on the branding, again, took it from a different vantage point. There in social media, they kind of see that a lot more than me and you do. We always complain that we just can't keep up with the current messaging. So I think that's going to be acted on. And the actual... logo and messaging customer that's on the wall is correct uh we've tried to keep it sort of together but it's a little bit uh the distance and not connected so that's going to take a ride or effort working with the council in the community great thank you and by the way i love those suits thank you jose

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you all for taking the time to do your summer internships with the city of Salinas. Special shout out to Chip Patel and Aiden Cruz for indulging me with what was supposed to be a 30 minute meeting, but turned into an hour of kind of like me just talking with you guys. But I got to actually see the Salinas business success toolkit. THE BETA VERSION. SO REALLY EXCITED TO SEE IT BE IMPLEMENTED. LOTS OF GREAT INFORMATION AND HAPPY TO SEE IT END UP PUBLISHED BY OUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT. I KNOW OUR CITY IS WORKING VERY CLOSELY WITH OUR I.T. DIVISION TO MAKE SURE IT'S ALL ACCESSIBLE ONLINE AS WELL. language translation features that are already integrated into our website will definitely help out with streamlining that bilingual availability of these resources for our community. And then just one very quick question. I know we're kind of a little bit tight on time. But for all of you, very briefly, after this internship, could you see a career in local government?

When I first came into this internship, I had little idea of what local government was. And through these past eight weeks, I would like to say I'm definitely considering a career in local government. And my reasoning for that is simple. It's giving back to my community.

I would like to add on and speak from my perspective as well. Before this internship, I would have had no clue about local government, what it was, what we did, and had no interest in working for local government. I will say leaving this experience, it was truly shaping of how I could see my career in the future and hopefully come back to communities, especially like Salinas. Giving back to business owners and seeing throughout those interviews that we were making a real impact, especially to places that we've eaten at before, it really stands out to me. just emphasizes that this is a real community that I can give back to.

Audrey?

I want to pursue a career in communications and I'm thinking agricultural communications and working in this internship with the communications team for the city has definitely shown me a career option that I could have and it has been a really great experience for me.

I definitely see myself having a career path in local government. I've always been interested and I like making an impact in my community.

I would say yes, I would see myself working within local government, especially I love the community itself and learning how in depth it really goes. It has really been fulfilling for myself and it has been an awesome experience.

Awesome. Well, thank you guys for your service. All right. Thank you. Aurelio.

I think we should just go ahead and accept their resumes right now and start hiring them. I wanted to talk about, I think it's slide number 14, the Small Business Success Toolkit. Thank you for sharing that with us and sharing with us your vision. A lot of organizations, immediately we would look at this and we would identify it as a work plan. knowing that you guys went through this whole process and brought this information back, and essentially sharing with us a work plan and taking something so complex and putting it all on one slide amongst the other slides in your presentation. I just want to thank you for that. I had the same question, just wanted to know if any of you also had an interest in government. When it comes to government, one of the things that we always have to keep in mind is just who... is in our community, what are our different sectors, and so I think regardless of what career route you go, again, my hope is that you come back to Salinas and make Salinas your home, but we're always gonna be in need of leaders in the education system, in our healthcare system, in our business, albeit if it's a small mom and pop's business or a larger business. Also agriculture, who knows where technology is gonna be at as we see Silicon Valley making inroads in to San Benito County and Monterey County. All of that are things that are gonna impact you. in terms of how this city is going to look and the employment opportunities that are going to be there and the careers and the families that hopefully all of you will plant your roots here in Salinas. Over the years, you know, did various scholarship fundraising, and would always see our local youth kind of graduate, go off, and not come back. And so again, I've said this before, and I'll say it again, we really want you to come back, make Salinas home, learn whatever it is in terms of whatever respective college you go to, and like you said, it's all about giving back to our community. I'm just very inspired by your presentation tonight, and thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you. Gloria?

Thank you. Thank you. Great presentation. Great work. Very proud of you. Very proud of you. And like I'm going to echo the other council members that you come back. You come back to Salinas after you get educated. Okay. I wish you well. And thank you. Thank you again for all these fabulous ideas. Now we need to implement them. Thank you.

Margaret.

Thank you, guys. Great teamwork. I just wanted to comment on the presented the plan to the city manager, so I'm looking at Renee, too, Mr. Mendez, and saying now we need to make sure it trickles down because I think really all of us up here need to see the report in detail and embrace it and buy into it as well as the community. included, and so I look forward to seeing the results of your research and your recommendations in more detail. I just want to make sure when we go out to the community that it's a very inclusive process. It's really hard to get people to engage, and I think this is something that people in the community would get behind and would spend the time to put their energy into it. I love the how can Salinas become easier to do business with. To me, that's a million-dollar question. I ask myself that every day. How can we make it easier for people to live and work here? And then I'm really curious, I'm sure it's in your report somewhere, how do business owners feel more connected to the city? How do we accomplish that? I would love to hear your recommendations on that, and not tonight, but in the report. And if not, we'll reach out to you, because I think, again, that's a really important question that we need to answer. And we need to make sure that we're, you know, we talk a lot about customer service, and

and inclusiveness and those are some challenges that we have at the city and then just communicating what's happening internally as well as externally to all residents so thank you very much for your time and your commitment and best of luck to all of you thank you i think it's pretty much all been said so i'll i'll just echo uh everyone here on the dice so thank you well done and uh we'll look forward to uh next steps so thank you Um, with that, uh, we, uh, uh, so you're all, you're all set. And thanks for, uh, yeah. Yeah. And before you go, It wasn't on my notes. Okay. All right. We're going to have each of you come up, and we do have certificates for you. And that's also the photo op. So why don't we have the council get in front and then get some certificates.

