City Council Meetings– San Gabriel City Council - Regular Meeting

is called to order at, say, 6.31 p.m. And today, the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by me. So please rise, face the flag, and repeat the words. Put your right hand over your heart and repeat the words with me. 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. All right. Chief Clerk, roll call, please.

Mayor Chan?

Here.

Vice Mayor Ding?

Here.

Council Member Herrera-Avila?

Present.

Council Member Menchaca?

Here.

Council Member Wu?

Here. All right. We will now have some announcements from our Chief City Clerk.

Tonight's meeting is live streamed on the city's online platforms. If you wish to participate remotely, please follow the procedures outlined on the city's website at stgabrielcity.com under public meetings and agendas. To address the city council in person, we request that you please complete a speaker's card and hand it to the clerk at this time. When speaking, please state your name for the record. Please note that interactions between the city council, city staff, and the public during meetings are subject to the city's rules of order and decorum.

All right. Approval of agenda order. Are there any objections to the agenda order? No? Hearing none, the agenda order is approved. All right. Next item, please.

Presentations. National Hispanic Heritage Month. The full text of the proclamation is available on the city's website. Mayor Chan will make the presentation.

All right. Thank you. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is an official celebration of American citizens whose ancestry can be traced back to Spain, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, and whereas the objectives of Hispanic Heritage Month are to create a greater awareness of Hispanic contributions in American culture, to illustrate the diversity of the Hispanic community, and to encourage a greater curiosity within young people about the rich history and cultural heritage of Hispanics. Now, therefore, I, Eric L. Chan, Mayor of the City of San Gabriel, California, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2026, as Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of San Gabriel and encourage the community to celebrate a collective progress shared with the Hispanic community. All right. Next item, please.

Mooncake Festival. Mayor Chan will make the presentation.

All right. I'm going to teach y'all some history. The Mid-Autumn Festival has a rich history spanning over 3,000 years, originating from ancient moon worship and harvest celebrations. The ancient origins and imperial roots date back to the Zhao dynasty from 1044 to 256 BCE. Ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the moon in autumn to give thanks for the harvest and pray for plentiful crops the following year. Now then, during the Tang and Song dynasties, 618 to 1279 AD, moon gazing shifted from a solemn imperial ritual into a joyful public celebration During the Song Dynasty, the 15th day of the eighth lunar month was officially established as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Now, before we recess, I will just give a quick description of the way, for anyone who's never had mooncake before, and kind of a description of what it basically is. It looks like a hamburger, but you don't eat it like a hamburger. It's filled with... The traditional filling is a sweet lotus bean paste. And then in the center is a salted preserved duck egg yolk. So it's got that salty-sweet combination. And nowadays, they've got all kinds of different variations, and you can get them with different flavors. One of my mom's favorite versions is something that reminds most Americans of fruitcake. It's got fruit and nuts in it. Anyway, I would now like to take a short recess while we invite everyone to the council chamber lobby for a mooncake refreshment break. The meeting will resume at, say, 6.45 p.m. All right, cake break. Go get it. 15 minutes, 10 minutes? About 10 minutes, about 10 minutes. I'll be flexible.

Public comment, this is the time set aside for members of the public to address the City Council on consent calendar items and on items of interest that are not on the agenda but are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the San Gabriel City Council. Our first speaker is Jeffrey Santner.

So I listed, oh, hello, I'm Jeffrey Santner. I live in San Gabriel. I listed two items. Do I just go back to back? Okay. So the first item I wanted to talk about is the 4E, the Las Tunas Streetscape Enhancement Project. So I'm here to say it's a wonderful project. I'm in support of it. I'm happy it's moving forward and it's actually getting built. I know these things take a long time, so I'm happy it's happening. And thank you to the public works director, because I asked him for more information, and he sent it to me quickly. I just have a few things I would, on my wish list, I'd like to mention about this project that would make it even better. So first one, I saw there's new striping. And I don't know if that's referring just to the median that they're adding. If it's not, if they're restriping the whole Las Tunas, my big wish list item is that when there are the bike lanes east of San Gabriel Boulevard, they swap the bike lane and the parking lane so bikes are protected by parked cars. Or where there aren't bike lanes, add them. Because this is one of very few east-west roads that we have that isn't blocked by a wash.

I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm having difficulty hearing you, and so is the vice mayor, too. Thank you. It might be us.

Oh, yeah. I hear that. I'm louder now. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, so this is one of the few east-west roads that isn't blocked by a wash, and it's the only one with a bike lane. So if someone is trying to get, for example, to Jefferson Middle School, this is the only way to get there. And it's not safe for a middle school child to get to school on their own. So if we had those 1,000 middle school kids, instead of being dropped off by their parents, if they could get to school safely on their own, that would really reduce traffic, remove 1,000 cars a day, right? The bike racks that you chose are great. A lot of times planners choose bad bike racks, but those are really perfect. They won't see much use unless there's a safe way to ride a bike on that road, which I don't think there is yet. The plants, I'm really happy you're installing all these trees and plants. My wish list item is that they were native plants because then they would attract hummingbirds and bees and they wouldn't need extra water or maintenance would be cheaper for the city in the long term. A lot of native plants send their roots down instead of out so they don't mess up the sidewalks and need repaving. But overall, these are great improvements. I'm happy that they are here, that you're doing them. But if you really want people to use these enhanced pedestrian facilities and bike racks and benches, it's not fun and it's not pleasant to walk along a five to seven lane road with 40 mile an hour cars or sit on a bench and relax next to this high speed road. So really the next thing, project I hope would be to reduce speeds and encourage other ways. Do I have three minutes for my other? Go ahead.

Yeah.

SO THE OTHER ITEM I WANTED TO COMMENT ON WAS 4F, THAT'S THE MOBILITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT. SO THERE ARE FOUR PROJECTS, THREE WERE ON VALLEY, ONE WAS ON LAS TUNAS AND MISSION. SO I KNOW THAT THESE ARE L.A. COUNTY MTA PROJECTS, SO THEY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE THEM AT THIS POINT. I'M NOT TOTALLY SURE HOW THAT WORKS. BUT I WANT TO MAKE THE COMMENT THAT I DON'T THINK THESE ARE GOOD PROJECTS. Because we collectively, you know, people know that adding lanes reduces traffic in the short term. These are all lane addition projects. So adding lanes reduces traffic in the short term, but then it induces more people to use those lanes and take those routes. So then it reaches a new equilibrium and the congestion ends up being similar. So, you know, if driving is faster on Valley, People use Google Maps. Google Maps says it's two minutes faster on Valley. Those people take Valley until it's not two minutes faster. And then in the end, we just have more cars on Valley. So instead, we should encourage people to use other ways to travel, like the Valley bus rapid transit plan that I heard about a few years ago that we didn't approve, instead of making driving the fastest, safest way to go anywhere. For example, another point here is Valley is a half mile from a freeway. So I don't think Valley needs six to seven lanes of cars when there's a freeway right there that is more for commuters. Instead, I think Valley should be a destination where people go to, to go to the shops and enjoy themselves. It shouldn't be just a fast way to get from LA to Rosemead and El Monte and further along. I want people to come here, not just travel through quickly. So a lot of these projects lengthen the pedestrian crossing distances, which makes it less safe. They're adding right turn lanes, which I think encourages people to make right turns on red, which you know, if you're turning right on red, you're looking to your left. You're not looking in front of you. And there's a pedestrian walk at the exact same time when you have a right on red. So people don't stop. They don't see the pedestrian in front of them. So it's not safe. Red on reds are not safe. So in general, overall, these changes, I don't think they will reduce traffic. or travel time in the long term. They will in the short term. They'll make the city more noisy, more polluted, and dangerous for anyone not driving the car. I've noticed our neighboring cities, Almonte, Pasadena, Alhambra, they are making big changes to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety and encourage more people to take public transit. Some of these even use the Measure R and the 710 funding that this project uses. But it's just disheartening, is the word I wrote, that we are going the opposite direction. We're adding lanes for cars instead of, you know, making it easier and safer for other people. So, yeah, those are my two comments. Thanks.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Caleb Schimke.

I WAS ACTUALLY EXPECTING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE COMMENT AFTER THE ITEMS SO I COULD SEE WHAT WAS PRESENTED BY THE CITY AND OTHER MEMBERS. IS THAT POSSIBLE? IT'S ON THE SAME COMMENTS AS THE PREVIOUS SPEAKER, 4E AND 4F.

MR. SHIMKI, THE WAY THAT THE CONSENT CALENDAR WORKS IS THERE WON'T BE A PRESENTATION OR ANY DISCUSSION ON THE ITEM UNLESS IT GETS PULLED. OH, OKAY. SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A COMMENT, IT WOULD BE BEST TO DO IT NOW.

OK, so I had seen some of the same documents as the previous speaker on 4E and 4F and came to a lot of similar conclusions, even though we hadn't talked before this. I am supportive of the streetscape improvements on Las Tunas Boulevard. But I will talk about some of the things that I noticed about it. When I, when Croft referenced the documents which show the locations for the proposed street trees and street lighting amenities, for, I don't know if it was a mistake I was making or not, but a good eight out of ten of the items on the documents when I checked on Google Maps, they already existed. There were already trees or there were already street lighting fixtures there on the street. So I would like it if that were checked because it says something like 30 trees and 60 street lights should be new and going in. I'D LIKE TO REITERATE THAT THE BIKE RACKS ARE GREAT, BUT THAT BEING ABLE TO BIKE TO THE DESTINATIONS IS WHAT MAKES THEM ACTUALLY USEFUL, AND THAT THE ONLY BIKE LANES ALONG THAT BOULEVARD ARE PAST SAN GABRIEL BOULEVARD, AND THAT ANY CHANGES THAT WE MAKE TO THE TO THE INTERSECTIONS SHOULD PRIORITIZE PEDESTRIAN ACCESS AS WELL AS JUST NOT JUST LIKE MORE CAR THROUGHPUT. MOVING ON TO THE 4F ITEM, I WANTED TO MAKE A NOTE ABOUT THE added through lane on Valley Boulevard. The documents I was looking at only had pictures for the intersections, but I think that would continue throughout the entire stretch through St. Gabriel. I think that the THAT EXTRA LANE, IF IT IS TO BE PUT IN, WHICH I THINK THERE IS MAYBE SOME ARGUMENT ABOUT NOT HAVING TO INCREASE THE WIDTH OF THE BOULEVARD THERE, BUT IF IT IS TO GO IN, I REALLY THINK THAT THE CITY AND STAFF SHOULD CONSIDER HAVING THAT BE A BUS RAPID TRANSIT LANE DEDICATED MAY HAVE THREE ADDITIONAL MINUTES FOR SPEAKING ON THE I won't take the full three minutes even.

