City Council - Regular Meeting

Bye. you

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, welcome. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome. Good afternoon and welcome. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the San Jose City Council for the afternoon of June 2nd. Happy Election Day, everybody. Get your ballots in by 8 p.m. All right, let's take the roll, Tony.

Kamei. Here. Campos. Present. Tordillos. Here. Cohen. Here. Ortiz. Present. Mulcahy. Here. Duan? Here. Candelas? Here. Casey? Here. Foley?

Here.

Mahan? Here. You have a quorum.

Great. Thank you so much. Now, if you are able, please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Thank you. Today's invocation will be provided by the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, and Councilmember Mulcahy will tell us more.

Thank you, Mayor. It is my sincere pleasure to welcome Ash Namdar, Interim Executive Director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, GRPC. Since 1996, the Conservancy has helped preserve and activate San Jose's front yard and civic greenway the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens and Trail Network, creating spaces that connect residents to nature, recreation, and to each other. Without doubt, we're seeing a renaissance of momentum and attention around the park with residents, community organizations, the Sharks, private business, San Jose Downtown Association, and civic leaders like the Saladas, Salas, and Brandenburg families all coming together around a shared vision for its future. And I want to shout out to our city team, the key part of our effort, and want to especially acknowledge Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services, Office of Economic Development and Cultural Arts Affairs, Public Works, and San Jose PD for embracing this effort and their partnership with our office. This is a big week for our GRPC friends, and I want to personally invite all of my colleagues and the community to consider attending Windows on the River Park their annual fundraiser and celebration this Thursday, June 4th, 530 to 730 at the Rotary Play Garden of Coleman. So for today, Ash is joined by Jay, GRPC's horticulturalist, and Hillary, the organization's volunteer coordinator, for a special rose deadheading demonstration. Everybody's going to need that right now. to highlight the Conservancy's stewardship and activation of the Heritage Rose Garden at the northern end of the park along Heading Street. Their work reflects the broader effort to create cleaner, safer, and more vibrant public spaces for generations to come. Please join me in welcoming the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy.

Thank you, Council Member Mulcahy. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Ash Nandar, and I'm the Interim Executive Director at the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy. The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy is responsible for managing and activating the three-mile stretch of the Guadalupe River, which includes spaces like the Rotary Play Garden, the Historic Orchard, and the Rose Garden, the Heritage Rose Garden. With me today, I have Jay Thompson, our horticulturist, and Hilary Trang, our volunteer coordinator, who are going to give you a demonstration of one of our activations, which is deadheading the roses at the Heritage Rose Garden. Jay?

Hello, everyone. This is a very, very brief generalized demonstration of deadheading. Not all rose types are pruned the same way or deadheaded the same way. So be sure to do a little research on what type of rose you have before you jump in with your pruning shears. If you would like more in-depth information besides today, feel free to contact us or to attend our volunteer workday at our Heritage Rose Garden on Saturdays from 8.30 to 11.30 in the morning. So what is deadheading? It's the process of removing older spent blooms to promote the growth of new blooms instead of letting the rose spend energy on creating fruit called rose hips. Yes, roses grow fruit. Roses are in the rosaceae family. the same as apples, pears, apricots, peaches, and cherries. Same fruits that you would find in the orchards grown in San Jose when we were Valley of the Heart's Delight. So a rose typically grows leaves in odd clusters, ones, threes, fives, sevens. Typically, you would prune the spent bloom, like here, down to the second node, which usually has about five leaves. I know it's hard to see, but this is where it would be. A node is the place on the rose where the leaf meets the stem. And in that node, you'll see a little bump in there. It's the... Sorry. there's the bud which the new branch will grow out of so depending on which direction that bud is growing you can actually influence the direction of the pruning so here's a leaf node with no leaves here's the second leaf node where there's five so you want to focus on cutting at a 45 degree angle slightly away and from right above the second leaf node. And since this leaf is pointed this way, the next stem that grows out here will go that way. So if I wanted the next stem to grow out a different direction, I would continue down the branch until I found a leaf that was growing the way I wanted it to grow. So less than a quarter of inch above that node, just like that. And this rose has a couple of spent blossoms on it that are starting to turn into rose hips. When it's fully developed, you'll see these bright orange or red fruits. And that's what reseeds the plant. If you cut them off, the rose will spend more time growing new blossoms as opposed to growing more fruit. That's my demonstration. And this is my coworker, Hillary.

Thanks, Jay. If you'd like to support our mission and the work that we do, we would love to invite you again to our annual fundraiser of the year, Window on the River Park, this Thursday, June 4, from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. Thanks to the support of people like yourself, we've been able to mobilize more than 8,000 volunteer hours to steward the trails, native gardens, and habitat areas. And with that in mind, it has also shown a 20% increase in trail usage over the last five years. And again, we would love to have you there to help continue to build on that momentum. If you have any questions, we do have some resources at the very top there. Thank you again for having us and helping keeping our green spaces green.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Some practical advice to kick off the meeting. Again, that was Ash, Hillary, and Jay from the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy. Thank you, Council Member Mulcahy. On to our ceremonial items. Council Member Cohen and Council Member Mulcahy, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize and proclaim May as Jewish American Heritage Month.

Jewish American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the profound impact Jewish Americans have had on our nation's story. From shaping breakthroughs in science and medicine to enriching our arts, culture, and public life, Jewish Americans have helped define the very best of who we strive to be. The federal government first proclaimed May as Jewish American Heritage Month in 2006. Last week, Councilmember Mulcahy and I sponsored a reception in downtown San Jose, and I'm excited we are taking the opportunity to offer this proclamation, even if it is a few days late. This month invites us to reflect on the resilience, creativity, and enduring traditions that have strengthened Jewish communities across generations. Our Jewish heritage teaches us to value learning, service, and community. We are guided by a historical and cultural focus on social justice, charity, and advocating for the vulnerable. These values have guided so many Jewish Americans in their contributions to our shared civic life. As we celebrate this heritage, we also recognize the diversity within the Jewish American experiences and the many ways Jewish identity continues to evolve and flourish. Jewish American Heritage Month encourages us to uplift Jewish stories, embrace Jewish joy, and deepen our appreciation for the cultural richness that strengthens our nation. At a time when incidents of antisemitism are on the rise, we hear about Jewish students and others who are reluctant to be public about their Judaism. That makes recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month more important than ever. Jews in our community feel particularly vulnerable, and our city must continue to do everything we can to make them feel safe. We stand with the Jewish American community against hatred and bigotry in all its forms. May this month inspire reflection, connection, and a renewed commitment to honoring the many communities that shape the American mosaic. We are joined today by many representatives of our diverse Jewish community, and our proclamation will be accepted by Julia Mates from the Jewish Community Relations Council, also mayor of the town of Belmont, Before Mayor Mahan presents the proclamation, Julia will say a few words about the importance of Jewish American Heritage Month.