Thank you.

Oh, you did it.

Oh, thank you. Are those there? No. I know we get that.

All right, we will be continuing the consent agenda till the meeting on the 18th and we will proceed to public hearings and

While everybody is in transit, Ernesto, you may make your way to the podium, and we will be finishing up with the extension of the urgency interim ordinance prohibiting the issuance of tobacco retailer licenses. So we'll let everyone get back to their seat and then let you get started.

Hi, good afternoon, City Council Manager, City Manager, Mayor. Ernesto Lizaola, Assistant to the City Manager. Today, we are here today to present and propose an extension to the urgency intermorgans number 2697. which was issued to prohibit the issuance of tobacco retail licenses citywide for 45 days. And so this would be an extension of that to a time not to exceed 10 months and 15 days. And this will be to allow time, additional time to research and develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for tobacco. issuance of tobacco retail license citywide. As a background, the original interim ordinance was approved on June 30th of this year, and it was for a period of 45 days. That is set to expire on August 12th, unless we extend that today for an additional 10 months and 15 days.

Very good. All right, any questions or comments from Council? Anything? I saw Jose first, so Jose, then Tony.

I just have one comment. My one comment slash request would be that we also reach out to all the other cities in Monterey County, plus the county, to see if we would be interested in making it kind of like a coalition, like a movement of being a tobacco-free community, so it's not just City of Salinas, because we know even if we establish the city itself as a tobacco-free community, we enact this ordinance whenever it comes back. We still have other jurisdictions around us that may or may not be selling tobacco or issuing tobacco licenses. So to whatever extent we're able to reach out to them proactively, so it can be done kind of in alignment with them as well. Okay, thank you Jose.

Tony.

Mr. Lizaola, thank you for hitting this up, and I think it's going to be great for the community. It's important that we protect families and not over-regulating business, but trying to figure out how we can make our neighborhood safer. So thank you.

I have a comment.

Okay, let me, Andrea, anything? Okay, all right.

And my comment would be, again, to thank you, and I want to thank the Monterey County Tobacco Coalition. I know Gonzalo is out there, Gonzalo Corona, and the partnership and Sun Street Centers, the parts and all that group, and of course yourself. And that, yes, we really need to look at this seriously because we're not against i'm not against small businesses but i am against some of the businesses where they want to do business and i think we as a city need to protect our residents of especially something like this that we're looking at right now that you know they these kind type of businesses myself i think they do not belong near schools and that's why we I brought this forward and I'm very pleased the action that we're taking. Thank you.

Anyway, Margaret.

Quick comment. So last night at the meeting that we had with BHC, they were the collaborator, and there was a lot of concern about safety for teens and youth, and this came up several times. So it is top of mind. There are a lot of people in the community that don't agree with them, especially where they're being placed. So I'm really glad that we're extending them. We're going to do it right and put something really solid into place. Thank you.

Yeah, sure. Having worked for Sun Street Centers and their prevention division, just a tidbit of information I just want to share with the public and my council members is that from what I recall, when the initial tobacco tax was passed, a lot of that funding went into prevention measures, right? So again, educating young people and those that I normally call young at heart, you know, just informing them of the detriments of using tobacco and how bad it's for you. With the passage of that tobacco tax, what was also, you know, one of the goals was, you know, in addition to get people to stop smoking, That was also going to have an impact on the funding, right? So as people stop smoking, that meant that over the years, funding would decline for such preventative measures that we see coming out of the different, like, counties, departments. So we shouldn't be too surprised as we see, like, you know, hey, we may need to be a little bit more proactive in our planning. position and stance on, in this case, retail licenses. I know that some of us had a number of concerns regarding one in particular that was a little bit too near Ensign Park. And so as this gets developed, if I can go ahead and chime in now, I think what a lot of us want to see or don't want to see is retail licenses being awarded to businesses in such a close proximity to schools, could be something like arcades or movie theaters or wherever we're likely to see young people. Again, if an individual chooses to smoke, that is entirely on them. But in terms of our position, in terms of protecting the health and well-being of young people, you know, it's something that we don't want to start marketing to them at an early age. And so, you know, tobacco and tobacco politics has had a long history. You know, some of us may recall that even past U.S. Surgeon Generals, you know, would quote and say smoking is glamorous, but we're absolutely against that. Is that correct? I see a member of the audience agreeing with what I'm saying, so thank you. And I'll go ahead and conclude there.

OK, thank you. All right, let's go out. Any comments from the public on this item?

Good afternoon. I think it's a great idea. We finally started doing some of this pushback on just giving anybody a license and looking at everything as a profit. We got to stop doing that because when we do things looking as a profit, we create a problem where health care is an issue here. Tobacco is a big health care issue. And if we stop doing that, looking at it as a profit, look at avoiding it, we save money for the community and the whole country, actually. And I'm glad that you brought it up. We should have one of these downtown. That way, when people have a drink, they can go have a smoke. Don't put them in our neighborhoods. I just found one on Del Monte the other day. I couldn't believe it. They changed San Martin Market, where I grew up, on Del Monte into a smoke shop. I could not believe it. Full-blown. I almost just, I couldn't believe it. It's ridiculous. I mean, don't put them on the east side anymore, guys. Find somewhere else to put them, please. Put them in your neighborhoods where you live. Put them in Carmel, wherever you live. I don't know where you guys live. Shoot, Watsonville, Soledad, Gonzalez. Put them there. I don't see too many out there. Put them in King City. Put them in Monterey. Seriously, guys, stop putting stuff in our backyards. Our kids don't need to be influenced by that. We have all the liquor and all the gun stores everywhere. Thank you guys. Have a good day. God bless you. And thank you, sir, for doing that, man. That's a good thing. Thank you.