Go ahead and finish your point.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you. Right, so the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments has a transit feasibility study that they have some goals to implement some of these routes across the San Gabriel Valley. And as somebody who's ridden the 76 bus on Valley Boulevard easily like hundreds of times now, being stuck in traffic and having it take over 40 minutes to get to downtown LA, it's It's something that we have like express bus and we have other ways of getting there, but being able to travel faster without the traffic of cars would really improve the experience for bus riders on there. And so that having a dedicated bus lane, I think would be a major improvement to that corridor. As well, I'd like to mention the Marshall Street realignment project for part of one of the LAC MTA projects. To me, it seemed like a very large project that would be just as expensive as some of these other main streets intersections, but it would... TO MY READING OF IT, IT WOULDN'T REALLY ADD TOO MUCH TO THE ABILITY FOR PEOPLE TO DRIVE EAST-WEST IN THE CITY WHEN MARSHALL IS NORTH OF THE FREEWAY AND SOUTH OF VALLEY BOULEVARD, BUT IT'S SUCH A SMALL AREA THAT PEOPLE DRIVING THERE COULD GO UP TO VALLEY OR IF THEY'RE STARTING ON EITHER END, THEY COULD JUST TAKE THE FREEWAY. AND SO FOR SUCH A BIG EXPENSE TO JUST BE ABLE TO CONNECT CARS in between the west connection for Marshall Street and the east one. It seemed like a very big expense for a small improvement project when we don't really have, for example, a good east-west corridor for bikes or for street-line pedestrian access. There aren't as many. I can point to the freeway and Valley Boulevard and Fairview and Mission Drive and Las Tunas, Broadway, all of these are connecting cars from east and west, but there isn't really, there's no east-west running bike lane or even a good shaded street. And finally, the peak hour parking restrictions that I think would be implemented on Valley Boulevard with some of these LAC MTA, projects, I would like to see that those parking lanes just be removed in favor of either bike lanes, the dedicated bus lane, because I find that for peak hour restrictions, when they're also the cars can't park overnight, they end up being underutilized and that we could use them for better purposes. So thank you.

All right.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. If you don't mind, I can shed a little light on a couple of the comments that the two speakers have made so that folks know what's going on. First of all, in relation to the lost Tunis project, thank you both for the input on those. Bike lanes are not part of that project, but our public works department is working on a more holistic bike lane study and looking at where we can do it throughout the city, not just on Las Tunas or Valley where we're looking at projects. I think both commenters kind of hinted at it that Valley is not a great location for bikes. We don't want bikes interfacing with cars and buses. So as I said, our public works department is looking at a longer term approach to bike lanes. for the comment about trees and lights going in locations where there already are trees and lights. We can assure you that we won't be doubling up in those places. One of the probably confusion points is that the lights that we are gonna be putting up are for pedestrian lighting. So they're meant to light the sidewalk, whereas the lights that are already there are overhanging the street and are meant for the cars. So there will be places where there are two lights close together, but they'll have two different purposes and they will, the majority of it will enhance the pedestrian experience. As for valley, good comments there. We will look at those as we do the projects. They've already been 90% or so designed, but we can work with MTA on those, specifically the through lanes. I'm not sure whether the through lanes go in between the intersections, but I know we're adding them at the intersections. And then finally, we agree with you 100% on the Marshall Street realignment. We canceled that project just to jog council's memory. That's where the Carl's Jr. is down on Del Mar. Del Mar or San Gabriel, Del Mar. And we were going to jog it through the old gas station property to the north so that we align the intersection so we don't have two intersections, one right after each other, like 100 feet apart. But the cost of acquiring that property was so expensive, it didn't make sense to do that improvement for a lot of the reasons that Mr. Schimke mentioned. So that money has been reprogrammed and is allowing us to do some of the other projects that are on that list and to account for inflation on those projects.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, we have no more speakers.

No more speakers? All right. Next item, please.

CONSENT CALENDAR. ALL ITEMS LISTED UNDER THE CONSENT CALENDAR ARE CONSIDERED ROUTINE AND RECOMMENDATIONS WILL BE APPROVED IN ONE MOTION UNLESS A MEMBER OF THE CITY COUNCIL REQUESTS SEPARATE DISCUSSION.

ALL RIGHT. WOULD ANY COUNCIL MEMBER LIKE TO PULL AN ITEM FOR SEPARATE DISCUSSION? SEEING NONE, DO I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE FULL CONSENT CALENDAR?

Mayor, I'll make the motion. I just wanted to let our speakers know that our public works director is in the back, and I would highly encourage you to wave, Michael. There we go. And I would highly encourage you to talk to him one-on-one on your issues, maybe even together since there was some overlap. I was actually going to pull 4E and 4F, but... city manager read our minds, I think. But anyway, so I just wanted to say that. I'd like to move approval for the full consent agenda.

I second.

I second. Thank you. We have a motion by Councilwoman Menchaca, seconded by Councilman Herrera-Avila. Please vote.

Sorry, Mayor, my screen is not working.

Dang technology. Again, this is why I'm an old man. Trapped inside a handsome young man's body. Please bear with us.

Motion passes by a vote of 5-0.

Thank you. Next item, please.

We have no public hearing or continued business. The next item is new business item A, Mission Playhouse Centennial Update and Adoption of Resolution Number 26-49, amending fiscal year 2026-27 budget to increase appropriations in the amount of $30,000. Community Services Director Perez will make the presentation.

which is happening next year. Am I on? Okay. Okay. Okay. So we are presenting what we have planned for our centennial, which is happening in 2027. So just a little introduction history about the Mission Playhouse. The Mission Playhouse was dedicated on March 5th, 1927, built by John Stephen McGrory to house the Mission Play which ran for over 3,000 performances until it ended production during the Great Depression, transitioned at that time to a commercial movie theater during the 1930s. And then in 1945, the city purchased the Playhouse and renamed it the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. And that was before returning it to its historical name, the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, in 2007. In honor of our upcoming milestone next year in 2027, staff have developed a series of events along with a new logo and branding guide to celebrate the Playhouse's 100-year anniversary. Simultaneously, staff have completed and council has reviewed the new Mission Playhouse strategic plan, and we had a council committee of Councilwoman Menchaca and Councilmember Ding, pardon me, Vice Mayor Ding working with us on that project. and several of those elements will be implemented as part of our centennial as well. This is the new logo that staff is bringing forward. We have worked with a design committee, and some of the reason that we selected this logo is, and I'll move forward to show you the elements that were pulled from the Mission Playhouse to go into the logo. In your presentation tonight, you have the branding guide, which the firm also developed, which shows some of the elements that will be moving forward and would be included in Playhouse promotions, such as website and flyers. And moving forward so that you can see some of the elements that the design firm pulled, they actually came and toured the facility, toured the playhouse to see many of the elements. So they were really able to tell the story of the playhouse through the logo, which is what we like. So you can see here the shield design. So you have all seen the intricacies of the design at the Mission Playhouse. And so the shield design you can see is there, which kind of outlines the new logo. Obviously the building facade, which is prominent on the new logo. Several star elements throughout the Playhouse, the ceiling design primarily, and those are incorporated kind of the edges there of the of the new logo and then the line or arrow elements that are included there you can see on the outside of the new logo are there on the loja is that photo on the right and then the ceiling image on the left and So again, and I'll go back to this. So while the 100 is not super prominent, we actually liked this design because to be able to move forward beyond 2027, you were able to remove the 100 and also have the logo work. So going back to this, you can see the updated logo then beyond 2027 would be the lower one, which just includes the arches and not the 100. So, going back here. Our first element that actually has already begun, and we appreciate Council Member Menchaca for helping promote this photo contest. So right now, similar to the images that you're seeing here in the council chambers that have been placed, the photo contest that was done for the city, we are doing a photo contest specifically for the Mission Playhouse, and this is in time for our centennial. So again, it has already started. We'll go through the end of October. And this is to build interest in the Playhouse, to recognize the talent of local photography artists, to promote the upcoming Centennial Event Series, and to build an inventory of great Playhouse images for future marketing materials. We will have a couple of dates actually coming up this week where the Playhouse will be open to the public to be able to come in and take those photos. And the Wurlitzer Organ will be on display for the first two hours of those events. time periods where the Playhouse will be open, so they're able to get some of those photos that they might not otherwise be able to get. We are planning a press conference. We don't have the date per se set on this, but we are looking at March 2027, and this will be to promote the momentous occasion of the centennial event. and be able to bring awareness to the centennial events throughout 2027. So we're looking forward to that, and we would look forward to council being a part of that. That'll be held in the Playhouse Loja. And then in addition to meeting the needs of our rental events throughout 2027, and you had a list of those included in your packet, staff have begun the planning stages for the following events to support the Centennial. Museum Walk in the Mission District, I'll review that, and the Youth Theater event, and then I'll turn it over to Matthew, who's going to introduce Playhouse Aglow and the Centennial Gala. We have had several conversations over the years with our museums here in the district. So the Mission Church has a museum, the Ramona Museum, the Hayes House and the Historical Association Museum. And they have urged us, they're trying to get word out about their mission. their museums and bring people to their museums. And while they're open on a more regular basis as part of the centennial, we have connected with them about having playhouse memorabilia displayed in the lobby, and we'll also have tours of the playhouse as well. And so, as many of you know, we have a lot of historical costumes and Programs from past shows and a lot of cool stuff that we have at the Playhouse, so we'll be having that displayed. And this will be open to the public. All of the museums have indicated that they will participate. We're planning to have kind of a passport, so we're encouraging families to go to each of the museums and get their passports stamped. And so it'd be those museums mentioned. They will all plan to have an activity of sorts so that they're encouraging people to come to the museums. And then we have already connected with the school district, but we will be submitting a flyer and more information to them so that they can get the word out to their families about the upcoming event. And then, of course, we'll be promoting it through Mission Playhouse and community services information as well. And then a youth theater event. So we were successful in securing some funds through the Community Impact Arts Grant. And this is for youth programming. And one of the requirements of the funding is that it is free event program, free programming to the community. And so as part of the strategic plan, one of the elements outlined is to really connect with schools and Connect with having some youth entertainment and youth and arts for the youth in our community so what we're planning is to have a free program that would be held during school hours, so it would be open to the schools both in San Gabriel Unified and other school districts that would want to bring their children to this performance. We've talked about what that performance would be. We've not finalized anything yet, but we're looking at that being held in April 2027. And then, again, we'll be working with the school district on best timing for that. But that would be a cool performance for students to be able to experience the theater when they may not otherwise be able to do so. So with that, I will turn it over to Matthew, who's going to talk about the other events.