Good afternoon, and thank you, Mayor Mahan, council members, and a special thank you to council members Mulcahy and Cohen for bringing forward this proclamation recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month. My name is Julia Mates, and I'm the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for JCRC Bay Area, the Jewish Community Relations Council. For nearly 80 years, JCRC Bay Area has worked to advance a just, inclusive, and democratic society by bringing together Jewish organizations and partnering with communities across the Bay Area on issues ranging from civic engagement and education to combating hate and building bridges of understanding. Jewish American Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate the many ways Jewish Americans have helped shape our nation. Jewish Americans have made lasting contributions in the arts and culture, from literature and music to film and theater, in science and medicine through groundbreaking discoveries and research, and in our democracy through public service, civil rights advocacy, and a deep commitment to building strong communities. Here in the Bay Area, Jewish Americans have been part of the fabric of this region for generations, as educators, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, scientists, artists, public servants, and community leaders. Their contributions have helped make Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area a place of innovation, creativity, and opportunity. At a time when our nation benefits from understanding the many stories that make up the American experience, we at JCRC and the larger Bay Area Jewish community are grateful to the city of San Jose for recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and for celebrating the contributions of the Jewish community to our region and our country. Thank you.

in the community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate you being here. Yeah, if we slide this way, we'll get a better photo.

Put you in the middle.

Thank you all very much. All right, thank you all. Vice Mayor Foley, Council Member Tordillos, and Council Member Cohen, if you'll join me here at the podium, we will recognize and proclaim June as Pride Month.

Happy Pride Month, everyone. I'm Vice Mayor Pam Foley, and today I'm honored to proclaim Pride Month in the city of San Jose alongside Council Member Anthony Tordillos and Council Member David Cohen. This year marks 57 years since the first Pride March, a movement born out of protest and resilience following the 1969 Stonewall uprising. We are fortunate to live in a city that celebrates and supports our LGBTQ plus neighbors not only once but twice per year with both Pride Month in June and Silicon Valley Pride Week in August. 2026 marks the 25th year of the City of San Jose proclaiming Pride Month and raising the Pride flag at City Hall, traditions which the three of us are honored to continue today and tomorrow we'll be raising the flag for our pride. These ceremonies are more than just traditions. It's a public declaration of who we are and what we stand for. Because even here, in a city that champions diversity, equity, and inclusion, We are not immune to the rising tide of hate, bigotry, and misinformation that continues to target the LGBTQ plus community. Across the country we have continued to witness a disturbing surge in anti-LGBTQ plus rhetoric, legislation, and violence, especially against transgender individuals. As a community leader, elected official, and mother, I refuse to stand by while people's identities are debated, their rights rolled back, and their safety threatened. The fight for equality is not over. The equality we continue to fight for tells LGBTQ plus individuals that their love is just as valid, their marriages are just as meaningful, and their families are just as important as everyone else's. Pride celebrations affirm the fundamental truth that every person deserves dignity, respect, and the freedom to live openly and authentically without fear. This month, we must celebrate pride not only with joy, but with purpose. Our celebration is also a resistance. Before I stand here every year, I take time to remind myself why I must continue to be an unwavering ally to the LGBTQ plus community. I think of my brother Tim, who passed away from AIDS 30 years ago, last week actually, and remember his creativity, his life force, and his courage to live life boldly. I think of my daughter and her girlfriend and the world I want for them, where their love doesn't have to be politicized and questioned. And I think of the LGBTQ plus youth growing up in a world where identities are questioned and attacked, still today. They are watching us, looking for hope, and counting on us to stand up for their rights and their future. These moments remind me that pride is deeply personal, and we cannot afford to be silent or complacent. I stand with you louder, prouder, and more committed than ever as a straight ally in this fight for equality, for acceptance, for love. To accept this year's proclamation, we're delighted to welcome the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley here today. The Rainbow Chamber is the largest nonprofit organization in Silicon Valley for LGBTQ plus community and LGBT plus supportive business owners and professionals serving over 100 members through its development, education, promotion and advocacy efforts. Led by a strong and visionary board of directors, the chamber has transformed from a grassroots coalition into a polished professional business association. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to board president, Renee Johnson, who will say a few words.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley, and Congress, I'm sorry, council members. On behalf of the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley, it is an honor to accept this proclamation. We are grateful to Vice Mayor Foley, Congress, Councilmember Tredillo, and Councilmember Cohen for this recognition and for your continued commitment to fostering a committee where diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are valued and celebrated. As mentioned before, we've been around since 1999, And we are the largest nonprofit corporation for LGBTQ plus and allied businesses. But we are more than just a network, business network. We are a chosen family. We strive to foster a warm, welcoming environment that promotes professional growth and strengthens our ability to connect. The Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley believes that communities are built when everyone has the opportunity to be seen, heard, and valued. But make no mistake, the economic power of our community is undeniable. Nationwide, with over 1.4 LGBTQ plus business owners and an economic impact reaching $1.7 trillion, our entrepreneurs are an essential part of the city. I want to recognize our former president, Betty Owen for her incredible leadership, community advocacy, and stewardship of our resources. Thank you to Steve Sosnowski for our unwavering support, and to Rourke Clayton for our past leadership and for always being in our corner. I'd like to thank our corporate partners, dedicated members, and supporters, and also to our past and current board members, including John Martinez, Bard Williams, Izzy Sanchez, and Luis Pedro Castillo over there taking pictures. Anyway, in closing, my call to action for everyone here today is simple. Join our chosen family. I invite you to visit rainbowchamber.org. Become a member or simply come out to our next networking mixer, which is our June 6th Pride Dance. This year's slogan is together we grow because it takes all of us. Thank you again for this incredible honor, and once again, happy Pride.

Thank you.

All right.

Council Member Ortiz, if you would join me at the podium, we will recognize and proclaim June as National Gun Violence Awareness Month.