Hi, Council. Daniel Munoz, East Salinas resident. I kind of find it, it's kind of comical how everybody's here. We have an urgency and term ordinance for tobacco, but nothing for pesticides, right? Nothing for pesticides. No urgency ordinance for pesticides here in the city of Salinas. You talk about protecting kids. Cigarette smoke, at the end of the day, it's an individual choice. Whether it's right or wrong, it's an individual choice. Pesticide breathing in the air, that's not a choice. Our kids are being poisoned. Every single day that they spray methamil, fumigants, whatever they're using out here. I just got notifications today they're going to spray at 6 o'clock. Methamil, one mile from my house. What do I do about that? Do I close the windows? Do I tell my dogs to pee inside? I'm just like, really, what am I supposed to do? Why isn't there no urgency for the pesticide issue? I don't think it's coincidence that they donate to a lot of people in the dais. The tobacco industry doesn't donate to any of you guys, I'm pretty sure. So, yeah, let's go after tobacco because that's not a big deal, you know. Nobody's going to cut your donors, right, if you go after the tobacco industry. But everybody's afraid to talk about the pesticides that are being sprayed, even in the city, Renee. Herbicides, you can cut that out today, tomorrow, last week. You could have cut that out, but you still haven't. But you're worried about tobacco. It is an issue, don't get me wrong. Tobacco is an issue, but the pesticides are a bigger issue. People are getting cancer. People are dying directly from this. It takes years to die from cigarette smoke. It takes years to develop the cancer. But the breathing, like I said, we don't have a choice. We have to breathe the air that we live in Salinas regardless. Cigarette smoke is an individual choice. You guys got your priorities all mixed up. And I suggest that you guys get it together. Especially the people being funded by Big Ag. Thank you. Call the set.

All right, anyone on Zoom? All right, seeing nothing on Zoom, we'll bring it back. This is an action item.

Second.

Okay, Patty, go ahead and call for the question.

Councilmember Barajas? Yes. Councilmember Barrera? Yes. Councilmember DeRigo? Yes. Councilmember De La Rosa? Yes. Councilmember Salazar? Yes. Councilmember Sandoval? Yes. Mayor Donahue? Yes. Motion passes.

Okay, thank you. All right. Mr. Grossman, you are up next with a really lengthy item on a commercial cannabis permit.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. Today we're going to talk about cannabis. This item is cannabis permit 2025-004. Next slide, please. Sorry, I got it. Okay, as you all know, and maybe just as a reminder, cannabis is regulated by the city's municipal code. It's contained in Chapter 5. In this case, what we're looking at is an appeal of an appeal. Sorry, Emerald Skyway doing business as Valley Farms, and the ownership has changed a little bit since inception, but it originally began what we call operational, our certificate of occupancy status on June 8, 2018. It was operating as a dispensary. Emerald Skyway was originally approved in 2017. It included four different components. There was manufacturing, there was cultivation, the dispensary, which was accessory to the manufacturing, and delivery. The location on Moffett Street is zoned IBP. This is where they're relocating from. This is a request for relocation. That particular location on Moffett Street is zoned IBP, which is Industrial Business Park. The application for amendment was submitted in about mid-late 2025. This application is requesting relocation from Moffett Street to 2033 North Main Street. The site where they are going, or proposing to go, is in a shopping center known as the Northridge Plaza Shopping Center. It's across the street from the Northridge Mall. It's across from Veranda Road, right at North Main Street. More or less the north... west corner of that intersection. Surrounding uses include residential, commercial, and the highway, US 101. In terms of background, these are more or less the high points of various dates. So the slide provides a brief overview of the process chronology. April 13, the City of Salinas Cannabis Selection Committee denied the application for relocation. This is a committee that is more or less administrative within the city. It's made up of city employees from various departments. Decisions on cannabis permits are provided by the selection committee. The selection committee indicated that the proposed site is too close to a school. The Municipal Code, Chapter 5, indicates proximity or distance requirements from commercial cannabis businesses to what is known as sensitive uses. Sensitive uses are schools and parks, daycares, alcohol licenses, Things of that matter, they're specified in the code. In this case, the location was noted as 995 feet, which is within 1,000 feet. So the commercial cannabis permit was denied by the committee. April 21, the applicant appealed. the selection committee denial. It went to the planning commission on June 3rd. The planning commission supported the cannabis selection committee and denied again. Then it was appealed and that's why we are here today. This slide shows the proximity of the proposed site, which is the red area. You can see US 101 underneath the word where it says parcel. North Main is the vertical up and down roadway. Baranda is kind of the angled roadway across from the mall. The site is shown as proximity-wise, 995 feet to the school. Additionally, there are other sensitive uses. There are seven alcohol-related uses. There is a smoke shop, and there is residential adjacent right next door, which is documented and addressed by the police department memorandum. This slide is intended as a more detailed representation of the way distance is measured. In this case, the municipal code indicates that the code shall be inferred or designated as measuring property line to property line, what we call parcel to parcel, and that is done by a GIS system. The teeny tiny measurement that's between the site and the school actually shows 994 feet dot five. We round up to 995 feet. This is per the GIS system. The municipal code indicates that the selection committee does have the authority to measure, in what the code refers to as, determine a different point of measure. The selection committee did not. The planning commission did not. The city council today, this afternoon, could measure differently in terms of the school distance. And if so measured differently, then it would be, I think it's like 1,300 feet or something like that. I might have to look in the actual record. But it would be greater than 1,000 feet. So the school issue would go away. But the school is not the only issue. There are the alcohol licenses and the smoke shop. This slide indicates what happened at the Planning Commission meeting and what the appeal grounds were. So on June 3rd, the Planning Commission upheld the selection committee's denial. The appeal came in, and that was a 4-1 vote. Appeal came in on June 9. Those are the reasons for the appeal. The recommendation is to determine that the project is not a project, that the action is not a project, rather. Staff recommends affirming the selection committees and the planning commission's denial of the cannabis permit, which is the relocation from Moffett Street to North Main, due to proximity of sensitive uses. This concludes staff's presentation. Staff's available for questions.

