City Council - Regular Meeting

Test, test.

Deputy City Manager, test. City Manager, mic test. Staff mic test.

Podium test. Podium test.

Test test. Okay, cool.

Wireless mic.

Assistant city attorney. City attorney. Dias seat one, test, dias one.

Test, test. Test, test.

Dias seat two. Dias seat three. Mayor's mic test. Dias seat five. Can I have seat six?

City Clerk Mike.

Bye. Oh, God. Thank you. do do Thank you. Bye. Thank you. you Thank you. do do Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you.

There it is. Mayor, you can proceed. Perfect, thank you. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. I apologize for starting late. We were waiting here. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct roll call.

Council Member Becerra.

Here.

Council Member Hernandez.

Present.

Council Member Lopez. Council Member Vann. Here. Council Member Vazquez. Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa. Present. Mayor Misca.

Present.

Five members, that is a quorum.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda? There are none. Do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

We did not receive any e-comments related to closed session. There are no in-person speakers. There is one caller on Zoom. I will confirm if they are here for closed session or for the regular agenda. Sarah Marshall, please unmute. Are you speaking on a closed session item or the regular agenda?

regularly.

Okay, please hold until that time. Thank you. Mayor, that concludes the speakers for right now.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll now recess this portion of the meeting to consider items in closed session. Thank you.

you Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. do do Bye.

You can go ahead, Mayor. Perfect. Started the meeting. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. Madam Clerk?

This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance.

Recording in progress.

This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. This is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. There's an opportunity to call for a recess or a break or even to clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken. We appreciate your cooperation. For everyone's safety, per the Fire Marshal, please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, along the back wall of the Council Chamber, or in front of entrances and exits. During City Council presentations, guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos.

I'm sorry, Madam Clerk, could you?

Yes, we're working on the noise. For roll call, Council Member Becerra?

Here.

Council Member Hernandez.

Present.

Council Member Lopez. Council Member Phan. Here. Council Member Vasquez. Mayor Procham Peñalosa.

Present.

Mayor Mesquita. Present. Five members present. That is a quorum.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, please make an announcement.

For members of the public on Zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, you must dial star nine from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from Zoom now in order to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence. This does not apply to public hearing item number 34 for which comments will be heard separately. Please hold any comments on that public hearing until such public hearing is open. Thank you.

Thank you. The first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. May I have the... Badass Carpenter Christy come up. I apologize for the word, but I had to introduce her like that.

Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

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 so very much, both of you, for coming out. At this time, the words of inspiration will be provided by Shane Parr. Please come to the podium.

Well, good evening, Mayor Meskwa, members of the City Council, and residents in attendance this evening. My name is Minister Shane Parr with Orange County. I'm the director for Orange County Teen Challenge. I'm grateful and proud to live here in the city of Santa Ana, work and live here. It's the grace that surrounds the city that enables us to feel peace in our communities. From Henninger Park to Floral Park, from Bishop Manor to the unincorporated Santa Ana Hills, there is a grace upon this city. You could look into the 4th Street food court to see the city's diversity or spend a morning at Bowers Museum to recognize the peace that culture brings to a city. The diversity of cultures breeds culture in our neighborhoods. The grace that comes from its many churches, temples, and synagogue brings peace to the heart of this city, its people. The same people that have the grace to let you cut in line at Stater Brothers or to let you in to merge onto the 5 Freeway. Those same, very same people may also too be the people that cut in line at Food for Less and we have to have peace for them as in they merge on the 5 Freeway and we have the grace with them as we let them go about their day. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to connect with the city in a wide variety of ways, whether it's working with the cult team, the quality of life team out on the streets, whether it's being invited in some of the most expensive homes here in Santa Ana, whether it's connecting with 10 members of one family living in a two-bedroom apartment or connecting with two members of a family living in a 10-room home. I've seen God's grace move in all these places because he meets us where we're at. May the decisions that fall before the leaders of this fine city first be met with grace and love so then we can live with peace. Grace comes before peace so that we may truly understand the value of love. God's grace, his peace, his love are upon the city of Santa Ana and its people. I share a verse with you. It's my life verse. It's out of the NIV translation and it's James 1.22. It says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. As I begin to pray. Lord, as we ask your people to do what your word says, we ask them to love one another, to forgive one another, to encourage one another, to help one another, and to submit to our authorities as you have put them in place in reverence to you. We pray that you bring wisdom to them, that you protect the first responders, as there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another, but we ask that they are protected from that cost. Lord, be with all these people of this city. May they feel your love, even though they may not know you. Your grace upon us has enabled us to share your love and peace with others. Bring light to the darkness and hope to the hopeless, for with you all things are possible. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda? There are none. Thank you. This time we're going to do presentations. The first presentation is by Council Member Becerra, recognizing the OC Bomberos for outstanding contributions to the community. Please come up. Come on up, people. OC Bomberos, come on up. Come on up.

Good evening everybody. So tonight it's my great honor to recognize the Orange County Bomberos for their dedication to our youth and our community. Founded in 2020, the OC Bomberos are a nonprofit organization comprised of firefighters throughout Orange County. So not just OCFA, but throughout. And they provide scholarships and mentorships to aspiring firefighters and emergency responders. Their mission is to help youth from low-income households who are motivated to pursue their dream career of becoming firefighters. There are many kids who are simply unaware. of the possibility of working as firefighters in their own communities. And the goal of OC Bomberos is to change that. Through educational and fire academy scholarships, community outreach, mentorship and fundraising, OC Bomberos aim to show our future generations that there is a way to better their lives and reach their full potential. OC Bomberos has provided over 40 scholarships to help community members afford college, fire academy courses, as well as paramedic and EMT training. The value of the scholarships each year varies, but in 2025, nine candidates were awarded $1,000 each. Now, one very fun way that the Bomberos raised money for scholarships is through their annual cornhole tournament, and they held their fifth one this year, right? Yes. So we were there last year, and I was going to ask the chief. Chief, how far did you get in the tournament last year?

I probably made it the second round, second to the last round.

I'm not going to ask the city manager because him and I were in the same place. We were watching you kick butt up there. Yeah. Same here, right? Same here. So, no, we had a blast. I know you were there as well, Sylvia, and we had a couple of other folks. So a couple of the deputy chiefs, although the chief was the one that got, I think, the farthest of the city group.

And with the deputy city manager's husband.

Oh, that's right. That's right. Sylvia's husband. That's right.

Yeah.

I know, I didn't know about how good he was. Well, scholarship recipients who benefit from those tournaments have gone on to work for such agencies as the Los Angeles County Fire Department, CAL FIRE, the Los Angeles City Fire Department, and the U.S. Forest Service. Beyond financial support, OC Bomberos also provides mentorship, pairing interested youth with a mentor to provide them with more information and share their experiences on careers in fire service. When the youth are old enough to apply for academies and jobs, OC Bomberos also assists them with test prep, scheduling ride-alongs, and meetings with local fire departments. In appreciation of your work to form OC Bomberos and helping youth in our community pursue their dreams of becoming a firefighter, an EMT, or a paramedic, I would like to present the certificate of recognition. Don't be shy. All right, Gabriel. Congratulations, and thank you for all that you do. Would you like to say a couple words?

Absolutely.

Thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone. My name is Gabriel Flores, president of the Orange County Bomberos. First of all, I'd just like to say thank you to the mayor and all the council members and especially you, sir, Council Member Becerra, for all the support over the last couple of years. Honestly, we never thought we would be where we're at today. So I just want to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to my team, chief and everyone else that's unable to make it. We truly just try to give back to the community because There was a point where we needed help, they helped us, and now we're just trying to do the same thing, help everyone else that needs it. Thanks again.

Awesome. Thank you. Thanks, sir.

All right, next presentation is by Council Member Lopez, but she is not here. So the final presentation is by Council Member Hernandez, declaring August 2026 as Chicano Heritage Month. Council Member Hernandez.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. And thank you to members of the public for tuning into today's City Council meeting. Today is August 4th, 2026. And as it is a tradition every year in the month of August, today we are celebrating Chicano Heritage Month. I have the honor of presenting this proclamation to two individuals who could not be with us here today. Those individuals are Danny Silva and Richie Miranda. They're not with us today for good reason. Danny Silva unfortunately had to pull out of a fight. He had a fight coming up August 22nd. Richie Miranda has a fight coming up this Saturday. So today the city of Santa Ana proudly proclaims August as Chicano Heritage Month. We are honoring the rich culture, history, and contributions of the Chicano community. Chicano heritage is more than ancestry. It is a vibrant and diverse culture that has helped shape Santa Ana beyond what you see here today. The term Chicano or Chicana is used interchangeably with Mexican American. This was a term claimed by Mexicans in the 1960s and 1970s. This expression helped us embrace our political empowerment, our ethnic solidarity, and the pride in being of indigenous descent. Tonight, I am honored to present this proclamation to Mr. Danny El Puma Silva, who is an incredible athlete and a fighter proud of his Chicano roots. He is a Santa Ana native, born and raised in the community, and is an alumni of Saddleback High School. Let's go Saddleback, there you go. Put your hands together for Saddleback. Mr. Silva is a world-class mixed martial arts fighter who fights in the UFC's featherweight division. He has fought in the Legacy Fighting Alliance and was undefeated on Dana White's Contender Series before he signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We also have a number of other San An Unified School District graduates who have fought in mixed martial arts, including championship fighters such as Gilbert El Nino Melendez and Richie El Machete Miranda. Chicano and Chicana students from Santa Ana have access to higher education through Santa Ana Unified School District and Santa Ana College, which boasts a strong world-class wrestling program. Santa Ana native Gilbert Melendez was a multiple-time mixed martial arts world champion in Strikeforce, World Extreme Cage Fighting, and fought twice for the Ultimate Fighting Championships UFC Lightweight World Champion. Every time he fought, he proudly boasts Santa Ana on his shorts. Santa Ana native Richie Miranda is a lightweight world champion mixed martial artist who won his Legacy Fighting Alliance, LFC world title on April 18th, 2025 by defeating Richie Lewis. Mr. Richie Miranda has successfully defended his title twice and as of August 2026 is now signed to the UFC and he has a fight scheduled this Saturday, which is why he's unable to attend today. Let's put our hands together for Richie Miranda. In addition, Santa Ana has world-class athletes in a variety of other combat sports, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu, most notably Eduardo Cano, also known as Eddie Bravo. He was the first Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who was non-Brazilian to submit the Gracie family's Hoyler Gracie. In wrestling, we have Jesse Ruiz, who was an alumni of Valley High School, and in 2012 represented us in the sport of wrestling in the Olympic Games. 2012 London, he represented the country of Mexico, born and raised here in Santa Ana. And in boxing, we have Ronnie Rios and Alexis Rocha from the world-famous TKO Boxing Program, and a big thank you to Coach Hector Ruiz. It is my privilege to present to Danny Silva and to Richie Miranda this proclamation of Chicano Heritage Month. in recognition of their incredible achievements as santaneros and as Chicano athletes. Let's please put our hands together for Chicano Heritage Month. Thank you. They could not be here today, but I just want to share that I know that this is deeply important to Danny Silva and to Richie Miranda, and I know that they send their solidarity and their words of gratitude, deep gratitude. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez. Is La Colmena here, the organization? Because Councilmember Lopez is not here. I can give you the recognition, I have no problem with it. Come on now, let's do it. Thank you for coming. Okay, first of all, I apologize. I didn't want you guys to leave without getting this recognition. So good evening, everyone. Tonight I'm proud to recognize La Colmena, a truly, did I say that right? Colmena, okay. A truly unique community space that embodies the spirit of Santa Ana by bridging together urban agriculture, local entrepreneurship, cultural programming, and community collaboration under one roof. La Colmena has created opportunities for residents to connect, grow and thrive. Its commitment to community ownership and collective empowerment has made it an invaluable asset to our city. La Colmena is much more than a physical space. It is a place where neighbors gather, ideals take root and community flourishes. Built on the values of cooperation, local leadership and shared ownership, La Colmena demonstrates what is possible when residents come together to invest in one another. Through urban farming, cooperative businesses, cultural programming and community-led events, La Colmena is helping build a healthier, stronger and more connected Santa Ana. We also want to recognize the vision and leadership of Thrive Santa Ana and Cooperation Santa Ana, whose partnership has helped bring this community-centered project to life. Now let's talk about the businesses that make up La Colmena and make it the cultural staple that we know today. We are proud to recognize, I'm gonna get this wrong, Dugich Art? I got it right? All right. An incredible work of Don Mendez through the traditional art of Oaxacan wool weaving, Don Galacio preserves generations of cultural knowledge while sharing his heritage with our community. His handcrafted rugs, bags, and woven artwork are not only beautiful works of art, but are also living expressions of tradition, history, and identity. Thank you for enriching Santa Ana's cultural landscape and reminding us that preserving our heritage strengthens our entire community. Now let's recognize La Milpa Cafe. We also celebrate La Milpa Cafe, a worker-owned cooperative founded by migrant women. I love that. La Milpa Cafe is a welcoming gathering place where culture, tradition, and community come together. by creating economic opportunities for its workers, owners, while serving quality coffee, pastries, and fresh food. La Milpa Cafe demonstrates how cooperative businesses can create lasting positive change. Thank you for nourishing both our community and the local economy. Recognizing Salsa Food Hub. We're also honored to recognize Salsa Food Hub, Santa Ana locally supported agriculture. Through regenerative farming and ecological agriculture, Salsa is strengthening our local food system while providing healthy, locally grown produce to our community. Their cooperative model empowers local BIPOC farmers as business owners and reflects the values of sustainability, equity, and food sovereignty. Thank you for your commitment to environmental stewardship and for helping create a healthier future for Santa Ana.

Come on up, come on up.

Each of these businesses represents the very best of Santa Ana through innovation rooted in tradition, entrepreneurship driven by community, and a shared commitment to lifting one another up. Together they embody the spirit of La Colmena, a place where collaboration creates opportunity and where community is at the heart of everything. These organizations embody the spirit of Santa Ana through collaboration, innovation, cultural preservation, and deep commitment to serving their neighbors. We are grateful for their work and look forward to seeing their continued success in the years ahead. And congratulations. Let's give them a round of applause. So who would like to come up and speak? Somebody.

I'm just going to probably just re-array a lot of the stuff that was already said, but thanks for the opportunity to make it happen and believing in La Colmena. It's really a testament when we come together, the testament most than anything, the power of the community, engagement, and that what the community is able to make when you put land in their hands. It is family-friendly and a place that feels like home, and we often hear it so much. It grows healthier foods, it's woman-owned, y es un lugar para que la comunidad haga sus eventos. It mixes art, music, with events, and even film showing. And in all, it creates the community, it's a creative space for the community so people can connect and take care of each other, as well as the land that gives us back so we could keep thriving for generations to come.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Good afternoon. My name is Deborah Pantoja. I'm the owner and worker of Cooperativa La Milba Café. And I want to thank all the members of the community, of the city, for making it possible that in a small space there are three very large projects, because in La Colmena there is economic justice. At this time, we're gonna take a picture. This is for all of you, and again, this is a recognition from the city. Council, would you like to join me, please?

All right, let's get started here.

Okay, closed session report. Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session? Yes, thank you, Mayor, members of the Council, members of the public. The City Council met in closed session earlier this evening. There were two items noticed on the agenda. In the first item, in the matter of existing litigation of Love Fam versus the City of Santa Ana, the City Council approved a settlement of $140,000 by a vote of 5-0, with Council Members Lopez and Vasquez absent. That's all the reportable action that I have.