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, everyone. Yeah, please come on down. As we gather to recognize and proclaim June as National Gun Violence Awareness Month, We are honored to welcome a speaker from New Hope for Youth, an organization dedicated to empowering young people and strengthening families through mentorship, advocacy, healing-centered programs, and community support. Through its work with at-risk youth and families, New Hope for Youth helps address many of the root causes of violence by creating pathways to stability, connection, and opportunity for young people throughout our community. Now it's my pleasure to introduce Nancy, the lead of New Hope for Youth's SSA program, a lifelong San Jose resident. Nancy has dedicated herself to serving the communities that shaped her. As a mother, advocate, and trained circle keeper, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. Her commitment to creating safe, supportive spaces for youth and families has helped foster healing, resilience, and stronger community connections. Please join me in welcoming our speaker.

Thank you, everyone. My name is Nancy, and I would like to share some of the things that we see out in the community when it comes to gun violence. So one of the things regarding gun violence that we all need to be aware of is that the youth does have access to guns very easily, especially when it comes to ghost guns online. or just out in the community on a regular. Some of the ways New Hope for Youth have dedicated to trying to prevent the gun violence out in the community is we deter the youth out there in the community from choosing to make the choice to obtain a gun in the first place. And we also have those tough conversations with them during our one-on-ones regarding accountability and what happens when they obtain a gun and also sharing with them some of the consequences that may happen because of them obtaining a gun. We've also held workshops out in the communities of the Eastside San Jose and in Gilroy where we talk to the youth about how healthy relationships and gun violence coincide with each other. And we've also held workshops over in the east side of San Jose at Overfield High School. So, yeah, I just wanted to share that with you guys. And thank you guys for this proclamation. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Nancy. And now the mayor will present the proclamation. All right.

Thank you all, we're on to Orders of the Day. I'm not aware of any requested changes to the agenda, so we will move on to the Closed Session Report.

Yes, Mayor and Councilman, in Closed Session this morning to discuss several items as listed on the agenda, but there's nothing to report at this time.

Great, thank you, Susana. We are on now to the Consent Calendar. Are there any items the Council would like to pull from consent?

Didn't see any requests earlier.

Okay, do we have a motion? Great. Tony, do we have public comment on consent?

Brian Darby, come on down.

I wanted to acknowledge the work that's been done on the agenda and how the formatting of it has made it a lot easier. Thank you. uh to tony and the staff that do this and i just thought it was important to say that because some i don't think they get a lot of credit that they should so thank you back to council

Great, thank you. Just as we come back, I do just want to note a number of exciting investments in the consent calendar from a very important grant from the Bay Area Host Committee that'll go to our police and fire departments to help keep us safe during the World Cup matches and all of the community events, renewals of some bids and investments in our 911 call center. Just wanted to highlight all of the good work the city is doing with partners. We did have a motion, and I don't see any hands, so Tony, why don't we vote?

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you so much. We're on to land use consent, item 10.1a. Colleagues, do we have a motion on this consent item? Move for the rule.

Second.

Great. And Tony, do we have public comment on item 10.1a?

I have no cards for this item.

All right. Coming back to the council, I still don't have any hands. Why don't we vote?

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. We're on to Item 3.1, Report of the City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council. I have no report today.

Thank you, Jennifer. On to Item 3.3, Reinstate Remote Participation and Amendments to Council Policy 0-37. Tony, do we have public comment?

Brian Darby and Jordan Moldau, come on down.

All right.

on um thank you for that um I advocate well I don't know if my advocating had anything to do with it but I'm glad that they passed it I sent a few letters on how to maybe keep the um the discussion uh what made you guys have to stop it in the first place so I hope that they helped some and again thanking the staff that has to listen to that stuff and stop it before it happens i think the people who are doing this should be just if we showed up here and said those same things that caused you to have to shut down the remote um discussion they should be pursued because they're disrupting the community and disrupting the meeting i just wish we could get him to stop it thank you thank you next speaker

Jordan Moldau, District 3. I want to thank council members Candela, Ortiz, Cohen, and Casey for bringing this proposal to council today and for the Rules Committee for voting to bring it here. I think it's very important for a healthy democracy for people to be able to participate even if they're not able to be here in person. So I support approval of the council memo. I do think that full participation requires participation at all city bodies, not just city council. So I'm really asking for your support to bring back remote participation for every city body, all of the standing committees and all of the advisory committees. There's a lot of important stuff going on. The Planning Commission is working on the four-year general plan review. T&E is talking about Vision Zero next week. I think it would be great if people from the community could participate in all of these conversations. I'd also like to, again, call out that SB 707 allows for an optional provision for advisory bodies to be able to hold hybrid meetings, and BPAC has previously requested that functionality, so I ask for your consideration on that as well. Finally, I'm opposed to the proposal to reduce the default speaking time to 60 seconds. I don't think 60 seconds is enough time to convey opinions on complex policy proposals. Even if you introduce yourself, that could use up to 10% of your speaking time potentially. So I really ask that you consider a different approach rather than decreasing the speaking time to 60 seconds. I think having it be a function of how many people are speaking and decrease the speaking time appropriately could be one approach. decreasing it to 90 seconds for council only and leaving it as two minutes for other bodies could be another approach. But I really ask you not to approve reducing the default time to 60 seconds. Thank you.

Back to council.

Great. Thank you. Let's go to Councillor Condellas.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to take a moment to thank my colleagues. who helped author that memo, as well as Tony, our city clerk, and Susanna, our city attorney, for your work as well in helping us craft a memorandum and a policy to enable public participation in a fair and equitable way. And just for context, because of the passage of SB 707 last year, local governments have to enable remote participation by July 1st of this year. So what we're doing is just moving that up a few weeks to enable remote public participation and public comments in time for this year's budget process by a few weeks. Obviously, we all know the importance of public participation, and because of our council meeting time being at 1 30 in the afternoon it makes it hard for working families older adults and and the youth to quite frankly have a voice and make it in time get in line fill out a paperwork and and make it uh here in person so hopefully this allows for more more folks to participate and ultimately a budget that is reflective of everybody in our community. And with that, I would move to reinstate remote participation with the additional amendments in Policy 037 and thank my colleagues for consideration and support. Thank you.

Thanks, Council Member, Vice Mayor.