Thank you. All right. Margaret, I'll start with you. Any questions, comments?

Yes. Can you just give me a little more detail on the, it's the cannabis selection committee that can determine a different method. That sounded like a little bit subjective. Can you give us a little bit more background on that versus the parcel to parcel, just so I have a better understanding? I know there was a lot of discussion at the planning commission meeting about the difference between parcel to parcel, and I forget the other one. Pardon me for that, but...

Sure. The Code Section 5-07.27, the last provision in that subsection, indicates that the ordinance shall be construed as parcel-to-parcel in terms of measurement unless the committee, the selection committee, determines an alternate method. One alternative method could be building-to-building, for instance.

That's the one, yeah.

Yeah, and that measurement methodology results in a number that is compliant with the minimum distance requirements.

Okay. And they did not. So, okay. I understood. Thank you.

Okay. Gloria, anything?

I SAT IN ON THAT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING BECAUSE I HAD AN APPOINTMENT HERE IN CITY HALL, SO I'M FAMILIAR WITH HOW IT WENT. BUT CAN YOU REMIND ME, DID THE APPLICANT HAVE ANY OTHER AREAS WHERE HE COULD HAVE GONE OR WHERE HE CAN GO IN THE CITY OF SALINAS? Do we work with a business like this that maybe he needs another alternative location? Do we offer any of that?

Sure. Relocation of a cannabis business is subject to the buffers of what we call distance from sensitive uses. Generally speaking, and we have what is called a GIS app that more or less shows circles or radius measurements around these various sensitive uses. The locations throughout the city are somewhat challenging. I think that is why at the beginning in the 2017 era, many of the initial applications were located in the industrial areas. such as this one was in the IDP location, for instance. There are fewer schools and alcohol licenses in those areas. Over time, and the council may recall, Cana Cruz went through a similar process. It was also within proximity of alcohol-sensitive uses, but not within a school. The school was beyond the 1,000-foot mark. without looking at every single property in the city, and there are many, the distance to sensitive uses can be challenging for applicants.

Okay, thank you.

No questions. I had an opportunity to look at the Planning Commission and the committee's comments at work, and so I have no questions at this time.

Okay.

Jose?

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. Just two questions. And Council Member De La Rosa, I think, already kind of spoke to it. But how is this any different from the appeal of Canna Cruz since they were next to a sensitive use?

The two processes are very similar. The facts are slightly different. This particular application has, I believe, more sensitive uses, and it's closer to a school.

Yeah, I believe Canna Cruz was only, had one alcohol use in close proximity to it, whereas this one has seven alcohol-related uses and a smoke shop. Is that correct?

There was probably more than one alcohol. The exact numbers, I don't have that information in front of me right now, but I do know that the school is further away, and I do know that The alcohol was, I think there was one right next door, to be honest with you.

And then my follow up question to that is, with the Canna Cruz appeal, and I know we're talking about separate appeals and the facts are slightly different. With the Canna Cruz appeal, the police department, if I remember correctly, provided kind of something to the effect of we're signing off on it, like in good faith that we've assessed this and we're good with Canna Cruz going into this additional sense of use within close proximity. Is there something similar for this appeal?

Yes, in the staff report, there is a police memorandum. And I believe police is here today. Also, if there are any questions specifically about the memo, the memo is dated March 16, 2026. The police department reviewed the proposed relocation and determined that at the end here, there's a conclusion where they essentially do not... Let's see, where was it? There's essentially no reason not to approve, but if approval, then certain conditions are recommended.

Okay.

But I would defer to police for exactly how they got there, but essentially it says, if the permit is approved, Salinas Police Department recommends the following safety measures. And there's about two pages of requirements. Okay.

Thank you for that clarification. That's all my questions.

Thank you, Tony. Mr. Grossman, Mr. Wiles, good to see you. Mr. Grossman, earlier today we met some young professionals in front of us, as you probably heard them. How can Salinas become easier to do business with? In reading your report, which is a lot of reading, months of reporting here there's there's several months happening here do you feel as a city and probably the city attorney will probably want to get involved in this one do you feel we did our due diligence with your experience mr wall's experience the whole staff's experience that we do our due diligence to assist this merchant whatever whatever happened here but as i'm as i'm reading notes i'm seeing Some different dates that some of these go for weeks and then months and then belly farm says we relied in good faith. Our phone was only verification issued by the city. Mr. Grossman, do you feel we did our due diligence to do the best we could to assist his business?