Thank you very much, Madam City Attorney. At this time, we're going to the public comments. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers and ask them to please line up.

Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to resolution number 2026-024, speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial epitaphs, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'll report the summary of emails provided as of today by 2.30 p.m. We received a total of 15 e-comments on agenda and non-agenda topics. three on non-agenda, four on item 27, five on item 28, two on item 30, and one on item 32. Those were distributed to the city council and posted online for public review. We'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber, followed by those on Zoom to provide their comments on agenda and non-agenda items. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. When you hear your name, please line up in the center aisle behind the podium. The first three speakers, Bomaro Vicente, Autumn Oh, and Nina Jurek.

Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Bulmalo Vicente. I'm the political and policy director of Chispa, and I'm here to urge you to vote no on item 27. Chispa and the ACLU of Southern California submitted a joint letter opposing this proposal because while we strongly support safer streets and reducing traffic fatalities, expanding automatic speed camera enforcement is not the best way to achieve that goal. We recognize that this is a serious issue, especially given the death of five teens last year in an accident. But instead of investing millions of dollars in surveillance technology, the city should prioritize proven infrastructure improvements that make streets safer by design, such as speed bumps, raised crosswalks, curb extensions, roundabouts, and other traffic calming measures. These investments improve safety without expanding surveillance or raising concerns about privacy. Our community has already made its position clear. When this proposal first came before the council, Chispa launched a petition that was signed by nearly 150 residents and community supporters opposing the expansion of surveillance technology. This program is also estimated to cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. At a time when the city is defunding departments like Parks and Rec and commissions, it's concerning that we continue finding resources to expand surveillance instead of investing in services and infrastructure that strengthen our communities. We can create safer streets without sacrificing privacy or expanding automated enforcement. We urge the council to continue investing in engineering improvements, education, and community-based traffic safety strategies rather than pursuing legislation that authorizes another surveillance program. Thank you.

Autumn Oh, followed by Nina Jurek and Dan Schimel.

Hi, good evening, my name's Autumn, and I live in Ward 5. I'm here to ask you to vote no on Agenda Item 27, the resolution that requests the State of California add Santa Ana to the Speed Safety System Pilot Program that's outlined in AB645. This proposal asks Sacramento to give our city the authority to install speed cameras with little consultation with the community. This surveillance system does not actually improve traffic safety, and it further tracks innocent Santa Ana residents' everyday movements, collecting data and making it available to hackers and other unknown people. uh third parties the system will result in many false positives and will cause visitors to stop shopping here in order to avoid the cameras for instance los alamitos has some automated ticket cameras at several intersections as a result i avoid going to los alamitos and i haven't spent a dollar there in several years Similarly, people will drive elsewhere, which will cut down on tax revenue here that we dearly need, and the business that small businesses need. This is fiscally irresponsible. It's yet another giveaway to the growing surveillance tech industry. The city's own staff report now estimates that implementing the program would cost $2 million just to get it started, and another $1.5 to $2 million annually. Even more concerning, staff acknowledges that these estimates are preliminary, so they could balloon. The city still has not determined the full staffing impacts and enforcement costs, administrative expenses, and all those things. The belief that the cameras will pay for themselves by generating funds through speeding tickets is false. Instead, Santa Ana residents' tax dollars will be paying for the cameras. This is at the same time that the city council is cutting funding for Parks and Rec, the Arts Commission cutting... funding for the Youth Commission, Environmental and Transportation Commission. In addition, the city is slashing essential good city jobs that need to be filled. The tax dollars we'll be paying for these cameras would be better spent on these and so many other city services that improve our lives. So in order to keep people safe, let's stick with what works best and avoid these expenses, street lights, speed bumps, race crosswalks, curb extensions, etc. And so I urge you to vote no on Agenda Item 27 and direct staff to explore more reasonable alternatives. Thank you.

Nina Jurek, followed by Dan Schimel and Frankie Rodriguez.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council, city staff. My name is Nina Jarek, resident of Ward 5 in Washington Square. Tonight I'm not here to ask whether Washington Square deserves a park. That question has already been answered. The city recognized the need. You allocated the funding, you directed staff to move forward. For that, our neighborhood is extremely grateful. What we're asking for tonight is something different. We're in the final stretch. As I understand it, we're now within the last 30 days of the negotiation timeline, deadline, as I understand. And I know at this point, residents deserve to know where do things stand. It is, is meaningful progress being made with a property owner? Are obstacles there that we should know about? Is additional funding being pursued? Are we on track? Are we at risk of losing this opportunity? Silence creates uncertainty. Communication creates confidence. Our neighborhood has never been asking from the sidelines. We've attended meetings, written letters, organized neighbors, and advocated respectfully for years. And we're still here because we believe in this project, which will significantly enhance the quality of life for future generations. If a letter has been sent asking for funding, we would love to get the neighborhood also involved and piggyback onto it so we create that unified message to legislatures and anyone available to assist us in that. If we can strengthen those requests, let me know. I'm all on board to launch it immediately. During these final weeks, please, please, I invite you to keep the communication open. Let us know what we can do. There has never been anything more important for our neighborhood. Well, almost anything. The safety, of course, is it. This is beyond anything we've truly asked for in the past, I believe. Tonight, respectfully ask for three things. Just an update on the negotiations. The remaining funding, I know that that's changing shape a little bit. I know there's been a lot of different things being discussed. And please, our community is ready to help, and I cannot stress that enough. Years from now, no one will remember how many meetings it took or how many emails have been written. They'll remember that this council preserved nearly an acre of open space for the benefit of a neighborhood before it was gone forever. We are so close. Please don't let this opportunity slip away. Thank you.

Dan Schimel, Frankie Rodriguez, Kim Fortune.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, City Council. My name is Dan Schimel. I'm a resident of Ward 3, and I'm here to talk on and express my concerns regarding Agenda Item Number 27. Now, there have already been some speakers that have raised concerns about security of data and about privacy. I won't rehash those other than to say that I share in those concerns. I think it's entirely, I understand that the proposal here is to keep all the data confidential, but as we all know that there are certainly risks associated with collecting this data and risks associated of data creep into projects and programs other than what's intended here. My concerns, in addition to those, primarily relate to efficacy and cost. This is a pilot program, so by definition, participating jurisdictions are test subjects. Councilmember Phan, I heard you had some comments back in April for this matter. I agree, 100%. We don't know if this is going to work, either in its stated purpose of reducing speeding in any of these key areas, nor do we know, frankly, how reliable this technology is. A LIDAR gun, a radar gun in the hands of a trained law enforcement officer with calibration records is always subject to challenge in court, whether it's been properly maintained, whether it was properly used. And under this system, we're going to have just a camera. with who knows how often it's gonna be calibrated, who knows how often it's gonna be inspected, and at the end of the day, you're not gonna have a precipient witness at the scene to say, yeah, this person was speeding, I took this photo, this is what was on my LIDAR, my radar. I think this also raises due process concerns. I understand that this is going to be, if the city proceeds and is given permission by the state legislature to move forward, this is going to result in an administrative process. which I think is good in a lot of ways. But one way in which it's not good is that it has relaxed rules of evidence. If you get a speeding ticket, you have the right to appear before a judge and have the people prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the offense at that time based on competent evidence subject to our evidence code. Those rules are often, and I think in this case, probably would be relaxed in an administrative proceeding. you may not have, certainly you'll have a right to appeal the administrative citation, but you're not gonna have the same rights as you would have in court. So to the extent the city proceeds with this, is given permission, I would ask that those due process concerns be adequately addressed. But at the end of the day, I think at a time right now when Our good city union employees are fighting for a cost of living increase when we've just gone through a budget period where we've had to make significant cuts to key programs. I don't think this is the right time or the right program. I want you to be spending approximately $2 million in startup costs plus millions of dollars after that for operating with no proven track record of revenue generation or efficacy.

Dan, your time is up.

Thank you.

FRANKIE RODRIGUEZ FOLLOWED BY KIM FORTUNE.

GOOD EVENING I'M HERE TO SPEAK ON ITEM 30. GOOD EVENING MAYOR MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. MY NAME IS FRANKIE RODRIGUEZ AND I'M HERE TONIGHT REPRESENTING THE 1100 PLUS MEMBERS OF THE WESTERN STATES REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS WHO LIVE IN THIS GREAT CITY OF SAN ANA. I AM AWARE THAT THE APPLICANT FILED THIS PROJECT UNDER THE SB 330 FOR A STREAMLINE PROCESS. are critical matters that can still be reviewed and addressed and the city still has time under state law before a final decision must be made. We believe it is in the best interest of Santa Ana to extend its review and carefully evaluate the application of both SB 330 and the city's affordable housing opportunity and creation ordinance. The city should not view these frameworks as mutually exclusive. Both were enacted to increase housing opportunities. The city's local ordinance promotes affordable housing inside Santa Ana, while SB 330 facilitates development certainty. A comprehensive review of how these laws work together allow the city to achieve the objectives of both. By analyzing the interplay between local affordable housing rules and state protections, the city can ensure compliance while advancing Santa Ana's commitment to actual affordability. The city's own ordinance recognizes these issues of applicability, investing, proving that accommodating state law was always intended. Therefore, the city retains a legitimate interest in conducting an in-depth analysis of how our local ordinance applies harmoniously with state law. The city should fully evaluate and reconcile these provisions to achieve the best outcome for our community, local workers, and overall housing production goals. We urge you to extend this review tonight. Thank you very much for your time.

The next three speakers, Kim Fortune, Yesenia Marujo, Maria Marin.

Good evening again. I'm Kim Fortune. I'm a professor and director of EcoGovLab at the University of California, Irvine. And I'm here to speak about the city's current zoning code update. In both the last city council meeting and the following planning commission meeting at which the current draft of the zoning code was first presented, both city staff and your commissioners discredited and discounted the experiences and observations of both Santa Ana residents and university researchers. As a researcher, I can say that this is far from best practice community engagement. Further, speaking as a teacher and a mother, I can say that if my students or daughters spoke this disrespectfully to others, especially seniors in their own community, they would get an earful. And I encourage you councilmen to do the same. In my view, apologies are in order. Second, the latest zoning draft does not bring new protections and benefits to many of the city's most disadvantaged communities. If passed, this will not be a successful zoning code update. Many other cities have done better. and this brings us to the 77 environmental justice policies in the in the city's general plan to which the city is legally accountable before the 2022 general plan update communities across the city came together to make sure these policies were included to fail to be accountable to the general plan and its EJ's policies is thus both illegal and another instance of the city's discrediting community input. Thank you.

Yesenia Marujo, Maria Marin, Jasmine Palmarin.

Buenas noches a todos, mi nombre es Yesenia Marrujo, soy líder comunitaria del Cornerstone Village. En este momento quiero agradecer a la concejal Jessy Lopez y al concejal Becerra por tomar en cuenta nuestras problemáticas que tenemos en nuestro vecindario con el tema del código de zonificación. En cambio, a nuestro concejal Peñalosa, este no tuvo ninguna reacción hasta nuestro comentarios nuestras necesidades este le quiero decir algo estamos aquí y necesitamos de su apoyo en nuestra comunidad en el cal en beren screen situado actualmente en el corner stone village en el base percent

Perdón.

En el percentil 99 en cuanto a la carga de contaminación general y en el percentil 96 en cuanto a emisiones tóxicas, esto se refiere a la contaminación permitida, es decir, que es legal. Aún así, sin infringir la ley, las operaciones industriales existentes en la zona del Cornerstone Village provoca una contaminación desproporcionada en comparación en nuestro resto del estado. y en nuestra comunidad, la zona de Santa Ana. Es importante destacar que el representante del CALEPA es otro instalaciones emisoras cerca de la vivienda colindantes y la consiguiente contaminación desproporcionada constituye una problemática de zonificación que debe abordarse mediante cambios del código de zonificación. Más sin embargo, no vemos nada puesto en el código de zonificación en este momento. Está en la política 3.9 del plan general, en la política del pizuelo, es mejorar la salud de los residentes, estudiantes y trabajadores limitados, los impactos de actividades de construcción y el funcionamiento de uso nocivo, peligroso y contaminantes que se encuentran muy cerca de receptores sensibles, o sea que las personas que vivimos en nuestras áreas. este dando prioridad a la interrupción de dichos usos dentro de los límites del área de justicia ambiental. Por favor tomen en cuenta en todo lo que les estamos dando a ustedes de conocimiento para que tomen en cuenta nuestras necesidades y lo amplifiquen en el código de zonificación. Gracias.

good evening my name is jessenia marujo i'm a community leader at cornerstone village and i'd like to thank council member jesse lopez council member et cetera for taking our concerns into consideration regarding the issues that we are facing in our area and i want to say that mr penalosa did not react to our presentation last time so we'd like to tell you council member penalosa we are here and we need your support Cal EnviroScreen currently ranks Cornerstone Village in the 99th percentile for overall pollution burden and in the 96th percentile of toxic emissions. This refers to what is permitted, i.e., legal pollution. Even without violating the law, the existing industrial operations in the Cornerstone area generate a disproportionate level of pollution compared to the rest of the state and with other areas of Santa Ana. We need to emphasize that other representatives from CalEPA and other agencies have informed us repeatedly that the concentration of these polluting facilities near our homes result in disproportionate pollution, and this is affecting, based on 3.9 of the general plan, we're supposed to improve the health of the residents, the students, and the workers. and these are sensitive users and we need to you need to consider what we have been saying and include this in the zoning code update.

Go ahead Maria. Buenas tardes, mi nombre es Maria Marin y represento tambien al vecindario de Cornerstone Village. Estoy aquí porque me siento preocupada por mi comunidad sobre el plan de código de zonificación, sobre todo en el uso del suelo, cuando se especifica que cuando este se use no deberá generar ni provocar la emisión de polvo, gases o humos visibles a la atmósfera. ¿Qué pasa cuando esos son invisibles? Pueden ser más tóxicos o igual que los que se ven. Estoy muy preocupada porque se ha visto mi comunidad perjudicada sobre estos químicos que se están utilizando. He comentado y seguiré repitiendo que vivimos en un corredor industrial a menos de 30 metros de la puerta de nuestras viviendas. Dichas industrias utilizan metales pesados, los cuales están afectando a nuestra salud. Recuerden que hay niños, las escuelas están muy cercas. Y desafortunadamente no nada más es el tiempo que están en las escuelas. Son 24-7 porque vivimos cerca de allí. También hay fábricas las cuales trabajan con materiales que con el paso del tiempo están provocando demencia y enfermedades gastrointestinales. Esto no es un juego. Y tampoco lo menciono nada más porque sí, es algo real. Y por supuesto que siempre que pueda decirlo frente a ustedes, se debe de mencionar. Creo que es justo que antes de aprobar más industrias en nuestro vecindario deberían de analizar los que ya están en fusión y construir más zonas verdes, que es lo que realmente necesitamos para nuestros niños y para nuestros jóvenes y para toda la comunidad. En el código de desunificación sé que es muy amplio y debería ser también muy serio y ser muy conscientes de lo que se está planeando y aprobando. ¿Dónde se puede encontrar una lista donde ustedes hayan actuado sobre las molestias públicas y que se haya reducido la contaminación de la cual nos hemos estado quejando? Yo no he visto ninguna. También hemos mencionado que nuestro vecindario Cornerstone es uno de los más desfavorecidos. Necesitamos medidas de protección. Necesitamos mecanismos que nos ayuden y que nos permitan regularizar los tipos de negocios e industrias que ya están operando en nuestra comunidad. Por favor, pongan un poquito de atención. No es un juego. Gracias.