Good evening. All right, so I'll walk through the remainder of the events, the fiscal impact and recommendation. So our next event is the Playhouse Aglow, which will be in partnership with the San Gabriel Valley Symphony and will be hosted on Friday evening, June 25th, 2027 from 7 to 9 p.m. It'll feature a live performance by the symphony. We're hoping to also throw in a little organist performance as well. So that way we can highlight the historic Wurlitzer organ. But already the SGV has agreed. So we're locked in there. And then the stage will be illuminated with candles. Ambient lighting will be filling the theater space. And then the symphony will play memorable movie scores ranging from the 1920s when the playhouse was built to present day. And then the staff in SGV Symphony expect that it'll appeal to young audiences, which would typically be brought in by the SGV Symphony's platform, and then a more broader audience to include seniors, which the Playhouse typically would be bringing in by items that we typically put on. And then reasonably priced tickets would be sold somewhere around the realm of $25 to $35 a ticket. So still making it attainable to the general public. The next event would be the Centennial Gala. So this will be our final event of the 2027 season to wrap up the Centennial on Friday, September 18th, 2027. The signature capstone event will be both a fundraiser and a way to kick off the nonprofit or foundation, as well as a way to announce kind of what people can expect in the next five, 10, 15 years from the Playhouse. So really highlighting a lot of the elements in the strategic plan. allowing them to be welcomed into what the future has to hold in store with the Mission Playhouse. And then also passing the baton to the foundation to handle the philanthropic efforts moving forward. The event will be brought to life by the Playhouse team, but a consultant would need to be brought in to coordinate the silent auction items. Our team has a lot of talent. Bringing in silent auction items isn't necessarily one of those. So we look forward to working with an individual who does have those skill sets. And then this would also be a ticketed event. Staff have provided expenditure and revenue projections for the centennial celebration, which are outlined on the next slide, which we'll get to in just a moment. Some considerations as you're reviewing those is that they are set conservatively. It's the first time in at least 10 years that the Playhouse has offered a series of in-house functions. We do a lot of rentals as a rental house as we currently operate, and we do offer our Silent Sundays series. But we have not offered a full slate of in-house produced events. So additionally, in addition to this slate of events, two of which are offered free of charge. So we aren't anticipating bringing in any revenue. We welcome donations for those, but we are not charging at the door. So everything that we're pushing out in terms of costs, we're not expecting to see back. which does tie into the strategic plan of getting the community together and getting that community buy-in for the playhouse. So, for instance, the museum lock will be trying to incorporate some of the schools to have school performances in front of the playhouse. So we're trying to tap into as many elements and to bring awareness to the playhouse and make it more accessible to the public And the expenditures proposed do not include cost for staff time so part-time or full-time staff Any part-time staff can be absorbed into the general operating budget that's already approved And then it of course does not include the cost for a consultant to be brought in again We could absorb that within our current operating budget Looking through the expenditure projections, we do anticipate a total of approximately $37,000 for the current fiscal year and then about $10,000 for the following fiscal year. In revenue projections, we're estimating about $31,000 for the current fiscal year and then in 2027-2028, about $17,000. hopefully will go up in terms of revenue projections. For instance, the Playhouse at Glow, we're estimating that at about $25 tickets at 500 seats sold. So in theory, if we sell out the Playhouse, those projections will be over doubled. But based off of how we're seeing the SGV Symphony performances go and considering that this is the first time in 10 years that we're offering these, we don't want to be too ambitious and set expectations higher than we can realistically achieve. You'll see that we do have some funding from CIAG, which is the grant that we secured that Rebecca mentioned, and then funds from the donations that we have received in past years in the amount of $10,000 that we'll be pulling out to help support the centennial as well. And so, as mentioned, the total anticipated fiscal impact to host the centennial event series is approximately 37,000 for fiscal year 26-27 and 10,000 for fiscal year 27-28. The department will be able to account for staffing and consultant fees as well as a nominal amount of the event costs from the currently approved operating budget. However, additional appropriation to the Mission Playhouse productions special events expenditure account in the amount of 30,000 is needed to cover many of the event costs staff anticipate generating approximately 31 000 revenue through various sources such as event tickets merchandise sales and sponsorships and i'll backtrack a little bit to merchandise sales so those would be items like t-shirts or tote bags or mugs we have not landed on specifically what that looks like that we would either be purchasing or working with a third party to help facilitate and then be available for purchase either online or in person. So those details will be massaged out, but I know we didn't touch too much on that. OUR RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL IS TO RECEIVE AND FILE THIS REPORT, ALLOW STAFF TO CONTINUE THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CENTENNIAL EVENT SERIES AND ADOPT RESOLUTION NUMBER 2649, AUTHORIZING THE BUDGET APPROPRIATION OF $30,000 IN EXPENDITURE AND ESTIMATED REVENUE OF $31,050 IN MISSION PLAYHOUSE FUND 152. I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

All right, thank you, Matthew and Rebecca. Do any of my colleagues have questions for the staff?

I do.

Okay, Councilwoman Menchaca, you can start.

I'll take the liberty to start since I am on the committee. But we didn't plan this part of it. We just handled the operational part. My first question, I guess, just you two, because there's no one else here. Okay, it's you two. I really like the colors, the color palette. It just, I don't know, the logo just didn't speak to me, and I don't know why. I know I asked my family. They all loved it. I didn't, but I'm going forward with it, okay? I will embrace it by the time we get through it.

Team player.

Yeah, team player. I'll take one for the team. I guess my question, well, a couple questions just on the logo itself. Number one, it doesn't say San Gabriel anywhere on it. And I just think it should somewhere because... You don't know, you know, if you're wearing a T-shirt or you're having the mug, it should say San Gabriel somewhere. And so I just thought that was kind of odd. And then the second thing is the 100 in the arcade. You know, it just seems like it kind of takes away the elegance of the Mission Playhouse. I feel like maybe if you had, like, celebrating 100 years in some kind of signature style from that place, you know, era that they're trying to kind of bring together. But that 100, just something about it. It's like, at first, I was like, well, what is that? Why is there zeros? And then I saw the one, and then, oh, it's 100. You know, again, I don't know how much this is, because this report is just a file. But I'm just kind of trying to understand the thought process, or was this just something they came up with?

So thank you for that question. So we went and we started with We the Creative, who actually designs the Discover San Gabriel magazine. And we left it relatively open to them. We said, try to capture the Mission Playhouse in all of its elements, do your tour in one logo, which is a little bit of a feat with all of the different artistic elements, kind of arranging cultures and design elements. So... In terms of the 100, we also told them, try to find a way to incorporate it into the logo that also makes sense. And so they provided a variety of different initial drafts. One, for example, was highlighting the light fixtures in the playhouse. But I think the team decided, is anyone going to know what the light fixture looks like? So we are trying to find something that was kind of ICONICALLY MISSION PLAYHOUSE AND COULD BE READILY VISIBLE BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC. I THINK YOUR COMMENTS OF HIGHLIGHTING SAINT GABRIEL IN THERE CAN CERTAINLY BE BROUGHT BACK TO THE DESIGN TEAM. IN TERMS OF THE 100 OR ADDING IN CELEBRATION, I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH THEY COULD POTENTIALLY WORK IN. BUT WE CAN CERTAINLY ASK TO SEE IF THAT'S AN ELEMENT THAT THEY CAN INTERTWINE. But yes, there were several back and forths trying to figure out how can you fit all of what the playhouse is into one. And so hopefully that answers your question.