Thank you. First, I want to thank Council Members Kendellis, Ortiz, Cohen, and Casey for bringing this forward. It's true that the most important thing that we adopt is the budget, and to have this in time for the public hearing next Monday is really important so that people can call in. I've been here when we were hybrid before, And it was at times very difficult to deal with some people who were racist, homophobic, used explicit language. It was difficult. So I'm hoping that we figured out how we're going to make it not so this time. Because truly, whether you're in the chambers or whether you're on the phone, we want everyone to feel safe. And if hateful language is being used, we're not feeling safe. So I am supportive of this and supportive of the memo and the framework that you've set up, Tony, in how we're going to implement this. And since I second it, of course I'm going to support it. I think it's important to have that. When we did take away the hybrid component, we did hear from people, particularly in the disability community, who have difficulty accessing the meetings in person. So this is really one step to show that we do care about access for all, and this will allow them to have access without leaving their homes. I do have a couple of questions, and it really, Tony, has to do with the advisory committees, the commissions, et cetera. I know that you're planning to bring something back to us in the fall, but can you tell us a little bit more about that, what it's going to look like, and when in the fall we might see it?

My goal is August, but don't hold me to it.

It might be September.

But the policy 04 is due to come back due to... There's some budget actions on boards and commissions to reduce the expenses of boards and commissions, and part of that will be changes to policy 04... um to reduce frequency of meetings and so what we would do is we could add in a provision there that if the if the staff and the commission choose to do it we weren't going to mandate it but to give them the flexibility to do it it's up to council if you want to mandate it though if you want to say we want to bring it back absolutely for everybody we can do it at that time okay so perhaps this isn't the time to have this conversation but i will throw it out there it will be the

option of council to determine whether a commission should be required to have it such as planning commission hcdc etc or leave it up to the committee to or the advisory board to determine and we could do both we could say charter commissions for example we'll just like charter commissions are required to have it the other ones it's optional

Okay. The main reason we haven't mandated is there is a cost. There's a staffing cost to having it. And we want to kind of provide that flexibility. But it is something that we can have a longer discussion about. I'm going to be doing some outreach in the next couple of months before 04 comes back so I can get some better perspectives from people as well.

Please make sure you reach out to BPAC because I know they're very interested in this component. They want to make sure that people can get access to their meetings online and not have to get in a car, although they probably ride their bike down here. With that, thank you for that. I appreciate this. I look forward to voting for it.

Thanks, Vice Mayor. Okay, Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thanks. We're on to item 3.4, public hearing on recording liens on properties for the cost of sidewalk repairs to be placed on the next fiscal year, 2026, 2027, County of Santa Clara secured property tax bill. We will now open the public hearing for this item. Toni, do we have any speakers for this item? I have no speakers. We will now close the public hearing for this item. Council, do we have a motion on it? Second. Thank you. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. We're on to item 5.1, actions related to the round nine affordable housing and sustainable communities grant funding. Tony, do we have public comment?

I have no cards.

Going back to the council. Council Member Campos.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll keep my remarks brief. I just wanted to thank DOT staff, Mid-Penn Housing, BTA, and all of the partners who have helped advance this important affordable housing project in District 2, including the Housing Department, PBCE, the City Attorney's Office, and the City Manager's Office. The $14 million in affordable housing and sustainable communities grant funding, including nearly $6 million awarded to the city, will improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. It's a good reminder that continued city investment in the construction of new affordable housing is essential. This $14 million grant award would not be possible if Mid-Penn Housing had not applied for it. We must continue to invest in affordable housing projects like this one, or else we leave millions of dollars in grant funding on the table. This is why I'm excited for a future when Measure E revenues are reallocated for the construction of permanent affordable housing instead of temporary shelter operations because we need to be thinking about our future. And with that, I move to approve the staff recommendations. Second.

Great. Thank you. Toni, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. We're on to item 6.1, public hearing on sewer service and use charge rates and storm sewer service charge rates. We will now open the public hearing for this item and turn it over to our city clerk for her report.

Michael, come on down. I think it might say Thomas.

Okay, good afternoon. My name is Michael Thomas. I'm a San Jose resident and a homeowner. And I'm coming here today to ask the city to not legally adopt the sewer rate increases for one simple reason. There is no current cost of service study supporting the rates you mailed to the residents. The Proposition 218 note is sent to every homeowner, the one dated in April 2026. states that these increases are based on the cost of providing sewer service, but your own city auditor reports that the assumptions behind the sewer rate model date back to 1975, 1980, and 1990, and that the city will not complete the required flow and strength study until 2027. Without current data, there is no proportionality analysis, and Prop 218 requires that the fees reflect the actual cost of the service for each parcel. Secondly, I submitted a public records act request for the cost of service study and the supporting documents. The statutory deadline passed on May 24th and the city did not produce a single record and did not use a valid extension and did not identify any exemptions. The absence of records strongly suggests that the required analysis does not exist. Prop 218 requires transparency, proportionality, and a completed cost of service analysis before mailing the notice and before adopting rates. I believe none of these requirements have been met. For these reasons, the proposed sewer rate increases cannot be legally adopted today. I respectfully request that the city withdraw or postpone this item until the required studies are completed and made public. Thank you. And I have one question.

That's your time.

Excuse me?

That's your time. Your time is up.

Are there any questions or anything? No. This is my statement for the sewer rates. Your time's up, sir. We'll make another statement later.

Back to counsel.

Thank you, Tony. We will now close the public hearing for this item.

And then I think we're on to my script.

I'm sorry?

I think I have a script I have to read now. Please. Subsequent to ESD's supplemental memorandum dated May 29, 2026, the City Clerk's Office has received 77 additional sewer service and use charge protests. Therefore, the total number of valid written protests is 1,633 for the proposed sewer service and use charge. The total of all written protests during the public protest period together with the one speaker protesting the rate change today represents less than 1% of all customers impacted by the change in the sewer service and use charge, and Council may consider staff's recommendation for sewer service and use charge increases.

Thank you, Tony. Coming back to the council, colleagues, do we have a motion on the staff rec? Motion to approve from Councillor Kamei. Do we have a second? Second. Great. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes nine to two with Ortiz and Casey voting no.

Okay. On to item 6.1, public hearing on residential garbage and recycling services rates for single family and multifamily residential solid waste services. We'll now open the public hearing for this item, turn it over to our city clerk for her report.