The process that's embedded in the municipal code. requires certain actions occur prior to submitting an application for, in this case, a major amendment. There are zoning information letters which contain an inventory of sensitive uses. That information was provided to the applicant. In fact, back in 2016, there was a zoning information letter for the site at Moffett Street that explained what the requirements were to operate a dispensary in the IBP district. From a city staff perspective, the municipal code and the rules that govern the process have been followed.

Mr. Grossman, I just... And like the city attorney says, I mean, anybody can sue us, but I guess, Mr. Callahan, I'm going to look to your guidance here. Do you feel, because you know what, as a small merchant, it's easy to come to this place here and you get lost. It's happened to me. But sometimes, depending on who the employee is, You got some good employees here. Then you got other employees that are just kind of, no, you got to go to the next department. We got a mixed bag. But Mr. Callahan, do you think whatever happens with this, because this is hard for me. I'm looking at these letters and do you feel we did what we had to do? Or is there anything else that we can assist this business in?

So council member, as Mr. Grossman said, I share his opinion that the city staff followed the process that's laid out in the code. In terms of assisting the business, I think that the staff did a lot of work early on in the process and through the process to walk them through those requirements, through the selection committee's consideration, through the planning commission appeal, and now with the city council. So I concur with Mr. Grossman's statements.

All right, let's go ahead and go out. All right, we'll hear from the applicant. So you've got up to 10 minutes, so the floor is yours.

Thank you, honorable council members, and thanks for having us here today. My name is Gene Stonebarger. I'm the attorney for Emerald Skyway and its owners, Collaboration Ventures Corporation. Also with me today is Mr. Martin Wesley, who's the CEO of Emerald Skyway, doing business at Valley Farms. Importantly, this is a relocation of an existing, pre-existing, city permitted cannabis operation my clients have made a significant investment into this city purchasing an existing business for over three million dollars and in the five years that follow since 2021 uh paying more than 585 000 in direct excise taxes to the city uh what appeared to be a great partnership. Shortly after the acquisition closed, the city notified the landlord of a zoning defect relating to operation at the existing location. The city's cannabis consultant identified multiple properties to look at. Over 15 were looked at. And this property at 2033 North Main Street was identified as a viable location. After receiving the zoning letter confirming that and showing the building-to-building measurements, our clients entered into a lease for this location at North Main Street. Wow. Importantly the selection committee denied this Permit on one ground and one ground only now municipal code section five point I'm sorry five dash oh seven point two seven a one okay, this is the statute and the code at issue that relates to the proper measurement of the distance from a school the thousand foot measurement, okay The code is specific For the purposes of this section, distance shall, which is mandatory, be measured from the closest point of the site occupied by the commercial cannabis business and the closest point of the site occupied by the use defined in Section A, the school, including parking areas, landscaping, and or fencing. but excluding, mandatory exclusion, excluding any areas of the parcel that is unavailable for use by the commercial cannabis business or sensitive use. Mandatory exclusion. It is not code compliant to measure from the parcel line to the parcel line when you're taking into account unavailable use by the cannabis dispensary operation. The building-to-building measurements that were provided by the city on multiple occasions, 2022, just the building-to-building measurements, and in 2025, both the parcel line-to-parcel line and building-to-building measurements. What was not looked at was the measurement from the available use. This parcel includes, and we've included these maps in our appeal, we've included subsequent certified surveys showing the distance from the school parcel line to the available use is over 1,110 feet. a location that is in compliance, especially when you look at the bill. Yes, it's five foot short when measuring parcel to parcel, but to reiterate, the code does not allow for that because you're taking into account areas that are unavailable for the use.

You're going to have to comply with it, and you're going to lose. In court, you're going to lose. He's got the numbers. He's right.

The other uses go away. The accessory use goes away. in that district. It is allowed as a primary use in the retail district.

So on that basis, proceeding with the $3 million purchase is premature?

So again, the timing, my understanding of the timing of the purchase was 2020. So this letter is 2016. They move forward with the purchase in 2020. And it wasn't until 2022 that we raised the flag of noncompliance and the dispensary no longer being an accessory use.

All right. Thank you. All right. Are there any additional questions for council before we move forward? This is an action item.

Mr. Mayor, the only thing I'm going to ask, when we do go for a vote,

i know how i'm going to vote but i would like to explain to the public why i'm voting the way i am okay okay well before we take the vote or call for the question we'll allow for final comments and and then so we make sure we get to do that i'll go ahead and make the motion

Yes, go ahead. I'll make a motion finding the action is not a project per CEQA and affirming the selection committees and planning commission's denial of Emerald Skyway LLCs doing business at Valley Farms, request to amend commercial cannabis permit 2024-009, relocating from 1610 Moffett Street to 2033 North Main Street. within proximity of sensitive uses per municipal code, section 5-07.27. Second. Okay.

All right. Any final comments before we call?

Yes, and forgive me for, so what does that mean? What just happened here?

So what that means is the motion is to uphold the planning commission's denial of their request to amend the commercial cannabis permit, which would mean that they would not be issued a permit to open on the location on 2033 North Main Street.

Did you want to say anything else before we vote?