Yeah, I was just gonna recommend, again, I'm not a graphic designer at all, but if they could just make the bottom maybe a little larger and they can put in there celebrating 100 years. PUTTING THE 100 IN THE ARCH, IT TAKES AWAY FROM THE BEAUTY, I THINK, OF THE MISSION PLAYHOUSE. AGAIN, YOU CAN TAKE IT BACK. I'M NOT SURE. I'M JUST SHARING MY COMMENTS. I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM EVERYBODY. THE SECOND ITEM WAS THE MERCHANDISE. AS I WAS GOING THROUGH IT, I GUESS, LET'S SEE, LET ME JUST GO TO THE PAGE NUMBERS, THAT MIGHT BE EASIER. PAGE 27 ON THE BOTTOM, BECAUSE THERE'S PAGES ON BOTH ENDS, BUT ON THE BOTTOM, YOU KNOW, THE 100 T-SHIRT You know, when you have zeros like that and you have it across the chest area, for women it's not always very flattering when you have big zeros. I've seen that before. It's not very flattering. So maybe something to think about, maybe just having something smaller here as opposed to cross. That's my first comment, so it's an awkward comment, but I thought it needed to be said. And then page 24, which is the cup, the yellow cup up on the left, I would think they would want to place it a little more thoughtfully and incorporate it. It feels like they put a sticker and just threw it on there, and wherever it landed, it landed. It doesn't seem very... THOUGHTFUL. IT'S JUST A VERY STRANGE WAY. AGAIN, THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS. THE THIRD ITEM IS I KNOW AS A CITY WE CAN'T FUNDRAISE. I UNDERSTAND THAT. We did our centennial for the city. They did this commemorative banner, which I still have, actually, and you personalized it, and I think we even hung it in the mission. I think, Rebecca, you would remember that. And that was a fundraiser that we were able to raise money. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was, I measured mine today as a matter of fact, it was five feet tall and two and a half feet wide. And I noticed on page 25 you have something like that, but it has strings on it. It might be a little smaller. And I think those are customized for events. But I'm thinking if we can use those banners as a fundraising either seed money for the foundation or have some direct purpose, all the monies go to the gala or all the monies go to repair chairs. But all the monies for those centennial banners went to support the Rose Parade float. And it was very successful, is my understanding. I was not on the committee. But it also provides a meaningful keepsake for those of us who love the Mission Playhouse. And like I said, I still have my Centennial one. And so just something to think about. But again, I understand with the Centennial, they had a whole separate committee working on that. But if we can kind of incorporate it, I think it could be very successful. And then regarding the events and programming, I just noticed the U.S. Air Force Band, they said they were going to come back, but they weren't listed. I don't know. Are they coming back?

I have not heard that they were coming back. I know what you're referring to, the discussions afterwards, like, oh, it would be great to come back. I have not heard that they were. We can definitely check in with them. That was something, if you'll recall, that we funded. Yes. So that was... they basically come in if the whole venue is covered.

Well, the reason I mention it is because when we talked about community partnerships, that would be a great event for our veterans, kind of do a combination. Or we have the Lions Club, we have the Women's Foundation, we have other community groups. I know the Kiwanis were in discussions because we're also celebrating 100 years. We have a meeting tomorrow.

Ironically. You meet tomorrow, that's right. I won't be there.

But yes, and so I was just looking at it and I was thinking, okay, if we can get other kinds of partnerships like some of the ones you listed with all community groups, I think that would be really helpful because in my mind, when we start with this, we could place something in the lobby and maybe have some kind of standing not a table, but something a little nicer than that, where we can provide all our rental clients and our organizations centennial information and opportunities for them to partner with us, you know, show them our promotional materials, our cups and our t-shirts and tote bags and so on and so on. I think everyone's going to want to do something. Again, the Kiwanis, you know, that's a unique kind of situation because, well, we're turning 102. I think our birthday is in March, and I think yours is in April.

Oh, we're also March. Oh, you're March?

Okay, then maybe it's April. I can't keep up. But anyway, it's just an idea of how to just keep promoting this with all our groups and whether it's City Beat or social media or just a standing place so anyone who goes to the Mission Playhouse will have an opportunity to buy something or be part of something for this centennial. And then lastly, You know, I'm looking at this, and this is all great stuff, but it's just, has there been any consideration of hiring a temporary staff member that is just dedicated to this? Because this is a lot of work. I mean, this is above and beyond, because I'm assuming we're not cutting back in any of our other projects. I'm assuming, maybe not, maybe we'll, this is it, this is the only event, but I have a feeling it's above and beyond. And so I was looking at, you know, we got a gala, we do have a Mission Playhouse newsletter, but that's gonna have to be expanded. Managing social media, I guess we can always have our PIO team do that, but I know you do your own, but kind of making it a little bit more robust. Securing sponsors, coordinating community participation, overseeing merchandise. and handling all this other logistics. It just seems like we already run a lean machine and you add this to it. I think there should be some consideration. I know it's gonna end in September, so that's why I was thinking temporary staffing. There's a lot here. It kind of reminds me of dumplings and beer when we first started. You know, it's just so consuming. But in this case, with dumplings and beers, it's just every year. This, this, you got one, one time. And then 100 years later. So has there been consideration? for additional staffing?

We appreciate that. We have had discussion about that, and I'll be honest, the discussion is probably still ongoing as to how that all is going to take place. We did mention with the one item, with the gala, that we plan to bring a part-time staff person on to help with the, at least with the silent auction kind of items and bringing that. That's so tiny, little piece. It is a small component, so...

I APPRECIATE THAT. I THINK YOU HAVE TO HAVE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BECAUSE THIS IS WONDERFUL AND IT'S A LOT, BUT YOU'RE WORKING WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT GROUPS AND THEY ALL HAVE THEIR PERSONALITIES AND THEY ALL HAVE THEIR WANTS. you can only do so much. And so I wanted to throw that out to my colleagues, too, for us to consider. I'm not sure, because tonight, again, I know it's just file the report and approve, there's a budget item of some sort, but I don't know. Is it coming back to us once it's fine-tuned a little bit more, or what's gonna happen?

Exactly. Councilwoman Menchaca, if we get feedback tonight that we need to bring updates back for you, we definitely will. To the council, obviously, we'll be keeping everybody informed throughout the process. But if we need to make other decisions, we can bring those back for something like a staff member or increasing the budget for that. We would definitely bring that back to you if we find somebody and we need the budget for that.

Okay, and then that staff person, and I haven't even started with the language. We need to make sure all the languages are involved, whether it's Spanish or Mandarin or Cantonese or Vietnamese or whatever other languages are there. If we want this to be really inclusive, We're going to have to reach out. One press conference is not going to be enough. And so as we're doing these events, making sure the World Journal or all these other media, mainstream as well as the Chinese media, is involved, well, that takes bodies. That takes somebody, whether speaks the language, kind of like a case manager. But in this case, for the Mission Playhouse, and that's a whole nother level. I mean, that's, I can be here forever on that part. But anyway, I will yield my time. Well, I don't have, I will yield now. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Menchaca. Who wants to go next? Okay, Councilman Herrera-Abla. Thank you, Mayor.

So, I feel I'm pretty much in alignment with Councilmember Menchaca on this. WELL, I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE SAN GABRIEL STATED SOMEWHERE ON THE LOGO. I WILL AGREE ON THAT. NOW, THE COLOR PALETTE, I SEE WHY COUNCILMEMBER MENCHACA MIGHT LIKE IT. I THINK I FEEL LIKE THAT TROJAN VIBE IN THERE. BUT THE GREEN REALLY THROWS IT OFF. THE GREEN. I THINK THE GREEN THROWS IT OFF FOR ME. I think, yeah, I think that green throws it off. It makes it look too vintage through, and I get the feeling of where you guys were going with the vintage, but it might look too vintage for me. If we can go back to, if we can go back to, not the color palette, but the picture where we were getting the inspiration with the ceilings of the playhouse. We'd like to...

Sorry, I'm trying to get to those photos. It either flips like... Yeah, if we can go back. Go forward there.

Yeah, that one.

That one or...

The other one with the star. See that? Those colors would be a little bit more... They would pop. The ones on the star on the right side, you have the blue, you have the dark blue, you have... Those tones, I think, would make this logo pop There's something about it that also I feel it's off about the 100. It does feel like the numbers were slapped in there. It looks off. And I'll tell you why I feel it's off. To me, the first thought that I have, and kudos for the logo. I mean, all the hard work that went into it, and now we're just nitpicking it. But we want to make sure we get it right and we get our feedback in. The first thought that comes to mind when I see that 100 is, is tombstones. And I think that's why I feel it's a little off. It looks like three tombstones. And maybe replacing that with centennial, I think would be something to consider. If we can go to the merch, specifically the cup, it also feels the same. And the bag, let's go to the bag.

So I don't have those images up there. So if you can tell me what page.