I'm going to start with the script and then go to the public comments. Subsequent to ESD supplemental memorandum dated May 29th, 2026, the city clerk's office has received 83 additional residential garbage and recycling rate protests. Therefore, the total number of valid written protests is 1,333 for the proposed residential garbage and recycling rates. I have three speaker cards, Michael Thomas, Gloria Perez, and Brian Darby. Come on down. You have two minutes each.

good afternoon again my name is Michael Thomas I'm a San Jose resident and homeowner for the garbage and refuse issue the city cannot legally adopt these garbage and recycling rates increases today because there's no cost of service study supporting the rates and the proposition 218 notice mailed the residents the notice in front of you that you had is the 2026 single family garbage and recycling rate notification letter, and it states that these increases are based on the cost of providing service. But the city has produced no documentation, no cost analysis, no contractor cost breakdown, and no proportionality study to justify these increases. I submitted a Public Records Act request for the cost of service study and supporting documents. That statutory deadline passed on May 24th. The city did not produce a single record, did not issue a valid extension, and did not identify any exemptions. The absence of the record strongly suggests the required analyses did not exist. Prop 218 requires the fees to be tied to the actual cost of service and that the supporting analysis be completed before mailing a notice and before adopting rates. None of these requirements have been met. For these reasons, the proposed garbage and recycling rate increases cannot be legally adopted today. I respectfully request the city withdraw or propose this item until the required studies are completed and made public. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

I was wondering if anybody heard what he said. You guys, okay. I was just, totally threw me off of what I just saw. Anyways, thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, the honorable man and dear council members. My name is Gloria Perez-Fort. I am a widow. I am from Christopher neighborhood. The reason for being here today is to oppose the rate increase for the residential garbage and recycling services. For the fiscal year 2019 to 2000, the rate was $35.89. For the fiscal year 2025 through 2026, it's at $54.51. This is an increase of 52% over six years, averaging 8.6% a year. My increase in income was only 2.8% from Social Security. There is no COLA on my late husband's retirement benefits. So you see the rate increase is higher than what my income is. It is my personal opinion that Your Honor and council members do not have this problem. On top of this, you want to increase the stickers for the garbage by 12% to $7. In 2025, not one council member voted no to the rate increase. We voted you in to help us and protect us from gouging prices. Did you forget that you were voted in? Since 2015 to 2026, all rates have been approved. No one voted no. That's 11 years of voting yes to rate increases. It will be challenging for me to review fiscal years of 2000 to 2014. I'm sorry, that's your time?

Back to council? Oh, not back to council. I have a script. That's your time. The total of all written protests during the public protest period, together with the three speakers protesting the rate changes today, represents less than 1% of all customers impacted by the change in residential garbage and recycling rates. Council may consider staff's recommendation for residential garbage and recycling rate increases.

back to council. Thank you, Tony. Coming back to the council, just before I turn to colleagues, Jeff, I don't know if this would be to you or someone else on staff, but would you mind just for the public record briefly summarizing what is pushing rates to go up faster than the incomes of neighbors on a fixed income and what we're doing to try to manage cost increases and control costs? I think it would be helpful for the public to better understand what's driving these costs and what we're trying to do about it.

Well, first, good afternoon, Mayor Mahan and members of the City Council. My name is Judy Erlandson. I'm the Deputy Director of Integrated Waste Management. So, in summary, the contractor's compensation for the processing and collection of all of the materials in San Jose in both multifamily and single-family dwellings comprises 90%. of the rates, so that's the highest factor that contributes to this rate increase. Beyond that, there's administrative costs that are related to managing the contract and ensuring contractor's compliance, as well as other programs for the city, specifically the HHW program.

And do you mind sharing a little more about why our contractors' costs are going up at the rate they are? I know it's a concern for all of us. We've had pretty lengthy conversations, actually, in the past around this topic. Some of the rates this year across certain services are actually not as great as we've seen, but garbage in particular has been going up faster than average income, certainly.

So the compensation increases are tied to a modified CPI, which is weighted on labor, fuel, these types of things. These things are going up based on CPI, and so therefore that translates to an increase in the contractual costs.

Okay. So when the cost of fuel, for example, or labor goes up, that gets passed directly on to... our customers, essentially our residents. That's correct. Yeah. Okay. And then the final question or line of question, at least for me, is on the impacts of free junk pickup because that's a service we've added. How much is that contributing to the cost pressure?

That's included in the contractor compensation. So that's about $12 million of about $207 million total. So it's maybe 5%. So to answer your previous question, we are looking at ways to keep costs down. We did a study about 10 years ago that determined the best way to address blight in the neighborhoods, illegal dumping, was to ramp up our junk pickup program. And we think that's contributed to some of the success in those areas.

Yeah, that makes sense. But if memory serves, the contamination of our recycled material stream has been a major driver of cost. I know we've done a lot of work to bring down those rates. Is that having an impact on keeping rates down?

Yes, so we've had some success in that area. So we reduced to 41% based on the last study. We have another study upcoming in fall of 2026. And we're hopeful that that will also show a further reduction. And that does offset the rates to a certain extent. It only offsets a portion of our collectors' costs, which, well, I should say the revenue due to them, because there's two recyclable collectors in the city. So it doesn't offset the costs as a whole, but it does serve to offset somewhat.

Yeah, it's an important PSA for anybody listening who is concerned that the more we all do collectively to keep the recycling stream really clean and non-contaminated, full of things that belong in there, that does help relieve cost pressure a little bit over time. Okay, you may not want to go too far, but I'm going to turn to colleagues. Thanks for your answers. Let me go to Council Member Duan.

Thank you, Mayor. I oppose the proposed solid waste rate increase. The proposed solid waste increase, about 7%, is significantly higher than the cost of living increase experienced by our residents. Many of our households are already, you know, dealing with and struggling with the rising cost of fuel, housing, insurance, utility, and everyday necessity. A 7% increase exceeds the level that most residents would consider a routine cost of living adjustment and deserve a greater scrutiny. Before approving an increase of this magnitude, the city should ensure that every reasonable opportunity for operational efficiency and cost control have been explored. Ratepayers should have confidence that costs are being managed effectively before they are asked to absorb the increase that substantially exceeds inflation. I am also concerned that our neighboring cities appear to be able to provide similar solid waste services at lower rates. If comparable community can deliver these services at lower cost, San Jose should understand why those differences exist and identify the opportunity to improve efficiency before imposing a significant rate increase on our residents. So can you explain to me why is it that Palo Alto and many other cities that they actually pay their provider more, but yet their rate is still lower than ours?