No, just when we vote, I'd like to say why I'm voting the way I am. Okay.

Go ahead and do it now. Well, Mr. Mayor, I'm not going to support it as far as the relocation.

But Mr. Mendes, you're always telling us to trust your staff, which I want to do that. But you know what? Just in my gut feeling and what I've read, what I've talked about, I just feel we could have done something a little bit different in their existing location. However that looked, but in hearing the public in the neighborhood, I can't support something like this when the neighborhood is telling us, you know what, it's in front of us, we don't want it. I don't want to force it on them, so that's what I'm doing today. Thank you. Andrew.

Well, I'd like to thank the residents, especially the youth who cited the code and gave a summary of what the neighborhood faces day to day and what it could look like if the potential dispensary opened. We've heard from the school district, community groups, the youth, Sun Street Center, and the residents directly that it will be impacted. So I'm happy to support and affirm the recommendation of the Planning Commission. Okay, thank you.

All right, and Margaret, you had a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, yes. I would appreciate you asking the question that you asked of Ms. Britton. I'm not sure I understood the answer, so I'm a little bit still confused. Because I think that I'm kind of where I think that end of the table is that i think something went wrong and i think it cost them a lot of money and i don't think that is right and i think um it was it was there was a mistake made an omission whatever you want to call it but it was costly and and i i feel really terrible about that that was an expensive situation it's very confusing with all the different dates and everything but i i still feel like um there's still some discrepancy between the stories that we're hearing today and I have a hard time with that. I'm also still, your attorney was talking about the excluding unusual Oh, I'm sorry, unusable area, and that sticks with me too, that that's something that I hadn't heard before, and that made a lot of sense. If it's an area that you can't use, then why is it considered part of that measurement? So those are my concerns, and I'll vote according to my gut.

Just FYI, the public hearing is closed, so this will-

There's a factual thing I just wanted to point out.

Well, public hearing is closed. Okay. Okay.

I appreciate it, but public hearing is closed.

Okay. No need to be sorry. We're concerned. Gloria, and then I'll read it.

Well, I'm very concerned that we weren't able to the way I'm understanding it that we have a small business that was told you need to move and that we're hearing that maybe something went wrong, the communication between our staff and the applicant where information wasn't given somehow for him to understand that there was a process to approve you to move, that you would have to go to the Planning Commission, that it wasn't, my thing is that, did we give you the expectation, it's a done deal, you're gonna be able to move there, you know, no problems. That's what I'm really concerned, that message, and we need to do a better job, and Again, it's not against your business, it's the location. We heard from the neighborhood. I'm very familiar with all that area, the problems that we had in that area, and that, yeah. But it's not about your business. It's the location. And again, I'm going to go back and have residents here. And I am going to have to vote accordingly the way I feel. But again, we need to do a better job. Thank you.

Yeah, hopefully there's an opportunity to go back to the drawing board. I can understand the frustration of the applicant. But in terms of this particular request, I THINK WE JUST NEED TO BE CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT. THE COMMUNITY IS GOING TO SEE IT ONE WAY. I'M SURE THE OPPLICANT IS GOING TO SEE IT ANOTHER. IN TERMS OF BUSINESSES, THERE ARE SOME BUSINESSES THAT ARE JUST, NO PUN INTENDED, HIGH RISK YOU MADE A DECISION TO ENTER IN A BUSINESS THAT IS GOING TO HAVE SOME SUPPORTERS AND SOME THAT DON'T SUPPORT THAT BUSINESS. DEPENDING ON THE LOCATION, THERE'S GOING TO BE COMMUNITY INPUT AND IN THIS CASE, YOU KNOW, THERE COULD BE AN EVEN LARGER COMMUNITY OUTCRY. I GREW UP IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHEN I WAS A STUDENT AT NORTH SALINAS HIGH SCHOOL. I KNOW THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. I know this neighborhood well. I used to walk from Veranda Road to Northridge Mall. And so I know that all the people that live in those apartments, in those townhouses, in some of those farm worker units, they're gonna pass by here. And as someone who has walked it and has someone that drives by it every day as I commute to and from work, we have some street vendors that are out there that they don't have a license. That's also kind of conflicting because you have people just trying to make a living and they're out there, you know, selling flowers and, you know, we could go after them. There's also food trucks that are out there. There's an area where they're allowed, but then there's some food trucks that, you know, that end up showing up and they're competing. And so that has also gone unregulated. And so if the community is seeing, well, we have street vendors and we have food trucks and we need to figure out a solution for them, they're gonna be like, well, now we have this cannabis shop. And so if there's a feeling that people are turning a blind eye, then it can get complicated. I certainly hope that the applicant reaches out to the city and that there's a way to resolve this. But I think there needs to be a clear understanding that the community is not going to want this there. And so I think we need to be transparent. Moffett Street may not have been the best place. There's that old saying, location, location, location. This spot is in an intersection that is probably one of the most heavily trafficked areas in Salinas. North Main and Buranda Road. Who doesn't take North Main and Buranda Road? And so you can have a lot of people seeing this and the community is gonna come out and say, no, that they don't want it. We're dealing with a similar situation regarding the vape shop being close to Ensign Park. So the community is clear. But at the same token, we wanna support our local businesses. And if there's another spot, right, and it may not be desirable to the applicant, you know, if there's a spot that, you know, it isn't gonna be visible to youth, because let's be honest, cannabis, you know, is known as one of the gateway drugs, but at the same time, I completely understand you know, the medicinal use. There are people fighting cancer. There are people with end of life illnesses. There are, you know, people who need it for pain management because they've got bad joints or arthritis. And so for them that they can't afford you know, the hard medications, which we know is habit forming. They have something like this to turn to. So we're really stuck, you know. And I think there's an opportunity to work with city staff, find a location, but we need to be clear with what that should look like. And if it doesn't work out for the applicant, then sometimes you need to know when you need to walk away before that loss becomes even greater. So...