Good evening. My name is Maria Marin, and I represent Cornerstone Village neighborhood. And I am here because I am concerned about my community regarding the proposed zoning code update, especially everything that is related to the land use. It states that when a use is established, it should not generate or produce emissions of dust, gases, or smoke that are visible to the eye. But what about those that are invisible, yet equally or even could be more harmful to the health and well-being of the residents? I have stated and will continue to repeat that we live in an industrial corridor less than 30 meters from the front doors of our homes. These industries, well, first our children are there. It's affecting our children. They go to school there. And they not only go to school there, they live there 24-7. And these industries use heavy metals that are affecting our health. Please remember that again children also live there. There are other factories that work with materials which over time are causing dementia and gastrointestinal illnesses. This is not a game and I'm not just saying it for the sake of mentioning it. It is a real problem and of course whenever someone is able to speak before you it must be brought to your attention. I believe it is only fair that before approving additional industrial uses in our neighborhood, you analyze those that are already operating and instead create more green spaces which are what our children and our entire community truly need. The zoning code is indeed very broad and it must also be approached with great seriousness and you must be fully aware of what is being proposed and what is being approved. And I'd like to ask, where can we find a list showing the public nuisances on which you have taken action and where pollution has been reduced, the very pollution about which we have been raising our concerns? We have also pointed out that our Cornerstone neighborhood is one of the most underserved. We need stronger protective measures. We need mechanisms that will allow us to regulate the types of businesses and industries that are already operating in our community. So please pay attention to our words. Thank you for listening. And this is not a game. Thank you for listening.

Next three speakers, Jasmine Palmarine, James Adams, Ayn Kressian.

Good evening, council. My name is Jasmine Pomeran, and I'm a concerned community member urging you all to vote no on item 27. As someone who works and frequents the city of Santa Ana regularly, I do not want mine nor anyone's vehicle subjected to even more surveillance than it is already. If we did an assessment of what members of the Santa Ana community needs, I can assure you that increased surveillance is not one of them. In fact, in less than 24 hours, nearly 150 Santa Ana residents signed a petition opposing this item. I urge you all to vote no on the resolution. If this resolution passes, Santa Ana residents need to know that this council then chose to spend $2 million in startup costs and $1.5 million annually to track us, costs that will ultimately fall on the taxpayers. That is millions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into surveillance instead of serving our community. At a time when Santa Ana families are facing heightened food and housing insecurity, spending millions to watch and surveil residents instead of supporting them is a misuse of public funds. Surveillance technology is flawed and has demonstrated to be inaccurate and susceptible to abuse. For instance, a Costa Mesa PD officer abused the surveillance system to stalk his ex. In a time where our community is fearful of ICE raids, the solution should not be to heighten their fear through surveillance, but to establish trust and safety. This is not an effort to implement public safety, but rather to digitalize stop and searches and further police our community. I urge this council to vote no on item 27 and instead adopt readily available cost effective alternatives that do not raise the fundamental privacy and equity concerns. Thank you.

James Adams, Anthony Agama.

Hello. My name is James Adams, and I'm a researcher with the University of California, Irvine, and also with EcoGovLab at UCI. I'm here to echo some of the words that you heard earlier from my colleagues. You heard that the Cornerstone Village, the census block that they are located in, has been designated by the state of California through CalEnviroScreen that their census block is in the 99th percentile for overall pollution burden and 96th percentile for toxic releases. And to reemphasize that this is for permitted pollution, And so this is, we're not going after a few bad actors here. These are legally permitted facilities. And so when we talked with South Coast Air Quality Management District about how to address the clustering of these permitted facilities, emitting facilities near these fence line communities, they specifically told us that that was a zoning issue. And so that's why we've been advocating so hard on this zoning code for realizing the environmental justice goals that we've been developing and working towards for years. And so that's why we've been attending the processes that have been made available to us to participate and give comments and give feedback on the initial zoning code draft and then through the updating process. But while looking at the updates that have been implemented, back in the October draft, there was such thing as a business park that was supposed to be between the Cornerstone Village and the Industrial Corridor. And this business park did have pretty significant protections, but since then that has been transformed into the residential industrial interface. And with that change, it has also opened up this zone to freight and truck terminals, to heavy recycling as well as light recycling, hazardous material storage, to research laboratories that produce hazardous waste, to major vehicle repair and impound yards. None of those were permitted in the October draft. So from feedback, the update has opened up this residential interface to all these new uses. In addition to that, the July 26 draft also reduced the restrictions and barriers for general manufacturing for rail facilities, for vehicle fueling stations and machine shops. So these are the changes that we see being added into this updating process. throughout the time that I have witnessed members of the community asking for stronger protections, we're seeing those protections actually being decreased and taken away from these communities. So that's it, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and members of the public. My name is Ayn Cration. I'm the Orange County Policy Director with Climate Action Campaign, a nonprofit climate policy watchdog. First, we want to express our solidarity with the concerns that have been expressed tonight, both about surveillance and about the pollution concerns of the Cornerstone community. We encourage the city to realize all its commitments regarding environmental justice. and underscore the concerns about invisible pollution. We know that NOx and methane and benzene are not visible to the human eye but are still very problematic for our health and the safety of the community. So encourage you to give that full consideration. But I'm here tonight to thank this council for your resolution under item 28 regarding making electricity more affordable and protecting Santa Ana families from for-profit utilities and their skyrocketing profits. This is incredibly important for cities and counties to join the fight to lower electric bills because those record profits have been reached on the backs of families who are being crushed by skyrocketing rates. Families in Southern California, now one in five of those families are behind on their electric bills by more than $800. And unfortunately, working families do not have the time or resources to advocate in the legislature or in our utility commission proceedings on these issues, so we're really happy to see Santa Ana leading on this matter. With your support for 11 bills that are in this resolution, this is the strongest affordability resolution that will be adopted by an Orange County city in this year. So you can all be very proud of that. We have to say that utilities operate under state rules. So the high bills that Santa Ana families are suffering from are a direct failure of state regulation and state policy makers. And the solution to these problems include but are not limited to the policies in this resolution. But there's so many great policies in here, I just wanted to underscore a few that would tie executive utility pay to affordability, it would reevaluate how regulators set utility profits, it would ensure families are not forced to pay the cost for AI data centers, and much, much more, many important reforms included in here. Right now there is a fight raging between utility lobbyists and their surrogates in the legislature and in the governor's office, fighting against consumer and climate advocates, and they're fighting over the provisions in these bills. And so it's very important, your support is really critical, And I just want to underscore that this issue is not going away. This is an important start. More will need to be done. Something that we saw happen last year in New York was 40 cities banded together to fight against a rate increase that was proposed. And they managed to change that, what was proposed to be a 13.4% increase. They got it down to 2.8% thanks to their intervention. So I encourage you to continue to intervene. Thank you.

Anthony Agama, followed by Virginia Bernal and Suman Basin.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. I want to start off by expressing my gratitude as Senate and a family struggle to keep with crushing utility bills. You all chose to stand up for the community you represent and signal to our state leaders that we need reform. Last Thursday, Southern California Edison's profit in the second quarter was a staggering $669 million. In the second quarter last year, Edison reported profits of $193 million. That is a 247% profit increase that our community paid for. A 247% increase in profit means families are left choosing between keeping the lights on and paying rent. This resolution cannot be more timely. Breaking news in the LA Times today, a joint Cal Fire and LA County Fire Department report confirms Edison's equipment caused the 2025 Eaton Fire. 19 people died and Altadena was destroyed. Edison failed to maintain its transmission lines for decades despite collecting millions of dollars from rate payers specifically designed to do that work. Worse yet, eating fire survivors and consumer watchdogs just exposed a deceptive ad campaign funded by phony wildfire victims groups for these same utilities. Why? To pave the way for a reported backroom deal with Governor Newsom that would let Edison off the hook for the fires they started. Hidden from the public, this deal would reportedly cap what victims can recover, restrict attorney fees, and block insurance companies from recovering losses when utility equipment sparks a fire. Edison should not be getting a backroom deal. They should be getting a bill, as all Santa Ana families do. For-profit utilities should not be allowed to neglect public safety, cause deadly disasters, then use their record-breaking profits to lobby for corporate immunity. Thank you, Santa Ana City Council. You are advocating for utility affordability and accountability. We need leadership like yours to protect families from being forced to pay the price for utility negligence. Thank you.

Next three speakers, Virginia Bernal, Suman Basin, and Tanya Navarro.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Virginia Bernal from Washington Square neighborhood. I'm here again in this time to thank you I feel gratification and a sense of satisfaction with the responsiveness you have shown for the needs we have for utility affordability and ratepayer protection. Thank you for acting on behalf of Santa Ana residents by supporting state legislation to achieve these and increased accountability of investor-owned utilities. I appreciate the huge and amazing decisions and tasks the city council has to accomplish week by week, month by month, and year by year. At the same time, we, the residents, are expected to inform you of our needs and concerns about the city. Well, I'll have your ear. I'd like to ask what our city might do to achieve more at the local level in terms of electric use, energy, emissions, et cetera. Are we considering joining the Orange County Power Authority? Joining the OCPA might free us partially from paying for Edison's profits and instead provide the city with funds for community improvements. Are we doing as well as we can to meet and improve the city's climate action plan? One way I save electricity is with shade trees that keep my home adequately cool, except in the very, very hottest days. With an increasing hotter climate, though, we fear that fire threatens our homes and trees become a hazard. So there's a big conflict there. We want trees, or we don't want trees. What do we want? So please, let's do our part in reducing emissions for our city, because it's climate action that's doing it to us. Perhaps the city is working on these concerns. I'm just not sure. But the city could provide more information on these matters. I have a search for this through the e-newsletters . Although I've missed some of them. But I'm not sure if you're letting us know. I wish there would be more information about these concerns. Our community is concerned about climate change. Besides paying the bills and whatnot, the preoccupation is there are just people not sure what to do. So thank you again for your public service. We will watch and hope that our California legislators pass into law these wise policies that our city is supporting via the resolution. Thank you very much.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. I'm Suman Basin. I hope you remember me from before. Thank you for taking up item number 28 and considering the utility affordability resolution. Rising energy rates place a significant financial strain on local families, and we appreciate the council taking a strong stand to advocate for transparency accountability, and rate relief from state lawmakers. Thank you for prioritizing your constituents' deeds and demonstrating local leadership on this critical issue. I really appreciate each one of you for your effort and support. Thanks.

The next three speakers, Tanya Navarro, Danielle Curtis, Irma Haragi.

Hi, City Council. My name is Tanya Navarro and I'm the Organizing Director with Chispa and I'm here to oppose agenda item number 27. In Phil's world, we have unlimited money for police and surveillance technology. Santa Ana faces many pressing needs that the residents continue to ask for, like safer parks, better sidewalks, street repairs, affordable housing, youth programs, and investment in neighborhood infrastructure. But item 27 is another step toward expanding Santa Ana's automated surveillance infrastructure, and after approving the flock cameras, the city is now considering automated speed enforcement. We deserve real public safety, not expensive and lazy automated tools that collect data, issue citations, and operate with little meaningful public accountability. Instead of spending millions on automated enforcement, the city should invest in proven street safety improvements like safer road design, crosswalks, traffic calming, and pedestrian infrastructure. The city's own report estimates up to two million in startup costs and as much as two million annually to operate this program. This comes at a time where the city has made decisions to cut vital community programs, including the Youth Commission. If the goal is truly to reduce speeding, citation revenue will decline over time, raising questions about the program's long-term sorry, the program's long-term cost and sustainability. Other cities have experienced implementation delays, high costs, while some have generated millions in fines without any improvements in safety. This is irresponsible governance again. There are concerns on surveillance, concerns on privacy, concerns on fiscal impact, concerns on viability, concerns on long-term implementation and more. Santa Ana should prioritize solutions that make our streets safer while respecting civil rights and public trust. I urge you to vote no on item 27 and stop expanding surveillance technology of all kinds in the city of Santa Ana.

Go ahead, Danielle.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council. My name is Danielle Curtis, and I'm here on behalf of Western States Carpenters. I just wanted to take a moment to second what my brother Frankie said earlier and how important that is. I just want to voice my support for that and state that I'm proud to be a part of the Carpenters, which is the best family that any woman could ever ask for. So I strongly support my brother Frankie, and thank you very much for your time. I can see the rest of my time, thank you.

Good afternoon, or evening, everybody. I'm Irma Harge at Wilshire Square. I think we all know each other. First and foremost, I want to thank you for the times I served as a historic commissioner, and I'm here to support item 32. I was part of the ad hoc committee because giving guidance and clarification on how to handle our historic properties helps both the property owners and the community to have very clear understanding of guidelines. So I truly support it, and hopefully we can go forward in the future to protect our historic buildings because that defines our character. We are a very unique city and I absolutely love our city when people drive and see our neighborhoods and our homes and our buildings. So for that, I thank you, I'm fully supported. Second, we celebrate many communities and many cultures in our city. Do we have a founders month or day where we celebrate the original founders of Santa Ana historically? I'd like to see that. I think that would be a good idea. Everybody is valued, but we start with the founders, with the base. And on the 27th, I do understand the concern of the community, but I also understand the value of preserving human life. We had fatalities of erasing. Usually it's our youth, because I don't see seniors. My generation, speed racing, as we did back in the 60s and 70s, I understand the value and efficiency of money, but that human value has more importance. Surveillance. We live in a world of surveillance that will never be avoided. It will continue. You walk into a school, a hospital, a shopping center. My neighborhood, I walk down, I can count the cameras. And this, my dears, is surveillance. So that is, to me, a non-issue. I'd rather be surveyed and safe and my children come home and alive. That is not a concern. It is a pilot program. i'd like to test things i'm i'm very practical and i know there's a cost but if it saves lives there is value in that so it's something to be evaluated and then give a result after the test program so i appreciate that so thank you very much and uh good job on the utility program

mayor and city council that concludes the public speakers that are present we'll now begin with the zoom speakers when unmuted please announce your name in the water neighborhood you reside in within the city for the record dwayne ship please unmute and make your comments yes hello can you hear me yes please go ahead okay

Good evening, Madam Mayor, city council, city staff. My name is Dwayne Shipp. I'm a resident, Central City, Santa Ana. I'm here to speak on two agenda items. One is a general item, what number is that? 27. And then the general item 28. First, I want to be clear, I support safe streets. Nobody wants to see speeding in our neighborhoods. Nobody wants to see families put at risk. At the same time, I believe we should continue looking at the root causes of speeding. There are areas throughout the city where additional traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps, better street lighting improved road design clearer signage safer crosswalks could help slow traffic before a violation occurs i would encourage the city to pursue every available state and grant funding opportunity to help pay for these type of safety measures whenever possible If funding isn't available from the state of California or another transportation program, we should seek those resources first before placing additional financial burdens on our taxpayers. Public safety should always be our priority, but I believe prevention, education, smart infrastructure investment, and the way we invest into our streets could create a lasting solution that benefits everyone. the safest street is the one that is designed to encourage safe driving not just the one that issues citations after the fact so i would encourage um council to uh know on 27 um like i said i'm not against public safety but it has to make sense um moving on to item agenda 28 i'm in full support of that i i want to thank the mayor and the council and all the staff are standing up for the community and our families because everyone needs help. And thank you for item 28 and I'll run up my time back now. Thank you.

Next speaker on Zoom, Mark Lopez. Please unmute and make your comments.