So I don't have information on how much Palo Alto or other cities might pay their providers. I would say that many of the services that San Jose provides are cutting edge and very robust relative to other cities. So I would submit that some of the rate for single family residents are slightly on the higher than average area of the table that's presented in the council memo. But I would also say that the multifamily dwellings have very low rates compared to some of the other surrounding cities. Yes, in some cases, single-family dwellings have higher rates, but also better services, and multifamily comes in on the low end.

A lot of our residents are baby boomers and delivering on a very low income, if you will. Any type of... utility raised when when you talk about high tech and services i think our residents just look at okay i put out the garbage and it get picked up and it's very simple and they're going to ask when you talk about high tech and better services they need to understand what is that right can you elaborate on that a little bit more

Well, I would say relative to some of the other surrounding jurisdictions, San Jose's programs, and I'm going to say on the back end and the front end, things like unlimited junk pickup, some of the new programs that we're hoping to institute over the next fiscal year. But also on the back end, we process all the materials to divert just as much as we can possibly divert. Not all jurisdictions do that. So residents have the convenience of having two containers plus the green waste, all unlimited, but also have that material sorted so that we can divert as much as possible.

Thank you. I yield my time.

I want to let our city manager chime in.

I just want to note that on page four of the residential garbage and recycling service rates, there is those two charts that was just referred to. And those are comparing the monthly rates to their current rates, not their proposed, not their 26, 27 rates. So it could be very true that our position in these charts will change once they have their rate increases go up, but we did not have that information at the time of putting together this memorandum. So that's a very important point. So it's a little bit of an apples to oranges, but it gives you a good sense of where we are in the market. I would bet that most of these jurisdictions are all going to have rate increases that will change our position in this chart in the future. And then also, with respect to the contracts that Judy was referring to, and again, Judy's new to the city but brings extensive experience, so welcome again, Judy, to- Thank you. to your new position. The council approves these contracts for these providers and they're usually long term contracts and they go through extensive negotiations to get the most value out of those contracts. So there's nothing that we can do in the short term to change those cost factors even if we wanted to but again trying to compare we it is a little bit of a hard thing to do to to compare our services uh that we provide like our unlimited free junk pickup and other things that we're doing here to what other jurisdictions are doing but nevertheless keeping uh cost controls in place and again reducing the recycling contamination that was mentioned by the mayor are very important strategies and important for our public to know to so where we can have controls in in that area and keeping our our labor costs within control and all that good stuff are very important elements so we don't take that lightly because we do need to make sure on all of our rates and charges that we're the council of the community has confidence that we're trying to be as minimal increases as possible thank you

Thanks for that additional context, Jennifer. You're done, Councilor. Let me turn to Councilor Cohen. Yeah, thank you.

And thank you for the help in understanding this. We've in past years had long, extensive conversations about these rate increases, how we keep our costs down, about how we compare to other jurisdictions. I think those are all important pieces of information. And while I was pleased that our sewer rate increases were very modest this year, this one was not as modest. And so I think it's worth having a little more robust conversation to understand why that is. Certainly, it's important, looking at this chart, it's actually shocking how competitive we are on the multifamily side. Our multifamily residents are paying far less than almost every jurisdiction around us, and significantly so, actually. So that's great news for many of our residents in the city. We're not the highest, but we're on the higher end on the single family side. And I feel like it's worth understanding a little bit better. And I think you've already kind of given an explanation as to why, in this case, rates might have gone up more this year than we would have hoped. I know it's a little difficult in the public eye to sort of, this process is a little difficult and challenging too because we send out a notice as if we are arbitrarily or somehow doing something that's not mathematically calculated, right? That we have a lot of choice in the matter of what we're charged as a city to provide this service. and therefore kind of giving the impression that we have more discretion than we really have. I just wanted to ask the question about our contract so it's understood. Presumably we have a contract with our hauler to that their costs, we must pay the costs that they incur and as their costs go up we're responsible for that. Is that a good way of putting it? That's correct. And so what would be the outcome if we chose this year not to increase? I mean, obviously, affordability is on our mind. We don't want to increase. But if we chose not to do that, what does that do in terms of our budget, and where would that obligation come from as a city?

Well, so two things. We'd be out of compliance with the contract that we signed with all our haulers and processors, but also the staff time, city costs that... make sure that the haulers do their job, that staff is available to make sure that the garbage is picked up every day and that there's no deviation from that. There might be consequences to a scale back of those types of enforcement services, education services, outreach.

So that's presuming that we, since we don't pass this cost along, that we then don't pay it to our hauler and then we're out of compliance. The other option is that we pay it, but we have to find other resources in our budget to pay the millions of dollars that that would cost us. Maybe I'll let Jeff. Sure, I'll jump in real quick. Thank you, Judy.

Jeff Provenzano, Director, Environmental Services Department. Thanks for the question, Council Member Britton. And that is correct. As we mentioned, there are contractual increases. We renegotiated our agreements with the haulers maybe about six years ago. So this is a set formula for how they get paid more. Really the question then comes back to our fund balance and the health of that fund balance is what we're looking at. We used fund balance last year to drop rates down at the last minute. We had noticed around a 4% for single family. We were able to drop those down to two using cash that we had in the fund. But this year going forward, it's already been depleted in those one-time savings for this year. And as we look into next year, the work we got to do, the outreach and the programs we have to achieve, there isn't really a way to absorb it within the fund.

I guess that's a good point to raise. I think once during COVID and then once last year, we've tried really hard. during difficult times to keep these rates from going up as much as the cost increases would dictate, and we did that by stepping into the reserves we have in this program, but we can't, but that, unfortunately what that leads to is a time in which rates go up a little higher than they would otherwise go up because we held back and tried to prevent those rates from going up. Is that a fair way of explaining it?

Yeah, that is, and I would just add that we look at the health of the fund every year, so we're always looking for any opportunities to decrease rates we do that for all the funds we do notices we actually know it's a little bit high that we think the max that we are going to go and then we spend the next two months working on ways to drop those numbers down and we were successful i think with some of the other rates unfortunately for this one we weren't able to drop it lower

And I guess my final question then would be, when we receive the input from our haulers as to how much rates have to go up this year in order to cover their costs, do we feel fairly confident that what we're receiving from them, we must feel confident that what we're receiving from them is an accurate portrayal of their increased costs under our contract so that we're not overpaying for the service?