So that page is going to be 26. I mean, same thing. The numbers, they look like stickers. Like, it doesn't look... It doesn't flow. Maybe I see it says Centennial. Maybe we can have Centennial Pop. But the 100 feels completely off on all the merch. Unfortunately, it does look off to me. It looks like Tombstone, so I'm not... INCLINE, I'M NOT IN FAVOR OF IT. IT JUST, THAT PART JUST, IF WE CAN TWEAK THAT TO MAYBE CENTENNIAL 1926 TO 1927 TO 2027 IN THE BOTTOM, I THINK IT WOULD MAKE A LITTLE BIT OF A DIFFERENCE THERE, I THINK. OTHER THAN THAT, I FEEL LIKE IF WE CAN GO TO PAGE 23, The color palette, again, it feels a little... Retro vintage, but a little bit too much. So maybe if we can go and change the palettes, I think maybe instead of all these colors adding where it's yellow, where it says Mariachi Los Camperos, maybe have it like a white and make it a little bit more simple to make it look modern and at the same time preserve the vintage. But I think that green for me is not working. That's just my personal take on that. Other than that. Yeah, again, page 21, it does look like, Council Member Menchaca just stated that it looks like it was just thrown in there to see wherever it sticks. Unfortunately, that's the vibe that I'm getting as well. No offense, okay. I think if it would say Centennial, again, replacing the numbers with Centennial, I think that would help. And then it looks like tombs. Again, it looks like three tombs. I don't think that's the vibe we're trying to go for, but that's what it's... Yeah, if we go to page 16, you see it looks like a tomb right there. That picture up there looks like a tomb. It has a wrong feeling. It looks a little too dim for me. I would like to see it more vibrant. AS A PLAYHOUSE, WHEN YOU WALK IN, IT'S VERY VIBRANT AS IT IS. LAST QUESTION, AS FAR AS COUNCILMEMBER MENCHACA MENTIONED THE ROSE PARADE. WHEN WAS THAT? 2013. I'M NOT SURE IF IT WOULD BE TOO LATE. I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY FUNDING, I THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD IDEA OR IT'S A GOOD IDEA, I MEAN, JUST THE MARKETING ON HAVING THAT ON THE ROSE PARADE OR HAVING THAT FLOAT, I THINK, WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST, $100,000, $200,000? I'M NOT SURE HOW THEY DID IT LAST TIME. I KNOW OUR HAMBRA DOES IT ALL THE TIME, BUT I THINK THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST IDEAL TIME TO AT LEAST HAVE A FLOAT, A FLOAT IN THE ROSE PARADE. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WE CAN STILL LOOK INTO OR IS IT TOO LATE? I KNOW THAT THERE'S PROBABLY ENGINEERS THAT GO. They have to research and present a plan, but I don't know if that's a question for you, Rebecca.

I can definitely say it would be too late. I think when we did the city centennial, we probably started planning three years before to do that. I'll reserve that for the cities next, whatever that is. Bicentennial, whatever that is. We won't be here.

Well, we should start planning for it.

We'll let the committee do that the next time.

Yeah, I think.

I would say it was probably about $250,000 when we did it in 2013, so it's probably even more than that.

And I'm sure there would have been fundraising going on and all that.

Well, those banners that you were referring to. Right.

So Alhambra, I think, is money to change it. Got it.

I think the banners that you were referring to were done, the funding went to the float, as well as the sponsor arose and those things that we did. So it was a big effort.

Yeah, I just feel it would have been a great opportunity to showcase. I mean, everybody... The United States, I would say, loves to see, most of everybody loves to see the Rose Parade. We had that perfect opportunity. Maybe in the future we might consider having a float if we can figure it out. Because that's a great opportunity to get our city out there. We are not just any city, we're a historic city. And we're literally a few miles away from Pasadena. And our neighbors, Alhambra, they do it one every year. anyways that's all I have thank you guys for all the hard work that you guys put into this just again just the color palette it's not speaking to me and those numbers maybe we can put Centennial on it and then adding San Gabriel on the logo but thank you guys for all your hard work

All right. Thank you, Councilman Herrera-Abula. Question, Mayor Ding? Go ahead.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Rebecca. Your team did a good job to at least have something for our San Antonio. But I agree, like, for our logo should be put on San Gabriel. We need to stand out at San Gabriel, too, because otherwise people, they say, where's the Mission Playhouse? They don't know our city, you know. So I totally agree. And my little bit of suggestion for the 100, okay, this logo, you don't need to put on like, I think remove the establish and just for the Centennial. And the underline have 1970-2027. Okay. So that's, it's a standout, it's a year ahead of the 100 years. And for the regular logo, maybe you can use the established 1927. Okay, but I also need to add on the San Gabriel. San Gabriel. Yeah. Most, I think the element, the color, it's a reflect. the mission playhouse, but if you have to put on some little bit colorful, it can more stand out to people. It looks like, oh, it's different, but I'm not an artist, but I think it's leather. I think which one? For your presentation, yeah, maybe this use the, like, combine, how do you combine this, all the element together, the color? Probably, I think it more helpful, yeah. So. And yeah, I like the mug. It's one of the promo hour, the centennial for the Mission Playhouse. Actually, I really like that you used the... like just the three arch, use the mission playhouse, that's good idea too, you know, to stand out. The question is on the banner, you just standard just these two banners for the 23 or page 23?

Yeah, so those were just samples. All of the merchandise there were just examples that the design firm gave us in terms of things that could be developed. So these are not actual items that we were going to develop. Those right there are examples of flyers and how the logo and kind of the design elements could be utilized in a flyer for an event, for example. The banners that you saw were examples that they provided

The banner, I hope that also add on the more standout element for the San Gabriel. Okay. Not just the logo, but I see that we have the Mission Playhouse org. That already has the website name, right?

That's our current website for the Playhouse. Yeah. That's what our current domain is for the Mission Playhouse. Okay. I know with the new city website or the changes in the city website, we will be incorporating and we'll communicate with Ileana to confirm that that is going to continue being our domain. That, again, is just an example of a flyer, so that's not an actual flyer that's being used. It was just their example of kind of how the elements could be utilized to be – so things would look uniform versus just – every flyer looking a little bit different.

All right, okay. And I think the mugger just only have these two color or have the more different color?

That again was just an example of what could be done. So this is not, the company that we're working with was contracted only to do the design work. So they used this as examples of what merchandise could look like. We've not had anything printed. We've not had... We will take all of this feedback tonight and especially talk with them about San Gabriel and about possibly changing out the... where the 100 is and see what can be done there. Because we've heard that several.

It just mentioned it looks like if they see the mug or whatever logo, it's definitely see the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. So otherwise people don't know where the Mission Playhouse.

Sure.

Yeah.

Understood.

Then I think last question is for the budget. So is it, these budgets include the merch or T-shirt or pin or logo? It's already included, the expense?

Do we include merch in there? Okay. Adam seems to be getting to the, screens faster than I am, so.

Order your design.

There's a small budget included for merchandise right there. At the top line of that column that Adam, on page five.

A merchandise, okay, oh, this, the merchandise, talking about the $5,000, okay, okay. So how many logo or mug we probably order?

So we are just starting to look at that. We talked with a company today that does some of the printing on different types of items like this. And we were just talking with him about it and talking about whether we would have a small quantity that we would purchase and have available at the Playhouse and then have people be able to um to go online to purchase right so we don't have to have stocks and stocks of t-shirts for example that if if unfortunately if they don't sell then we've got t-shirts for days that you know have the centennial logo on it so so we are just looking at that now and trying to confirm what exactly that cost would be and what what we would have again on hand and what we would you know, have available for people to purchase when they come to the Playhouse and then also for them to be able to go online and be able to order that and have that available to them in a short time.

Okay. So, actually, this merchandise, when we order, it's not just for the, like, we are event, maybe sometimes it's sent out for the people for the gift, right? But the most that sue you would be, we would use for the online, for the fundraising or something like that?

Yeah, so we would likely have – I think merchandise is not going to be a huge fundraiser for us because you can't charge so much for a T-shirt. You obviously have that cost that you have to spend to be able to get the item. So it won't be a huge fundraiser, but it's more to get the word out about the Playhouse and to be able to cause some intrigue and that sort of thing when people are wearing a T-shirt or carrying a bag or – tote bag or have a mug so kind of to start conversation and get build the the interest in the playhouse so we would likely though have some available at our concession stand and then obviously have it available at the events that we've talked about tonight And then because we have rental clients and we can't, some of the rental clients themselves come in with merchandise and they're selling their own merchandise. So we'll have to look at that and see how the contract is written, whether or not we're able to sell our merchandise in addition to theirs. We sell concessions so we could sell it as part of the concessions, if that makes sense.

Okay. But if like this kind of operation, you think our internal, the mission playhouse and the community service, the staff have enough time to handle that?

I appreciate Councilwoman Menchaca's comment about that. The planning of the events is going to take more than the concessions and that sort of thing. Concessions is something that our usher staff does. So obviously the purchasing of the merchandise would have to be done in advance. But we will take that back and discuss further whether or not we need to bring an additional albeit part-time staff person on to help to assist with this.

Yeah, so two weeks ago, we already discussed for our Dublin beer. So when we first proposal, it's zero cost for the city, and the final is up to the 50,000. even just one event, but at least the entire, the year, the event, I feel like maybe 30,000, but do the research, is 30,000 enough? Or maybe for the, maybe, so today just discuss, right? Or we just approve it?

TODAY IS TO DISCUSS. WE WOULD LIKE YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE EVENT PLAN FOR THE YEAR, BUT THERE'S ALSO A BUDGET COMPONENT. WE DO HAVE THE $30,000 BUDGET INCREASE REQUEST, AND THERE'S A RESOLUTION ATTACHED TO BE ADOPTED TODAY. CERTAINLY IF WE END UP MAKING A GRANDER PROPOSAL FOR NEXT YEAR, WE WOULD COME BACK WITH INFORMATION AND A REQUEST AT THAT TIME.

So this is additional $31,000, I think, $31,000 for the 2026 to 2027 budget. Is that correct? Correct.

Okay. The request is actually for $30,000, which should not include staffing. Okay.

Actually, it's 31, based on estimate impact.

That was the amount of revenue estimated.

37,000. And next year, the 10,000. Total is 47.

I'm sorry, 37,000 is the total expected cost, but we only need a budget increase of 30,000 because we have the other covered in our budget already. So if you look at the fiscal impact of the staff report, it does lay it out, but specifically we're asking for a budget increase of $30,000. Oh, OK.

So it's for the $30,000 for the I think it's another specified event, just like entire year additional cost for some event, the $30,000, from what I understand.

For all the expenses for the events that we've laid out.

Okay, that's why I already have this question on it. Okay, so today just like, still confuse me. Total is $31,050.

That's the estimated revenue.

That's the estimated revenue. So just a little bit of increase based on.

Yeah, $30,000 would be the estimated expense. That's what we're requesting. So and then as.

Okay, okay, the question we want to clarify is we are 30,000 for the previous budget plus 31,000 or just the total 31,000?