Can you hear me?

Yes, please go ahead.

Yes. This afternoon, I returned my nomination paper for the November election. But that does not negate my campaign because I still intend to run based on a few issues. I cite documents in the packet. for an item that's not being enforced post-elections. So I figured that invalidates my packet. And also as well, proposing a new dynamic change to the election process. I don't feel that candidates have to pay $1,500 for documents. There should be some grant available to residents to get people more involved. And also as an independent candidate, I will not be compromised or influenced by outside donations or donors. which I see will happen in November's elections. And as you see by two council members not here, or one is not here at President's meeting today. And also I find documents, yet we have those in the state, including the governor, which is fighting against showing ID for... for elections, so I find it a bit ironic that I had to show proof of ID and documents, and I find it very unuseful why I have to get signatures from the citizens of So this is a moral principle that I'm still running for mayor. And like I said, this concerns integrity issues that I addressed with the clerk of the council concerning that they're looking upon as a minor issue. But I think these integrity standards are not being made across the board. And like I said, the general public, I still be running and I'll be the writing candidate. So thank you very much and have a good night.

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the speakers that were originally in the queue.

All right, thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, we're going to go to the consent calendar items four through 30 or before us. Councilmembers, please announce any items that you'll be abstaining from due to conflict. And if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion. Councilmember Vasquez, would you like to pull an item, sir?

Yes, thank you. 20 and 30, and I'm on no on 27.

20 and 30, and you're a no on 27. Thank you. Council Member Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would like to pull item 27 and as well as item 11.

Thank you. Council Member Becerra.

I was going to pull item 30, but it's been pulled. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Phan.

I'd like to recuse myself from item number 30, as I did last time, as Watermark and Ms. Cepedal are clients of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. So I will leave the room while that's being discussed. And out of an abundance of caution, my firm does represent or has represented Think Together on a pro bono basis, but out of an abundance of caution, I will also leave the room when that is discussed. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mayor Pro Temp?

No items to pull, Mayor.

Thank you, and I have no items to vote this time. Can I get a motion and a second to approve the remainder item?

I'll make a motion to move the consent calendar, Madam Clerk.

I second. Thank you, Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Council Member Vasquez. Madam Clerk?

Motion by Council Member Hernandez, seconded by Council Member Vasquez to approve consent calendar items numbers 4 through 30, with the exceptions of items 11, 20, 27, and 30 that have been pulled for separate discussion and consideration.

I'm sorry, please vote. It's okay.

Vote is six ayes, no nays, with a recorded absence by Council Member Lopez and a recorded no vote by, oh, that's on a pulled item. So, Mayor, we'll just go to item number 11, pulled by Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Council Member Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll be very brief with this item. I wanted to pull this item because August is Chicano Heritage Month and, um, We're very fortunate that Council Member Phan took the lead on this item that is before us here. What we are going to be doing today is honoring Frank and Irene Palomino, who were among the plaintiffs in the 1947 Landmark-Mendez et al. versus Westminster, which saw them successfully desegregate our schools here in Santa Ana and this school in particular. pertains to Garden Grove. The Palomino family has a long-standing connection to the surrounding neighborhood, with three generations of family members attending Rosita Elementary School and its feeder schools. Rosita Elementary School is a part of Garden Grove Unified, and although, despite Garden Grove Unified having that name, their school is within the city of Santa Ana's boundaries. I would like to make a motion to move this item for approval.

I'll second.

Mayor Pro Tem second. Any other comments? Council Member Fang.

Thank you, Mayor. I actually first would like to thank the Garden Grove Unified School District, particularly Trustee Muñeton, for bringing this item to my attention. And, you know, I think that I think maybe it was you, Council Member Hernandez, and we brought up the discussion of the et al. of Westminster, Mendes v. Westminster, and I think it's just really wonderful that in the last six years or so that I've been here, we've worked really hard to unearth and relearn and remember a lot of the history in Santa Ana that was I don't think it was forgotten, but I think it was obscured. And I think that it's really wonderful that we get to honor a family, parents who said, my kids deserve better than what the school district was giving them. And I went to Rosita Elementary for summer school. I was one of those kids who liked classes during the summer. Yes, I am a nerd. So I have really fond memories of being there. I've spoken there for career day, and I think it's truly an invaluable item to really honor this family. And thank you so much to Mr. City Manager, Public Works, Parks and Rec, our entire team, because when I brought this up to you, Deputy Vasquez, you know, it was, we got this. We'll bring it to you. What do we need? And it was about making sure that we collaborated with the school district, making sure that we didn't have to duplicate work, making sure that we had this item locked and ready to go. And so this Thursday at, I believe, 4 p.m., 4.30 p.m., we will be doing the ribbon cutting at the soon-to-be-renamed Palomino Elementary School. So thank you for making sure this item went hand-in-hand with the school renaming. I appreciate you, thank you.

All right, there's a motion and a second. Do you require to vote, please?

Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempena-Losa to approve the recommended action for consent calendar item number 11, the adoption of a resolution renaming Rosita Park by the Planning Commission as Frank and Irene Palomino Park. Vote is six ayes, no nays with a report in absence by Councilmember Lopez, motion carries. And Mayor and Council, the next item pulled is item number 20, pulled by Council Member Vasquez. Council Member Vasquez, go ahead.

Thank you. I'd like to ask the Council if they could very much help me out with this. We have four vendors on here, and one's from Costa Mesa. But there was five vendors, the fifth one who raided in the 90s as well, so an A. 7th Street Garage Inc. is actually in Ward 2. And it's part of our economy and part of the supports our families in Ward 2. They're one mile from the BD. They're on the 800th block of Walnut Street. So I'm gonna motion to add 7th Street Garage Inc. onto this list of five, that is a Santa Ana vendor, and it is a family-run business, and especially, if you can help me out, it is in Ward 2, so I would appreciate it. I'll second that motion.

Councilmember?

Are you done, sir? Councilmember Becerra?

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Council Member Vasquez, for pulling this. Staff, I don't know who would be the appropriate person to answer this. The one that's listed from Costa Mesa, I think I've talked to somebody in PD about this, but just to confirm for everybody, they have a Costa Mesa address listed, but in order to qualify or to be recommended, they had to have had a Santa Ana location. Is that correct?

That is correct, Councilmember, but there is a mention in the agreement that the tow yard can be within a mile and a half of the city limits, the storage facility. It's the same modification we made during COVID, and since the city was going through rezoning, we allowed that in this bid.

And I understand that, Chief, but what I'm saying is the one that is listed in the report as Costa Mesa, they actually do have a place where they can store cars within Santa Ana.

Yes.

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

And we have no problem adding the fifth tow company, especially if it's based in Santa Ana.

Well, if we vote for it, sir, it'll move.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Vasquez, for bringing it up. I really appreciate it. It's important that we support our businesses here in the city of Santa Ana. There's a motion and a second. Let's prepare to vote, please.

Motion by Council Member Vasquez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez to approve the recommended action for consent calendar item number 20, agreements for towing and storage services as amended to add Center Street Garage Inc. to the list of agreements. Council Member Phan. Vote is six ayes, no nays, with a reported absence by Council Member Lopez. Motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Vasquez, for bringing that to our attention. Next item.

The next item, Mayor and City Council, is item number 27, pulled by Council Member Hernandez.

Council Member Hernandez, go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank members of the public for their feedback, their comments, their emails, their public comments today. All of that is taken into account when we make decisions here at the dais. I want to be very clear that Santa Ana is a city where we need to make proactive changes to ensure that our pedestrians and our drivers are safe. I do believe that there are some present day challenges with utilizing technology to enforce traffic laws. Where I think that those challenges lie are in the fact that this is, for one, a pilot program. This is very much still a test, which means that the guardrails will be identified on all of us here. I don't want Santa Ana to be a test subject. I'm happy to see this item come back to us when there's more data equipped for us to consider. I don't want each of you every day in Santa Ana on your way to and from work to be the data that we analyze on whether this policy fits for us and is a good fit or not. What I'm concerned about is that there needs to be stricter guardrails when it comes to privacy protections, when it comes to the freedoms that you are all afforded as people who live in Santa Ana. I don't want us to create more enforcement disparities where people have to interact with a system that may trigger unlawful deportations for somebody who may be undocumented, who may wrongfully receive a notice that says they ran a red light when they didn't. There is a large body of research to show us the disparities that do exist within this technology, which is why these cities are voluntarily deciding to participate as pilot programs I think that the conversation is premature at this moment. And given the number of challenges that Santa Ana residents are already facing on a daily basis, out of an abundance of caution for the city, I will place a motion on the floor to reject this Assembly Bill 645 with the city. And I would encourage us to revisit this discussion at a later time. I'll put a motion on the floor. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Haynes. Councillor Becerra.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mr. City Manager, if I could ask Rudy a quick question. Rudy.

Rudy.

Can speed humps be installed on Segerstrom Avenue?

No.

Why is that?

Segerstrom Avenue is an arterial street, and we do not install speed humps on streets that are over 25 miles an hour posted.

Are you sure, because everybody tonight seems to think that we can just slap them on every arterial, Harbor, Bristol, Sagerstrom, and I'm not trying to trivialize their request or their thoughts, but I just want to make sure that we fully flush it out, that that is not an option.

Correct.

Okay, so no speed humps, no matter how many applications you receive, we're not going to get speed humps on Sagerstrom.

Correct.

Okay, thank you for that, Rudy. If you guys look in the staff report, the city of Santa Ana experienced 3,487 total collisions in 2025, including 1,943 total injured and 26 fatalities, with unsafe speed determined to be the main factor in many of those collisions. Five of those 26 fatalities, as I've said before, included five young folks that died on Saturday, April 5th, 2025, when a car was racing down Sagerstrom Avenue at a dangerous speed and collided with a tree in the median near Grisette Place in my ward, not too far from my house. It is impossible to deploy police officers to all of the racing hotspots in our city every single night. Hell, it'd be impossible to deploy them all even in my ward. There are so many racing hotspots. I mean, I don't wanna name them out loud, but there's quite a few, unfortunately. Speed cameras provide a more consistent and fair way of enforcing traffic laws. They are much less reliant on discretionary traffic stops. Remember when this council was debating on whether we should even do discretionary traffic stops? This is a way where we don't have to have as many of them. You've got cities like Oakland, San Francisco, LA, and Long Beach. They all use VERA mobility cameras. And I bring that up because these are not flock cameras. These are not license plate readers. VERA's speed cameras are strictly event driven. They only capture data when a vehicle triggers a sensor by committing a speeding violation. So if a vehicle does not trigger a violation, then no data is collected. So if a violation is captured, the data is retained strictly as evidence until the citation is paid, adjudicated, or legally dismissed, after which it's purged according to public record laws. So they do not continuously log or track passing vehicles the way that automated license plate readers do. In San Francisco and LA, operation of the speed camera system and related citation activities are managed by the public works or transportation departments, not their police departments or any other law enforcement agencies. So the action before the council tonight is simply to ask the state legislature to begin the process to allow Santa Ana to install speed cameras. We've heard costs being thrown around. Mr. City Manager, if I could ask, I don't know if you know this answer, Malibu is lucky number seven when it comes to cities being allowed to install speed cameras. And they asked after AB645 was adopted and the initial six were approved by the state legislature. So here comes Malibu along the way, and Malibu says we want to be part of the group that's allowed to pilot this program. How long or how much resources did it take for the city of Malibu to ask State Senator Ben Allen to champion legislation to get them on the list?

We contacted them, and then we contacted them again this morning. Secretary-Director, who did it for us?

So to answer the question, in terms of staff resources, very minimal, it was four months of advocacy to get the state senator to put something on the legislative floor. And then through the legislative process, about eight months to get enacted.

So no need for additional studies, no need for extensive legwork. It was really just like we would on anything within our current existing legislative platform, engaging with our state legislators, advocating on our city's behalf, correct?

Correct.

Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. Now I know, I respect that there are differences of opinion on this dais when it comes to continuous monitoring done by the automated license plate readers that we do have today in the city, but speed cameras are not automated license plate readers. So when everybody starts using the phrase surveillance, surveillance would mean that there's continuous monitoring. That is not what speed cameras do. In fact, according to the staff report, another thing we were talking about, or at least I heard up here as far as the idea that we don't want to test something out. Well, we've already got a couple of folks ahead of us in the queue. Oakland has active speed cameras up, and they've experienced a 72% reduction in excessive speeding at camera locations. San Francisco has experienced a 73% reduction. The positive life-saving results are real. They're happening. They're actually happening. Why wouldn't we, why would we hesitate to bring those sorts of results to the streets here in Santa Ana? The only change that I would ask if my colleagues were to approve this tonight in the first whereas, it should read that city of Santa Ana is the most densely populated city in Orange County. If there's one category we're definitely not second in is we definitely have density here in Santa Ana. So we are the most densely populated. In fact, we're the second most densely populated city in all of California and the fifth most in the entire United States. So that's the only change that I would ask, but I'll go ahead and put a sub-motion on the floor that we approve this item. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments? Council Member Vasquez.

I'm gonna second Councilmember Hernandez and I am worried with surveillance. There are capturing images regardless of what department is holding that information. The federal government has ways and we've seen it across and we've seen studies not only in California but across the country of people being tracked down by camera use and its data. I don't believe right now is the right time. Our residents are not trusting of these cameras. Our families are not trusting. This is the ICE, STREETS AND STILL COMING OUT AND THEY ARE GETTING MORE INTO MORE DATA AND JUST USING THAT DATA TO PINPOINT WHERE THEY CAN FIND OUR FAMILIES. SO I'M HOPING WE CAN FIND OTHER WAYS TO SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC IN THAT AREA. given the history, but there's other, besides speed humps, there's other ways of slowing down traffic there, and these cameras are, it's just, not with this federal government in office, and not the way our people have been treated, can, am I gonna support this? Thank you, so I'm gonna second Councilmember Hernandez's motion.

Thank you, Council Member Vasquez. So I'm gonna second Council Member Becerra's motion, and let me ask Mr. City Manager or Chief, with any of the flock, drones, is there any release of information to ICE?

I wanna say no, we have not.

I'm sorry, Chief, any?

No, we have not.

Do we cooperate in any way, shape, or form with them?

No, we do not. We comply with state law.