Yeah, they submit their actual financials, and we take that and apply the formula per the contract.

Okay. And those are separated for single-family and multifamily, so we don't have the ability to move those percentages around into the two buckets, right?

That's right.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Yes, councilor, I appreciate your questions and all the questions and comments raised. I guess I'd also just note for colleagues, particularly any who are inclined to vote against, given that these are contracts that the council has agreed to and we have an obligation There would be some very negative consequences to breaking those contracts. I do think, though, there's an opportunity for longer-term policy work here that I know my office and I would be interested in if colleagues want to spend more time offline with our professional staff digging into the cost structure, thinking about where there might be efficiencies, trying to figure out if there are more equitable ways to price the service. I think that's the kind of long-term policy work we should all be doing in the areas that we're most passionate about. So that hopefully in a couple of years when we're looking at contracts again or thinking about renegotiating, we have an opportunity to bring better ideas forward and kind of manage these costs over time. So just suggest that as an opportunity for anyone who wants to work on this longer term. Okay, I think we've exhausted questions and comments. I don't believe we had a motion yet. So colleagues, do we have a motion on item 6.2?

I'll move approval.

Second. Thank you. Okay. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes eight to three with Ortiz, Dwan, and Casey voting no.

All right. We are on to item 6.3, public hearing on San Jose municipal water system, potable and recycled water rates and charges. We will now open the public hearing for this item and turn it over to our city clerk for her report.

I have no cards and subsequent to ESD supplemental memorandum dated May 29th, 2026. The city clerk's office has received nine additional potable water rate protests. Therefore, the total number of valid written protests is 202 for the proposed potable water rates. No protests have been received from recycled water customers in response to the proposed recycled water rates. The total of all written protests received during the public protest period represents less than 1% of all customers impacted by the change in water retail rates. Therefore, Council may consider staff's recommendation for municipal water system rate increases. Back to Council.

Thank you, Tony. We will now close the public hearing for this item. Colleagues, item 6.3. I don't see any hands. Do we have a motion? Councillor Kamea moves. Do we have a second? Thank you, Council Member. Okay. Tony, let's vote on item 6.3.

Motion passes 7-4 with Ortiz, Dwan, Candelas, and Casey voting no.

Okay. That was 6.3. We're on to item 6.4. This is the public hearing and resolution approving the San Jose Municipal Water System's 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan and Urban Water Management Plan. And, Tony, I believe I need to refer to a script. Here it is. Okay. This matter has two public hearings, one on the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan and the other on the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan. These hearings are held in accordance with California Water Code section 10642. Provide an opportunity for any interested person to provide input on either or both of these plans We were going to combine these public hearings So please make sure you are ready to comment on either plan members of the public wishing to comment on this item may do so by completing a yellow speaker card and Submitting it to the city clerk when your name is called. Please come forward to the podium to provide your comments. I The public hearing on the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan and the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan for the San Jose Municipal Water System is now open.

I have no cards.

That was a lot for no cards. Okay. The public hearing is now closed. Returning to the council. Okay. Colleagues, the two plans before you. Item 6.4. Council Member Comey.

These are plans that, you know, we have to adopt. And so I would go ahead and move approval of the plans. Second.

Great. Thank you. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great. Thank you. Okay, we are now on to item 6.4, public hearing and resolution approving the San Jose, oh, I'm sorry, 8.1, establishment of the East Village Business Improvement District and approval to levy assessments in the East Village Business Improvement District for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Item number 8.1 is the public hearing on the establishment of the East Village Business Improvement District and the levy of assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Before I open the public hearing, has the city clerk received any written protests from affected businesses in the proposed East Village Business Improvement District?

I have no written protests.

Thank you. At this time, we will open the public hearing.

Ann Marie Long, come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor, council members, and staff. My name is Ann Marie Lang, and I'm here to support the formation of the East Village San Jose Business Improvement District. My family started our business in San Jose in 1976. Our first Vietnamese restaurant was at the corner of 13th Street and Empire Street. We have been part of this community for nearly 50 years and I have seen many changes over the years. Today, my family owns property on East Santa Clara Street and we continue to believe in the future of this neighborhood East Village has great potential, but it needs continued investment, beautification, marketing, and support for local businesses. I have watched the association work hard to bring businesses together, organize events, improve the corridor, and create a stronger sense of community. The bid will provide the resources needed to continue and expand these efforts. As a long-time business and property owner, I believe this is an important step for the future of East Village San Jose. I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you.

Back to Council.

Great. Thank you. We will now close the public hearing. Since the business owners have supported the establishment of the East Village Business Improvement District and the proposed levy of assessments, I will now ask the council to consider approval of the ordinance establishing the East Village Business Improvement District and adoption of the resolution levying assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Do we have a motion? Council Member Tordillos.

Thank you, Mayor. You know, over the past couple of months, we've repeatedly heard from members of the association, members of the local small business community about the excitement and the potential for what this new bid will mean for, you know, enabling these businesses to invest in this important corridor. So with that, excited to see this moving forward, and I move approval of the staff recommendation.

Great. Thank you. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you. We're on to item 8.2. Item 8.2 is the public hearing for the approval of the Tully Road Eastridge Business Improvement District annual budget report and the levy of assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Before I open the public hearing, has the city clerk received any written protests from affected businesses in the Tully Road Eastridge Business Improvement District?

I have not.

Great, thank you. At this time, we will open the public hearing.

Christina and Anne, come on down.

Good afternoon, Mayor and council members. My name is Christina Bui, and I am the board chair of Tolley Road Eastridge Business Association. TREBA has worked really hard to get to bring businesses together and build partnerships and promote local commerce and create a stronger sense of community in the area. Through challenging economic times, rising costs, and changing conditions, our businesses have continued to invest in this community because they believe in its future. We need the city's continued support and partnership to help us sustain this momentum. Investment in economic, Development, beautification, public safety, and business support services will help ensure that our corridor remains a place where businesses can succeed and families can thrive. So our small businesses are the backbones of our community. We have done the work to keep this corridor moving forward, and today we ask the city to continue standing with us as we build on that progress. Thank you for your time and your support.

back to council sorry good afternoon mayor and council member and staff just want to highlight so with the limited resources that we have we are very grateful for all your support we made a very meaningful impact by beautifying the space a lot more cleaner more safer we removed thousands of debris last year created activation that invested back in the corridor and the community. And so we are here gratefully and respectfully asking for your continued support to not only build and create a clean corridor, but empowering the community, restoring opportunity, and investing in the future of the east side, San Jose. And this is where we take pride, and this is not only creating lasting change, but a very meaningful impact for all the community members. Thank you for your time.