Total $30,000. $31,000.

Actually, based on current, today's proposal is just $1,000 difference. Is that correct?

So, Adam, if you wouldn't mind moving the screen to the prior page. I'm sorry, the page you had on the staff report. I think what's confusing is the bottom table that you're looking at is the revenue. So the revenue is expected to be $31,500. So Adam, if you could move up a little bit. So I think one of the confusing parts is that whole list there of revenue from the bottom of the page four and the top of page five. Revenue is expected to be $31,050. The expenditures are $37,850. So that's the budget for the total event. But what we're asking for, or the total year of events, what we're asking for is just the 37,000, I'm sorry, 30,000 to increase the budget to be able to cover that.

It's $37,000 total.

$37,000 is the expected cost, but we only need $30,000 to cover it because the rest is already in the budget.

But we already have $30,000 in the budget on that, right? So it's entire year. We already have it. But I still confuse it. Is it we don't have the budget before for the entire year, the extra budget? We don't have anything yet?

Not for the centennial events. Some of this, as Matthew explained, some of this is already included in the budget. Some of it is staffing that's already accounted for. And then extra expenses that we need to cover are going to be $30,000. But the total cost, we're trying to be as transparent to council and the public. We're trying to give the total cost. But what we need as a budget increase is $30,000. Okay.

Okay. So actually, I confused the misunderstanding. Previous, we don't have any budget for the Centennial, the event. So today, just want to make a decision. It's for the entire year for the Mission Playhouse Centennial, the budget. That's correct. Okay. $30,000. That's correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, clarification.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

That's true. Councilman Wu? Thank you, Mayor. Vice Mayor, do you need a house break?

Yeah.

I just want to make sure that when I'm going to ask questions... Because Councilman Wu will have the 10 questions. Yes, I'm going to challenge that.

Okay, all right. Go to the house break.

Okay. All right. Let's recess for health break. It is now 8.01, and we'll return in about 10 minutes. Is that okay? All right.

Okay.

All right, the meeting is reconvened at 8 o 9 p.m Councilman who Thank You mayor.

It's good to keep my colleagues healthy so first of all I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT, I THINK TO MARK AND ALSO TO REBECCA, BECAUSE COUNCIL MEMBER MANCHACA JUST MENTIONED THAT CITY, OR MISSION PLAYHOUSE, WE CANNOT FUNDRAISE. AM I MISUNDERSTANDING THAT PART? BECAUSE WHEN WE HAVE THOSE TICKETED EVENT, WE SELL THE ITEMS, WE ARE NOT INTENSE TO LOSE MONEY TO SELL THOSE ITEMS. SO DO WE COUNT THAT AS, OR HOW DO WE DEFINE THOSE ACTIVITIES?

So there's no, and Keith, please chime in. There's no prohibition on the city fundraising. What we have heard in the past is that foundations do not like to give to cities. For example, if we're trying to get money from Amundsen to do some of our programming, they prefer not to give to municipalities, feeling like cities shouldn't be something that receives donations. That's one of the reasons why we're trying to form the nonprofit so that we can have friends of the Playhouse or the Playhouse Foundation or whatever we decide to term that. It's one of the reasons is to be able to get on those list of donations. For the merchandise itself, there's nothing at all that prevents us from selling that at a profit. And at any of our events, for example, if it costs us $5 to make a mug and we can sell it for $10, there's nothing at all that prevents us from doing it. And that would be part of our fundraising for the Playhouse.

So if I understand that correctly, This is not a legal issue for us to do the fundraise, but it's just a problem for those donors. They are not willing to donate the money because this is not beneficial to them for any tax exemptions or is it something like that?

You're right, and we have a partnership with the California Community Foundation, which is kind of a catch-all fund that has a pot for us at their foundation of people that have donated, that have wanted to be able to get that write-off and to be able to do it to a nonprofit. So, yes, it's for those kinds of donors that want to have the write-off but also don't want to give to a city. They want to give to a foundation or an organization or a cause.

Okay, so another word is if any of us or all of us that we are able to find a sponsor, this could be individual or it could be corporation. They don't really worry about the tax exemption things, but they're just willing to support. We're okay. Yes. Okay, good. Thank you. So I do have a couple questions and also some ideas to share at our centennial celebration. The first thing is about the logo. I know that my colleagues have already mentioned about logo. I personally like the logo. I DON'T REALLY WORRY ABOUT THE COLOR AND ALSO I WOULD LIKE TO ADMIRE BECAUSE THIS IS MORE LIKE A FREEMASON STYLE AND SOMETHING JUST HIDDEN INSIDE THE LOGO IT'S MORE LIKE AN EYE OF PROVIDENCE THAT IS ON OUR ONE DOLLAR BILL SO IT JUST MAKES THE THINGS A LITTLE BIT I'LL SAY INTERESTING SO BASICALLY I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT I HOPE THAT Maybe if the designer, that you can pass those information to the designer, maybe put something hidden in the $100 bill, not $1. So that's what we call it. I mean, that makes the logo very meaningful. We will be using the logo for a long time, I believe. Only one thing I would like to suggest. which is the click light or you call the stage light behind that. Number one, it looks really like Arizona. Second, that looks like the rising sun flag, which is the Japanese troops that reminds people some of the really sad history that Japanese troops has invaded China just 10 years after our mission playhouse is founded. So I hope they may reconsider about that part because that will be bringing some memories of the bad time of militarism that will be actually, people may not be aware, it's not just about a culture thing, it's about history. So that is only my two cents about the logo. And as I just mentioned, I think we can explore more opportunities for corporate sponsorship. And I'm pretty confident that many of the companies, they may be interested in helping us or sponsoring on our centennial event. For example, during the year, if we potentially have sponsor that architectural lighting, spotlights on our, buildings. So those sponsorship banners may be throughout in our mission districts or even we have a few lanterns which is like a fridge size lanterns on top of the place and so far on our mission district we have 432 lights ball that we are able to put those lanterns. So those are good points that we probably can sell to the individual. And If we say for a projection, the light projection, let's get a Panda Express. Once we have that, maybe we just replace the entire 1,300 seats in our Mission Playhouse. Yeah, I'm making a wish right now. But Centennial should not be only like a celebration for 100 years. I think this is an opportunity we are investing for the next 100 years. So if I would say the partnership could generate additional revenue, that those funds could help support Centennial. especially our maintenance needs, restroom improvement, replacing the aging seats, other ongoing facility needs. Also, that will help us to accelerate the preparation that we have into what will be very exciting Olympics 2028 for our region. So my second question is about programming. Have we ever explored bringing some film festival red carpets event or similar regional culture event to our mission playhouse uh we we have not made those connections um we've talked about that internally and obviously we have we have the ability to do so because we do show our silent films there yeah that's a for example that there is an asian world film festival that has been held in culver city for many many years So I think maybe we should really reach out to those, you know, company or organizations and invite them that consider San Gabriel and Mission Penthouse as their future venue. And this is, Centennial is actually giving us a very unique opportunity that not only to create our own programming, but also to introduce this beautiful historic theater to have those people never consider St. Gabriel as their venue. So if Oscars or Grammys are looking for a new home, I think St. Gabriel will be happy to take their call. But again, I think... more wishful thinking you know it never it never too late but that this is really um you know we it can be really creative since this is a once in a 100 years that we have an opportunity that we are demonstrating that what we have done for our next 100 years generation so i i really appreciate all your hard work we are all making the history And I thank my colleagues that is able to make the Mission Playhouse Centennial more vibrant. So that concludes my comments and question. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Wu. So I guess it's my turn for clarifying questions. And just right up front, a... What do I want to call it? Disclaimer that I have many talents, but artistic vision is not one of them. So for that, I will defer to my colleagues. But one thing I will echo the sentiments of my colleagues is the main crest, the main logo, I do believe it should say San Gabriel on there at the top, San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. And like Councilman Wu, I don't really mind the 100 in the archways, but I do also want, yeah, maybe at the bottom, if it says 1927 to 2027, But anyway, that's kind of my feelings on that. But the rest of it seems okay to me. But again, with artistic vision, I'll defer to my colleagues. The other clarifying question I have is I know the presentation took us through the planned formal events for the entire year. But seeing as the Mission Playhouse was built by Mr. McGrory to specifically produce the Mission Play, can we find... theater troupe and would it be logistically possible to have a theater group put on the original Mission Play again or some version of it? Is that something that can be kind of worked into? I know we already have, as you listed up, we have a certain number of events and, you know, but especially because it is a direct tie-in to the history of Are there certain theater troops out there who know how to put that on? Anyway, just a question, suggestion.

Yeah, so there was a rendition that was done several years ago. I don't remember the timing on that, Mark. I don't know if you remember. And I'll be honest, it was not a huge hit. And I think the mission play itself is quite controversial. So I don't know that it would be appropriate to have. So that's why there was a very loose rendition of that that was done.

I see. I was just going to add, I can't remember if it was Kiwanis or Ramona Parler, because I'm members of both, but one of them, maybe it's Ramona Parler, actually has some film available of the mission play. And I think part of what they want to do is show the film.

TO CELEBRATE.

I THINK JOEY MENTIONED IT TO ME. AGAIN, IT WAS PROBABLY VERY CONTROVERSIAL, BUT IT IS AVAILABLE. THAT MIGHT BE A LITTLE QUICKER AND CHEAPER.

WE TALKED ABOUT THAT AS PART OF THE MUSEUM DAY.

Yeah, that's a good idea. But again, aside from the controversy, then I was just thinking a live version would be very, well, apropos and close to history, but again, I do understand sensitivities and such. So, okay, that's just my question on that. My other question, and I don't mean to kind of HARP TOO MUCH ON THIS, BUT IN TERMS OF THE BUDGET AUGMENTATION REQUEST, THAT I guess, to my math, it says that we've got about $38,000 in expense and revenue source that you're expecting about $31,000. So that's a gap of about 7,000. So I'm just curious why the entire funding request is 30,000.