Right, thank you. I just want to make sure. So I really appreciate everybody coming out tonight. And Irma, I think she already left. Irma came up with her cell phone. So I hear a lot about surveillance. And yes, in some areas it's very real. And that's why on Saturday I had my coffee with the mayor at the community police room and the police department gave a presentation regarding the drones. So for those of you who didn't make it, it was a great presentation. Lots of questions were asked and concerns were answered. So I think some people should have really been there and attended to see what is really happening instead of spreading the fear and just bad information, you know. Someone came out and said, used the term defunding parks and rec. We did not defund parks and rec. I want to be really clear. We did not defund parks and rec. Baying off employees or letting them go, we did not do that either. We did not. Other cities, and this is relevant to this subject, other cities around us dipped into their reserves to pass their budget. We did not. Let me say that again, we did not. We cut $4.4 million from our budget without touching a staff, without closing parks. If anything, we just had a ribbon cutting at, Santa Anita Parks, we're having one this Saturday at Mayberry. It was wonderful, right? At Mayberry, we're having the ribbon cutting at Memorial Park in October. And the list just goes on and on and on. We have the Quintana Park on Bristol. I mean, there's so many good things that we're doing. And so when these items come up and people use the term mass surveillance, it's a form of fear. Do I want to be on, you know, being watched 24-7? No, I do not. But if you have a ring camera at your house, when your neighbors walk by, your phone goes off. I can tell you the color of shirt and socks that my neighbors wear when they walk by my house and their dog. When you're having a conversation with your friend in the coffee shop and you're talking about a subject, all of a sudden your phone starts to show you all these things about that subject. Let's say you're planning a trip to Ireland. All of a sudden you start getting information about Ireland. Isn't that interesting? That is the world that we live in today. We may not like it, but we do. 15 years ago, maybe even longer, you go to the market, you start to go to the market, all of a sudden you put your phone number in. You think you're getting coupons. No, they can tell you what you buy and then you get coupons for that. So I know people come up here and they talk about what's concerning to them and I really appreciate that. But the false narrative that is shared in this council room sometimes is kind of interesting because that's their storyline all the time. Mass surveillance, defund police, you know, we're afraid. I don't know about all of you, but I go to the parks and I went to the dog park the other day and I go shopping. There are people out in our community every day, all day long. I was at the park at 7.30 p.m. at the dog park. There were people there with their dogs. And there are some people that are afraid. And I believe, I understand. But when we all sit up here as policymakers and we keep sharing that narrative of people We're under mass surveillance, and then you should not have a cell phone. You should not. You should not have an Alexa in your home. You shouldn't have a ring. Don't get a new car. Because if you think you're having a conversation in your new car that's private, it's not. So there's just so many things that I said up here. And then when you give that false information about the city of Santa Ana, we defunded the Parks and Rec Department. No, we did not. No, we did not. But I don't know how I would say to the parents that lost their children that this isn't important. Because it was a very, very sad day. And it was a very sad time. And we can't put speed bumps as Rudy had shared. Thank you very much, Rudy. And we can't put a roundabout there. And we can't put anything else that we already haven't done. Is that correct, Rudy? You want to come up for a second, please? What could we have done in Segerstrom or what did we do? Both of those, please.

The street on Segerstrom is geometrically designed to the current public work standards. There is really no additional improvements we could have had done on that street to prevent somebody from driving 70 plus miles an hour.

So Rudy, what I hear you saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, it was the speed. The speed is the issue when our constituents or our visitors or whoever's driving down that street is driving at a very high rate of speed.

Correct.

And I just want to be clear, Mr. City Manager, if this item moves forward and we are approved for it at the state level, it will not be under the police department, is that correct?

That is correct.

I want to be really clear on that. It is not under the police department?

That is correct.

Okay, thank you. And what is the cost, Mr. City Manager, if any, to just, I heard Rudy talk about there's been already some initial work done. So is there, what is the exact cost or roundabout, please?

Well, it depends on the number of cameras, but based on the staff report, we're looking between $1.5 and $2 million. But as the staff report indicates, the first step is to request from our state representatives the opportunity to request the state to allow us to be part of the pilot program, and then we would be with this exact number and the cost of the extra cameras, and also get your approval before we purchase them.

So what I hear you saying is that we would request funding from the state. And we can also request funding from our congressman, is that correct?

That could be an option.

Okay, thank you. So I just wanted to clear up a few things because, again, people come up here and I appreciate the comments. And I appreciate that 150 community members signed the change.org. There's almost 400,000 people in this city. I want you to think about that for a minute. So I know when I go door to door and I speak to the community or I have my coffees with the mayor or faith base or business leaders or community leaders, whatever it may be, their priorities are public safety, homelessness, How do we stop people from dying on our streets? And this is just one way. And again, it's a pilot project, is that correct, Council Member Becerra? So it's not written in stone, it's not gonna be forever. If it doesn't work, you know, then we make changes like we do in our lives every single day. If you don't like something, we change it. And so that is why I am going to second Council Member Becerra's motion and I will be supporting it. Are there any other comments, Council Member Fann?

Thank you, Mayor. So, well, first, thank you, Councillor Becerra, for bringing this item forward. Mr. City Manager, maybe it's police chief, you don't have to answer if we can't. Was speeding the sole reason for that accident, as far as we're aware?

I don't have that report in front of me, but I do know that that was a contributing factor.

Okay, because I definitely agree that speeding is an issue in this city. I think that we need to slow down throughout the city. I support changing our speed limits throughout the city. Everyone's always in a rush. We hear residents or maybe businesses complaining about the bump outs on South Main Street. We hear about residents complaining about the bump outs on Hazard Street. But those bump-outs are to slow people down. It's to create an environment that is safer for pedestrians, for students, for cyclists. Those are all a part of it, and people find it inconvenient because that's what happens. But those are the kind of, I guess... How do I say this? Those are the kind of infrastructure improvements that I would like to see that I think does work. People start to learn where they're not supposed to speed, where the street is a little narrower, where you have to slow down before you make a turn. All of those things are really important. I think that up here on this dais, we bring up a lot of ideas because we want to solve problems. It is a complete tragedy that we lost these young lives. But I think that as we make policy up here on this dais, we don't make policies for How do I put this? We have to balance what the budget can bear. I do understand that there are grants, whether it's federal or state, but I don't want to make promises up here that we can't keep. And what we do know is that this pilot program, even in all these cities, are incredibly expensive. And while there have been slowdowns in some areas, it's not completely clear that at least this one particular incident, in this particular incident that speeding was a sole factor. And I think that it's really important for us to make policy on the average or the median, the issues that affect as many people as possible and not on certain exceptions. Again, I know that this comes from a place of care. I know that we up here want to prevent any types of accidents and deaths, but we can't afford this item. And it's not about the value of any individual person, but it's about implementing a program that, number one, is not clear as going to be effective, and number two, raises concerns by the community. I do also want to, on that account, I guess, of concern and surveillance, this is not a surveillance tool. We do not just randomly have, in my opinion, items to check people just because it's fun. That's not what we're here to do. But I do understand the concerns of surveillance. That's why, whether it's the drone program or whether it's the ALPR cameras, we ask these questions. What are the safeguards? What are the rules we have in place Who has access to them? And I don't think it's right to use examples from other states, other jurisdictions to prevent our police department, our public works department, or the city from ensuring that we can capture individuals who either have done other people harm or have committed crimes against the city. However, I also think that it's unfair to say that these concerns are invalid. There are valid concerns when it comes to surveillance. When you have a phone, you choose to have a phone. You have to drive to work. You do not necessarily choose to drive on any particular city street because that's the way you get to work. I think that we up here can balance the need for safety to ensure that our police department has access to the most state of the art tools possible while ensuring that we protect privacy rights, that we protect residents' civil rights, I don't think that we have to choose one or the other. So I hope that as we continue with these types of discussions and as we utilize more technology, in ensuring that we provide programming and safety to the public, that we can have a balanced approach, and that we can see each other's points of view, because I don't think it's very productive to claim that this is some type of panopticon, or that we're Skynet, and it's not productive to say that the fear of public surveillance is completely unwarranted. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor Meskwan. Thank you, Council Member Becerra, for bringing this item forward and for everybody that spoke regarding this item. I am going to be supporting the resolution just because it is simply that, a resolution which, if anyone's been paying attention, the resolutions that this city votes on are essentially DON'T CARRY ANY TEETH, I MEAN, THEIR RESOLUTIONS JUST SAYING, HEY, STATE LEGISLATURE OR, HEY, COMMUNITY GROUP, THIS IS WHAT THE CITY OF SAN ANA AGREES ON. WHEN THIS RESOLUTION IS APPROVED, IF APPROVED, IT'S SIMPLY LETTING THE STATE LEGISLATURE KNOW, HEY, THE CITY OF SAN ANA WOULD LIKE TO BE PART OF THIS PILOT PROGRAM. We still have to go through that process of working with our state advocates and our legislative advocates to see if they would advance this legislation with our amendment throughout the 2027 legislative session. then the city still needs to monitor the legislation through the 2027 legislative session and see and report any updates back to the city council. If that legislation is enacted, staff will still have to return to the city council with a comprehensive implementation plan that includes, as listed in the staff report, a proposed speed safety system use policy, a speed safety system impact report, public outreach and community engagement plans, recommended camera locations and collision and speed data, procurement strategy and vendor selection, detailed capital operational cost estimates and funding strategies, and enforcement strategies, and an implementation schedule consistent with AB645 requirements. And then following all of that, the city council will still have the opportunity to say, you know what, maybe this isn't for us. Or maybe this is for us. Or maybe this is something that our city does want to implement or does have the money to do. This is no way, shape, or form tonight making any purchases, any contracts, installing any cameras, allocating any funding. It is simply a resolution letting our state partners know that the city is interested in possibly being part of this pilot program. That's it. I mean, so once all of that happens, I imagine two, three years from now, city staff will come back one year from now, because we still got to go through the 2027 legislative cycle. So that's going to take a year. Once you come back, the city council will still get to decide then, once we have all this detail and all this ironed out, hey, okay, this is something that we want to proposed to the community take it to our community and have some community outreach meetings and whatnot so with all that um i am comfortable moving forward with the resolution because again it's just a resolution just signaling to the state legislature that the city might be open to entering into this pilot program this is In no way, there are not gonna be any cameras installed in the next year, any speed cameras in this city. So with that, Mayor, those were the only comments, and I just wanted to make sure that the community had clarity on what this really was tonight. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Jennifer, you wanna call the vote, please? I'm sorry, Madam Clerk. Oh yes, Councilman Becerra.

One last comment, and I just wanna be clear because it was mentioned up here that it would not be clear if these speed cameras at some point when installed would be effective. San Francisco, let me repeat again, San Francisco had a 73% reduction in speed violations at camera locations. 73%, not 7%, not 3%, not 7.3%, 73%. It's working. It is saving lives. If we don't even want to ask staff to take the resolution that we already have written and just give it to Senator Umberg and Assemblymember Valencia, wow. That's all I can say is wow. We would really just not even want to ask them to embark on the process. Wow.

All right, let's call it a day.

Wow, Jennifer, call the vote.

So the sub-motion by Council Member Serra, seconded by Mayor Meskwa, to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana requesting that the California State Legislature amend Assembly Bill 645 to authorize the City of Santa Ana to establish a speed safety system pilot program as amended for the first whereas clause to read the most densely populated city in the OC. Mayor Miskewit? I don't have your vote. Vote is four ayes, two nays. Nays by Council Members Hernandez and Vasquez. Motion carries.

All right, thank you. Council Member Phan, I believe we're going to item 30, ma'am.

Yes, the next item pulled from the consent calendar is item number 30.

Can you hold on one second, please, Madam Clerk? Yes. All right, Madam Clerk, go ahead.

Yes, Council Member Phan has recused herself from this item and left the dais at 734. This is a density bonus agreement number 2026-03. It was pulled by Council Member Vasquez and Council Member Becerra. Council Member Becerra.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank staff for disclosing who is actually involved with this project, which, by the way, for those keeping score in the audience and at home, this is the density bonus agreement for a mixed-use development at 200 East Sandpoint Avenue. Again, I want to thank staff for disclosing who's actually involved with this project because the July 7th staff report for this item did not state who the actual people were from the various LLCs that were actually interacting with our staff. One of those listed is Pam Cepetto. For those of you that may not remember Pam Cepedo, not only has she brought applicants before this council who are very anti-union, Pam Cepedo has also featured in the stipulation decision and order that was approved by the FPPC in February of 2025 After a seven-year investigation into a 2018 campaign that spread heinous lies, the FPPC issued one of its heaviest fines ever on a developer that laundered campaign money, failed to comply with disclosure requirements, and committed campaign filing violations. The stipulation decision order stated that Ms. Cepedo had continuously done work for that developer. The stipulation decision in order also states, Ryan O'Golnick, a local developer with no prior experience in campaigns, and his wife, Rachel O'Golnick, wanted to engage in the 2018 City of Santa Ana elections. Since Ryan O'Golnick had no prior campaign experience, he and his wife consulted with Pamela Cepeda, owner of Cepeda Real Estate Solutions, Inc. The stipulation decision and order also states that the Political Action Committee, through Ms. Cepetto, selected respondent Rose Redlich as a principal officer of the committee with the responsibility of running the day-to-day campaign operations. That campaign through which campaign money was laundered, disclosure requirements were ignored, and campaign filing violations were committed. Let's get back to the project and the density bonus agreement in front of us this evening. So the project proposes to utilize the parking standards set forth in California Government Code Section 65915P for qualifying affordable housing developments, which for this project, that number would be 516 parking spaces. The Santa Ana Municipal Code requires 1,187 parking spaces for this proposed project, but the project is proposing to provide 718 parking spaces, which is only 60% of what our City Municipal Code requires. To qualify under California Government Code Section 65915, the applicant would only have to provide 5% of the total units for rental to very low-income households. Mr. City Manager, and maybe this might be a question for Director Pezesh Kapoor, was this project originally proposed with 100% market rate housing?

Yes, Secretary Director Ali Pezesh for Planning Building will answer those questions.

Thank you, Councilmember, that's correct.

Okay, perfect. That's all I have for you. Thank you. So in order to satisfy our city's AHOCO ordinance, it was almost as dramatic as Alvaro's, right? But he actually walked up there. It was a little, yeah. But in order to satisfy our city's AHOCO ordinance, building a project with 100% market rate housing, the applicant would have to build affordable housing units off-site or pay the in-lieu fee. According to San Adam Unicode Section 41-1904, a project proposing 20 or more units, which this project is proposing 400 units, and opting to pay the in lieu fee must also provide the city with an executed enforceable commitment that 30% of the workforce utilized to complete the construction of the project must be derived from a skilled and trained workforce as defined in Public Contract Code Section 2601. Would the, I guess I lied. Ali, if you could come back up, I'm sorry. Would the applicant have been able to utilize other state laws to be able to build 100% market rate housing and be able to provide less parking than what our city code requires today?

Should the project have been built 100% market rate and utilizing SB 330, which is proposed in the current iteration, under SCAG's latest methodologies, the site does qualify as an AB 2097 location. So under that state law, it basically defers to developers to provide what they believe is the required onsite parking to meet their market demands. So in short, yes, hypothetically under AB 2097, any developer that's in an eligible area could provide less than the city code requirements.

Perfect, thank you for that. It's interesting that this proposed project is proposing to provide 20 affordable units, essentially 5% for extremely low income households, instead of 5% for very low income households. Now, why does that matter? The difference between very low and extremely low is that very low income applies to households earning between 30% and 50% of the area median income, or AMI. Extremely low income applies to households earning less than 30% of the AMI. So why 5% extremely low instead of just 5% very low? Because 5% extremely low, correct me if I'm wrong, Ali, 5% extremely low satisfies our city's AHOCA ordinance, correct?

Correct.

And that would allow the applicant to not pay the in lieu fee, correct?

Correct.

And also then not build the project with the skilled and trained workforce, is that correct?

Correct, that would be the alternative under the AHOCA.

Okay, perfect, thank you for that, Ali. So as I mentioned before, the project proposes to utilize the parking standards set forth in government code section 65915 for which this project is only gonna provide 516 spaces if approved. Also, the staff report states Actually, I'm glad you're still up here, Ali. The project is not anticipated to have any parking impacts. So let's think about that. They're gonna provide 40% less than what is required, and there's gonna be no impact. So Sandpoint, they'll have no cars coming over and parking in their neighborhood. So I guess, Ali, I'm just kind of concerned. When I look at this staff report, I guess you say that statement in here because you would ask the applicant to require onsite parking permits. Maximum time vehicles may be parked in surface parking areas and require that overflow parking be directed to some alternate offsite spaces allegedly not standpoint. Am I to believe that that's going to truly. eliminate the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Those are standard conditions that staff includes on projects that, whether they are complying with parking requirements or whether they're deviating, for example, tentative track maps for townhome developments, all the way up to multifamily projects like these, staff includes conditions of approvals meant to address parking management strategies like that. And so if those conditions of approval are approved, then staff believes that it mitigates the parking impacts that could arise.