Thank you. I'm going to echo everyone on the dais. I'm not comfortable with the location, but I'm also not comfortable with the process at best seems to me have been disjointed. And this is kind of the second time I've observed us go through cannabis moving from industrial to residential. And frankly, we don't seem to be very, and I say we, don't seem to be very good at landing that plane. And I think for the length of time this went on, I'm going to guess someone in our shop knew somebody bought something. And boy, at that point, I sure would have been, you know, that might be a risk. So I hope we didn't have a catcher's mitt on and we were just receiving pitches. that there was a relationship and a process. But I feel like something broke down somewhere. And so I do have concerns for the applicant. But having said that, I think all the reservations expressed about neighborhood, location, traffic are appropriate, even for a really good operator, which I do know you are. So we're all concerned. I think we've kind of made it clear what each of our thoughts are. And so with that, we'll go ahead and call for the question.

Councilmember Barajas? Yes. Councilmember Barrera?

Yes.

Councilmember DeRigo? Yes. Councilmember De La Rosa? Yes. Councilmember Salazar? Yes. Councilmember Sandoval? Yes. Mayor Donahue? Yes. Motion passes.

Okay, thank you. All right, thank you. We'll go ahead and finish up with the rest of the agenda's plan.

Renee, did you have anything briefly, or do you want me to just proceed to councilmember reports?

Okay, we'll just proceed to councilmember reports. Anything to my left?

I think I'm going to save my time for Mr. Barrera. Okay.

I know you had a, did you want me to, do you want me to finish with you in a moment of silence? Sure. Okay.

I THOUGHT I HEARD THAT WE WERE NOT GOING TO DO IT, BUT WE ARE DOING IT.

NO, WE'RE GOING TO GO AHEAD AND INCLUDE THIS PART. WE'LL GO AHEAD AND RECEIVE COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS.

I'LL SAY MINE FOR THE NEXT

Well, I will do very brief council member reports. So during the break, I had an opportunity to meet with Senator John Laird to discuss some priorities for the city of Salinas, including the Cesar Chavez Basin Stormwater Improvements Project, the Republic Cafe Landmark Restoration and Economic Development. revitalization project and the Gloucester Park Green Street project to discuss some financing opportunities from the state legislature. They're about to go back into session next week, or actually this week, I believe. So there's great opportunities for us to advancing those projects and moving them along. I attended the Central Coast Community Energy's Energy Risk Management Committee meeting, of that committee meeting, and had a meeting with 3CE CEO Rob Shaw. Notably, PG&E has an extension of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant for another 15 years. Potentially, that's going to be introduced in the assembly sometime early next week, and it's expected that that bill will move along pretty quickly. So as we receive more information, I may ask the city to take a formal stance on the extension of that operation. There's various groups and various factions already forming throughout the state. So we will maintain you guys informed. Notably, there's some concerns already existing around PG&E having some special Kind of like clean energy wrecks that may be. Construed in the future that would end up resulting in rate payers under having the rates increased over the next 15 years during the duration of. So, again, I'll keep you guys updated and if there's a need to have the city take a formal position, I'll bring it back to the council. I also invite everyone to attend the Guelaguetza Salinas' 17th annual celebration at Natividad Creek Park on Sunday, August 16th. Also had an opportunity to meet with some of the folks that met with us last year, requesting a formal sister city partnership with the city of Morelia and Michoacan. So in those initial discussions, I had an opportunity to meet with the Immigrant Rights Ad Hoc Committee, the city of Salinas of which is joined in a brief against the Gilroy ICE facility. And then also recently there was an incident at the Monterey Regional Airport in which ICE took a woman. The Delray Oaks Police Department was INCIDENTALLY INFORMED BY ICE AND CUSTOMS THAT THERE WOULD BE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AT THE MONTEREY FACILITY. HOWEVER, THERE WAS NO COMMUNICATION PER SB 54 BETWEEN THE DEL REY OAKS POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE MONTEREY REGIONAL AIRPORT. OUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES HAVE REACHED OUT TO FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS FOR MORE INFORMATION BUT THERE HASN'T BEEN ANY RESPONSE BACK AND WE'RE STILL more responses from them. And lastly and notably on the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority front, it's always nice to have good news to bring back. And just to let you guys know, we live recycling at the Solid Waste Authority. So the flare that is currently being used at the Crazy Horse facility is being repurposed and has been moved from the Crazy Horse over to the Johnson Canyon. Landfill for landfill mitigation regulation requirements. So we're extending the lifetime of that. Where for another around 10 to 15 years without having the need to buy another flare and increase the rates for our rate payers. And that's the end of my comments. Great. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Park. Yeah, Tony, go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. Just quickly, the Monterey Salinas Transit is having a study session regarding the Salinas Rapid Bus and Transit Center relocation, which is going to be held. At the family resource center on August 17th at 6 PM, which is 1441. They'll month the avenue that's going to be a good meeting, especially for people that. Rely on public transportation Mr Mendez about 3 months ago, if I remember correctly. This council had asked. that we get a presentation from the Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner, if I remember that correctly. I want to request that that gentleman can show up to this council and really seriously talk about pesticides.