The reason we have that, Mayor Chan, is although we're hoping actually that it ends up being a moneymaker, and as Matthew mentioned, the numbers we've used for revenue is conservative, or are conservative, the numbers we've used. SOME OF THE EVENTS WE WOULD HOPE WOULD BRING IN MORE REVENUE. WE CAN'T BUDGET BASED ON THE REVENUE WE'RE BRINGING IN. WE HAVE TO BUDGET BASED ON THE EXPENDITURES AS THOUGH THERE'S NO REVENUE COMING IN, AND THEN WE OFFSET IT LATER ON WITH THE REVENUE THAT COMES IN. SO THAT'S WHY THE BUDGET REQUEST IS MORE THAN WHAT THE ACTUAL DELTA IS BETWEEN REVENUE AND EXPENSES.

I SEE. SO THAT'S THE BUDGETING PROCEDURE. OKAY. THANK YOU FOR THE EXPLANATION. That's all the technical clarifying questions I have right now. Councilman Herrera-Avila.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I'm surprised you didn't ask for a pin. I don't see a pin here.

We talked about, you know, part of the merchandise.

Yeah. Did somebody mention it, a possible pin? Yeah. YES? OKAY, GOOD.

YOU KNOW I'LL ALWAYS BUY ONE.

ARE WE CONSIDERING A PIN?

THAT IS ONE OF THE ITEMS THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT.

SOUNDS GOOD. THANK YOU.

I had a clarifying question, too. So if it's true that we can fundraise as a city, how come we've never had T-shirts or tote bags or anything else? Because I know I've asked in the past, and I was told, well, we shouldn't be fundraising. Because I know people would love to have sweatshirts and caps.

As a city? As a city. Just as a city. I've actually, well, recently mentioned it to Ileana recently. I would actually like to have a gift shop in City Hall. Yeah, a gift shop. Or at least online.

That was the response I would give. We can't fundraise. So now we can. So let's start promoting our city. I mean, community services could easily, at all the events, be selling it and help them with their expenses or wherever, it goes to general fund.

So I did, just separate than this discussion, I have recently mentioned just a standard city gift shop.

I mean, all the cities have it. There's no reason we're 100 and what, 13 years now and we can't have a gift shop.

We're historic and the birthplace of LA and I mean, yeah, we wear our, you know, WHERE WE WEAR THESE LITTLE PINS, THAT'S IT. THE MEN WEAR OUR DRESS SHIRTS WITH THE... THAT'S DIFFERENT.

I'M TALKING ABOUT THE PUBLIC.

NOT EVEN THAT DIFFERENT. IF ANYBODY WANTS TO BUY A SAN GABRIEL THEMED LOGO PIECE OF CLOTHING AND HOODIES AND THIS AND THAT, WE CAN SELL IT TO THEM OR WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO.

NOW THAT I'VE BEEN TOLD WE CAN, I'D LIKE TO PUSH THAT, BUT I GUESS THE ATTORNEY WILL TELL ME TO PUT THAT AT THE END UNDER COUNCIL COMMENTS. I'LL JUST LEAVE IT.

I'M JUST WAITING FOR HIM TO CUT ME OFF.

BUT, YES, MY CLARIFYING QUESTIONS ARE FINISHED. ANYONE ELSE HAVE OTHER CLARIFYING QUESTIONS? OKAY. THEN AT THIS POINT, DO I ASK FOR A PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS ITEM?

WE HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMENT, MAYOR.

OKAY. THANK YOU. THEN WE ROLL RIGHT INTO COUNCIL DISCUSSION.

The discussion, I don't know this idea. I have some idea, but I don't know it's enough time to do that because we discussed that this logo or future for the pin or for the mug, for the T-shirt, banner, everything. Is it possible we can like do some specially just call a community if people really have this idea, design our Centennial logo. We send out maybe one month, 30 days, then we can choose which one is the best one. Yeah, that's the, I don't know, is it enough time for that?

All this takes so much time, Tony.

I know, I know. I like the idea. I think we can incorporate, we're doing a photo contest, we're bringing the community in that way. We'll take council's comments tonight and take that back to... the design firm that we've worked with and see what changes we might be able to make to that existing logo. But I'll be honest, that has been a lot of both staff time, the contractor, the consultant time, a lot of money has gone into that. So I would be hesitant to put something back out and try and do that. I would much rather do some kind of an art contest or something as part of our museum day and have the kids bring their art. I think that could be something that we could easily incorporate. Hey, bring your art and we'll have a judging contest as part of the museum day or something like that and get community insight and community design ideas at that point.

Thank you. You already read my mind. Actually, I want community involvement. And also, doesn't mean the design company not good, okay, but they can do the backup for us to see which one, the logo, it's really good, it match our council member direction, you know, so I worry about the timeline, is enough time or...

So my suggestion, I appreciate that. My suggestion would be let's leave the logo in general as it is. We'll work on some of those things that we heard a lot tonight from council. And we can incorporate something, again, likely at the museum day, because that's an event that's meant to bring families in. It's a free event for families to come in. We are going to be promoting that with the schools, right? They can come and learn about San Gabriel's history and learn about California history, and we can have an art contest or something like that, and that could potentially be brought forward like we've done with the photo contest, bring that forward to council, and you can recognize the artists and bring the families here. So we can definitely incorporate that.

Maybe we'll have one more event for the...

logo design contest. Let's stick with the events that we've proposed. I appreciate the comments that, hey, this is going to be a lot for existing staff to take on. We will go back and look at that, whether or not we need to bring a part-time staff person on to assist with this. And we'll figure out a way to incorporate community input and Not with the logo, but with design. Do a picture of the playhouse, your favorite part of the playhouse, that sort of thing. Does that work?

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor Ding. Councilman Herrera-Avila?

I guess we're going back to Q&A. Just one last thing. It just sparked... maybe an idea that you guys have thought about or something, but given that it's 100 years, and we don't really, I know Josh has really good tours. Maybe having that, have we thought about an idea of whenever we're having like a dumplings and beer or like any of these big events that we have tours at the same time? I mean, something free to the community. I'm not asking to charge, but... I know Josh is very knowledgeable, and I've done many tours, but I think opening up the Playhouse for everybody when we have the community out at community events might be something interesting just to showcase the 100 years. I'm not sure if we're going to have something... And the concession stand, like banners or something indicating in there 100 years? Maybe when we have the context, the photo context, we can display them on the wall. But I think it would be something to think about. Have we contemplated that or thought about something similar?

We've talked about that. The Museum Day will include tours of the Playhouse as well. I'll be honest, I'll want to see how that goes over with the public because you've been on several tours and you know it's a little bit of a lengthy process as well, right? It's not...

AT LEAST HALF AN HOUR.

SO WE'LL WANT TO SEE WHAT THE PUBLIC RESPONSE IS WITH THAT AS WELL.

WHEN IS THAT AGAIN? DO YOU HAVE THE DATE?

THE MUSEUM DATE? I BELIEVE IT'S APRIL 10TH.

SO THAT WOULD BE TOWARDS THE BEGINNING.

APRIL 10TH.

SOUNDS GOOD. IF YOU MIGHT PUT A NOTE, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW THAT GOES. I'LL PROBABLY BE PART OF IT, BUT IF SOMEBODY CAN FOLLOW UP. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. EVERYBODY OKAY?

I LIKE TO MOVE.

I WAS GOING TO SAY IF THERE'S NO OTHER QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS, I'D ENTERTAIN A MOTION. SECOND. IT SEEMS LIKE MOTION'S MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN.

I'M MOVING THE STAFF RECOMMENDATION.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION?

YES.

ALL PARTS OF IT? YEAH. BOTH PARTS. SECONDED BY COUNCILMAN HERRERA-AVILA. ALL RIGHT. SO LET'S GO AHEAD AND VOTE. NO, I JUST HAVE BAD LUCK WITH TECHNOLOGY. MOTION PASSES BY A VOTE OF 5-0. OK. VERY GOOD. THANK YOU. NEXT ITEM IS CITY MANAGER'S REPORT.

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL HAVE TWO THINGS FOR YOU TONIGHT. Interesting that we're talking about the Mission Playhouse, but I don't know if any of you saw a great article that Vivian Chan did in one of our local online newspapers. She went to the video games symphony performance the other night and had a rave review about it. Not only the symphony itself and the performances, but just how cool it was. the video games part was. And the gist of her article is that she thought she was not a video game fan and realized that going to it was something that should appeal to everybody. So good information about getting out there and not predetermining whether something is for you or not. And then finally, I'm sure council will advertise this as well, but this is our last council meeting before dumpling and beer. October 2nd, 6 to 10 p.m. I hope I see everybody out there. Thank you, Mayor.

All right. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Now we will move to council comments and conference meeting reports. Who would like to start this evening? Okay.

I'll start. I'll make it quick. First, I just wanted to say happy National Hispanic Heritage Month to everybody. Start September 15th today through October 15th. And we have quite a few events at the Mission Playhouse. So check out their website. And then I'm going back to the gift shop. So I think we need to put that on the agenda item and bring that back and see how robust we'd like to have it and what kind of items we would like to see. But I think it's an opportunity. I think we can actually make money out of it. And I've seen actually mugs from a local shop that actually says something like, somebody in San Gabriel loves you or give San Gabriel a hug or something like that. So they were able to do it without even asking us for permission. But I think there's just a lot of possibilities there. So I think I'd like to see that for a future agenda item. And I hope I can get at least two more council members to agree.

Council Member Urbanchak, I'll support.