I appreciate that, Ali, and I respect your opinion and your staff's opinion. I'm just going to disagree with you on this one. I do not think it would. So I would say with the impact that this project is providing 40% less parking than needed and Pam Cepeda's efforts to not use a skilled and trained workforce, I won't be supporting the item in front of us tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Becerra.

Council Member Vasquez, please.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. WHEN THIS PROJECT FIRST CAME OUT, I DID GO TO THE FIRST SUNSHINE ORDINANCE MEETINGS AND THERE WAS A PROMISE TO HAVE AMPLE PARKING IN THIS AREA AND I WAS WORRIED FOR SANDPOINT PARK AS I VISIT SANDPOINT PARK EVERY SUNDAY. and I visit my mom and we see Watermark and other buildings over there come and park two streets over from Main Street and take up all the parking and now we see that there's much less parking than at first promised and I asked many questions and they tied the pole and threw glitter on it and promised us skilled labor as well through these conversations that we had for the Sunshine ordinance and now I SEE THEY'RE TAKING BACK ALL THE PROMISES MADE FROM THE FIRST MEETING. SO I'M HOPING WE COULD PUSH THIS ITEM AND SEE WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR TWO WEEKS IF NOT FOR THE NEXT MEETING WHICH WOULD BE FOUR WEEKS SO WE DON'T HAVE A MEETING NEXT.

I'LL SECOND YOUR MOTION COUNCILMEMBER.

I'M SORRY. DID YOU MAKE A MOTION? YEAH. FOR HOW LONG?

THE NEXT MEETING WHICH WON'T BE.

WOULD YOU BE OKAY WITH EXTENDING IT UNTIL OCTOBER MEETING? Okay, thank you. Councilman Hernandez?

Yes, I was just.

I'm sorry, are you gonna second that?

Yeah, second that motion.

Perfect, great. Go ahead, Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to echo very similar sentiments in that when the meetings were being held for the community, there were very clear asks that the community did not want to budge on. Parking was one of those commitments and something that I believe is important to all of us here is having quality work. A skilled and trained workforce is something that I don't want to see us waver on. I think that by extending this into October, it gives our community the best opportunity to have a project that really is going to suit the needs of Santa Ana. I think that right now we are not in a position where this project is going to accomplish what what is really important to our residents and to the workers. And until those grievances are worked within the community and skilled and trained workforce, I won't be able to support that item. So as it stands right now, we have a motion and a second.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. Mayor Pertem.

I'm sorry. I just want to make sure that as the council, as it considers what it wants to do, just to let the council know that we do have some timing issues for you to be sensitive to under the government code for a project like this. We cannot conduct more than five hearings. My understanding is that tonight would be the fourth hearing. So if you were to continue this, that would be your fifth hearing. After the fifth hearing, you do run into some pretty significant potential permit streamlining act issues where a project could be deemed approved and you also run into issues under state law and a question of whether HCD would intervene in this action. My understanding is that HCD has communicated with staff at least asking or inquiring about the status of this project. So just wanted to let you guys be aware of that. One other thing that I'd like to make sure that we have on the record, and this is in no way intended to oppose anything that you've said this evening, but I want to make it clear on the record that comments made by Council Member Becerra were accurate, they're on point, they're publicly stated that this applicant was involved in wrongdoing at that level. Unfortunately, nothing in the housing law would allow us to rely on that evidence as a reason not to approve the project, so I want to be respectful of those comments because they are accurate and true. but they cannot be the basis for not approving this project. These types of projects are strictly supported by state law right now. We are seeing many cities facing liability. And while we may be disappointed that the developer in this case took advantage of our ordinance, the one that says if you build extremely low housing, you don't have to use workforce housing, or you don't have to pay our fees, In fact, that law is your law. It's the law that you adopted. It's the law that's on your books. So when we look at this project objectively, when it comes back to you, my legal advice to you is to be very, very prepared to offer substantial evidence as to why you are disapproving the project if that's what you ultimately do. And remember that your opinions are not relevant. Substantial evidence is based on facts. And substantial evidence is a traffic study that you might describe. It might be a geotechnical study. It might be the fire department saying that you have safety issues for access. Those are the types of things that you would need to put on the record if you were not gonna support this project. So all I'm asking you, we've continued this a number of times. We've got HCD watching us now. If you need assistance, we are here to help you, but if you decide to continue this, I really encourage you to focus on the substantial evidence as to why. I know that's a long thing, but we're building a record. That's how we defend ourselves.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. We always appreciate your advice and your guidance when we need it. I think there's other issues than just, you know, the information that, and it's what he read, it's public knowledge, you know, about Pam Cepedo and whatever. This to me, and Councilor Hernandez, I didn't mean to cut you off. I'll be really quick. This to me is really about the 20 affordable units, the parking issue. I mean, where's Ali? Can you come up, please?

I'm a little older than you, Councilman Hernandez, I'll forget my question.

So Councilman Becerra asked about parking. I can't tell you how many times I'm contacted by the community regarding parking issues. Even in my neighborhood, right, people that live at the condos right there on the corner by Morrison Park, they park all the way in my street, which is the last, the very last street in Morrison Park, and they walk over because I believe they have like two parking... It fits two cars in their garage. And then they can't park at the church across the street because the church locks it. And bless their little heart, they lock it up. And nobody, they'd make some good money if they let people park there. But, okay. So tell me about the parking here because I read it. And for me, it's... I'm not quite sure how you're gonna have 400 units and I heard our city attorney very well and I've been in the room with HCD and since I've been the mayor and I do take pride that Santa Ana has met and exceeded our housing numbers and we have a lot of affordable housing and things of that nature, but please share with all of us 400 units, where are they going to park?

So under operation of the state law, the state through its density bonus law answers that questions for cities, right? It is a valid concern. It's a concern that even planning staff have, but at the end of the day, the state's density bonus law says, whatever the concerns are, this is what you prescribe for this type of project. And as I explained earlier, we are extremely sympathetic to the community and obviously our own concerns about parking, But even if it were not for density bonus law, under a completely separate set of laws under AB 2097, the state says, sure, if you got two or more bus lines intersecting and they run more than every 15 minutes for the most part, then you don't need any parking. It's whatever the developer seeks to provide. If you're not in one of those areas, then you apply for a variance or a minor exception. You go through the city's zoning code prescribed process. But it's not something that necessarily staff wrote. It's state law. But it just is answered for the community, unfortunately, in many situations.

Thank you for sharing that because I often share with the community how it is from the state, right? So we should be very mindful of who we vote for because the city has no control. I think the city manager reminds me that all the time about parking when we're at coffees with the mayor. So now let's go to the 20 affordable units. Okay, so extremely low income households and you talked about the 30%, less than 30% AMI, is that correct? Correct. And so how many bedrooms

So one unit would be proposed to be a studio, 14 would be one bedroom, and five would be two bedroom units.

And the remainder of the project?

The remainder of the project would have a similar unit breakdown proportionality. So under the AHOCO, the proportion of the affordable units has to match the overall distribution of the apartment units.

Okay, can you tell us a little bit about, so the community that's listening and those in the audience, can you tell us a little bit about our community workforce? We don't want to call it a PLA, but what do we have in place in the city of Santa Ana?

What was that last part, I'm sorry?

The PLA that we have.

In, for city projects, for example, or projects receiving city funding, there are certain stipulations about project labor agreements. A principle of that is embodied in the AHOCO that says basically if a developer is not going to provide onsite units and you're gonna pay the in lieu fee for then the city to take that money and use it to help fund affordable housing projects. And of course, I'm sure Director Garcia can articulate this much more clearly. But long story short, if the city is using those in lieu monies and receiving them from a developer, then in exchange, we get the monies and the skilled and trained labor requirements of the ordinance. If you're not, and you're building the units onsite, then the ordinance says that doesn't apply.

And so when we have a project, we use skilled workforce, correct? Skilled and trained?

Correct.

And those projects turn out pretty good, right? They're actually really good projects.

Defer to our public works director, but of course, yes.

Rudy, is that a yes? No, maybe?

Okay, and that's why it's important, I think, to all of us sitting up here that we have a skilled and trained workforce and that we work with them on a daily basis when we have projects here in our city. They volunteer in our community. They have their members that live in our community. They may have people who end up living in some of the projects that they build, right? So I heard Madam City Attorney when she said, you know, it can only come up five times, so... You can hear it five different times, is that correct? I'm good, Ellie, thank you.

Yeah, five hearings as defined, and this is, my understanding is that this is your fourth, and so continuing them isn't like you're continuing the fourth one. The next one you have will be your fifth, so you will have to make a decision.

Right, and I think it's important because each one of us could, thank you, Ellie, I think each one of us could sit down with you, Madam City Attorney and Mr. City Manager, and have this discussion about what our concerns are, and so, yes, I would like to take it to, I think you made a motion for the last meeting in October, the only meeting, we have two in October?

There are two meetings, Mayor and City Council, in October, October 6th and October 20th.

Are you good, Council Member Vazquez, with October 20th?

Council Member Hernandez?

Okay, so we'll take it to October, and according to Madam City Attorney, this would be the last stop. I'll call you right now. This would be the last stop, and so with that, let me let Councilman Hernandez finish his comments. Mayor Pro Tem, and I'll come back to you. Councilman Hernandez?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. For many of the reasons listed, that'll conclude my comments. I'm ready to vote, Madam Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. We're going to let Mayor Pro Tem go, and Councilman Vasquez will be back before we vote, I hope. Go ahead.

thank you mayor and and I imagine madam city attorney and thank you for that information that the the four hearings also includes the planning commission hearings correct okay um with that the the only question I had and you know I want to thank council member Sarah for raising the questions but I just now I'm just it gives me pause on why would city staff omit the the applicant information from the first staff report is that something that we could answer The first time this came around.

Go ahead, yeah.

So the contact persons for the project are not technically the applicants. They are acting on behalf of the applicant in the community. But they're not technically the applicant of record. For this project, the applicant of record is an individual on the application listed as Mr. Johnny Schneider. When one opens the application packet, it's all the LLCs, and then it's the applicant, Mr. Schneider, for watermark, and then there's a section that says contact persons, if different than the applicant. So traditionally, because they're not the applicant, they're not the applicant of record, they're not listed in staff reports. However, in light of the Levine Act, and the fact that many cities require a disclosure form to be completed for projects that do have actual applicants, Staff evaluated the issue and is actually currently working with city attorneys to finalize a form for this to fill that hole. But in the meantime, as a means of making sure that all that information is available in the staff report for this and think together if there were any contact persons that is now going to be included moving forward.

Mayor Pro Tem, we received an inquiry on that very issue as to what was included and not included. I don't know what prompted that inquiry. I took that inquiry as people on this dais being responsible under the Levine Act and wanting to know, hey, if I'm going to vote, I really need to know whether I have a problem or not for campaign reasons. So it is our very strong recommendation. that we begin to disclose and we've talked with staff and said is our strong recommendation for the benefit of our elected officials that we give them these names. That way you know up front because the way it was done, it is possible that you could have had an inadvertent Levine Act problem because you wouldn't have known who was behind the LLCs.

But just to clarify, only because you used the word omission, may you pretend, we want to make sure that the initial staff report had the very technical response and that's where the staff report was included. It's after discussion that we raised and discussion with the city attorney's office that is the abundance of information that we're trying to do now.

Yeah, and I think it's important for any project that comes before this council is to make sure that we're as transparent as possible and offer more information than we need to. I think that's always the best practice when it comes to any of these. That's how Public Works projects now have the resume of these people that we're awarding because that was a request, right? So thank you, Ali. Similar concerns that my colleagues have brought up as far as THE, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING THAT WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN THE CITY IS ENSURING THAT A LOT OF THESE PROJECTS ARE BUILT RESPONSIBLY AND ARE BUILT WITH, YOU KNOW, PARKINGS, A NEVER-ENDING ISSUE THAT WE'RE DEALING WITH IN OUR COMMUNITY, PARKING CONCERNS BY MANY ACROSS THE CITY. I MEAN, IT'S SOMETHING THAT IS, COMES UP AT LEAST THREE TIMES A DAY VIA E-MAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, visits the city hall. And so it's important that we continue having that conversation around that parking concern and the skilled and trained workforces as well. I think that's another area where we should be able to have more conversations over the next couple of weeks. And I hope that we could come to an agreement. But with that, Mayor, I will leave it at that. I want to thank everybody that came out tonight to speak regarding this project. And I will, those are my comments, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Patel. Let's prepare to vote at this time. And go ahead, Jennifer.

Motion by Council Member Vasquez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez to continue item 30, the density bonus agreement number 2026-03.

I'm sorry, can you do it a little slower? Sorry.

Motion by Council Member Vasquez, seconded by Council Member Hernandez to continue item number 30, the density bonus agreement number 2026-03 for Watermark Sandpoint Mixed Use Development to the council meeting of October 20th.

Let's vote, please.

The vote is five ayes, no nays, with a noted recusal by Councilmember Phan and an absence by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries. Item continued to October 20th.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. At this time, that's the end of the consent calendar. We are now going to go to the business calendar. Item number 31 is the nomination, Councilmember Phan, oh there she is, the nomination and appointment of a representative to the Metropolitan Water District. I don't think we need a presentation. Do we need a presentation? Anybody, no? I'd like to make a motion for Councilmember Vazquez to be appointed to the Metropolitan Water District Board. Are there any comments by Council?

I would love to, but I nominate Councilmember Hernandez.

I'll second your nomination, sir.

Okay, so Councilmember Phan, this is your seat, correct? Yes, Mayor. You had a comment?

Yes. So the Metropolitan Water District, it is the largest water importer in America, serving 19 million residents in Southern California, including importing water from the Colorado River and the State Water Project. This is a massive entity. I work with public entities in many places. There are, I believe, 36 board members. and it's a lot of work. You're looking at two full days of meetings every month, a number of committees, and you're dealing with a lot of very technical water issues, infrastructure issues, and a lot of personnel matters. Given that, as well as just me realizing that I can no longer serve in this position in a manner that is deserving of the board and the residents of Santa Ana, I decided to resign. I actually have a different proposal. While I do understand that my colleagues have discussed appointing one of us to that item, I actually would like to appoint a member of staff.

Are you making an amended motion?

Yeah, I would make a sub-motion. Sub-motion, excuse me. To appoint a member of staff. It is not the first time to have a staff member appointed to this position at the Met Board. If I recall correctly, prior to Councilmember Jose Solorio, we had a staff member in Santa Ana who attended those meetings. And currently, I believe in San Diego County, the San Diego Water District, they have a GM. a general manager who's a voting member. When we're talking about MET, we're talking about billions of dollars, not tens of millions of dollars. We're talking about highly technical water issues, financing issues, and I don't think there's anybody in this room who is more capable of looking at those issues and making the best decision for the city of Santa Ana So it would be ideal, I would recommend appointing Deputy Director or Assistant Director Cesar Barrera or whoever our city manager deems most qualified to take on that helm and represent the city of Santa Ana. I'll second your motion. Mr. City Manager, do you have a comment on that?

We're comfortable with that. Deputy City Director Cesar Barrera assisting.

He just got a raise. I gave him a raise and you gave him an extra raise, okay.