I reached out to him, so we're working on scheduling it. That's happening? We're working on the schedule.

Please, and let's try to make it as soon as possible. I would appreciate that. Also, Cluster Park is opening up at the end of the month, the 29th, so put on your tennis shoes and let's go for a little baby jog there. Also, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mendez, Mr. Callahan, I'm going to request A meeting with the Rodeo subcommittee committee, subcommittee, oversight committee, excuse me, in the month of September, whenever it's convenient. I want to discuss, you know the transparency, even though the Rodeo Association sent out a letter, which was great, that the contractor's no longer going to be able to participate there anymore. But you know what, I believe the Rodeo Association, along with the City of Salinas, we have some explanation to do on oversight. So I'm going to ask somebody to help me out with this, to buddy me on the Rodeo Oversight Committee for September. I'm your buddy. And that's going to be to discuss animal welfare standards here with the Rodeo Association. There's going to be a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow at Todd Park. It's on Toro Avenue. We're going to be there at 5 PM. You folks aren't too busy. It would be great. We also had a gentleman here, Mr. Callahan, that's been calling the police department almost on a weekly basis. because of the noise i i'd like to you know what we got a lot of ordinances noise ordinance is a serious one uh i would like to bring that to the table uh mr mendez mr callahan and let's discuss that we need to figure out a system i i know the police department is busy that's not a priority but think about it if you're going to work tomorrow morning at five in the morning and you got all this noise some people don't respect neighbors so i'm going to ask That to be brought to this council. Also, I was going to ask somebody to buddy me up on the monitoring, but that's happening already, and I think I'm done. Thank you very much.

Thank you. So just like to remind the city manager, I've got several requests for information that are still pending to receive responses. Also, you know, for a long time, residents have been requesting red zones and we've had no update about a timeline or even the guidelines of why certain red zones are painted and others are not. So I'd like an update on that. I'd also like an update to the city manager's commitment to the residents of Jackson Street. I'd also like to thank Aquanis for presenting the city's rental ordinances and rent stabilization information at a recent LULAC meeting and upcoming meeting, they're gonna do it at Rotary. And then I want the community to know that our housing division is available and willing to provide similar presentations to neighborhood groups and organizations so residents can better understand their rights and the available resources. Also, Mayor, I'm still waiting for your podcast on Salinas rental ordinances and rent stabilization. I'd also like to recognize a young resident named Adeline who wrote a letter to me about the impacts of illegal fireworks. and her idea of impacts on our animals of illegal fireworks. And so she brought an issue to my attention, but also brought a solution. She said, what if we consider using part of the citation money to support animal services for any pets that may be lost or facing issues during illegal fireworks? So I think it's a great idea. Hopefully she'll be able to join us at an upcoming city council meeting. And I'd also like to thank the city clerk, the city attorney, and our economic development director for taking the time to meet with her. I'm appointing Josie Alvarado to the airport commission. And finally, I'd like to request that we consider a temporary moratorium on new data centers until the city has had an opportunity to fully study and understand potential impacts to these facilities that they could have on our community. And as we heard today, there is growing concern and questions about flock cameras. And I'd like the city to hold a informational session presented by the police department and an input session for the community so they can have an opportunity to put on that. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Gloria.

uh yes i would like to um i would like to request a uh an update on uh code enforcement we have a lot of issues right now and i've the whole month of july i met with residents and i can show anybody my calendar on issues on code enforcement issues so if we could have an update um you know how I know we've had some people that are out, and we need to really find out what's going on with our department so we can let our community know. Because, yeah, that's another issue. Letting the community know we need an update on that Salinas Connect. People are calling. I call, they don't know the process, nobody responds, and at least I'm getting those calls. So I'd like to have an update on that, and... The lights seem to be an issue that I'm finding out that the street lights, it could be the whole market area from Chinatown all the way to Hebron where the lights are off and I'd like to thank the city manager because you did give back and I know our public works try to take care of that right away but I want to remind residents if you ever see anybody you know, approaching the boxes, the electrical boxes or whatever, please report it right away to the police because I get told that a lot of times it's people cutting the copper out of the boxes. So please report it, please. Those are all my comments.

Gloria, did you have a moment? Yes.

What was the other one?

You had a moment of silence.

Yes, moment of silence for Margaret's mother.

Okay, this is at the request of Eloise Shim, who, as many of you know, that come every two weeks to these meetings. She's here almost every time. She's very loyal. And she was at the Historical Resource Board meeting the other day and asked me to have a moment of silence for her next-door neighbor, who lives at... who lived at the Gateway Apartments right down the street here. He died on the 4th of July. His name was James Jones. He came from Michigan. In about 2013, he's an Army veteran, worked in construction here, and died at the ripe old age of 75 years old. And he was a wonderful person in our community that she knew, and she wanted us to have a moment of silence for him. In addition, while I have the mic, I also want to recognize my father, who passed away on July 14th at the ripe age of 102, very peacefully and gave a lot back to our community. And tomorrow we will be interning his ashes, my siblings and myself. So just want to wish him all the best, and I'm glad he's with mom. So if we can have a moment of silence, that would be great. Thank you.

Thanks, Margaret. All right, we'll go ahead and do that.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. All right, meeting is adjourned and we will be back on the 18th.