Now back to council.

Great, thank you. We will now close the public hearing. Since the business owners in the Tully Road-Easteridge Business Improvement District have supported the proposed levy of assessments, I will now ask the council to consider adoption of the resolution approving the budget report of the Tully Road-Easteridge Business Improvement District and levying assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Do we have a motion? Great. We will... it. Does it cover two districts, this particular district? All right. We're going to give the motion to D8, second D7. Is that okay? Thank you, Mayor. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right. Thank you. We are on to item 8.3. Item 8.3 is the public hearing for the approval of the Monterey Corridor Business Improvement District annual budget report and the levy of assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Before I open the public hearing, has the clerk received any written protests from affected businesses in the Monterey Corridor Business Improvement District?

I have no written protests.

Great. Thank you, Tony. At this time, we will open the public hearing.

Dave Lujan, come on down.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Dave Lujan. I'm the executive secretary of the Monterey Quarter of Business Association and the founding member. I'm here today to urge your support for our bid renewal. In our first year, our clean and safe initiative deployed three mobile security cameras with guard response and overnight surveillance. We've also beautified the corridor with new murals and connected local businesses with vital city and county grants. We have abated numerous RVs and encampments that have benefited the local businesses and have helped them with resources to repair any damages. None of this would be possible without the incredible partnerships. We are deeply grateful for the outstanding hands-on support we've received from Councilman Duan. Furthermore, the MCBA strongly supports the Mayor's proposed budget, which mirrors our own commitment to community safety and economic vitality. We are building real momentum in the Monterey Corridor. To keep this vital progress going, we respectfully ask for your approval on our bid renewal today. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Back to council.

Great. Thank you, Tony. We will now close the public hearing. Since the business owners in the Monterey Corridor Business Improvement District have supported the proposed levy of assessments, I will now ask the council to consider adoption of the resolution approving the budget report of the Monterey Corridor Business Improvement District and levying assessments for fiscal year 2026 through 2027.

Move for approval. Second.

Great. Thank you. Tony, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Great, thank you. We will now recess the meeting of the City Council and convene the successor agency to the redevelopment agency of the City of San Jose. which is onto our next item, successor agency to the San Jose Redevelopment Agency approval of the July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 administrative budget and annual recognized obligation payment schedule for fiscal year 2026 through 2027. Tony, do you have public comment?

I have no cards for this item.

Great. We need to Take a motion and a vote and then I can call then I can adjourn the successor agency. I believe so colleagues. Do we have a motion? Thank you, Tony, let's vote Motion passes unanimously Thank you. We will now adjourn the successor agency to the redevelopment agency of the city of San Jose and reconvene the meeting of the city council. We're now on to open forum, which is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on any city business that was not on today's agenda. Tony?

James and Brian, come on down.

Great. James and Brian, first one down, may begin speaking when you get to the podium.

First of all, thank you, Mr. Mayor, that what you said about the sewer rates and stuff really helped, that explanation. So I withdraw my eye rolling. Tilly Smith, 24 years ago, was on a beach jumping up and down, telling her parents, we need to move. And of course, somebody might think this 10-year-old was just having a fit. There was foamy water and the water went out. What she was aware because she paid attention in geography or geology class is that a tsunami caused by a 9.1 earthquake was sending a trillion tons of water their way. Well, her tenacity led to people leaving off that beach. The people on the other beaches didn't survive and a quarter million people were wiped out. Now, some people say there's a, and you hear this, divine judgment and there's some capricious power in the world that decides I'm going to cause an earthquake on one side of the world and flood a bunch of other people. Yet this one little girl has the capability of convincing a whole beach to leave. Now why bring this up at a city council meeting? I tend to think the most serious Frustration, serious danger to our society is magic thinking. This young lady had data, she had understanding, and she was able to convince people. Because we live in a world that is not mostly absolutes, it's probabilities. That's the universe that we live in as we understand it. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker. I think Jim. James?

Come on down. Everyone whose name is called should just come on down. James, come on down, please. Thank you.

Hello. I'm Jim Gray. I live on Akron Way. And for my speech, I want to tell you Akron Way is only 34 feet wide. And most people that work in the parking business would know that if it says way, it's not as wide as a street to start with. Anyway, February, a motorhome came and parked on Akron Way. And because the motorhome is 8 feet wide and the parking place is 7 feet wide, the motorhome is 1 foot, actually 10 inches, I measured it, on the emergency lane. The emergency lane is for ambulances that might come to my house because this old man may have a heart attack or something. And I also believe that because you know that and I know that, That person in that motorhome, if it should get injured by a car that we had one last year, it came sideways down Akron, that car would have hit that. If the motorhome had been down the street about 50 feet, that car would have hit that motorhome. which to me means the state or the city, because there's no signage or anything telling anybody that's a narrow street, might put you, which is me, in the city. Boy, I'm speaking good, aren't I? in favor, or not in favor, but in charge of paying for that, for whatever might have happened in that car. 311 came to Akron.

Okay, thank you. That's your time? Go ahead, next speaker. That's your time. Your time is up.

You may absolutely send us a letter, and if you have anything for the clerk, you can hand it to her as well. We have one more public speaker, so we'll come on down. Should be up top too.

Gotcha. So good afternoon. I'm Carmen Brammer, CEO and founder of Global Majority Consulting and a District 8 constituent. The Supreme Court's 429 ruling decimated the Voting Rights Act to silence black voters and more than shocked, I'm hurt angry, and as of today I'm not aware that any one of you has reached out to the black community to say you will protect our vote. This is an abysmal failure of leadership. Your silence signals consent and that you don't care because we're only 2.9% of the population. I find your lack of compassion unacceptable. Make no mistake, This ruling will have a domino effect on other marginalized communities. Silence today means you could be next on the menu. I expect each of your chiefs of staff to contact me to discuss next steps. Thank you.

Back to counsel.

Thank you, Tony. Thank you to all of our speakers. Colleagues, we are adjourned. Have a great evening.