Okay. And I'll also support. Great. And I'll actually put you and me on the subcommittee.

Okay. I'll take it. That was quick. Okay. And that's all. We're on the same page. I'm done.

All right, who else would like to go next? Was there?

Yeah, go ahead. I'm longer, okay. Probably take 20 minutes, okay. You get your five minutes. Okay. Okay, September 2nd, I go to the SGV Economic Worker Development Committee, the meeting at West Covina City Hall. I have an opportunity to listen to what the direction actually they really like most as a college leader. So how can like encourage some college students, it's really like realistic is to have some skill, not just like a bachelor degree, maybe you use college degree and you have the some, you know, It's really professional. So I think that's a good topic to encourage young people to get in the job field. So our city, maybe we can think about something to if have opportunity like internship to help them to even get a civil engagement like working for the government too. It's a good event, okay, discussion. September 4, I have a chance to attend the AYC press conference. It's a good event because they are AYC. It's established in our city, and they every year have their annual gala. Okay, it's the world. Just Friday, right? This Friday, September 18th, Friday. Actually, Friday have two events. It's really, it's a good nonprofit organization in our city. One is the AYC and the other one is the CAC, Chinatown Service Center. So they have the annual gara. So I will be to attend it, to support them. and the September 8th and the SGV COG have a grand breaking ceremony and the Grandola Open Trial Project. So they used like a... wash channel to the sidewalk for the urban trail is you can walk, you can have the bike, but I don't know our city, the current, what's the situation, because they also keep this wash size more clean, but they have a good budget on that too. through the SDV car. And September 10, and it's San Gabriel historical annual fundraising dinner and the silent auction. They are really, every year, they work tremendous job. This year, they're on a... Our former mayor, Mary Camerona, right? Their family is really good for our community. So it's a good event. They continue to support our, I think, the Hayes House and the old jail, right? Okay. Oh, same day, I have a chance to go to the Ramona Museum, right? It's there on our first line on our fire and the PD. It's a great event, too. And September 11, it's timing so fast. 9-11 is already 25 years. Okay, it's already have the one generation too. But we still, it's good, our fire department every year do, just remind us, we have to like really do the, like, We don't want these kind of things to happen again. So we just pray on that and we should be just remember this. It's helped us. It's peaceful. It's very important. And September 12th, I have a chance to attend the National Day of the Taiwan, they have some cultural for the food culture and it's really good. Like maybe just one chef, they will be cooking like 100 people. So actually I have, back to the apple, back to the Taiwan, my alumna at the university, they have a hundred table to do similar things. It's good food, okay, good traditional food at Taiwan. And that evening, I have chance go to the Rosemead Moon Festival opening ceremony. You know, our neighborhood city, Rosemead, has the Moon Festival. It's 10 years already. Our city still don't have it. But I'm glad the mayor today has the Moon Festival cake for us here. Actually, I have this mind when I got it six years ago. But I saw our... staff, the committee staff, it's too many the event. So the next one, it's October 2nd for the dumpling beer. I feel we maybe don't have enough the manpower to do that. But for the future, I really want to, hopefully, if we, especially for our current Asia community, the Moon Festival is really important, especially for the family event. So maybe also can put on future discussion. to see if we have possible to our city or maybe same to our Latin festival cooperate with the war general or whatever the method to hosting this kind of event. I could support that. I will support that as well, Vice Mayor. Okay. So, thank you. And... September 13, I have the 4C Gallery opening ceremony for the exhibition. They call it Straight Forward. It's really, that's a young teacher. It's a very good talent. When I visited them and discussed with them, they really wanted to learn about our San Gabriel city's history. Before that, they didn't know that. After I went there to discuss with them, they willing like to participate 100th centennial the event too. So yeah, I will be become the liaison to like, they have the spinners in the variable one. Okay, it's really, they do the teacher for the kids and adult too. They do the, a lot of the good, they have given the, it's a short story and then they, use this art and help single parents overcome the situation. Okay, so yeah, it's a good. And then, last one. Next Friday, right? NEXT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH, IT'S MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL DAY. OKAY. SATURDAYS AT 9, HAVE THE NICE MOON YOU SHOULD WATCH. OKAY. SO HAPPY MOON CAKE FESTIVAL DAY. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, VICE MAYOR DING.

WHO WANTS TO GO NEXT? ANOTHER 20 MINUTES.

COUNCIL MEMBER WOO? So, Vice Mayor, do you need another house break before I start? No. It's okay. Well, first of all, thank you very much. Well, I had a privilege to attend a 9-11 ceremony. That is a very sad moment that all Americans have experienced 25 years ago. AND I TRULY APPRECIATE MY OLD COLLEAGUES AND ALL CONSTITUENTS, OUR RESIDENTS THAT ARE COMING TO JOIN US AND TO REMEMBER THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES AND THOSE HEROES THAT HAVE, YOU KNOW, SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES IN THE RESCUE ORDERS. SO THAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE MORNING, ACTUALLY, 630, AND WE had that in the Station 51. And thank you very much for Chief Wallace and all firefighters that has organized that event. The second thing is, that I want to make sure that everyone knows that we will have a police station open house on October 15. The reason that I would like to make sure people aware of that in advance because we do need a new station then as we discussed earlier. So on October 15 at our station, the address is 625 South Del Mar and the time will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. So please RSVP. We actually sent out through the CB and also some emails. I do notice we're still using the stgabrielstudy.com instead of stgabriel.gov, but still able to access to those websites. So hopefully we will be, you know, unifying the entire city's domain name to GOV soon. So that concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Wu.

Councilman Herrera, Avila. Thank you, Mayor. So on Wednesday, September 2nd, I attended the Energy Environmental or Environment and Natural Resource Committee from the COG. Nothing to report out on that. And then... I also wanted to take a moment to recognize that today is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. September 15 is also special for me because it also marks 205 years of the independence of Guatemala. As a Guatemalan American with Cachiquel and Mayan roots, it's a very meaningful time And I welcome anybody to explore Hispanic Heritage Month, history, their food, the culture, and really take a moment to reflect on their own lineage and where you come from and just appreciate that because it's not, you know, our history is very important and we can't forget the past. You know, it helps us to make decisions in the present and for the future. AS MY COLLEAGUES FOR SUPPORT IN CONDUCTING A REVIEW ON OUR CURRENT COMMISSIONS, BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE WITH DECREASED NUMBERS OF APPLICANTS AND PARTICIPATION, I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO EVALUATE THEIR STRUCTURE, PURPOSE, RECRUITMENT AND OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS. I WOULD ALSO LIKE US TO LOOK AT WHAT OTHER CITIES ARE DOING. I KNOW SOME CITIES HAVE LIKE A YOUTH COMMISSION OR MAYBE A FINANCE COMMISSION OR INNOVATION COMMISSION. AND GIVEN THE ABSENCE OF ACTUAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HERE IN SAN GABRIEL, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SEE AND JUST EXPLORE DIFFERENT COMMISSIONS LIKE A BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT COMMISSION TO HELP STRENGTH ENGAGE OUR COMMUNITY AND OUR LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY. WITH THAT SAID, I THINK WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW. I DON'T THINK I SPOKE TO MARK EARLIER. I DON'T THINK WE'VE HAD A PERIOD TO REVIEW WHAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW. AND I KNOW THAT WITH THIS LAST OPENING THAT WE HAVE, uh... were actually reaching out there was only one applicant and we were reaching out to previous commissioners to see if they want to be engaged so really want to see if i can get some support so staff can just bring back a review uh... access and to see what we can do moving forward i can support that anybody else

I JUST THINK THE TIMING IS NOT RIGHT. MAYBE NEXT YEAR, BUT RIGHT NOW THERE'S JUST SO MUCH TAKING PLACE. IT'S HARD FOR ME TO SUPPORT RIGHT NOW.

I DON'T WANT TO START DISCUSSION, BUT IF YOU'RE SAYING MAYBE NEXT YEAR, CAN THEY LOOK INTO IT? IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME TO ACTUALLY PUT IT ON THE AGENDA. CAN WE AT LEAST SAY NEXT YEAR FOR THEM TO SCHEDULE IT SOMETIME LATER NEXT YEAR OR SOMETHING? IS THAT FAIR?

I THINK I COULD SUPPORT THAT. AND COUNCIL, AS LONG AS THE MAYOR SUPPORTS IT, IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH OR DO THEY NEED THREE OUT OF? I THINK YOU'RE ASKING THE COUNCIL. Okay. All right. And especially since Councilman Herrera-Avila doesn't need it done right now, right now, I can support a review in the next few months or however. Okay. Thank you. All right, so your report is finished?

That concludes my portion.

All right, so I guess it's down to me, and I promise I'll keep this quick. On September 9th, I attended the Chinese American Real Estate Professionals Association dinner in Monterey Park. On the 10th, I also, along with my colleagues, attended the San Gabriel Women's Foundation annual fundraiser dinner at the Grapevine Arbor. And again, as has been said, we honored former Councilwoman and Mayor Mary Camerano and her husband, Mike.

Mayor, did you call it the Women's Foundation?

Sorry, Historic Foundation. Sorry, yeah. Thank you for the correction. Historic Foundation. And then... that we did at the Grapevine Arbor, and it's a great local charity. So I'm very proud to support that. And as has been mentioned by my colleagues, I also attended the 25th anniversary of 9-11, the observance we did at the South Fire Station. And thank you to everyone who came out to participate. It means a lot. Before I sign off, the last thing I just want to remind everyone that on Friday, October 2nd, is our annual St. Gabriel Dumpling and Beer Fest, so I hope to see you all there. Okay? And with that, I will notice that we have no closed session, and so therefore... I will move with adjournment. The next regular city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 6th, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. This meeting is now adjourned at 8.54 p.m.