Acting City Engineer.

I'm not sure he looks very happy with your recommendation, but okay. So we would need, I mean, we would have to talk about when you make the raise, I know that these positions do receive stipends. No, we do not at MET. Okay, I'd like to make sure. So no reimbursements?

Oh, this is a reminder. The MET board does not, as a voting member of the MET board, you do not have any salaries or stipends or anything like that. I believe either CSER... or Armando or one of our staff members already attend the meeting because they're nerds and they like water. And they talk about things like pipe sizes. I don't know. But that is my, I guess my motion.

Madam City Attorney, in front of us, we have the City of Santa Ana's regional board and subcommittees. And the MET board is listed here. And it says mileage reimbursement from MWD. But as Council Member Phan had indicated, we have staff already there.

Right, and again, we checked, there is no pay estimates, and of course they can take the city card.

Perfect, okay. Is there any other comments or questions? Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

This is a sub-motion by Council Member Phan, seconded by Mayor Mezcua, to appoint Cesar Barrera to the Metropolitan Water District Board as the City of Santa Ana's representative. The vote is open.

Let's vote, please.

Oh, I'm sorry, it's not. Now it's open.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, mine says item 34. Mine says waiting.

Oh, it does say item 34, I apologize.

You want to do a roll call, please? It's your roll call.

My apologies. Again, a motion by Councilmember Phan, seconded by Mayor Mesquite to appoint Cesar Barrera to the Metropolitan Water District Board. Councilmember Becerra?

Yes.

Council Member Hernandez.

Yes.

Council Member Phan. That's my guy. Yes. Council Member Vazquez.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempena-Losa.

Yes.

Mayor Meskwa. Yes. Voted six ayes, no nays with a recorded absence by Council Member Lopez. Motion carries.

All righty. We're going to go now to item number 32. It's regarding amended chapter 30 of the Santa Ana meeting code. Do we need a presentation, Council? I don't think so. Do we need one? Yes, no, maybe? No, I don't think so. Okay, let's prepare. Is there a motion?

Motion to approve. Second to your motion.

Thank you. Are there any questions, comments? Actually.

I motion and.

We got a motion and a second.

Okay, then I'm gonna go along with it and I'm gonna do it in honor of my historic commissioner, Janelle Hardy. Happy birthday, Janelle, this one's for you.

Yeah, she's on vacation right now, celebrating her birthday. Okay, Council Member Becerra, you have a comment?

Actually, a couple of questions. Maybe, Ali, if you could. Naturally. Step up, of course. So in this item, so I only have two issues. So one is the notices for the public hearing. So I appreciate the thoroughness of what you require on here. One thing that I didn't see, and I'd like clarification from you, in regards to physical posting on the sites, or in this case, it would either be the historic property or a proposed historic district. I didn't see any language in there. Could you clarify if we have, physical posting requirements for, say, items going to public hearing at a planning commission, council, et cetera?

Staff requires site postings. State law also requires site postings. But nonetheless, in preparation for tonight's item, we did discover that there is a minor typographical error in the Sunshine Ordinance that actually doesn't address site postings. That will be fixed right away. But nonetheless, it's staff's current practice to do site postings, even for historic projects.

Okay, perfect, thank you. And then the other item that I wanted to ask you about is proposed section 30-10F states that the decision of the commission in concerning an appeal of a decision or recommendation of planning department staff shall be final. Maybe this is a question for our city attorney. are we allowed to codify something that has finality at the Planning Commission? Because just thinking of an appellant's ability to exhaust their appeals, right? In other words, you wouldn't just jump over the Planning Commission and file a lawsuit, right? Like you would go through Planning Commission, go to Council, then at some point, if you still have a bee in your bonnet, you file your lawsuit. In this case here, can we codify Planning Department staff I'm sorry, yeah, decision of the commission would be final?

You can. As a charter city, you can, whether that is advisable for the reasons you stated. We like to have people vet their issues through these administrative hearings, give them due process so we can create a record. You'd have less of an opportunity to correct a record, but that's a policy decision. And legally, you can do that. We do that in other instances where we give, for example, our city personnel make decisions, then our personnel board makes a final decision.

Okay.

So we have given other committees or boards that authority.

I would, I mean, just because we're talking about property rights here, I would like to ask my colleagues, and I don't, Madam Clerk, who made the motion?

Motion is by Mayor Pro Tempagnolosa, seconded by Council Member Hernandez.

So Mayor Pro Tem, I'd like to ask if you'd be willing to amend your motion so that we could amend Section 30-10F rather than have the decision of the commission be final, allow the decision of the commission to be appealable to the council. I think it's important that the council retains final decision-making power.

I'm okay with that amendment. I'm supportive. Okay. All right, that's all I have.

Thank you, everybody. We would deem the first reading to include that provision, Madam City Clerk.

Let's prepare to vote if there are no other comments.

This is a motion by Mayor Pro Tempagnolosa, seconded by Council Member Hernandez, to introduce for first reading Ordinance Amendment Number 2026-01, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana, amending portions of Chapter 30, Places of Historical and Architectural Significance of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, relating to the modification of historic properties, demolition by neglect, historic property transfer disclosure, and other items of an administrative nature, and finding the action to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act CEQA under state CEQA guidelines sections 15060C2, section 15060C3, and section 15061B3 as amended for section 30-10F that the commission's decision is appealable to the city council.

I'm always so impressed by Jennifer. Let's vote. You want to do a roll call, Jennifer? Because it looks like we're all just playing.

I just need your vote, Mayor.

It says waiting, so I'm a yes.

Okay, perfect. Vote is six ayes, no nays, with a recorded absence by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries.

All right, thank you. Let's go to item number 33, Santa Ana Five-Year Strategic Plan. Mr. City Manager.

Do you want a presentation? If so, Deputy City Manager, Sylvia Vasquez will make it. Council, do you need a presentation?

We all did a gender review. No, it looks like we're good. Mr. City Manager, we all have it. Thank you.

Thank you.

I think it, when you, because it says draft, but once you finalize everything, we'll get the final copy, correct?

Yes.

You're not making any changes to it? No. Okay. Perfect, thank you. Let's prepare to vote, please.

I'll make a motion to move the item, Madam.

I'll second. Go ahead, Jennifer.

Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Mezcua, to adopt the City of Santa Ana fiscal year 2026-27 to fiscal year 2031-32 five-year strategic plan.

Mine just says waiting, so if you want to do your roll call. I can't vote. I'm a yes, but.

We'll get that.

Oh, I'm sorry. It's not moving.

The vote is 6 ayes, no nays with the recorded absence by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries.

All right. That's the end of the business calendar. Let's go to the public hearing. Before the public hearing, item number 34, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who would like to make a comment on this public hearing item only. You need to recuse yourself?

Yeah, I actually mentioned it during the consent calendar item, but for item number 34, out of an abundance of caution, there was a pro bono item relating to Think Together as a client for my employer, Lieutenant Tucker, so I will leave the room while this is being discussed.

Thank you, Council Member Fann. We'll wait until she leaves the room, please. Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

Members of the public joining us by way of Zoom or conference call who would like to make a comment for public hearing item number 34 only, which is appeal application number 2026-01, appealing to decision of the Planning Commission to approve site plan review number 2026-01 and approve one incentive concession and two waivers or reductions of development standards for the Think Together property located at 2101 East 4th Street. Please dial star nine from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now in order to be called once the public hearing is opened. Thank you.

Do we have any speakers?

Mayor and council, you typically hear the staff presentation first and then open the public hearing.

So item 34 is regarding the appeal application number 2026-01 for the Think Together property at 2101 East 4th Street. Do we need a presentation up here? Otherwise, are you prepared to vote? I'll make a motion to approve.

Mayor, without the staff presentation now, you would open the public hearing. and that we could hear from the appellant, the applicant, and any speakers.

You can open the public hearing and dispense with the staff presentation if you so choose, but if the appellant is here and would like to be heard, then we would have to take that testimony.

You got it. That's got to open it. So opening the public hearing at 8.13. Noting for the record, we did receive three e-comments related to this public hearing. Those were distributed to the city council and posted online for public review. If the appellant is present and would like to make their first comments. If the applicant present would make any comments.

Very brief, my name is Dan Young. And I'm here on behalf of Think Together on this application. So if you have any questions, be delighted to answer those questions. And we do have some of our folks who put the project together. But I just would like to thank the staff. This has been a very excellent process with the staff. We enjoyed a unanimous vote of the Planning Commission. And the staff has been truly wonderful and responsive and helpful in putting this project together. Thank you.

Mayor and City Council, we do not have any in-person speakers for the public hearing. However, we do have two hands raised on Zoom. Callers on Zoom, please announce your name in the ward or neighborhood you reside in for the record. First to speak, Victor Mendez. Please unmute and make your comments related to public hearing item number 34.

Okay, can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Okay, so on this item, so I, as president of the Zoo district, or this project resides a wholeheartedly and unreservedly endorsed this project and I hope you'll go forth in it cool for tonight with it. Obviously, I think it's a great upgrade to the neighborhood. You know, I think a lot of the design features to be nice. As I recall, there's even going to be a neighborhood park. So that will open some green space and kind of take a rather plain looking area and kind of add some flavor to it. Let's bring people in and get a good neighborhood going. So let's go forward with it. Let's go forward with this. I can say I'm just kind of scratching my head with the Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility. I mean, from what I read in the staff report, they didn't have any specifics to offer. They're not even there tonight to press the case, so be it. But I don't think this alliance for environmental responsibility is being too responsible with everyone's time on this matter. But nonetheless, let's go forward. I think it's a good project. I think they put a lot of time into it. It's been thoughtful, and I'm looking forward to new, modern-looking housing and good people moving into our neighborhood. Thank you.

Next speaker on Zoom, Aleja Crutcher. Please unmute to make your comments for public hearing number 34. Hi there.

Can you hear me? Hello. Go ahead, please. Hi. Good evening. My name is Aleja Crutcher. I'm an attorney with Loza Drury. I'm here on behalf of Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, or SAFER. SAFER submitted written comments for the record earlier today, and I do apologize for the tardiness. SAFER appeals the Planning Commission's approval of the Think Together project because there are mitigation measures available now that would reduce air quality impacts that weren't available during the preparation of the previous Environmental Impact Reports, or EIRs. Additionally, the project poses potential impacts to indoor air quality that were not contemplated in the previous EIRs. SAFER respectfully requests that the City Council grant the appeal and direct City staff to prepare an EIR for the project. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires the preparation of a new EIR as opposed to relying on a previous EIR under 15168 and a few different circumstances as dictated by Section 15162. One circumstance is when new information, which was not known at the time the previous EIR was certified, shows that mitigation measures which are considerably different from those analyzed in the previous EIR would substantially reduce a significant effect on the environment. Another circumstance is when new information shows that the project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in the previous EIR. Here, there are new mitigation measures that would reduce the significant impacts to air quality identified in the previous 2007 and 2018 EIRs. Our air quality expert identified multiple new mitigation measures. Two examples are the CARB 2019 and 2020 suggested control measures for architectural coatings and the ASHRAE standards 62.1 for mechanical ventilation systems, which were just updated in 2025. Additionally, there are significant impacts to indoor air quality that were not analyzed in the previous EIRs. Specifically, our indoor air quality expert found that many composite wood products typically used in home and apartment building construction contain formaldehyde-based glues which give off formaldehyde over a long period of time. The California Air Resources Board, CARB, created the airborne toxic control measure to reduce formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products. However, a study published in 2020 shows that buildings using composite wood products that comply with CARB standards still vastly exceeded CEQA's significance thresholds for cancer risk. So when the previous EIRs were certified, the scientific information around composite wood products and formaldehyde cancer risks were not known. Since this new information about the potential impacts this project will have on indoor air quality, the city cannot rely on the previous EIRs. And for these reasons, SAFER respectfully requests that the city prepare an EIR. Thank you so much for your time.

Mayor, if I could just comment. When we have any speakers speak to CEQA issues before you in a public hearing environment, we always want to make sure that those comments are, you know, addressed or at least responded to. I don't know if staff has any thoughts on how they want to respond. I do want the City Council to know While we respect everyone's right to speak to come to this meeting, we have experienced cases, as with this case, where we find certain attorneys who are on a list who bring CEQA lawsuits on projects that are directly related to labor unions. We've reviewed these comments and we find those to be true here. That doesn't necessarily mean that the comments are not legitimate, but we do find that they are using the California Environmental Quality Act as a way to challenge a project. So I just would like to make sure that if there was anything said and our staff would like to respond, we would need to get that on the record for the safety of the city and the integrity of the project.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. I appreciate it. Who would be coming up to speak? Mr. City Manager? If there's anything we need to address.

Executive Director of Planning and Building.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council. Staff prepared responses to the two late comment letters that were submitted with their CEQA topics. Those prepared at 5.15 this evening and distributed to the city clerk who then posted it to the city's website. So those have been responded to and they are part of the record. So thank you.

Just for clarification purposes, you received those emails today?

Correct, the initial appeal application that was filed within the 10-day window was a one-paragraph, four-sentence appeal. And then today the applicant submitted a deluge of technical studies that did not introduce any new information that staff believes renders the CEQA analysis invalid.

Great, thank you. Any council members need to disclose any ex parte communications? We're going to close, Madam City Clerk, you don't have it here, we're going to close the public hearing?

That's correct, there are no additional speakers.

Okay. No comments by the council, okay. Let's prepare to vote, please. Can I get a motion and a second?

I'll make a motion to move the item. I'll second.

You want an arm wrestle for it? It's seconded by Mayor Pro Tem.

Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa, to approve a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana denying appeal application number 2026-01, thereby upholding the Planning Commission's approval of Site Plan Review number 2026-01 and one incentive concession and two waivers or reductions of development standards pursuant to state density bonus law to be memorialized in Density Bonus Agreement Number 2026-01 based on findings including a determination that the project was exempt under CEQA Section 15168 for a seven-story mixed-use residential development consisting of 274 residential units for the property located at 2101 East 4th Street, APN 400-041-03.

Thank you, let's vote please.

The vote is five ayes, no nays, with a recorded recusal by Councilmember Phan and a recorded absence by Councilmember Lopez. Motion carries.

Mr. Donyings, nice to see you in the Chamber, sir.

I would like to thank the Council and you, Mayor, for completing what has turned out to be a highly professional and productive process. And I want to say something to Councilmember Hernandez. You dodged a real issue tonight when your colleague was thinking of recommending you for the MWD Board. I was a 30-year-old mayor of Santa Ana, and I thought it would be very clever and very interesting to appoint myself to the MWD Board, only to find out not only is the headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, but it's virtually a full-time job. So you're a lucky man. Thank you very much.

Cesar Barrera is going to take his spot. Don't you worry, Mr. Young. That's right. You have a nice evening. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I always like to end this on a good note. Okay, Mr. City Manager, it's the end of public comments at the public hearing at this time. Mr. City Manager, do you have any comments?

No. Thank you very much. I mean, we did quite a bit today, and if you notice, we had quite a bit of items, so I appreciate the comments and the commentaries and the decisions made today. Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council. Good night.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. All right, Council Member Vasquez, you're up.

Thank you, so summer's over and teachers go back to work tomorrow. The kids come in on Monday. I want to thank all our classified staff, as they do every year. They take care of our classrooms and our facilities and they look amazing. As we walk through Valley High School especially, which I love so much, I will not be returning to Valley. I am now gonna be the vice president of the Santa Ana Educators Association full-time release. Thank you.

You can thank me, that was my vote, just so you know.

And we're there to protect the teachers and make it a better place for Santa Ana Unified School District to work at. We hope to make it a district of choice for teachers, for classified, for anybody who works for the district as we support everybody around. And welcome back to the teachers and to the students. We'll see you on Monday when you come back to school. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council Member Vasquez. Let's go to Council Member Phan, please.

Thank you, Mayor. First, as a reminder to everybody, this Thursday at 4.30 is the Frank and Irene Palomino Elementary School renaming ceremony. That is at 4726 Hazard Avenue. I hope to see many of you there to celebrate with us and the Garden Grove Unified School District. With that, I want to say thank you to staff, Public Works, Parks and Rec, everybody who had any hand to play in the Santa Anita Community Center kind of renovations, the new soccer field, the new basketball court, more parking spaces, the community center, the police substation, and especially the pool. I have the ridiculous idea of Jumping in the pool, the mayor got pushed into the pool, I heard, by Council Member Becerra and Gaston, and then, She and I jumped in the pool together. Council Member Hernandez and I jumped into the pool together. It's so nice. I urge everybody to take their family and visit. I was talking to a resident today, and they were saying that they're seeing a lot of community members, especially in the neighborhood, the Santa Anita neighborhood off Gunther, just going and utilizing that space. I was also recently at the newly renovated New Hope Library, and it was packed it was completely packed and you can bring in a drink as long as it's covered with a lid so um please go i helped a resident get a library card it's just so great i borrowed a book in vietnamese and a book in spanish and um So yeah, it's just really, really incredible and it fills my heart to see the hard work that our city team, our residents, everybody's been working toward truly come to fruition and to be realized. And I guess with that, I hope everybody have a wonderful rest of August, because we're not seeing each other again until the second, well, the third week of September 15th. So there's going to be a big break. Obviously, our office will still be open. We have Chicano Heritage Festival coming up. So I hope to see everyone there. Have a great night. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Fenn.

At this time, Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to thank members of the public, our city staff for today's council meeting. and members of the public who continue to show up and advocate for their neighborhoods. I just want to respectfully request an update, Mr. City Manager, on the Washington Square land purchase, if we can make sure that we're communicative with the neighborhood, as well as my office and the council here. I know we looked at a 60-day update, so just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that that remains a priority.

We'll put that as part of the September public meeting, and... You know, we said 90 days, so we're on track. And so obviously that's our purpose.

Wonderful. Thank you very much. And I just also want to echo a lot of the sentiments that my colleagues have shared here. There's a lot of exciting new additions to Santa Ana. We just recently celebrated Santa Anita Park seeing an $18 million gift. It's an entirely new community center, a new pool, really beautiful work that all of us are proud of here. Of course, we have the renaming of Palomino Park. It'll be named after Palomino. the palomino family i invite the community to come out and join us on thursday and then we have the last day of summer night lights coming up this friday at el salvador park and so i want to invite the community to join us there and we have our little ones going back to school so for all the little ones who are going back to school i hope you have a really successful first day of school i hope that you have the best teachers and all the best friends and i hope that you make this year your best thank you

Thank you, Councillor Hernandez. At this time, Councillor Becerra, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So tonight I get to say justice for Isaac Ibarra and justice for Luis Casillas. Now, I have not previously publicly commented on the investigation into the death of Noe Rodriguez because I wanted to wait for the Attorney General to finish his report on the investigation. Well, in July, the California Attorney General issued his report on the investigation into the death of Noe Rodriguez. In that report, the Attorney General concluded, quote, based on the investigation and review of evidence, along with the applicable statutes, legal principles, and subsequent analysis, there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of officers Casillas and Ibarra. Now we've seen a group of speakers come in here and slander these two police officers, labeling them as killer cops, making libelous statements online, harassing these officers at our PD's headquarters. Shame on those folks, shame. Shame on them for jumping to conclusions and shame on them for attempting to smear these officers' names. Again, tonight we can actually say out loud justice for Isaac Ibarra and justice for Officer Luis Casillas. And since we're not meeting again before September 15th, I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day celebrating the contributions and achievements of labor. Good night, everybody. Thank you. Mayor Pratt-Towne?

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to wish all of our students in Santa Ana a happy return to school, back to school. 2026, 2027 will be an amazing year for you all. Everyone at Santa Ana Unified, Garden Grove Unified, Orange Unified, I think some at Tustin Unified and all the wonderful charter and private schools that we do have in the city. Wish you all a great back to school. And remember that the world is yours and you guys have the potential to do anything and everything you set your mind to. So good luck. Give it your all. And thank you, city staff, for all the wonderful. ribbon cuttings that we've been having the last couple of months. I mean, these, again, I can't emphasize enough how nice it is to finally see these projects that have been on the shelves for years and years and years. and for years and years and years, and to see our leadership making sure that these projects are getting built, getting funded and built, and opened for the public. Now I'm just waiting for Bristol Street and Warner. I gotta throw in the poke. It can't just all be unicorns and rainbows. We gotta get those streets done. So thank you city staff, honestly, I really, really appreciate everybody involved, Public Works, Parks and Rec, city manager's office, for all the work that we've been planning and building, for all the work that we've been doing on that sector. And then with that, I just wanna wish my great uncle, who's so special to us, a happy birthday. So I'm gonna say it in Spanish. Thank you, everybody. Good night. Okay. No other comment by Mayor Pro Temo. I'm sorry.

So, first of all, let me start off. Thank you, Councilman Becerra, for addressing Officer Ibarra and Officer Casillas in the report that came back from the Attorney General's office. For those of us who have been listening closely and we know, we wait until reports come out. We don't jump the gun. We wait until the reports come out. We saw the results of the Attorney General's report, so I really appreciate the work of the Attorney General, and my support goes out to Officers Ibarra and Casillas as well, and to the family of the gentleman that was stopped in his tracks. However, again, Officer Ibarra and Officer Casillas, you know, they were found to be doing their job correctly and for the safety of this community. And so thank you, Councilman Becerra. We could sit up here and do the whole shame, shame, shame, but you know what? It's a good thing for our city. It's a wonderful thing, okay. Coffee with the Mayor on August 1st was held at the police department. I want to thank you, Chief, you and your officers. DC Andrade was there with the pilots that fly the drone. I don't remember their names, I apologize, but they were really nice officers, smart, they knew what they were doing. They gave a great presentation along with DC Andrade. The community asked questions. If you missed it, you missed a really good presentation because the social media post and the people who come here and say surveillance, surveillance, surveillance, they gave a very clear presentation on the drones and how the camera does not drop down until they get oversight, they get over the scene of where the calls come. There was so much information and I don't want to go into detail here because they should have come to the presentation. So thank you for participating with that and joining me and the city manager. at the Mayor with the coffee to share the drone. The drones with our community is very important. So again, it's important that we come out and show you what we have instead of you just, somebody just making it up along the way. So thank you to the officers. I also wanna thank all of the volunteers that came out on July 28th, because on July 28th, the Alex Lodge, the ballroom was full of over 150 volunteers, and we filled over 4,500 backpacks by noon. We started at 9.30ish, we started at 10, and we were done by noon. filling 4,532 backpacks, if I remember correctly. It's funny, I remember that number. And so I want to really thank Linda Fernandez, because she has this backpack drive every year at the Alex Lodge, and all the Alex members, including myself and many here in the city, and just people that go there, you know, donate money and also thank you Council Member Becerra and Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa for joining me on Sunday, August 9th, this coming Sunday at our resource fair and all the partners that will be there and all the volunteers because we'll be giving away about a little over 2,000 backpacks that day with, there'll be booths there and haircuts and immunizations and eyeglasses and ear checks and vision, you name it, we're gonna have it. So please come out and join us, and city staff will be there. And yes, it's hot, but it's gonna be a great day. This is the third year that we've done it, so it's really a great event, so please join us. State of the City is this Thursday, August 6th, and we have well over 450 people attending. Mr. City Manager, we don't have a venue anymore to meet our needs. So the old state of the cities would have 200 people, 300 people. I take pride that we have well over 400 people that are coming to our state and say, yeah, I'm gonna flex a little bit. And so we don't have any more room. So we have to find a place to do it that can hold so many people. Thank you to everyone who is attending, all the sponsors in the chamber, of course, and Templo Calvario for opening their door. They're the only place in the city that can hold that many people. The only, I wanna say it again, the only place in the city. So we're looking for that hotel coming with the big ballroom, right, city manager? Yes. Stadium, yeah, we can do it. Are you gonna come then if we do it at the stadium? Let's do the stadium.

We can do the stadium. I'll come to the stadium.

You're gonna pay for covering the?

Why do we have to cover it? Because it's hot. What's wrong with you? Don't you do it when I'm speaking? Other state of the cities happen at fields and stadiums. Okay, we'll take it out of your money. That's fine.

Her law firm will sponsor it. You heard her say that. Actually. All right, thank you. Let's do it somewhere big, yes. Okay, let me close with this. And yeah, thank you tonight for all the speakers that came and city staff that answered the questions. So there is, I love social media, there's a social media influencer who has been online basically beating up the city of Santa Ana because we wouldn't allow him, we as in the city did not allow him just to have a free event. When I met with him, because yes, I did meet with him in my office, and he wanted to close 4th Street or close Bristol and give away cars and toys and backpacks and kitchen appliances and have five, six, seven artists come and perform. But he wanted to do so without permits, without paying for it, and basically closing our city for his event. That would have caused many problems for our residents, our businesses, our entire city and public safety because you have to have officers when you have two, 3,000, 4,000 people come to that. We see online and we hear from other police departments, what happened in Newport Beach? What happens in Garden Grove? What happens in our city when we have that many people? And so what I shared with him when I met with him, which of course he did not show that part, was, you know, he actually met our deputy city manager, Sylvia Vasquez. He met our PIO. They shared information with him as well. And then today I saw a post that he met with Councilman Hernandez. And Councilman Hernandez is going to arrange for this event to take place. However, I just want to remind everybody and everybody who's watching at home, and I'm sorry, Councilman Hernandez left so early, that there's a process to have an event in our city. I don't get any money. Clarify again. Let me say it again. I do not get any money. Nobody up here that I know of, I hope, I don't think so, nobody here at least, gets money from events or anything the city does. We get our stipend. That's what we get. So when this happens, influencer wants to have an event in our city and close down a street and have thousands of people come out and concerts, he would have to pay for police officers for security. He would have to get city permits. Is that correct, Mr. City Manager?

Yes.

I'm sorry, we didn't hear you.

Yes.

And there's policies in place, correct?

Yes.

And so what he said today was he was going to have it anyways and give out backpacks because, you know, the mayor, he said the mayor and the city of Santa Ana doesn't want to help our community. I want to be really clear, and I'll say it again. On Sunday, I'm having a resource fair, my third one, and I give well over 2,000 backpacks to families. And no, we don't have a concert because then I have to get permits and I have to have police presence. So we don't allow people, unless they get permits... And unless they pay for the police officers, Madam City Attorney, if I miss anything, let me know, to close our streets. Is that correct?

It's police officers, public works, a traffic plan, right? Enough notice so we can let the businesses and the residents that may be impacted. So we try to have a structured type of plan so that, one, the event is successful to mitigate any adverse impacts to any surrounding neighborhood would be again, residents or businesses. And actually, it's an interagency type of approval, right? You get the police department, you get public works, sometimes parks and recreation, sometimes planning and building. So the idea is to have a comprehensive review so that when we have events and we request the permits, is to ensure the success of the event, and again, mitigate any adverse impacts to neighbors or businesses.

And everyone up here that sits on this dais, do we follow those rules? I'm sorry?

Yes.

Okay. So we follow those rules, and because just like everybody else, they're in place to keep our community safe, again, pay for the permits, and notify police, and Parks and Rec, and Public Works, and street closures. Just imagine 3,000 people down Forest Street for an event with seven different musical groups, right? So I just want to be clear, because if a council member, Mr. City Manager, If a council member has an illegal event, the council member and the promoter would be fined, is that correct? Or possibly even arrested if they get in the way.

So obviously, you know.

I'm asking a question. So I understand it's a very sensitive issue because it involves a council member. So Madam City Attorney, if you're comfortable answering. But I want to be really clear on something. This is why I'm asking. Because if I closed down a street and invited 4,000 people to come out, I would be held accountable. Because anything I do, whether I chew gum or speak wrong, I'm hung from the rafters. So I want to be really clear about this. This is not about you, Mr. City Manager. This is how we work in this city. So my question was, if a council member has an event and does not obtain permits and everything required by the city, is that an issue, Mr. City Manager?

We would do enforcement. That's the question. We would do enforcement and we would try to ensure accountability of our municipal codes and procedures and policies.

So when you say we would try?

No, we would.

We would?

Right.

We would what?

We would hold accountability regarding policies and procedures.

Thank you, and I appreciate that. And I know it's challenging because the city attorney, you and the city clerk work for all seven of us up here, and I am not in any way, shape, or form trying to put you in a position. I just want to be really clear with the community that should this event take place tomorrow or Thursday or next week, there needs to be permits, there needs to be a discussion of traffic, there needs to be a notification of the neighbors, there needs to be so much work that goes into that. So no, we're not saying we don't want an event. My goodness, they can rent Eddie Westfield or Centennial Park in December and give away toys and have concerts, but they would need to have what, sir?

Again, depending on the event and location, there's policy procedures for that. And so the idea is, obviously, to get a permit. Again, most of those reviews are interagency component, not just the police department. It includes public works, planning and building, sometimes parks and recreation. And so those are the mitigating aspects, right? And it depends on what the issues are. Again, when we follow a process like that, it's to, one, ensure that the applicant and the event is successful.

That's correct.

Right? But also mitigate, again, any possibility regarding any adverse impacts.

That's correct. That's the key. Yes, I would sure hate for something to happen and there's no police or fire that has access, the safety of our community, the businesses. We saw again, I wanna say it again, we saw what happened in Newport Beach on July 4th, we cannot have that here. And so do I support giving out backpacks? I sure do, I have a backpack event every year. It would be great if Councilman Hernandez also has a backpack event and he can give out backpacks along with a promoter and pay for it and follow the rules and the policies and procedures in place. With that, I think we'll all be paying attention down 4th Street, down Bristol, Eddie Westfield, an empty parking lot on 17th Street, anywhere that anybody wants to come in and have an event without following the City of Santa Ana's policy, muni code, rules, guidelines, whatever you want to call them, that there are consequences to that. And we love our community. We have more parties than I think any city. We have more events than any city. And they are very expensive. We have Fiesta Patrias before our next meeting, is that correct?

Yes.

Yes, we have it on the 14th and 15th of September. And we have a Chicano Heritage event coming up at the end of this month. So I hope to see all of you at Chicano Heritage and Fiesta Patrias.

And at Dog Park this Saturday.

Oh, yes, and this Saturday, Mayberry Park, Ribbon County for a small dog park, but it's still going to be a great dog park. So thank you, Mr. City Manager, for answering my questions. I just wanted to be very open and transparent about Again, social media is very dangerous sometimes. People listen to a 30-second clip, and they don't see the truth behind all the smoke. And so, no, you cannot come into our city and have a giant event with 3,000, 4,000 people, close our streets, affect our businesses and our residents without proper permitting, safety, code enforcement, parks and rec, public works, police, city attorney, city manager, nobody up here. Just all of you. Is that correct?

Yeah, it's a good night.

I want to sound like the city attorney on TV. Ask and answer, yes.

All right, I love that. Okay, with that, I'll see you all September 15th. Thank you.